I've made a start on my 109" wagon. I first saw this wagon about 20 years ago in Copley and thought it would be a good one to get hold of. I bought it from Dave at Wilmington about 2 years ago and trailered it back to Kapunda. On better inspection I saw that the chassis had been damaged and poorly repaired with 10mm plate spoggy s--t welded around the shackle bush hole on one side and that all cross members had rust. I'm not scared off by this sort of thing but I figured if I was going to repair it I may as well swap in an ex army chassis for the added height.
I located a chassis about 10ks from home and dragged it home only to find that it too had some horrific repairs done to the front rails as a result of a major collision. I started by fabricating and replacing both front rails from about the bump stops forward and fabricated a new front cross member while I was at it. The joins are staggered and there are fish plates welded inside before the top of the rails were welded in.
I have picked up a 130,000 km 200tdi and 5 speed from a disco that will be the heart of the beast and at this stage I'm not sure whether to set up a remote gear lever or to leave the stick coming up between the seats a bit like a forward control. Anyways I'll keep you all posted with updates as I go along.
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