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Hello Offroad Express

Posted: Sun Feb 17, 2008 6:42 pm
by Andrew1706
Hey guys, my name is Andrew I'm in Auckland, long time browser first time poster :lol:

Late last year I bought this Toyota Blizzard off trademe:

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Fitted with ever almighty 2L-T :roll:, 31x10.5 tubed Wrangler MTRs on 7.5" rims, custom saggy front leafs, unplanned bog'n'rust paintjob and Recaro fishnet bucket seats

Since then I haven't really done much except break it :lol: First casualty was the top radiator hose whilst in the dunes on Muiwai beach. Second being the exhaust which I welded up, decided it would be a good idea to cut out the muffler and weld a pipe in (I wanted the turbo spool noise :twisted: ) but used a gasless mig and in my hungover on a thursday state didn't do a really good job and then broke off in the backroad leading to the Bay Of Islands (missed the car ferry) and the third being the rear door latch which has just fallen apart and now likes opening at random times - keeps me on my toes I guess :wink:

After hitting a car wreck one night going up Muriwai I decided spotlights were the go, ghetto rigged up a bracket one night and fit two pencil beams and two small spotlights on it and that went well until I spied up some IPF Super Rallys on trademe and whacked them on:

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I do intend to reweld and clean up that bracket, it was a trail and error jobby and seems to work well so far although need to strengthen the roof as it bounces :idea:

Next things in the pipeline involve reset leafs and wider offset rims because I don't like how narrow it feels and it'll be even worse with reset leafs. If funds allow a set of Baja Claws will go on there as I've been told they are a lot better in mud and sand (our main stomping grounds) then the MTRs which just tend to dig in sand and fail to empty when in the mud.

As it isn't in much of a warrentable state I don't think I'll doo much in terms of body work, if a mint body comes up I'll grab it but otherwise I'm not fussed. I think a custom paint job would be cool, something I can do after a few beers with a few mates sorta thing :D

It came with a small 12v factory Toyota winch on the front and snapped the cable first pull it did (Lada Nivas :evil:) but my mate has just replaced his factory Safari pto with and electric winch so I'll buy that off him and fabricate it onto the front and then try and make my electric one work on the back, just because I can.

Because it isn't much of a legal beagle I've made the decision to lock the rear diff and most likely the front as well, I don't imagine a lightish truck would have much trouble with sledging?

Holy crap what an essay.

Anyway I've got a little Honda Civic that I'm building into a 1/4 mile drag racer and later in the year I'm going to need a tow vehicle and I'm looking at an 80 Series Landcruiser. Simply because I think they look damn sexy :oops: but also like the idea of factory diff lockers for those times I decided to take the lavvy cruiser out for a stomp instead of the shitbox and end up stuck :lol:

Anybody got any suggestions/recommendations/warnings about the 80 Series Cruiser? Would be good to get to know as much as I can before buying one.

Cheers guys, see you around and hope to get out on a few meets with you guys too sometime :mrgreen:

Re: Hello Offroad Express

Posted: Sun Feb 17, 2008 7:12 pm
by skid
Andrew1706 wrote:Anybody got any suggestions/recommendations/warnings about the 80 Series Cruiser? Would be good to get to know as much as I can before buying one.



welcome aboard.

as for the 80s. all I'v ebeen told is to stay away from a 12 valve auto if you intend to do towing or at least put a aftermarket trans cooler on it.