my GQ finally ready for cert, pics of build.

[muskie]

spent the last 7 months building my new truck, here are some picks start to finish. got the truck off trade me 1988 and paid a bit too much for it, more rust than i thought but over that now..





i wasnt expecting that much rust in the roof, but it had been bodged up so i cut it all out so it was done right, cut all 4 wheel arches back by around an inch and welded a return on to mount the flares.

[muskie]

did everything myself, bodywork, fabrication, paintwork including making drop boxes the only thing i paid to have done was the fueling for the turbo.. the whole project cost $13000 including buying the truck.

[muskie]

final set of pics.












extended all bumpstops slightly, new brake lines, reconditioned all calipers, extended and strengthend trailing arms.. just got to fit front air lokka, has LSD rear.

didnt want to have a cage at this stage but made up a roof bar to push through bush and stop branches hitting the screen and as its bolted on cert guy said it will be fine as cosmetic accessory same as the cosmetic roll bars on utes.

35mm body lift.
75mm efs springs and shocks.
dsr turbo.
evo 1 seats.
all the usual bits really and a lot of messing around, bodywork mods on the 4 arches was very time consuming to get right cutting and welding, happy with the finished truck, next stage is cert which should be this week or next hopefully already had it looked at by cert guy and he sees no issues.

first time ive done a complete build, always bought part built type trucks and finished off.

[Big]

Mate thats great.. hats off.. pitty it's a nissan..lol Looking like it's go places .. you must be stoked.

[kbushnz]

Nice work ! Almost a shame to get it dirty.....

[tomsoffroad]

Thats a cool front bar there. Nice work.

[JR]

i like that snorkle up on top like that, very nice. you mite need to post a few more
pics of it

[coxsy]

you got nice doors, ditch those west coasters as the bottom mirror mount sticks out to far and catches on trees, banks ect

[3VILC]

Nice truck mate. Same shocks/springs and body lift as mine, but yours looks way higher. Must be the tyres and gaurd trimming. Rear bar looks the goods, similar to what I'd like to try and make some day. Currently i've just halved my towbar tube and reversed the brackets to protect under the quater panels. How did you get on with the rear body mounts trimming your quarters up that high? I cut mine a few inches lower than that as didnt want to cut into where the body mount reinforcing comes down the back

[muskie]

Nice truck mate. Same shocks/springs and body lift as mine, but yours looks way higher. Must be the tyres and gaurd trimming. Rear bar looks the goods, similar to what I'd like to try and make some day. Currently i've just halved my towbar tube and reversed the brackets to protect under the quater panels. How did you get on with the rear body mounts trimming your quarters up that high? I cut mine a few inches lower than that as didnt want to cut into where the body mount reinforcing comes down the back

i just cut through them, i only ended up taking about an inch off the bottom which really makes no difference to the integrity of the mounts as there quite long anyway, i just filed it all up nice and neat so it looks factory, the benefit of cutting them is that they dont fill up with mud and rot out as the origional drain hole is to small, this is the fourth truck i have removed the quarters on, done a couple of friends trucks for them, had no issues with warrents etc..

i would say your right mine looks higher becouse i cut back all the arches by just over an inch, surprising the illusion it creates of making it look higher also my springs and shocks have done no work yet, hoping it will go a bit lower i didnt want it that high the only reason i went for a 3'' lift is so i got a true 2'' lift after everything had settled and the truck had all the gear in it. it drives really well in fact allmost as well as it did in standard form, absolutely no vibes or shuddering the only thing i have noticed are the 35 tyre feel a bit odd compared to 33''.

[3VILC]

Yeah I noticed mine looked higher when I took off (after a tree half broke off) the plastic flares Damn those trees that jump into the side of the truck haha. Mines sagged quite a bit at the front now (springs about 3 years old) even with the heavy duty LWB springs in the front. Oh well looks better than rear sag. Might have to find some heavy tube and try make a better rear bar now I have a welder

[3VILC]

How did you find the diff clearances on 33's? Thats probably the only thing I dislike about my truck. The diffs often act more like bulldozer blades if the track has some good ruts, I carry a spade and often only need to shave a lil dirt under the diffs and keep driving so not sooo bad, but kicking myself for not getting 35s when I brought my 33s, but at the time wasnt sure about the gearing with no turbo

[coxsy]

thats why i brought 33x15 simexs 34 '' overall

[GQTROL]

Tidy effort as usual Daemon, especially the bar work!

[muskie]

Tidy effort as usual Daemon, especially the bar work!

thanks mate, what you up to these days?

[muskie]

How did you find the diff clearances on 33's? Thats probably the only thing I dislike about my truck. The diffs often act more like bulldozer blades if the track has some good ruts, I carry a spade and often only need to shave a lil dirt under the diffs and keep driving so not sooo bad, but kicking myself for not getting 35s when I brought my 33s, but at the time wasnt sure about the gearing with no turbo

well i will consider shaving the bottom off the housing when i fit the locker, i may get another housing and modify.. doing some research into that at the mo..

35'' tyres are awful without the turbo, my last truck had 34'' simex jungle trekkers and it drove well within reason NON turbo, i will post a pic of it later with 34s fitted.

[mercutio]

i like that snorkle up on top like that, very nice. you mite need to post a few more
pics of it

i agree less likely to get knocked off when the body is rubbing hard against a solid object of some sort

[GQTROL]

Tidy effort as usual Daemon, especially the bar work!

thanks mate, what you up to these days?

Am doing a stint in the Hawkes Bay at the mo. Sold my old truck to a mate after it lunched the engine and bought a D22 Navara. The Nav is more suitable for what I'm doing now, but I do miss the old girl everytime I come to a slight incline

[ArvinSlayer]

u built all that in your garage??? where did u get these skills bo?????

[muskie]

u built all that in your garage??? where did u get these skills bo?????

engineer by trade, 20+ years of building "stuff", having a bit of vision and welding stuff up till it looks ok.