Thread: Stirlsilver's Disco Ute Project

Looking good.
Might have missed it but who are you getting the ZF done through and how much are they expecting for the privilege? Are you getting your box strengthened at all?

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T/case will be fine if its in good nick . Plenty of lt 230`s out there that have ls1 ect infront of them

Originally Posted by Disco Muppet

Might have missed it but who are you getting the ZF done through and how much are they expecting for the privilege? Are you getting your box strengthened at all?

I got the transmission built by AB Automatics in Melbourne, they charged $3,850 and that is assuming you send an old 4HP22 core back to them.

Further progress.

The new top hat lined engine arrived from Triumph.


I pressure washed the transmission in preparation to separate the transfer case off the auto box so that it can be refitted to the 4HP24 box that AB Automatics built for me.


I temporarily converted the workshop into a washing booth so that I could pressure wash the engine bay. The photo strangely looks like a scene out of the Dexter series!


All washed down.


And then I discovered a sinister secret under the paint in the engine bay. Damage from a leaking battery and also leaking break fluid. Also the fact that I used a strong concentration of degreaser didn't help my case...




The process of removing all the rust. Looking better. I ended up putting a primer coat of epoxy rust converting paint, but forgot to take the photo.

Check out the passenger side body mount to see if there is any rust under the rubber. My washer bottle had been leaking and the whole side of the mount was rusted through.

I put the body lift kit in and lowered the body and the mount just folded up. I re welded it and then treated the area and battery box with the full POR15 treatment, so it should last for a fair while now.

Keep up the good work.

Originally Posted by Corgie Carrier

Check out the passenger side body mount to see if there is any rust under the rubber. My washer bottle had been leaking and the whole side of the mount was rusted through.

That side is next on my list. Though it is in nowhere near as bad condition!

Spent some time tinkering in Solidworks. Plus putting in a lot of orders for things like:
Oil Coolers
Water proof enclosure & connectors for ECU
Pressure Transmitters
Temperature Senders
And so on...

I've bought a pair of Derale 15800 oil coolers, one will be for the engine and the other for the transmission. Each controlled via the ECU by oil temperature senders. Below is what the unit looks like (It should arrive in the next week or so)


And below (in blue) is where I plan to mount them. According to my 3D model, they should JUST fit in. I'll find out soon if this is right!




I also did some quick exploring on how much modification I'm going to have to do to the bonnet to clear the intercoolers and the fans for them. The answer is... A lot... It's going to be quite a bulge! plus I need to blend in a scoop. Should end up looking pretty agressive I think.





Back into playing in the workshop tomorrow!

Just let it stick out the bonnet, street machine style :-)

OR you could put a clear cover over it to show off your cool set up :-)

This is a hell of a build - enjoying following it.

Considering there is a good chance this will spend time fording, is a cowl scoop the way to go?

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Originally Posted by Corgie Carrier

Just let it stick out the bonnet, street machine style :-)

That would be an interesting look! Though I don't think it is legal??

Originally Posted by Disco_Fever

Considering there is a good chance this will spend time fording, is a cowl scoop the way to go?

I'll definitely want to design the scoop so that it catches the air stream and forces the air over the intercoolers. As for the situation when fording, I'm thinking of including some baffles which will reduce the amount of water that reaches the top of the engine. I need to think about the design some more!!

Ripped into the project some more this weekend making some great progress.

Last week I bought a 2nd hand engine stand but I didn't have bolts long enough to mount it. So that was sorted this weekend :-)


Another item I forgot to mention in my update from last weekend was that I had made a start of drilling out and removing the vertical panels of the inner guards. The plan is that I will re-bolt these panels back in using bolts so that I have better access to the sides of the engine. With so much stuff hanging off either side of the engine I need as much access as I can get to reach bolts!!


Right hand guard seam sealed after treating all the rust!


Here is an action shot of Derrick cutting some parts for me. Again a major help!


While the seam sealer on the righ hand guard cured and the primer paint on the left hand guard dried, we moved onto the spring perch modifications:








With all the cold weather going around, it was necessary for me to wrap the guard in an electric blanket which I modified to remove the auto off timer. This is so the primer paint would continue to cure over night.


Next day, the right hand guard was top coated in a light grey paint and I finished welding up the 50mm extensions to the spring perches.








And that's all folks!