I'm talkin' Paris-Dakar Rally stuff here. I dont want to hear about your DVD player in your Escalade, or about how fast the GMC Typhoon is on the street, I want to hear about how much water the engine of the Land Rover Defender
can injest and keep running. How many parts can break on your Hummer before it stops running in the middle of the Sahara, and can you fix it with a paper clip and a stick? Can your Chevy Blazer run on piss-poor Somali gas, yet still have the power to outrun the rebels chasing you whilst running on 6 cylinders and overheating? In other words, what do you think is the toughest, most reliable, and capable 4x4 in the world today. It should be something you are willing to drive across Africa in all by yourself with no refuling stops. Any 4x4 made qualifies, and any modifications are allowed, so long as it doesnt fly. Here is my choice...
1986 Toyota FJ60 Landcruser Flatbed pickup 4x4 with a 5-speed. That amazing Toyota reliability. Unbelivable torque from the straight-six. Huge flat bed to bring along lots of gear, bulletproof drivetrain, runs off of almost anything that burns, and looks cooler than almighty hell to boot. Put a long travel three inch suspension lift, Warn 8500 winch out front, a snorkel kit for intake/exaust, waterproof the electronics, a 50 gallon auxilluary gas tank, ARB axle lockers front and rear, and 31" Yokohama Geolander M/T's, on it and you can go anywhere you damn well please. The perfered choice of Taliban gurrelias and the U.N. alike, the Toyota Landcruser is by far one of the most well traveled and respected 4x4's in the world today. And for good reason.
Mitsubishi Pajero (US Montero) Evolution, many time Baja Rally Champ.
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"I swear Boris, if you didnt have bad luck you sure as hell wouldnt have any at all"-Nostrodomas, story of my life
Lewis Black quote of the Week:
"Baseball should go back to its roots and bring back performance hindering substances. If not for me, do it for the children."
I was actually looking to buy a old Patrol(70-80's), but I couldnt find any in my price range that were in Florida. What kind of engines did those use? Were they a copy of the Chevy Stovebolt 6 like the Toyota was? Mabey someone should swap a RB26DET in there. That would be a hell of a Skyline.
Halfshaft, the BEST Nissan Patrol ever made was the 92 5-door Classic model..My family had one of those before and it never gave up on us..it had a 3.5 liter turbodiesel and 5 speed manual tranny 4 wheel drive..we used it to wade in floods as high as its windows, had it pull a dump truck along a dirt road,etc. it's a damn workhorse!!
You could also put in the 4.2 litre turbodiesel from the 95 Nissan Patrol Safari for more torque and power
Gimmie a 1978 Chevy K5 Blazer on a 3/4 ton chassis with a 350 under the hood. Would have to have 9:1 compression, L31 Vortec heads(Iron heads are better for overheating since they are less likely to warp, also these heads are less detonation sensitive than earlier castings), Comp Xtreme 4x4 cam(262) , Holley 750 vacuum secondary carb(List#3310) which is a old reliable design that has been made since 1965,Edelbrock Preformer RPM air gap Vortec intake,HEI ignition-reliable and made since 1974,lift kit with better springs and multiple shocks, High angle driveline CV style driveshafts,44in Super swampers with 3 spares hung from the roll cage out back, 100 gallon gas tank, 8 pt roll cage,machine gun on a turret mounted on top of the roll cage to deal with pesky rebels,Skid plates, 5:13 axle ratio and detroit locker for the Dana 60 axles,gigantic brush guard, painted in camoflouge,eliminate carpet and paint the interior with bedliner coating to ease cleanup, well sprung supportive seats covered in heavy olive drab vinyl,2 1/2 duals with Flowmasters, snorkel for air intake, sealed distributor, sealed box containing spare fuel and ignition system parts,welder mounted on the truck run off the twin gel cel batteries,10 ton winch mounted both on the front and rear bumpers, 20 gallons of spare gasoline in 2 10 gallon containers in case the main tank gets a hole, tool kit consisting of sockets, wrenches, screwdrivers, vise grips, 3 rolls of duct tape, 1,000 large zip ties, extra wire and wiring tools,a sawed off shot gun mounted to the door, a AK-47 and ammo stored behind the seats,GPS and distress beacon, heavy duty clutch. All parts are chosen to be fully serviceable without the need for computer diagnostics, and as such all systems are better suited to the wilderness.
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1998 Nissan Frontier XE/2wd/5spd 1 owner, 264k miles
1985 Olds Cutlass, 350 Chevy, owned for 14 years
WANTED: 1968-1973 Datsun 510 or 1991-1994 Sentra SE-R http://www.myspace.com/junkyardengineer
Hey himilefronteir, I know a few buddy's who have K5's build up similar to your idea,(built small-block, huge axles and lift, 44" Swampers, ect...) exept not quite as bulletproof(or bullet producing), and those things are damn near impossible to sink in the mud, and as you may well know, we have some wicked nasty mud down in South Florida. Best idea yet. By the way, I take it you like to use the E-brake for turns. If you have a B13 chassis Sentra, get the rear disc brakes and spindles from a NX1600. These bolt right up to the rear Sentra suspension, and if you use the stock Disc/Drum Sentra master cylinder, the new rear discs will lock up well before the fronts do. I did this on my car, and on dirt roads, if you give the brakes a quick tap right after a little swedish flick, the rear end steps out quite nicely and very controlled, and you can then let it side around as much as you want, or gather it up with the throttle. Works great for rallycross cause you dont have to dick with the E-brake lever.
Exalta, did the 70-80's Patrols come with the Deisels your talking about, or did they use a straight 6 like the Toyota Landcrusers. Unfortunetly, we here in the US don't have access to the post 80's Patrols. I think they stopped selling them here in the 80's.
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McRae is God!!!
Last edited by halfshaft : Jan 3rd, 2004 at 11:06 AM.
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