Kent's Rocky (Feroza) extreme mods

[murcod]

Kent from the USA has forwarded me on some pics of his Rocky F310 conversion. He is installing a Toyota 2.7 litre EFI engine (same as Aussie Hilux) and a special Marlin transfer case/s- note the three transfer case levers inside! I think he already had a solid front axle- but going by the pics the diffs have been changed too?

(Kent can correct the above where necessary )

[murcod]

BTW Kent- excellent work. There would have been many headaches with that conversion, but it all fits in very neatly. That crossmember is a work of art!

Have you taken it off road yet?

[*BESTY*]

Do you have any pics of the length of the rear tailshaft ??

Maybe a comparo shot with the OE tailshaft.

Would be interested to see the angles as well. I guess most of the driveline vibrations would be minimised with the double cardin uni joint.

And why haven't you looged on yourself Mr TOYHATSU ??????

[rOd]

NOW THATS WHAT IM F*****G TAKING ABOUT!!!!

[SimplyPV]

i talked to him the other day dave, he still has alot of work left to do.. but its coming along very nicely.

i'll have to post the email i got from him the other day regarding what was left.... poor guy's been workin on it every night. i believe at the moment hes working on getting a 3 link installed on the front.... and moving the diff 2-3 inches forward or somethin like that... lemmie look at the email and copy/paste later

[Andy]

And why haven't you looged on yourself Mr TOYHATSU ??????


When ever I log on for a looksee I look out for Kents post's , his rig is coming along

[SimplyPV]

ok this is the email from kent that i recieved.... read it and weep.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
PV,

It's going slow but each night I get a little more done. I am not a
mechanic/ welder/ fabricator/ electrician so it is difficult and time
consuming. I got a pretty good Christmas bonus so I am having RockWare do
the three link on the front. I found some Land Rover front raduis arms on
Ebay for $18.00. Bought some Fox nitrogen gas shocks ($$$) and the track
bar will be fabricated with Heim joints. The axle will be moved forward and
inch or two. This will give me a much better approach angle and get rid of
the leaf springs under the axle for more ground clearance. RockWare will do
the clutch linkage and redo the rear shock mounts. Plus weld the rear
spring perches on after checking my centering job and pinion angle. I still
have the entire brake system to do and will hopefully get the rear disc
brakes on with an emergency brake for each rear wheel...turning brakes.
More wiring to do yet and a bunch of little stuff. I would like to get the
Long's super birfields that I found at a salvage yard in and if I can swing
it (vacation pay) an ARB in the front differential.

I have been taking pictures of everything and was going to post some on
OuterLimits but I didn't see an attachment button.

Yes, I do plan on a trip this summer down towards your way. Moab, Monument
Valley and stuff. I'll get your email address off of OuterLimits and send
you some pics if you want.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

looks like its going to be a beast! sounds like THATS why he hasnt been on ladies and gentlemen..... cut him some slack.

[murcod]

I posted the pics because Kent wasn't sure how to do it (but now the attachment option has reappeared.)

Like PV said he's been very busy. That is one major conversion- even little things like the exhaust is on the wrong side all take time to work around; plus all the custom mounts and driveshafts that have to be made from scratch, a new engine wiring loom to mate with the old Daihatsu one etc etc.

Lots of time consuming work and $$$.

[Toyhatsu]

Woohoo, I logged on and David has already posted some pictures! Thanks David. It's Saturday morning over here and I don't have to work for a change. Sorry that I haven't been around for a while but it has taken me a good long while to gather the information and parts that I needed.

It started that I wanted an engine that was made in the USA and has got a little out of hand. Toyota concertively rated the 3RZ at 160hp. With the 2 1/4" exhaust, extractor and intake I should have about 180hp. The only problem with these newer Toyota four cylinders, like David mentioned, is that intake, exhaust and the clutch are on the opposite sides of the Feroza and 22re engines. I wanted a 22re but I am very happy that I got the newer one.

I originally had a guy to do the engine, transmission, transfer case swap. He got the cross member in, engine mounts fabbed, engine transmission xfer cases and radiator in position. Everything was just bolted finger tight. He then got in an accident and crushed his knee. I was depressed as the work had stopped. He loaned me an ancient Jeep pickup that he was trading work for. He couldn't work and the guy that owned the truck wanted it back. My Dad loaned me a car and I have been working on the Rocky myself after work for several months now. I couldn't afford to have someone else do it as I prepaid most all of my savings to the original mechanic. He signed a six year lease with RockWare next door. I don't have to worry about it being towed away an impounded by the courts. He hasn't paid on his lease in six months and I am sure that my money is gone to medical bills so it is up to dumb ass me to get it done.

[Toyhatsu]

Besty,

The front drive shaft is 36" with a Chevy CV joint. I found it in a salvage yard and it was lengthened. It had the Chevy CV on it when I bought it. The rear one I had was a CV Toyota. It couldn't be used as the Toyota CV didn't have enough operating angle. I had a new one made with the Chevy CV and it is only 20" long. The Chevy CV's are bigger and use Dana Spicer U joints. The pinion angle in the rear is about 20*. I have to remove the vent plug on the housing to add about a half of a quart of gear oil. That will keep the front pinion bearing lubricated.

[Toyhatsu]

I got a pretty good Christmas bonus and I decided to have RockWare do a three link in the front. I am using 1990 Range Rover radius arms, 10" Fox nitrogen racing shocks and a sway bar with Heim joints. It is going well and should be done by Tues or Wed. of next week.

This really cleand up the front axle of all the brackets and tabs that were welded on at the factory. I got rid of the spring under so there is more ground clearance and the front shackle is gone for a better approach angle. The front leaf packs didn't flex very well and were real stiff. The new suspension is very soft and has a lot more flex to it.

[Toyhatsu]

Fox Racing Shocks are rated at 1000lbs per corner so there is no need for coilovers, coils or any spring. They are a bit expensive but are completely rebuildable and adjustable in vavling and ride height. This makes for a very simple front suspension.

No I haven't driven it yet David as there is no clutch or brakes yet.

PV I took off the Revolvers as I have to limit my down travel at the center with a limiting strap. If you want them I'll send them to you. Also have a Toyota W56 bell housing that I didn't use, Toyota CV driveshaft and probably some other parts. That's the way I started was to gather parts for three years.

[Toyhatsu]

I usually have the hard top on by now as it is -18*F here. The trucks been in the garage since August 13th and the resin top is in the kitchen of my apartment.

I had to go to a salvage yard to get a fuse box and some wiring that I didn't get with the engine. The Taco computer, engine harness and fuse box are just to run the engine. I am paying another guy to do most of the wiring. The engine harness needed to be stripped down to just the essentials.

I have run a power line and grounds to the Rocky fuse box but I can't get all of the accessories working. The wiring hippie is supposed to come back and finish the engine wiring as well as getting the body harness working correctly.

[Toyhatsu]

It is sometimes close quarters working at the garage. All work and no play...

[Toyhatsu]

back at the start...I stored the engine at a friends house for a few months and then got it to the garage in July of last year. I wanted to get the timing chains replaced so that I wouldn't have to concern myself with that in the future. I was told that if I stripped the engine down it would save me money. I removed all of the intake and exhaust, water pump, valve cover and oil pan after work over several nights after work.

[Toyhatsu]

The cams were withing specs and the top end was remarkably clean with no hard deposites. This engine had 140,000 miles on it when it was removed. The cams still had the factory grind marks across the surfaces...very little wear. The rod bearings had only worn .0003" so they were good also. The water pump was like new.

[Toyhatsu]

I got the dual transfer cases on Pirate BBS. They arrived caked in dirt and oil so I cleaned them up and broke the cases in half to check bearings. I submitted a pic of the bearings to Marlin himself and he thought that everything looked great. They are up in the 3000's on their serial #'s. This proved to me that they make a great product. I decided that I wanted a twin stick in there as I had birthday money. I removed the detent pin so that the shift rails would move independantly. bought new gaskets and put it back together.

[Toyhatsu]

Marlin's twin stick is a work of art. The base is CNC'd from billet aluminum. Toyota transmissions and transfer cases have the vent in the shifters...there is a hole going all the way through the shifter. Marlin puts the floating cap vent in the base on the twin stick.

It's the middle of August when I drop the Rocky off at the garage for the swap. Nothing happens except to get the timing kit in and the 3RZ put back together. It's September when the old engine is removed and the new one ready to go in.

[Toyhatsu]

The engine mounts were fabbed up. They are sort of like RockStomper engine mounts using poly bushings. They are rock solid and will never come apart like the old Daihatsu engine mounts. I was a little concerned about transferred vibrations as I have poly bushings on the cross member also. Since starting and reving the engine it is not very noticeable at all.

[Toyhatsu]

The extractor needed to be bent in towards the engine so that the collector would clear the frame. It was cut, bent and welded back together...and the intake manifold reinstalled.

While Sheldon does wiring I'm cutting off rear spring perches, centering the axle and trying to get a good pinion angle so that I can get a drive shaft made. I'm also trying to figure out the shifters. The transmission shifter is directly under the radio. Remove the radio and cut the bottom out is all I could do. I cut the new holes for shifters and made plates to cover the old ones.

I also had a new shorter power steering high pressure line made up from hoses on the3RZ and it plugged right into the Daihatsu steering box. I added a low pressure line, filles the pump and I have power steering!

[Toyhatsu]

When I had the shock hoops put in I put the Optima red top on the passenger floor and ran the cables through the firewall. It was like that for two years. I finally installed it on the right rear fender with #2 welding cable. It started the Daihatsu engine fine and I eve ran the winch off of that cable. I later found out that it is much too small so I tore it all out and replaced it with 1/0 welding cable. 1/0 is about an inch (25mm) in diameter and should work much better.

On to the exhaust. The Rocky exhaust was cut into four pieces for some reason. I couldn't find it one day and thought that someone had picked it up. I was missing some other parts for some time. I found it behind the shop in the scrap metal...not a bin but an old Jeep Wagoneer that all the junk gets tossed through the front window. It isn't much to look at but was paid for with a FlowMaster muffler and flow through cat. I spliced in a Toyota O2 sensor and some flex pipe to cross under the transmission. I found out that I need another O2 sensor behind the cat and will have to get another. There is only about three inches between the flex pipe and the drive shaft. Might be a modify as you drive kind of thing if it hits the drive shaft. My welding skills have improved a great deal with the tips from the guys next door. Exhaust done except for the second O2.

[murcod]

Kent, what to all the gearsticks on the dual transfers do? Do they give you multiple different ratios to choose from?

[rOd]

Kent, what to all the gearsticks on the dual transfers do? Do they give you multiple different ratios to choose from?

20 forward and 4 reverse

[murcod]

Does that include the use of the manual trans' five speeds?

[Toyhatsu]

The front case is only Hi/ Low. The rear case, one stick is Hi/ low and the other is 2WD/ 4WD. So you can have 2WD Low and 2WD double Low. Actually there is 30 forward gears and 6 reverse. Double low is 117:1 ratio. Later down the road if this is not low enough I can put 4.7 gears in the rear case and have 240:1.

Some people run Detroits or Aussie lockers in the front which makes for hard turning in 4WD. With the twin stick you can just shift into 2WD and make your turn and shift back to 4WD...all the time being in Low or Double Low. 2WD Double Low will get you pretty far before actually having to shift to 4WD.

Marlin runs tripple transfer cases for over 2000:1 ratio. I think that his is three 4.7 cases.

I don't know which is the best mod...the ~180hp USA engine, dual transfer cases, availability of numerous lockers & no more slip yokes or the three link. Right now I am more excited over the three link. It all should be great on and off the trail and I will have to learn how to drive it...not that I knew how to drive it before

[Croz]

G'Day Kent!

Good to see you on here again, and the rig looks like it will be unstoppable! I am very inpressed with the buildup but even moreso with your courage and perseverance to see it through.

Keep us all informed of the progress and remember people only put you down when they dont understand!

[SimplyPV]

hey kent, i would love to get any "hand me down" parts from you that you dont use. since i retired the rocky after buying a new daily driver, i've decided that i'm going to go ahead and get on with another build up similar to yours. if your interested in helping with what parts to use, parts to obtain, feedback on your setup and room for improvement, that would be awesome. i love would to see your rocky in person and cant wait for ya to make a trip down here. i'm not as techical as you so i may not understand how to do some of the mods that you've done. i will likely be trying to pay someone to do most of the work for me. i gotta tell ya though, that wire harrness must be a REAL headache! that one i wont even touch, even though i'm majoring in electronics.... keep me posted kent and whatnot. have fun!

[Toyhatsu]

Hey Croz...I don't know about unstoppable but...different. Not courage but it's what I have to do to get it back on the road.

Hey PV...I'm hopeing to still get down to see you. I'm not technical I just keep researching and have learned a lot since the trucks been down. The wiring harness was way beyond me. It even took Sheldon quite a few hours to figure it out and he is a mechanic by trade. He wired the Rock Ware buggy in the previous pics. Any wiring jobs that come up at the garage he gets picked to do the job. I donated my rear disc brake set up for his buggy for this years competitions to help pay for his time. He took 4th place in the nationals with UROC last year and has done a lot of work on it for this year. I even get to put a Toyhatsu sponsor sticker on

[Toyhatsu]

Well the Daihatsu cable clutch linkage didn't work. I put in a Marlin super heavey duty clutch, pressure plate and release bearing in. The pressure plate is rated at 1400 pounds per square inch. It was just too hard to push the clutch pedal.

I already had the Toyota clutch master and slave cylinders so I got those installed. The master is kind of low and I had to put a banjo bolt on it to route the line to the slave. I had to fill in the hole that was drilled in the clutch fork by welding and grind it back down.

Rock Ware will fab an arm to be attached to the clutch pedal to actuate the master cylinder.

It hasn't been tested yet but should be MUCH better than the linkage and cable.

[SimplyPV]

wow kent thats crazy! your very welcomed to come down here.. i'm hopin i'll have the truck fixed before you do since i would love to go out and wheel and see some action... and maybe we could get some pics for the aussie fans here. keep up the good work and let us all know how things pan out! i'm excited to see how it turns out bro!