Take 3, the Forever 45- IFS and 1uz-vvti (2 Viewers)

[Vossie]

Couldn't figure out why my windscreen wouldn't fold flat. Some measurements, pics and the 40/45 forum helped figure out I have the wrong hinges on this thing

Tracked down some new ones. Had to do some panel beating on them to make them straight but got that done.
At the same time I made up my tube doors and roll bar.

And finished up the awning

Then took it to the classic and vintage car show here in Harare. Got some awesome feedback, had a blast and everyone loved the rig.

 

[Vossie]

Most recent work had me replacing the long run intake for a short run with cone filter. Less restricted, more induction noise and definitely more power.

Took my previous 0-100kph time from 9.8sec to 8.3sec.

Before

After

It's fast enough to keep up with a new 300, at least until I chicken out at 145kph!

 

[Vossie]

That brings the build up to date.

Next two big things I want to do are paint and new ECU.

I got myself a new compressor and have been practicing. So plan now is to paint it myself. Why not? I've done everything else at this point.

Ecu will come when I have earned the money for it. Not cheap, but it's my way back to 4x4 in the long term. Until then I'm enjoying it as is and loving using it everyday

 

[Vossie]

Took delivery of my new ECU

Waiting on a few other supporting parts but slowly building a nice pile waiting for a good opportunity.

Also got my new gearbox, an A343F. 4 speed auto. Good box from what I've been told and my own experience. Parents prado has one behind a 1kd with over 350000m on it and it's never given any issues.

Will have to mount a new tcase to it though.

Also been doing some CAD work for other 40 enthusiasts here. This will be a custom grill for some one currently building their 45.

 

[Vossie]

Just about ready for the next big phase of this build.

10,000kms and 1 year of daily driving the rig has shown me what I need to fix, what I need to change and what I want to change up to make this thing run better and be an all around more comfortable daily driver. So here's the list I will be working with over the next 3 weeks.

ECU- new spitronics units for both ECU and TCU
new custom 150L fuel tank
changing out my oil filter housing to something that wont weep anymore
new aux gauges to keep a constant eye on engine oil pressure, temp and trans temp
wrapping the entire exhaust in heat wrap to try and keep the heat ingress into the cab to a bare minimum
AC- this cant come soon enough
changing out my seats from the LS400 thrones to something smaller and more manageable in the cab
changing the entire center console out to something that doesn't take up so much room
interior lights
paint- about damn time
new brake discs
roof lining and sound deadening
aftermarket fuel regulator- needed for the ECU upgrade
new fuel lines from the new tank
interior panels- just need to fab these up to close holes in the dash
mod the fan shroud so the fan doesn't touch it when I boot her

That's the list. Nothing to it but to do it

 

[Vossie]

First up is the interior, and the biggest part of this is the new seats, AC and center console.

Before pic

Stripped down pic

Got some surface rust to clean up from moisture getting in and under the carpets. Going to paint and seam seal this before carpet goes back on this time around.

New seats mounted.

Much more leg room, around 4" gained. More space under the seats as well to keep stuff. Just need to recover them and they will be good to go.

And AC unit mounted and vent runs figured out

Much more compact than the unit I had previously and will allow me to keep the center console to a minimum to increase side to side leg room.

And a pic of the rig just because why not?

 

[Vossie]

Interior of cab painted

First time painting anything this size, and I learnt alot about over spray! Good thing I still need to paint the outside.

Seam sealed and insulation laid down. 2 layers directly on the firewall and right up to the top.

Then another 2 layers each on drivers side, passenger side and over the transmission hump.

Then put in the sound deadening and carpets as well as the AC unit.

And then finally started pre wiring and putting together the new panels. This is the new lower dash panel. It contains basically all of my auxiliary electrical switching as well as the ignition and starting switches.

Now I'm ready to start wiring, taking out what's not needed, tieing in the new ECU and just general cleanup of my loom.

 

[Vossie]

Started the rewire job. Decided to pull off the fenders and the bib for easier access to the engine and some of the sensors.

Then started tracing wires in the existing loom that I will be using, others that will need to come out and others that can be repurposed. Handy to have drawings and pin outs, buy always best to confirm physically. My drawings were all accurate on the pin outs but a lot of the cable colours were off.

Once I knew where everything was and what rhe plan was, it was time to start splicing in the new ECU.
It amazes me how fewer wires a new modern ECU needs.

Still got a few more things to wire in, mainly the sensors, but most of the heavy lifting is already done.

Also got my seats back from upholstery.

 

[knuckle47]

Been reading through your amazing rebuild… love the outcome so far…wishing you good luck. It IS going to be great

 

[Vossie]

Been reading through your amazing rebuild… love the outcome so far…wishing you good luck. It IS going to be great

Thanks man. Appreciate the kind words.

 

[Vossie]

Just been slowly plugging away at the wiring. ECU and TCU are all in now, so now just tidying it all up and putting it back in.

Turned an oil filter sandwich plate into a remote mount to replace my existing setup to try and curb oil leaks. All good up until I realised the fittings I need are AN10 and the ones I have are AN6. So now I need to find those.

And finally found out why I've needed to top off the radiator every 7 or 8 days for the past few months...

No idea. Maybe something dropped down inside the shroud and got picked up by the fan??

 

[Vossie]

Been a while since the last update. Here's what's been happening.

Ever since the new ECU and TCU, I've been struggling to get the gearbox to behave as it should. I'm using the 5 speed A650 which is known in the tuning community as a problem child.

To help make sure I'm just battling the tune and nothing else, I pulled the box and cleaned the pickup filter and any gunk out of it.

Box was actually pretty clean. Have some in depth tech posts planned for the tuning side.

Onto other things, had a squeaky bearing start up. Tracked it to the idler pulley bearing. Whilst replacing that I may have got a bit carried away...

So that's the timing belt done.

 

[Vossie]

And then had a bit of a disaster happen. Bust the fan blade.

As it turns out these are almost impossible to find down my neck of the woods. Even trying to order it I had no luck.

I also had a lot of people telling me I should go electric fans. I've never been a fan of electric, but with how hard it was to find the fan, I thought it was worth a shot.

So got 2 fans and started to build a shroud.

Very happy with the results. And it works very well, right up until you start to really drive the rig hard or run the AC.
At least they allowed me to run the vehicle whilst I searched for a fan blade that would work

 

[Vossie]

So I finally tracked down a fab that would work, a fan from a 2UZ powered 100 series land cruiser.
There is however quite the size difference.

I moved my radiator as far forward as I could to accommodate the new bigger fan.

The pic doesn't quite show it very well, but the radiator was quite close to the fan at the bottom.
So I reworked alot of the brackets on the radiator to push it as far forward as possible. I also nested the AC condenser and the rad alot tighter to save on space and I believe it improves efficiency as well from what I understand.

This gave me a lot more room especially at the bottom where I had clearance issues before hand.
Then just had to build a shroud.
Because the fan was so much bigger and my radiator is offset from the fan, the only real area that needed to be shrouded was along the top and right hand side.
This is what I came up with

A bit of paint and then had it all in and tidied up.

 

[knuckle47]

That shroud looks like a ton of work. Great work though

 

[Vossie]

Back to finishing the interior out. Needed a new center console that made the most of the space without intruding in on the space.
This is what I came up with.

And here it is in the cab.

 

[Vossie]

That shroud looks like a ton of work. Great work though

Which one? Lol. Made a couple in the last few weeks

 

[Mike Shull]

Back to finishing the interior out. Needed a new center console that made the most of the space without intruding in on the space.
This is what I came up with.
View attachment 3556829

And here it is in the cab.
View attachment 3556830
View attachment 3556831

Awesome fab work!

 

[Vossie]

Awesome fab work!

Thanks very much