Project Pickle - bumper modifications (part 15)

 Let me get this out of the way straight away: Just because it is the right way doesn't under no circumstances mean that the effort is in any relation to the final outcome. 

But first (once more) remove a layer of around 5mm of bondo and treat the rotten bits to some fresh metal. 

Plus some superfluous holes in the front bumper. 

All pretty standard and, dare I say, reasonable stuff. Until I realized I wanted proper stainless M4 bolts instead of the self tappers. Welcome to my little rabbit hole. 

Obviously, if you do this on the front, you have to do this on the back as well. Luckily there it was "just" a matter of tig-welding on M4-nuts to the original bumper.

I'd say the end result is some nicely affixed lights. 

 

Definitely not something I'd want to do again.

Project Pickle - when the mildly annoyed pixies escape their confinement (part 14)

The majority of this post wouldn't have been possible, if I hadn't been a huge clumsy fence post and had not accidentially cut through most of the rear light loom. 

Let's start with the good stuff: all idiot lights are back in action, even after fitting a new ignition barrel.

But the tail-lights remain somewhat elusive. So as a first measure, let's replace all the old and mostly mismatched fuses in the fuse box. (Polite hint towards the previous owner(s) - a correctly chosen fuse could have saved you from burning up that ignition barrel...)

Rear fog light cable was a bit worse for wear.

 

Then here's a bit of a speciality of the 1983 and 1984 SJ410s as they had to have an additional warning light for the diff-lock and 4WD mode. Unfortunately all the holding tabs were broken off, so generous amounts of hot glue now keep this one in place. 

Whilst rummaging under the dashboard I found a (broken) trailer light relay that was causing serious issues with all the switch gear.

 With it removed the front lights started to working again as intended, but nothing on the back.

Continuity testing my way quite literally from the taillights forward, if the stop right above the gearbox where I had to repair the transmission tunnel in a few spots and had cut out some rusty metal.

Using up what was essentially my complete supply of alligator leads, I was able to reconnect all connections and proving that even the issue with the diff-lock warning light was related. 

 Except all of this was a bit weird... because the Diff-Lock wasn't engaged and the switch shouldn't have triggered and why did I have no reverse lights?

Luckily it wasn't too hard to pull out the whole rear light loom to the front and find out what's wrong with it.

It wasn't neither the bulb or the taillight...

... it was one of those cases of bad luck (and bad design). As the diff-lock and 4WD warning lights were afterthoughts for specific markets in Europe, apparently nobody bothered much to check whether the wire colors were already in use or not. Turns out I mixed up two cables and the permanently live diff-lock warning and the switched via ground reverse light switch both use the same wire colors.

Believe me, when I say that this felt like a very, very long weekend until I found the fault.

Project Pickle - some assembly required (part 13)

 Whilst waiting for the new regulator there was plenty of other things that needed to be done. First one being the weather strips on the doors. 

Next the rear bench seat (please note that this is a pre-1985 vehicle so no rear seatbelts).

Consoles for the BMW front seats and then the seats themselves. 

With the Maruti Suzuki front fenders the headlight mounts are exactly mirrored. Surprisingly the stock reflectors have a corresponding tab for this setup as well. 

... and then the whole front came off again, so I could flush the block and "install" a new radiator.

 

Let's just say, the claim of the seller that a Maruti 413 radiator is exactly the same as the one for a 410 is right only to the extend that you can actual "install" it. But it will not sit straight at all. Still a lot better than the old one and it'll be hidden behind the grill anyway. 

I don't quite know why, but a black engine bay just looks the part. Much better than have it painted in body color. 

With the tailgate now being from an even early SJ410 (clearly recogniseable by the lack of stamping on the part below the body line) fitting the spare wheel to the rear door was completely out of question as these were reinforced at the factory on later models, because they were just too weak to hold the weight. So a couple of M10x1.25 stainless bolts closed the holes. 

The main reason why I swapped all the door locks wasn't so much because they were a bit sticky, but primarily because the ignition barrel had shorted out internally and was by no means to be considered reliable anymore. As it wouldn't exactly take a genius to hotwire one of these little Suzukis, as even the color codes make it pretty obvious how it is done, the only challenge that remains is how to get them out and install a new one instead.

 The next one might sounds trivial, but this was in a way the biggest victory on that very day. Not so much because it was such a monumental thing to achieve, but because it was the one failure that broke me on the Lada. There's a working hood latch.

And lastly installed the door locks and fresh, basic military model, door cards and sprayed the insides with cavity wax.

 Next up: make the blinking lights blink again and make sure the angry pixies stay put in their cables.