Thread: Series 3 Ute Body on D1 Chassis

G'day Slunnie,

Back on the 7th May 2020, at 10:16 PM you posted that

I ended up getting a County rolling chassis and a D1 donor vehicle which I'm hoping is a far easier and far more bolt up conversion.

Just wondering how your modification went - what year D1 was your donor vehicle and was there an AULRO thread posted about the project?

Kind regards
Lionel

Originally Posted by Lionelgee

What sort of money would be involved to get a reliable TD5 replacement motor?

Since the vehicle isn't standard any more, I wouldn't bother. The TD5 is well beyond its sell-by date and spares are scarce.

There are adapter kits for Isuzu engines, I'd start there.

Originally Posted by Lionelgee

G'day Slunnie,

Back on the 7th May 2020, at 10:16 PM you posted that

I ended up getting a County rolling chassis and a D1 donor vehicle which I'm hoping is a far easier and far more bolt up conversion.

Just wondering how your modification went - what year D1 was your donor vehicle and was there an AULRO thread posted about the project?

Kind regards
Lionel

Hi Lionel,

It's all still sitting there unfortunately. Work, triathlon and cold weather have got in the way, but the intention is still there!

The D1 is purely a donor car for parts, its not a project at all. Actually its a rust bucket. I'm not sure which year, but I think its approx 92-93 with a 3.5V8 auto 5dr pre update.

The County chassis will take the running gear from the D1 if I go down that route, but I have other motors around here. The body will be a Series ute cab also.

I'm expecting it all to be reasonably bolt up.

The trick however is that the D1 runs bigger gearboxes and engines than the Series, so if your series is 4 or 6 cylinder, you might have to cut the firewall, transmission tunnel, floor and seat box to make it all fit. You should be ok if you've got a Stage 1 setup.

I really do think you're better off converting it with a County chassis rather than a D1 if you just want it to bolt up as best as possible and have it work. For that combo to be most seamless, a Series 3 body would be the most complient.

On Monday, I had a look at a D1 chassis and running gear with a Series IIA cab. Engine was a turbo 4BD1 with an LT95.

Originally Posted by DoubleChevron

Sounds like you just need ot change the vin number to an early rangies ............... Do you have any wrecks there They are basically the same chassis as a D1 apparently

Care is needed. My VASS insisted that If I went ahead he would require the chassis section with the number on it from the Series, due to Vic's rebirthing laws. I was "slightly" perplexed. Who is going to rebirth a RRC into a Series ute? He agreed, but said the legislation was overarching and loopholes were few. For him, that is. Essentially this would mean you would only wind up with one car, which imo is the point. All I'm saying really is that your VASS needs to protect himself. If he saw that you had changed the number he would have reservations.

I didn't ask him about D1s at the time as I had the RRRC ( Rusty RRC ), but it's probably doable, but the end result will need to comply with ADRs of the D1, not the Series, as it is later. My RRRC and SIII were almost the same year, which made it easier. Things like steering columns and impact absorbing dashboards. Still, SRS airbags were not mandatory on D1s. I'd check though if they would need to be there if fitted when new, as is the case with my '94.

Personally, I wouldn't start a project of this nature without an engineer on board from the beginning.

Originally Posted by Slunnie

Hi Lionel,

It's all still sitting there unfortunately. Work, triathlon and cold weather have got in the way, but the intention is still there!

The D1 is purely a donor car for parts, its not a project at all. Actually its a rust bucket. I'm not sure which year, but I think its approx 92-93 with a 3.5V8 auto 5dr pre update.

The County chassis will take the running gear from the D1 if I go down that route, but I have other motors around here. The body will be a Series ute cab also.

I'm expecting it all to be reasonably bolt up.

The trick however is that the D1 runs bigger gearboxes and engines than the Series, so if your series is 4 or 6 cylinder, you might have to cut the firewall, transmission tunnel, floor and seat box to make it all fit. You should be ok if you've got a Stage 1 setup.

I really do think you're better off converting it with a County chassis rather than a D1 if you just want it to bolt up as best as possible and have it work. For that combo to be most seamless, a Series 3 body would be the most complient.

Hello Slunnie,

You must also have a knack for finding hen's teeth and rocking horse poo to have tracked down a County chassis. I have only come across complete vehicles where even ones that should be heading towards the scrap heap demand over $10K. It is not everyday that a wrecking notice comes up for a County. They all seem to be perceived by their owners as valuable and rare restoration projects, regardless of how much of a total basket case the car is.

Kind regards
Lionel

Originally Posted by jakeslouw

Since the vehicle isn't standard any more, I wouldn't bother. The TD5 is well beyond its sell-by date and spares are scarce.

In SA perhaps. Plenty of TD5 bits around in the UK and to a lesser extent Oz. TD5s are great engines.

However, if starting from scratch with no engine at all then yes, I'd agree, Isuzu. But then you may as well buy a Perentie and be done with it.

Originally Posted by Lionelgee

Hello Slunnie,

You must also have a knack for finding hen's teeth and rocking horse poo to have tracked down a County chassis. I have only come across complete vehicles where even ones that should be heading towards the scrap heap demand over $10K. It is not everyday that a wrecking notice comes up for a County. They all seem to be perceived by their owners as valuable and rare restoration projects, regardless of how much of a total basket case the car is.

Kind regards
Lionel

I was probably lucky. These things just turned up and I bought them.

I bought a bare County V8 chassis which is why I needed the Disco1 donor vehicle to transplant the drive train and suspension etc. Then the body from another vehicle.

Then I bought a rolling chassis with plates, receipts etc - this is the one which is in the shed to be built up now instead.

I've got your PM's, I'll reply when I get home tonight.