100 series king cab

Hi Kev,
not sure if you knew Old Chicken George, he was involved with the Woopi Blues or Woolgoolga Football Club (AFL)
he made up there theme song and was a great supporter when I played for the Blues.
He passed away the other day.
He lived just out of Grafton and was married to a lot younger woman.

Kev, it has the quality of Al Grierson written all over it. No doubt Darkie will be the same. Go_Offroad, Darren can't seem to admit it though?

Thanks Kev,
Like you I cannot get the smilke off my face :-)

yep definitely a Grierson Engineering model. With a Darren suspension under it and some nice money spent what a tourer.

I fiddled the link will see if it works hmmmmmm

Tis a great Car Joe, I saw it just before you got it I think. Enjoy it

Hi Bonz,
Planning to keep this around 10/12 years,so probably my last 4 wheel drive.By the middle of this year my wife and I plan to just keep touring and exploring...in comfort:-)

Joe, you are living my dream, except mine has a Nissan in it, but I cant wait to go exploringOz

Bonz,
Follow that dream:-)...We have been at it for 4 years using a tent...had a ball.
Last trip was the the Madigan Line and Hay River in the Simpson Desert.
Early this year I got critically sick but I'm pulling through and looking good, we planned/ designed this conversion around my hospital bed along with the camper and my mate Darren helped me get it together.

Enjoy it Joe and I know it will motivate you after your illness. I remember meeting Joe from Geelong at the Wombat Forest meeting in Daylesford. Just wondering....... Enjoy that vehicle Joe, and the travelling.

Hey Bonz, you don't have time to travel round Oz, too much OS now you have the bug.

Hi JohnR,
You have a great memory,:-)...thanks for the good wishes.
Joe from Geelong.

UnZud nixt year usnt too far awiy

Kev, I see on that post, now that GOR100 has highlighted that professionally, Offroad Assassin should identify the businesses that have contributed. I guess he doesn't like to do that for some reason.

as the reply on page 2 says, that part was contracted out, just as Alan contracts out the panel work, interior, and alloy tray making, but we dont see thier names anywhere ;-)

We have made some small changes to the "standard" conversion, as part of managing the whole project for the customer, to improve the finish, and are rectifying some other issues to do with it as well, and were Darkside managing the vehicle, and bringing it to us for suspension, i certainly wouldnt be expecting them to cover us where ever it may be.

I also declined from mentioning the shock makers, tyre manufacturers, spring makers, air locker manufactuer, camper body makers, matress suppliers, or the brand of toilet paper in the indoor toilet on board, but its available if you would like it.

The thread is about the car.........

The car IS the conversion, anyone can slap some springs and shocks under a car, slap on some rubber and bung on a bullbar. Alan does the panel work himself, and I the interior finish and paint finish is done by experts. I hardly think that what you cant see constitutes a reason for an Assassin Offroad sticker in place of a Darkside one.

Alongside, yes, but not in place of it.

oops not I the interior finish, remove the I.

given we have spent twice the conversion cost so far, without the camper unit, on alot more than "springs and shocks" and the cost of the car is 4.5 times that of the conversion, and the rest to go is still 3 times the conversion cost, it would seem your assumptions are incorrect, the ute cut is a small part of the total project.

That makes the ute cut 1/10th of the total project cost....... [if you dont know where the rest is going, then your assumptions are certainly not well informed]

The reason our sticker is on the car is because when the car was completed, was A/ its Joes project, and we are managing it, B/ Alan didnt have any when it was finished, so its by no fault of ours that he was unable to do what you seem he should so much have, and he took on his part of the project understanding the proccess, and on agreeing to it, was contracted to do his part, and he did stick some stickers on the windows at the 4wd show once he got some more [though straight would of been good, so we could leave them on],

ever read a car magazine? ever notice the owner has it featured, and the little panel in the specs area has the thank you's area for those who worked on the project? is the feature or the car completely about one part of that mass of people who were involved, or is it about the car?

And, if the "bodywork" is done in house, why did Joes unit have to go back to the panel shop to have some of the body work re done as part of the proccess?.....it wasnt just paint it needed.

Now, Its Joes car, his dream, and he is paying for it, so we do as the customer requests, including public detail release, and if your not happy about who has a sticker on it, regardless of wether its thier own fault or not, perhaps deal with me/them direct, rather than jump all over Joes parade in future, with your petty squabbling about something that was decided before the job was commenced, between all parties.

Grow up!

Bonz, sounds like a margin call really screwed up by the Assassin. Al, you obvioulsy didn't charge enough....

I wonder who hasn't grown up? Obviously a sticker attack on the photos showed that up.

actually, he is the dearest aleady. If he runs out of stickers, or doesnt do his own photo shoot with a photographer, and takes the job on knowing he is only a part of the total project, then no one should be to concerned I would of thought, no reasonable person, anyway.

As for the sticker attack, well, when the owner takes the pics, for us, as a professional photographer, on a total project we are managing, then the tail doesnt wag the dog ;-)

everyone has the same oppurtunities, its how thay manage them, how he markets his projects, is up to him, when he knows the contract acceptance details before it begins, how we market ours, is up to us, and the owner.

Now, is this all spilt milk.....and tears I see posted here....hijacking the owners thread......

typical GO_OFFROAD smokescreen . What you spend where you cant see is immaterial. People wont say Where'd you get that gnarly suspension? they'll say Where'd you get it cut? Also where'd you get the camper conversion too I'll grant that. No reasonable person would question that either Darren.

Spilt Milk you say? I think you've run over the whole cow!

Joe, you've got a great tourer as I said earlier in this thread offshoot, one that I admire. One day I may have the dollars to go the same way mate and when I do I hope to see you out there.

Well, im working on fact, so try labelling it anything you like, but assumptions are highly inaccurate, as you have shown.

Storm in a tea cup, from people who jump to conclusions really.

"People wont say Where'd you get that gnarly suspension? they'll say Where'd you get it cut?" ..............
When the camper sits neatly on the back of the ute I doubt people will even notice the cut, the whole project will just look as one, like it's supposed to be there.
I admire your loyalty to Darkside Bonz but it's pretty standard practice for company's to sub contract out work, just like you would see an AV Jennings sign out the front of a new house not the name of the carpenter who actually built it.
Saw the truck at the 4x4 show and looks great. Can't wait to see the camper progress from the plans off the paper napkin to full size ;-)
Cheers Craig................

The napkin sketches have done thier job Crackles , Darren has drawn the camper up to scale and included all the features,it really is looking so good.

Bonz, a big issue was ensuring the units go anywhere capability was maintained, so I was in first instance more interested in "how well will it all work"
We have travelled the likes of the Madigan Line and the Hay River more than once, so go anywhere for us is more extreme than many travellers, I feel.
Getting the right TOTAL suspension (not just springs and shocks),tyre size, diff gearing and power output,GMV requirements right was pretty important.
Dropping a camper on the back along the lines we have in mind without advanced unseen engineering upgrades would leave the unit dead in the water, and we may as well bought a motor home.
So "looking good" standing still would not be very satisfying I feel.
Cheers
Joe

AV Jennings and a parallel of Darren. Crackles, biggest joke of the year. Darren says a "storm in a tea cup" but he has to try to get friends from anywhere to support his line. Its still the impression created by the lines Darkside conversion that are the apparent ones.

Joe's thread eh. Thought it was all plastered with your advertising Darren

john r, its an exacting example, it just doesnt support your thoughts, as even where the vehicle was cut was directed by us, but I would be interested in an explanation on why you think its a joke, vs how well it represents the situation?

Also, there are no pics in this thread, and Joe started it, about his car, so unless you can explain otherwise, i will call bulldust on your claim there as well....... obviously because it doesnt support your assumption either....

And as the manager of the project, with the owners permission, of course we advertise what we do, build vehicles to suit customers, the pics are currently hosted on the web, and linked to the threads, from our web storage, so why wouldnt we brand what is legally ours, images of a project we are managing.


Looking forward to your explanations.

GO_OFFROAD, "its an exacting example" are your words and it bears the hall marks of Al's work. I have been to the other site to see the branding you give the pics. You are right with there are no pics on this thread, but there are at the other one.

As Bonz said above "typical GO_OFFROAD smokescreen"

correct John, but you asked how it was joes thread, and if you look at the top of this thread and see who started it, that makes it his, not the other thread, though the pictures are Joes as well, he took them, and where they are publicly put on the internet, by us, with his approval, why wouldnt we brand them, just as jennings would when building a house with a sign out the front.

Just because you looking at stage one of the build, which is 1/10 of the cost, doesnt mean the whole project belongs elsewhere, it just means you have jumped on your mis informed high horse to quickly, to debate something that doesnt concern you, and highjacked the vehicle owners thread in the mean time.

If its so important, start your own thread, and then perhaps you can concentrate on those explanations Ive asked for from you on how you formed your view? If you cant provide a reasonable explanation, i would suspect its your own smoke screen you cant see past at the moment........

I've got a couple of things to add....

1. "And, if the "bodywork" is done in house, why did Joes unit have to go back to the panel shop to have some of the body work re done as part of the process?.....it wasn't just paint it needed." The bodywork IS done in house to an extent..and you know it Darren...Alan does more than just a bit of cutting and welding..he's developed tools to assist in the work he does..he than forms the panels etc to the best of his ability and then it goes to the panel shop where it is finished off. As I'm sure you know the panel shop used on Joe's car was a different one to the one we normally use...[it was recommended to us and it didn't work out] some of the issues it came back with though were hard to pick for some who looked at the car - incl me - but stuck out like dogs balls to Alan [who is a perfectionist] and he pointed them out to you Darren when you came up to fit the tray. Our normally body shop is perfect everytime and understands what is required of them, we've learned our lesson there, as is our motor trimmer who has been brilliant from the start.

The tray itself was a bit of a headache because it was different than normal - in that it was fitted here and not at the tray manufacturer so there were a few issues because normally the car would be at the tray place and it wasn't and a few things needed to be altered..which would have been done there as the tray was being fitted, but Al had to do them, actually if I remember rightly there was delay issue because something got forgotten and had to be retrieved from Geelong. The first Extra Cab Al did, which was completed earlier in the year using our normal panel shop and had the tray fitted at the tray place had none of the issues that Joe's car had, and has had no issues since.

There were a cpl of other issues I think, but I believe [Al is in Perth so I can't confirm] things are being sorted there, and there's no point in dragging all that up.

2. Stickers...can't really comment whether he ran out, as I'm not sure if he did...possibly..I know he put some on hastily at the 4wd show, but, I'm happy to send you some more if those ones were removed and you place them on Joe's car neatly, .as for the photos..I took a couple of the vehicle when the tray was just "resting" on the back, we didn't get a chance to take any decent ones as once the car was finished it was taken away. Though I think out of courtesy it would have been nice for Al to at least been offered a photo for his own records As for price, yep he's dearer...but you get a better job in the way he does things..which is probably one of the reasons you used him, and I know you know what I mean....I won't write it down here as Alan wants to keep some professional information to himself which I think he's entitled to.

At the end of the day...it's about acknowledgement...if we were asked about the suspension or the entire project we'd acknowledge who did the work. Darkside were always aware that they were one part of the project, and I believe, as I believe that the people who have contributed believe that all major contributors should be acknowledged as part of the overall project.

Finally, and I think this should be final...Joe's car is a fantastic vehicle the result of many contributors who should all be acknowledged and I for one can't wait to see the final result........It's a wonderful looking vehicle and will be a wonderful touring machine...as is mine!

and I think, as I"m sure others do, we should just leave it at that.

cheers

Lyn - aka Mrs. DarkSide...

Lyn,

wether you know or not, both Alan and I do, as no one ever said to Alan, "you cant put stickers on it" or "you cant take pics of it"
and he ran them into the 4wd show, once he had some more, on our suggestion, we were more than happy for that to happen.

Dont mis understand what we are talking about with a bunch of mis informed forum members here, vs any proffessional relationship businesses should operate under outside of "forum experts" who think thier opinion matters.

As for acknowledgement, as a small part of the project, its important to you, then why not take the time to have the pics done, employ a photographer, put some time into sticker stocks, and marketing, get a web site happening, and go your hardest.

No one from Dark Side asked for any of our pics, and you certainly would of been welcome to select some, if you wanted them.

Now, why, in the current lcool 100 thread you started on your "camping box" did you not acknowledge where it was made, and shipped from, until after someone replied about where it came from?

is this a double standard trying to be applied here?

http://www.lcool.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=867 for members.

[text below]
here's my rig, now that the camping box is on the back...it will eventually be sprayed pewter to match the rest of the vehicle...took it away down the coast and it was magnificent, handled really well and so much room for all our stuff.

Lyn

Lyn,

Looks like an excellent job. You'll have to be careful when you get it sprayed not to spray over the sticker to the left of the no plate!


Tim


Tm, I think that sticker might have to come off - we have more though my 6 year old son stuck it on lol

Lyn


man, makes a big overhang, doesnt it.

Look forward to seeing a pic when the rear arch shape is completed on the doors as well.

Good to see some "outside the square" stuff going on these days, so many stuck in the "same old same old" rut for so long in the 4wd market.

spare going on the roof?

and any sort of rear protection bar on the drawing board?
_________________
Darren

Hello Darren

not sure what else Alan has planned for it, the spare will go underneath.
_________________
Life, live it.

ok, looked like it had a LR tank under there.
_________________
Darren


There's room for the tyre
_________________
Life, live it.

The LR tank will need a slight mod as well just to keep in line with all the other mods Al has done.

It looks better on the vehicle than off as well.
_________________
Kev


Is this a custom job or is it from bull motor bodies?

http://www.bullmotorbodies.com.au/index.html

either way it looks good, just looking for some owner feedback regarding the Bull motor bodies if it is one.

Cheers
_________________
Selwyn

Hi, the box is from Bull, we had it shipped across from WA, but Al has done some mods to it. Al chose Bull after looking at many different companies and decided that theirs was the best around for what he wanted.


cheers

Lyn

Darren, re the Lcool, thread, I didn't acknowledge anyone not even DarkSide, [infact, I don't think I've mentioned DarkSide at all] until after someone had asked a question about the rig, and then I acknowledged both Alan and Bull bodies, as I did here...that cruiser is MY vehicle...but as MY husband did the conversion I didn't think I should advertise until asked, which is what I did..and then I didn't name the conversion company..on EO it's a bit different as a lot of people here know me and know al so would know the connection...and I happily pointed out where the box came from, I am more than happy to tell the world what components the vehicle has, and will be updating it in my rig pic. I have never baulked at acknowledging what the vehicle has and where from.,infact, in an earlier thread on EO, I"m sure I mentioned we were getting the box and it was a BullBody box, and have also told others about Bull who were asking about camping boxes and happily gave reasons why we chose them, I have always been happy to share information where possible, and I have happily given information privately as well, which is what I did on Lcool re bullbodies to the chap that asked, [you didn't copy that last piece of the thread where I said I'd contact him privately]. I will also be sending Bull a pic of the rig once the paint has been done and it's completely finished off.

We have a website which will be added to, but is up and running, and normally we take photos of the vehicles we do, when completed or the owners send us pics which we use...I didn't have the chance to take pics of Joe's vehicle as it went as soon as it was done. Obviously you didn't say don't take a pic of the car, I was standing near you when I took the ones I did, and no one said anything to me, we just didn't get the chance to take others.

I didn't say that no one said that we couldn't put stickers on...and like I said I'm happy to send you some, so DarkSide's name is on the vehicle for anyone who might be interested.

and I think this should be the end of it, alot of people have had their say here, including us both, let's get back to reality and just accept that Joe's car is a great looking vehicle and will serve both he and his wife well for a long time. I'm sure there'll be alot of people envious of it.

cheers

Lyn

"I have always been happy to share information where possible, and I have happily given information privately as well,"

That makes two of us,

Cheers.

DMc

That's grand :)

It's a work in progress...bull bar winch and side steps went on last week...took it into the Otways during last few days...I'm a very happy tourer:-)

A grand machine Joe. That doesn't mean I am doing it to Kath though Kev. Kath does have a bull bar and winch, and room for passengers that we missed with the GU. Have a little car, but real sized people find it cramped in the rear.

Thanks JohnR,
A few peolpe thought I was nuts cutting up a new cruiser,maybe I am, but your right it is a grand machine that fits what we want it to do, nothing "off the shelf" comes close we felt...very pleased with the end result.
cheers
joe

Andrew, only a small portion of the project is completed so far, so as more parts are added, the pics list will grow, bull bar and winch are on, slidersteps on, camper body under way.

So far the truck has

changed diff gears to make standard gearing with 35's and our diff strenthening mods.

arb lockers and twin compressors.

35 x 12.5/18 Pro Comp Muds

18 x 8 lexus style rims

slotted rotors and different pads

Custom Fox shocks

SLEE diff drop x member

t bars

slinky rear coils,

ARB bar

dual batts

tv/dvd/muli media

Icom uhf

slidersteps which are also compressor air tanks

9500 warn

Safari high power output system
snorkel
custom front bash plate

lr tank

Hi Gone Bush,
Had a 79 series V8 non turbo on the drive way at home for a test drive... but decided against it, as well as waiting for the turbo version.
Reasons the 100 stacked up better for us...
Had to have pace behind the seats,I carry a lot of photo gear for my landscape photography.
Did not want to go back to manual
Low range first on the 5 speed auto toyota box is effective in steep descents.
Luxury, sound proofing, quality seats, airbags.
Proven package,readily available accessories.
Fixes known for the A arm and front diff.
Others in the family have an older troopy and the ride noise comfort is pretty terrible,no doubt better in the current model, but after owning a 120 Prado that was so smooth and comfortable we wanted to be sure we got the best features and comfort.
Also decided against waiting for the 200 series as accessories would be not readily available and it would be a while before weakness and fixes were sorted.
cheers
Joe

GB, really they aren't that much advance on the 1960s petrol one I had. Perhaps the radio, transmission and motor, but VERY last century mate

John you're preaching to the converted. Check my rig. It is really very annoying that not one skerrick of the technology in the engine trickled thru to the rest of the vehicle.

GB I certainly was tempted to wait and go with the V8 turbo desiel.
However once we decided that a APS power booster would give the 100 the extra power, along with all the other capability and comfort benifits of 100,the convience and engine features of the V8 no longer held my attention.

Hi Jim,
Thanks for touching base.
My wife is in great health thanks,apart from being tired after nursing me:-)
My illness was contracting AML lukemia in Feb and a bone marrow transplant was scheduled for Nov. However that was cancelled due to my remission being maintained over a longer period, as the risks of the transplant now outweight the benifits.
It will be couple of years before I get an all clear, I'm still rather weak from past chemo treatments,but starting to get out a few days at a time.
cheers
Joe

Great to hear from you David,wish you,Ann and family all the best for 2008 also:-)

Any converter worth their salt knows this and should ask where you want to rego the vehicle and engineer and certify it for that state.

96 80 gxl, you really mean

The engineer can only issue a certificate for the state[s] that he is registered in.

And normally its the state the vehicle is regd in, where you would want it engineered, meeting that states requirements.

Go_offroad,
yes that is right, but if the law (Police) want to be nasty in another state when driving in, can use the law to himself as to weather you are legal or otherwise.

If otherwise he can issue an Unroadworthy for that vehicle.

He the Police are in the right to put the vehicle off the road there and then.

Cheers
96