d21 project with no name

[muddyhilux]

am currenty doing up my brother n laws d21,started off like this



next due to rust i repaced the tray with this



and are now going threw the big build up,have already made up roll bar,have just installed 3.5" body lift,will have welded on side steps,running 35"tyres,snorkel,falcon springs in the rear with lenghtened shackles,and its also getting a surf rear axle thrown in as his diff is buggered,bunnings flares,spots on the roll bar,repositioned fuel tank,air tank running off air conditioning pump,electric fan while were at it,rated hooks right round along with new towbar on rear,custom front bar and if his funds allow a mid mounted winch,will get more pics up when i get them,proly be a few more mods thrown in while where at it but thats the bulk of it,started bout 2weeks ago,looking for a mid to late january completion with cert early feb,well c how we go lol

[aroma]

for you electric fan get one from a nissan primera? as will fit straight in infront of the radiator with 2 holes drilled in chasssis well thats what i did

[muddyhilux]

cheers warren,we've got a big 16" fan lined up already tho but thanks for the info,as of last week the greaseable shackles are made,we've also gone from 75 pin centers to 150 pin centers

rear mounts are made

and body lift is in
before

after

although we only had my spare to go on as brother n law ain't soured wheels yet but ya get the idea of where the front will be,still got to flex it up then there will be a small bit of hammer to wheel well contact and trimming of the fenders,
got all the relevant hoses lengthened,topped back up the power steering and now we just got to source a terrano steering shaft and shell be drivable again

[aroma]

looks good

[muddyhilux]

can anyone help?35s fit with heaps of space except right on the corner of the door so i want to cut the panel steel off at 45degree angle but cant get hold of my certifyer due to time of year,any one done this before?will it pass certification

[J_Dub]

hows progress? got them coons in yet

[muddyhilux]

hey mate,na not yet,ok has been unbelievably crazy plus my brother n law has been the same so not much has been done,hes got his tyres n rims sorted now,got the axle and diff head,just no together yet,today we cut the front panel off to clear wheels and welded that up etc,gona do some more work this sunday but yeh,its been pretty slow lol,will get some more pics up when i can,weve also been holding off slightly as we wanted to get all gear / parts that'll be on deck together so that when we set it up and set shackles the eight is correct

[muddyhilux]

well I'm real slack at updating but the latest after the last 2 weekends are,fuel tank has been lifted in place 85mm,
before

went this way as was just less hassle and cost involved,also hes now picked up a 900x 320 aluminum air tank to go under the rear of the deck for on board air system via the air con pump,coons are in and looking good

they are gonna flex real well,for now I've pulled them out tho and will be re-drilling to correct position,surf diff is all ground back and leaf perches are made ready to be welded in next weekend
start

finished

seats and rest of inside are also now back together, currently working on remounting the deck via the roll bar mounting points,also will be making up new spring plates this week with new shock mounts on them,short drive shaft from box to hanger is pulled out and going to get a new flange spun up to change it from Nissan to Toyota offsets and then all going well it'll be together and driving again next weekend

[muddyhilux]

this was the rear end coming out

this is the front after cutting and plating corner

then with new rim n tyres on

new braided brake line just made up today from RAM Motor Sports

also hes purchased a right and left tool box to go either side of the deck to hold in all gear etc

and these are the new 14mm shackles and 8mm plates i've just made up this week

[monaro427]

no images

[muddyhilux]

ok so weekend just gone got the back end bolted in

after which we adjusted angle of diff flange face to match gearbox then i welded(pic to come),jump started cos batt had gone flat,bleed brakes and checked they were working then onto flex testing

not bad if ya ask me n i kno my brother n law is dam happy,thats not max either,the rhs wheel is actually on grass ledge below top of concreate wall with the axle just about sitting on the wall u can see so this weekend im gona take it to the local boat ramp and really test it out,also bit hard to tell but front is basically still dead flat aswell,no twisting yet so i think weve made progess,and this is with the tray and bits and pieces on,something like what the finished truck will look like


all in all were both happy with results

[Ryan]

that is looking saweet!! keep up the good work!!

[Bolo]

Looking really good

[muddyhilux]

bit more of an update,last week rear drive shaft has been modified / shortened 50mm so is now spot on for length,ive made brackets to hold air tank in place and spare whee holder is 95% complete,just gota weld in some studs and paint,didnt get to touch vechile as was working all weekend but making progress slowly,this weekend should have boxes,wheel jack etc mounted to deck,rear shaft will go in and will be attempting to do a bit more to side steps,will also get photos of the work thats been done but arent up yet

[aroma]

just a little thing
have you flexed the front end with the tyres turned ? as have just been caught out myself on the jeep and knowing my navara had to remove the front mud flaps with the off road tyre's on as diff offset and wider tyre than factory

but looking good
hows your own build going?
Warren

[J_Dub]

and wheres these boat ramp flex test pics at

[muddyhilux]

sori guys no pics yet,been sick for the last week and still am so no progress,yeh front has been tested warren,full turn both ways and only just catches on chasis so gona slightly adjust steering stops to sort that its only temporary anyway coz its due for a solid front end next year

[muddyhilux]

dam its been 2months already,im so slack at updating,done 2 or 3 sundays on the truck but lately works been quite busy with short changeovers in shifts etc so been having trouble finding the time to get anythin done,but got it flex tested a bit more





shocks arrived and are now fitted aswell as the wheel spacers which have made it look even more aggressive,have got the deck mounts welded on properly and also got the rear bar cleaned up and painted

also purchased a nice piece of 5mm alloy tread plate,$450 bucks later so thats been cut up and bolted on to give us a rear plate to mount all the LED lights on etc,and will also be used for the front end to hold front LED indicators and be the headlight surround as weve ditched the original plastic grill,also my brother n laws brought some alloy mesh which will go on the front to give it plenty of air flow,oh and weve just about finished remounting the filler cap / hose etc for the fuel filler

mhm thats about it i think for now but will get more pics up when i remember

[Tuigod]

Looks bloody good dude really like your tray ya made up

[J_Dub]

looking sweet, looking like it could have flexed more too,
im still keen to talk to ya bout cooning mine aswell, but thats a little down the track

[UBZ]

Looking good mate.

You guys are motoring through it.

C.

[muddyhilux]

cheers all,thanks tuigod,were pretty happy with it too,these photos dont show how its mounted now and weve changed the rear panel but am going to get updated pics tomorow arvo so ull be able see tomorow night the final outcome,n yeh could flex more with extra weight etc but were gonna limit it there,theres only about 20mm between wheel and deck so its close enough for us for now,also dont want the springs crapping out to early,and yeh,ive got a few jobs on but get back to me when ya ready n ill let ya know how things are going,n thanks chris,not sure if id say motoring through it though,bit disapointed actually as to how long its dragged on,like i say works just so up n down at the mo ae but yeh,cheers again all

[muddyhilux]

well guys heres some more pics,as said shocks are now in,heres the new top xmember



heres the lower mounts i made up



and this is the shocks in place,really happy with how they turned out ae





also as said weve made a new rear plate for lights etc



and remounted deck which u can seee 3x mounts here along with the rollar bar painted up and looking a lil beta,still gota grind those welds though





and heres the newly extended bump stops,i was sure i was spot on but just not quite as u can see there a 10mm nut in between rubber mount and chassis mount which we will be replacing with a 10mm plate for minor adjustment,think it came down to the rubber actually squashing more than i antisepated

[muddyhilux]

well another long day 0630 - 1730 but getting three,unfortunatly again not as much as planed but did have to tune a truck,sell some parts on trade me and sort out some stuff for ma dads truck but got work done on the front plate,measured everthing thing like 3 times then cut once,couldnt afford 200 bucks to get a replacement panel so after taking my time we went from this



to this



then ended up like this



were both pretty happy with how it turned out,just need to cut slots for indicators which you can see at bottom of last 2 pics and mount the mesh my brother n law brought then mount the plate itself to the front of vechile ,also over the last couple of days oscar had managed to get the deck fully painted and the last of the roll bar ground and painted so the deck is all fully together and in theory wont come apart again till after cert some time,also the wooden deck he got routed so the fuel cap now fits on properly and the rear lights fully wired up,so not a bad week,and by the end of this week we should have reverse lights on aswell,going for wheel alignment tues and pos handbrake will be looked at thats enuf for now

[SirGerald]

[quote="muddyhilux"]


Looks mean, with a front like that you will be able to enter "Death Race".

[muddyhilux]

cheers dude,it has turned out pretty aggressive looking

[darinz]

Looking pretty good and i really like the checker plate and some of the original ideas.
But why did you put the rear shocks on such an angle? With that angle you need a longer shock for the same travel and the greater the angle the less the damping the shock provides so you need more vavling in the shocks for the same performance.

[muddyhilux]

hi darinz,cheers,shocks were put at such to make sure we didnt loose any travel in either direction,at present the xmember sits on top of the chasis rails,if we need to we can lift this approx 150mm upwards to just under deck however it will only move shock eyes at top out slightly(but still may need to be done if to much roll),with this current setup leafs are free to move to both ends of travel with no hinderence,even the bumpstops were made after checking where the leafs could safely travel to in the upward direction,at which point we actually needed to add a 10mm plate to push back down as the wheels where just 10mm off touching the deck ,and at present shocks have an extra 15mm travel either end so wont bottom out,if we had have gone for shorter shocks we would have ended up compremising drop travel or risked bottoming out the shocks trying to get thw max out of them,hope that all made sence

[darinz]

Yeah that made sense (does that mean I'm as confused as you ).
Shock angle and the effect it has on the performance of the shock is something that quite often gets forgotten about when placing shocks. Sounds like you are aware of this and have things quite under control.

The bad thing is that as the shocks are compressed (and so the angle they are on increases) then the dampering control they have is reduced and they will move less. This means that at full compression you will have less dampering than full extension and you really want this the other way around.
Something to think about if you find it bottoms the suspension a lot.

[muddyhilux]

yeh have looked it all over,at the mo where in a bit of a rush to try get it all going so it should be fine for now,but yeh i have hold him in the future once certed etc and the plate says custom shock xmember and were not in so much of a rush ill more than likely stich weld anuther piece of 50mm box on top of current and reset the shocks a litle more vertical improving things some what ,but cheers for the input,enjoy discusions and input like this