Daihatsu Taft F50

Not a huge amount to report, done the rear brake lines and replaced fuel pipe, waiting until I get the engine in and wings on before I do the front brake lines.
Still searching for a Fourtrak...
Messing about with the non standard aluminium fuel tank, it doesn't leak, but seems to me to sit pretty low (ground clearance). Also as it's not stock it doesn't really fix securely and I couldn't work out how the make it better when a thought struck me. When I picked up the 5sp gearbox the seller also had a chassis which had been made ready to take a body 20 years ago. The blasted body got stolen and the project forgotten, the chassis just sat outside and I seem to remember that the tank looked ok on it. Qué another 3 1/2 HR round trip to pick it up. The tank is spotless inside, it was sealed from moisture and I suppose being diesel had a better chance than a petrol tank.




I think it had been painted prior to its slumber which has saved it although there was a few spots of light surface rust and an area on the lip where the 2 halves were folded together. This was outside the seam though so integrity not compromised.



And again, being diesel and the fact that the inside of the tank wasn't compromised I was comfortable cutting the damage out and adding new steel.



Paint removed with a heat gun and scraper, showing that it has been blasted before and I've just finished a heavyish coat of epoxy mastic after sanding to key the surface. I'll put a top coat on it in the coming days.

Could you make an "inner skin" from thin aluminium and line that with either four way stretch van liner or similar?

First parts to swap are the wheels. The Taft has fourtrak steels with tyres from 2003, the new truck has alloys with tyres from 2011, so a massive upgrade!



The Taft came with a new set of loose tyres so they're waiting to be fitted.

Next up was the towbar. The Taft one seemed like it would be ok with a small trailer, but the fourtrak one is much more substantial. Not a direct swap though as I had to shorten it by about 6" and add some bolting points to the chassis.
New Vs old




Seatbelts are going to be swapped over, maybe some carpets. Just waiting on a boost gauge and controller so I can make sure the engine is tickety boo before pulling it out
Same basic block as my Taft, so will bolt up to my gearbox and engine mounts. Rad won't be a problem, but the intercooler pipework might require some headscratching only because the Taft slam panel doesn't have space for them. I'll also rob the glow plug circuit from the fourtrak as it's on a proper timer unlike the Taft which is manual.

Busy weekend, spent a few hours yesterday taking bits and bobs off of the engine on the fourtrak. Today's Goal was simply to get the exhaust out and the props off and make the engine ready for lifting.
Got that done and whilst having lunch I convinced myself that lifting the engine out would only be a quick job. 4 hours later it's finally done.



Plan was to roll the truck back to give me a bit of space, but that was the start of the fun as one or both of the front brakes are seized on. Plenty of 14mm bolt heads were manky and required a 13mm socket hammering onto them. To give you an idea of the underside, the rear axle is basically like flakey pastry, still, it's done now. Halfway through, one of the manky steel fuel lines started leaking, which left a nice mess.
Plan for the week is to separate the engine and box and assess the state of the clutch before plonking the engine in its new home.

Only had a bit of time on it today, got the gearbox off to inspect the clutch, if I needed one I wanted to order it this side of Christmas.
Good result, it's an Exedy unit with a measurement of 1.5mm from surface to rivet head, book limit is .3mm, so that's a win. Only problem is that the spigot bearing is shagged, just ordered one, but e.bay is by default quoting delivery dates on 28th Dec, fingers crossed it will be before that. I may even have one in my special parts bin for my motorbike days.

Well, 3 hours to put 12 bolts in




Had to go a bit steady as I reckon the engine and gearbox lump is the best part of 400kg. Made sure I was at no point under any dangly bits.

Scrap man didn't show yesterday, told me he would come today and I've not heard anything so I'll be binning him off and looking for someone else.

Hopefully now it's just bolting on some nice clean bits, I think I have everything, bit of headscratching with the intercooler location, modify the fourtrak exhaust, wiring + bolt the front end on. 4 months until it's tax exempt, so plenty of time.

Tried the fourtrak rad as it's about 1/2 the thickness, but overall dimensions are bigger and the outlet pipe almost touches the pas box if I take the headlight brackets off so it will fit.

Good old Facebook marketplace. Was a bit bored last night so hunted for radiators. Found one from a mk3 Hilux, complete with electric fan. The outlet is on the opposite side so no issues with power steering. Messaged the seller and the dimensions were promising. It had only been used for about 1 year, was £30 and only 20 mins away.
Just got home and it's plonked in the gap lovely, obviously a bit of bracketry required, but I call that a result.






I also removed the slam panel and bonnet catch from the fourtrak so hopefully can modify that to fit the Taft and stop the radiator being a structural component as it currently is!

Update time, I've basically spent 2 weekends making a bracket for the power steering pump, thought I was loosing my mojo.
Due to the steering box being welded to the chassis, the pump will not fit on it's normal bracket on that side of the engine. Also the pump is a Landrover one to match the box. Whoever did the power steering mod in days gone by had mounted the pump in a non adjustable position on the pass side of the engine with a rusty old bit of angle iron.
Much headscratching and trial fitting, especially taking the pipework into consideration and it's finally fitted for good




It runs its own belt, so needs to be adjustable. Also made up a bracket to hold the pipes, this picks up one of the sump mounting threads.