My Pajero build. The Whale mk2.

[Chris443]

Hi everyone, Chris here, from Christchurch, thought I'd share my build underway at the moment for my Pajero.
Ive owned pajeros for over 10 years now, no idea why, but i love them. Currently own 5 haha.

Ive been planning this build for years, now underway and making progress, although slow at times.
-Now, the general rundown. Bare with me.

Its a 95 4 door wagon. Bought with a dead shitty mitsubishi v6 in it. (No surprises there)
Ive been a diesel fan for years, but this new truck im going petrol power. Turbo petrol.
Searched for a motor as a suitable replacement for over 12 months. Diesel options such the 4m41 seemed good but were stupidly expensive for minimal power.
So i had a rather retarded idea and purchased an engine from an importer.... I wanted maximum reliability, ease of modification, power production and replacement parts, and compatibility with the mitzi drivetrain
Oh and i guess it had to fit under the bonnet too
Sorry nissan people, but i went with Toyota power. (Well yamaha Marine to be precise) And no, its NOT a lexus v8....

[Chris443]

Now to ruffle some feathers haha. No beam axle swap here. Its staying ifs. Long travel ifs

Ive been spending bloody ages studying, copying modifying concepts from long travel ifs setups used for baja 1000 style prerunner trucks. If you haven't seen these before, google total chaos fabrication. Their stuff is incredible.....

Have been in touch with the certifier, and the arm concept now has to go through to the lvvta tech board for design approval.
At this stage the plan is, new cromolly tube arms top and bottom, 50mm longer than factory each side. The design incorporates geometry changes normally achieved from balljoint spacers etc into the arm. The limiting factor on suspension travel is cv angles in both compression and rebound.

This is the type of setup here

This will be combined with a trick wee swaybar disconnect, for some very decent flex. And a eaton e-locker in the front diff for good measure

[Chris443]

I purchased a wrecked pajero a few years ago, which was imported to nz with a heap of cool jap aftermarket parts.
The things i have set aside for mine are, mud jayson brand torsion bars, adjustable panhard rod, pajero evolution grille, and a set of bolt on fibreglass japanese widebody wheel arch flares. These are approx 50mm wider than factory each side.

[Chris443]

The donor truck, the origional whale. Will be painting mine with the white stripe down sides to match

The original 'whale'

[Chris443]

If anyones actually read this far, the motor. Ill admit this sounds stupid, and it probably is... but i bought a 3.0 toyota supra motor.
Now 'supra' conversions were common in hiluxs years ago, but they were the old supra engine.

I bought the mighty 2jzgte vvti. 3 litre, inline 6, 24valve dohc, variable valve timing, sequential twin turbo. These make approx 325hp and 450nm of torque from the factory.

Engine and matching transmission

[Chris443]

So the twin turbos have been ditched, they are sh*t and restrictive, and hit the steering shaft. So in their place is a treadstone cast log manifold from the usa and a mse hrc holset hx35 turbo. Good for around 500hp on one of these engines

[Chris443]

The first and most obvious part of the puzzle. The gearbox.
So im keeping the original 2jz gearbox, it bolts to the motor obviously, and they are a seriously strong auto. And with removing the 2wd tail housing, it bolts to the pajero transfer case with only a few minor modifications, as its still an a340 aisin family gearbox. Same as the factory pajero box.

[Chris443]

With flipping the factory gearbox x-member 180° to put the drivetrain in a diesel configuration (engine/box 40mm aft) it all fits in the hole. Diesel driveshafts and 4.9 ratio diffs from one of my donor trucks and the setup virtually bolts together! Only items to be hand fabbed so it bolts in are the engine mounts.

Swapping 2wd to 4wd tail housing

[Chris443]

Recaro seats fitted from a pajero evolution. With the correct rails they bolt in as per factory. To easy.

[Chris443]

New tyres and rims. Have 5 matching rims, about to send away for a refurbishing at pine engineering before fitting up the new 34" mt+ geolanders.

15x9 -30 offset Work Deerfields

[Chris443]

The wheels with 31s fitted. They look bloody retarded far too small.

[Chris443]

Fitting the 50mm bodylift

only one side fitted here obviously

[lax2wlg]

Hi Chris, Cool Paj obsession, I have always argued that the Gen II/II.5 V6 is (arguably) the best production off road racing vehicle ever made.

I am loving your long travel plans and am also in the planning/drawings/consulting phase of doing the same to the Nissan WD21 chassis.

I notice the TC photos are for the McPherson strut toyota IFS. Are you staying with torsion bars? Personally I will of course keep the double a-arm (thats a given, its a far stronger design than McPherson) but get rid of torsions and go to coil springs, but mounted on top of the upper a-arm. Still deciding between conventional coil, coilover or coilover devalved simply as a coil carrier for packaging purposes. I've studied Mitsu IFS quite a bit... realized Mitsu and Nissan WD21 are very similar IFS, main difference is the design of the lower control arm, Mitsu is a traditional wishbone shape whereas Nissan uses an old school tension rod as the secondary pivot point. This makes extending the lower a-arm a bit trickier. WD21 is a much older design derived from Datsun 720, the first production 4x4 IFS in a 1/4 ton truck.


If you are into yarning about IFS long travel, we could make a tech thread to throw ideas/concepts/plans around, and it would be cool to consolidate the previous threads where LT tech/modifying IFS talk has come up.

Welcome to ORE!

[dvk-kp]

That's going to be an awesome paj mate, I'll be watching this thread with interest!

Don't know any more details about thos flares your use from your doner truck? I'd love a set of thos.

How does the 2j fit length wise? Short engine bay for a straight 6

Keep up the good work, 2J is guna sound bad ass buried in the mud!

[Chris443]

Hi Chris, Cool Paj obsession, I have always argued that the Gen II/II.5 V6 is (arguably) the best production off road racing vehicle ever made.

I am loving your long travel plans and am also in the planning/drawings/consulting phase of doing the same to the Nissan WD21 chassis.

I notice the TC photos are for the McPherson strut toyota IFS. Are you staying with torsion bars? Personally I will of course keep the double a-arm (thats a given, its a far stronger design than McPherson) but get rid of torsions and go to coil springs, but mounted on top of the upper a-arm. Still deciding between conventional coil, coilover or coilover devalved simply as a coil carrier for packaging purposes. I've studied Mitsu IFS quite a bit... realized Mitsu and Nissan WD21 are very similar IFS, main difference is the design of the lower control arm, Mitsu is a traditional wishbone shape whereas Nissan uses an old school tension rod as the secondary pivot point. This makes extending the lower a-arm a bit trickier. WD21 is a much older design derived from Datsun 720, the first production 4x4 IFS in a 1/4 ton truck.


If you are into yarning about IFS long travel, we could make a tech thread to throw ideas/concepts/plans around, and it would be cool to consolidate the previous threads where LT tech/modifying IFS talk has come up.

Welcome to ORE!

Hi Chris, Cool Paj obsession, I have always argued that the Gen II/II.5 V6 is (arguably) the best production off road racing vehicle ever made.

I am loving your long travel plans and am also in the planning/drawings/consulting phase of doing the same to the Nissan WD21 chassis.

I notice the TC photos are for the McPherson strut toyota IFS. Are you staying with torsion bars? Personally I will of course keep the double a-arm (thats a given, its a far stronger design than McPherson) but get rid of torsions and go to coil springs, but mounted on top of the upper a-arm. Still deciding between conventional coil, coilover or coilover devalved simply as a coil carrier for packaging purposes. I've studied Mitsu IFS quite a bit... realized Mitsu and Nissan WD21 are very similar IFS, main difference is the design of the lower control arm, Mitsu is a traditional wishbone shape whereas Nissan uses an old school tension rod as the secondary pivot point. This makes extending the lower a-arm a bit trickier. WD21 is a much older design derived from Datsun 720, the first production 4x4 IFS in a 1/4 ton truck.


If you are into yarning about IFS long travel, we could make a tech thread to throw ideas/concepts/plans around, and it would be cool to consolidate the previous threads where LT tech/modifying IFS talk has come up.

Welcome to ORE!

Hi mate, cool to see others keeping the ifs alive!
Originally i was going to run a coilover and triple bypass shock setup, but the problem is simply the space. To run through the pajero upper wishbone, even with it 2 inches longer theres very little room. It would have required totally removing the factory upper arm mount and fabricating it all again. I figured since im not actually going to jump the thing 4ft in the air its probably overkill. And also kind of want this to be a bolt in setup for the front so i can potentially make and sell the setup if it all goes well to anyone that wants it for their pajero. So sticking with the torsions, i have jap heavy duty items, so with the increased torque arm effects of the longer arms hopefully spring rate will be about factory.
As for the wd21, you're lucky that the yanks have them, ive seen the calmini kits for them, surely someone makes a pathfinder etc long arm kit?

[Chris443]

That's going to be an awesome paj mate, I'll be watching this thread with interest!

Don't know any more details about thos flares your use from your doner truck? I'd love a set of thos.

How does the 2j fit length wise? Short engine bay for a straight 6

Keep up the good work, 2J is guna sound bad ass buried in the mud!

Haha thanks, yeah in a word, its a squeeze. But with relocating the radiator which im working on at the moment, it fits pretty good.
I have some info on the flares, ill post it up when i dig it out.
Yeah looking foward to hearing it too, fair to say it should sound good with a big pipe and not running a bov.

[Chris443]

The flares, so with trawling the internet, and the pile of japanese recipts that came with the donor truck, im pretty sure the truck was built by a company called Bigrun Dunk in Okayama. It had heaps of modifications done to it. Ive also kept the engine, thats in my other truck, running a modified injector pump and big turbo etc, it runs 30psi of boost and puts 2l turbo skylines to shame at the lights. But thats another story haha
A link to their website. Have a look round with google translate, its interesting!!

http://www.bigrun-dunk.co.jp/democar/rookie/index.htm

http://www.bigrun-dunk.co.jp/democar/index.htm

http:// www.bigrun-dunk.co.jp/dunk/sh_data/

[Crash bandicoot]

The soch v6 block is a good block just the heads and efi system are pretty basic. I went down the twin can gto head route with supercharger.

[lax2wlg]

As for the wd21, you're lucky that the yanks have them, ive seen the calmini kits for them, surely someone makes a pathfinder etc long arm kit?

Interesting, cool. Yeah have also considered triple bypass/remote res. etc. but agree it is an overkill. I'm not going to be beating down rough roads at 100kph for hours at a time, and with coilovers comes much more maintenance/cost. But for packaging purposes they are really good.

There is certainly much much more to think about and consider with the LT design compared to a simple live axle swap.

Re; the WD21, unfortunately no one has ever made a LT kit for them. We dont enjoy anywhere near the level of aftermarket support that mainstream brands such as Toyota and Jeep get. Jimmy Baja had a kit for the 2wd Navara which has the conventional wishbone lower arm, but that doesnt apply for the 4x4 chassis. As for Calmini, they make upper a-arms for the WD21, but not extended and just intended for correcting geometry after a lift. And they are poor quality, like many of Calminis products.

I think because Toyota was/is so massively popular in the mainstream, theres a decent market in the US for LT kits. And the design lends itself to extended arms without too much pissing around. From what I read, they gathered a lot of fans because they were one of the first light import trucks with a live front axle. Then when they went to IFS in 1986, the sheeple just followed suit and put up with it. Reality is the Toyo t-bar is only marginally weaker than the early live axle design.

This is my current setup which gets approx 10" of safe,usable travel (6" down, 4" up)

[Crash bandicoot]

Calmini make a bolt in SAS conversion kit 4 the pathfinder.

[lax2wlg]

'Fraid not.
They make a bunch of overpriced crossmembers and a leaf spring hanger bracket for SAS conversion, but not a complete kit by any means, let alone a link kit.

[Crash bandicoot]

'Fraid not.
They make a bunch of overpriced crossmembers and a leaf spring hanger bracket for SAS conversion, but not a complete kit by any means, let alone a link kit.

[lax2wlg]

Those are radius arms, and the brackets I was talking about. They make a kit for the WD22 platform (which is really quite different), and you still need to find an axle that isn't available in New Zealand.

But lets please not bomb Chris' thread with off topic content!

[Chris443]

The soch v6 block is a good block just the heads and efi system are pretty basic. I went down the twin can gto head route with supercharger.

Dont get me wrong, mitzi v6 engines are very proven and capible, i just couldn't get nearly the power and reliability for the money as with the 2jz. Unopened its good for 700hp with good reliability. And its different, i like that.

[Chris443]

Quiet night at work so ive finished off the winch hawse and polished the snot out of it

[Chris443]

As for the wd21, you're lucky that the yanks have them, ive seen the calmini kits for them, surely someone makes a pathfinder etc long arm kit?

Interesting, cool. Yeah have also considered triple bypass/remote res. etc. but agree it is an overkill. I'm not going to be beating down rough roads at 100kph for hours at a time, and with coilovers comes much more maintenance/cost. But for packaging purposes they are really good.

There is certainly much much more to think about and consider with the LT design compared to a simple live axle swap.

Re; the WD21, unfortunately no one has ever made a LT kit for them. We dont enjoy anywhere near the level of aftermarket support that mainstream brands such as Toyota and Jeep get. Jimmy Baja had a kit for the 2wd Navara which has the conventional wishbone lower arm, but that doesnt apply for the 4x4 chassis. As for Calmini, they make upper a-arms for the WD21, but not extended and just intended for correcting geometry after a lift. And they are poor quality, like many of Calminis products.

I think because Toyota was/is so massively popular in the mainstream, theres a decent market in the US for LT kits. And the design lends itself to extended arms without too much pissing around. From what I read, they gathered a lot of fans because they were one of the first light import trucks with a live front axle. Then when they went to IFS in 1986, the sheeple just followed suit and put up with it. Reality is the Toyo t-bar is only marginally weaker than the early live axle design.

This is my current setup which gets approx 10" of safe,usable travel (6" down, 4" up)

Hey that setup of yours looks pretty promising so far! I like what you have done, is it still factory track width?

[Lchundy]

If anyones actually read this far, the motor. Ill admit this sounds stupid, and it probably is... but i bought a 3.0 toyota supra motor.
Now 'supra' conversions were common in hiluxs years ago, but they were the old supra engine.

I bought the mighty 2jzgte vvti. 3 litre, inline 6, 24valve dohc, variable valve timing, sequential twin turbo. These make approx 325hp and 450nm of torque from the factory.

20130705_183547.jpg

2jz are awesome!
Nice work!

[dvk-kp]

Where do you work? Sounds like you got access to all the goodies!

[mudlva]

Did ya make ya hawse a bit smaller than drum size?
I make mine at least 2-3 rope dias smaller per side to allow for side winching.
It does stop the perfect level wind. But how often do you winch perfectly straight

[Chris443]

Where do you work? Sounds like you got access to all the goodies!

Haha yeah im pretty lucky in that respect. Im an aircraft engineer by trade, I work for a rather large airline, wouldn't take a genius to figure out where