G'day
As you can see from my sig line I am upgrading my 80 to a 105.
The threads on my 80 are
https://forum.ih8mud.com/80-series-tech/146800-pre-expedition-build.html
https://forum.ih8mud.com/expedition-builds/167274-post-expedition-report-pics.html
The 80 has been great but I have been thinking about upgrading to a 105 just for the fact it will have less miles on the odo. The 80 has 375000km on it now and it is starting to show its age.
On the way to work the other day I noticed the EGT gauge temp getting higher than normal. The engine temp gauge hadn't moved from its normal position. Next thing I knew there was steam coming out from under the bonnet. I had done a head gasket and because the gauge didn't register it was hot and I did damage to the motor.
I am a mechanic by trade but I haven't spun spanners for a few years now, don't have the time or the space to fix it so I got a shop to look at it. They quoted $8500 - 9000AUD to fix it. After I picked myself up off the ground I told them I'd fix it myself when I got time.
At this point in time my wife was expecting our first born any day and I wanted a decent car to take her to Brisbane in for the birth. As we had been talking about upgrading to a 105 we decided to bite the bullet and get one and then fix the 80 after Xmas. The next problem was finding one. I know you all think diesel cruisers grow on trees here but finding the exact model was proving difficult. I wanted a solid front end so factory turbos were out and I wanted constant 4wd so the base models were out. This left only 1HZ powered GXL wagons. At the time I was looking all I could find was six of that model on the net in QLD. One day reading the local paper at work I found an ad for a diesel GXL so I rang up and found this one just down the road. I rang up straight away and organised to look at it. We ended up getting it the day we left to go to Brisbane to have our baby girl.
The plan now is to build this 105 up into an expedition rig similar to the 80 using as many of the bits off the 80 as we can. Some of the bits won't fit but a lot will. I also plan on fixing some of the mistakes I made on the 80 with the 105.
The 80 is a bit tall for touring (sacrilege, I know) so the 105 won't get as big a lift. The 80 was also overweight. I am a believer in being prepared so I always carry all my recovery gear, tools, etc. I am going to try and cull down as much as I can to reduce weight without leaving any essentials out. I am also going to try and use as many aluminium components as possible.
The 80 has a steel ARB winch bar and a steel ARB twin pivot rear bar. I am going to try and modify the Genuine Toyota bullbar to accept my winch or I might even sell the bar and buy a TJM type 15 alloy winch bar. For the rear I have a couple of ideas for designing an alloy rear bar. I want the rear bar to be twin pivot still but have better departure angle than the ARB bar, not to mention I want to reduce the rear weight by a couple of tons.
I want to keep the suspension height down on this one. I have a 4" lift in the 80 but having a newborn baby girl now access to the baby seat is important as is access to underground carparks and standard height garage roller doors. I am thinking a 2" lift will be ample to allow for the weight. I am even thinking of going to airbag rear suspension, although that requires a bit more research before I make a decision.
As you can see from my sig line I am upgrading my 80 to a 105.
The threads on my 80 are
https://forum.ih8mud.com/80-series-tech/146800-pre-expedition-build.html
https://forum.ih8mud.com/expedition-builds/167274-post-expedition-report-pics.html
The 80 has been great but I have been thinking about upgrading to a 105 just for the fact it will have less miles on the odo. The 80 has 375000km on it now and it is starting to show its age.
On the way to work the other day I noticed the EGT gauge temp getting higher than normal. The engine temp gauge hadn't moved from its normal position. Next thing I knew there was steam coming out from under the bonnet. I had done a head gasket and because the gauge didn't register it was hot and I did damage to the motor.
I am a mechanic by trade but I haven't spun spanners for a few years now, don't have the time or the space to fix it so I got a shop to look at it. They quoted $8500 - 9000AUD to fix it. After I picked myself up off the ground I told them I'd fix it myself when I got time.
At this point in time my wife was expecting our first born any day and I wanted a decent car to take her to Brisbane in for the birth. As we had been talking about upgrading to a 105 we decided to bite the bullet and get one and then fix the 80 after Xmas. The next problem was finding one. I know you all think diesel cruisers grow on trees here but finding the exact model was proving difficult. I wanted a solid front end so factory turbos were out and I wanted constant 4wd so the base models were out. This left only 1HZ powered GXL wagons. At the time I was looking all I could find was six of that model on the net in QLD. One day reading the local paper at work I found an ad for a diesel GXL so I rang up and found this one just down the road. I rang up straight away and organised to look at it. We ended up getting it the day we left to go to Brisbane to have our baby girl.
The plan now is to build this 105 up into an expedition rig similar to the 80 using as many of the bits off the 80 as we can. Some of the bits won't fit but a lot will. I also plan on fixing some of the mistakes I made on the 80 with the 105.
The 80 is a bit tall for touring (sacrilege, I know) so the 105 won't get as big a lift. The 80 was also overweight. I am a believer in being prepared so I always carry all my recovery gear, tools, etc. I am going to try and cull down as much as I can to reduce weight without leaving any essentials out. I am also going to try and use as many aluminium components as possible.
The 80 has a steel ARB winch bar and a steel ARB twin pivot rear bar. I am going to try and modify the Genuine Toyota bullbar to accept my winch or I might even sell the bar and buy a TJM type 15 alloy winch bar. For the rear I have a couple of ideas for designing an alloy rear bar. I want the rear bar to be twin pivot still but have better departure angle than the ARB bar, not to mention I want to reduce the rear weight by a couple of tons.
I want to keep the suspension height down on this one. I have a 4" lift in the 80 but having a newborn baby girl now access to the baby seat is important as is access to underground carparks and standard height garage roller doors. I am thinking a 2" lift will be ample to allow for the weight. I am even thinking of going to airbag rear suspension, although that requires a bit more research before I make a decision.
Im sure that will make the Americans feel better
to adjust for sunlight viewing angles but I think there are some that are just plain screens.
