Ash's 69 R-code

[Ash 145]

You would have had a great time out in the Charger. Perhaps a track day in the future to open her up?

 

This was from the last time I went there. Oran Park was good too but Eastern Creek was definitely better.

 

[RPM 1,190]

Very cool stuff Ash! About ten years ago I rode a family friend's Ducati Desmosedici. It was too much for this old guy.

[Ash 145]

A Desmosedici, wow, very impressive! This 848 is a baby in comparison. I've never even seen one let alone ride one.

Years ago I worked in a Ducati dealership and we got to see some pretty exotic stuff come through from time to time. Mostly for the race teams. And Troy Bayliss lives relatively close by so his stuff at the time would come through every now and then. But we weren't allowed to ride those bikes. At one point we had a new 999S as a demo, I had lots of fun lunch breaks out on that thing.

[Ash 145]

The floor is all tek screwed into place now but one last check with the driveline before it is welded in.

 

 

Bolted up the trans to the dummy block and slid it into place. I couldn't find where I put the trans support so it was being held a little lower in place than where it should sit with a strap.

 

 

 

 

Before I called it quits for the day I thought I'd try out the different shifters that I have collected. They are all from BA/BF Falcons, 1 x T5, 1 x T56 and 1 x TR6060. The TR6060 one is the only one where the mounting bolts face front to back. The other two go side to side. Which meant the angle of the bends would face differently to how they were when fitted in the Falcon

 

 

All of them I think will be too tall. I think I'll have to section which ever one is most suited no matter what.

 

 

 

 

[stangnet33 88]

 

[stangnet33 88]

"No, I haven't seen that show. We don't get a huge range of car shows on tele and I don't have pay TV. I'll have to look it up.

 

At least you don't have a big pond of water to get parts across if you need them. Our exchange is not great. Hasn't really been since I bought the cars. I definitely got them at the right time.

 

Look forward to seeing some of your updates. Did you try out any SPI?

 

Any one know if it was common for inner rockers to be galvanised? "

 

Yes, I use SPI for everything though I haven't on my car as of yet, but shortly. Awesome products. Nice bike buddy ! I like you, had to give up on bikes when the young ones came about. Good to see you cranking on them again. I didn't realize how much metal you have removed from your car :P Keep on cranking :)

 

[Ash 145]

Cheers mate. The kids have just started learning to ride their little CRF and I started getting the bug again myself. It's great watching them enjoy it.

 

I've dug fairly deep into the old girl and there is still lots of metal left to fix and replace yet. Last night I was contemplating buying a set of these just to save on time. My left side it not too bad but my right side is fairly rotten at the top.

 

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/111169464790?_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

[Ash 145]

Am way off this point but these became available so I grabbed them.

 

 

I was given these plates for my 18th birthday, back in 2000. ASH69C wasn't available so that was as close to a pair that I could get.

 

[shaun071 62]

Hey Ash I bought an Amsrok as well. Happy with it so far.

[Ash 145]

Hey Shaun,

You''ll love it! I've had mine for about a year and half now and have done 30k in it. It just keeps impressing me. It's the first time that I have not had a Ford and my first turbo diesel.

I get usually around 10-11 litres per hundred average when towing my car trailer and a lot of that is in Sydney traffic and then the highway through the mountains sitting on 110.

Did you get an auto or a manual? Mine is a manual.

Only fault that I have had is an oil leak from the output shaft on the trans. They fixed that under warranty though.

I will say though that it is a magnet for idiots in shopping centre car parks. It's just that little wider in the track and fills our tiny car spaces. So I no longer park in them, park out on a main road and walk.

[MAC390 327]

Have a new ranger manual ,goes great but i agree with you about car park idiots.

In the car park at Woy Woy shopping center lady parks next to me in her shit box and bang opens the door straight into my door and says ( IT'S ONLY YOUR WORK TRUCK NO BIG DEAL)

My reply to her was not very flattering to her , they don't care.

[Ash 145]

First week of owning mine, two incidents led to two insurance claims and over $8000 worth of repairs. You're spot on, they just don't care.

[shaun071 62]

Hey Ash, it's an auto 4x4. I was the same as you, first non ford, turbo diesel etc. I'm impressed with it so far. Good economy, plenty of room etc. I need that with a surprise 3rd baby due in January lol. I try and park away from everyone else too. There's just no respect for other people's property any more. It's the throw away society I guess.

[Ash 145]

Congrats mate, to you and the wife!!

 

You'll fit 3 kids seats across the back fine, Shaun. Friends of ours in town not long ago bought a new Amarok as well for that reason, they've now got 3 kids under 5. Plus he was sick of his late model V8 Cruiser breaking down all the time. It had an electrical gremlin that no one could find.

Last month my youngest is now old enough to finish using booster seats. And now with an empty back seat, my interior looks huge!! haha

But.....in January our eldest is expecting a baby so we're going to be grandparents. Looks like we'll need some more seats again.

[shaun071 62]

Never ending circle of life mate! We'll have 3 kids under 4. Got snipped this week so no more surprises lol. We've had to get a couple of 4-8 y/o boosters as they're narrower than the seats we have. We can't get 3 of the big boosters across the back seat of the wife's Passat. We may actually swap cars while she's on maternity leave. There's a good forum for amaroks on the net, ausamarok. I've got some good ideas from it and there's plenty of how to's for dealing with the "unique" electrical system.

[Ash 145]

Only thing electrical I've done to mine was install a tow bar. That took all of about 20mins from start to finish. Gees they made that easy. Any time I put a spanner on it I'm surprised how efficient the process is.

 

I think I've seen that forum when I was looking into some things. Looked like there was loads of info there.

 

Am thinking about putting some lifted springs in it though as I'd like the tow bar height to be a little higher to suit some of my trailers better. But that is about the only reason. I'll take it up some fire trails to go and collect firewood but I'll dodge anything that looks like it might scratch it so no real 4x4ing for me.

 

Plus I have too many others toys to tinker with and ruin so the good car needs to stay just that, reliable and good. Haha!!

[Ash 145]

Still been chipping away when I get a moment here and there. Slow progress but nearly done on the top side of the floor.

 

Plug welded to the chassis rails and cross member

 

 

I didn't realise until now that this photo was pretty crap. The top of the tunnel is welded in its new home. Just needs to be cleaned up now. Hopefully I'll get some time over the weekend to make some more mess.

 

[MAC390 327]

Nice work mate. Hard to get time to get a lot done.

[stangnet33 88]

Nice work Ash ! How's the toe boards on the old girl ? Mine needs work unfortunately, starting to rot out up by the dimmer switch :/   

[Ash 145]

Thanks guys!

 

I had to make a patch panel for the drivers side, there's a few pics on it a few pages back. There's the odd pin hole which I have or will weld up. Most of the repairs though are due to the previous owners hacking when he put in the previous floor pan sections. Or where he previously welded those in and I've cut them out.

Otherwise it's all pretty solid. Torque boxes are sweet. The bottoms of the chassis rails are thin in spots but I'll address those once I'm working on the under side. Most of the work that I'm doing, yes there are a few rust spots to fix, but most is either fixing up old mates previous handy work or going to lengths to prevent rust in the future, such as putting epoxy on surfaces that never got paint.

 

Any updates on yours, Stangnet?

[RPM 1,190]

Tidy work mate! I sure don't envy you guys who had to replace your floors.

[Ash 145]

Cheers mate!

 

I don't envy us either, Bob. But the fact that I know there are now more than 2 welds now holding the floor to the chassis rails, it is very reassuring. The chassis may even serve a purpose now.....(insert forehead slap emoji here)

[Ash 145]

Got a helping hand in the shed on Saturday from my little girl. I asked the cheeky thing to help me bleed the brakes on my 66, she asked why, and when I said because the car would be hers one day and she needs to learn how to fix it, that got her pretty excited.

 

 

I spent some more time spent on grinding and sanding. More time could have been spent to dress it all a little further but I think I've gone far enough with it.

 

 

Then gave it a quick coat to seal the fresh metal. It'll all come off later anyway once all work is done and it's time to prep for epoxy.

And that's it now for the top side of the floor. Time to move on to the next thing.

 

[Rcodenewf 44]

Looking good Ash! Nice work....

John

[Ash 145]

Thanks, John!