WHAT YOU DID TO YOUR TRUCK TODAY!

[gregster]

Picked up this "gem" today....swapped for my 306 cabriolet...

Fitted with not one but two "anti-eml" countermeasures, essential on a VM...

1.

2. (for when faith and praying fails)


The 2.5tds fing...


Powered/hindered by the people at...


Checked the options plate...


but couldnt find the code for the limited edition battery clamp..???



Glad to see that rednecking exists in East sussex too...

Its fitted with the stealth clock too...a cunning device to stop others peering through the window and stealing the time without asking...

In order to tell the time a fat finger needs to be thrust into the liquid crystal display, something the freeloading time stealers cant do from outside.


Look no eml!!!


Even at 4000rpm...still no Eml...the countermeasures clearly doing their job...


Has a factory middle foot-mat in the back too...not had one of these before in a fronty...


And someone has taken out the blanking plug in the heater controls and replaced it with a switch too...which goes BLUE when you push it!


Evidence that a previous owner might have been a bit "challenged"...


Brand new rad and hoses...not sure if thats a good thing though...


The 2.5's default postion! They are happiest with the bonnet up like this...


The outsidey bits...
My apols for posting pics of such a normal looking car, it pains me too....
almost as much as now owning a set of three spoke alloys...





Drives allright though...bit concerned about the oil pressure though?

[igotababyfrontera]

Was yesterday but sorted squeaky brakes found that my pads were rattling around as the little metal piece that holds them in place had snapped so sorted that and fitted my rear recovery points
One less thing to do before strata

[wideformat]

[fogman]

congratualtions dan & welcome to the world of actually having tread theyre a bargain mate

[Wilberforce]

Well, I might just have declared Holly the BBB as dead, I'm not entirely sure yet....
I thought I'd sussed the wiring issues as being limited to the spur of wires from the dash loom to the fuseboard, but it's far, far worse

Thought I'd swap out the OE stereo wiring while the dash was out, maybe replace the antenna cable which has chocolate block in it and then spotted some damaged cable behind where the stereo sits. Did a little more poking about and then figured a quick inspection from a qualified professional was in order.
Upshot is that what I thought was a simple splice in a new fuseboard job would now require obtaining and replacing a complete loom - pretty much everything that is connected to the dash is shot, and the damage has spread into the big loom that runs behind the steering column support too. Photos below:

The "before" shot:


The "oh excrement" shots:





So yeah, not pretty behind there. It may be worse depending on whether damage has spread beyond the last multiplaug and into the engine bay loom but at that point we had both realised that any repair job was beyond me, and financially not worth it to have it done by a sparky.

Suppose the options are to keep the car, obtain an undamaged loom then remove everything (steering column, matrix, etc) from the bulkhead and replace, or call time on the BBB and strip and sell various bits to put on a replacement (Troop or Fronty).
Thoughts, guys?

[4x4 bobby]

Thats some serious wiring fault you got there Jim! I wouldn't even contemplate changing the loom. Your a braver man than me there Jim!!

[Wilberforce]

TBH, I'm leaning very much towards the 'get another car' option.
It's pretty serious aye, and while some of the damaged stuff has been around for a while judging by the copper discolouration, the straw that broke the donkey's back so to speak may have been that I pinched the +ve and -ve wires for the stereo together when I refitted it for the journey and it's gone from there. Replacing the whole loom would be the only option as there'r probably more duff wiring hidden away still and extracting that from another car would be time consuming and difficult, then you've got to dismantle the BBB to fit it. That's assuming I find a good loom.

[RatCav]

Personally speaking I would replace the loom, but thats possibly because I love a challenge and know the rest of the truck is good. I know it can be a ball ache, but you have most of the dash off now and wouldn't take much more to get to everything. Best thing about a new loom is you can just hotswap it. Replace it a bit at a time i.e. get the new one and locate the plugs as you disconnect the old ones. As you say though ... finding a loom for a 2.8 LWB is the challenge.

[4x4 bobby]

Personally Jim If i could afford it i would buy another truck and swap over me good bits and break and sell the rest to recoup some of me hard earned readies. That really doesn't look good.

[Wilberforce]

I think that'll be what I do Bobby. Probably just as soon as my cheque from HMRC turns up, heh. There's a couple of possibilities I've seen too, but I'll keep quiet on them.

Neal, as you say the challenge would be finding a 2.8 loom in good nick and TBH, the rest of the truck bodywork wise isn't as good as you may think - both sills need doing, all four doors, still the sunroof and then a respray probably to get her looking half decent, and that's leaving aside the tank guard and general wear and tear to the underside. The panels have had a hard life but the mechanicals are sound so a shortcut to a nicely turned out truck again would be to buy another, then swap over the Calmini kit & the bumper, remove a few other bits from the BBB and weigh her in.

I may bend your ear as regards Trooper models cos I'm torn between another 2.8LWB, or get something like a 3.1 Trooper - the Calmini kit will bolt right on, and the winch bumper will only need the mounting holes elongating and I might even find one with the 7 seat bits

[4x4 bobby]

If i could afford it mate i would have the 3.1 Trooper they look the mutts!!!

[RatCav]

To avoid going off topic will chat at the weekend Jim

Disclaimer: I will point out that I will be honest in my opinion with no prejudice towards either Isuzu or Vauxhall

[Wilberforce]

Might be settled by then, bu duly noted.
The worst bit is, I *like* the colour of the BBB, it's gonnae be a pain finding another in that colour

[BoxCleva]

[Drift]

Jim pop yuor post in the Electrics section, some one might be able to help and may get info from it as it will get lost in here

[Wilberforce]

Done!

Bobby, Si, I do like the look of the Troop/Monty, but one of the nicer things about the Fronty is that it's not quite so tall. Also, if I go 3.1 Troop, I'd probably have to flog the engine to cover the extra insurance costs, and my roofrack would need modding. WHat do you reckon a complete 30K miles 4JB1T engine's worth then???

[horses45]

First off Nice pics Danny looks like you had a great day out that i missed, jim that wiring looks bad but depends on how much you have to spend on fixing it or the other car route, gregster Nice 2.5 and Si cracking trooper as for me wheel bearing done that looked like this when it came out

and after popping along milners in a landy to collect it i came away with these little shiney shiney bits but i didnt tell Audra till i had fitted them



so wheel bearing done and the shiney manual hubs on the truck drives well again happy lad but stiff as feck

[Hound Dog]

They look like aisin hubs are they copy's Rob??

[Dannyboy]

Ordered new exhaust as i damaged mine yesterday, so thats one thing i dont need to worry about on strata! Just a misfire, the air inlet and snorkle, the cb and the light bar to sort now! And whatever else i find!

[horses45]

they look like aisin hubs phil but have a different name but will see how they hold up