PROJECT SNOWY building an 80 in another country [Aus owner-vehicle U.S] (1 Viewer)

[AutoCraft Aus]

Well,
it had been in the pipeline for many years, but the planets finally aligned, and while heading over for work, I managed to get an 80 from another mud member, and organise to start building the project with the help of Slee Offroad.

The plan for this 80, is to be able to attend events like Cruise Moab, and have some fun, Overland Expo, tour through Canada, Mexico, maybe Alaska, do the Rubicon, and other similar events over the next few years.

So on the drawing board were slinky long travel suspension, 35's at least, diff gears, cro mo cv's, slee bar work, twin batteries, invertor, camp lights, winch, and some other little things to make it capable, reliable, and comfortable.

P.O pics when it was for sale.

So rule 1 was it had to have factory lockers. tick.

Rule 2 was it had to have a grey interior, tick.

Rule 3 was sunroof tick.

The rest wasnt so important.


So the car had to be trucked to meet me at San Diego, while I was there, and Aaron at Sunmmit auto transport [mud member] managed to have the car delivered from Florida pretty much to the minute it was required, 4 days later, and was great service from him.

http://summitautotransport.com/

All I had to do them was give it a quick tub, and head for my road trip from San Diego, via Riverside CA toward Las Vegas for the night, [Thanks Ben] enroute to Slee Offroad.

Arriving with no road closures, though plenty of snow over the big hills, got to Slee Offroad, for the build to begin.

Next update soon.

 

[AutoCraft Aus]

Once the car arrived at Slee Offroad, the important stuff first!

Time for this to go...

And these,

To fit one of these, with Zeon winch, so a control box mount could be developed, giving a recovery item if needed, with red rope, and alloy fairlead to help with weeight, along with some 70w HID polycarbonate driving lights, [one spot, one spread] for when miles at night on trips is required.

And winch hook. [note the remote plug, now in the grille, nice and high, for easy access.]

Still one of the best looking, and functional 80 bars available, IMHO.

The winch being fed by 2 die hards, with new battery box, isolator, switch to join the batteries if required, and the washer bottle relocated with the Slee kit. [link switch for batteries mounted to box]

This type of battery with good plate mounting for anti vibe damage, and good storage are typical of what we use in Aus, for camping with fridge, lights etc, and make sure the vehicle will start in the morning.

All the dash extra charge plugs, rear accessory plugs, invertor, engel fridge, camp lights are wired to the aux battery, to keep the main from being drained, while in camp.

We also put some of these on, 17" x 8.5 to aid the driving/handling with 35's by slightly reducing the sidewall height, and prevent rubbing, with the right offset. This rim has a thicker inside bead, strong centre design, and will fit over aftermarket calipers with bigger rotors.

We went with this tyre, as it is an intermediate type tread, with good feel, and aggressive enough for the work this truck will do, when needed, square shoulder, for gravel handling, and turn in as well.

And I think the matt black finish suits the white 80, with liner.

 

[FloridaFJ80]

Beautiful rig!!!! Keep the pics coming...

 

[reddahaydn]

sounds like a fair old trip you have planned!! Looks great mate!
Where in Aus are you from?

 

[AutoCraft Aus]

We are in Geelong, and have a shop here working on 4wd's, and importing product to fit to 4wd's.

 

[jfz80]

Was Rooby retired or just staying put as the home base rig ?
looks like a solid platform for fun when visiting.

 

[landtank]

Luckily for you, you had to have a sun roof.

 

[AutoCraft Aus]

Was Rooby retired or just staying put as the home base rig ?
looks like a solid platform for fun when visiting.

ROOBY got sold afew years ago, and has changed owners again since then, but is still around.

We have another 80 in the shop here, which will be a step up all round, over ROOBY, when finished


And Landtank, even better, one that works, and the drains arent blocked

MAde it easier to turn the go pro on and off, on the roof [see winch hook pic]

 

[AutoCraft Aus]

So far we covered some of the bolt ons, and we will come back to those, but we also got afew internal parts bolted on as well, to aid handling, tyre wear, gearing, with the bigger tyres, etc.

We use the Slee Offroad product in Aus, as well as the Nitro products from www.justdifferentials.com, and we also bring in the Method Race wheels to Aus, so it made sense to use what we were familiar with where we could, because we like the product, and in some things, like the tyres, and shocks, be able to test some stuff we dont have, at the same time.

Will detail the slinky long travel suspension a bit later, but first we cut the front holes for more caster, some 79 rear bump stops to add length for the longer shocks, etc, and we ordered some parts from Nitro Gear to be delivered direct to www.sleeoffroad.com to be installed, rather then send them back from here.

We fitted Nitro cro mo cv's, 4.88 diff gears front and rear, to make the drivetrain strong, with the factory locked diffs, and we sent over some 2 degree caster bearings over to dial in some negative camber, and add caster.

Slee Offroad then installed our solid pinion spacers for us,

These are a solid cnc machined part we do in Aus, to make the diff as strong as it can be, by supporting the bearing face fully each end, and without shims, being a solid lump, it cant spit the shims out, like most spacer kits people claim is a "solid spacer". . .

We sent over our solid pinion spacers to Slee be fitted with the Nitro gears, and rebuilt the swivels with the cv's, as well as repacked all the bearings for me.

The knowledge base at the Slee workshop is impressive for the Toyota brand, espacially the 80, and the methodical attention to detail, while the go through the process.

We have dealt with them for many years, but seeing it in person adds another perspective, and when I come from a shop in Aus that specialises in Toyotas, Im not easily impressed, I have to say.


The guys also fitted our super duty hand brake shoes I carried over im my carry on, so the hand brake will work in an 80, rather than be a token handle. This can be a good tool to use on steep down hill pinches, in an auto, to maintain slow speed, and better control.

Some new Slee brake rotors slotted and drilled all round, got thrown on out of stock at Slee, with some brake pads I also carried over, and some Slee Braided brake lines to aid pedal effort by reducing brake line swelling.

While we had all that going on, I had already spent some time bolting on other bits, whilst playing apprentice at the Slee Offroad workshop.

Did morning coffee runs down the street to Noa Noa coffee too, best coffee I have found in the U.S so far, and closest to what we have at home.

Also got to buy the Slee Staff lunch from the great little Mexican joint, and Ali Babba's in the same block, while being the trainee too !!

I even had my own little work area, for a bit......

Installed some bushes and slotted the front caster bush holes known as the "washer mod" and something we have been doing for years at home too.

And welded up the panhard rod mount, even LHD ones crack, it seems, just like our RHD ones at home.

Wired up a 240v invertor, for our Aus accessories, when we need them charged, and some acc plugs too in the rear, using some 80 plastic tabs to save on cable ties.

 

[AutoCraft Aus]

The next box of bits.

 

[AutoCraft Aus]

Managed to bolt our Slinky long travel kit under SNOWY before our ICON kit arrived, which as most probably know includes some bits to allow the articulation the extra long shocks give, but I thought I would detail it quickly here, as something we have done to SNOWY.

Like rear sway bar extensions, replaced the cotton reel bushes at the same time.

79 rear bump stops on this one, because I had them, long enough to mean no bump spacer required.

Slinky long travel coils, running with our Ridepro shocks to begin with.

This coil offers much more travel than your OME L shock will give in the front, same in the rear.

Front sway bar spacers, so the tailshaft wont hit the sway bar on droop.

Washer mod marked out [pic above in this thread welded] for an extra 2 deg of caster.

New lower rears,

But I am going to fit something that has less torque movement, to reduce torque steer, I think, than bushes, on a heavy truck, on 35's with 4.88 diffs.

 

[DIGLERZ]

Sooo - What's the story on these mystical "79 bump stop's" you referenced above.. They look interesting since I need to address bump stops on my lifted 80....

Thanks, Chris

 

[Delancy]

Slinky long travel coils

Meh, Photochopped.

We all know Slinky LT coils are a figment of the imagination.

You know, Slee can fix the HG with a 2UZ.....

 

[AutoCraft Aus]

Meh, Photochopped.

We all know Slinky LT coils are a figment of the imagination.

You know, Slee can fix the HG with a 2UZ.....

Well, 4" lifted ones are in a stock truck it would seem, anyway


Funny you should mention a v8, I have a supercharger sitting on my bench here at the moment, that needs a home.

 

[AutoCraft Aus]

Sooo - What's the story on these mystical "79 bump stop's" you referenced above.. They look interesting since I need to address bump stops on my lifted 80....

Thanks, Chris

We fit air bag kits to 79's here often, so we have to remove the bump stops to do it, and they are 40mm longer than the 80 units, and can also be cut down to the required length, and ground to suit, thanks to the way they are a big rubber section, for all types of applications.

Just need to slot the 2 mounting holes, or drill them larger, as they are half a hole out to the 80 bump stop holes.

Keeps that " factory" look

 

[Delancy]

Funny you should mention a v8, I have a supercharger sitting on my bench here at the moment, that needs a home.

If you ain't using it, can send it my way.....

 

[cruiserdan]

Darren could you describe for our audience what you told me about how the LHD trucks feel different because of the opposing panhards?

 

[PbnFJ]

Do you have more information on the hand brake shoes you brought over and installed. Plans to sell them here in US? I'd like to have a more effective e-brake on the 80.

 

[AutoCraft Aus]

Darren could you describe for our audience what you told me about how the LHD trucks feel different because of the opposing panhards?

Well, coming from an 80 series background here, where the panhards have always been both running the same way front and rear, so the vehicle as it articulates, and cycles the suspension on fast dirt/sand etc, has the front and rear moving the same direction thanks to the arc of both panhard rods going the same way.

Because you guys have the steering wheel on the wrong side [as apposed to Aus which has the steering on the right side pun intended....] so the vehicle pivots opposite directions, as the suspension cycles, which means, when your a seat of the pants feedback style of driver, takes some getting use to.



Because of the front on ours being attached to the chassis on the RHS at the front, and the torque of the engine on the left side, and the roll centres of the vehicle being different each end, [because its not centred with a panhard rod] It makes our Aus spec 80's more prone to lifting the front left wheel, where as this isn't as prevelant in the U.S model 80, maybe just because I am sitting on the left, in a U.S 80

For larger tyres, we also normally set them up with some negative camber, which aids turn in, and helps with outer edge tyre wear, and wit the right caster, helps the tread stay flat on the road, when a big heavy lifted live axle truck leans on it, to make it turn.

This then makes the back play catch up, which makes it lean over the sway bar, and rear steer from the arc the rear arms work in to shorten the wheelbase on the inside wheel, and lengthen it on the outer side.

This is aggravated further, when the vehicle is lifted, because the arms work in more of an arc.

Longer lower arms help with this.

This is 250mm longer arms we do when converting the 79 to rear coils, to look factory, and we mount the 80 front arm mounts outside the chassis, so we can taper the rear arms inward, to combat the roll steer.

So does the flex coming from a more standard ride height position, so the same travel and droop from the standard bump stop position means less roll steer as the suspension cycles, than adding big bump spacers to fit longer shocks.

So does angling the arms in from the chassis, to the diff, like Toyota did with the 100 IFS rear set up. chassis end of arms are further apart from each other, compared to diff end.


We have experimented with these bolt in set ups in the past, but they need longer lower arms, to stop the rear steer the 80 gets, with lots of droop.

Here [its an 80 chassis, ignore how it looks] you can see the roll steer.

14" travel Fox shocks, but bump spacers for the compressed length make for terrible roll steer as the suspension cycles.

So, if you add the panhards changing roll centre when apposed on the 80 over there, plus the driver, and fuel tank on one side, compared to us where the driver changes to the right side, and the front left lifts more easily here, it makes for a car that feels very different, when driving it.

Just some of the things I have noticed, going RHD to WHD [Wrong hand drive]

 

[AutoCraft Aus]

Do you have more information on the hand brake shoes you brought over and installed. Plans to sell them here in US? I'd like to have a more effective e-brake on the 80.

We have been using a different type of lining with a better friction co efficient, so it has more grip on the drum.

It improves the hand brake by about 50% over the standard shoes.

We also extend the dog bone about 3mm, if its worn, which also helps.