[Beery]

I machined the diff/transfer flanges to accept the Toyota spigot today. This car originally has the smaller pcd flanges, with the 8mm bolts, but luckily I had these larger ones laying around from spare transfers/diffs.





They cleaned up quite good.

Swapped them over and test fitted the driveshaft.



Perfect! Nice job off the list. There's witness marks on that body mount bolt from my old driveshaft hitting it. I now have more compression travel than before, but it's miles away from hitting - just goes to show how much axle wrap I used to get.

In other news, obviously the stock filler location doesn't work, because there's a tyre in the way, so I've relocated the fuel filler up higher, and over to the passenger side. I'd already hacked away at the inner skin on this side so I could open the rear door after caving it in, so I reasoned that if I could leave a shred of Sheetmetal intact on the other side, I would (like it matters at this point )

The drivers side is where I strap all my stuff too, so the filler being on the passenger side will keep it out of the way a bit when accessing the back, as it'll look something like this:



I also cut down the rear bar and sat it back on for a look.



This is all coming together pretty good. Rear departure angle is delicious, but the car still looks proportionate, and the flares will still fit nice without sticking out past the body or anything silly.

I've been browsing coil springs, and I think I'm going to order some 12", 100lb/'' springs. It should help me out basically everywhere. they're also a bit smaller diameter, so everything can be a bit more compact in regards to mounting.

[Beery]

update.

Fuel tank is together, and it all went really well. Here's a bunch of pics and i think you'll get the idea.













I spent some time welding this up and took all precautionary measures to make sure it went as best as it could - New tip in the MIG, spent some time dialling the welder in on some scrap, grinding the tacks down before a pass, wire brush, pre-heat, doing as long of a pass as I could to avoid stop/starts.







Check out that penetration line on the inside!





Jammed a tyre valve in a leftover hole saw plug, and put it in the filler as an easy way to pressure test the tank. Not one leak! ( )

I mean, I haven't put fuel in it yet, but I couldn't detect anything with soapy water, and I left the tank for 24hrs and it still had pressure in it when I came back. I'm fairly confident.



It got some fairly substantial doubling plates for the side chassis mounts:



And i added a central mount on the rear crossmember:





Tank weighs 17kg.

[Beery]

The chassis crossmember is all welded out, and so is the upper arm.





I got about this far into the coil mounts and truss. (the truss ended up on the rear, it was going to take up too much compression travel on top where i had originally planned)





Then these turned up, and it's thrown a spanner in the works...



2.5" coilover springs, in 100lb/" - A bit lighter than jimny, and also more compact.

So compact in fact, that i gots to thinking maybe I can just fit these on top of the housing and outboard of the chassis.

There's a Few reasons this is good. They'll be out a little bit wider. They won't hang down and hurt ground clearance. They also free up the back of the housing for a full length truss, and i can now put the shocks behind the axle, where they're not only easier to mount, but more protected from debris getting thrown at them from the front. (I likely won't run the boots on the shocks, they're a pain. they just fold up and get pinched as well as hold mud/water.)

So, i got to mocking it up.







Ride height is spot on!





As to not waste the time I put into the coil mounts for the diff, they just got turned upside down and shortned and can be used on the chassis I'll just have to remake the truss, but the hard part of making it fit nice it done, i just have to trace it onto a fresh piece of steel.



I also mocked up some shock mounts, and this is where I'm currently at:







The shocks and springs pair with eachother well. I'll be getting every available bit of travel out of them. Here's the coil at basically full flex



(yes, I took that close to bind with 4 tack welds holding the coil mount - don't try at home )

As you can imagine, clearances are tight. During flex, and compression, everything is honestly really good. The roll centre means the tyres just swings up and away from everything. (I've checked it at both roll centre heights) With both wheels at full droop however, the tyres are reaaaaly close to the coil buckets:









I was pretty generous with giving the spring some room off the chassis in case it wanted to lean into it on flex, however it stays well clear. I reckon I've got room to push them in about 10mm, which I think will be enough with this style of suspension. I don't really see there being that much lateral give in it. A slip on 5mm wheel spacer is also an option to help out a little. i could also do a very minor chassis notch in the outer wall, but ehhh, trying to avoid. Overall I think this should work out pretty good. I'll see where I'm at once I trim the buckets down.

[sideways]

Man that's worked out mint

[Gwagensteve]

That’s come out really well. Much better outcome than springs behind the axle.