Hey fellow Patrol owners
I've been on the forum for quite some time, and this is my second Patrol, a 1989 Ford Maverick Petrol 4.2 liter fuel guzzler... I thought it was about time I presented it to you all.
It's a build in progress, as so many of you, I too use my car as a daily driver, and thus I need to finish all repairs, at the very latest on Sunday arvos
But it works out pretty well in my case anyhow. I get to spend a few hundred a month on spare parts, then put them on the car over weekends and week nights (when it's convenient and no other chores are calling)
Here the car is, just as I got it from the previous owner, oil leaks and all... When I bought the car, I actually swapped it for my previous road car. I drove to the owners place to check it out, as he wasn't keen on meeting me half way. Had he met me half way, I would have seen all the oil and crud... Instead he did a great cleaning job when I came to look at it... Oh well, you live, you learn, on the up side, it had very little rust
Specifications:
TB42s @ 300.000km
33 inch Mickey Thompson MTZ on 15 inch Sun Raiser Rims
UHF
3 inch Kings Springs lift
3 inch body lift
Love bites from the bush
I drove the car down to my mechanic, who went over it. It turned out it needed a fair bit of work done to it, and he is NOT a picky person!
Front seal was completely gone, exhaust is half a system only, hand brake was not holding at all, lights, front axle seal leaking, rear brakes questionable... $900 later I had a slip in my hand and I managed to get the beast registered
It was time to take it for a spin and see what it can do
This was taken out at Glasshouse Mountains QLD
(found this little vid of what NOT to do there: GQ patrol SWB roll - YouTube)
With the car registered, all be it a bit questionable with a half exhaust and a few other bits that I needed to fix, I set out to start building MY WEAPON
BTW, this is where the name Rock Lobster comes from, my new plates read THE ROC (it's a standard QLD plate, so THE is 743, bit of fun). Rock Lobster is a terrible song made awesome by Family Guy LMAO 8)
The first thing I fixed was swapping in a new full front axle.
The missus and I were going to Fraser Island late last year, and after the mechanic had fixed the axle seal in the old axle, the diff started binding up :headwall:
So instead of pulling it out, rebuilding and carrying on 2 weeks before a trip, I went to the local wrecker, paid $500 for a full front axle (minus free wheeling hubs and callipers)... Sure you can get it cheaper if you look around, not really an option 2 weeks before going away... So I just bit the bullet and swapped the front axle out. Put new break line hoses in while I was at it as well as brand new diff oil of course
And we made it, had a fantastic trip, stayed up past Indian head near Ocean Lake. We took the kayaks around the lake, it was awesome. We saw a whale and pup over near the light house around the top end. The GQ handled great, we even had it airborn!!
The best thing was that the missus didn't get any troubles with her back/ neck like in the old rattle shaker (MK Patrol leafy) :bigthumb:
Cheers
Martin
I've been on the forum for quite some time, and this is my second Patrol, a 1989 Ford Maverick Petrol 4.2 liter fuel guzzler... I thought it was about time I presented it to you all.
It's a build in progress, as so many of you, I too use my car as a daily driver, and thus I need to finish all repairs, at the very latest on Sunday arvos
But it works out pretty well in my case anyhow. I get to spend a few hundred a month on spare parts, then put them on the car over weekends and week nights (when it's convenient and no other chores are calling)
Here the car is, just as I got it from the previous owner, oil leaks and all... When I bought the car, I actually swapped it for my previous road car. I drove to the owners place to check it out, as he wasn't keen on meeting me half way. Had he met me half way, I would have seen all the oil and crud... Instead he did a great cleaning job when I came to look at it... Oh well, you live, you learn, on the up side, it had very little rust
Specifications:
TB42s @ 300.000km
33 inch Mickey Thompson MTZ on 15 inch Sun Raiser Rims
UHF
3 inch Kings Springs lift
3 inch body lift
Love bites from the bush
I drove the car down to my mechanic, who went over it. It turned out it needed a fair bit of work done to it, and he is NOT a picky person!
Front seal was completely gone, exhaust is half a system only, hand brake was not holding at all, lights, front axle seal leaking, rear brakes questionable... $900 later I had a slip in my hand and I managed to get the beast registered
It was time to take it for a spin and see what it can do
This was taken out at Glasshouse Mountains QLD
(found this little vid of what NOT to do there: GQ patrol SWB roll - YouTube)
With the car registered, all be it a bit questionable with a half exhaust and a few other bits that I needed to fix, I set out to start building MY WEAPON
BTW, this is where the name Rock Lobster comes from, my new plates read THE ROC (it's a standard QLD plate, so THE is 743, bit of fun). Rock Lobster is a terrible song made awesome by Family Guy LMAO 8)
The first thing I fixed was swapping in a new full front axle.
The missus and I were going to Fraser Island late last year, and after the mechanic had fixed the axle seal in the old axle, the diff started binding up :headwall:
So instead of pulling it out, rebuilding and carrying on 2 weeks before a trip, I went to the local wrecker, paid $500 for a full front axle (minus free wheeling hubs and callipers)... Sure you can get it cheaper if you look around, not really an option 2 weeks before going away... So I just bit the bullet and swapped the front axle out. Put new break line hoses in while I was at it as well as brand new diff oil of course
And we made it, had a fantastic trip, stayed up past Indian head near Ocean Lake. We took the kayaks around the lake, it was awesome. We saw a whale and pup over near the light house around the top end. The GQ handled great, we even had it airborn!!
The best thing was that the missus didn't get any troubles with her back/ neck like in the old rattle shaker (MK Patrol leafy) :bigthumb:
Cheers
Martin