Holden Frontera

[BenJancz]

A few months ago I got a price of having a new clutch installed as mine was starting to shudder, Both quotes were for around $1500. I decided at the time that for $1500 I could live with the shudder when releasing the clutch. A few weeks ago the clutch started making a clunking sound if I pushed it all the way to the floor. I lived with this for a week or two but continually forgot not to fully depress the clutch. So in to the shop she went for an Exedy Sports Tuff clutch. It was $100 more than the Standard clutch so I thought why not. It was a bit stinky for a while there on Saturday but came good about half way through the day.

I have also fitted my Airflow snorkel using the template kindly shared around by a Frontera owner on the Australian4wd Forum.
Snorkels for a LWB Frontera are rare as hens teeth, Airflow do make one for a SWB Frontera and these are Fairly close.
I ended up going down a slightly different path to everyone else whos has installed one and decided to fill the gaps with filler rather than silicone.
I tried to use body filler first, however having never used it before the first batch went hard in the container, the second batch did not harden at all.
I ended up using a product called Selleys Knead it available at Bunnings that I have used in my pool before.
I also put a thin bead of silicon between the snorkel and my putty in-case it decided to let go.
I shaped the aerial base a puttied that up as well, probably impossible without a Dremel

I used electrical conduit that I had lying around to support the pipe where needed. I did not want it resting on the inner guard.
I removed the front quarter panel. In the end I was whipping it on and off in about 5 mins to apply putty - allow to dry - sand - apply more putty - etc.

To get the air hose into the air box I used a 65mm Diameter Pipe into a Bunnings Reducer. The pipe supplied to me from Airflow was long enough.
While I was buying bits and pieces I discovered rubber paint. I have sprayed this over all my new pipework under the bonnet and it looks sweet as.

The finished product

First stage of Approval Testing

Stage 2 Approval

So far So Good

[Dave]

The snorkel looks really good. Some very clever installation there. Did it take you 2 hours (as per recommended installation guides)? I remember I took a few additional minutes to install my standard snorkel (well .... around 360 additional minutes. ). And that was for a standard snorkel.

It's a really good offroad vehicle now with all those extras and mods now. We will have to test that snorkel in a few deeper puddles now.
BTW - did you get some video of your vehicle travelling through the "puddle" at the Springs?

[BenJancz]

Dave, I gave it some thought and realized that if I include my two attempts to bog up the snorkel, then trips to Bunnings to buy pipes, reducers, etc, etc we are looking at two days. And the first day I worked well into the evening....... Lets say 2 days with some O.T. I did get some video of the puddles and will upload them under the trip report.

[BenJancz]

A couple of my saved searches came through for me on eBay over the last week and luckily coincided with a period where I was "between contracts" at work. I managed to pick up a Milford Cargo Barrier for $50 and a TJM Ox winch for $250. The cargo barrier came with all the mounting brackets etc. and was relatively easy to install. The TJM winch on the other hand only needed a service.......more on that later.

The Cargo barrier, fits nice and does not rattle or squeak and is held on by 4 bolts for quick removal.

TJM Ox winch. Slimline front plate is on its way. Not that hard to fit. The guy said the winch needed a service which was OK because I needed to disassemble it to rotate the clutch lever anyway. So I got started pulling it apart and found TMax stamped everywhere inside. Turns out TJM just put their own stickers on a TMax winch.....At least spare parts will be cheap now I know that.
Bolted the whole thing back together and attached the control box as per the instructions that came with the winch. I went to connect it to the battery and CRACK this happened

The Winch did not need a service, the control box wiring was completely messed up. I have no idea what the guy had tried to do but boy did it make a crack when it arced across the battery terminal.
After about an hour of researching how solenoids work and scouring google for pics I had a go at re-wiring it and it worked the first go.
I measured the distance to the top of the wheel arches and my front suspension was 35mm lower at the front than the back, ARB did not adjust my suspension at the front after fitting the bullbar, I have wound up the torsion bars at the front to a height 10mm less that the rear lift to allow for a load in the back.
Need to go out and get stuck now to test it out, better still I could recover some Toyotas.
I also installed an Isolation switch only because Dave said he would cut my car in half with the cable if I didn't.

[Capella_Ben]

haha, at least you learnt a new skill!

[cuboid]

You also might want to consider a wheel alignment if you have been playing with the torsion bars.

[Dave]

Wow Ben,

You're doing some very serious work. Must be lots of fun, and cheap too. The great thing is that you can always do the repairs yourself in the future, especially with they are needed in the field.

Have you considered moving the reply pack to within the engine bay? It would give it a little more protection, and people cannot play with it then, i.e. when you car is parked somewhere. A hard-wired dash switch and the remote switch ($14 via e-bay) is all that is needed. The plug-in cable is old tech now.

[BenJancz]

haha, at least you learnt a new skill!

Yes, I learned many skills and even more life lessons..... i.e. the eBay description is not always entirely accurate

You also might want to consider a wheel alignment if you have been playing with the torsion bars.

I plan on doing that as soon as I get a chance. I have read that its extremely important.

Wow Ben,

You're doing some very serious work. Must be lots of fun, and cheap too. The great thing is that you can always do the repairs yourself in the future, especially with they are needed in the field.

Have you considered moving the reply pack to within the engine bay? It would give it a little more protection, and people cannot play with it then, i.e. when you car is parked somewhere. A hard-wired dash switch and the remote switch ($14 via e-bay) is all that is needed. The plug-in cable is old tech now.

The Fronteras are quite cheap now so I cant really overcapitalise by putting lots of expensive bits on it. (Except for the bulbar that I got sick of waiting for to turn up second hand)
I have absolutely no room inside the engine bay for a box that size.
As the car is not a daily driver anyway, Its only ever at home in the garage or out camping and theres no real chance for anyone to tamper with the box.
Definitely will look into the ebay switch and remote.

[Dave]

I bought one of these types of remote control, and the work well. There is a very small lag, but appears to be common in all remote units (even the $200 name-brand versions). There are $10.40 including the postage.

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/15m-12V-12-V ... 20d8d339d6

I would also recommend a hard wired switch in the cabin, just in case the remote unit fails, or you have a flat battery in the controller. I bought a switch to match the other "ARB" style switches, and it only cost $33 ... grrrrr. That's only or a rocker switch.

The remote control box is not really waterproof, so once installed and tested, I recommend encasing the holes where the wires come out in silicon.

[BenJancz]

OK ordered my switch. A bit unsure about the remote controls, is there any way to randomize the frequencies?