Desmond,

Pm sent.

Been a busy work period and had a minor issue with the Sporty.

My young fella was out driving and was pulled over by the local constabulary. They defected the sporty for no front bumper and tyres sticking out. He wasn't doing anything wrong which is even more frustrating.

Defect is off had to go over the pits. I now have to go through the engineering process here in the NT Australia. It is called TAC. it will need to be completed before my rego is due again next April.

Have a few things to get checked off. Need to get the welding signed off where they fabricated the mounts to bolt up the bullbar.

I just make it in overall height. The sporty sits at a lofty 143 mm over standard height. 150mm is the absolute max in Australia. In the NT anything over 100mm requires TAC approval. Most other states it is 50mm before engineering is required.
They checked my front window tint. All good I presume as no mention of that. Brakes were fine etc.

Check list I presume will be:
Body lift
Suspension
Chassis mounts for front bar
Front forks
Tyres and wheels
Speedo ( it is accurate with e gearing change).

I have the bullbar fitted and finally fitted up my Flairs that I have had for a few years. Fitted up some Sr5 hilux mudflaps for the rear to cover the tyres which spoils the look in my opinion and ensuring it was no higher than 30cm from the ground (legal standard here in Oz) but I guess that is was attracted the popo in the first place with the originals on and the tyres exposed.

Funnily my oldest son drive around in the car the way it was for 18 months and never got pulled up (admittedly he had a front bumper on). I put it down to the the P plate my son had displayed on the back. My oldest son ran a PPlate in the back window and you couldn't see it very well where my youngest has a metallic one displayed on the back hatch wich really stands out against the dark blue.

Also kick myself for not been more proactive in getting the bullbar fitted quicker.

Will get a pick up soon of the new look.


Have to start filling in the TAC approval paperwork and get it sent off the NT Motoring organisation board to assess my application and give it there blessing hopefully😱

Cheers, Chris 🍻

Hi,
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Thanks.
Michael.

Well the little sporty has been performing learner driver duties again, this time for my nephew with my wife supervising. I do not know how that clutch is still holding in there.

The aircon stopped working the other week. Dropped it off yesterday thinking the gas had leaked out again and that I had a leak in the system after I had fitted the body lift and mucked around a bit with the aircon piping during the fit up. I thought I might have cracked a pipe near the filter housing at the front of the car whilst the body was lifted off the chassis.

Got the bad news Turns out the head on the condenser unit had blown. During the testing the guys saw that the main engine fan was not locking up and they could stop it fairly easy whilst it was running. Lucky I had recently replaced the rest of the cooling system s no engine overheating damage

Any way a new condenser has been sourced and on its way to Darwin, the evaporater is going to cop a good clean out the best they can without pulling the dash apart and the guys are going to fix the clutch fan.

They are going to to use a couple of tubes of the Toyota silicon into the clutch hub. Hopefully this will fix it like new again. a common fix over hear in Australia to add additional Toyota silicon into clutch fans to allow it to lock up better.

I wanted to fix my transfer case lever as it would not stay in 4high due too hitting the rear of the console,the boot rubber bunching up due to the lift pushing the lever forward, along with the leather gear lever cover contributing to the clearance issue. I did trim away some sound insulation foam making it a bit better.

Now I had not refitted my console properly since I had fitted the body lift. This would come back to bite me later.

I didn't want to modify the console so thought about it for quite a while. Decided to mod the lever by cutting and adding an S bend to raise the lever and bring it forward. Even before I lifted the body I always thought the transfer lever was to low.

I measured thrice and then took it to the engineer workshop. Spoke to Nick the engineer / welder and gave him my measurements 30-35 mm up and 20-25 mm forward. Wish I could weld.

Nick did a fantastic job and the measurements were spot on 35 mm and 25 mm. He also was able to keep the boot rubber bush and not damage it with the welder heater wich allowed the rubber boots to be placed back over to allow some water proofing which was fantastic. End result was exactly what I imagined.

Fitted everything up . Bloody measurement was out only my self to blame. Won't engage low range now as the lever goes to far forward. Other wise the height for the transfer lever is perfect. By fitting the console properly I found another problem.

I now also need to put a slight bend forward at the bottom of my gearshift lever to stop it hitting the rear of the console or cut and shut to lift it 30-35 mm so the large body of the lever clears the console (that is what is hitting). Will post the photos when I finally put together my body lift post with steps and photos for future reference.

With the centre console not screwed in that allows enough movement for the main gearbox lever to operate properly without hitting anything but still cannot push forward enough with the transfer lever to lock in low range, sit at neutral.

So when I get a chance 'all head back to the Nicks and do some measuring up. Will post the results.

Cheers, Chris

Any chance to turn the t-case lever 180 degrees? I've done this on Mitsubishi to solve clearance issues.

Sporty is all fixed again. New condenser new dryer and a thorough clean of the evaporator. Couple tubes of Toyota silicon into the clutch fan and she is as good as new.

Car sound different now, you can really here the fan roaring when accelerating through the gears. Aircon is working great lovely and cold.

Cheers,

Quick update!
Took the shifter levers back to Nick and he fixed them up for me.

We put a slight bend in the main gear lever and took out about 1/2 of the forward measurement so total forward on the transfer case lever is approx 15 mm or the width of the transfer case lever.

This time worked out perfect. No more hitting and I can select low and high range no problems at all. Best thing I didn't have to modify my centre console at all. I like the way the leather gators fit the way they are.

Forgot to take the bloody photos . Will have to get a couple next time I have the console apart again. Probably will be when I work out the fitting up of my extended breathers for the gearbox and transfer case.

I have started the engineering process, TAC application is submitted and approved in principle just before Christmas. I have engaged the services of an engineer. I love his business name Rustycan engineering The motor authority want he extended forks tested. I have a second set on the way and will be providing one of those along with an original set of forks so the engineer can perform structural testing on both.

I have had a wheel alignment and bump steer test completed and they came up within spec so very happy about that. Just have to wait for the company to fix their machine so I can get a print out out with the bump steer measurements included to submit as evidence for the engineering process.

Last Thing will be the swerve test which I think will be fine as the sporty handles just as good if not better than standard height.

I a have to get a couple of good photos of the sporty with the bullbar fitted. I only have a couple of crappy phone shots which are not really clear. Will have to ask my sister in law as she takes great photos and will post up.

Getting closer.

Cheers, Chris

Received the TAC approval in principle for my mods in December.

I have engaged the services of a MVR TAC approved engineer and completed the multiple lane change test today. we are still on all 4 wheels so it must be good I all seriousness the Sporty handled it quite well, went through the slalom quite flat and composed.

For those who don't know what the test is here is a UTUBE link to a lane change test. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8TJl4yqvrPE. You enter the witches hats at 100km

Also had the wheel alignment and bump steer measurements completed this morning. Two steps closer

Just need to wait on the reports for the engineer and tyre alignment company, forward them to the TAC committee. They will review and hopefully give it their blessing and then down to the registration authority for 100 % compliance

WOOHOO,

TAC APPROVED.

Just needs the final MVR inspection. Won't be an issue seen as it has been through there twice in the last six months. Couple of small maintanence issue to fix and she is good to go back over the pits. Had a CV boot let go last week.

Have to post a couple of photos soon.

Cheers, Chris

WOOHOO.

Final inspection today at the MVR and all passed. The Sporty is fully engineered and compliant for the NT.

Here is a crappy phone photo during the inspection.

ccc

Don't know why my iPhone won't focus. Will have to get some better ones.

Cheers, Chris