project surf...

nstg8a · Post by **nstg8a** » Thu Oct 25, 2007 7:47 pm

right, as said, a while ago i bought myself an old surf. original reason was that since being in my job i have racked up a few speed camera tickets, cos the camera van likes parking outside work, and i always forget about him. ]:-) so i needed something that didnt accelerate like my car...

looked through the local buy sell, and ended up buying the dearest one advertised, but the only one that had any redeeming features. so many slogged out old surfs around... like new rear springs, re-heat system fully overhauled, recon motor fitted 12 months ago, cd player etc etc

basic specs
'87 surf ssr, 2.4 diesel turbo, 5 speed, sunroof, electrics blah blah.

when i got it it had shiny pajero rims with near new tyres, and came with 3 spare rims, one original hilux chromie, and two white steels, fitted with 80% shagged atr's.

finally got an excuse to take it offroad a few weekends ago when a mate came down from welly in his proceed. so we headed up the maungatapu, had a blast, even though we got stuck a few times, each time due to either shit ground clearance or open diffs. 1st one took us about an hour to get out.

bahahaha

was great fun, and now i think im a little hooked... surf went really well, considering its road biased tyres and total lack of power

just gotta fix the puny looking tyres, and find some better rims.

nstg8a · Post by **nstg8a** » Thu Oct 25, 2007 8:00 pm

aaand

1st idea was to buy some white steels and some mean mud tyres and go have some fun... but then i realised how many 4wds have white steels

good rims? no doubt, but sheesh...

so i hunted round the buy sell and tardme, and then on impulse bought a set of 2nd hand 15x8 alloys fitted with 33x12.5x15... just a little bigger than the old ones

definitly looks the part now :wink:

but....

had to remove front apron and bumper end caps to give clearance, but that didnt fix behind the wheel...
so i removed the inner guard and smashed back the big vertical seam so i can nearly go lock to lock with no rubbage. until the suspension compress's anyway.

so a mate of mine is milling me up a set of spacers so i can do a 2 inch
body lift, (cheaper and easier than suspension) then i was thinking a 2 inch suspension lift once the bank balance recovers abit...
then snorkel, LSD and/or a locker, cos open diffs suck.

Petemcc · Post by **Petemcc** » Thu Oct 25, 2007 8:08 pm

have the tortion bars been wound up in the front? looks abit nose down. If not then that will help stop the rubbing on road and give you abit more clearance at the front.

Pete

nstg8a · Post by **nstg8a** » Thu Oct 25, 2007 8:12 pm

yeah, they have... il have to have a look to see just how far.

but its the rear springs that make it look nose down, it sits a fair bit higher in the bum than other surfs ive seen.

Petemcc · Post by **Petemcc** » Thu Oct 25, 2007 8:16 pm

the lower arms in the first pick with the 33's on look resonably flat id guess you could get abit more out of them. Supralux on wrote a good article in the toyota tech section about doing it. According to him the highest you want to go is 30mm travel difference between the rim and the guard when you jack it up (ie measure from rim to guard, jack up and measure again, difference should be no less than 30mm)

Pete

Smurf · Post by **Smurf** » Thu Oct 25, 2007 8:19 pm

Get a Lokka for the front, it will save you blowing up the front diff, and helps you keep traction when you lift a tyre. I was about to get one for my old IFS Surf just before I killed it.
You can trim the bump stops a bit to get more travel. also a pair of spacers for the front arms to gain a bit more lift too. One of the guys on here was making them. 'Worsel' I think from memory.
Will have to catch up and go for a Spin one day soon.

nstg8a · Post by **nstg8a** » Thu Oct 25, 2007 8:31 pm

Petemcc wrote:the lower arms in the first pick with the 33's on look resonably flat id guess you could get abit more out of them. Supralux on wrote a good article in the toyota tech section about doing it. According to him the highest you want to go is 30mm travel difference between the rim and the guard when you jack it up (ie measure from rim to guard, jack up and measure again, difference should be no less than 30mm)

Pete

hmm, that will be worth checking, im sure when i jacked it up to do the inner guards there was lot more than 30mm travel... fingers crossed i get some more lift that way then, cheers.

Smurf wrote:Get a Lokka for the front, it will save you blowing up the front diff, and helps you keep traction when you lift a tyre. I was about to get one for my old IFS Surf just before I killed it.
You can trim the bump stops a bit to get more travel. also a pair of spacers for the front arms to gain a bit more lift too. One of the guys on here was making them. 'Worsel' I think from memory.
Will have to catch up and go for a Spin one day soon.

yeah, a lokka in the front and lsd in the rear is the plan at the moment, just gotta wait for the money tree to bear fruit again lol.

defnitly keen to go for a spin, be good to have someone that knows what not to do...

86-surf · Post by **86-surf** » Sat Nov 03, 2007 1:04 pm

my surf looks the same just with 31x10.5 the ass is way higher then the front and the front has reached its limit haha

nstg8a · Post by **nstg8a** » Sun Nov 25, 2007 10:15 pm

looks like the damn things are multiplying...

gimmemud · Post by **gimmemud** » Sun Nov 25, 2007 10:28 pm

dunno if i'd say body lift is cheaper coz every body lift needs a cert and even if your warrent guy passes it without one one you could still be in strife if you ever had to claim insurance. anyways looking good

Smurf · Post by **Smurf** » Sun Nov 25, 2007 10:35 pm

nstg8a wrote::? looks like the damn things are multiplying...

Jeez man, don't let the buggers breed.
Saw you and your wagon in Stoke this morning. Looks far tooo clean

nstg8a · Post by **nstg8a** » Sun Nov 25, 2007 10:40 pm

Smurf wrote:
nstg8a wrote::? looks like the damn things are multiplying...

Jeez man, don't let the buggers breed.
Saw you and your wagon in Stoke this morning. Looks far tooo clean

haha, yeah its been a while since its been out for a play...
shouldnt even have been driving it today, wof ran out last week... but somehow i doubt my levin would have liked towing the car trailer...

where were you?

nstg8a · Post by **nstg8a** » Sun Nov 25, 2007 10:42 pm

gimmemud wrote:dunno if i'd say body lift is cheaper coz every body lift needs a cert and even if your warrent guy passes it without one one you could still be in strife if you ever had to claim insurance. anyways looking good

true, but need a cert for tyres as well, so might as well do a few bits n pieces then do a cert, no need to pay for multiple certs.

Smurf · Post by **Smurf** » Sun Nov 25, 2007 10:51 pm

I was in my partners white mitsi with a trailer on the back, you were turning out of Arapiki road onto main road stoke

nstg8a · Post by **nstg8a** » Sun Nov 25, 2007 11:09 pm

Smurf wrote:I was in my partners white mitsi with a trailer on the back, you were turning out of Arapiki road onto main road stoke

oh yip, i live on aripiki... i didnt pull out in front of you did i? seemed to gained that habit since having the surf...

nstg8a · Post by **nstg8a** » Tue Jan 01, 2008 12:29 pm

tiny update time...

fitted lsd diff from donor surf, and heavily tinted rear side windows to stop peering eyes looking into the back...

the best trolley jack there is...

still have to have a look and see if i can get some more lift from the torsion bars, take off rear bumper and towbar, its been getting me hung up a couple of times, and make a chunky bracket to go across the back to give me somewhere to mount a hook or two....

oh, and remove running boards, cos they are just mud traps...

and then bodylift, got everything i need, just need to cut and drill spacers, so that should be interesting... two inch body lift for less than $100

nstg8a · Post by **nstg8a** » Thu Jan 03, 2008 2:03 pm

went shopping

bahaha, told the other half i was just going to get some fuses... should have seen her face when she saw this lot lol
hopefully will have bodylift sorted this weekend now

my two new rear tyres turn up tomorrow fingers crossed, end up getting some cheapo mud tyres, probably made with cheap child or slave labour over in some 3rd world country... but no way was i gonna turn down $200 a tire fitted balanced and my old tyre disposed off...

Armourguard · Post by **Armourguard** » Thu Jan 03, 2008 3:38 pm

Might sound like a silly question :oops:

but are you going to put a metal cutoff blade in your mitre saw

mroffroader · Post by **mroffroader** » Thu Jan 03, 2008 3:43 pm

looks like he may use it to cut that white plastic into body lift blocks??? my guess anyway :lol:

nstg8a · Post by **nstg8a** » Thu Jan 03, 2008 4:08 pm

mroffroader wrote:looks like he may use it to cut that white plastic into body lift blocks??? my guess anyway

yup, and its the blade it came with...

just finished cutting the blocks, drill them tomorrow, stick them in over the weekend

Shane · Post by **Shane** » Thu Jan 03, 2008 5:16 pm

nstg8a wrote:went shopping bahaha, told the other half i was just going to get some fuses... should have seen her face when she saw this lot lol
hopefully will have bodylift sorted this weekend now

my two new rear tyres turn up tomorrow fingers crossed, end up getting some cheapo mud tyres, probably made with cheap child or slave labour over in some 3rd world country... but no way was i gonna turn down $200 a tire fitted balanced and my old tyre disposed off...

were did you get the nylon/plastic from?does it cost much?

Cheers Shane,in nelson for 3-4 days

nstg8a · Post by **nstg8a** » Fri Jan 04, 2008 9:46 am

got it from blacks, about $25 for a 250mm length, but they had to order it in for me.