Brodie's D22

[Bvandermaat]

Ok well time to eat my own words.
I have just purchased an intercooler. One small enough to fit as a top mount. It is 20cmX14cmX6.5cm so a fairly small unit, picked it up for $132.50.
Micro Intercooler for 4x4

I have also got around to painting the Sports bar black, which I think looks alot better than the standard.

Now I play the waiting game and once everything needed for the turbo arrives this small project will be moving foward quickly if everything goes to plan. (although plans always seem to go wrong).
I have decided that after the turbo is fitted and the Ute is tuned that a 2" body lift will be the next thing on the list. Hate hearing my tyres scrape when I am on the track.
After that it will be simple things like 5% tint, a nice racing seat for the driver, a new tonneau and a series 2 tail gate to replace my buggered standard gate

-Brodie

 

[Bvandermaat]

Just a small update for those interested. I have been working on putting a turbo on my ute and have started another thread for that which can be located here Installing a turbo in a QD32
I have Bash plated being made at the moment which are 4mm aluminum using the design that Peteyen86 drew up. Cost is $400. So along side that and the turbo I should be ready to hit some of the heavy tracks. Just need that lift now.
I helped a friend out last week by moving his dead hilux from one property to another. It will be going in for a commodore V6 conversion soon. Got a nice photo of where hiluxs belong haha.

-Brodie

 

[Ronnie]

Gday Brodie, just wondering what size rims and tyres you have? those mudstars look alright for $200 each. How do they go in the mud/sand? Nice nav by the way, love that shape.

 

[Bvandermaat]

Gday Ronnie,

The tyres are 31x10.5 and are bloody awesome in mud, the do a good job at rocks as well. I can highly recommend them, my mates Patrol has a set as well as that hilux on the car trailer above.
They look to be a rip of the Maxxis Buckshot. And have lasted a lot longer according to my mate who owns the hilux.
Not to sure how they would go in the sand as they are designed to dig down. I have never tried and don't think I will. Bit beach phobic with the ute, never been on sand so it wont while I own it.
Will by a D21 for beach work in a year or two. Maybe even a 720 haha.

Yeah I picked the QD32 DX as it had vinyl floors which are a hell of a lot easier to clean then carpet. Always planed on turboing her so everything works out.

 

[raywise]

Nice work Brodie, I didn't realise you could pick up turbo units so cheaply!

Did you do anything to prepare the roll bar for painting, and what sort of paint did you use? Thinking of painting my alloy bullbar black to match the rest of the Nav,

I didn't know about those tracks in the Hinterland, they look alright.

 

[Rant]

Hi Brodie, Enjoying watching your d22 transform into a 'beast'

can you tell me a bit about the roll bar job. a few questions
How did you get the old one off?
Whats involved with the install and how did you go about painting it black?
How did you customise the tourney cover?
cheers,R

 

[Bvandermaat]

Thanks Raywise,
Yeah the turbo is coming along well. Think it would have been nearly as easy to get an AXT kit. But I am having fun creating my own.
The tracks in the Hinterland are ok, few areas can get challenging if you steer away from the fire trail part of it.

Cheers Rant,
She is getting there slowly but will be beautiful once she is done.


Ok so that roll bar. Should have taken pictures so people could see how to do it.
For the removal of the old one I unbolted the four bolts that hold it down and used a 3mm cutting blade on an angle grinder and cut the bar away from the tray where it had been welded on.
I then used bog to fill the holes left by the bar. Sanded, spray putty, sanded, primed and painted the area that needed it.
I then measured the distance between the bolt holes on the bar and marked it out on the tray.
Using a drill bit 2mm bigger than the bolt for any miscalculations I created the holes then gave them a little paint to stop rust.
When I painted the Bar all I did was give it a sand down to remove any dirt and create a rough surface for the paint to stick to. I think it was 800 grit sand paper left over from another job.
The paint I used was a Satin Black Acrylic the same as the rims. After sanding it I gave it a clean with wax and grease remover.
Didn't bother with primer because I was sure it would be getting scratched and repainted many times.
I gave it four coats just to make sure it was all even.

For the tonneau cover, since I am planning on getting a new one all I did was use a very sharp blade to cut around the area where the bar now sits. Lucky for me it worked out a strap was on either side of the rear part of the bar.

 

[Rant]

thanks bloke, good work

 

[Bvandermaat]

Have for got to update this for a while.
Anyway I have had the turbo on for around 2 weeks and I am loving it.
It is going in to get tuned tomorrow so it will be interesting to see how she goes after that.
I will take some pictures tomorrow under the bonnet once I clean it up a bit.

 

[Bvandermaat]

Went out for a trip today and I am very impressed with the turbo.
At some hills that I would have to hit in First low I was able to cruise up in First High.
The fuel economy has improve a good noticeable difference which I am testing at the moment.
Should have the result in a week or two. I will fill it full tomorrow.

I illed up on Wednesday and have used just above 1/4 of a tank. Which is 120km driving including 30km in 4x4 on steep hills and the rest being very spirited.

 

[Bvandermaat]

Just got a new tail gate thanks to D22Dave

Gives the ute a whole new look and I'm very impressed.

The roof's paint is starting to oxidise so that will be the next thing on the list to get fixed.

 

[d22dave]

That tail gate looks good mate, I like your idea of painting the sports bar, I have 2 in the shed so I might paint 1 and see how it looks, ute is taking shape

 

[Bvandermaat]

That tail gate looks good mate, I like your idea of painting the sports bar, I have 2 in the shed so I might paint 1 and see how it looks, ute is taking shape

Thanks mate. Yeah Bullwinkle gave me the idea.

Just finished painting the inside of the tray with Sound Deadener to try as a cheap alternative to a spray on liner. Looks good and seems like it will hold up well.
I am going to give it a week to dry as I stuck a large pot in it yesterday and it took some of the base up as it had not dried completely.

 

[d22dave]

Interesting idea, Keep us updated on how hardy it is when dry

 

[Bvandermaat]

Yeah I figured for $30 it was a cheap way to do it. Beats the silver, zinc paint and bear metal look it had before hand.

I have to take a few things to the dump next week so I will be able to see how tough it is.

 

[Bvandermaat]

After completing a few mods to the Navara including the new winch I thought I would head out and hit a few tracks for an hour or two.
While on the usual tracks I managed to get a good picture of the flex on the standard shocks. I did this so that I could compare once I have my 2" lift fitted.
Afterward I decided to press on through to some more tracks.

While driving along the normal tracks I took a turn that I had not before which led me to some tracks that looks little used but still in good condition.
Deciding to take the lower track at a fork I took off on what seemed to be a decent rocky track that shouldn't have proven to difficult, that was until it turned into a steep clay track with 3 foot ruts through the center.
After becoming stuck while looking for a place to turn around the largest rut on the track decided it wanted to swallow my ute. This rut came up to my waist (I am 6'1") and was about 12 foot long. It looked like it was the only way the navara would be heading since the track was to slippery for me to move on.
I spent the next half an hour S#itting myself and trying to figure out how I was going to myself out of this mess.

 

[Bvandermaat]

Once I had a plan worked out I lowered the tyre pressure to 25 and winched myself down a the hill and through some smaller ruts to an area where I managed to turn around.
Then I winched myself back up the hill at least 200m all while the wheels were spinning if I even touched the accelerator.
Two hours of effort later and I was home free, with the only damage being a scratched bash plate, "well used" winch cable, broken exhaust mount and bruised ego.

 

[d22dave]

I think that was $350 well spent, Cheap winch was more handy than no winch

 

[Bvandermaat]

Definitely money well spent.
Just before I went out I went over to TJM and bought a winch block. For $55 that was money well spent as well.

 

[Bvandermaat]

Ok so I had the roof repainted last week and it is bloody awesome. Cannot see where it was blended to the other paint. I have not taken pictures as I'm sure everyone knows what a roof without oxidization looks like.

I have also been give a Waeco Tropicool Classic 32L which was broken. After about 20mins of soldering I had it up and running again. Yet to test how far it cools but the stats say "30 below ambient"