Anyone got a VZ Cross 8 Crewman? (But now I have one :) )

[Fu Manchu]

Can’t help you with a Cross8, but I have its ‘little’ brother.
It only had 80Km when I bought it second hand 7 years ago, it appeared to have been well maintained apart from a heap of dog claw scratches on the outside of the tub. Since the I have done 60Km with no problems. Mainly travelling around the great brown land, with a fuel consumption in the low 9s. Local usage sees about high 10s > low 11s.
I have found the AWD handling on unsealed roads to be brilliant, no skittering or sliding on a loose surface. And the old fashioned 4 speed gearbox has proved to be more durable than the Adventra V6s 5 speed.
The Allotec version can be as good or as bad any other Alloytec, so far I may have been lucky. And perhaps the V8 capable drive train is not as highly stressed by the lower output of the Alloytec.

I would have liked a V8 but at the time, the available ones had big Kms, and now the available ones have even bigger KMs, so I wish you luck in finding one that hasn’t been used as a tradies hack, has been well maintained, and not waiting on automotive death row.
You are right about the VY, VY2 and VZ models. Bit confusing at first look. A 6.0 would be a rare find now.
Happy searching.

Does your Cross6 have a rear sway bar?

 

[figjam]

Does your Cross6 have a rear sway bar?

No rear bar, but there are two rear facing plates on the axle housing with a slotted hole, and a threaded hole, that may be the mounting points.
Front bar seems to be 27mm, measured with my highly accurate, plastic SuperCheap $2 vernier calipers.
Never occurred to me to fit one, as I am pretty impressed with the handling of such a big lump.

 

[Fu Manchu]

Front swaybar is 36mm on mine.

 

[Fu Manchu]

Some cool goodies arrived today.

new radiator that is much thicker than the current one. Also I didn’t get a 50mm alloy one because of cost

Current one. In good condition (almost new) but quite a thin core.

New tail gate straps. Super happy with these and glad I got them.

 

[Fu Manchu]

I’ve still been gathering parts for this.
I’ve also decided to take the rest of the month off. I’ll start back on April 1st.

 

[exanVZ]

Just wanted to say this thread is an inspiration, great work and detailing of everything you've done. Will come back to look at bits in the future if I ever want to take such good care of my ute.

 

[Fu Manchu]

This thread is in need of an update!
No progress as such. All time is going into house renos, and further repairs to the red VZ Crewman after that lady smashed into it, as well as long ours at work now everyone has Covid and there’s no staff.

Have had a chance to gather parts to further extend the job list.

I bought another radiator. A 50mm all alloy one. So if things don’t fit up so well, I have a factory option sitting there. I’ll sell the one I don’t use.

Bought a PWR trans cooler with -6AN threads. 250mm x 285mm x 19mm. Got some tools to do -AN fittings. I will controversially not have the trans coolant pass through the radiator. I also plan to rig up a Spal fan and thermo switch. Not sure if before or after registering it.

Have the drive shafts to remove and sort out the CV’s on them. Front and back. They’ll get a clean and painted up.

Got a drive shaft centre bearing shield off an Adventra to install. It’s been cleaned up, sanded and painted up in epoxy.

Got the Gates Racing drive belts to go on.

After doing the fuel pump and tank
On the red VZ, I will be doing the same thing on this Cross8. Remove the tank, clean it all up and new pump and filter. I have a Denso pump for it.

Need to bolt in the lower control arms, redo the struts and all front bushes.

I have all the rear bushes ready and will replace all of them. Will dismantle the rear springs and clean them up and of course freshen them up with a paint. Did I get the photo of the rear sway bar I found? Not sure. I have one.

At this stage it’s all talk and no action so I need to crack on with the Red VZ Crewman and get that done.

 

[Fu Manchu]

Just wanted to say this thread is an inspiration, great work and detailing of everything you've done. Will come back to look at bits in the future if I ever want to take such good care of my ute.

Thanks for that

 

[Fu Manchu]

Stoked this arrived. Has another part to come as well. It’s going to need some rivnuts to attach it by the look.

 

[Fu Manchu]