Another Patrol Ute from OZ

[toughnut]

Hey all. Just became a member and thought I'd post some pics of my GU (Y61) Patrol cab chassis. Most are of the build up which has taken me about 6 months so far.
This is what I started with. Decided that I needed more flex.

First I bought a whole heap of goodies for it like some new seats, ARB Air lockers, huge alloy radiator and thermo fans etc.



Then I built a new tray for it.

[toughnut]

Some more pics of what I've done.
built a custom thermo shroud.

installed a GPS

strengthened the diff housing


Cut and raised the lower rear shock mounts

Welded in spring locating cones so the rear springs can drop down more.

[toughnut]

Some more pics of what I've done.
Bought some 3rd's Productions suspension components.



Here's a few action....cough (posing) shots

And this is what it looks like now. Still more to do before the Outback challenge next month.

[SirMrManGuy]

You don't know how jealous you bastards are making me. As soon as I'm done school I'm moving down there.

[Packman5280]

ditto. good looking truck.

[84nissannewbee]

Wow., I'll take one too! HaHa!

[yotasmob]

THat thing is badass. Nice rig man.

[Slim Carter]

Sweet rig!!

[System-f]

Those trucks are so damn awesome...

[toughnut]

Thought I aught to tell you guys some of the stats for the truck. As stated at the top it is a 2001 Nissan GU Patrol ST Cab Chassis (Y61 designation). It has a 4.2lt turbo diesel with an after market turbo replacing the original. Water to air intercooler with it's own radiator and storage tank. 3 inch custom exhaust. 6 inch above standard dobinsons springs and shocks. 3rd's Productions heavy duty suspension components. Custom tube tray. ARB air diff lockers. Twin ARB air compressors with an air tank. 35 inch Silverstone MT-117 Extreme tyres. Magellan FX324 colour GPS. OBX racing seats. 5 point racing harnesses. Internal roll cage. Custom belly pan/sliders. Cut and shut winch bar. Warn hign mount winch custom prepped for comps. Lightforce spot lights. Custom made clutch and lots of custom bits and pieces.

[toughnut]

I've been pretty busy today trying to get everything done.
I'm about half finished my bash plate / sliders.

I've made a breather box for all my breathers from the diffs gearbox etc.

and I've mounted one of my new tray box's.

[toughnut]

Here's a couple of pics of how the bash plate/sliders are coming along.
This is my mate that has done most of the welding for me.

Here's the finished framework. All I have to do now is weld on the 3mm plate. It's fark'n heavy.

[bgaidan]

That's a very different aproach to building skids and sliders....can't believe it's not done like that more often. I like it!

[System-f]

He has the room to afford that loss in ground clearance. Regardless it does look like a sturdier way to tie things together and stiffen my 'frame' at the same time.

[jonx4x4]

AWESOME!!! Too bad we cant get any of the newer MQ's, GU's, or GR's... Would give the Grand Cherokees over here a run for their money!!

[ludacris]

Awsome rig Toughnut.

[toughnut]

Originally Posted by ludacris

Awsome rig Toughnut.

Does it look familar

[toughnut]

O.K. I've done a little bit more to the truck. I've fitted the water/air intercooler. Although not ideal I've tapped into the heater hoses till I get the stand alone radiator and water tank.


I've test fitted the slider/bash plate.

You can see my wifes great dane in the pic as well to give you a perspective on size You can also see the ground anchor mounted on the back.

[bgaidan]

Originally Posted by toughnut

You can see my wifes great dane in the pic as well to give you a perspective on size

Dude....stop posting these pics. It's just not fair!!

[elminero67]

That is some nice work on a sweet truck-Now I've got wood and cant stand up. You Aussies get the good stuff, but I bet you guys didnt get the AMC Eagle....

[ChristianBenzon1]

that is an awesome truck. where do find the time to work?

[toughnut]

I don't get to do much else at the moment. I'm leaving next monday to goto one of our biggest comps. The ARB, Warn Outback Challenge.
http://www.outbackchallenge.com/index.html
So I don't have much time. Too many things to do not enough time/money. Same old, same old.

[ARod]

very, very nice rig!!

[toughnut]

Finally got my Warn highmount winch fitted today.

I've also been on the dyno 3 times in the last 3 days. With the factory turbo wound up to 12psi and a 3in exhaust and the water/air intercooler it started with 84.6Kw/115hp. After the first run it had 95.6Kw/130hp. Second day it came out with 105.6Kw/144hp. Today we changed the piping on the turbo side of the intercooler and it came out with 109.7Kw/150hp. Not too bad with a factory turbo, 3in exhaust and an intercooler.

[toughnut]

Hey all,
On my way back after a dissapointing competition. After only 3 days out of 7 my navi (spotter) tore some ligaments in his right ankle during a night navigation stage and I couldn't find someone I trusted in time to get back into the competition. Good news is that an American journalist called Chris Collard did a photo shoot of my truck so you may see a magazine spread of my truck in America in the near future. The competition was awsome being held at a large town of 21000 people.(large town for Australia) 1st day was scrutineering which we passed without any dramas. Day 2 had the tail end of scrutineering and then a "show and shine" where the public could look at the vehicles and talk to the competitors. That night was stage 1 which is a random draw. The track is held in a dry sandy creek bed about 5km or 3 1/2 miles long with times ranging from 2.45 to around 5.00. There were 3 roll overs, 2 of which were South Africans both in Toyota Hilux's and the 3rd was from england and they were driving an IBEX. There were also a couple that didn't finish due to mechanical problems. I came about mid field. Day 3 was the prologue event held at a quarry on the edge of town with about 1000 spectators. The track had a fenced starting box. Went forward for about 150' over some rocks through a water hole about 3' deep then a left U-turn over another pile of rocks through some "wombat" holes which are just deep holes designed to test the vehicles suspension flex. It then did a right U-turn over a jump about 1 1/2 feet high and another left U-turn through another water hole and up to a huge old boiler lying on it's side. It was about 12' high and we had to stop and winch over it then drive down the ramp on the other side and a left U-turn back through the "wombat" holes of the rocks, right U-turn back through the first water hole and over the first rocks and into a finish gate next to the start. Once again the times ranged from mid 2minutes to around 5.00. One of the drivers called birdy in a Nissan Patrol GQ tray back got up on 2 wheels in the U-turn off the boiler and almost rolled it. Instead he turned into the roll and changed gears and kept the trottle on the floor. Impressive piece of driving. We were then split up into 5 groups and went through 5 different areas around Broken Hill throughout the week. 2 of the stages were held on a station called poolamica. These stages consisted of navigating through tight creeks where your only bounderies were the banks of the creek itself. The creek was dry and had a combination of deep soft sand and sharp rocky sections. There were also some insane winch walls where a couple of people came unstuck and almost rolled they're vehicles. The next area was a station called Nundooka and had a number of very large paddocks (fields) where the ground was covered in sharp rocks ranging in size from half a fist to cliff faces. The first stage here was a GPS navigation stage at night. This is were my navi tore his ankle up. The following day had another navigation and some winching up some very scratchy cliff faces. The next day was back at poolamica for more of the creek driving but stepped up from the first day. Day 4 saw us move 150 miles to another station called Viewmont. This station had lots of mud and water to wreck our trucks. Day 5 saw us out another station called Denian (deneen) This saw the competitors in some head to head high speed sand driving over sand dunes and drifts. There was also a very steep sand dune that you had to try to drive up but most people had to winch part of the way. The final day saw all the groups back together only to be split up into 3 groups for the final 3 stage round robin. The first being a fast navigation across open fields. The second was a fast sandy creek track and the third was a quick run down the creek through some water and up a very long and scratchy winch wall. All in all it was a very tough and tiring event. I'm very dissapointed that I could not continue but I still was able to gain experience for next year. Maybe we will see some of you guys over here to test you skills in one of the worlds toughest 4x4 competitions.