Intro from Malaysia - WR7002 - C304

[geckoadventure]

1 February 2019

We have been beavering away on the Volvo as much as one can in a open air workshop when it's 34 celcius. I have all the rear seats now bolted down properly and the final 2 different seat bases adjusted to fit.

The carpet for the cabin floor has been done with the passenger seat floor complete. The driver side needs a mistake corrected but will be installed on 1st Feb 2019.

The brakes have been an issue and finally after rebleeding the brakes awith my trusty new assistant which necessitated the removal of each wheel to reach the bleed nipple sigh. Then the retest and still we had no brakes.

Last weekend we took all the wheels off and ran the Volvo on jacks,, that was scary. Hmmmmmmmmmmm problem found. The vaccum was not working it's shared with the PTO and the 4x4 via 3 T-joints so we direct connected it to the brakes and we had brakes. But it still will not lock the wheels up so further attention is being paid this coming weekend.

We looked at the HOrn and tried to connect the wiring to the steering wheel with no success. A separate dash switch is being setup this weekend.

Once these 2 items are completed we can attempt the dreaded re-registration inspection.

Today is a public holiday so I'm working on the templates for the rest of the carpeting in the transmission tunnel and footwells etc.

Giving the new sidekick the wheel nuts to undo. At 44kg the tire is heavier than her lol.


Last row of seats bolted dpown properly.


Working on the carpet templates to take to the cushion shop.


Zing clinging to me in a 2 hour thunderstorm he hates thunder.


Preparing the floor for the velcro to be glued down


The front row of seats almost ready for the last seat to be bolted in until I cut the wrong lugs off and had to reweld them in lol. Felt such an idiot.


The passenger seat with the floor carpet fitted


The passenger seat with the floor carpet fitted


Just to prove the lights work.




Today's goal is to get the tacho working via the page instruction guide and the carpet templates to the cushion shop.

[VinceAtReal4x4s]

Very cool updates. I didn't know you were putting seats in the back. I have to ask... dont people need to be able to see out back there? I'd feel uneasy riding in a closed up box like that.

[geckoadventure]

Very cool updates. I didn't know you were putting seats in the back. I have to ask... dont people need to be able to see out back there? I'd feel uneasy riding in a closed up box like that.

The top half of the doors unbolts with 4 bolts on each door. Its currently for keeping the 12 seat registration alive at inspection. 99% of the time it will have no seats in the back only the rollout chuck wagon

[geckoadventure]

29 December 2018

After a frustrating period of off road charity work and broken annual leave getting called back to the office twice when less than 100k from the lake with your boat on the back is no fun).
A jungle fishing trip in THailand which resulted in a trip to the hospital for 5 days
Tossing the timing belt on my new 80 Series Landcruiser hence causing massive damage and many other incidents its been a frustrating non-holiday.
Volvo work has slowed till they sort out the pesky PINZ which is still causing huge manpower issues 3 times the transfer case has been removed and replaced and now it needs to come out again as they cannot find the errant bearing - ME I think it's a bearing in the rear DIFF in the PINZ SPINE.

So back to the Volvo we have stripped the power steering off the Volvo so we can do the inspection, Saturday morning was spent getting the remaining seats for the Volvo. The distances in KL aare causing huge logistics issues rounding up components. THen off to the local hydraulic shop to get hose made to go from power steering pump back into resivoir. He saw me coming and charged me more than double the IPOH costs for a hydraulic hose.

Calculations for the power steering pump and the steering column unit and the hydarulic ram are also being done to see where the issue is. I have already found the washers on the banjo bolt are .6mm too thick resulting in lost throughput on the hose.

Seat belts were fitted. Remaining 2 steats fitted then I realised I had bought 4 narrow and 4 wide seats and the wide ones are also taller - oops.

A test run still has the gear change issues - we think the bend put in the linklage is causing some issues - further investigation is required.
Also the issue of HI/LO from the same gear lever (R/1/2/3/4/HI/LO on the gear lever) and leaving the truck in LO is still being investigated we think the BENT linkage is the issue. I'm looking at a electric servo arm to go HI/NEUTRAL/LO and eliminate the gear lever change. We are also going to explore CABLE linkage change and dispense with the linkage arm.

I also need to find out why it looses a small amount of coolant from the radiator each week.

We have the HORN and Brake issue to fix then it can now go for inspection.

Then it was time for the Volvo to earn it's keep as a stepladder.


Seatbelt connection.
seatbelts

Rear seats all fitted but now I need to do some moving and matching.
seats

The cabin is a mess while I wait for the now late gear lever cover.


A short video of the VOlvo moving back into its kennel.
http://https://youtu.be/Keb3sFjzSGE

[youtube]Keb3sFjzSGE[/youtube]

[geckoadventure]

1 February 2019

We have been beavering away on the Volvo as much as one can in a open air workshop when it's 34 celcius. I have all the rear seats now bolted down properly and the final 2 seat bases adjusted to fit.

The carpet for the cabin floor has been dine with the passenger seat floor complete. The driver side needs a mistake correct but will be installed on 1st Feb 2019.

The brakes have been an issue and finally after rebleeding the brakes awith my trusty new assistant which necessitated the removal of each wheel to reach the bleed nipple sigh. Then the retest and still we had no brakes.

Last weekend we took all the wheels of and ran the Volvo on jacks. Hmmmmmmmmmmm problem found. The vaccume was not working its shared with the PTO and the 4x4 so we direct connected it to the brakes and we had brakes. But it still will not lock the wheels up so further attention is being paid this coming weekend.

We looked at the HOrn and tried to connect the wiring to the steering wheel with no success. A separate dash switch is being setup this weekend.

Once these 2 items are completed we can attempt the dreaded re-registration inspection.

Today is a public holiday so I'm working on the templates for the rest of the carpeting in the transmission tunnel and footwells etc.

Giving the new sidekick the wheel nuts to undo. At 44kg the tire is heavier than her lol.


Last row of seats bolted dpown properly.


Working on the carpet templates to take to the cushion shop.


Zing clinging to me in a 2 hour thunderstorm he hates thunder.


Preparing the floor for the velcro to be glued down


The front row of seats almost ready for the last seat to be bolted in until I cut the wrong lugs off and had to reweld them in lol. Felt such an idiot.


The passenger seat with the floor carpet fitted


The passenger seat with the floor carpet fitted


Just to prove the lights work.




Today's goal is to get the tacho working via the 5 page instruction guide and the carpet templates to the cushion shop.

[geckoadventure]

3 February 2019

Well 2 more days on the Volvo has brought success and total frustration. Weve had FRI/SAT/SUN this week on it.

So to start off on a healthy manner I had breakfast a waffle and ice cream at our health shop near the workshop lol.


My electrics whiz buddy turns up and we install the HORN button. Wahoo only BRAKES left for the inspection.

Then we try and get the TACHO connected. Cannot reach the tach wire from the fuel pump - oh crap. Go to use the "P" of the alternator only to find its a PETROL alternator and no PINS are available. Order a TOYOTA DIESEL Alternator from a friendly mechanic - delivery after 11 Feb. Then onto the SPEEDO. The halls effect unit is already installed on the driveshaft. However we find one of the l;ocking nuts has vibrated out. More issues to solve cannot get a nut bolt shops are all closed until the 11th.

A rebleed of the brakes made no difference so we elected to just pump a lot of fluid out of the brake lines, OOps suddenly black fluid came out oops so we decded off come the front callipers for a full rebuild even though the brakes were contracted out to be rebuilt a few months ago.

The end result was some very sick looking callipers with 6 of the 8 pistons not moving and all the holes blocked up.


Meantime Andrew had completely stripped the Pesky Pinzgauer rear tandem axles completely apart to find the mystery whine only to find a single diff bearing gone!. It's CNY he also cannot get any parts until the 11 Feb.


Meantime the second calliper is in the 12v battery charger and baking soda cleaner and enormous amounts of crap come out.


The callipers are installed after we get the rebuild kit and special order of isuzu truck window washer nozzles are obtained after they close for the CNY celebrations until the 11th February and reassemble the callipers.


Meantime I have most of the carpet templates cutout mainly because the Volvo will not fit under the Kussen/Cussen/Cushion/Upholstery workshop everythng has to be done remotely. Only a few remain for my assistant to help with tomorrow.


A last minute brake test run of the VOlvo is a failure it takes 2.5 street lights to stop over the normal 1 and a bit and then the engine starts dying - no fuel. We realise the electric pretank pump is no longer clicking but its working slowly. Strip it out and find its 24volts. Damn they forgot to change n the 12v conversion it's browned out.

Sunday

My trusty assistant turns up so she gets the carpet templates to complete. We have to finish Volvo 1 before we can recomence work on Volvo 2 and Volvo 3 (is going to be started side by sde also).


She is kinda tiny and flexible and works unconventially lol.




However, by 6pm she has all but one carpet template completed ready to see if the cushion shop might be open Saturday since they are not chinese owned lol.


While she did that I got the window washers roughly connected and tested successfully in several test positions as we are trying to avoid drilling holes in the cabin.

The end of a frustrating 3 days.

Tuesday and Wednesday is CNY. So I will be back on the Volvo on Wednesday, wife has told me to keep working on it to get it finished.

[VinceAtReal4x4s]

Health food, eh?

You aren't worried about rust forming with that climate under the floor dampener?

[geckoadventure]

Health food, eh?

You aren't worried about rust forming with that climate under the floor dampener?

Floor is alloy so no issue with rust.

[geckoadventure]

7 April 2019

Got my little sidekick to help out but since he is recovering from his motorbike accident he slept all arvo instead


Then the arvo thunderstorm rains started and we all headed for the treehouse and talked poop for 3 hours and drank tea.


Pulled the window washer and checked for leaks.


The carpet is slowly being installed.


Drivers side is a mess while we fix up the brakes issue


Slowly the carpet is installed.


Rubber Door seals installed.

[geckoadventure]

28 April 2019





Made an Anderson plug jumper lead to made jump starting very easy and cried over the state of the batteries today's plan to start the truck again was shattered.

[geckoadventure]

1 May 2019

There's not been a lot of real activity on the Volvo 6 weeks of weddings, birthdays a sick friend the passing of my 15 year Rawang Toyota Professor Mechanic. Collected the Landcruiser finally from IPOH 200k away then more issues with the Landcruiser breaking down several times since causing the loss of 2 Saturdays. Then the breakdown of the RED jungle truck and trailering it 70k from town since I no longer have my Toyota professor he did however before he passed recommend a new mechanic 70k from town.

Now back to the Volvo's

We have progressed in the brakes issue to purchasing a 80 Series Landcruiser twin diaphram booster and master cylinder and now im waiting for Andrew to mount it remotely. However the pesky PINZ still torments us and only on the 1st did they get the pesky PINX backtogether with all new bearings in the xtransfer case and the rear differendials and wheel bearings etc then upon testing late on 1st it was still making a whining noise leaving work on the Volvo's stopped.

The window washer was removed as we thought it was leaking it's not now we are finding a new location for it as the 80 series booster is going in that location.

The carpet is slowly being installed.

I have made a bracket for the radiator overflow and mounted the overflow bottle.

We have worked on fitting the doors correctly and straitening a hinge out has sorted out the passenger door bottom. The top is having screw issues preventing the door being bolted down flush.

All the front door seals have been fitted and removed.

We lost the 3 batteries when they suddenly dropped to 2 volts overnight. They are now in a battery revival shop.

[geckoadventure]

any updates?

A terrible update


We had the haze no work was done on the Volvo I/2 or 3 just stayed indoors for 4 weeks as the workshop is a open workshop the haze made eyes water etc so I stayed away.


We have rebuilt the brake pedal it's almost finished and we have found the brake issue we had 1cm of master cylinder travel not 3.5cm like we need to apply sufficient pressure.


Volvo 1 has spat its batteries sigh 1 deep cycle battery needs to be replaced as will the other 2.


I have been in hospital due to the haze and ended up with serious bronchitis sigh


I hope to have the brakes in by XMAS as we are off this weekend for days to deliver 200 more kids to the jungle villages sfter the end of the school year. Mission impossible monsoon rain and 12tonnes of food to deliver up to 60k into the jungle. From last weekends guys attempt it's 1 day each way or more. I have 12 hardcore trucks with me to try and achieve this. I am on 3 weeks holiday after this so no updates or work till 21st December. I will do a story on the CSR trip when I get back.


Volvo 2 has no progress apart form the new rear window being made up.


Volvo 3 no progress but I am about to pull the cabin off and get it blasted.


Mr Brown the "guard" dog from the workshop who was my weekend companion for 3 years in IPOH is no more he was badly hurt and passed away in a jungle accident recently leaving everyone upset


I hope to have good news by XMAS..

[one2many]

This update is more terrible, that's really sad to hear about Mr Brown. Dogs are the best people!

RIP Mr Brown

[geckoadventure]

31 December 2020

We are so close to having it ready. We decided to go down the path of getting new brackets made for the brake callipers as the old 3mm ones were flexing a little hmmmmm quite a bit. So while we were at it we decided to add twin callipers. So a new matching set was obtained. They are being made of considerably thicker steel lol I heard 12 or 10mm and machined down.

Its now had the parts in the machine shop for 4+ weeks. rear brake callipers are ready and a test fit worked. The fronts have had 2 sets of callipers made due to issues. We are hopeful today or Monday they will be ready.

The list of items to complete before inspection is about 9 items only.

Updates and pics later.

[Heinkeljb]

Well done!

At this rate, you might actually get to drive it for real in the jungle in 2021..... As the wife said:- get it finished.

Look forward to the report and pictures.
John