Outer Limits 4x4 Board

Hi all,

Currently I'm driving a Vitara, and while it's great fun, I'm already thinking that in the longer term I'll want something a little more capable off-road.

Anyway, I'm originally from a farm, and one of our work trucks, which has given over 400,000kms of faithful service is due for an upgrade. Mind you, the diesel's pretty tired these days, and it has had a very hard life. My old man has pretty much said he'll give it to me, but there's a couple of issues I have:

i) Its had a coil conversion since new. In a way, this is good, because we've never carried any heavy loads in it (the coils are just way too soft). But when I come to upgrading the setup (which is shot), is it going to be massively hard to know what to do, since it's obviously not standard, and I have no idea who did the work originally? And are coils a good thing, or rubbish?

ii) Like I said, the engine's very rooted. What's a good (diesel) conversion? Is it better to search for another original 1HZ to throw in, or are there better options for the money? I guess a rebuild is not out of the question either.

Any other issues to look out for with a truck of this age? There's not a speck of rust, having spent its life in Northwest NSW, and there has never been any major repairs on it.

Any comments much appreciated. The only reason I'm considering doing a build up is because its free - I'm pretty clueless when it comes to mechanics/engineering...

Hey there mate,

Sounds like a good start for ya to build something good. I would not worry too much about the coil side of things as long as you can get rego for it then it is all good. The coils will be much easier to mod into something reasonably tuff for ya also. Not to mention better for ya kidneys over the ruff stuff.

There is no way in hell I would worry about rebuilding a diesel these days unless you can do it yourself!!! Prolly just buy a new one from toyota minus all the acc. and bolt ons for much the same price as getting a shop to rebuild it. But really it is the perfect time for you to bolt in that nice injected v8 you have always dreamed of!!!!

I got a mate that has a 75 with coils under it and it is a bit of a beast. Rear end flexes well, the front not so good but this is typical. He would go more places than a same height/mods 75 with leafs would ever go for sure. Looks unreal too.

Is the truck regestered now?? Does it have the engineers certs etc that you need down in nsw? This would be the only obsticle as far as I can see. Apart from this just lob in and start modifing stuff. Find out what coil set up was used (ie what coils can be used) Mates one has gq rear and I think a custom set up on front closely related to a bundy I think. Remember also that a two inch etc lift may not resemble this though as it depends how it was set up. A good coil seller may let you try a set for height comparison then swap if needed.

Cheers
Brian

show us some pics of the coil conversion.

If it is the one where they just bung the coils on top of the leaves then it aint that great.

sounds like a lot of work but a good price.

I would probably throw a V8 in it straight away styles.

yeah pics.

Mate a lot of ppl spend a lot of time and mony putting coils on old cruisers sounds like you got a head start. if you want to dump that truck just let me know and I will come around and pick it up

I'm with BJ on this, If it's a full on coil conversion then that's way cool, but if it's the old bung coils ontop of the leaves then thats not so cool.

WE NEED PIC'S

Thanks for the replies guys... Much appreciated

I knew that you'd all ask for pics . Unfortunately the ute's 500k's away, and I won't be getting back there until after exams (only 27 days to go til uni's over forever ). So unfortunately it's just gonna have to wait a few weeks, but I'll bump this thread up when I go back.

It's all EC'd, and has been registered as is since it rolled off the floor in 1993. The springs are definitely not the coils on leaves type. I gave my grandfather a call (the original owner of the truck) to see if he could remember much about the coils. Couldn't remember a thing, except that they cost him a packet, and he hated them because they were too soft for loads. I do remember that it rides a heap nicer than the leafies we have, but is a bit floaty in the steering .

As for the engine, I'm hoping to set this up so it's refined enough to do some pretty big trips up North and out to Central Australia - hence why I'm leaning towards a diesel, both for economy and availability. I like the look of either the Chev V8 6.5 conversion, or throwing in a 1HD-FT or another 1HZ with an aftermarket turbo.

Sorry for being a bit vague with all this, but its been 2 years since I've seen that truck, and 2 years ago I wasn't into fourbies, so never took much notice of it. I'm wishing I had some decent pics too!

even if your engine swap does cost a packet, you still got the car for free.

mates gotta 1HZ with a safari turbo and intercooler. goes pretty good, plenty of torque and has heaps of range, with the help of long range tanks.

ive seen this first hand and i think its a good option to take. do a search on here, there was a price list for toyotas factory engines. could be of use deciding what way you wanna go.

coils are alot easier to change than leaves.

MaccA

Gday
You can pick up another 1hz fairly cheap, but even better would be a 1hdt factory turbo motor. These fly, and bolt straight in. (Same block) There was one on ebay for 5k from a wrecker to give you an idea.
If your cruiser to be has leafs aswell as coils in there, its an add a coil conversion. They are advertised in overlander out of towoomba somewhere.
Ive heard an 80 chassis and diffs is the way to go with the 75.
Andrew

Don't want to hijack away from the original subject but I helped 80ute convert my mates 75 series (85 model) to coils. We went the other way and stripped the leaf suspension mounts of the 75 chassis and cleaned it up, cut all necessary suspension components req'd off a written off 80 chassis, set them up on the 75 chassis and fitted the other necessary suspension components to 60 series diff housings and 80 series balls, cv's, brakes etc, etc.

I know it was a fair bit of work at the time but worth it in the end. With a sweet small block chev and 6" 80 series suspension it goes very well and is very capable. It's the car in my avatar at the Outback Challenge.

No doubt though a body swap is less work.

Just wish Toyota followed Nissans lead for once, and for one time only!, and brought out a coil cab 75 series back when the GQ's came out!

Fightara, sorry again about the hijack, sounds like you are on to a good thing. Look back through the threads in the Toyota section as I raised a thread about doing a conversion of a 1HZ to 1HD-FT/1HD-FTE (factory turbos) which got many replies full of information and prices which may interest you.

Cheers

The Fish wrote:Fightara, sorry again about the hijack, sounds like you are on to a good thing. Look back through the threads in the Toyota section as I raised a thread about doing a conversion of a 1HZ to 1HD-FT/1HD-FTE (factory turbos) which got many replies full of information and prices which may interest you.

Cheers

You're a legend mate, that was exactly the sort of info I was after. I'm still keen on the diesel, but have had an offer of a 307 Chev worked to 327 for $1200 - Carby though Can't wait to get back home to take a proper look at this thing - has me very intrigued as to what she's got lying under there now.