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Next weekend we got at the car, I packed up my Ford Fusion with the engine hoist and headed down to get cracking.
Over three days, we got the engine back in without too much drama except for one engine dowel that is on the auto, but is not needed for an r380. With some serious precision drilling (think bank robber), the dowel got drilled out and the motor went in! She fired up on the second try and we had a shot of Jäger to celebrate
Mounted up the stock bumper and some fancy new bulbs. Then hit the road the next day on her maiden voyage back home - a 100ish mile trek! She performed great.
Who needs a truck?
To say this has been a labor of love would be an understatement...
The next few updates aren't as dramatic! Started to take care of small stuff, like attempting to reseal the sunroofs which unfortunately was a fail and will be re-visited soon. Also unfortunately discovered a little rust under the rear cargo carpet that will need addressing soon.
Mounted the TJM Bumper back on, and did a test fit of my super swampers with steel GCR rims. The tires were WAY too big! However I managed to source a nearly new set of Toyo 235's for a steel not too far from home.
Took a day trip and got them mounted. @Best4x4 and I set about tearing apart the old 4.0 out of the truck to see what had ended her life.... see pics!!
Got the new tires mounted up and she sits beautifully. We also set about doing a dash swap as mine was severally sunburned and just overall gross... Results were way better than expected!
One more update for today to bring us almost up to date. Put my headliner back in and addressed some smaller things like;
AC wasnt blowing, replaced a relay and both ac units were blowing again. Replaced rear brake pads, and sway bar ends. They were toasted. I also added a nice pair of Hella rallyes up front in prep for the Hill Country Rover rally 2020 Covid edition.
His old dash could have almost just got up and walked out of that D1 as it was hardly connected to anything anymore. We were careful installing the 03 dash, but it actually looks much worse than it actually was.
