hey,
Ive got a 03 extra cab hilux that im installing the ifs eliminator kit in and the locktup 4inch rear flex kit atm.

This is it when i got it


Got out the angle grider and oxy and got stuck into it


Got the springs hanging but still waiting for the diff centre to turn up so i can finish building it


Got as much of the diff built as i could till i get the centre


Anyway got sick of waiting for the centre and not being able to get anything done so i pulled off the wellbody and got the fuel tank out ready to instal the new mount for the rear shocks and springs.

Once i get the centre back and get the front end sitting on its own weight i can make sure the shackle angle is ok and weld the front hanger in for good. We borrowed my friends mig because ours wasnt cutting the mustard so that should make the job a bit easier. Ill keep on updating as things go on.

Nice work, will be good to see a lux that isn't an old bunky getting around

send us a pic of your trd blower mate. any news on your rubber coming in?

Thanks merv hopefully it turns out nice.

Brian, Ill sms you a pic as the only one ive got of that trd blower is on my phone, Apparently the wheels and tyres are here Along with that stuff from all-pro just got to go get it from the shipping guys place.

Didnt get anything new done on the front today just a bit of grinding to clean things up. The diff man called today apparently they got the wrong bearings so he said tomorrow night should be good to go. I got the shits with being held up so i decided to pull off the wellbody and pull out the fuel tank so i can get to the spring mounts for the rear as well as looking at the shock mount for the rear shocks.

Well as usual nothing went to plan and a simple tack them in and go turned into a bit of a **** fight. I must admit i was pretty over it today and then i got the call i was waiting for and it gave me new inspiration.

The elusive diff centre!! Its got a yukon grizzly centre along with a set of nitro 4.88's


I shouldnt complain he did it cheap for me and the hold ups wernt his fault.

Anyhow its all good to go now so we chucked it in the front diff and got the dirty 30's in along with the hubs all built up and ready to go tomorrow.






On the bright side got the rear all together and its looking good. Im not sure what to do with the handbrake cable mount thing as well as the brake bias valve thing. but once its got all its wheels attached ill use the engine crane to get the wheels up and see if its going to be able to be mounted somewhere or changed to suit.




I got the fuel tank back in along with the tub and bugger me it was high. So i loaded it with about 300 kg's and it took it down about 150mm at the back so it sits about where im happy with. Once the front is done it will bring the back level but Im still looking forward to the springs sagging.

Lookin good. Are you going to keep the bed on it or are you going to tube it out.

Jason

looks sweet as mate ,but there doesnt look like there is much up travel left in those rear shocks and when the springs settle in a big there will be even less ,how long are they ?

Jason: im planning on keeping the tub But i think ill shorten it off to the same length as the chassis rails (it takes about 200mm off which doesnt sound like much but its enough to keep it from hanging over)

WALKS : As the rears sit now there is a little over 100mm to go up (It looks worse because ive got those rubber shaft covers all the way down the bottom, ill see if ive got a better picture). But I had noticed that too because i dropped that bar down to keep it under the tub. The thing is, i dropped that shock mount 15mm so it wouldnt hit the tub i didnt think it would have made that much difference. I flexed the front as far as i could today and the rear went as far down as it could on one side and i had about an inch left to go on the shock when it reached the max ( i realise it will probably move a bit more when its all loose but i dont know how much) plus there isnt any bumpstops on the back and im not sure im supposed to put some in. Time will tell i guess i plan to keep the wellbody so i got a few choices (12 inch shocks BTW)


1) i can lift it back up and chop the tub floor and bring it through. Im going to shorten the tub in it anyway so not the biggest problem
2) i can move the rear shocks futher inwards
3) i can see how it goes like that

On the brightside got the front together


Just got the brake lines to finish and got a tab to weld in so i can clip the lines in place where it attaches to the chassis.

Found a better picture guys please let me know if it doesnt look right as this is the only part of the job im not 100% on. That rubber cover is at the bottom of the shock housing ive measured it and its about 100mm-125mm before its fully compressed.

As a general rule you want to set up the shocks at a 60/40 extension/compression ratio. So about 4.7" = ~120mm of shaft should be showing on the rear. The rear springs don't settle as much as the fronts, but I think the 15mm of shock mount height might just make the difference you need.

If anything drop it another 15mm and run a 10" shock, I wouldn't go inboarding them anymore or it will be like driving a boat.

ok ill get out there today and get a definate measurement so we know for sure. Then im able to decide what to do next.

Ok checked it all out had a chat with chris and decided it can stay how it is for now and will be checked out again once the springs have started moving. No real progress today it should be on its wheels tomorrow and off for its first drive Also got to organise the engineer to come and tell me whats wrong with it haha (hopefully the list isnt over the top) Ill keep everyone posted. Im also going to get the front drive shaft lengthened tomorrow so that will probably take a few days. I got all the steering arms in as well as the new pitman and the arms turn left and right without getting near each other so looks like its ready for a test.

Spoke to my engineer today and it went well. He assured me that the people in the tech section are decent enough to deal with and said it shouldnt be too difficult to get it licenced like that. So i filled out my mod papers and sent them in. Then we can set about changing whatever we have to make it legal and getting it passed. Also dropped off the front drive shaft to get lengthened and i should have it back friday.

Got the brakes bled and tightened the last of the bolts and went down the street. Drives ok i mean the steering wheel isnt straight but the steering seems to be so thats the main thing. Few loose bolts when i got back and i went offroad out the back of my brothers friends place over a few ditches and into a couple of ruts. I was suprised it rides better than i thought it would and way better than it used to ride offroad. I couldnt find anything to drive up on and pose so thats going to have to wait.

Just that little drive made the suspension drop so thats good, Im sure its all settling in and when i got back the u bolts were loose so i tightened them up on the front and it made it drop even more so thats really good cause atm its way too high. The back ones are loose too but ill get onto them tomorrow im guessing a bit of weight on them and moving around got them settling in. Got a couple of pics and i think its high and looks funny with the regular wheels on it. Plus no bumper just makes it look worse, Im looking for a plastic one to suit my model if anyone has one.

I think in the pics the reason the back looks higher than the front is cause those rear u bolts are still loose. Im a bit of a slack ass so ill just fix them up tomorrow.

good stuff shane, you'll need to tighten the shackle bolts, the u bolts and the steering stud nuts for a bit until everything settles in.

what is your shackle angle like at the back? As we discussed you may need to move that rear hanger a little forward, but for now don't worry about it, just get out there and give it shit

Ill keep checking everything with the breaker bar for the next few drives. On the back its maybe kicked back a little, Still mostly straight up and down. I was thinking if they knock it for being too high i can possibly make some of my own shackles that are half the length to drop some height. Until it has passed the pits the fine tuning will have to wait. Thanks for all the help chris BTW never would have made it this far without your help. Next project is my brothers 4runner It never ends at our house

no worries mate, just expect the front to settle a little bit more than the rear....so if the back is a bit high now then it will be higher soon

Yeah i know what you mean ill figure it out as i go along. haha my winging it seems to be working so far only a few dramas and they arnt too difficult to fix. I must admit im pretty proud of the front end set up, I thought it was the most difficult part but it seemed to turn out better than the back.

the most of it is chopping off all the IFS crap

Update: Well installed the steering damper today and modified the exhaust to suit the new drive shaft i picked up today as well.But since im an idiot and didnt check the shaft ive got the wrong flange on one end. So it will have to get switched over next week. Also reefed up the u bolts on the back and it brought the back down almost 40mm!! They must have been very loose. Anyway got some poser pictures when we took it to the local car wash place and its got some ramps to drive up on.

With the new bumper on the front ive decided it doesnt look super dodgy so ive been driving it a bit more than i would have before. It drives really well it rides pretty good and it isnt over the top boaty. I got the car all flexed up and its good the bumpstop extensions hit the bump stops, The steering arms dont get close to each other , The steering damper doesnt hit anything, The brake lines stay out of the way, At max travel the shocks still have an inch till they bottom out. The bump stops stop the spring just as it flattens out and it looks like when the front is at full flex ill be able to fit my 35's in there without too many dramas. I was expecting chop city. The car even drives good at speed it doesnt wobble or feel strange so im pretty happy with it.

anyway ill make with some pictures as i think thats why everyone checks this thread anyway no one wants to read my b/s.

The new exhaust junction after my super cool modifications :


This is the steering damper in place:


The super cool flex pictures i would have gone futher up but i dont have 4wd and my rear lsd sucks balls :

Well ive done about 100km's in the hilux since the conversion and most of it is a-ok. Im getting used to driving it and it drives pretty good. My steering wheel is still off but the steering and the tape measure-wheel alignment is quite good. Still no front drive shaft so no off roading but lots of bumps and lots of rough roads have made the car sag even more. So its getting much better height wise and it seems to flex way easier than before. Id love to have enough traction to get up a ramp far enough to get a wheel off the ground but still havent been able to.

One of the problems is the car is sagging more on the drivers side than the passenger side. Im close to 80 kg's and it seems thats enough weight to make a difference specially when im driving over the bumps and stuff. I drive by myself most of the time and but when ive got a passenger it evens out. Not sure what i can do about it yet. When it sits parked its got a lean to the drivers side - Im hoping it will even out when its finished sagging but right now it doesnt look too great.EDIT: i think its cause everytime ive done super cool poser shots its been on the drivers side cause im trying to seee where my wheel is going. As soon as i get back from site ill do them with the other wheel and that will hopefully sort that out.
Second problem is a vibration through the driveline at very low speed/rpm it feels like its a unijoint at the back going onto the diff. The angle might be a bit much. Not sure if i should angle the diff up to try get rid of it or if i should get a single shaft instead of two piece. It might not even be the shaft/uni thats causing the vibration but im not sure what else it could be.

Drive line vibe will most likely be the 2 piece rear shaft ditch it for a single piece one the center joints wear out all the time.

Sorry i didnt see the reply till now

Thanks for that mate, I did check out the centre bearing but i cant feel any play in it.
Im still thinking it may be the pinion angle. I had thought about swapping out for a single piece shaft but im worried it might be more prone to damage because it will be sitting lower. Do you think im better off angling the diff up to improve the angle or just replacing the tailshaft with a single piece? Or when you suggested the single piece shaft was that because the centre bearing flogs out on a regular basis and the shaft sitting lower doesnt seem to bother you guys when your driving?

you will prob find its the lenght of the rear sharft not the angle
check and see how much is showing on the slip joint, i would go for a 1 peice tail sharft any day over a 2 peice

most of us run dual cases with a 1 piece shaft in the rear. the duals move the case back so the front shaft is longer and the rear shorter, this helps with the pinion angle at the front as well.

those 2 piece shafts suck balls.

Thanks for the info guys.

Chris, I had wondered about the front shaft angle i know mine is a bit tight. but ill just have to try it and see how it goes.
Also dont go by this picture the passenger side wheel is sitting on a ramp so its about 450mm higher than the drivers side pushing the side down. At rest it isnt so bad.


I had loads of problems with my 2 piece one on my old street car and switched to a single piece one so i guess this isnt any different.

Ill get measured up for a single piece once i get back home. Do i use the normal slip join on the new shaft?