Thread: '70 IIA Wagon questions

Originally Posted by JayBoRover

I Everything needs work on it but ... it's growing on me. What do I do?

Keep the bits well hidden so as not to irritate spouse etc and do the S1 first

Originally Posted by chazza

Keep the bits well hidden so as not to irritate spouse etc and do the S1 first

^^^^^ I agree Id do the same

While doing one of my regular sweeps of eBay I stumbled across a pair of these being auctioned:


They eventually sold for $33, so I thought I'd better go and have a look at my donor S2a and sure enough, there on the bonnet spare wheel mount was a pair of the same thing.

So my DeeDee went from this ...:


... to this:


I was worried about the fact that they sit clear of the bonnet, as I was expecting they'd pull down tight and pivot from the long end, but I've now been told they don't get pulled down tight and they are the correct ones to use. (Obviously they aren't installed fully in the photo and they do screw further down that shown. I'll post up a photo of them installed properly when I've replaced the wheel with a freshly painted one). All good.

The other recent change is the addition of a set of wheels:

These were a great buy as they are in good condition and came with tyres with 80% tread, four wheels and five tyres, for $10ea! Then I spotted a Drag Link leaning against the fence and offered him $10 for that and he refused the money saying he'd be embarrassed to take money for it. It came with a genuine steering damper fitted, so I assumed it would be stuffed. Got home and took the damper off and extended it and contracted it through it's range and not a sceric of air in it ... perfect!

So pretty soon I'll have an original Drag Link fitted and the correct steering wheel on to complement the wheels. Then over time I'll get through each wheel with the sand blaster, primer and paint. After some time of being sure I've made the right decision, I should have a hydraulic ram power steering system, Momo sports steering wheel and a set of 15" wheels for sale.

I've been using DeeDee heaps for work, doing regular trips of around 125km each way, 3 or 4 days per week for a few weeks. I'm happy to say I've had no problems (unlike my Nissan Patrol that **** it's brake fluid all over the concrete one night) and I really, really enjoy driving it. Even more that I've got the proper wheels on it. Can't wait to change the steering wheel.

Catch ya'll.

I spent some more time on DeeDee today. (I got sick of working on the Nissan Patrol and needed to do something rewarding). I've taken all the power steering system off (hydraulic reservoir, hydraulic pump, hydraulic ram, modified Drag Link and the hoses) and put an original Drag Link and 16" original wheels back on. The wheels are fitted with Dunlop Road Gripper tyres in 7.50x16, with about 80% tread on them.

I've been running with the 16" wheels and tyres for the last week but it'll be different without the Momo steering wheel and power steering. Might go for a test drive after dinner. The new tie rod ends fitted to each end of the Drag Link should make a nice difference too. Maybe no more wondering around the lane?

It had 31x10.5R15 tyres on Sunraysia style rims so the power steering was installed to make that easier - as well as covering for the small Momo sports steering wheel (by previous owners).

I worked until well after dark as it was so no photo's unfortunately. I will take some photo's of the stuff I've removed though and post it up later, probably next weekend.

Cheers
John B

So is it a nice change with the "arm strong" steering?

Good to see you are going back to the way it should be

Originally Posted by Lostkiwi

So is it a nice change with the "arm strong" steering?

Good to see you are going back to the way it should be

At around 9:30pm Sunday night I suddenly stood up and announced to the wife I was going to take the S2a for a test drive to see how it feels. She thought I was a bit crazy and said as much. "What ... NOW?". So I headed out and onto the Freeway for 8km's then back by some suburban streets and country roads.

It definitely requires a fair bit more effort when stopped or going slow and you have to start the process of turning a little earlier for intersection turns. I have no idea how people manage to turn these Series' with 15" wheels and wide tyres without power steering. Probably the hardest thing to get used to though is the size of the steering wheel and the fact I now have to take my hand off the wheel to turn the indicator stalk. Also the nice leather bound feel of the little Momo was nice. I think I'll be buying one of those nice leather covers for the S2a wheel after I've renovated it. I also notice that the wheel size now means a deliberate effort to see the speedo, whereas with the little Momo wheel the speedo was always in view.

I am very happy that I have taken another step to making the driving experience a little closer to "the way it should be". I also like the fact that externally it looks more like a traditional Series Landy while retaining some "mod cons" inside. I want to start sorting out my camping arrangement for the back and changing out the overhead console so I can actually hear the 2-way, and maybe the radio. Then I really want to start doing something with the S1, although I suspect my Australasian Safari campaign and possible Dakar support crew role entry may take precedence for the rest of the year.

Good times

Originally Posted by JayBoRover

It seems you are quite correct in that the Blue motors were 173 and 202 only - not 186. Same resource (Wikipedia) states the Black motors were 3.3 litre only. It's more fun coming here than looking on Wiki though

__________________________________________________ ___________
I had two holdens 186's HR and HK from new, both had red motors

Hodgo

I got off the train and headed to the car-park to pick up DeeDee for the drive home. As I walked closer I thought "she seems to be leaning uphill". Sure enough, the drivers side rear tyre had the air at the top. Not ideal to be getting on for dark, in my day's business attire and having to change a wheel. Then to discover that the bottle jack didn't like life any more and had swapped some of it's vital life fluid for air. Then the spare "scissor" jack was missing the handle!

Scrummaged about and found the big shifter, so used that one quarter turn at a time on the scissor jack. Slow but got there okay.

Got home and had a look at the flat tyre. Found a nice split in the tube to align with the split in the tyre sidewall:

This was one of the tyres that came with the $10 wheels, so I can't complain too much ... or at all really. So I grabbed another of the same tyre, and also a tube, from my pile of used spares, got my Tyre-Pliers kit out and the usual assortment of dishwashing liquid, overalls, rubber mallet and rags and set about changing the tyre. I'm getting faster at it because the whole process, including putting the original wheel back on the hub and putting the spare back on the bonnet, only took me about 1 1/4 hours.

Funnily enough, I got a flat on the pushbike on Saturday morning when out for a group ride. When back at the cycle shop for a post ride coffee and toast (weekly regular) and buying a replacement pair of tubes, the shop owner said "these things come in threes they say". I replied quite adamantly "nope, I fit new tyres and tubes at the first puncture and never have that 2nd or 3rd flat that everyone else does". Well bugger me - maybe he was right but it isn't contained to the same transport equipment?? I might check the wheelbarrow tyre tomorrow - hopefully it's flat and I can drive DeeDee the 125km to Harvey for work on Wednesday without worry.

Cheers
John B