Let's start from the beginning...

Back in 2004 I brought my first new car (well truck!) fresh off the boat up in Queensland, a 2004 toyota hilux 2wd, single cab long bed 'ute' (truck) it's a RZN149-3RZ-FE.
I got all the options I could with it, but they don't really give you too many choices here in oz.. AC, CD-player, buckets, and tint! Oh and the dealer I brought it through recommended I get an anti-rust lanolin spray coating up under it as cars tend to rust out in QLD due to living on the coast. (sucker! milked me for what he could. I would eventually find out this was a bad idea)

So after driving it home I bolted some 18 inch wheels on it that looked great, but sadly made the ute look like something out of 'pimp my ride's' garage!! it was way too high! so went down to the local wheel shop and had the rear leafs reset to sit flat, added a 75mm (3 inch) block, cranked on the torsion bar bolts and had it sitting on the bump stops in no time! (actually removed the rear bump stops completely, and cut the front ones in half)

The result=





more to come!

 

pretty much stayed like that ^^ for about 2 years... then life just sucked up all my time, and as one needs money to continue I lifted the front back up, removed the blocks, stock rims went back on and it became my full time work truck!



still did some dreaming while using it for work, taped out a few designs! oh and got rid of the massive rubber... went from a 14 inch, to a 16 inch steel rim, the difference in handling was crazy! no longer did my ute wander about down the highway


After thrashing it for over 6 years and putting 270,00klms on it I finally got a new work truck and started the resto on the old girl!

I didn't really want to go all out slammed straight away, so I decided to stick with a static drop and concentrate on getting it straight, painted, and looking good!
After some beating on it, it was time for paint!
basecoat:

straight off the gun

 

cut the paint, and laid out some lines...

let the masking begin!



blasted it with some white, and peeled!!

 

after the white was down I taped out one side of the pin stripe to make sure I got it straight!

after I got it all prepped for clear, it rained for about 5 days straight! to pass the time I got stuck into some 'sharpie' work on my headliner!

still have not finished it to this day... maybe i will one day...

1st topcoat of clear!

4 coats later it got a cut and polish!!

Thought I would try it out with the stock front painted up...

 

ok so i'll stop here for now, there is lots more but I would like to get the feel of the place... any comments? or maybe suggestions... more detail, less or whatever..? I just don't wanna spam the crap out of this thread with too many photos... or not enough.. and so on...

 

Truck looks great!! Love the flames. What are all of your plans for it now?

 

Looking good!!

 

I had been buying parts for the truck as it got painted, so now it was time to fit them on!



had a couple of leather buckets left over from a subaru WRX project

 

Built a twin exhaust system for it, with a couple of stainless mufflers, sounded great very throaty!

And then it seemed my luck had changed... had a couple of mechanical issues... broken studs got replaced on the side of the road!


now I'm sure that most of you know what a 'kangaroo' is...? just for reference this is how big they get, and I have a mass of them in my area, so many in fact they do a yearly cull. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGJL_sQTZOE

and I hit one doing about a buck! Luckily it was a small one!



apart for the obvious damage, I had a AC condenser pushed through the radiator pushed into the clutch fan, bending the water pump shaft, and cracking the timing case.....

 

shortly after fitting a new bonnet, bumper, timing case and water pump, it happened again...


thankfully this time there was no engine damage... just a twisted up rad support and crumpled up guard, oh and yet another bonnet...


I guess you could say by now I was about sick of doing bodywork... so I decided to work on the engine a little, I had brought a few hot up bits, cams & nitrous...

with nitrous being illegal here I hid the solenoids and fogger jet in the intake resonator...

just cut around the bottom of the seam, added some hinges which created a clam shell like housing for it!

 

ok so that pretty much gets me up to date with the history... I had to stop using the nitrous due to the engine detonating so hard I nearly melted the plugs, and with the stock ecu I couldn't retard the timing... there was a respray of the original color as well but didn't really want to bore anyone with the details...
I have since started the body drop, got a bag kit, and am currently doing the wheel tubs and sheet metal work...

 

cab floor all welded up...

on the bed I decided to bolt down the floor and cut around the edges, then lower the tub around it 65mm and weld it up!


Now for the main reason that I joined up here... I have a heater box issue, but it looks like some of you guys have overcome this... 1lowSr5's thread shows a modded factory box, I wonder if I could get some pointers on that!?
and seeing as this is my first bag job on a yota (only ever done this on a F100) I'm having trouble deciding on how to setup the rear chassis/diff link, I am leaning towards a 4 link, but have seen a few different variations.. rear mounted, front mounted, crazy diagonal links that put the bags out of the tray... not sure which way to go...
I have plans to start the c notch in about a week or so, but i don't really want to start cutting anything until i figure out the link...

 

I love that you describe in metric. I use mm all the time at work as I program a CMM and have taken that practice up at home...

I also retained heat and ac 1lowsr5 and I collaborated a lot. It's fairly easy to do.

 

Metric is the way to go, in my opinion!! I'm sure others may disagree!!

By CMM do you mean coordinate data programming? I'm a CNC machinist by trade, but mostly use CAD/CAM stuff these days with very little G-code programming!

I was actually looking at the pic on your thread and holding up my heater box to figure it out! your thread along with 1lowsr5's has given me some great info on how to progress!! and I'm sure there is more info on here to find yet! Cheers!

 

Coordinate measuring machine...same theory.
I check the parts you guys machine lol...but yes CAD is by far the best way nowadays.

 

update!
got the firewall tubs in... painted up the under side of the cab!
View attachment 12723
View attachment 12724
I will start to tackle the heaterbox over the next week hopefully...

was 40 degrees c (104f) here over the weekend, so kept the fluids up!
View attachment 12725

its getting lower!
View attachment 12729
But now the lower control arms are on the ground... I don't really want to z the frame yet, so I'm going to explore the option of moving the control arm pivots and tube control arms before I chop it... anyone else done this?

 

A lot less work to Z. Trust me.

 

I'm really just not sure if my engineer will frown upon it... I have to run the idea past him! we must to have everything signed off by a 'VASS' accredited engineer over here in oz to keep the vicroads and the popo happy... if I dont get a 'mod' plate I will get a 'canary'

The cops put a big yellow sticker across the windscreen and you cant drive it, it must be towed away... or under the new 'anti hoon' laws they could impound the car and crush it at my expense!!

gotta love the government! ;(

 

Thats insane...glad thats not an issue here, but id trade that for the peace of living in Australia...never hear anthing about terrorism and political issues and economic strife..

 

Love the build man, hope those photos I sent you will help out. Mike and I worked together and it has worked for us. Any help man hit either of us up. Keep up the awesome build.