Rogue Trooper

[Rogue Trooper]

They are 15"x8 in the front and 15"x9 for the rear.

No idea of the PCD I'm afraid but they fit Chev\Holden and you will note that they are the model with the slotted stud holes.

[Rogue Trooper]

Once again it has been busy, busy, busy. Probably going to have to leave it a weekend or 2 now as I have to catch up on other things around the house that have been somewhat neglected like the cat who seems to have been chewing on my leg trying to get some attention or maybe that was some food. 

Anyway I started off with some work building the engine cover. I needed to get this done to get the engine covered up so I can weld in the cab and not worry about hot splatter everywhere. I came up with this...



The problem with the engine cover was that it made it rather difficult to fill the oil so I've bolted the oil filler from a Subaru Impreza onto the rocker cover and this has moved the filler into the engine cover hatch area. Also reworked the dipsticks for the engine and transmission so they are also accessible from the hatch. Had to cut the throttle plate and kick that down a bit so it cleared the engine cover as well. I should also be able to build a small sub-hatch on the front right of the cover so the power steering fluid can be checked and filled without removing the cover.



This Easter I have been flat out fitting the seats and I'm very pleased with the results. Still a little bit of work to do but they are in now and solid as a brick sh1thouse.

Here's a view from the front...



And one from the side...



Here is the side mount. It's very solid as is but I think I'll brace it a bit anyway as I don't think the seat mounts can ever be too strong. Thinking along the lines of being in an accident here.



And here's a view from the back...



This one shows the inside of the seat mounts bolted to the engine cover. The top part of the engine cover they are bolted to is 2.5mm plate and there are 3x 10mm bolts holding that side of the seat down. I've also braced the sides of the engine cover and the cover is held down by 8x 8mm bolts (all hi-tensile of course) so I don't think it is going to go anywhere in a hurry.



The next mission is to get the trans shifter located and also the handbrake however I think I might have outsmarted myself with that one so it's going to be interesting.

[jimsvan]

just an idea maybe use a torana hand brake the one that goes on the floor its a foot handbrake moreless

[ben]

or have a look at how the hq hz works with the handbrake on the right hand side of the floor..   best thing i can see about it is if your vehicle takes off on a hill you can quickly grab the handbrake:)  not that that happens very often in my town... its dead flat:)


ben

[MaTTe]

hey, whats the deal with the bonnet, can you not open it, or is it some sort of smaller version? i noticed the wiper cog and washer jets are one the same piece of panel, where as mine are on different panels..

looks good tho, its nice when the hard work starts paying off

[Rogue Trooper]

just an idea maybe use a torana hand brake the one that goes on the floor its a foot handbrake moreless

or have a look at how the hq hz works with the handbrake on the right hand side of the floor..   best thing i can see about it is if your vehicle takes off on a hill you can quickly grab the handbrake:)  not that that happens very often in my town... its dead flat:)

Thanks for the suggestions guys. The Torana is too old now and you don't really see them anywhere over here anymore. Not even in wreckers yards. I've seen the odd restored one on the road but I don't think they'd take too kindly to me if I swiped their handbrake mechanism.

I thought about mounting it on the right-hand side but the seat sits a lot higher than the HQ-HZ so you'd have to mount the handbrake lever higher as well to access it comfortably from the sitting position. Then there's all the work hiding the mount and the cable and it could also make it difficult getting into the drivers seat so I gave that idea away.

I'll work it out. I have several options at the moment but I need to get the trans shifter in first so I know what I've got left to work with. It's amazing what an hour spent up at Pick-A-Part wandering through the wrecks does for the thought processes. It's all part of the fun. 

hey, whats the deal with the bonnet, can you not open it, or is it some sort of smaller version? i noticed the wiper cog and washer jets are one the same piece of panel, where as mine are on different panels.

looks good tho, its nice when the hard work starts paying off

Yeah it seemed like a good idea at the time but now it's proving to be a real pain. There is no bonnet. It's completely sealed in. You can see it in a bit more detail in some of the pics closer to the beginning of the thread. It wasn't too bad with the first incarnation of the van especially when you have the use of a pit to set everything up under the bonnet and you're not trying to fit new brake boosters and master cylinders etc, but trying to do it off the garage floor brings new meaning to the terms 'contortion' and 'flexibility'.

Current thinking is I'm going to have a small hatch in the center of that will rise up about an inch from the level of the bonnet. This will allow access to fill up the remote brake fluid reservoir as well as the reservoir for the cooling system, horn compressors etc. The hatch will work very similar to a normal bonnet.

Thanks, it is starting to look the part. I'll put the dash back together in the next couple of days so will get a better idea of what the finished product is starting to look like with the overhead console, engine cover and seats in as well. Just working on the interior while I try to save my pennies to get the diff fitted. After that all the attention moves to getting the engine going.

[Bedfordcrazy]

hey rogue, looking really good mate, I am waiting eagerly to see you mount your shifter and handbrake. Like me you are doing some serious custom work, I am almost customising every single bit of my van. The body will always look bedford but all the mechanicals will be late model gear, my aim is to be able to buy parts off the shelf and not run around the wreckers everytime you need a part. The idea of ringing autobarn when i need a part for my bedford, is something i am looking forward to. Anyhows look forward to pics as you mount the shifter and brake. Are those seats from a VP or simular commodore ? they look like my donor VPs seats.
George.

[Rogue Trooper]

Ta very much George. They are seats out of a Ford EB Fairmont and are almost in perfect condition. Now I've just got to keep them like that. There'll be no welding while they're in and I've got a couple of big sheets to drape over them while I'm working out what to do with the trans shifter.

[mezzmo]

Geez what is it with you bloody Kiwi's - you blokes are an inspiration - you just keep raising the bar for us poor Aussies!! - love the work Rogue, keep it up mate.

Mezz

[Dano]

Ditto... looking good rogue, keep up the good work cuz