Pajero Gen 2 restoration

[mygoggie]

Looking good!

I would like to know if the fuses to your starting battery are necessary when using a trickle charger to keep only the one battery charged?

If it was only for charging, the the answer is no onboard fuses are required, but your lead from the charger will require a fuse (as in the picture). However the system I am building is a complete DC bus system as per the diagram above and the DC bus (and battery(s)) needs needs to be protected from each other.

[mygoggie]

Today I want to sort out the passenger seat that does not lock properly on the forward and rearward slide. More importantly it does not retain the backrest position memory. When the Paj is loaded this is a major issue as the backrest does not lock if the seat was moved forward and I have to unpack the luggage to get the backrest to move far enough backward to reset.

First step was to remove the seat and also the seat covers to be washed and repaired.




I found the problem quickly as to why the forward/rearward slide does not lock properly. This little plate that stands up was bend and barely touches the release spring.



So I bend it a little further away from the slide and it is locking 100% now.

The backrest took a while to figure out. Inside this mechanism is a ratchet type gear that locks in place when the Memory arm is pulled to the rear. Yes, the button is from a RH seat!




Here is the ratchet gear mechanism.




It took quite a bit of time to understand that the arm is locked onto the ratchet with the rubber boot/pad that locks onto the teeth of the ratchet. The issue is that the pad is worn away .... no I need to figure out how to replace the pad or add a new surface ... I am NOT going to strip the mechanism. Springs jumping all over the show is not my scene!

[mygoggie]

I managed to rotate the rubber piece that grips onto the teeth around the little plate it fits onto by lifting the outer edge of the rubber piece and pushing it using a long thing screwdriver. The memory mechanism appears to work fine now. We will see ...

[mygoggie]

Two days back while I unplugged the battery charger from the front Anderson outlet, I battled a bit to pull the lead from the plug in the Paj. Yesterday I remembered I still had two Anderson plug handles somewhere. A search (once again) revealed the two handles still vacuum packed.

Here the plug is with the handle installed. Removing is now a piece of cake!

[4eTouareg]

Two days back while I unplugged the battery charger from the front Anderson outlet, I battled a bit to pull the lead from the plug in the Paj. Yesterday I remembered I still had two Anderson plug handles somewhere. A search (once again) revealed the two handles still vacuum packed.

Here the plug is with the handle installed. Removing is now a piece of cake!

A regular dose of WD40 won't do any harm.

[mygoggie]

A regular dose of WD40 won't do any harm.

Nope, good idea. Only problem is with this lockdown I have run out of such essential oils ...

[4eTouareg]

Nope, good idea. Only problem is with this lockdown I have run out of such essential oils ...

Raid SWAMBO's kitchen.
Spay-n-Cook will do for the interim

[mygoggie]

I almost drove off with the Paj still plugged into the battery charger! So, I made a tag from an old birthday ribbon to be hung on the antenna when on charge.

[mygoggie]

The next step in my process of restoration/renovation is to install gauges to measure the oil and coolant parameters. In addition exhaust temperature and then add to this the DC bus equipment status indicators as well.

So out with the old central gauges.




And in with the new proposed layout. Yes I am keeping the old three gauges as I actually use these!




I changed the layout a bit after cutting the first block of foam so now I had to add more pieces to get a larger block to work from. I used normal acrylic wood glue to join the pieces.

[mygoggie]

Raid SWAMBO's kitchen.
Spay-n-Cook will do for the interim

He he, yeah that will work!

[4eTouareg]

I almost drove off with the Paj still plugged into the battery charger! So, I made a tag from an old birthday ribbon to be hung on the antenna when on charge.

Hang the keys on the BH plug.

[mygoggie]

Taking it slowly over a few days.

First shape done to depth.




Basic shape and position fixed.




Initial leg support glued in place




Final shape and fitting very well. Now I need to reduce the surface levels by 3mm to allow for one layer of fibreglass and vinyl covering.

[hogbeast]

Torsion bars cleaned and acid primed. These were really filthy and rusted, but with some love, they are as good as new!

Attachment 563230


Ready for installation ..

Attachment 563231


All installed and my nightmare began ...

Attachment 563233


Someone in the past made white markings to indicate the location of the teeth of the torsion bars in the holder. Alas, these were in the wrong location and I had to find the correct location by assembling torquing checking ride height and undo and redo four times before I found the sweet spot with the correct lift I wanted.

All installed and all nuts and bolts torqued.

Attachment 563234

Do you have a idea of how much mm adjustment can you get by increasing one splice. How much mm lift will one splice give you.
My car seems to be low on the front. I want to level it out little more

[mygoggie]

Do you have a idea of how much mm adjustment can you get by increasing one splice. How much mm lift will one splice give you.
My car seems to be low on the front. I want to level it out little more

One splice (tooth) in my case was about 20-25mm lift. Remember to cut the upper wishbone's rubber stops to the correct clearance gap. I played around to ensure that the two adjusting arms at the back end of the torsion bars were finally positioned within the recess and the vehicle at the correct height. I did not want the arms to protrude below the body due to my own clearance and safety concerns.

[hogbeast]

Can you help me out. Why must the bump stops be cut.?

[hogbeast]

Read up on forum I see what you saying

[mygoggie]

Read up on forum I see what you saying

When you give the front any lift the bump stops will touch the wishbone or can not even be installed.

I cut the rubbers on the thin line that was on the rubber (which is about half the depth of the rubber) and that is even too little as it is touching too many times as you can see. I need to remove some more rubber ...



If you do not raise the front, then of course you do not need to do any cutting on the bump stops.

[hogbeast]

I have not done anything yet and it is touching. i am reading up and it seems the pajero is lower front to back as standard, is this correct.
i am reading about Camil shocks that can lift the front level with the rear. apparently it also has a good ride and gravel road performance. any comments to this regard?

[mygoggie]

I have not done anything yet and it is touching. i am reading up and it seems the pajero is lower front to back as standard, is this correct.
i am reading about Camil shocks that can lift the front level with the rear. apparently it also has a good ride and gravel road performance. any comments to this regard?

Yes, it is lower at the front. This so that it runs downhill all the time and get the fuel consumption down a bit ...

You can install any shock you desire, but the riding height is determined by the torsion bars. The shocks will not affect this at all. They only work to dampen the travel of the wishbone set.

If your top rubbers are already touching, you FIRST need to adjust the torsion bar until you get the minimum clearance on the bottom bump stop as required per the manual (see below). Then work from there for the lift you want and then cut the top rubbers to the required depth to allow these to fit.

[mygoggie]

In between working on the water purification system, I moved onto getting a hard surface onto the foam plug I made.

I first covered the plug with some stretchy fleece material. This did take a while I must say.




Then onto putting some fibreglass resin down onto the material.




I left the gauge pod to sit in the sun for the last two days to make sure the resin is well cured before I start sanding and adding body filler. It came out very well and I am quite happy!