BarryPort
RMS Regular
Hey guys.
My old boy has been harping on about how much he would love a wee pick up to run about in. The man likes to keep active in his tender age of 72 which involves collecting firewood from the farm & running bags of rubbish to the dump.
His current ride is a Lexus RX300 which has had its bumpers painted a few times as he’s at that dootery stage he’s prone to knocking into things. He even took the side of my Transit out when it he left it in gear.
Anyway, he gives a lot & never really gets anything back. In fact he’s never had a Christmas present as it gets him embarrassed & frustrated that someone would waste money on him.
So, it needs to be
1. Cheap and small (so he can knock it)
2. 4WD (For mud & snow)
3. Plenty of room in the rear to cart stuff about
Looked at the Daihatsu Hijet & Suzuki Carry but the bed in their pick ups was a little too excessive.
A Land Rover Defender 90 is a million pounds these days since they stopped production & with the woolly steering & spongy brakes he’d have turned it into a Defender 70 in no time.
So, I arrived at the Suzuki Jimny & decided the cabriolet model would be easy enough to convert.
Finding one was tricky enough, @Coog will tell you that.
During a Donedeal search a Donegal man had a wanted ad up for an engine for his cabrio & I asked him if he’d sell his as a non runner with its cracked head.
We arrived at £250 sterling, a set of Ford Mondeo ST24 turbine alloys & x2 stainless exhaust mugs that sealed the deal (£350 total).
Off to the most Northerly point of Ireland we collected this thing, clean, all there & not looking like a bad buy we loaded her up & headed for Higgins Car Dismantlers Garvagh where I had arranged to have a replacement engine waiting for me. £350 again. Reversed the trailer into their yard, big Polish boy lowers the 1300 16v G13BB into the boot with a forklift & we set off again.
Advert pic
Loaded up in Middletown, Malin Head
Unfortunately I got called back to work offshore the day after so only got stuck into for the first time today.
The head etc was stripped off so we just took the rest of the done engine out & I made a start on the rear.
Roof off
Rear seats & trim out
Had to re-route these rear light, seatbelt wanring & fuel filler cap release cables as they’ll only get in the way of the bulk head when I’m welding it in Monday.
Serious volume, I would say 1m3 (1m x 1m x 1m).
Must try & source a polycarbonate type caravan window for the bulk head.
As this is a surprise Christmas present I’ve only really got a week left to drop in the new engine & fabricate the wee truck’s bed. Ideally I’d like to do it in checker plate but I don’t have a welder fit for aluminium so 3mm mild steel sheet & a locka car body Schutz will have to do.
Hopefully update this early next week & remember guys, it’s a secret.
My old boy has been harping on about how much he would love a wee pick up to run about in. The man likes to keep active in his tender age of 72 which involves collecting firewood from the farm & running bags of rubbish to the dump.
His current ride is a Lexus RX300 which has had its bumpers painted a few times as he’s at that dootery stage he’s prone to knocking into things. He even took the side of my Transit out when it he left it in gear.
Anyway, he gives a lot & never really gets anything back. In fact he’s never had a Christmas present as it gets him embarrassed & frustrated that someone would waste money on him.
So, it needs to be
1. Cheap and small (so he can knock it)
2. 4WD (For mud & snow)
3. Plenty of room in the rear to cart stuff about
Looked at the Daihatsu Hijet & Suzuki Carry but the bed in their pick ups was a little too excessive.
A Land Rover Defender 90 is a million pounds these days since they stopped production & with the woolly steering & spongy brakes he’d have turned it into a Defender 70 in no time.
So, I arrived at the Suzuki Jimny & decided the cabriolet model would be easy enough to convert.
Finding one was tricky enough, @Coog will tell you that.
During a Donedeal search a Donegal man had a wanted ad up for an engine for his cabrio & I asked him if he’d sell his as a non runner with its cracked head.
We arrived at £250 sterling, a set of Ford Mondeo ST24 turbine alloys & x2 stainless exhaust mugs that sealed the deal (£350 total).
Off to the most Northerly point of Ireland we collected this thing, clean, all there & not looking like a bad buy we loaded her up & headed for Higgins Car Dismantlers Garvagh where I had arranged to have a replacement engine waiting for me. £350 again. Reversed the trailer into their yard, big Polish boy lowers the 1300 16v G13BB into the boot with a forklift & we set off again.
Advert pic
Loaded up in Middletown, Malin Head
Unfortunately I got called back to work offshore the day after so only got stuck into for the first time today.
The head etc was stripped off so we just took the rest of the done engine out & I made a start on the rear.
Roof off
Rear seats & trim out
Had to re-route these rear light, seatbelt wanring & fuel filler cap release cables as they’ll only get in the way of the bulk head when I’m welding it in Monday.
Serious volume, I would say 1m3 (1m x 1m x 1m).
Must try & source a polycarbonate type caravan window for the bulk head.
As this is a surprise Christmas present I’ve only really got a week left to drop in the new engine & fabricate the wee truck’s bed. Ideally I’d like to do it in checker plate but I don’t have a welder fit for aluminium so 3mm mild steel sheet & a locka car body Schutz will have to do.
Hopefully update this early next week & remember guys, it’s a secret.
Last edited: