Miller's 1972 MWB

[miller]

Well I thought I'd kick off the project threads. My '72 isnt finished (no comments please Swerve) and not worthy of the "Show us your Patrol" thread yet!

Originally bought this Patrol on ebay as a 2 car deal for $400. After closer inspection turned out it was in pretty decent shape and too good to part out. So what do you do in that situation?? Start another project of course!

Here she is fresh off the trailer.



Front half of the soft top frame was still there..


It had sat for a long time with the roof off so the interior was pretty roached..

[bosque]

Hey Tim, that thing looks excellent Soft top parts look good.
Maybe I should have put my 65 in here too since it is still a project.

[RiverPatrol]

It does look to be in very good condition.

Any Patrol is eligible for 'Show us your Patrol'; rust or bling, we want to see them!

[miller]

First job was to move the shorty chassis out of the shed. With that done i rolled the red beast into its new home. It will be great to be able to work on it rain, hail or shine!

Started pulling headlights, indicators, dash pieces etc. when i removed the front indicators i was pleased to see the original holes unmolested hiding underneath. Then started digging at the back. I wasnt going to remove the rust patched on the back but i couldnt help myself and well.. its not as bad as i was expecting. Ill cut this out and weld a new piece in. I also found the indicator holes also.

Anyway that was about all for today. I hope not to dig to deep into this car, just basic body freshen up and spend most of my time effort on the running gear.









Custom fuel tank.. and Tahoe

[miller]

Removed the front guards, turns out they were held on by one bolt each side and silicone! Also removed the tube bumper and couldnt help myself and sat the warn bumper on to see how it looked



Tedious day today. Tried starting it with no luck, it was almost there but couldnt quite make it! I then remembered i hadnt checked/drained the old fuel and well it was awefull! It was thick and orange and smelt like cats piss haha. Sooo changed the carb over to the spare Hitachi i have and ill drain the old fuel another time. Just wasnt in the mood today.

I then decided to start and tidy up whe wiring as i know my way around electrics better than mechanics so i figured i could acomplish more and feel better for it

Here is the birds nest..


Cut alot of crap out and slowly started labeling each wire and sorting out the madness.

Looking a little better..



I need to get myself a new fuse holder and once that is mounted i can start taping up the looms again.

[miller]

Adapted the later model brake booster and master cylinder to the '72 today. Turned out to be a pretty simple mod.

Boosted brake goodness..


Bolted up the new springs to the front diff tonight. Put a set of wheels on it and set it back down for the first time in a while. As you can see in the photo the rear was sitting at the original ride height and the front is sitting much higher now.





Front driveshaft clearance. She's going to be tight!



I measured the windscreen height against one of my other 60's and it is sitting 4.5" higher than the other No doubt the springs are sagged in the other 60 but looking forward to putting the front guards on to check out the clearance.

[miller]

Put the rear springs and diff in today. My U bolts were ready but after getting them home realised they were the wrong size (this keeps happening to me for some reason). Had a hell of a time trying to get the bloody springs in, i really hope i dont need to do that again for a while!

Anyway heres the photos of my work today. I lowered the car back down on jack stands so the tyres are just touching the ground til my ubolts arrive so i can see how much i have gained. Looks alot higher but i dont think it looks enough to clear 33's.. hmm we'll see.





Picked up the 34's mounted to rims today :thumbup:

Wheels are 16x7 with a 4" backspace. Im very pleased with the way they sit. I know the narrow tyre look isnt everyones cup of tea but i love it!!! Ive got a new found enthusiasm for this project now...

[RiverPatrol]

Adapted the later model brake booster and master cylinder to the '72 today. Turned out to be a pretty simple mod.

Boosted brake goodness..

Could you please expand on this a bit? I know that one hurdle is supplying vacuum to the booster. On the early models there is not a nipple on the intake manifold to connect to for vacuum. How is this accomplished (getting vacuum to the booster)?

FYI...when posting pictures you can upload them as an attachment right in your post. No need to link the image from somewhere else. Saves double work. You can also create a Photo Album in Gallery and insert them into the post using the available posting buttons. We're trying to make things a little easier here.

[miller]

Ok so I now have a new deadline to get this thing on the road. The 4x4 club that I am in has been asked to set up a display at this years Australian International Air Show http://www.airshow.com.au/airshow2013/p ... index.html

At this stage details are a little unclear but I believe it will mostly be a static display but there was talk of maybe having a small track for demo's. Should be fun.. now I need to get cracking.. again

[RiverPatrol]

That should be good motivation. Looks like a fun show!