Builds building a landcruiser for overland expedition

[troopie]

thanks very helpful, my other question is this, why reduce to 3" why not make the tail pipe 3.5" all the way down or go to 4" if the 3.5" is not available, in other words the complete system from this point on? also, what did you use for a gasket, just realize i did not order one, i am sure i can figure out how to fabricate one of those.

thank again, very helpful and timely

I went to 3" because there are more muffler options and i used a Vband flange which was also hard to find cheap in 3.5".
If you can locate a 3.5" muffler i don't see why you can't use that or even go to 4" It will probably be louder tho. Starting out with 3.5 made the fabrication of the dumppipe a little easier too.

I kept the OE gasket and it doesn't leak. I didn't even use a new gasket.

Later,

Mark

 

[troopie]

LOL!!
if the turbo spins up quicker it will produce more boost quicker which will give the feel of more power...
i did a bit of research when deciding what exhaust size i wanted on my HZT, the research concluded that actual HP and Torque does not change with larger exhaust.
but i am up for a boot in your baby, no problem...

Indeed, it feels more powerfull to! Which in the end is what counts. I really need to put up some vids on youtube, a video says alot.
You're definately welcome for a spin around.

Later,
Mark

 

[crushers]

plus the larger exhaust allows the turbo to WHINE better...i love the sound

 

[rideglobally]

tires, flange and other build update

Rideglobally,
again, what rims you use, with ET 0 ? I wouldn´t mind the wider track (ok you have to change the bearings more often but driving performence benefits too), but why use spacers that might cause a problem if you can solve all the problem with the rims?

35" (= 315/75) I would use 8" rims, with the 255/100 (= 9.00R16) 6,5" and with the 8.25 6" rims.

But when I look at your car and how wide it is I would try to increase the track width and go wit 315/75 R16 on 8" rims, ET -25 might fit to clear the front tires

today we decided to put a 3" shackles in the front and 4" in the rear. i will be driving once again to Specter off Road first thing in the morning. this will help to accommodate my 35" diameter tires. the other option was to get a 1.5" negative offset wheels, to widen the tracks as suggested by soenke. i still want to this, however when i called around it will take up to 4 to 5 weeks to make the the wheesl. we will do that further down the road. thanks

I went to 3" because there are more muffler options and i used a Vband flange which was also hard to find cheap in 3.5".
If you can locate a 3.5" muffler i don't see why you can't use that or even go to 4" It will probably be louder tho. Starting out with 3.5 made the fabrication of the dumppipe a little easier too.

I kept the OE gasket and it doesn't leak. I didn't even use a new gasket.

Later,

Mark

plus the larger exhaust allows the turbo to WHINE better...i love the sound

there are a lot of 4" pipes laying around here at Edy's Auto so we are gonna try to see if we can use 4", if not we will do the 3.5". the good thing is that we may even find one that already has those bends. the flange is due to arrive here possibly tomm or friday. i will post pictures when we begin fabrication.

other updates:
we changed the brake booster with a booster that came out of a 1 ton toyota dullies, we also found out that the Nulla has a vacuum tank connected to the brake, we will see how this all works together.

the power steering worked well, very nice and smooth.

the air condition was also connected today.

wiring is almost done, we are also relocating the battery outside of the engine compartment, we found a temporary location for them until we are able to fabricate the final location.

our goal is to get the Nullacruiser ready for a 3000 mile trip by monday at the latest. the list of things to be done is still long... enjoy

 

[soenke]

Good Luck

hope to hear from you while on the road...

Sönke

 

[soenke]

Hey troopie

have you been in Karenz to the LandCruiser Meeting?

If you are the one I belief....your J45 is fantastic!

 

[rideglobally]

pictures of our build

here are some picture of the build

pictures 1 & 2 the fabrication of the dump pipe, it is 3 1/2" inches in diameter, the whole tail pipe is 3 1/2" we did not install the catalytic converter at this time. i would say it is a little loud. our plan is to install a catalytic converter in the future.

picture # 3 the snorkel

...

 

[rideglobally]

more pictures

picture # 1 the dump pipe connected
picture # 2 the cross main frame for the center drive shaft bearing
picture # 3 the home cook meals at Edy's Auto Repair are always great,

we will try to post the other conversion we have done asap.

we are having fun, thanks

 

[crushers]

why a catalitic converter on a old style diesel?

 

[rideglobally]

why a catalitic converter on a old style diesel?

not sure why enlighten me, it is loud. any suggestion on how to quiet it down, what about a muffler? i can also put a longer pipe but i may have some restriction to go all the way to the back.

 

[rideglobally]

what shocks to use - urgent

i lifted the the cruiser with a 3" shackles as i mention earlier, now i have decided to change the shocks, our cruiser will be about 8000 to 9000 pounds when done. i have very heavy duty leaf spring (11 of them in the rear). i know it would be hard to smooth out such a heavy vehicle.

i have been thinking Old man Emu, but i search the 1h8mud, there is a lot of suggestion for Bilstein shocks. i am going to SOR this morning i do not have much time to do my research and i am trying to get out of town asap. what shocks should i use Old Man Emu or Bilstein.

thanks

 

[crushers]

catalitic converter, not needed and very expensive.
muffler, STEEL construction, not tin. get a long round that is for a truck application, not a car or light duty truck, 2 ton or bigger and the mufflers are made to last.

shocks,
lift the wheel to max compression- measure.
drop the wheel to full droop - measure

now go to someone that sells rancho 5000 shocks and give him the following measurments
max compression +1"
max droop + 1"

this will make sure the shock is not your limiting strap as well as giving you FULL travel of your lift.

BTW, Monro and Gabriel make 90% of all the shocks in the world, OME, Dakar, Belton, all the different shock sellers are just rebadging the original. you can do the same idea for the above measurments for a HD Monro or Gabriel shock supplier.

 

[metalonmetal]

here are some picture of the build

pictures 1 & 2 the fabrication of the dump pipe, it is 3 1/2" inches in diameter, the whole tail pipe is 3 1/2" we did not install the catalytic converter at this time. i would say it is a little loud. our plan is to install a catalytic converter in the future.

picture # 3 the snorkel

...

what kind of air filter housing is that? a donaldson? are you sure it will do it's job when mounted like that? some models spin the dust and particles to the "bottom" of the unit which would be the opposite side of the intake inlet. because yours is mounted vertical like that, i'd make sure nothing slips past the filter seal and shoots down your outlet tube going to the engine.

 

[troopie]

Now, that's what a dumppipe is supposed to look like!
Driving just like this would get annoying very quick. I used a magnaflow muffler, i suppose those are pretty easy to come by in the US. Or look around and find an old muffler from a Dodge CTD. I believe those are 3.5" factory. Others will chime in i'm sure.

@soenke,
Yup that was me parked behind you in Karenz. Thanks for the compliment, yours is not to shabby either! LOL.

Later,
Mark

 

[rideglobally]

it is a donaldson

what kind of air filter housing is that? a donaldson? are you sure it will do it's job when mounted like that? some models spin the dust and particles to the "bottom" of the unit which would be the opposite side of the intake inlet. because yours is mounted vertical like that, i'd make sure nothing slips past the filter seal and shoots down your outlet tube going to the engine.

i am checking on it. i can always lay it on it's side. we are happy to get it outside the engine bay, it seems to work fine. here are some pictures...

 

[rideglobally]

catalitic converter, not needed and very expensive.
muffler, STEEL construction, not tin. get a long round that is for a truck application, not a car or light duty truck, 2 ton or bigger and the mufflers are made to last.

thanks crusher, here are some more picture of the build, we re did the exhaust today to include a catalyctic converter (we got a great deal from Edy's Auto repair) and a muffler, a big difference. that straight pipe was too loud. the muffler and the catalytic converter came out of a ford diesel truck. took it for a short drive it seems to work fine.

also here is the picture of the 1 ton toyota dully brake booster, it made a big difference in the breaking.

we are still looking for a suggestion on the shocks, thanks

enjoy.....

 

[jdholder]

Mileage will suffer with that catalytic converter.

No reason to run it in my opinion.

 

[crushers]

suggestion:
a bit more flezable hose from the intake tube to the crossover, you need to allow for vibration of the big 6, it is smooth but with such a tight coupling you will get cracking down the road of the aluminum...

 

[gilghana]

The shocks I would not rush into! You need something to deal with a big heavy cruiser on an expedition, so suspension is important as you know... I did a lot of research on the issue, and spoke to a lot of people when deciding what to go for on my (also heavy) troopy.

As I see it they can be summarised as the real top end market (with prices to match) e.g. Fox/King/Ohlins etc used in off road racing/armoured vehicles etc. Then comes Bilstein and Koni who are not as extreme but usually rebuildable and used in some pretty extreme applications. And basically then comes everything else... As Wayne said, OME/Ironman/Dobinsons etc do not make their own, but rebrand shocks from major mass manufacturers. I am not knocking the rest/big manufacturers etc - OME and OEM Tokico (?) I have used and abused quite to my satisfaction. In 13 years of African Bush driving in Toyotas I have only ever killed one Tokico shock, which is pretty impressive I reckon.

I ended up going with Koni Heavy Track Raid which have a huge bore diameter, but are 'conventional' twin tube shocks - I ended up with these as:
1) The real top end stuff is way too much loot
2) I rarely drive HARD on corrugated potholed roads as I don't really like the feeling of hammering a vehicle, so being able to continue to perform for hours and hours without fade is unlikely... As a twin tube shock they will not disapate heat as fast as a mono tube, but they can take stone impacts etc better.
3) They are rebuildable (I am carrying one each of the old OEM as spare)
4) Rebound damping is adjustable (but not that easy...)

I feel that they are very well suited to slow speed, loaded expedition type stuff, and they are damping a set of Dobinsons HD rears and light duty fronts (no winch). There are also firestone airbags on the rear. This setup could also easily deal with the weights you are talking about. Ride is sweet with my constant load (extra tanks, bumper & twin wheel carrier etc) but I can imagine in an empty troopy it would be brutal.... I haven't measured fully loaded yet, but my vehicle will probably be about 3000kgs to an absolute max of 3,500. Or 7,700 pounds.

If you feel like reading column yards of "friendly" debate on shocks then register and check LCOOL 80 series forms... those guys get pretty deep into shocks!
Cheers,
Gil

 

[crushers]

when the foam shocks came out i hated them, they were rough but for Gil's application they would be good (maybe) but for crawling down the trail, driving down a normal road and back road (not Oz 400 km of washboard roads), city etc a gas filled will be tiring and very quickly.

i agree will Gil, do your research and take your time. shocks can go on anytime.