A jerrycan became a storage box

Here's a fun project that I want to share.
A while back I came up with the idea to convert a jerrycan into a rear mounted storage box.

As I did a search on the web I found out that a lot of people are doing all sorts of cool stuff out of jerrycans. I never saw what I had in mind though.
My idea was to mount it with hinges, so it can be flipped out downwards in a 90 degree angle.
The hidden side should be cut open so I could store stuff in it. I'm thinking ropes, gloves and such.

Jump seats - Yeah!

I'm just super pleased with this project! I made jump seats using parts from a vintage camping bed. It's all custom made. I even made the cushions from scratch and I can't even remember the last time I used a sewing machine. But here goes!

It started out with the bed that I found at a thrift store. I chopped off the ends, took off the springs and trimmed the legs and moved them from the sides to the end.
The base of the seat was made from a plywood table top. I cut that to match the outline of the bed frame and glued one layer of rubber foam and one layer of sleeping pad on to that.

Made more Tintin clocks!

Whenever me and my wife visit our daughters in Oxford, England I usually go to Blackwells Bookstore. They always have a good stock of Tintin postcards and posters. This time around I bought some postcards and a big poster. I wanted to do a really big Tintin clock so I bought "the Red Sea Sharks" poster. I already had a really large wall clock - IKEA - so the plan was to attach the round part on to it. Turned out to be a perfect match!

Check the glasses for a size reference! It's BIG!

Time for some fresh gaskets

A small oil leak has kept me puzzled. My latest idea is that it might be caused by a leak in the water pump gasket and that the leaking cooling liquid might have messed up the the timing plate gasket below. Perhaps...
I didn't have the tools to change both gaskets so I started with the water pump.
I'll do the other as soon as I have bought an impact wrench.

I'm still amazed by how easy it is to work on this little truck. Everything can be taken apart real easy, just like a large meccano set. I took off most off the front for an easy access.

Military Daihatsu Taft

I just had to show this picture of a 1980 Daihatsu Taft in a military version.
Never seen one like that before. It looks so cool!
It's for sale in Thailand. Go get it!

Headlight headache

Days are getting darker as winter is moving in on us - wish it was moving away. So, good headlights are as important as ever. One of mine thought it was time for a break, so it did. No problem, I'll just go get myself a new H4 light bulb and that's that. Right? Turns out fate had other plans. As I parked outside the auto parts dealer I popped the hood and was about to remove the broken lamp. That's when I found out that this vintage ride wasn't built that way. The light, reflector and glass was all one unit! I had no idea.

So that meant that I would have to replace the whole thing. Went searching the web and soon found out that it would cost way more than just changing a simple light bulb. Way more.

My new wheel cover - Beware of the Higuma!

I've been thinking about getting a spare wheel cover but haven't found any that I liked.
That was until I found this little gem at amazon.co.uk.
At first I just thought it looked real cool but it got even better as I zoomed in on the writing, that sealed the deal. There's no way I could resist something that quirky and at £12.99 it was a bargain!
Here's what it says:

The story behind my innovation

The film company that we work with - called "Image" - has just finished our latest video about my innovation - the Bannerbow.

This video is about how I got the idea for this product. You can check it out here:

Cut down my Hi-Lift a bit

As you all know by now I'm really pleased with that Hi-Lift farm jack. Works great whenever I need to lift my truck. Really impressed. But I guess you need to have an older truck, like mine, to have real use for it. It doesn't work well with modern cars with plastic bumpers and such.

Anyways, I've had it for a while now and I have come to the conclusion that I think it would suit me even better if I trimmed it down a bit.
I searched the forums to hear about any experiences with cutting down a Hi-Lift. Some people seemed to think it was a bit tricky and even risky to do that.
So, let's do this!

Before the surgery. Standing 60" tall.

My latest find - a vintage roof rack

I've spent a lot of time looking for a roof rack that would fit my Daihatsu. Seen a few that would have been almost what I wanted. Not the perfect style, size or price. I was just about to give up, thinking I would have to try and build it myself. Then I found it, the perfect roof rack. And it was orange - my fave color! One problem though, it was located way down south, in Kalmar and that's a 5 hour drive with a modern car. That means something like 6 hours for me.

So I hesitated for a couple of days. But it was quite obvious that this was it, the perfect roof rack! So I spent more than 11 hours in my little bumpy and noisy truck to bring it home.
Was it worth the trouble? OH YES!!! It's just perfect. Love it!

Interestingly it had never been used and the brackets where wrapped in newspaper dating from 1965!
It's quite possible that it was originally made for the national telephone agency here in Sweden - "Televerket". All their vehicles had that bright orange color.

Spacers - Getting a wider stance

B E F O R E                                                    A F T E R

It's been way to quiet on this blog for a while now but here's something new.
My wheels have what you call a "high ET". That means that the center of the rim is not placed in the centerline of the wheel, it's placed a bit outward. This has caused some problems. The rear tires have been real close to the leaf springs and during hard turns it actually rubbed against them - not good.
Also, the front wheels has been rubbing the inside of the tires against the top mount of the shock absorbers.

Finally got me a Hi-Lift jack

In case you didn't know, a Hi-Lift is a super clever tool for lifting, tightening and pulling all sorts of things but it's mostly used to lift tall vehicles, like off road trucks and tractors and such.

The Hi-Lift's predecessor was invented as early as 1905 and it was called the Automatic Combination Tool. The original jack was commonly known as the Handyman or Sheepherder's Jack, and years later it was renamed the Hi-Lift Jack.
The design has pretty much remained the same since 1921 since there's no need to change it - now that's good engineering!
You can read all about it here: www.hi-lift.com/company/

I've been wanting a Hi-Lift jack for some time now since my standard hydraulic jack just doesn't match the height of my Daihatsu Taft. I used to build a stack of bricks and stumps of wood to get a proper reach - rather frustrating (and plain stupid).

I wasn't to keen on getting a brand new Hi-Lift since they're not cheap over here in Sweden and I didn't want it all new and shiny. I bought this second hand from a nice guy in Sigtuna. I got a good deal on it and he even threw in a restoration kit and a brand new mounting bracket - Thanks!

It's real tall so there's no way I can keep it inside the truck. One idea was to clamp it to my front bumper, horizontally. But the jack is taller than my truck is wide!
I decided to mount it on the rear left door instead.

I thought I would have to drill new holes but I soon found out that it would work just fine if I used the bolts on the hinges.

Daihatsu F50 Taft in Costa Rica

Now this is really cool!
As you might know I offered a taillight to anybody out there who might need it and here is where it goes, on Brians yellow F50 in Costa Rica. That light gets to travel! First from the factory in Japan, onward to Australia, half way around the globe to the northern part of Sweden and now way off to Costa Rica - Wow!

Brian was kind enough to send some pics of his ride.
I think it looks real solid. Those mirrors are nice - from a Land Cruiser perhaps..?
I'm sure the four wheel drive gets to good use on the rough roads over there.

In the LAND of ROVER

Greetings from Oxford, England!

We're visiting our daughters here in Oxford.
Lots to see around here. Visited one of the best designed skateparks I ever seen.

There's also a lot of cool and interesting 4x4's, mostly Land Rover Defender.

Here's a vintage ride that I spotted the other day. Looks to me like a Land Rover Series II 88 inch. Now there's a project for someone with a lot of time and enthusiasm.
Looks like it had been standing there for some time. There was even moss growing on it.
Quite charming. I'd really like one just like it but in a slightly better state.

A third brake light - coolest ever!

A while back I found this old flashlight. It's got this cool feature where you can change the colour of the light. You just shift these three sliding knobs to choose between a green red or blue lens.
I don't know it's original purpose but I guess it's from the fifties or sixties.
I got an idea on what to make of it as soon as I saw the red lens.

Rear bumper off and new tail lights on

I've had plans to improve the tail lights and rear bumper for some time now but it hasn't happend until now. A dutch tourist inspired me to get started. He inspired me by crashing into me! So my crooked rear bumper got even worse and the left tail light cracked. I wasn't to upset about the whole deal - much to his surprise. I was actually quite excited because it helped me to get started!

New exhaust pipe and custom made mud flaps

Everything on my Daihatsu Taft looks pretty fresh now, at least from a distance. The only things that I have not put my hand to yet is the exhaust pipe, rear bumper and tail lights. So today I took care of the exhaust pipe.

Got a new air filter and gained some space

One of the first things you'll notice when you pop the hood of a Daihatsu F50 is that big black tin jar to the left.
It contains the air filter and it's designed to handle some pretty brutal conditions, like sandstorms and river crossings. Thing is, it's a bit of an overkill for my daily riding conditions since there's not many deserts around here and I tend to use the bridges. So I took it off.

Toyota Blizzard - Vintage illustrations

The Daihatsu Taft was also sold as Toyota Blizzard - I think that was from 1980 to 1984.
It was made in the Daihatsu factory in Osaka and it was pretty much identical to the Taft except for the engine, badges and some minor details. Also, I don't think they where ever sold as a left hand drive.

Made two clocks

This post is about clocks, a rather sensitive subject to me. You see I didn't figure out how to tell time until I was fifteen, and I still mess it up from time to time (Oops, unintentional pun, I promise).

But this post wasn't meant to be about my childhood, it's about these two clocks that I put together today.