V6 Hilux Surf Project

[suzukisport]

Well thought I will start a build up of the Hilux.
Purchased it back in May planning on building a new winch truck, but plans have changed so it has been sitting in the shed up until now.
So my plans now are to get it up and running to use as a club truck and something I could drive to work if needed.

The basic run down on what's been done:
Coil suspension all round, Prado front diff, Surf rear
V6 Commodore engine and auto, Marks 4wd adaptor and Hilux transfer case
Body work has had panel and paint done.

So started earlier in the week, first thing to do is get the chassis rolling. Started with the front Prado diff.


Stripped it completely down to check the condition and find out what ratio the diff is.
Cleaned all the parts up ready for some new paint




Sprayed all the parts this afternoon,




Also dropped the chassis off to the sand blasters this afternoon, has a lot of surface rust should hopefully get it back by the end of the week.


So that's where I’m up to so far, tomorrow will assemble the front diff and probably start on the rear Surf diff.

Cheers Thor

[chrome]

have a good look around the fuel tank side of the chassis, where it sits the gap fills with crap and a lot of the earlier hiluxs rust out there. I know of heaps with holes in the chassis there, luckily you chassis is bare and easy to repair

[suzukisport]

Cheers for that, had a good look over it and didn't find any holes.


Today I fully assembled the front diff and started to find all the parts for the rear diff as it was in pieces when I got it.
Here is a better photo of the front diff all painted


Another goodie that came with it, will try and find a home for this as well,

[Ashohman]

Hey bro sweet truck I meet you at manukau winch comp im da guy also with a hilux with a v6 commy motor in it what motor are you putting in this one ? Ecotec or an earlier model?

[suzukisport]

Hey bro sweet truck I meet you at manukau winch comp im da guy also with a hilux with a v6 commy motor in it what motor are you putting in this one ? Ecotec or an earlier model?

Hey mate. Just have an old VN motor for it motor not Ecotec. Just what came with it. It has the Marks 4wd adaptor for the transfer plus came with a wiring harness to go Commodore to Hilux so might as well use it as its all there. Will run that and see how it goes, they seam to be a strong motor.

[shortylux]

they seam to be a strong motor.

I beg to differ.

Though you never had any trouble with your old one eh?

Personally I would do big end bearings and possibly conrods if I were to run one again.

[shortylux]

P.S
I watched this on trade me. Was ridiculously temting. I'm sure you will make it in to an awesome truck.

[suzukisport]

they seam to be a strong motor.

I beg to differ.

Though you never had any trouble with your old one eh?

Personally I would do big end bearings and possibly conrods if I were to run one again.

Yeah we have had a good run out of them (touch wood). First motor was a stock VN that we pushed about 10PSI through and never let go. I heard you had a few dramas with your old one though.

[suzukisport]

P.S
I watched this on trade me. Was ridiculously temting. I'm sure you will make it in to an awesome truck.

Haha cheers. Was too cheap to miss with all the bits that came with it.

[suzukisport]

Made some more progress. Still waiting on a 4.8 diff head so I can assemble the rear diff. So thought I would give the engine a clean up, has been sitting around for awhile but apparently its a good runner.




Degreased all of the engine and cleaned all the corrosion off the aluminium
The motor looked like it was leaking oil around the sump, so pulled it off gave it a good clean up and paint and replaced the gasket. Also fitted a new water pump and thermostat for piece of mind.


Picked up a set of these during the week, unfortunately they sent up the wrong coils so will hopefully get the right ones this week and will have to wait for the shocks to come in from Aussie.


Got the chassis back from the sand blasters on Thursday, very happy with how it came up.






Lifted the chassis to clear the beach that was left inside from sand blasting


Bolted the engine and auto in this afternoon,




So that's where I'm up to now, should get the rear diff head this week so I can put the rear axle in. I'm going to have to make up new fuel and brake lines as it didn't come with any so will hopefully get those done this week.

[new2zukes]

looking awsome mate, your flying along. id love to have a digger to lift things around for my build, cant even begin to imagine how im going to get the body on mine. what sort of paint are you using on the chassis/diffs. ive got some enamel black paint leftover from my zukes paintjob so might just squirt some of that around mine.

[shortylux]

looking awesome mate, your flying along. i'd love to have a digger to lift things around for my build, can't even begin to imagine how I'm going to get the body on mine.

x 2.

And the hoist!

Good luck new2zukes. I used firewood, some roll cage tube, a chain block, two tree protectors, several shackles, four ratchet straps and a partridge in a pear tree to get my cab on.

[suzukisport]

looking awsome mate, your flying along. id love to have a digger to lift things around for my build, cant even begin to imagine how im going to get the body on mine. what sort of paint are you using on the chassis/diffs. ive got some enamel black paint leftover from my zukes paintjob so might just squirt some of that around mine.

Thanks Martin. Definitely handy having the digger to use especially when the old man leaves the keys in it
The paint is a chassis black, self priming, rust killer ect... Seams to be good paint, don't know the name of it though sorry.

[darinz]

The big heavy 1/2" thick steel work bench inside alongside the lathe etc etc isn't bad either! I thought my workshop was pretty well setup but....

Can't wait to see dimple die work on this!

[suzukisport]

Have been a bit useless with the camera lately. I replaced the wheel bearings in the rear axles as one of them was a little rumbly. That turned out to be a whole days work by the time a made up a tool to press the axle out of the housing, (helps if you remove the circlip hidden behind the ABS gear before you try to press if off )


Behind that gear there is a circlip which had me confused for awhile.

Axle and bearing out


The rear diff head turned up last week, mint condition 4.8 LSD. Finished assembling the rear diff and put it in with the new coils.




The engine came with a brand new set of Coby extractors, but the right hand side was hitting the engine mount. So made up a new plate and mount to space it away from the extractors.



Painted them


All bolted up with around 10mm clearance now,




Started to make up the new fuel and brake lines,


Next problem I'm going to have are the drive shafts. The rear is going to have to be shortened approx 40mm, easy enough. But the front is a little bit more tricky. Due to the Prado front axle it has the Hi-pinion diff head with the steering rod that runs behind the diff. All well except when the diff nears the bump stops the drive shaft hits the automatic pan due to the angle

This is it packed 65mm off the bump stops with about 10mm until the pan


We did run into this problem when we built the Suzuki as it runs the same front diff. We ended up putting in a low pinion diff head and moved the steering to the front using different arms ect... Was hoping I could avoid this. Anyone else have any ideas? Custom smaller diameter driveshaft?

Any way hope to try and get the certifier around soon to have a look to make sure he is happy with everything before the body goes on.

[shortylux]

I did what you did with your Zuk, (landcruiser steering arm on the front and low pinion diff) but I also made my front drive shaft out of sch 40 steam pipe, 42mm od from memory. Never had any issues with it.

[Jafa]

2 piece drive-shaft with a plummer block?
ala....http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/toyota-land-cruiser/1088884-two-piece-front-drive-shaft-fj55.html

[suzukisport]

I did what you did with your Zuk, (landcruiser steering arm on the front and low pinion diff) but I also made my front drive shaft out of sch 40 steam pipe, 42mm od from memory. Never had any issues with it.

Can you remember what model Landcruiser you got the steering arms off? I can't remember what ones we used for ours.
With the low pinion head did the factory drive shaft still hit the auto pan that's why you made the smaller drive shaft?

[meatc]

Any room to reshape the trans sump?

Clocking the tranfercase can help to, the one in my zuk the driveshaft comes up beside the pan, but just touches the shift lever.

[suzukisport]

Any room to reshape the trans sump?

Clocking the tranfercase can help to, the one in my zuk the driveshaft comes up beside the pan, but just touches the shift lever.

Yeah have looked at changing the sump, but there is no room to change it, would only gain around 3mm before the sump would hit the internals.
The transfer case is fixed to the auto. What do you mean by clocking the transfer?

[meatc]

Probably a bit late to change to transfer since you have the marks kit. When we did mine the transfer case was rotated about 15deg anti clock wise from where it would have been. The front output is now the same height as the rear output and closer to the drivers side as a result. Was mainly done for clearance (cause hilux transfers hang so low) added bonus was it allowed trans sump clearance.

[suzukisport]

Yeah its a bugger that the adaptor isn't turned 10-15 degrees as that would allow for enough clearance.

[meatc]

You got a lathe and a welder

[suzukisport]

Just need a foundry now

[shortylux]

Can you remember what model Landcruiser you got the steering arms off? I can't remember what ones we used for ours.

No, but I do have a set of spare brand new Toyota genuine ones that never ended up going with the truck. Could dig em out and sell them to you, or they can continue to waste space in my garage. I could probably find invoices that would have part numbers, but would take a while.

With the low pinion head did the factory drive shaft still hit the auto pan that's why you made the smaller drive shaft?

Yes, but my transfer case adapter was only about 30mm long, where the marks one is about 180mm or something. So my angle to the get past the auto sump was much tighter than yours will be.

[suzukisport]

No, but I do have a set of spare brand new Toyota genuine ones that never ended up going with the truck. Could dig em out and sell them to you, or they can continue to waste space in my garage. I could probably find invoices that would have part numbers, but would take a while.

PM sent

[Madaz]

Yeah, i got the part number kickin around too, i use the same ones, just go to toyota or go on toyodiy and look up the steering assembly for a bj70-73 landcruiser. 60 series ones are the same but the free steering rods you get will be miles too long...

[suzukisport]

Well not much of a real update. Haven't had any spare time lately for working on the Hilux, due to the time of year and working 16 hour days doesn't help. But I did take some time off work and managed to get a little more done.

I had the certifier come around and have a look at the chassis, he seams to be happy with the work done so far and doesn't look like I need to change anything.

I got a few Christmas goodies,


Managed to score a pretty rusty Hilux Surf far up north cheap,


The body is really rusty, would have been in the tide, but the parts I need are all in good condition, including the passenger door, which must have been the only panel that has no rust. I'm going to swap the dash boards out as I'm not a fan of the 80's brown interior that is in the yellow Hilux and swap it with the rusty Hilux's grey interior.
If anyone is after any parts off it that aren't rusty flick me a PM

Picked up this new toy the other day Will be put to use for a few little things on the Hilux


Shortened the rear drive shaft up on Friday. All it needed was around 20mm taking out to allow for the up travel in the suspension.

Set it up in the old lathe at home,


Machined off the weld




Fitted the end back in, tacked it in place threw it back in the lathe and checked it with a DTI to make sure it was still running true,


Welded it back up with the Mig, and then dropped it off to be balanced.
Also this afternoon I started to make up the rear drive shaft hoop although didn't get in photos.

[Mattman]

Nice work!

[DMcCready]

Super clean and well thought out build! looking foward to how it turns out