This ones for you Matty

The Facebook picture that made me fall in love with a 1 owner, baby blue ute from Dubbo.........

Some pics from the day I picked it up and the road trip home..... back roads style








Last time it was rego'd was 1981 and the sticker is still on the quarter window



Loaded up and ready for the journey north to live with Donkey

As I left I couldn't stop looking in the mirror and smiling like a Cheshire cat.







I drove for about 10 miles before I had to stop and take some more pics of my new baby..... best 5k I've ever spent

Wow! And look at the seat! So original, what a great find mate. Just need a couple of guard blinkers and rego time. Mate he is so nice, can't wait to see him at Mudgee. Possibly?
Enjoy the little tidy up mate, you deserve a relatively easy one. He is in good hands.
Matt.

Dave.

He has his guard blinkers, tail lights and front bashpan panel inside the cab plus a few other non essencials
The only things he is missing is a piece of trim on centre of grill, 1 hubcap (has 1 painted and 2 "use to be" chrome ones) and the top metal trim on the drivers door (I have plenty of those) + one badge is broken in half.

Other wise it's complete
I haven't even cleaned it yet as I want it's first showing to be as close to farm fresh as possible.

Mudgee is definitely on the cards for this little ute.
I put on new leads last week - new upper n lower ball joints and inner n outer tie rod ends get here Friday then I'll lift engine to replace sump gasket and throwout bearing and head gasket too.

I won't be pulling the old tyres of the orig rims though. I bought a set of rims last week (similar to Shrek's) that will get the driving duties instead

Today I started the process of changing the Dubbo Wasp's upper and lower ball joints.......

Jeez Louise!! 52 years of hard farm labor sure does make life difficult, 3 hours later and first lower ball joint still isn't out First bolt was a bit of an effort but second bolt came out sweet as a nut, last two are locked tight. Packed in with a lifetime of dust, rust, grease and stubborn hard yakka attitude

Plan B: I got one of them loose with a bit of help of a bottle torch and a can of WD40 but it still hasn't pulled completely out yet.....
The last one may require Plan C - A couple of beers and a few Bacardi and cokes to loosen ME up a bit before I go hostile on it's ass

......and that's just the first one

It seems that every component in the front end is original and flogged out, except the brake line on drivers side which has been replaced at some stage.

Hi Sticky.
When you get to the upper ball joint, do yourself a favour, stick it in the freezer for an hour or so.

Love your photo's Sticky,has the beast got a dog on the front for the crank handle,would love to see that,Gerry

Thanks for the handy hint...... shrink it that slight fraction for an easier fit aye

I'll have a look in the morning when I tackle the front end again

I took 4 1/2hrs to get the drivers side lower ball joint out
Never in my life have I had one that tenacious.
Two of the bolts were we and truly rusted in tight but persistence, a bottle torch, pinch bar, hammer and a few beers eventually paid off.

Does anyone know if bolts like these are still available off the shelf somewhere??
If not I'll get a mate to machine me some up

So glad this found a home!

The guy said it was painted red pre-delivery for seemingly no reason, laying some credence to the story that some Wasps were repainted on the lot to zazz them up a bit!

I wonder what the Isuzu badge in the grille is from? A truck I assume...but yeah.

Super cool!

He didn't purchase it until late '67 so perhaps it was painted to draw more attention to it after sitting at the dealers for a while.
The engine bay and under the bonnet have never been repainted though. They have always been the Wasp Blue colour which is why he changed it back to the original colour all over some time in the 80's.
There are still some slight little hints of the red here and there but you have to be really looking for them to find them.

Yeah think about it; by late 1967 the new model was already mid-way through!!!

Ken Bloor told me they did this, but I never had seen proof of it myself until this one came up.

Progress on changing the ball joints has been painfully slow.
I couldn't do anything in last weeks deluge as I had a few inches of water through the garage.
This however pales in comparison and seems quite pathetic when compared to the Glen and Elaine Potter who had 14 foot of water through there place at Murwillumbah

I did finally get all the ball joints out but finding replacement bolts has been proving difficult.
A mate of mine will be machining me up some new ones but it will be a few weeks before he can slot it in so things have ground to a halt again

The lack of lighting under the house makes it frustrating too as I have to work with lead lights even in the middle of the day.
These couple of pics were taken at about 2pm on an overcast day but sunny days aren't much better

where did you get new ball joints from, just curious

Same as early KB20/Chev Luv, so easy as to get and cheap as chips

For those who are contemplating in changing theirs.
Part numbers. Top. BJ201. Bottom. BJ202.
They are available on ebay. The freight is the killer on some of them. Check your local auto supplier.

Dave.

I got mine as 4pce kit (2top and 2bottom) on Ebay with free postage for about $120