G,day from Aus

[struth]

G,day guys and gals, just thought I might sign up and introduce myself.

I live in melbourne and take my 4Runner off road in the local Victorian state forests and national parks as well as tasmanian forests and parks as well.

It is generally mountain country and generally wet and muddy

Anyway my 4 Runner is a gen 2 that started life with a 3VZE but I got bored with that so I fitted a GMH fuel injected 5.0 Litre V8 with 185kw of power.
It is almost back on the road after the transplant which I did all in my own garage.

Other mod's are, 3" rear lift with +200kg coils, 2" front lift, 2" body lift, 33 x 12.5" claws on offset rims, roof rack, CB, Bullbar, etc, etc.

Heres a couple of pics,

Down on the West Coast of Tasmania,

In the Mountains near home,

And my latest mod,

So I hope you like it so far, I expect to fit a solid front axle before too long to gain some better articulation up front.

Cheers

 

[Kmvreter]

Welcome. That's a nice fully equipped setup.
What size of shoehorn did you use to get the V8 to fit?

 

[struth]

Welcome. That's a nice fully equipped setup.
What size of shoehorn did you use to get the V8 to fit?

Thanks mate, we call it a mash hammer, good for massaging firewalls

But it actually fitted pretty easily, a small massage to the left side firewall. The trans gets moved back 3 1/2" and an engine driven fan can be fitted too.

Cheers.

 

[jharris2]

Very nice - welcome!!

Been to Sydney on business a few times, never had an opportunity to get to Melbourne. Maybe next trip!

 

[Ulfr]

G'day.
Nice rig, and nice to see new people on board, hope you'll like it here.
Awesome pictures, I've always wanted to go to Australia and take a trip through the country.

One thing tho' that I find kind of funny or strange, how much your rig is lifted, here in Iceland 2" lift on body is enough to get a 33" tires to fit, with abit of grinding from the body.
For the same lift you have on your rig we'd fit 38" tires! But that's maybe because the air is colder here and the tires smaller...
(Or rather because we usually grind alot from the body as well as lifting it a bit up, trying to keep the balance as low as possible).
Nice rig tho'.

P.S. If you are thinkin' 'bout SAS I can give you bit of info how I did things and how we usually do that kind of things.
my email is ulfr.thor att ulfr.net if you want any info. =) I'd be glad to help.

 

[fourwd1]

SWEET

 

[struth]

G'day.
Nice rig, and nice to see new people on board, hope you'll like it here.
Awesome pictures, I've always wanted to go to Australia and take a trip through the country.

One thing tho' that I find kind of funny or strange, how much your rig is lifted, here in Iceland 2" lift on body is enough to get a 33" tires to fit, with abit of grinding from the body.
For the same lift you have on your rig we'd fit 38" tires! But that's maybe because the air is colder here and the tires smaller...
(Or rather because we usually grind alot from the body as well as lifting it a bit up, trying to keep the balance as low as possible).
Nice rig tho'.

P.S. If you are thinkin' 'bout SAS I can give you bit of info how I did things and how we usually do that kind of things.
my email is ulfr.thor att ulfr.net if you want any info. =) I'd be glad to help.

Thanks for that, we get trodden on by the authorities if we hack too much out from under our guards

So sus and body lift combos are the go.

With my offset rims and 12.5" tires I also gain 6" in overall track width which sort of balances out the amount of lift.

Cheers

 

[magnumfan]

Coowee Cobber an X Aussie here

Now living just outside Sacramento California.

Im an X Melbourne boy myself, used to live in Rosanna. The last 4x I had there was a GQ Patrol. Used to play a lot in Dissapointment Forest and a few other spots

Welcome to the group

Joe

 

[magnumfan]

How much is gas in Oz now?

I have not been down in like 7 or so years

low octain
med octain
high octain
and diesel

thanks

Joe

 

[Ulfr]

Thanks for that, we get trodden on by the authorities if we hack too much out from under our guards

So sus and body lift combos are the go.

With my offset rims and 12.5" tires I also gain 6" in overall track width which sort of balances out the amount of lift.

Cheers

Ah, makes more sense to me now. Thanks for the info!

Here in Iceland we had very much struggling for years to get it legilized for us to do nearly whatever we wanted to do to our rig. We even made the regulations for the government, what is forbidden and not. 25 years later, we still have these very same laws.

So I guess it's pretty much easier for us to change things in our trucks than it is for almost any other country.

 

[icantsee]

 

[struth]

I started the V8 about two weeks ago for the first time, heres a little sound VID.

I wasn't game to rev it to hard because I hadn't fitted the temp and oil guage or the radiator yet.

Have since tidied up the wiring fitted bonnet and bar etc, so she's on the road and goes like a bloody race car.

I will post a better vid up soon for yas.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtWTaycw0BU


And heres a link to my build up thread if your interested,

http://www.toyotasurf.asn.au/forum/viewtopic.php?t=12730

Cheers

 

[struth]

Re: How much is gas in Oz now?

I have not been down in like 7 or so years

low octain
med octain
high octain
and diesel

thanks

Joe

Roughly, in Aus Dollars, per litre

$1.50
$1.58
$1.65
$1.61

Near on 33% of what we pay is tax

 

[magnumfan]

Aussie gas prices

So I just did some quick math. I think I did it correctly.

Struth said Aussies are paying AU$1.50 per liter for regular.

Current exchange rate is about AU$1.00 = USD$0.89

And there are 3.8 Liters to the US Gallon

So I think the Aussies are paying about USD$5.05 per US Gallon.

We are paying about USD$3.30 or so here in the Sacramento area of California

While I was in the UK in November, I noted they are paying something like USD$7 per Imperial Gallon (4.45 Liters to the Imperial Gallon)

For what its worth

Joe

 

[magnumfan]

Hey Struth, where in Melb you from?

I used to live in Roseanna, near Heidleberg when I got discharged from the army before I headed over here to the states

Do you ever off road up in the Mt Dissapointment, and Strath falls areas, I used to be up there hunting pigs, goats, Sambar Elk etc all the time. I had a GQ Nissan then

I used to refer to it as my FarQue (if you get the joke)

all the best matey

Joe

 

[struth]

I'm in Ferntree Gully.

haven't done Disso yet, generally go to Toolangi or Gembrook for day trips. Occasionally Wombet State Forest.

And of course the high country up round Mansfield amd Mt Bulla

Cheers

 

[skywalker1020]

Great truck. Looks like you are one of the few that uses the Runner's full potential.

I love those fender flares. Is that a stock piece in Oz or an aftermarket piece? If they are aftermarket, what brand are they?

Thanks.

 

[struth]

Great truck. Looks like you are one of the few that uses the Runner's full potential.

I love those fender flares. Is that a stock piece in Oz or an aftermarket piece? If they are aftermarket, what brand are they?

Thanks.

Thanks mate, yes the 4 Runner has a lot more offroad potential than most people think.

I also added an ARB air locker up front about three weeks ago, she goes even more places offroad now.

The flares are standard dependant on the model spec i.e. 94 REV6, 94SR5, 94 SR5 Limited.

Cheers

 

[Redfox]

Hey struth,

Great car mate! I was following your build on the 4wd action forum. I'm a sydney-sider and i am driving a beat up old 91 4runner SR5 limited.

Quick question for you mate. I have a nasty sounding gearbox whine in neutral, 1st to 5th excluding 4th which i believe is straight through. I suspect it is a cluster gear shaft bearing and the box probably needs rebuilding. I may be able to get my hands on a '93 5spd manual. Do you know if that should drop straight into my '91 (which by the way was an auto to manual conversion anyways!)? I am not sure what the box version is that's the problem. But they should all pretty much be interchangeable right?

Cheers,

Chris

 

[struth]

Hey struth,

Great car mate! I was following your build on the 4wd action forum. I'm a sydney-sider and i am driving a beat up old 91 4runner SR5 limited.

Quick question for you mate. I have a nasty sounding gearbox whine in neutral, 1st to 5th excluding 4th which i believe is straight through. I suspect it is a cluster gear shaft bearing and the box probably needs rebuilding. I may be able to get my hands on a '93 5spd manual. Do you know if that should drop straight into my '91 (which by the way was an auto to manual conversion anyways!)? I am not sure what the box version is that's the problem. But they should all pretty much be interchangeable right?

Cheers,

Chris

If it's a V6 box to a V6 vehicle then it should be no problems.
If you have a 4cyl (and I don't know that SR5 limiteds came with 4 cylinders anyway0 then you might hit some snags.

The best place to go is here

http://www.toyotasurf.asn.au

It's the best knowledge base for 4 Runners and Surfs in the country.

Cheers