nearly finished,,,,prep....

[king of the kitchen]

Ok im just going to do a little blog type update for the next 5 weeks just to show the prep on the fronty as its going to morroco for 9 days starting on the 12th of feb.
Im not going to do that much to it, just give it a good service,fit stronger springs to the back as its a bit soft when loaded tweak the front torsion bars to lift the front, fix a loadframe and mesh in the load area fix the roof tent on and thats about it,,,,,,,,





ok this is how she looks just now,,,,,,,,,,,

ok any comments ,ideas would be welcome......kotk.......

[bigdazz]

tidy looking truck mate

[Drift]

Do not turn the torsion bars to high, you will need some flex for the desert roads and lifted too high will cause the front to loose contact and skip along rough roads at any speed above 10mph.

Take a spare front wheel bearing set, belts and if you have a spare CV joint around it would be worth popping it.
Are your front ball joints flipped? if so it makes changing cv boots and even cv joints a simple as you wont have to split the joint in the field, which as we all know is a right royal pain.

As the car is fairly basic its just cooling and front drive train that may possibly cause problems, even then you would be unlucky as thats basic to, less sensors and gizmos to go wrong the better.

Oh a couple of spare wheel nuts will help as they can work loose on gravely roads, had a local guy in Kenya taking us on safari once in the Masai Mara and he would not accept a tip but just wanted us to post him some Nissan Patrol wheel nuts from the UK when we got home

[king of the kitchen]

ok i know some of you guys are into IT stuff so for me who is not really into it,,,,,,,question,,,,where can i down load maps of morocco that i can put on my laptop or note book and how do i track myself,,,,,if that makes sense,,,,,

[Drift]

No to sure myself but I think you can get an app for google maps?

[king of the kitchen]

ok,,been very busy this week and havent had time to do anything on the truck and time is ticking away so i have to get my finger out my sorry arse and get on with the prep,,,,,,
has any body fitted land rover coil springs to there truck can it be done,???????
i have about 3 sets of various rated springs from really weak to pretty hard think i might have a play with them this weekend,,,just got to find away of fitting the spring cups,,,,i need to beef the back up as there is going to be some weight with the roof tent and all the kit,,,,then just a small tweak with the front torsion bars,,,,,

[king of the kitchen]

ok i have been a busy boy today i gave the truck some land rover springs on the back and a tweak on the torsion bars thats given me about 1 -2 inch lift but the back is a lot firmer and dosnt jump about now,,,,,
ok method,,,, i took the old springs off and found a set that were the right hight but a lot thicker so they wouldnt sag then used 2 x spring plates off disco axle offered them up and marked the holes i then drilled them and fitted the plates by bolting thru the origanal spring seat with some heavy washers sitting inbetween so as to raise the cup slightly so it sits correctly i then bolted the lot together with the spring retaining bar attached then resat the rubber seat into the top of the spring,,,jacked it all up and reconnected the shock and tie bar,,,it all fitted quite well then did the same the other side,,,took me about one and a half hours,,,,,then six turns on each torsion bar,,,took it up about an inch and a bit,,,took it for a good run over speed bumps and bad roads and everything seems to be good,,,,,,,

sping on the right is the one i used

[king of the kitchen]

after,,,

before,,,,

dont know if the difference is noticable its about 1-2 inch lift,,,,

[king of the kitchen]

ok i managed to get another day on the fronty,,,,,,
had some halfords roof bars lying about so i made the mountings for the roof tent nice and strong so i will fit the tent at the weekend,,,
also had some 50x50 ally angle laying about and a piece of 50mm mesh so i fixed a mesh bulk head so i can chuck all the kit on the back and tie it down all seems to be strong and it works,,,,,,still lots to do,,,service and i want to check all the brakes,,other that that its ready to go,,,,,

[king of the kitchen]

well gave it a good beasting on the beach today and the suspension lift seems ok,,,,,

[king of the kitchen]

ok managed to get the afternoon on the truck,,,,
checked all the calipers and pads ,,,ok
then gave her an oil change and did the noisy belt tensioner,,,,,
so tomorrow im going to fit the roof tent,,,,cos were going on the 12th only eleven days,,,,,,,

[RatCav]

Take a couple of cans of tyre foam as well. You never know

[king of the kitchen]

ok it was really nice today the sun was shining and it was very warm,,,back in tee shirts,,, so i fitted the roof tent and took it to the beach to take some pics and give it an airing,,,sits on really well and with the spring upgrade it dosnt sag and the ride is nice and firm,,,well pleased with it,,,,
so next thing is to load it up ,,i wont be taking much i hope to travel very light,,,,

[bigdazz]

[king of the kitchen]

ok started to put the kit im taking into the truck,,managed to get two hand held 2 way radios from a mate of mine so we tried them along the beach,,got about 2km between us and they worked very well so should be ok,,,and at a cost of nowt there even better,,,,
packed a tool kit just basic stuff spanner set some sockets and ratchet screw drivers pliers and a few special tools,,,box of spares and my electric spares box,,a second spare wheel my recovery bag my compressor tyre inflator and a few other bits and pieces,,,got the tickets for the ferry crossing 180 euros not bad i paid 277 euros last year,,,,algecirus to tangiers,,ok i will post picks tomorrow,,fully loaded,,,,

[king of the kitchen]

ok all done,,finished loading the truck this afternoon ready to leave tomorrow morning, ,catching the 9am high speed ferry to tangiers think i have everything i need and if i havent,,to bad i dont need it,,,so looking forward to our trip in a 2.0 fronty sport you dont see many of them going to morocco its all spamed up jap or 110,s,,,,so its a challange and thats what i like, ,, ,
so plenty of pics and a story to be told when i come back,,,,,,,take it easy,,,,,, ,

[RatCav]

Just remember to loot Isuzu's for parts if you need them.

Good luck and enjoy!!