Some asshat stole my 1988 double cab Hilux last month and finally the insurance company have agreed to pay out. Only trouble is they've provided a valuation for my truck that says it's only worth $3000. My Hilux had a 2" suspension lift and 33" KL71s, a new gearbox, recently reconditioned diffs etc ...

lux.jpg Stolen on March 10th. Didn't think to post here before and the police know who took it, so I thought it was going to be an open and shut case, but they still haven't located it. Has a 2" suspension lift, near new 33"KL71s on black 15" steel rims, roof is matt black. Was taken from Glenfield ...

What are the rear doors like and how much would you want for them? Also how much for the flat deck?

How much for the bull bars?

Picked up an engine hoist off trademe today in prep for removing the "Toyota Lexcen" engine (see I'm still keeping it in the Toyota family - look it up). Turned out I picked it up off Alan Sutton. If you don't know of him, he's a crazy geordie who does crazy things with cars and bikes. He's made a ...

Cheers, will find someone who has done a few commodore exhausts and get them to do whatever works for mine then. I guess maybe a single keeps the exhaust velocity higher. Do you know what extractors you've got?

Back into it - or at least will be trying. Just picked up a smashed up VS Acclaim for $750. Drives mint, but she's a writeoff. It's a series 2, so it comes with a trans oil cooler, and I think the better coil packs. Looking it over, I think I'll be able to make most of my money back selling things ...

I've slowed in progress here - have got a mates old daimler as a daily driver, to keep it regular while he gets the 350 ready for it haha. It has a few quirks but will keep me running for a few weeks while I get things sorted on the ute. Not suggesting anyone impact tests their winch bar, but if you ...

With pictures no less! Thanks. Just realized I have a spare transfer case on the gearbox I swapped out. Might take a look tomorrow and see if I can find a bearing kit for it and see if I can give it a bit of an overhaul ready to bolt it on once I have the engine etc

Hopefully checking out a couple of commodores that are on life support in the hopes of harvesting a VS ecotec V6 and 4L60e gearbox from what I can tell. Seems like this is about as good as the V6 got - older and it's lower power and more thirsty, younger and there's not really anything to be gained ...

I guess though I can factor in the $300 or so though for the marks4wd shifter kit if I go newer, as I'm probably not going to come in a whole heap cheaper by the time I've jimmied up a throttle position sensor and some tronics to keep the auto happy.

Trouble with the older ones is the majority seem to have done upwards of 300k and I don't want to have it straight back out cos it's done it's dash. Also kinda interested in the extra power and better economy of the ecotecs. As far as electronic voodoo, so long as someone has tried it before I think ...

Great advice guys! Looks like I can save a bit more than I thought. Years since I last had an auto and had kinda forgotten that the shifter is on a cable - I'm an idiot, was thinking about the shifter not lining up right. Now I've just gotta start getting parts together (including a commodore) and ...

He killed a few? Isn't the TH700 pretty much the same box that sits behind a 350 on a Corvette? That said, I suppose a Corvette doesn't have 33 inch tyres and thump around the bush. To be honest, it's starting to look like it might be my best option. Just trying to work out what I need from marks4wd ...

Yeah - I realize I have enough power. Not worried it'd be gutless, just rather use the power myself than pay BP to heat up my trans fluid. But then again, maybe I should just accept that this is not for the purposes of fuel economy and remember that I'll be saving a ton on the rego each year, no ruc ...

Will have to investigate further on whether the r151 would be harder. I like the idea of not losing power to an auto box since I prefer manuals anyway. If it's a whole lot easier though...

Already planning on the r151. Was just making sure it wasn't to avoid some complication really. I'm not planning on dropping the clutch too often, so manual is the go. My only question is whether the r151 box is a bolt in or if I'll need to shift or swap the crossmember with it hooked onto the back ...

Cheers engineer - it's looking like it might be the way to go. Any advice on what else I need to think about? Brake master ok with the different vacuum of the v6 or do I need to swap that? Any reason you went for the th700? I'm hoping to go manual, but if there was a huge benefit in auto for this ...

Cheers - I think becoming a competent fabricator on short notice is a bit of a stretch, but as an engineer I tend to think things through fairly logically, and I can probably get my uncle (who is a very competent fabricator) to help out with any welding. I generally do most maintenance on our ...

Good advice. I'd been thinking it may be handy to have.a complete car to scrounge parts off

Is it going cheap? Got to be honest though - if I bought it, it would be a donor - I like having the tray too much. That's my other bright idea though - buy another lux that has already got a different engine but has been rolled or is a rusted out offroad only cheapie. Think I'll send an email off ...

Wow! There are a lot of conflicting opinions on which is the best motor and on how much modification there is to fit them. It seems to me that Toyota did a poor job of planning for the installation of alternative motors I haven't made a decision yet. I'm still not sure what the deal is with either ...

What are the ratios like by the way? I've got 4.88 diffs now, but running 33s, so I'm back to roughly stock diesel ratio.

Appreciate the warning lifted, but I'm currently on my second gearbox, so I'm pretty keen to do at least the gearbox upgrade. My thinking is basically that I'm a little underwhelmed by the current powerhouse and so some form of conversion is going to happen sooner or later, and since the gearbox is ...

Cool. Do I need to swap fuel lines or tank to fit the v6 or just a good flush?

Hang on - just been reading up about the 5VZ-FE v6 from the later surfs (96 on). m Not sure if that's what you were talking about crash, but from what I've read so far, it might be worth a go. I've driven the early v6 surfs before, and whilst I'm not saying my 2L comes close, I thought they were a ...

Cheers crash - had forgotten about the obvious, since a while back I heard bad things about the Toyota v6 heads cracking or something, but come to think of it, my mates holden rodeo v6 just cracked a head last week (might be isuzu i guess, but nonetheless...) Just found the motors in question on ...

Auckland. Took me a while to figure out how to change my profile - was just sending you a PM to ask and then it pops up on the left. I too have heard it is a simple conversion. My only problem is I don't really know what that means e.g. replacing the radiator, modifying the sump, shortening and ...

My gearbox in my LN65 is not happy, and so I'll be replacing it. My current thinking is: "if I'm going to have to take the gearbox out, I might as well take the engine out. And if I'm taking the engine out, I might as well put something that isn't a gutless 2.4L diesel back in" I'm not exactly full ...

Yeah, there's freeplay in the diff, but had it reconditioned by steelie gears, so not more than there should be. And not axial play. Seems like there is too much on the transfer