Rogue Trooper

[Rogue Trooper]

Well contrary to me saying earlier that nothing else would be done till Winter, we ended up with a few crap days over Xmas where I couldn't put any paint on the roof of the house so I started tinkering with the van and have completed the following.

I've had the driveshaft made up. It measures 560mm from universal to universal. Still have to replace the universal joints but that can wait till I have some money to spend on it again.




Made up the radiator mount and that is now installed in the van. I made one up earlier but was never really happy with it so from just having a tinker on a miserable wet couple of days I came up with the following. It looks like it curves at the top in the photo but that's just from the camera lens. I was going to mount the additional trans cooler behind the radiator fan originally but changed my mind as it is more efficient in front. Have positioned the radiator so it gets the maximum airflow from all the openings in the front.

I used the bottom plate from the Commodore VN as it was easy to knock that out of the car with a cold chisel and it had all the rubber bushes for supporting the radiator already in place. Why reinvent the wheel. The radiator just sits inside the new bracket as it did in the car supported by the side rubbers with only a piece of angle bolted across the top of the bracket for retaining purposes.

Will get it all powdercoated when I get a few spare dollars together along with the power steering rack mount. It's been great being able to work on it again as it spent most of last year up at my engineer mate's place.















I'm now looking to doing the exhaust but will have to collect all my bits and pieces before I get started on that. Have picked out the rear mufflers and tail pipes already and am definitely going to have two. Bought a new MIG over the break (Santa has been bloody good to me this year) so that'll give me a bit of time to practice with that before I use it in anger.

[Bedfordcrazy]

Awesome Rogue, you never seem to disappoint, great to see a different method of mounting the steering rack, compared to mine. Love the radiator mount, but do have one question, when you are driving, does'nt the cardboard hinder the airflow and cooling.  sorry just could'nt resist. lol    can't wait to see it finished mate, it is going to be a head spinner.

george

[Rogue Trooper]

Interior update this time.

Was painting the house over summer so only got a chance to work on the van on wet days. Have a serious cash deficit at the moment so have been doing things that don't cost a lot hence working on the interior.

I built a framework in the back and built some boxing around the floor in the rear. The boxing is all removable and the rear section will store tools and jacks etc. Had some wood strips I glued to the roof many years ago when I was young and dumb and there is no way in hell that is coming off without mangling the roof so thought I might as well use it for fixing while it's there. Made a framework out of steel to shape the bendy ply I used for the roof curves. Still have to do the window frames and a couple of other fittings but here it is so far.

[Rogue Trooper]

[Rogue Trooper]

[Bas / NZ]

By the time you are finished, you might have to swao that v6 for an 8  But looking good

[Sundownernz]

Bas, you read my mind. Looking good though Rogue. Keep us posted on the progress as I like where it's going.

[mezzmo]

dude, you are a freak - great job!

[Bas / NZ]

dude, you are a freak - great job!

Tha Man loves his metal work, that's for sure.......

[Rogue Trooper]

Thanks guys. It shouldn't be too heavy. There's not much else going into the back aside from a sound system and some carpet and trim to make it all look a little bit more presentable. The ply certainly doesn't weigh anything. The rear box has the most weight but I can still chuck that around without too much effort. I prefer the steel because it's a lot stronger than wood and takes up a lot less space.