ROTW: wildsmith's 94

wildsmith · 12-03-07, 01:44 AM

When I bought our first 80 series 7 years ago I was just after something big, heavy and with a decent size diesel engine to pull our large caravan which in the UK pretty much narrowed it down to a Landcruiser. At the time my daily drive was a supercharged Jaguar XJR and that was the kind of car I'd always had so an 80 series Landcruiser was a bit of a new experience. For a while I thought trying to get more than 50mph out of it must be killing the engine because of how much throttle it took to make the thing move that fast

It wasn't long before I was using the 80 instead of the XJR which sat in the garage for 6 months un-used before reluctantly being sold because it was high maintenance even sat doing nothing!

It also wasn't long before a co-worker talked me into going to an off road site and I got hooked. Along came a 2" lift and 285x75x16 BFG AT's (still had to pull the big caravan and be a family DD).

This is at about 5 months into ownership with 2" lift and BFG AT's:

The tyres were soon upgraded to some Simex 35x10.5x16 Extreme Trekker tyres and a Safari snorkel went on because it was doing some deep water wading:

About 6 years ago we got a 93 80 series for my wife to take over family DD duties and caravan towing so my 94 only needed to keep me happy and from that point onwards it just got bits cut off or fitted without always thinking it through as well.

Front bumper - TJM T15 steel winch bumper with TJM steel winch mount kit. I wanted to be sure the winch was well mounted so even though the steel T15 bumper doesn't need it, I reinforced with a winch mount kit intended for the alloy T15. The recovery hoops you can see are bolted through both the bumper and the winch mounting kit helping tie everything into a solid package as well as providing strong recovery points. I've had a few bumps, some of them quite significant and although the bumper is bent in places now it seems very strong.

Winch - TJM OX 10500lb two speed with a hydraulic motor. Plumbed in series with the steering box this runs off the standard power steering pump and goes extremely slowly but has never failed to have enough pull. It has 100ft of Ruftraks Plasma12 rope on the drum and I carry another 100ft in the boot in two pieces as extensions. The alloy fairlead was also from Ruftraks.

The suspension lift is a mix of weld on spacers and +2" springs. At the moment I have OME 863 springs and ProComp ES9000 +4" shock absorbers on the rear with ProComp +2" springs and OME +4" shock absorbers on the front. There's an OME stearing damper and both anti-roll bars have been removed. Slee Offroad castor correction plates have been fitted and the panhard rods have Slee Offroad adjuster inserts fitted.

Home made heavy duty sliders / side steps, Safari snorkel with home made intake grill, 3rd row windows replaced with aluminium chequer plate, Slee Offroad transfer box skid plate, Safety Devices internal roll cage, wheel flares removed, home made rear recovery points / bumper corners. Tree slider tubes welded to roof gutter rail. Tyres are Simex ETII's 36x12.5x16 on Toyota 16x8 steel wheels.

The 2nd & 3rd row seats have been removed for better load lugging. The way the back is boarded out does have a split that allows removing half the boarding and refitting the 2nd row seats but that hasn't happened for a long time. There's a heavy duty load barrier clamped to the roll cage behind the front seats.

There's a pull out/down shelf for most of my cooking / drink making gear for those all important tea / bacon sandwich breaks and with the lower tailgate down it makes a good kitchen. There's also a Viair compressor, 2KW 240v invertor, a big subwoofer, extra lighting, 110ah aux battery, 20Ltr water tank and all sorts of recovery gear stashed.

I've cut out a chunk of dashboard where the radio, ash tray etc normally goes to make way for a 15" LCD touch screen monitor. That's connected to a mini ITX based PC on a shelf in the back and runs navigation / media playing software. Sound output from the PC is through a pair of amps that drive uprated speakers and a subwoofer. GPS is an old fasioned Garmin II+. CB is a Cobra 75 ltd st.

The heater pipework has been converted to bypass the rear passenger heater for reliability. I've removed the engine driven mechanical fan and replaced it with a pair of Kenlowe heavy duty 13" fans wired for off, auto (thermostatic control) or on. There's also a Kenlowe bonnet scoop / heavy duty 10" fan wired for off, auto (sync'd with main fans) or on.

Sticking with the Kenlowe theme there are a pair of Kenlowe oil coolers helping to keep the automatic transmission cool. The transmission has Wholesale Automatic Transmissions Extreme valve body, torque converter, lock up kit (lock TC in any gear) and temperature gauge kit.

That's about it for now. I have 4.88 ring and pinions on the bench that I need to get round to fitting, a www.4x4winches.com Type-R winch and pump also waiting to fit and I'd really like to find time to build a water cooled intercooler one of these years.

Jon.

p8nt · 12-03-07, 02:32 AM

NIce looking rig! That pull down storage in the back is really interseting. I dont think Ive seen anything like that before. Thanks for sharing!

alaskacruiser · 12-03-07, 02:33 AM

wildsmith- awesome and very different rig from the typical ROTWs we see. Some questions:

1. Can you post some pics and additional details regarding the 2 Kenlowe heavy duty 13" fans and Kenlowe bonnet scoop / heavy duty 10" fan? What prompted this upgrade and how are coolant temps after the upgrade vs. the mechanical fan?

2. Why the separate bonnet scoop/fan?

3. What prompted the Extreme Tranny upgrade and how is the shift feel / performance post upgrade?

Your 15" screen and "false-top" rear interior storage are really unique. Nice work!

thestallionq8 · 12-03-07, 02:45 AM

Nice rig! Amazing set up with all the fans! You think I should do the same living in such a hot place like Kuwait? :P

wildsmith · 12-03-07, 03:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by alaskacruiser

1. Can you post some pics and additional details regarding the 2 Kenlowe heavy duty 13" fans and Kenlowe bonnet scoop / heavy duty 10" fan? What prompted this upgrade and how are coolant temps after the upgrade vs. the mechanical fan?
2. Why the separate bonnet scoop/fan?

This was prompted by the purchase of the Type-R winch and needing to get a belt from the crank addon pulley I had made to the pump which will go in the AC compressor slot (AC was removed a few years ago). There was no way to get the toothed belt around the OEM fan so I went electric. It's been a bit of a mixed result really that's been complicated by other factors interfering with the results. When I first put the twin fans on they ran a lot and at 60mph fully throttle for a mile or so up a long hill the temperature would creep above normal unless I dumped heat with the cabin heater and one one trip they stopped working, which turned out to be stuck motor brushes. After a while I changed the radiator thinking at 60mph there should be enough cooling from natural air flow so there must be something wrong other than the fans. With the new radiator there was no temperature creep on the long full throttle 60mph hill but I still felt the fans run too much of the time so I experiemented with raising the rear edge of the bonnet with hinge spacers which helped and made the Kenlowe scoop / fan option look viable. With the scoop / fan in the bonnet the fans don't run at all during normal driving and just come on occasioanly during slow off road work or stopped at lights after a hard run. I put some tell tales on the scoop intake a few weeks ago and it's interesting that air is being sucked into the scoop (without the fan running of course) rather than blown out which means I should be getting good air flow over the back of the engine which is where it's probably needed most.

Quote:

Originally Posted by alaskacruiser

3. What prompted the Extreme Tranny upgrade and how is the shift feel / performance post upgrade?

My TC lock up stopped working and so getting the Extreme valve body was part of diagnosing the fault by replacing parts till it worked again but it had been on my shopping list for a long time anyway. The gear change is a huge improvement over OEM, very quick so almost no engine revs flare even at full throttle.

Thanks for the compliments, I was a bit nervous about doing ROTW with so many great trucks gone before but figured it was my turn to give.

Jon.

wildsmith · 12-03-07, 03:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by thestallionq8

Nice rig! Amazing set up with all the fans! You think I should do the same living in such a hot place like Kuwait? :P

You might benefit from the scoop sucking air over the back of the block. Always seems to be the rear big end bearings or head gasket area that fails so maybe some extra cooling back there is just what's needed.

TroutRunner · 12-03-07, 03:44 AM

Great rig. I know you'll generate some discussion with your extra cooling mods.

How long have you been on the 36" tires and have you upgraded your axles or birfields to run them?

Also, looks like great terrain you wheel in. Are you running lockers?

TR

wildsmith · 12-03-07, 04:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TroutRunner

How long have you been on the 36" tires and have you upgraded your axles or birfields to run them?
Also, looks like great terrain you wheel in. Are you running lockers?
TR

The 36's have been on about 2 years. The axles and birfields are stock but I do eventually plan to replace them with stronger after market parts, something else on the wish list! The UK market got axle lockers as standard so I forgot to mention those.

Jon.

johnkappus · 12-03-07, 05:20 AM

That is a great 80

!!!

I'm curious as to why you put diamond plat in the rear windows?
Concerned about breakage?

wildsmith · 12-03-07, 05:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by johnkappus

That is a great 80

!!!

Thanks. Doing ROTW has made me realise I'm lucky in so much as I can do stupid / experimental things with my 94 and still have the luxury of having my wife's 93 to do careful and better thought out mods on (she only has a 2" OME lift, 35x12.5 ProComp MT's, sliders, CDL switch and a 7" touch screen PC so far, oh, and lockers that the UK gets as standard

).

Quote:

Originally Posted by johnkappus

I'm curious as to why you put diamond plat in the rear windows?
Concerned about breakage?

A lot of places I drag it through are very overgrown and those back windows seem particularly prone to catching things. I'd planned to swap the glass for chequer plate anyway but a tree jumped out and stuck a branch through one side so that forced the issue.

Jon.

Romer · 12-03-07, 06:19 AM

Nice writeup and thanks for contributing

cruiser80 · 12-03-07, 08:08 AM

that is a very nice rig! thanks for the write up. im trying to convince my wife to get an 80 but she says she already has one(mine)

. i would like to know more about your rear cargo storage. more pics if you got them. ive been wanting to make storage up near the roof just like that. thanks again and your rig is right up there with the rest of best of them!

wildsmith · 12-03-07, 08:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cruiser80

that is a very nice rig! thanks for the write up. im trying to convince my wife to get an 80 but she says she already has one(mine)

. i would like to know more about your rear cargo storage. more pics if you got them. ive been wanting to make storage up near the roof just like that. thanks again and your rig is right up there with the rest of best of them!

It's dark outside here now and my camera doesn't take a very good picture even with flash without daylight so I'll take some pictures and post them in the morning with some more words

Jon.

ERG80 · 12-03-07, 10:18 AM

very nice rig. Great pics.

AKcruiserfreak · 12-03-07, 10:26 AM

Wow, nice rig! I really want a diesel 80. Great writeup.

TK

Romer · 12-03-07, 11:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BHMCruiser

I see no pictures.

maybe a firewall issue. I see them. Try logging in from home and see if you have the same problem.

Romer · 12-03-07, 11:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BHMCruiser

Thanks. Are they being hosted on another server or something? This is the first time I haven't seen pictures in a mud post.

here is the link to the last one

http://www.mudtoys.com/images/storie...c/DSCF0006.JPG

Grolar · 12-03-07, 11:16 AM

Great truck (or lorry as you would probably say)

Is the "OIL" license plate intended?

thestallionq8 · 12-03-07, 12:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wildsmith

You might benefit from the scoop sucking air over the back of the block. Always seems to be the rear big end bearings or head gasket area that fails so maybe some extra cooling back there is just what's needed.

Too bad the traffic dept. would get on my case about it! I am currently having a rough time trying to keep the cops off my back cause I am not authorized to have wind deflectors and a snorkel! I have to get my car inspected next month and so far I know I will fail the inspection since I don't have permits for any of the add-ons that I put on my rig!

wildsmith · 12-03-07, 02:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Grolar

Great truck (or lorry as you would probably say)

Is the "OIL" license plate intended?

We call them trucks as well. The OIL plate was chosen because it's a diesel aka an oil burner. It's just a cheap private plate that makes about as much sense as having my initials or something which mean nothing to anyone else. Seemed like a good idea at the time.