Sheepers buys a Hilux.

[fuel]

Amayama have become so bad lately. I placed an order for a new lower timing cover for the GTO before Xmas and they said it would arrive mid Jan which was fine because I was still in NZ until end of Jan. Come end of Jan it was nowhere to be seen and Amayama were just flat out ignoring my requests for them to look into it and just kept copy/pasting "expected delivery is Jan 16" despite them sending that message on Jan 24 and again on Jan 27. I also had another order I placed same time for some engine mounts to be delivered to my friends in LA as I was stopping over in LA end of Jan on my way back to Toronto. To their credit the parts went from Japan to California basically overnight.. only to be lost by UPS as soon as they hit the US. It took them two weeks of me pestering them to look into it before they advised me to visit my local post office and see if they were there. UPS has nothing to do with USPS. I ended up getting a refund and had to place the order again for the parts to arrive direct to Canada (with extra customs duties added). I had such a great run with them the last few years but they just turned to shit recently. Someone put me onto www.tosshin.com and their prices are even better than Amayama but they don't tell you the shipping cost until everything has arrived to them, but have been assured they are more than reasonable. I placed an order with them a couple weeks ago but they haven't even bothered to update anything and let me know how it's progressing. I don't want to use Megazip or Partsouq cause their prices aren't great and Partsouq sends everything from their UAE warehouse at a larger cost and time to get here.

[Vintage Grumble]

12 hours ago, sheepers said:

in typical amayama fashion they listed it,  sold it to me,  took my money,  waited two months and then told me they are NLA.

I love how amayama do that.

This happened to me recently too, really kicks you in the spuds. I was super excited about finding a heater fan speed resistor, then all hope was crushed. 

[ajg193]

Nah that's always been the case.  Especially as the cars are getting older, you can't expect everything to exist.  Usually best to check if parts partsouq has anything in stock as they seem pretty accurate

[sheepers]

I got updates.

EGR removal is a complete win

Cleaning all the shit out of the intake gained a very noticeable increase in powah

Attaching the wastegate  to turbo pressure has been a great win too in that is not just free boosting and yet it goes faster.

It uses WAY less diesel

Side exit exhaust had eliminated all fumes from the truck whilst back window down cruzing.

 

 

Also I put the new stick things in the steering column and it looks all new and fancy.

[sheepers]

OMG the new "clunk" noise the indicator stalk makes is fucking amazing. 

[sheepers]

this truck is still amazing just fyi. 

[sheepers]

What a fucking rig. 

[sheepers]

She's fair dark in the mornings on my way to work and Nick had these lights he took off something so I put them on thy hilux. 

I'll try them out tomorrow morning and see if they do anything good. 

[sheepers]

update on lights.

yes.

much bright, can see, very wow.

they're not wired in properly but ill address that, wont be too much of a drama. im going to put a dip switch on the floor that you can turn them on and off with but only when the standard lights are on high beam. 

[CarolsHusband]

Hey @sheepers.

Yeah, yeah, you were right. They're a pretty good car.

I see you've dumped the spare tyre bracket. Have you left the original panel in the tailgate or fitted something else ?

I'm guessing that they have a numberplate mount there rather than a whole different tailgate but I'm struggling to find out.

Chur.

 

[AllTorque]

Some Surfs came with the spare on a rack on the back, some came on a winch under the rear floor.

[CarolsHusband]

Yeah, but I've found out the tailgates are different coz of latching for the rack. And the offset plate, obvs, but it turns out that would be the least of my worries.

I'll join Facebook & see if anyone's got one. Fat chance I reckon, I've never seen one here.

 

[CarolsHusband]

Also, are those wheels 15's or 16's ?

/ Thank you for your assistance.

[sheepers]

12 hours ago, CarolsHusband said:

Hey @sheepers.

Yeah, yeah, you were right. They're a pretty good car.

I see you've dumped the spare tyre bracket. Have you left the original panel in the tailgate or fitted something else ?

I'm guessing that they have a numberplate mount there rather than a whole different tailgate but I'm struggling to find out.

Chur.

 

i just took the tyre mount off. there is a latch on the tailgate but someone helpfully removed the warning light before i got the truck so all i had to do was remove the mounting. it didn't affect anything else.

 

i now have a spare tyre mounted underneath, its smaller diameter than the tyres it runs normally but if i need to fit the spare it wont be for very long so it wont matter.  

 

tyres wheels are 265 75 16 on what i think is a 16 x 8 rim.

 

[4AG_Addict]

@CarolsHusband

16" Minimum on the front for Caliper clearance on these, unless you want to do some grinding.

Even then you need to watch the wheel design, calipers extend about 20-25mm past the hub face.

[CarolsHusband]

6 hours ago, sheepers said:

i just took the tyre mount off. there is a latch on the tailgate but someone helpfully removed the warning light before i got the truck so all i had to do was remove the mounting. it didn't affect anything else.

 

i now have a spare tyre mounted underneath, its smaller diameter than the tyres it runs normally but if i need to fit the spare it wont be for very long so it wont matter.  

 

tyres wheels are 265 75 16 on what i think is a 16 x 8 rim.

 

Thanks, I thought as much. Same size tyres but I think the stock rims are 7's.

6 hours ago, 4AG_Addict said:

@CarolsHusband

16" Minimum on the front for Caliper clearance on these, unless you want to do some grinding.

Even then you need to watch the wheel design, calipers extend about 20-25mm past the hub face.

Saved me a wasted hour thanks ! I thought I might squeak the steel 8 spokes on, but the slot-mags no chance. Shame.

[sheepers]

Bit of maintenance that has snowballed a bit.

Went to put new seals in the front calipers,  pistons are a bit fucked so now I'm buying new front brake calipers.

Also had to make a new brake hard line.

and the radiator is showing signs that it may be about to leak so it's getting a new radiator too.

 

In other news,  these parallel jaw pliers are the absolute undefeated champion of getting flare nuts undone.

Fuck your snapon flare nut spanner, these bastards NEVER fail. 

[sheepers]

All fixed. 

The new clappers came with some sort of silver coating that looked a bit shit so I painted them then stuck them on. a day's fucking around with old calipers negated in about 10 minutes. 

Great. 

[sheepers]

hows the fucking state of it.

last weekend i noticed that the radiator might be about to begin its journey towards leaking.

so i ordered a new radiator from silverdale radiators (pretty good unit tbh, well packaged and delivered rural in two days - not bad.jpg) and a new overflow bottle (30 bux, why not) and some new hoses and tonight i threw open the bonnet to change it all out.

 

fucking get a load of the radiator already shitting itself and puking everywhere.

classic.

 

so anyway,

new radiator, new radiator hoses, new trans cooler lines, new clamps on all the hoses and new overflow bottle.

while i was in there i put the new AC compressor i had for it in, the old one (which is only two years old but didnt get a lot of use tbh, why turn on AC when you can roll the back window down and cruze in the greatest cool breeze and also style) had fucking shit the bed so i rock autoed another one. 

all done. didnt have enough antifreeze to fill it properly so itll get filled and leak checked tomorrow.