Can $40,000 of SUSPENSION Make a 79 FLEX Like a Patrol?

[00:00:00]Welcome back to the Built Not Bought channel, guys, where earlier this year, I purchased myself a 79 series after selling my beloved Duramax Patrol. And over the last few months, I've been rebuilding this thing in the hopes to fall in love with the 79 series Land Cruiser like most of you do. In the past few episodes, we've stripped the thing fully down, repainted the cab, repowder coated the chassis, and started the reassembly phase. In this episode, we finally get it back looking like a car.

[00:00:27]The motor goes in. We get the cab dropped back on. Some wheels and tires, suspension go in. We can finally see what this thing's going to start to look like.

[00:00:36][music] [music] [music] Three lights. Three lights are out in me shed. Look. One out. That one works.

[00:00:59]That one works. Out. Out.

[00:01:03]That one works. Out of six lights, three are broken. We're filming in a black hole today cuz we're working on this chassis. The funny thing is there's some new ones right here ready to go on. But we got Land Cruisers that are built.

[00:01:15][music] Priorities, right? So, welcome to the dark corner of the shed when we are getting ripping into prepping the chassis. Well, the chassis is prepped.

[00:01:24]It's been powder coated. We're actually assembling it. But there's one little thing we got to do before we do that.

[00:01:30]And it is part of Superior Engineering's instruction kit for the core conversion.

[00:01:34]We got to go through and silicon up every other gap in between the welds.

[00:01:40]Now, I also ran some fish plates on the front when we did the engine mounts.

[00:01:44][music] Same deal on there. We got to silicon up any join. Now, the reason for that is you don't do a full weld on your chassis cuz it weakens it and can bend it. You stitch weld it and then you want to cover those gaps after painting so water and crap doesn't potentially jam down there and cause rust. Now, it is primed behind there, but the welding can burn a lot of that off. So, pretty basic. Got a little bit of black silicon and we can go and install the rest of the gear on here.

[00:02:13][ __ ] them. [music] Now, baby, you're cast.

[00:02:18][music] You got me doing things like a clown. I just look at me [music] wear your high boots with your hip hight. [music] [music] >> All righty. I think I got it all. It's hard to tell because some of the factory brackets that are on here, they have holes for water to go in and out. I didn't want to silicon up anything that was meant to drain. So, I pretty much only done the fish plates run around.

[00:02:54]There's a few bolt holes that won't be used. Now, I mentioned in last week's episode that Sunshine powder coers plug up all the thread holes, which is really good because otherwise they get full of powder coat and you have [music] to go throw a tap through everything. So, they plug them up so you can get a bolt straight back in there. But the ones that aren't used, it means there's not full coverage on those threads and they can potentially rust. So, I need to work out which ones aren't being used and plug them up. I'll probably do that later once we've got all the brake lines and everything back on. Oh, before we get into that, guys, I wanted to do a quick little uh trivia question. This is an interesting fact actually. I want you guys to comment down below. How many 79 series do you think there are in Australia? Don't Google it. Just comment right now. How many 79 series do you think there are in Australia? It's bloody mindboggling. Crazy.

[00:03:49]>> It's out with a spray gun again in the middle of winter. I don't know why I keep doing this, [music] but this diff and a few extra parts were in desperate need of a liquor paint. We needed to bring it up to its former glory to match the rest of the brand new, freshly powder coated chassis. So, I chuck some PolyU400 on there and let it set for a few hours.

[00:04:10]>> [music] >> All right, the paint's been laid. So, I ended up using the Poly 400. Now, I didn't realize they actually gave me gloss instead of satin. I think this is the same paint I used for the Patrol chassis a couple of years ago, and it was a satin. This is a gloss, but in saying that, the powder coat that came out is actually quite glossy, so it might even match that. Who knows? All these covers have been done. the swivel hubs. Actually, these rear covers for the rear diff, a couple of them are pretty danged up. Like this one's pretty bad, but they're $700 each. Not for a pair each, and they don't really do much except hold your handbrake drum. Now, I'm deleting that because I'm getting one of the ones that go around the drive shaft. So, I don't even need it to do that. This only purpose is to hold the rear caliper. So, I didn't want to spend the money. They're a little bit dinged up, but with a bit of paint, you'll barely notice. The front diffs come up good. Super glossy. I think as it will set it might dull down a little bit, but I ended up actually painting where the wiper seal goes on here. So, these are really pitted and I'm hoping with the thickness of the paint, it's actually going to help it seal better. But if it doesn't, I can always go through and sand that back. But the raw steel was so pitted, I think it's actually going to seal better with paint on it. But normally, you cover them up. So, let this set for a couple of days, then rebuild the front diff, put all that together. We got brand new bearings, seals, everything. And then the chassis can start being assembled because I basically want to get that thing down off the hoist and onto its wheels this week. The hoist, the hoist, the hoist.

[00:05:38]So obviously rear diff's good to go.

[00:05:39]That's a brand new one from Superior.

[00:05:41]But um yeah, we just need the front diff assembled and then all the suspension parts can go in and can finally get off the hoist. The time has come, ladies and gentlemen. A very exciting moment I've been waiting for on this build for a long time is to start putting all the new stuff on. and we're about to rip into it. And to be honest, I'm a little bit overwhelmed because there are a lot of boxes everywhere, a lot of bits going on, and I'm just in this mood of being really meticulous and organized right now. And I [music] don't think it's working for me. I think we need to just start putting stuff on the car instead of trying to lay it out and work out where everything needs to go. I do know where it needs to go. I just need to start doing it. So, I think for now, I'll throw some wheels on. Oh, we got some new wheels. Actually, these aren't the ones. I mean, okay, so here's what's happening, right? We're running two sets of whims. Whims. That's why I said whims. Wheels. Rims. We're going to have a party set, big dogs, and we've got some really sick two-piece [music] wheels coming from LFT. And then these are your streeties. So, they're only 33s because let's not even get into it. The big drama going on at the moment with legalities and [music] re-engineering all the stuff. So, 4 in and 35s is technically no longer legal. So, we're going to go 4 in, but we have to stick with 30 ft for street. Um, these are the LFT Rebels. Now, the guys said I think they've got a sale on at the moment for this particular design. So, if you want to grab them, they've g me a discount code, too. If you use B&B, you'll save an extra 15% on top of the sale. So, that's pretty sick. They're a fully forged wheel. So, they're T661 um aluminum. So, they're going to be running for the street room. So, I think I'll throw them onto the diff to be able to get it rolling under the car and then get all the arms on. And what I'm going to do actually is leave the springs out, put the shocks on to hold the diff up, and then I can fully bump it out to set bump stop lengths. And that also means I can flex it up, work out all clearances and that without the coils in. The coils will go in last. So, I got to stop talking, start doing something cuz there's a bit going on. Let's just start putting stuff on the car and see where we end up.

[00:07:54][music] All right, guys. Superior Engineering has done it yet again. I know I keep going on about how crazy their stuff is, [music] and they've released a ton of billet parts for the 79 series at the moment. All your rear arms have been out for a while, and they've now done front [music] radius arms, which is insane.

[00:08:14]This whole suspension setup is the lightest, strongest, most badass looking kit I have ever installed in a four-wheel drive. If you haven't tried Superior Gear, I suggest you do. [music] All right, rear diffs in. I'm going to slowly go down on this. Now, there's nothing in the front. And already without the diff in the hoist wanted to lift off the No, the the chassis wanted to lift off the hoist. So, we've strapped the front down, but I'll just slowly come down on this. [snorts] Oh, this little bar is going to be in the way, isn't it? Um Oh, this is my new little trolley shelf thing. Dan Buckner, shout out to Dan. He had one, and he reckons it's so handy. And it already is. I reckon I should get SP to make these. It's already the right color.

[00:09:00]Anyway, hopefully you can see it lifting the hoist already. Look at that.

[00:09:08]how much it's like lifting the hoist.

[00:09:10]That is why it is very important to strap your chassis down. The boys at Superior, whenever they do coil conversions, they throw a massive drum full of concrete on the rear where the tray goes because once they pull that diff out, this is what can happen.

[00:09:21]Especially when there's a motor in your car as well. We might throw some weight on the front. I reckon a couple of tires will sort that. All right, so now I want to go do the front end. In order to do the front end, the diff needs to be assembled first. So, I threw some paint on it the other day. Just some Poly 400.

[00:09:36]um not powder coated cuz we're eventually going to change that front housing. We all know that debacle. So, I'll get that back together. Now, um here's a little reminder. Make sure to subscribe to the channel, guys. And there's a new thing that I've seen pop up. It's called hyped, I think. Do me a favor, guys. If you are on the video on your phone, computer, whatever.

[00:09:54]Try and find the hype button. I don't know what it is. It may help me, it may not, but if it does help me, I'll be sincerely appreciative. So, find the hype button, guys. Hype this video. I think it's like the new version of trending or whatever. Really appreciate that. Like and subscribe and hit hype.

[00:10:09]There you go. All right, let's get this front diff sorted. [music] Okay, thanks for hyping the video. I'm all hyped up now. The diff that was cooked but no longer is. We're going to finally assemble this thing. I do have, you know what's funny? Actually, I had a diff rebuild kit sitting out the back of my shed, I reckon for 2 years for a 79 series. Don't ask me how it got there cuz I've never owned one before, but it's there and it's perfect timing cuz it literally comes with everything. Full full wiper seal kit. So, we got to replace the whole light. It even comes with the covers for the wiper seals.

[00:10:47]Like all of this stuff. Got the center ready to go. This still has the Harrap e- locker in it that we installed a couple of episodes ago. That's all been shimmed up and running true. Shout out to Josh from Geared Up Drive lines. He came around and we did that together.

[00:11:02]So, the thing is with cruisers, the front diff is essentially the rear diff in like an LM106. So, they're really small.

[00:11:13]That is why they break. So, the rear diff is a decent size, similar to a Patrol. The fronts are tiny. So, that's why they they have issues. So hopefully this stays together. I do have some chrome axles coming from um D-Whiz. So yeah, let's get it together. Oh, I'm not going to be able to do it until the axles are here. We'll get it prepped up and ready ready for the axles to go in.

[00:11:36]Look at me all organized having my bolts in a labeled bag and everything. It's not like me, is it? Also, guys, do yourself a favor with any bearings. Grab yourself one of these SP tools bearing punch [music] kits. It is hands down one of the best ways to put in bearings. You do not want to hit them in with a punch.

[00:11:52]They go in crooked. Using a proper kit, make sure they get pressed in straight and you don't have any issues down the track with the seals pinching or not even sealing properly. [music] >> Oh dear. If you're a mechanic, you would have spotted this and knew what was coming, which is I shouldn't have put this bearing on this piece because it won't fit through the hole. What I mean is this hole, it's like that size. So, this bit's got to go in first. [music] And now I got to put that bearing on.

[00:12:25]So, I think what I'm going to do is grab grab the little puck. Put that in there.

[00:12:29]And then just use a G clamp to kind of wind it down and squeeze it up. These aren't really pressed on real tight. I think from factory, like they pretty much just slide on, but these ones are a bit fogged. So, just going to pull that up there. And once that's pressed down, the whole thing should just kind of drop onto here. And then you just put the bottom one in with the bolts. And as it gets pulled [music] up, it kind of does it. So, little learning curve there. I think the same's on a GU, but I literally haven't done one in years. So, I forgot that little bit. I'm going to have to rip that one off. I'm lucky I have one, yeah, one more spare in the bag to put on cuz it's probably going to ruin that cage as it pulls off. So, well, it ended up kind of working, which was lucky for me, but in the end, I found out I could have pushed these through after the actual swivel hubs got put on. But anyway, I continued motoring on forwards. We got all the seals put on, put the swivel hub on, and we started basically putting this big jigsaw together. I did have to Google the order that these go on. The wiper seals have a specific order to ensure that nothing leaks out of the CV. So once I figured that out, we put it all together, mirrored it on the other side, we're good to go.

[00:13:34][music] >> [music] [applause] >> Round of applause for me because the front diff is ready. Nearly almost. The only thing we're waiting on are the axles. Now, I've got some chromoly ones coming from D-Whiz. Now, Todd himself from Dwiz is heading down to Gold Coast and he's going to come and drop them off to me. So, hopefully we'll get them today. But it's not going to stop me from getting this diff housing onto the chassis. So, we're going to move on with that. Now, continuing on with Superior Engineering's kit, we obviously done the coil conversion in the back, but the front also getting a massive upgrade.

[00:14:16]The dragling and tie rod arms are also billet like the rear arms. They're a 7075 aluminium. Then, we've got their panh hard as well. That's adjustable to get your track correction right. And then also, we've got their shocks. Now, these are their three-way adjustable um reservoir shocks. Now, they're a 2.0, I think now these have a 2.5 in body on them. Um, and they've got some of the latest technology that Superior has been working on. If you want to find out more about the internals and how they sort of work with the different adjustment. Um, go back to I think third episode. I'll link it down below and we go see their shock expert in their shock room as he sets it up and valves them to suit this car. So, there's a whole lot of information about that on there. Come with me. I want to show you something else pretty cool. Radius arms. Now, these radius arms are billet aluminum.

[00:15:04]They have just been released. They're a new thing. Um, obviously the rear arms have been done and developed for patrols and cruisers for a while now, but they're starting to bring out the same technology in the radius arms. Now, the massive advantage with that is weight.

[00:15:16]If you've ever done suspension, you'll know how heavy a radius arm is. You need a couple of arms. Watch this. Look at that. Just one arm. I can bicep curl.

[00:15:25]Look, look at me. I could probably bicep curl maybe 8 to 10 kilos on a good day.

[00:15:29]You cannot do that with a steel radius arm. These are literally way less than half the weight of a steel one, but just as strong because they're also out of that 7075. So, superior engineering, continue to push innovation the boundaries of what is possible. And they look awesome, too. So, we're going to get all this in the car. I think I'm going to mount the radius arms to the diff while it's on the bench and then go throw it under the car and lift it up and connect everything up there. So, let's rip into that. Do you know when you've had like a massive day at work and then you go to the gym and you're absolutely exhausted, completely depleted, all your muscles are hurting?

[00:16:02]Yeah. Well, I have no idea what that feels like. But what I do know is these alloy radius arms were so easy to put into the diff and throw under the car.

[00:16:13][music] I could never.

[00:16:18][music] >> After a little bit of finessing with the hammers, I got pretty much all the bolts in. I'm only finger tightening everything for now until [music] it's fully mocked up and then I can go through and do a nut and bolt on the whole car.

[00:16:35]Yummy, yummy, yummy, yummy. All righty.

[00:16:40]Front end is coming together. We've got the radius arms in. Just going to drop this pan hard in. Then put the steering rods on. Once we get those axles, what I want to do, this is why I didn't put any coils in. So, no coils in the rear or the front because I'm going to flex this thing up without any coils so we can [clears throat] see where the bumps lie.

[00:16:58]I'm not sure whether these shocks I think the shocks are gassed, so they may still have a bit of pressure in them, but hopefully the bottom out. If not, I'm literally going to ratchet strap one side to fully compress the shock and then get this thing flexed up. And then we can look straight down the barrel.

[00:17:13]Like we can look dead down here and just see like one diff that way, the other diff that way.

[00:17:19]Just doing mad flexy boys.

[00:17:35]One thing is guaranteed though. Whenever you get a big order from Superior Engineering, you're guaranteed to have an awesome fire to keep you warm. The amount of boxes and it's bloody freezing today in Queensland.

[00:17:48]How good just need a bit [music] [music] Nice. Now that we've got the chassis complete, I'm going to chuck the coils in and then tomorrow [music] the plan is to drop the motor and box in and the cab on. This thing is going to become a car real [ __ ] fast. Remember the episode when I was like, "Oh, I'm going to chuck the dash into the cab. It's too early.

[00:18:31]It's not time yet, but I'm going to do it anyway just to see what it looks like." Yeah, the same's happening again.

[00:18:36]We're putting the motor and box in and it's not ready. And I'll tell you why.

[00:18:39]So, this is what's going to happen, right? We've got the 8-speed automatic.

[00:18:42]So, we're doing the 8-speed conversion.

[00:18:44]Now, I've got pretty much everything except one vital item. So, you've got your torque converter onto the gearbox.

[00:18:51]We got our adapter from the 8-speed to the Cumins. Then, there's a torque converter adapter, which goes on the back of this converter, which then bolts to the flywheel. Got all that. Got bolts for that. Flywheel to [music] crank.

[00:19:03]We're waiting on bolts. So, that flywheel is a heavyduty billet machined [music] solid piece. It's not factory because there are cracking flex plate issues with these eight speeds when you really load them up. So, [music] we've gone for an expensive heavy duty one, but I didn't want to skimp out on bolts.

[00:19:21]So, [music] we're getting ARP bolts to bolt it to the crank cuz the last thing I want is to have everything upgraded and strong and then the bolts [ __ ] Now, I ordered them with express shipping and the guys I'm like, "Where's my order?"

[00:19:34]And they're like, "Oh, it's, you know, 10 to 15 days we're ordering it in." I'm like, "Why did I pay for express shipping?" So, we're waiting on bolts, which is really annoying cuz that's like deep in the middle of the motor. So, if I put all this together, it's all going to [music] come off. So, I'm not going to bother about putting all the torque converter in and all the adapters and flywheel. We're just going to marrow [music] this up to here for now. And we need both of them in there to to mount it into the chassis. Get it all located.

[00:19:57]And then once the engine's in [music] and bolted, I can take the gearbox off, put that flywheel in, yada yada yada. So that's the plan right now cuz then I do want to get the cab on, [music] check some other things and stuff. So let's do that. Let's get motor and box in the chassis, start making this car a car.

[00:20:10]Now, I don't know how many times I've put this gearbox onto this motor. But I'll tell you [music] one thing for free. It's got to happen again. It's all right. We got to mock this thing up so we can finally get cab, chassis, motor all married up together so we can see what this thing's going to look like finished.

[00:20:25][music] >> [music] >> Right. Big moment here, guys. We are actually making a car become a car. It's time to put the Cumins [music] in the 79 for good. Now, I don't want it to come out again. So, we're going to get the forklift in, lock it in. But before we do that, quick mention of today's sponsor, which is EcoFlow. Now, EcoFlow are the leaders when it comes to 12vt systems, and they have a ton of stuff on their website. They've got a few deals at the moment with their fridges, air con units, battery packs, all sorts.

[00:20:56]Now, coming into winter, I live on a semi-ural property and every now and then you get a few power cuts. [music] And several times I've used my EcoFlow to completely run my office, even some stuff around the house. So, you continue working, [music] especially if you're in the shed, run some lights, powers. They even have massive industrial units [music] can that can run a welder and all sorts of equipment. I did a little test the other day and I plugged in as many things as I could to try and kill one of these and I couldn't do it. We had laptops, chargers, lights, the microwave, the air fryer, everything plugged in into one of these and it still ran everything. Even had the TV and the PlayStation gone. So, if you want to grab one guys, there's a link down below. Use my discount code BNB. Go grab yourself one. Use it time and time again. EcoFlow. Go check them out. All right, let's get this motor in. All right, a bit of a precarious moment. Uh, hanging a whole motor and gearbox off the edge of a forklift over your brand new painted chassis. Uh, a little bit scary, but [music] we got the thing in there. It's mounted.

[00:21:55]Right, motor's in. Little milestone ticked off. Now, there was a bit of mucking around with the engine mounts. I don't if you remember when I made this.

[00:22:01]There's these little spaces in here which you kind of got to hold in as you put the bolt through. There's a bit of fiddling around, but transmission crossmember mounts bolted up too. So, now going to have a bit of smoke, have a little lunch, and then I'm going to chuck the cab on. Again, it's too early to do that, but I just got to keep moving. There's a bunch of parts we're waiting on, but when I get the cab on, I can start making all the dump pipe and exhaust and work out clearances for different things. So, we're just going to get that on for now. It will come off again, but um at least I can get a picture of how everything's going to lay out and I can start sorting out what has to basically get around the cab. There's a few pipes in there that need to come across here, but the main thing is just getting that dump pipe sorted and run down the back. So, let's get her on.

[00:22:41][music] All right. I could taste the finish line here. I was that keen to get this cab resting on this chassis. It'll be the first time that I've seen the 79 series complete with its new paint job and its motor so I can really get myself motivated to finish all the little fiddly bits. And I tell you what, I'm stoked with the result.

[00:23:04][music] >> [music] >> Now that's looking more like a car. I knew it was going to come together real quick once the chassis is painted.

[00:23:22]Assembling it, getting the cab on, getting the motor in, all happens within like a day. So, this gives me heaps more motivation now to start doing more stuff. The first thing we're going to work on is a bit of exhaust pipe, dump pipe situation cuz I really want to try and make sure that I can get that to work with enough cab. So, I'm going to order some stuff from Ben Brothers.

[00:23:41]That'll probably happen in next week's episode. But, I've got a little trivia question to answer for you guys. And that was earlier in the episode, how many 79 series do you think there are in Australia? And the answer might shock you. There are 360,79 series that have been sold in Australia since around the8s. So that is a pretty wild number and that is why you can still find them pretty cheap secondhand.

[00:24:07]I think they're going to be pretty hard to make extinct in this country and they still produce them to this day. So pretty crazy. But the V8 ones obviously are the rare ones and I've gone and thrown that VDJ in the bin. So oopsies, sorry. Anyway, that's a wrap on this week's episode, guys. Make sure to like the video, subscribe, comment below, and hit that hype button if you can find it.

[00:24:26]Or maybe the hype thing just happens.

[00:24:28]I'm really not sure how it works. I think by liking the video, it can potentially go on the hype section. I don't know. We'll see you guys next week when we start doing some fabrication stuff to this [music] and making this motor run.