3point141
Yorkshire and The Humber
Posts: 106
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Jul 29, 2015 19:17:01 GMT
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Well, it might not be exotic, or fast, but it is retro & quite a rarity... This "thing", I picked up from a chap living on an air-base Lincolnshire ways. He said he'd had since it was bought new & run it around the base since then. He claimed he couldnt even remember if it'd ever been taxed or MOT'd... Dunno if there's any thuth in that... When I picked it up, it became evident that he had a "thing" for them, I established this by the fact that he had two others.. Bought for, literally, scrap value, it cost me more to get it towed home, or rather, the lockup around the corner I've rented to do the dirty work which lies ahead....
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Jul 29, 2015 19:44:04 GMT
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Wow haven't seen one of those that good in the last 20 years!
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3point141
Yorkshire and The Humber
Posts: 106
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Jul 29, 2015 19:50:24 GMT
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Just check out the simple dashboard. Nothing you don't need. Even the AM radio works...
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Jul 29, 2015 20:37:07 GMT
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Awesome truck. How rusty is it?
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Koos
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RetroMat
Posted a lot
Column Shifting!
Posts: 3,444
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Jul 29, 2015 20:58:27 GMT
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awesome purchase. Looks pretty rust free for one of these!
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dikkehemaworst
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 1,636
Club RR Member Number: 16
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Jul 29, 2015 21:22:03 GMT
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Haven't seen one in like for ever. wow , love the suzuki sj from that period too. lovely car this is. all the luck
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3point141
Yorkshire and The Humber
Posts: 106
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Thanks for the encouraging words.
Rust-wise, the chassis seems to be 100% OK, Whooo-hoooo!!! However, the body shell seems pretty bad, especially on the front-end. Both front wings, front panel & bonnet are extremely rotten, thin and see-through (like a tea-bag). Floors and load area are gone through too.
The plan will be to get the body off & sand-blast it back to good steel, then see what I have to do to get it all good again. I've already priced up new front panels and the cost of import (From Brazil) is extremely prohibitive, so I'll make some out of glass-fibre later on.
Essentially, this is just a side-project I'm doing in between other car-related-money-pit stuff, so I'm not prepared to spend anything on it. Lets see how long that promise lasts......
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I can only say.... Love it.
Quirky, definitely a ball ache to get fixed but hey.... We all need a challenge.
Good luck and keep us updated.
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Rich
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 6,338
Club RR Member Number: 160
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On old friend of mine's dad had an F20 when we were still at school and my family had an SJ. I always wanted the F20, it was always just that little bit better off-road due to having a bit more grunt. Suffice to say the F20 looks a lot cooler too. Good luck getting it all patched up!
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3point141
Yorkshire and The Humber
Posts: 106
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Quick update. All I can say is "That was easy".. I went down the lockup this morning to start the long & laborious task of dis-assembling the jeep, with the aim to getting the body-shell off for sand blasting this week. 2-hours later, i'd finished. Only needed three sizes of socket, screwdriver & a grinder. Don't want to speak too early, but, his is already my favourite project.
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3point141
Yorkshire and The Humber
Posts: 106
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Doh! I thought i'd taken photos of my one-man effort getting the body off using my engine crane (plus 5ft extension & engine block ballast). Naer-mind, next time it's time for Blast-AWAY!!
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Quite unique - bookmarked!
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1986 Mercedes 200 (W124) (Standard and daily) 1976 Peugeot 404 1800 Stickshift (Standard - awaiting complete resto, engine done) 1984 Ford Cortina (P100) LDV - Cab and chassis restored, interior and glass not fitted, brand new 3 liter engine (last 110kw Sierra XR6 engine fitted and married to 5 speed Toyota Gearbox), load body needed.
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Awesome! will be following this thread
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***Please contact me if you need Tig welding done***
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l33dwc
Part of things
Posts: 226
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Nice find. Spent some of my childhood in one of these. Good luck with project.
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Current fleet 1991 Fiesta 1.1 Popular Plus - The garaged queen 2003 Shogun 3.3 DiD - The family truck and general dogsbody 2004 Audi A4 1.8t.- Project that needs Mot 2007 Nissan Note 1.4 - Business car 1 2008 Vauxhall Corsa 1.4 Auto - Business car 2 2014 Toyota Yaris 1.4 - Business cars 3
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3point141
Yorkshire and The Humber
Posts: 106
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Thanks for the encouragement, I've always loved these little jeeps, but kinda forgot all about them since my childhood. There are so few of them in existence that you hardly ever get reminded of them ever existing.
Managed to get started blasting over the weekend, will probably manage to get finished this week so will have some updates coming through soon. By the way, DIY sand-blasting is the most depressingly awful & miserable job I've ever had to do in the pursuit of car restoration... never again (he said..)
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that's a little cute thing, reminds me of Batteries not included for some reason, I can't decide which one it looks like the most... What plans do you have? Original restore? Polished wheels with whippy aerial?
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3point141
Yorkshire and The Humber
Posts: 106
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Ha, haa! I can see the resemblance.. weird too, I was just talking about that film on the weekend. Restoration-wise, I'm not sure, beyond getting all the rust gone & painted, there's not too much to do. Although... upping the game with a mild lift, grippy tyres & roll-cage & winch, might turn it into a serious plaything. I've also toyed with fitting a new engine to give her a bit more "go". I've a SAAB B234 turbo engine & Frontera 'box which might fit.
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3point141
Yorkshire and The Humber
Posts: 106
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More progress!!! Body... sand-blasted! Yep, Thats a lot of body removed due to being totally rotten. In total, I've had to remove footwells, inner-cill areas & the entire load floor. Thankfully, all panels are pretty simple shapes, so shouldn't be too much work to re-produce them. Using my pot blasting unit, I didn't have enough CFM using my (very) old throwaway spare compressor. Thankfully my mate came to the rescue with his spare. I've got two other compressors, but theres no way I'd use them for this grotty task, with all the grit & dust, even with filters, the internals get pretty gunked up & the oil is nasty afterwards. At least its done now....
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Love it, I've liked theses f20's for ages but you see so few about. I've got a book..... 'Suzuki SJ gold portfolio' and it has loads of period road reviews, one of the articles is Australian and compared the Suzuki LJ50 vs the daihatsu F20, it says they are pretty well matched but the daihatsu had the better engine which gave it better road speed (the LJ had the 550cc two stroke engine).
Later Suzuki LJ's had the 800cc 4 stroke engine which I imagine would make them pretty much equal,
Anyway, I love this build and am looking forward to updates, keep them coming,
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Ha, haa! I can see the resemblance.. weird too, I was just talking about that film on the weekend. Restoration-wise, I'm not sure, beyond getting all the rust gone & painted, there's not too much to do. Although... upping the game with a mild lift, grippy tyres & roll-cage & winch, might turn it into a serious plaything. I've also toyed with fitting a new engine to give her a bit more "go". I've a SAAB B234 turbo engine & Frontera 'box which might fit. Must have been the car subliminally making you think of the film. I think most projects start up like the first paragraph and then end up halfway toward the second paragraph.
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