Thread: Plugger and The Camel

Originally Posted by mick88

It's progressing along nicely.
It will be too good to use the way you are going.
Tricky what paint stripper did you use on the hardtop?
Keep up the good work, and the running updates on here.

Cheers, Mick.

I hope not Mick, that would be a shame!! First shakedown trip will be to Sundown NP with his uncle!!

I used some commercial-grade gel stripper (can't remember the brand but I can go down tomorrow and have a look for you), it was quite aggressive on the top layer but didn't touch what was underneath, and the amount you have to put on to get all the paint off was prohibitive.

In the end I just used a braided wire cup on the 5" angle grinder and made sure I kept it constantly moving. This took longer but seemed to do a better job! The wire-wheel/cup will be what I will use for the rest of it - tray, hardtop sides, bulkhead and doors!

Hope this helps and thanks for the kind words Mick!

Cheers,
Tricky

Originally Posted by 86mud

Good work on the repairs. I wish my firewall looked that good!

Look here for extended shocks:

Rocky Mountain, Shock Absorbers

To All,

Check straps, are people still installing these on their Landies???

Cheers,
Andrew

I've gone with parabolics and longer shocks so no in my case.

Their purpose is to stop the shock topping out in extreme articulation situations
If you don't plan on extreme off road work they are probably not necessary

Hi Guys n Girls,

A quick update....

This weekend saw us get in a handful of hours in between family, footy and other stuff that needed to be done around the house.

Progressing forward with the paint stripping and getting ready for paint, I got Plugger onto removing all the fixtures and fittings from the hardtop sides. The windows on this particular hardtop were really old style - aluminium angle with bakelite window runners and square glass. Really basic stuff. I got Plugger to drill out all the old aluminium rivets to remove the windows...
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And because all of the tiny steel flat-blade screws which hold in the bakelite sliding glass channel were corroded into the aluminium angle these all had to be cut off with the angle grinder before the windows could come out of the recess. Once again set Plugger onto it...
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There are no felts or rubbers around the glass or the channel so water ingress would be a worry - especially during torrential stuff and there is no way to lock these windows either. We placed a call to G James Glass and asked how they would address these issues and it wasn't cheap or aesthetic - basically $50 per pane to replace whats there with some kind of spring-loaded deadbolt attachment - if we could get it to work.
Thinking caps on....and the solution was ute canopy sliding glass windows - and there were heaps to choose from. I ended up getting a pair of genuine ARB sliders from a Mitsubishi Triton owner who opted to go for lift-up windows for his work ute. $150 down and they were mine and I think they will make the Camel look a whole lot better that what the original ones would have done. And they are lockable to boot - which means tools and gear in the back can be stored in safety, not o mention his fridge, recovery gear etc etc
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And just a quick look at how they will fit in place. They are bigger than the original windows, but they should not look too big as they sides of the hardtop are comparable to what a side on a dual-cab canopy would be. Lots of light and air if need be. Will have a crack at putting them in this weekend.
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Ordered the roll cage main hoop yesterday, some side mirrors and headlight bowls. Now chasing some Series 3 door hinges and door latches with locks. Paint has now been ordered and paid for so we are slowly ticking stuff off. Still not ordered the shocks yet as I keep getting lots of conflicting information...

More to come soon.

Cheers and thanks,
Tricky and Plugger

Still doing great there fellas. Like the window idea. Very smart thinking that.

Cheers Rod

Thanks Rod, nice of you to say!!

Onwards and Upwards!!

Still on the stripping, about half way through now. Still have one hardtop side, the bulkhead, the tray, the seatbase and some various other bits n pieces yet to strip - about a week and a half worth of work still to do! We had some good weather of late so I got Plugger continuing on with the stripping of the hardtop sides - its long and time consuming work, but it has to be done. I think Plugger has had his fill of it now though....
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While Plugger was busy with the wire wheel, I decided to make the alterations to the auxiliary fuel tank to allow it to be a true mirror reverse of the standard tank. This included cutting off the fill spout and repositioning it further outboard to allow it to line up with the holes cut in the tray. We test-fit the tray to make sure that we had it spot on then cut it off and filled in the blank, then re-welded it further outboard.
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I also welded on a 8mm thick bung for the vent hose to screw into on both tanks as before it was simply screwed into the tank sheet metal and I didn't like that - it was way to flimsy!! Now they screw in nice and firm with no slop or movement!
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Sunday and it was time to have a crack at installing these windows into the hardtop sides. It was a case of line of best fit and to this meant that to get the windows to look central in the hardtop sides also meant that it didn't cover the original cut-out for the original rectangular ones. What I will do is grab the TIG and weld-in some infill panels to close up the gap! First order of business was to mark out on the hardtop sides the centrelines for orienting the window, overlay the window internal trim, then offset this line by about 10mm to allow for the flat face of the trim ring....
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And then cut...
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Unfortunately the hat-section stiffener had to go. No way around that if the window wanted to appear in any way central to the sides. I am hoping that with the window glued into place and the internal trim piece glued and screwed into place that this should stiffen this panel right up!
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Too late to turn back now!! Then its a case of test fitting the window to see how good we are! Spot on in fact..!! They look bloody awesome in position and will set the vehicle off nicely with the black glass and yellow sides!!
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And here is the infill piece that will have to be TIG'ed in later this week. Not a big deal, but to try and cover this with the new windows just would not have worked and would have looked silly!
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And here is a shot of the fixtures from the inside.
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And its a lovely fit!!
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And this is what the window looks like with the trim ring/escutcheon installed. It finishes this off nicely and once the interior of the tray is sprayed with the U-Pol and coloured to match the outside it should look sweet as a nut!!
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The window is centralised nicely in the side. But I think a genereous application of black glass sealer will be needed inside and out to cater for the irregularities and to seal against the elements...
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And then its onto side No.2. Mark-out, cut, test fit, admire. The outside...
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The inside...
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Well that's it for today folks, time for a brewskie or two! More next week as we rush headlong to get this thing ready for paint.

Cheers and thanks,
Tricky and Plugger

Originally Posted by mick88

It's progressing along nicely.
It will be too good to use the way you are going.
Tricky what paint stripper did you use on the hardtop?
Keep up the good work, and the running updates on here.

Cheers, Mick.

Here ya go Mick....
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