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OK the last post made me realise I had kinda forgot about all this, quick update on the last 5-6mths. 

- Took a few months of and got house projects done while exploring employement options. 
- Got a new job, still in tech but not fully, wide mix of stuff in the PD. 
- Bought an FG XR6 as the LandCruiser was too thirsty as a daily lack of safety bothered me. 
- Kept that a few months while I decided what to do with work, sold that and the Landcruiser after starting the new job. Got a Prado as that ticks all the boxes between both the others, has a few mods. Had that for a couple weeks only. 
- Have been out exploring/learning the car and 4wd in general, has been good. 
- Got a chainsaw, 2 actually, cut and split a lot of wood, kind of enjoy it lol, Learned how to cut properly from a local group, learned how to sharpen chains etc, no loss of limbs yet. Built wood shed to accomodate, will build bigger one in spring.
- Got a couple sheep, awesome mowers, but they escaped a handful of times. Did some fencing, escaped some more lol, got fencer coming this week for mad fencing work. 
- Lots of house projects, upgrading, replacing, maintenance etc, learning lots. Had all the girls birthdays/parties etc. 
- Life has been busy AF. 

So cars - Prado has deluxe winch bar, BP51 2" lift kit, recovery points, KO2s, dual batteries, onboard compressor and some additional plugs in the rear, good GB, snorkel, side steps, etc. Will get some more mods moving forward. 

Started with some LED high and low beam upgrades from Stedi, need to be aimed a little better I think and rotated to get a nice beam pattern. Also have panel filter on the way (dry), will do an airbox mod at the same time, exhaust priced (approx 2k for full system - coated extractors, twin 2.5" into single 2.5" with high flow cats etc). Might also got a basic tune and that would be it for power/economy, car is petrol so a bit heavier on fuel than diesel. Made the call to stick with Petrol after reading all the issues with Diesels,  sooooo much less hassle with maintenance/repair, caring about fuels/EGTs, noise, smell, etc. Petrol is much nicer to drive (I test drove Jeep, Pajero, Fortuner, Older/Newer Prado etc before settling on this). 

Beyond that, basic winch, stereo upgrade to modernise/add front camera/sensors, might get a basic roof basket/platform and I have my awning from the 80 to put on if I get there. 

Some pics of the beast and a few spots we've been exploring added below. 

Wanting to mod has made me keen to get back in to the Silvia so I spent some time in the shed recently "starting" to unpack and sort things, it's a brothel. Car has been started a handful of times and that's it =\ 

Trying to get motivated again. 

 

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I know the feels with the motivation and the money pit and time taken to get mine sorted too. 

Hoping I can get my S13 club rego'd soon.

Do you have any pics of the way you made the aluminium spliter? Are the edges rolled at front? Trying to get ideas on how to do one.

10 hours ago, The Spaniard said:

I know the feels with the motivation and the money pit and time taken to get mine sorted too. 

Hoping I can get my S13 club rego'd soon.

Do you have any pics of the way you made the aluminium spliter? Are the edges rolled at front? Trying to get ideas on how to do one.

Club rego... ahh that would be nice but I don't think I'll manage to get a RWC now lol

I thought there were a few pics in this thread actually? Showing the cut piecem reinforcing etc. I know there were pics of the V1 on NS that was MDF. Read on from here, click the arrow top right, not the title link. 


It's not aluminium though it's alumalite, the stuff sign builders use so drop by any sign builder locally and grab one, get the 4mm sheet though, I got 3mm accidentally and it flexes a little too much, hence the bracing. 

I've seen full aluminium and it was heavy as and still flexed. This is fairly light, quite forgiving, but is an aluminium skin over a composite centre. The edges are just as they came off the jigsaw. 
 

Only minor shed progress. 

Been swapping in LED's to the Prado, LED high and low beam as mentioned, added parkers, interior, and number plate lights. Still got door lights, reverse and indicators to go. 

Missus got me a recovery kit for my birthday, bought myself a winch, spare tool kit and a throttle controller too, on the way. 

Spoke to exhaust shop, will drop by soon so he can look at the car and work out what he needs to order. Stressed I want it quiet. 

Also considering having him make me up a cleaner intake pipe, the factory one is a mess. See pic. 

The airbox starts out at like 3.5 to 4" or so then tapers down to the throttle body size of around 3" or so, havent measured. Has 2 acousting damper things on it and is just messy and bulky. 

My thought was powder coated mandrel bent intake pipe, some nice black joiners, but do I go long conical reducer, usually about 8" long, to have similar reduction in size like the factory pipe or just got a basic step down silicon joiner at the airbox and leave the pipe size same as TB? 

My understanding was having the pipe size same as TB all the way may improive air speed and response at the expense of top end power (which I don't care about). 

Image result for prado 150 v6 engine bay




 

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Jealous of the areas you have to go out in the 4wd. Wish I had owned one when I was down there. How you finding the prado?

Just do a 3 inch intake as easier to get adapters and will flow nicer without size changes.

Prado is excellent dual purpose car. Comfy/quiet enough to be daily with enough mod cons. Capable enough for weekend fun, getting around my place etc Very happy so far. Just needs a little more poke and improved economy. Hopefully intake and exhaust will help on both fronts. Decide on a tune after that. 

Am yet to tow with it, confident it will not tow as well as Territory which has more torque down low and weighs less. Terri used to tow in 6 at 110 and return about 16-18L. 

Prado won't like 110 with 2T behind it, especially with 1 less gear and less low down torque. Expect 20L+

Edited by ActionDan
  • 2 weeks later...

Added throttle controller and did some airbox mods, nice increase in response and general eagerness to get up to speed/drop a gear etc. 

Just grabbed the kings controller, options are dynamic, sport, race. I've been back and forth between dynamic and sport, like them both for different reasons but will settle on sport I think. 

Looking at tune options at the moment as the gains appear to be quite decent, may do that instead of exhaust and see what I thnk as it's cheaper (approix 1.3 vs 2.1ish) and would mean the car could stay nice and quiet. 

Winch is on the way, just the Domin8r Xtreme, also bought a "bush mechanic" tool kit to stay in the car/up at the house so my tools can go back to the shed. 


 

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Getting freight quotes, think I have it sorted. 

Will be sending engine gear off to builder soon. 

Should I put the motor in an 86/s14a... 

I need 5 stud, a Z32, and some more roof clearance/better cage... would it be easier to just buy a roller. I go back and forth on this a lot, but first things first. Engine. 



 

Edited by ActionDan

Chatted with the builder last night, went through the list of stuff I have vs needed. I petty much have it all which is good.

I'll put that stuff together hopefully this weekend and get it in to the freight depot.

Unboxed the winch, in its current config it wont work in the car as I mistakenly assumed the gearbox could be rotated like pretty much every other winch...

Current config would have clutch knob athe back which is no good, if I can at least rotate it 180degrees I might get away with it at the front, see what they say. 

 

Checklist completed and everything boxed up, aiming to drop it off Wednesday morning to the depot. Had to remove/find a couple extra parts and was reminded how much cool shit is in those boxes. 

Also finished winch install, happy with how it came out, need to spool it on under tension and do some testing.


 

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All the parts are now with the freight company, expecting delivery to occur next week. Don't worry, as I get progress pics you'll get them too. 

Shout out to my man @Dose Pipe Sutututu for yet again hooking me up with the best pricing on some parts I needed drop shipped to the destination. 

Between the Silvia and the GT-R You've saved me some good $$ and made buying stuff easier. 

Also, check out this engine oil cap breather combo I came across, looks like an interesting bit of gear.




 

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  • Thanks 1

Spoke with DM Motorsport, told there's no huge rush on the engine as I have so much other stuff to do that this car is not going anywhere for quite a while. Block will be CNC'd with the next batch rather than being rushed through etc. 

Got out for some snow play on the weekend, was good,  threw many snow balls. 
 

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Edited by ActionDan
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Currently going back and forth between DM and the freight company to try and get this shit delivered.

Freight company keeps leaving it til late in the day before calling, including late last night, to try and arrange delivery for the next day, despite me telling them he needs more notice than that. 

I dropped that stuff off on the 7th... Why is it so hard for tradie types to follow basic intructions? It does my head in. 

Seems I have stuffed another battery im the silvia also by letting it get flattened as I went down to start it, having done that rejuvenate charge 2 weeks ago, and it wouldn't crank. 

I will try again and leave it a week and see if it can hold a charge that long. Thing I might change to a more forgiving battery type and forget the massive 1-2kg saving. 

So, 2 weeks after dropping my gear off at the freight place, not only has he not delivered it, but now it's been given to another freight company in Sydney to deliver because he just couldn't manage to make a call and arrange a time to deliver it... 

Not stoked. 

 

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