Turning Point

Today has been a long time coming.
A great day for all man kind!
A corner was turned.
Yes folks you guessed it...

BAH-BAH-BAHAHAAAAAH...

Project Grover Rover has commenced the rebuild!!

YIIPP-YIPPY-DOO-DIDDLY-DEEE-DAH!!! =D

With the combined brain power of Dodgy Dan, Bush
Tucker Dad, and Oober Nerd himself, today were
going to build a Grover!

With a couple of death knots hanging the chassis from a water pipe, we had Grovers ass in the air ready to recieve springs.



"Permission to scratch Grover" shouts Dan, holding a large hammer. We knew what needed to happen... I Nodded.... *WHUMP*WHUMP*WHUMP* And the springs were driven home.



After a short debate over which bolt goes where, air tools drove them home.

Lifting the engine was a breeze with the Lever Hoist I splurged on.
If only the garage was taller.
We couldn't quite lift the engine high enough.
So, with a rug over the chassis, we man handled the engine in place.

*S-C-R-A-A-A-T-C-C-C-H*

=( Oh well, had to happen eventually.



The next few hours were filled with me searching the garage for bolts and washers but in the end, Grover is finally a rolling chassis once more. Thanks Dan, Yer a bloody legend!! =D

Happy Christmas to Me!

Ive finally realized that Grover may not be a car before 2008... But not to worry, check out how much progress Ive made so far!! =)

The engine got a lick of paint on Christmas eve! Took longer to tape up than to paint.


Axle housings and springs got a tripple coat today.


They look shinier than when they were covered in mud and rust earlier!!


The firewall got sandblasted just before Christmas.


Look at the rust that the sandblasting found!! I chased it around with the MIG set to 1 for about 4 hours!! JOY! =(


After powder coating the firewall looks fantastic! But it didn't cover the rust holes i missed, Oh Well. Better ventilation I guess! =D


Heres the new water pump on the left, and you can see the taper thread that is much better than the silver-solder bung job they did in the original!!


I took the opportunity to paint EVERYTHING since the car was in bits! It just made sense!!


Lucas is the prince of darkness, but I swear this Lucas starter motor will work! First time, every time, guaranteed (fingers crossed!!) Will work even better with its hammer finish paint job!! Awesome!! =D


More misc-bits in various shades of kill rust!


Rear drums had no paint at all, and I sear, this wast the only colour I had!! Fully Sick Bro!! ;-)


Watch this space, there will be a rolling chassis sitting here in a few days, mark my words!!


Onwards and upwards! Kazzar!! =D

Snowsports and AlcoholicCafinatedBeverages

Hello All, Its been a while since my last post, and while there hasnt been much rover action, there has been action none the less. Heres a brief review of the past few months.

A 4 week holiday in snowy and sheepy New Zealand saw us being van dirtbags for 3 weeks where we did some of the normal tourist'y things, but also bush walked through the alpine region, bouldered (on volcanic plugs on the beach and in limestone roadside caves and at the mecca that is Castle Hill), and mostly camped for free and didnt shower!! Our 3 week van dirtbag holliday was offset with a week of luxury apartment relaxing in wanaka while we learnt to snowboard and ski at Cardrona, Corenet Peak and Trebble Cone! Truly Awesome!! We came home bruised, with big smiles, and feeling very relaxed.

Soon after comming home, I partly tore a tendon in my little finger, which needed rest (no climbing or grover rover). So i went out drinking with the lads from work (Team Building...) and proceeded to write myself off on too many beers, sahki, jaygermiester bombs and vodka and cranbury, waking up the next day with no use of my left arm... seems I fell over in a big way. So Ive been in physio for the past 3 weeks!

Anyway, my arm is kind of working now, and Ive FINNALY got back into the project!! HOORAY! Here's the latest!

My Firewall was baddly rusted, but my donor firewall was not.
However there were 2 things that needed fixing.

This is a door hinge that dad welded back on for me while I was resting my arm.


And here you can see some welding done to the top of the firewall.
This is what the windscreen rests on.


This is the back side of the windscreen mount.
Looks shite but its watretite!! HAHAHA! =)


I quickly butted everything together to make sure it all fitted to the new firewall.
this is the floor pan and seat box butted up to the firewall base.


Here you can see it all fits! Even the windscreen!



Next week the firewall will be sandblasted and powdercoated.

And over the christmas-new-year-break, GROVER WILL LIVE AGAIN!!!

Beer Time

It seems like forever, but Im typing this entry with
a beer, and a grin, because the chassis is black!



Now I have the painting bug!
Before i bolt everything back on, Im going to
consider giveing bits a lick of paint! =D

Watching Paint Dry

This week sees the ever fearless Rust-Man take a break from
welding and grinding and cutting as he steps forth, bravely, into
a brave new frontier.....

Spray Painting!

The chassis now sits on milk crates and axle stands.
(with tent pegs through the spring hangers).
This makes it easy to spray underneath.

With a few coats of Watyl Kill Rust Etch Primer,
she looks great!! =)



Here's what I've learnt...

30-40psi airflow is all you need for gravity feed
spray gun's. (I started with 100psi and found that
paint drys as it comes out of the gun!!)
Etch primer isn't easy to spray, it is touch dry in
5 minutes, mostly because its about 80% thinners!!

Allow a day for the priming, paint 2-3 thin coats,
sanding lightly between coats (to get the over
spray off use 240 grade sand paper).

Next, its top coat time!
At this pace I'll have the wheels back on in no time!! =D

Chassis Debriss

Heer yee heer yee...
Roll up for the.... Longest Show on Earth! =D

Its been a few weeks since the last post, and no, I haven't
been slacking off! Ive been putting in the hard yards!
So grab your beverage of choice, sit back and enjoy the
latest installment of Project Grover Grover!

Last weekend I got stuck into the rear bumper, or as Neil
calls it... Chassis-Debriss.

Below you can see fiddly welding I was faced with after
cutting a large chunk out! But I'm getting heaps better, so
I finished this in half a day! Also, i was able to grind the
weld down so you cant even see it! =D
(You may also enjoy the chassis debriss to its right...)



After welding the right, I set about cutting and welding
the middle and left.



Now Grovers bum is good and solid, ready to tackle
any curry I throw at it! Mmmm Vindaloo.... =D



While in the mood for welding, i cranked the power
up and showed the gearbox mount who was boss!



So with all the big stuff out of the way last weekend,
this weekend was all about sanding and wire brushing
all the fiddly nooks and crannies, and bang'n a few
extra drain holes here and there!

With all that out of the way, one last fun job!
Check out the snazzy battery box I made!
I'm super proud of this! Should be big enough for an
extra huge truck battery!! =D



Its almost 8pm Saturday night, and the neighbours
are gett'n shirty. But Ive got the chassis all setup in
spray booth, ready for some Sunday Lov'n!



These quick-draws are retired from climbing,
but still good for hang'n a chassis up!



Old climbing rope gets the other end sorted out!
Thats Right! Its a figure 9 ;-)



4pm Sunday, after spending the morning shopping
for formal wear... (no yer bum doesn't look fat in that) =D
I'm back home slapp'n a coat of cold gal on the old girl.



Grovers on the get up and go boys and girls,
and Cam's a Happy Camper!

Cheers and Beers! =D

Long Weekend of Joy

Cam was not going to let the last long weekend for the year slip by, so I took an extra day off work, and put it a marathon effort!! After a trip to the tool shop for grinding disks, and FWD for a new water pump (more about that another day), I flipped the chassis upside down, and got stuck into the rust!

Check out the rust I cut out from under the radiator crossmember!!



You can see that the PTO hole has caused crud to get stuck, and the bottom has rusted through.



The side was rusted too, so out that came too!



Here is a nice un-rusty it I cut out of the donor chasis to fit my chasis.



Donor Chasis is looking a little smaller...



What a snug fit!! =D Notice the MASSSIVE drain holes Ive added, and I've tried to make the gap between the bottom and the PTO hole a little bigger, so crud wont get stuck as easy. (Also, took the chance to paint inside, 2 coats, cold gal, and kill rust topcoat). Please excuse my crappy welding. =)



Also, I had the chance to swap gearbox crossmembers with the donor chassis. Notice the old one, full of rust holes, and 2 baby drain holes at the centre. And check out the new one! Its made from 3 mm steel, not 2mm like the old one, ad its got HUGE-MUNGUS drain holes!!



Next weekend, I'll finish welding these bits, and start chopping the rear bumper up!! You guessed it... its full of rust too!! =D

Going to Pieces

You may remember me saying "if it ain't broke, don't fix it"...

It is slightly distressing to me that Grover has gone to pieces!?!?!!



Im trying not to think about the fact that Grover is now, completely stripped!
You can see the axles, springs, wheels, engine, firewall, radiator, and chassis all laid out above!
Not even the brake lines, or pedals are attached!! Grover is butt na-ked!

Its going to be a big weekend of chopping rust out of the chassis for Cam. With any luck, I'll have most of it welded up by Tuesday. I'm taking Friday off to make it an extra long Queens Birthday weekend!!! =D YEEEEEEEEE-HAR!

Special Cuddles

Guess what has happened... yep, Damo and I have extracted the soul of Grover... the breakfast! A Grover-Rover without its breakfast, is like a clown without its squeeker, a poop without its pooper, a priest without his choir boy!!



After extracting Grovers soul, the engine was easy!
Whats the good of a garage without I-Beams!?!?!!



Special Cuddles for everyone! =D



Now with the engine out of the way, i can get on with the fun job of cutting out all the rust I found this weekend... (oops, did i forget to mention that...) =(

Scrub A Dub Dub

Its been a few weekends since the last post.
Here's a snippet of whats been doing in project Grover land!

After welding the spring hanger, it didn't seem like cutting off the rusted outrigger, and welding on a new one, would be that bad.

First I made a jiggamythingamyjig and welded it to the chassis, so that the bolt hole that connects the firewall, would line up.



Cutting it off was easier than cutting of a big chunk of extra mature bree cheese, at least I didn't get cheese stuck to the grinder.



As you can see, Ive cut nice and close to the main chassis so that its easier to weld, the metal should be thicker there... if its not rusty...



Now its easy to see why I needed a jiggamythingamyjig, it would have been impossible to line it up without one! Makes welding a new outrigger back on easy too!



Having a donor chassis is great, hopefully, rusty bits on Grover, will be OK on the donor. And hopefully they fit.... you never can tell how many things a car has run into in 50 years that have twisted the chassis, ever so slightly!!



Before I welded Grover's new outrigger on, i cleaned up the stump... and hooray... more rust! So, a quick chop, plug, weld... and she's good as new. It was a good chance to look inside. Theres a lot of crud in the chassis. I will need a few decent drain holes to clean it all out.



Hey presto!! Grover has a nice new outrigger! I did some rigorous testing... first by sitting a beer on it... then sitting me on it... then whomping it with a hammer! Its stuck on good and proper!



So, now, in theory, all the rust that I know about is fixed! Time to clean the rest of the chassis/engine, and paint the old girl.



Water restrictions suck, using a hose is punishable by removal of the testicular bits via yer ear hole!! And there was no way I was giving Grover a Sponge Bath!! So, its down to bunnings to pick up a Kachooo-Weeener! Its not a good as a $4000 7000psi hot water diesel powered monster.... but this cost less than my monthly coffee budget!



I tested the weeener on the front axle assembly, outside, where I could make a mess. Look, it works a treat! Sucks out of a bucket, and uses less water than I do in the shower!



Because it uses such little water I decided to wash Grover in the garage, much easier than dragging her up the front driveway (remember... no front wheels, no seats... no pedals... no steering wheel, no fuel tank...)

Just in case you are wondering, how could I possibly be doing all this in the garage... Check out how much space Ive got!!



3 cars will fit in, end-to-end... on one side!
And theres as much space on the other side!!



After the bath, I was amazed that things were not all the colour of dry mud! The gearbox is alloy! The engine is black (not grease like I thought), and the chassis is light surface rust.... yep, no paint on her at all!!



To make light work of cutting back the remaining surface grime and rust, I got my self a random orbital sander. It will be great for panel work and finishing as well, as it doesn't leave swirl marks on the paint. Makita make great stuff. Its pretty quiet too! And the replaceable disks are about 70c each! Cheap!



If I was made of money, a high speed 7 thousand watt orbital sander would strip it quicker... but then Id have nothing left for a renegade 16cfm compressor! Its one hell of a step up from the tired hand-me-down compressor Ive been using. This one will even hold its pressure for a few weeks!!



Now, if you'll excuse me, its nearly nine, on a Saturday... the neighbours should all be awake, and Cam's gonna fire up the power tools!! Ooohh-Aaarggh-Argh-Arrr...