rydz
Member
2019/2020 was a very odd period in my life, My dad had a stroke,he was my partner at work and we did many things together in life and that had changed quite suddenly.
Then along came covid, making life really hard for almost everyone worldwide,and as I worked in Aviation (I have an Instrument and Avionics repair company) I really thought the world had just pulled my little piece of it right out from under me! I needed something to change,and it had to be stupid un-atainable,but possible.
I decided I needed to focus on something else, cars,trucks and 4x4 have been my go to place when I need to focus my mind elsewhere,I also starting watching a lot more youtube at night as I could no longer stand the 24/7 coverage of Covid !
Watching Harry's Garage one evening, he took a Testarossa to Morocco ! What the hell is this ? after that ended I decided I could do that also (minus the Testarossa).
I started to research how to get to Morocco, well that was easy, a simple ferry, check.Get the car to Europe? yep do-able.
Now what to drive.................?
10 years ago I rolled a perfectly good Hilux Surf I imported from Japan, a 1990 poverty pack version,with roll up windows,A/C, and a non Turbo Diesel 2.8L with a 5 speed, I rolled it not doing anything extreme, it was an error on my part due mainly to the fact that the 4x4 did not engage, (split Vacuum lines) and trying to manouver into a better place, the edge slipped away and I rolled it twice crushing the roof and denting everything else on the way down.
Did I mention this was the first time I had convinced my wife to join me on a 4x4 outing................................?
No one was hurt and with the help of 2 jeeps equipped with winches,we pulled it off the mount of rocks and back up the incline, I turned the key,she fired right up and I drove it home about 80 miles,..............after stopping off at the Liquor store for a bottle of wine as instructed by my wife.
Asking several body shops if its was repairable, no one wanted to take it on, so a quick hunt online a few weeks later and I found a cracked head (2.4LTE) automatic surf in BC,seemed in good shape otherwise,so I purchased that sight unseen for 1500$,and had it trucked across the country to me in Montreal,..........where the entire mess sat for the next 9 years.............
The Motor in the "new" hilux was no good due to the cracked head, but one of my buddies needed a bottom end for his Surf so I told him, pull that out and keep what you need, that was also 9 years ago.
In October of 2020, I decided to pull the crushed Hilux out and see if it would start,...... put a battery in, pumped up the hand pump on the filter,turned the key, and off she went, ran perfectly and everything (including the A/C) worked, she only had about 64,000 Kms on it when I wrecked it!I figured if it ran, I would drag the "new" one out as well.
The new Hilux was a 1992, still in very good shape body wise, no rust,interior was very clean ect, especially after having sat abandoned in the back for a decade,I released the handbrake, and it just simply rolled like I had parked it yesterday.
I pulled the motor/gearbox from the crushed Hilux and decided it would go in the "new" Hilux and that IT was going to Morocco!(if we can ever get control of Covid, the ferries between spain and morocco get back on line, ect ect ect)
And so started my winter project during Covid lockdowns to turn a 30 year old Hilux Surf into something I wanted to take to Morocco.
I was able to install the motor/gearbox in before the winter snows and get it inside,what is really neat about the 2.8 diesel, is it really is a 1 or 2 wire motor, there is no computer control at all,anywhere! I wanted that.
Motor in and the first start with nothing connected was exciting (especially since I had not installed the bolts for the motor mounts) but it started and ran.
The next few months were spent taking everything apart that had not been serviced in a long time,perhaps never in some cases. and thinking what was important to baseline and correct before shipping this off one day to the other end of the world
I bolted the motor and gearbox in properly, and then set about making the dash work reasonable well, the 2LTE is computer controlled where the 2.8L is not, so I grabbed the dash from the 2.8 wreck and set about making that stuff work properly.
Finding wiring details was fun, no one had anything on the poverty pack version,so I traced wires, one by one.
I decided I did not want a repeat of "loosing" my 4WD, so I decided early in that this would have lockers both front and rear, but simple ones, so a set of LockRite's were ordered,and I had to figure out what gear ratio I prefered as the Auto and the Manual versions do not have the same ratio's,
With the Toyota plate on the firewall I figured out the "new" Hilux had 4.88 gears, very nice, some napkin calculations allowed me to work out what should correct the speedo now that its a 5 speed would be 235/85/16's,, Ok , put that on the list.
I replaced all the soft lines for the brakes,and reworked the brakes front and rear along with having the CV's looked at and installing new boots and grease,new front shocks were required as well since this truck had the electronic shocks and I wanted something simple, nothing fancy and nothing ultra expensive, this was already working its way up there and I wanted to put this together with pocket money,I was not going into hawk for this. I did the ball joints as well as bearings and seals.
I installed the lockers, modified the front actuator to be on all the time(pirate4x4 mod) and installed new Aisin hubs in the front, now I also has 2WD low as well.
It had still not been washed since I parked it, and once I opened the rear tire carrier I noticed that a new plant form was being bred back there.
I kept looking around for additional roof bars, something that would work on a 4 runner,and everything was discontinued for a Gen 2, but one day on a whim, I looked at Kijiji (carigs list type stuff) and in Ottawa there was someone selling a pair, perfect! got that sorted.
Now there was 4 bars, almost at the exact same height, I can work with that.
I spent months at night during the lockdown getting things buttoned up, making sure things worked properly, and ordering 1 tire per month (again, I had to keep on a budget) until, I was forced to wait 5 weeks for the last Discovery STT Pro to be delivered to Montreal
But at least it was on 4 tires and I could start to test things out on the street.
A little more to come!
Then along came covid, making life really hard for almost everyone worldwide,and as I worked in Aviation (I have an Instrument and Avionics repair company) I really thought the world had just pulled my little piece of it right out from under me! I needed something to change,and it had to be stupid un-atainable,but possible.
I decided I needed to focus on something else, cars,trucks and 4x4 have been my go to place when I need to focus my mind elsewhere,I also starting watching a lot more youtube at night as I could no longer stand the 24/7 coverage of Covid !
Watching Harry's Garage one evening, he took a Testarossa to Morocco ! What the hell is this ? after that ended I decided I could do that also (minus the Testarossa).
I started to research how to get to Morocco, well that was easy, a simple ferry, check.Get the car to Europe? yep do-able.
Now what to drive.................?
10 years ago I rolled a perfectly good Hilux Surf I imported from Japan, a 1990 poverty pack version,with roll up windows,A/C, and a non Turbo Diesel 2.8L with a 5 speed, I rolled it not doing anything extreme, it was an error on my part due mainly to the fact that the 4x4 did not engage, (split Vacuum lines) and trying to manouver into a better place, the edge slipped away and I rolled it twice crushing the roof and denting everything else on the way down.
Did I mention this was the first time I had convinced my wife to join me on a 4x4 outing................................?
No one was hurt and with the help of 2 jeeps equipped with winches,we pulled it off the mount of rocks and back up the incline, I turned the key,she fired right up and I drove it home about 80 miles,..............after stopping off at the Liquor store for a bottle of wine as instructed by my wife.
Asking several body shops if its was repairable, no one wanted to take it on, so a quick hunt online a few weeks later and I found a cracked head (2.4LTE) automatic surf in BC,seemed in good shape otherwise,so I purchased that sight unseen for 1500$,and had it trucked across the country to me in Montreal,..........where the entire mess sat for the next 9 years.............
The Motor in the "new" hilux was no good due to the cracked head, but one of my buddies needed a bottom end for his Surf so I told him, pull that out and keep what you need, that was also 9 years ago.
In October of 2020, I decided to pull the crushed Hilux out and see if it would start,...... put a battery in, pumped up the hand pump on the filter,turned the key, and off she went, ran perfectly and everything (including the A/C) worked, she only had about 64,000 Kms on it when I wrecked it!I figured if it ran, I would drag the "new" one out as well.
The new Hilux was a 1992, still in very good shape body wise, no rust,interior was very clean ect, especially after having sat abandoned in the back for a decade,I released the handbrake, and it just simply rolled like I had parked it yesterday.
I pulled the motor/gearbox from the crushed Hilux and decided it would go in the "new" Hilux and that IT was going to Morocco!(if we can ever get control of Covid, the ferries between spain and morocco get back on line, ect ect ect)
And so started my winter project during Covid lockdowns to turn a 30 year old Hilux Surf into something I wanted to take to Morocco.
I was able to install the motor/gearbox in before the winter snows and get it inside,what is really neat about the 2.8 diesel, is it really is a 1 or 2 wire motor, there is no computer control at all,anywhere! I wanted that.
Motor in and the first start with nothing connected was exciting (especially since I had not installed the bolts for the motor mounts) but it started and ran.
The next few months were spent taking everything apart that had not been serviced in a long time,perhaps never in some cases. and thinking what was important to baseline and correct before shipping this off one day to the other end of the world
I bolted the motor and gearbox in properly, and then set about making the dash work reasonable well, the 2LTE is computer controlled where the 2.8L is not, so I grabbed the dash from the 2.8 wreck and set about making that stuff work properly.
Finding wiring details was fun, no one had anything on the poverty pack version,so I traced wires, one by one.
I decided I did not want a repeat of "loosing" my 4WD, so I decided early in that this would have lockers both front and rear, but simple ones, so a set of LockRite's were ordered,and I had to figure out what gear ratio I prefered as the Auto and the Manual versions do not have the same ratio's,
With the Toyota plate on the firewall I figured out the "new" Hilux had 4.88 gears, very nice, some napkin calculations allowed me to work out what should correct the speedo now that its a 5 speed would be 235/85/16's,, Ok , put that on the list.
I replaced all the soft lines for the brakes,and reworked the brakes front and rear along with having the CV's looked at and installing new boots and grease,new front shocks were required as well since this truck had the electronic shocks and I wanted something simple, nothing fancy and nothing ultra expensive, this was already working its way up there and I wanted to put this together with pocket money,I was not going into hawk for this. I did the ball joints as well as bearings and seals.
I installed the lockers, modified the front actuator to be on all the time(pirate4x4 mod) and installed new Aisin hubs in the front, now I also has 2WD low as well.
It had still not been washed since I parked it, and once I opened the rear tire carrier I noticed that a new plant form was being bred back there.
I kept looking around for additional roof bars, something that would work on a 4 runner,and everything was discontinued for a Gen 2, but one day on a whim, I looked at Kijiji (carigs list type stuff) and in Ottawa there was someone selling a pair, perfect! got that sorted.
Now there was 4 bars, almost at the exact same height, I can work with that.
I spent months at night during the lockdown getting things buttoned up, making sure things worked properly, and ordering 1 tire per month (again, I had to keep on a budget) until, I was forced to wait 5 weeks for the last Discovery STT Pro to be delivered to Montreal
But at least it was on 4 tires and I could start to test things out on the street.
A little more to come!
