Another green laner build

I really like the design, nothing sitting on a tray bouncing around and you can see and inspect everything, you could be on to a sellable item there.

It was one of those days yesterday. I should have known when to quit after spilling paint on my brand new work boots. That was literally the first time I'd worn them!
As far as selling the guard is concerned anyone else is welcome to copy the design but I think it would be difficult to make money with it. Even after making suitable fixtures it's a pretty labour intensive design. It's also not a simple bolt on job so that would restrict sales. I'll stick to what I know best - I write software and design electronics for a living.

Got a bit more done this weekend. I sprayed the panhard and bash cradle. Shiny! The only 2K paint I had on the shelf was grey but the colour does not matter as they will be sprayed with schutz anyway.
 

Plastic plugs in the cross members to hopefully keep out the water.
 

3D printed tablet mount.
 
 

I thought I was done with the welding but after taking off the right hand front wheel so I could change the brakes and kingpins I spotted this. I'm pretty sure the rubber bit isn't supposed to be laying on the axle...
 

One extra heavy duty bump stop coming up...
 

Unfortunately when I removed the rubber bump stop from the other side so I could measure up, the rubber peg that holds the bump stop in place broke off. I couldn't find one online but hopefully my local Suzuki dealer can get one. However while searching for a bump stop Google popped up this YouTube link.

Oh dear. You know what this means don't you? I have a bit of a fetish for fitting air suspension on vehicles and in the comments they even mention they used Firestone F9000 springs. I did some quick measuring up and that air spring should fit the existing upper spring mounts once the coil spring guides are cut off. I need to have a chat with Jimnybits to find the open/closed sizes of their black raptor premium lift kit shocks. I believe the shocks are made by Gaz and I've had good success with Gaz shocks on air conversions. Both the trials car and the buggy run custom shocks that were made by Gaz to my specifications.

 

After more research into the air springs I'd need a minimum of a 2" lift just to get them in there. I'm not a big fan of lifting vehicles. I'd rather cut wheel arches than lift. Lifting causes all sorts of suspension and drive line issues.

I need to concentrate on getting the thing back on the road first. Some progress on that front. All transmission and axle fluids changed, and a new filter in the gearbox. I was a bit nervous when I took the gearbox sump off but it was surprisingly clean considering the state of the oil. No sediment and almost nothing on the magnet. Someone has been in there before and they used silicone on the gasket, which really did not want to let go. Luckily most of the cork gasket stuck to the steel sump so I could use a wire wheel to get it off.

You know when I said I'd leave the front welding. Well, I made the mistake of peeking under the front splash guards. If I leave that much longer the front's going to fall off...
 
This weekend I will be mostly welding
Did Suzuki store the body shells outside in the rain before painting?

Well I didn't get much welding done on the Jimny today. I was just getting started when a friend called and asked if I wanted to get wet. Let's think about this - spend an afternoon welding or spend an afternoon axles deep in a peat bog in pouring rain. Welding, what welding? 

Apart from getting stuck in the bog we managed to get quite a few lanes in, along with several fun fords.
 



 

We decided to turn around on this one. It gets quite deep further on and we were on our own. The exit of the ford is about 100yds further up river. Recovering from the middle of a river on your own is not fun.
 

The Daihatsu Terios did remarkably well, especially considering it's running some of my old trials car tyres. In classic trials you are only allowed summer car tyres. It's major weak points are a lack of low range and it's tiny clutch, which overheats very easily.

Back to welding. After cutting out the rust there wasn't much left.
 
 

This calls for some complicated repair panels. This one took an obscene amount of time and a few tries to get right.
 

The end result
 


Rinse and repeat on the other side. I just have one major patch left and it's tucked behind the steering box, so it looks like the steering box will have to come out.

Holy fabricator some job on the one-piece Les

Thanks. I did cheat a bit. That's actually the Mk3 version. I have a CNC plasma cutter so once the parts are drawn it takes seconds to cut them out. I can quickly make a part, test fit then modify the drawings and try again. It wastes a lot of metal but I have quite a bit of galv sheet I picked up cheap.

I've been thinking about jacking/recovery points. The Jimny doesn't have anywhere convenient to use a hilift jack. I'm tempted to add receiver hitch sockets to each corner, with square holes in the bumpers to access them. Normal towing receiver hitches use a pin to hold the hitch in place. This isn't convenient as the sockets will be tucked behind the bumpers. After a bit of playing on Freecad I came up with this design.
 

You can rotate the locking plate by moving the lever. Here are links to viewable 3D models:
Locked in place
Just the hitch, unlocked
Drag with your mouse to totate the view. If you drop down the objects box you can select parts of the hitch and adjust their transparency to see how it all goes together. It's just an idea at the moment and needs a bit of refinement but it should work. Opinions and ideas are welcome.

An updated version with a safety lock. In this version it is impossible to unlock the hitch if there is any load on it. The operating lever is also better protected. Reduce the opacity of the body to see the internals.

One thing I don't like with this design is that is it impossible to disassemble the mechanism it once it is welded together.

You lost me at cnc plasma I'm afraid. Looks very shiny though.

Looks a pretty neat idea.

At long last all of the structural welding is done. I just have an easy little bodywork patch left to do in the back that I missed before. I managed to do the repair next to the steering box without removing the box. Removing the pipes gave me just enough room to feed a finger sander in there to grind out the rot. I'm quite impressed with the new Norton sanding belts I've been using. I've worn out about 18 while working on the Jimny and only broken one. I only wish they wouldn't wear out so quickly. The cheaper ones break within minutes. The finger sander has been a godsend on this job. It's a 1/2" Evolution electric sander like this one . You can adjust the angle of the belt arm which is really useful for getting into tight spaces.

This weekend I may mock up the structural parts of the hitch and stick them in the press to get an idea of strength. I'm aiming for a minimum breaking strain of 4 tonnes. That sounds like a lot but it needs to survive a brisk snatch recovery with a decent safety margin.