'91 Triton (MightyMax)

[AlecBB]

Howdy all,
Recently I got around to fitting some more front suspension components.
With much swearing and carrying on some new Pedders Sports Rider springs were installed along with some Pedders Gas Sports Rider shocks with urethane bushes and new urethane lower control arm bushes because the old ones were toast and the new set was only $30.
Here is the stock spring compared to the new sports coil
springs.jpg
Unsprung, the two are not too different in height, maybe 20mm differnece. Turns out this shows in the final ride height, which sucks because I just installed 50mm (2 inch) drop spindles and now I've jumped up 20mm (almost 1 inch). And I really liked the ride height I was at before.
I'll give them a couple of months to settle, see if they drop at all, but I've done 60km in the ute today and see no difference.
If I have time later in the year and it still bugs me I'll take them out again and cut a coil out. Just not looking forward to it as they were a pain to get in, hopefully because they'll be shorter they will be easier.
installed.jpg
Here is all the goodies put together and off to get a wheel alignment. Will have to clean these up and give them a coat of paint to make that red pop! Again, regretting I didn't take the time to paint parts before installing them, and not taking more photos!
On the upside the old girl drives so much better now, not harsh, but firm and no longer hitting the bumpstops on any small pothole in the road. Stays much flatter around corners too, but I still want more sway bar action. My last car was a 2010 mini cooper and that thing handled like it was on rails, and then I swapped out the sway bars in that too. So now I am (foolishly) trying to get this long heavy thing to feel the same

That's it for now, hopefully I can get the alternator bracket sorted in the next week or so and I should also have my new Ice ignition leads and coil come Monday, woo!

Cheers
Alec

[geezer101]

Nice. I was given a new pair of lowered King springs with the donor wreck I bought to cannibalise for my L200 and got some dubious Commando foam filled heavy duty shocks to pair them up with. I'm considering pulling them apart and sending the control arms off to get powder coated along with the radius rods and stabiliser bar. I imagine to old front end parts would've made it feel like a meatball on the road lol. The rear bar you're messing with will improve handling a lot. If you're successful, I'm going to give it a shot when I do the read end swap for LSD...

[AlecBB]

Oh nice, I was looking for king springs first but they said they didn't make them anymore. Would have been keen on lowering the ute with springs, the drop spindles required alot of work to get it all to fit because I wanted to keep my 15's

[geezer101]

The white steelies suit your truck. I have 14" steelies off the donor but I'd really want to go up to 17" with low profiles. The Gen 2+ rear axle swap would really alter my rear track width so IDT if I'd be able to pull it off, but with your tray it looks like you'd be able to get it under there. OOC did you finish your gauge cluster mount?

[AlecBB]

I thought about 16s but I got new tyres for the 15s easy so now I'm stuck with those for a while longer. Plus I like the fatter tyre look.
I have not finished the mount yet, but I did buy some plastic primer on the weekend so that should be cleaned up soon!

[AlecBB]

Quick update today

Was sick of hearing the massive exhaust leak coming from my headers so I took them out and painted and wrapped them.

Here is the old gasket showing a leak, it had the same leak on two ports on the other side of it
exhaust gasket.jpg

Next was the ceramic coating
headers paint.jpg

Headers all wrapped nicely, I was very happy with how this went in the end. My first time doing it and I'v always wanted to do this. And thats what this truck is about, trying all the new things I want to try!
headers wrap.jpg
The wrap was super tight and neat in the end. very happy with it. And you can even noticeably feel the temp difference coming off the headers and I only used the basic fiberglass wrap.
headers in car 2.jpg headers in car.jpg

That's it for now, I did get my gauge cluster mount painted today, just waiting for it to dry.
Also almost done with the alternator upgrade which i can hopefully have done in a week or so if work is quiet enough.
Have't touched the rear sway bar yet, really want to get on that too.
I also got some better spark plug leads and coil from ICE ignition which will help with getting more from my LPG set up. You may notice a custom 3D printed lead bracket that I made in prep for these new 9mm leads.

Cheers,
Alec.

[geezer101]

Nice work! The ceramic coating and header wrap is as good as it gets. Headers aren't the easiest thing to wrap either (had 2 goes at mine before I was happy with the result) A budget upgrade - try finding a bigger volume oil filter. More oil + a bigger filtration surface is a bonus for safeguarding an engine You should be able to be a little more aggressive with ignition timing now. Do you have a sports system off the back of your headers and if so, who did it? I asked a local shop for a quote and it was traumatic lol

[AlecBB]

Nice work! The ceramic coating and header wrap is as good as it gets. Headers aren't the easiest thing to wrap either (had 2 goes at mine before I was happy with the result) A budget upgrade - try finding a bigger volume oil filter. More oil + a bigger filtration surface is a bonus for safeguarding an engine You should be able to be a little more aggressive with ignition timing now. Do you have a sports system off the back of your headers and if so, who did it? I asked a local shop for a quote and it was traumatic lol

I do have a 'sports system' off the back of the headers, but its a frakenstien mess of chopped up exhaust pieces from the last owner.....which I've chopped even more because it was too low/close to the rear axle and was hitting it, and then the one muffler it has was hitting the rear cross member where I want to mount my rear sway bar, so that got extended back 40mm. I also put in a new cat because that was gone too.

I've been planning to do my own system but I had such a hard time doing the mods that I did working on the ground without a hoist, I'm tempted to just pay someone. The last catback system I had made for a car (not including the cat) where I supplied the rear muffler cost me $350, but that was like 8 years ago.

[geezer101]

Yeah I used Everlast for 2 of my full stainless steel systems and would be about just as long for me. Last one set me back about $660 from the manifold flange back (hand made glass pack double offset muffler, 2" all the way + a resonator - it was on the edge of being unbearably loud lol).
I got quoted that much just for a cat back system a few days ago from a local mob Even having off the shelf stuff sent from the US would be cheaper than what these hopefuls are charging

[Salteen]

go to advance, get a glasspack or a flowmaster or some off the shelf muffler, some piping, clamps, and a V6 tailpipe if you ever find one, and use all that. thats how i did the exhaust on my 1976 F100.

as for my Power ram, im gonna go no catalytic converters, and im gonna go with a single 2 1/4 exhaust out to a modified factory power ram muffler. thats when i get the v6 swapped in. actually heading over next week hopefully. basically drop the whole front end, pick the body up and roll it back, and disassemble from there.

anyways, i really love the look of the truck. the white is spot on and the paint (looks) is immaculant. really digging that flat bed!

[AlecBB]

Thanks Salteen, I'm pretty happy with it too at the moment. However you are not too far off with comment about how the paint "looks" good. It's definitely a 10 foot truck, presents really well but it has a whole lot of little blemishes I've worked hard to hide. Next up is to fix the rust on the tray and coat it in either colour matched raptor liner or maybe black. I haven't decided yet.
One day I'd love to repaint it, in its stock colour of course, love the white too.
Wheels will be black soon though ��

[Salteen]

you could also do like what i did with my wheels. i painted my dish black and my spokes red on my 15" wagon wheels.

however i will be upgrading to some 20x12 motiv offroad wheels and lifting the truck to accomodate 32" tires. yours is obviously lowered.

these are my wheels. they are spray painted gloss black with a cherry red inside (rustoleum spray can) and they are primered. my wheels are 15x8 or 15x9 and have a LT 235/75/15 M/T Forceum T08 tire on them

they were on my 1982 PR50 long bed i bought for 500 bucks. thats my donor truck i had purchased and pulled the motor out of just to get it on the road, until i found the V6 in the minivan. when i start the swap ill tell the story of that engine and how i came across it.

20191225_130049.jpg

[Salteen]

my truck does have a bed i just took it off to remove the fuel tank and modify the exhaust system. it actually has a camper shell too!

driver_side_view.jpgbed_and_top.jpg

[AlecBB]

Are those headers for a 4g54 2.6l? Where did you get them?

[geezer101]

^ebay has headers for them. And that pic of the red Gen 1 4x4 makes me feel depressed

[Salteen]

i just bought the truck for the motor. i honestly didnt care if it was a 2.0 or a 2.6, but looking back im glad it was a 2.6. imagine a 4x4 with the weak power of the 2.0... yeesh

my header: https://www.jegs.com/i/Pace+Setter/7...MaAvVbEALw_wcB

38 DGES electric choke carbuerator conversion kit: https://www.piercemanifolds.com/product_p/k610-38.htm (what i went with cause i need MO POWAH!!!)

what the 2.0 guys use (32/36 DGEV manual choke): https://www.piercemanifolds.com/product_p/k612.htm

my gasket set: https://www.partsgeek.com/gbproducts...oaAlehEALw_wcB

i hope it fits as it doesnt list the 1982 model, and thats what engine i got. 1982 2.6 in a 1987 4x4.

here is a website i was refered to that has pistons, rods, heads, cams, and weber and FI stuff: https://www.racetep.com/automaker/st...omponents.html

[AlecBB]

Hi Folks,
I have finally got around to painting the gauge cluster I designed and 3D printed to fit in the standard gen 2 Mighty Max DIN stereo position.
Here it is all painted up, the Wideband is the only gauge I have hooked up yet. the other is a dummy for the test fit.
gauge cluster.jpg

This is the gauge cluster before paint
new cluster 2.jpgnew cluster.jpg

This particular design has a recessed pocket for the AEM wide band gauge as it protrudes further forward than regular gauges.

Here are the 3D models of the two different designs
Wideband....
wide band gauge cluster model_front.JPGwide band gauge cluster model_back.JPG
Vs
Regular
gauge cluster model_front.JPGgauge cluster model_back.JPG

I designed mine to fit into my gen 2 as a friction fit, I will glue/screw it in one day (probably) but it hasn't moved yet and I like being able to have access behind it.

If there is interest in these I will happily print and sell them. I hope to print them in a black ABS, but the white is good because it can be painted any colour you want as long as you use appropriate primer. Don't like seeing the printer lines? easy, either sand it smooth/fill with high build/filler primer, or put into a container with acetone, the fumes will melt the surface smooth. Then paint.

Let me know what you think.

Cheers
Alec

[AlecBB]

Howdy Folks,

So I got around to fitting and starting to test my idea for a rear sway bar install.

I have used a Pajero front bar and links from a Gen 1 I think. I then Made some brackets that bolted to the rear cross member that holds the spare wheel, using some integrated studs so its easier to install on my own. Made these with some spare material and odds and ends I had lying around. The idea being it uses un modified parts so they can be easily replaced or upgraded with off the shelf parts.
The end links are secured to a bracket I have mounted on my lowering blocks. Just some 50x50 thick wall angle iron.

Here is the mock-up
96861817_10222913437693910_4455647661835419648_n.jpg

Here are all the parts ready to test
97802009_10222983713810769_6545270244863115264_n.jpg

This is the first fitment of the set-up
98481019_10222983713570763_5068224162770714624_n.jpg 98000744_10222983713170753_4237075234248720384_n.jpg
There are a few things I would like to change, I think I'll move the chassis mount back a tiny bit to straighten the end links and then I'd like to get the spacing right on those with some steel spacers and some new bushes.
I was only able to give it a short test drive around the block a couple of times so Ill have to wait until I go for a bigger drive up in the hills to really see the difference and start tuning it in.

Next I will be trying to do a double sway bar up front, if I can make my ideas work

Cheers

[geezer101]

You probably won't need to double up the front bar once the rear bar is set up properly. It should improve turn in response. Maybe the only other thing you could add is heavier duty rear leaf springs. I'm not 100% sure if 4x4 springs would work from a Pajero

[Salteen]

measure, measure, measure!