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As is the way progress slower than hoped on this money pit, so many damn projects jumping the queue but still inching forward...
Built the driveshaft hoops which is a legal requirement for modified vehicles in NZ (following a detailed inspection and certification process). Very happy with the fit and much nicer to look at than the previous hoop setup. Even If I wanted to be lazy and reuse the previous setup, it was not (re)certifiable given that it was made of 45x5mm steel (minimum spec 50x5mm). Pic of the old setup for your viewing pleasure - some proud metal work right there.
Also got the last of the crossmembers modified/built. This one ties the frame rails together just behind the engine, but new giganto gearbox would hit even with it tucked up tight in the tunnel. In this case I cut some 20mm plate to same footprint of the member, tacked it to the bottom and then cut out the centre of the original box section. Came out good with no loss of ground clearance, 12mm plate probably wouldve sufficed but scored the material off a mate and whats a bit more weight in 2 ton brick anyway.
And finally tidied up manifolds and got them coated. Hopefully keeps the temps down as the primaries are pretty long so a lot of steel to heat things up.
Bit more progress, have built the intake pipes and mounts to get the filters where I want them. The filters replace the fog lights and sit in the front bumper so should give nice cold air, but building the brackets to get them to sit in the right place was super fiddly, hope I never prang the front end as everything is just so...
Being low to the ground I also wanted to shield the filters from dust/splash back from the front wheels so I picked up a couple of $10 mini rubbish bins and cut to suit, they made nice little cowls and there are decently strong with three anchorage points to the old fog light mounts.
3" intake pipes come directly off the turbos, are mild steel so will coat with something, maybe the same coating used for the headers (Cermakrome). I plastidipped the chrome ring of these filters but forgot to do the chrome button inside, may yet do that also as wanted these to only be noticeable to the trained eye...
Mounted the pipes and rolled the ute outa the shed for the first time in a year to take some glamour pics, hoping it will help with motivation (which is pretty low). See what I mean re chrome 'button'? Whaddya reckon leave as contrast or black out?
This pic shows there is progress at least, can also see the new rad I bought for it. Bought the radiator based on being the right width, and relatively short as will be using a dual in single centre out intercooler so the TB pipe will need to go over the top of the radiator. Rad is supposedly for JZ converted S13s so Im hoping its gonna cool OK, either way is definitely shiny enough...
Have been looking at the driveshaft bearing hanger mounts and thinking they need some added strength. Not sure if they were just a bit misshapen outa the factory or the last engine moved them around but they were definitely a bit bent out of shape. If the latter then was gonna get a lot worse with the new engine setup, so straightened up and added some more steel.
Before and after below, added a big piece of 5mm plate to the front side of the mounts which ties them together and boxes them in and also some 10mm bar either side to stop lateral movement. About 10x stronger now Id say, I dont have a hoist so this was confined upside down tig action so pretty tricky welding
An Act of God. You can't import anything newer than 25 years old that is not US-spec
You can import cars newer than 25 years old..... just won't be able to legally register it in most states.... FL, MT, TX, ID, CT, and other states are easier to register questionable cars. CA... not so much
Imagine there'd be plenty of these in Sth America, is there some sorta amnesty if you drive one up as a tourist before you have to legally register?
The Hilux is super similar to the Tacoma I believe, wouldn't be surprised if lots of the components interchange. You guys used to have the hilux at least:
You can import cars newer than 25 years old..... just won't be able to legally register it in most states.... FL, MT, TX, ID, CT, and other states are easier to register questionable cars. CA... not so much
OK gotta question re cooling system design. Because my radiator will be low to clear the throttle body intake pipe, and because I'll be water cooling the turbos and these are mounted high, I'll need to run a header/expansion tank so the system can be burped. I'll be feeding the turbos via the front steam lines, and after the turbos the lines will then plumb into the header tank.
My question is where the header tank connects to the rest of the system. To the top of the radiator? To the low pressure side (eg by tee-ing into the heater return line)? Both these connections? I found the following two pics doing the rounds in other threads, one of which appears to show the latter (ie both connections), and another that doesn't seem to have a radiator connection...
The potential problem I see with the first one is that coolant looks like it could shortcut the radiator by moving from the top of the rad to the low pressure heater side. The latter one looks like it could accumulate air at the top of the radiator since there'd be no way to bleed it off (though maybe flow would be good enough to flush the air through)...
Anyway, looking for someone with experience here to advise before I mount and start welding the AN fittings on the little alu tank I've bought for this purpose... Also realise theres a few threads circulating on here re these questions but Ive found contradicting info, so please be patient with me!
Some water from the steam/vent pipes may bypass the rad, but it is a small amount really.
Although some caveats here. It is already hot water....passing it through the turbos it can get even hotter. Old Cossies used to do this too, and the hot water did deteriorate the plastic header tank they used over time.
Some fitted alloy tanks, others added another little small radiator on this line before the turbo to cool the water before it passed into the turbo. Which can make a lot of sense when you are actually trying to cool the turbo core.
I would also be inclined to add a small bleed to the hot side of the rad too ( although cold would probably be fine if it suited better ), just so there could never be any chance of air getting trapped there either.
Or a bleed at some suitable point in that area to prevent any airlocks
Thanks Stevie. I think the steam lines feeding the turbos should be OK, given that lots of people don't seem to believe in water cooling turbos at all... When you say add a bleed to the radiator, do you mean a permanently plumbed line to the header tank or a fitting to burp a few times when setting up the system? If the latter, I could use the existing radiator cap, was gonna buy a higher pressure rad cap than that used for the header tank and leave the factory radiator filler alone anyway...
I was googling a bit and think I found the original source of the second pic above on the pirate4x4 forum, funnily enough though it doesn't have that exact pic. It does have several variations thereof, though all seem to include the radiator to header tank connection!
I suppose another option would just be to add a small (AN4 or similar) connection from the rad to header tank, would be nice to be able to get away without though as more fittings to buy/plumb/weld...
The the rad is low, and there are already pipes or a pipe running upwards away from it...then that would become a potential air trap, negating any need for a fixed bleed on the rad core itself, as the core itself could never trap air. But shifting any potential air trap ( and bleed point ) closer to either engine or pump.
You could do a manual bleed point as some manufacturers do, but I'd prefer a full closed loop setup where it's always bleeding back to the header tank.
Just means within the rad and engine itself etc....there can never be any air trapped
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