Charlie's 07 SR5 V6

[ptrl1600]

It's been a while since my introduction, so thought it was about time to start the build thread.
As I said in my intro, I bought the 07 late last year and needed to quickly do some mods to get it ready for the trips that I like to do. It's a black SR5 twin cab that my wife found for me on Carsguide. It was fairly clean with only 145,000km on the clock and it ticked all the boxes - had to be clean, original and V6 Auto.
The only non original items apart from aftermarket tail lights and grill were Speedy Territory mag wheels and LT245/70R16 Pirelli Scorpion ATR tyres, which I thought was a bonus because I would have fitted 16" rims eventually anyway.
The car came with all the SR5 goodies as expected.......







I needed to quickly prepare the car for a trip away and unfortunately my 70 litre Waco wouldn't fit in the tub, so removing the rear seat each time I go away was the only option. The rear seat was easy enough to remove and replace, so that's how it will have to be done.
So, the next job was to fit a dual battery system and some power inside the car for the fridge and future accessories along with front and rear 50Amp Anderson plugs. I also fitted new headlights to replace the smokey factory items. I used 55watt HID units in the high beams and Philips Ultra Vision bulbs in the low beam Projector lights.





Around the same time I fitted a LED strip light in the tub and a new Android entertainment system to replace the original head unit. Very happy with the head unit which does more than I expected. As well as the normal Satnav and entertainment options, it gives me lots of engine data as well as transmission temp, which I'm a bit anal about monitoring, particularly when towing.


A Philips Simoco Commercial UHF also went in.

Always keep one eye on the temps.

[ptrl1600]

The first trip went well, but I soon found the limitations of the Hilux. The car was great on the blacktop, but seriously lacked off road, particularly through the many creek crossing that we have to negotiate. Ground clearance was the issue, so that front bumper and nudge bar had to go. The next job was to fit heavy duty winch compatible front bar. I wasn't too fussed about the hoops, but just needed to get more clearance between the bumper and the ground.
I also fitted a decent transmission cooler while I had the Bumper off and a LED light bar.

[HK1837]

Next mods for you to think about.

120 'cruiser calipers, rotors and backing plates. Bolt straight on. Will need to upgrade to 17" rims though, but standard 120 'cruiser or 2011 onwards 17x17.5 Hilux all will work. 265/65/17 is the largest legal tyre you can fit.

The front suspension will start to (and very quickly) deteriorate with that bar on the front. Start looking at aftermarket stuff soon! You'll find it will start chewing out front rotors too with that nosedive stance it has (springs are already sagged by the looks).

[ptrl1600]

Next mods for you to think about.

120 'cruiser calipers, rotors and backing plates. Bolt straight on. Will need to upgrade to 17" rims though, but standard 120 'cruiser or 2011 onwards 17x17.5 Hilux all will work. 265/65/17 is the largest legal tyre you can fit.

The front suspension will start to (and very quickly) deteriorate with that bar on the front. Start looking at aftermarket stuff soon! You'll find it will start chewing out front rotors too with that nosedive stance it has (springs are already sagged by the looks).

Yes, I am looking into brake upgrades. I was considering just DBA slotted rotors and WRX pads for now. The brakes really arn't too bad for a reasonably heavy vehicle (compared to my GU Patrol anyway).

I think the picture doesn't give it justice - the car is parked on a hump. I measure the front clearance each time I change something and it only dropped 3mm, even after fitting the winch. (that was after the suspension upgrade)

[ptrl1600]

I always had the intention to lift the front if only to level the car out, but the added weight of the front bar and the soon to be fitted winch meant that it needed to be done sooner rather than later.
I opted for a pair of Dobinson 2" springs and Foam cell shocks. I also replaced the UCA's and fitted a front sway bar spacer.







Next up was a diff relocation and a pair of Bud's 4mm bash plates.

[ptrl1600]

After fitting the LED strip light in the tub, I was left with about 25cm of LED strip, so I now have a glove box light. Jaycar supplied the neat little spring loaded switch.







I've always been a big fan of manual torque converter locking systems and the Hilux was no exception, but in this case rather than make my own, I went for a Wholesale Auto's system mainly due to the fact that it operated on PWM. It works really well and the fact that it won't lock in 1st gear means there is no need to turn it off each time I stop.
Lot's of fun wiring it up though!


Also the mandatory low range 2WD mod had to happen.


I started running out of places to put switches, so I replaced the switch panel with a Fortuner panel.
Then a USB socket for the entertainment system and switches for the winch and future front diff locker.



The next big job was to fit a roof rack. The fact that I don't have a canopy and really don't want one at this stage means I need somewhere to carry additional equipment such as a high lift jack, shovel and occasionally a tent and solar panel. Drilling into the roof was a bit daunting, but Sikaflex is your friend when it comes to waterproofing. Removing the interior roof lining was the fun part.

[ptrl1600]

Next up was the winch. I went for the Runva EWX9500-Q simply because it would have to be one of most popular winches used in comp trucks due to it's lower ratio gearing making it one of the faster winches on the market. Fitting was relatively easy and I managed to find room in the engine bay for the solenoid pack and controls.

[ptrl1600]

A few picture from a recent Flinders Ranges Trip. The Caernarvon Track is much easier to negotiate with the lift!

[ptrl1600]

After that Flinders Ranges trip, I noticed that my upper front arms were touching the inner guard on full upward travel, so decided to fit some 10mm spacers on top of the spring/shock assemblies.
This is with the spacers inserted. Just clearing the inner guard.


So, I removed the spring and lifted the shock to full travel to check the bump stop clearance.


I had 30mm of clearance and the factory bump stops were 30mm in length!


So, rather than adding spacers I fitted some longer/softer bump stop rubbers.


After an alignment, the car now sits about 25mm higher and rides well with no chance of bottoming out the shocks.

So, I now have about 75mm of lift.

[tazmancrash]

Looks good.
I have a 06 v6 with the same springs but I used bilstein v6 shocks. I fitted a MCC alloy front bar. I have the prado brakes on it aswell. It's a good upgrade.
Is there a reason you fitted everything to the roof & not install a canopy?

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

[ptrl1600]

Looks good.
I have a 06 v6 with the same springs but I used bilstein v6 shocks. I fitted a MCC alloy front bar. I have the prado brakes on it aswell. It's a good upgrade.
Is there a reason you fitted everything to the roof & not install a canopy?

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

Not really, just that the car came with a hard lid and I liked the look of it. Also, I don't normally carry that much gear and the tub seems to accommodate it well enough. I mainly use the roof rack for solar panels, high lift jack, shovel and a deer cart, plus the roof rack comes off easily with only 4 bolts when I don't need it.

I guess I wanted a Ute, but feel that if it had a canopy, it might as well be a wagon, which was what my last 4by was. For me, this vehicle isn't for touring so much, but used for weekend getaways, hunting and fishing etc and it works well.

[ptrl1600]

A minor update. Fitted a snorkel and diesel air filter. Hoping to improve the intake before I do the exhaust.

[taresk]

The diesel filter is actually a pretty clever idea if you don't wan't to leave that space for the dream of a Raptor supercharger one day, lol. Gets rid of the heat soak issue when your airbox is on top of the engine.

[HK1837]

Would be interesting to see how it goes power wise with the snorkel restriction and a monster airbox. Never seen a V6 gain power with a snorkel but normally the airbox is tiny compared the that one!

[ptrl1600]

The diesel filter is actually a pretty clever idea if you don't wan't to leave that space for the dream of a Raptor supercharger one day, lol. Gets rid of the heat soak issue when your airbox is on top of the engine.

I don't think there will ever be a supercharger there although I did have to move the winch solenoid pack.
The surface area of the cylindrical filter is much greater than the original 1GRfe filter which was the main reason for doing it.

Would be interesting to see how it goes power wise with the snorkel restriction and a monster airbox. Never seen a V6 gain power with a snorkel but normally the airbox is tiny compared the that one!

Power wise, I haven't noticed any change but it does feel responsive. Still yet to tow or use it under heavy load, but I'm happy to sacrifice a bit for durability. Looking at the internal dimensions of the snorkel and intake, while it's certainly much longer it isn't any smaller. The factory pickup from the inner guard was similar in diameter to the 3.0 diesel filter outlet and from there it's 76mm to the throttle body.

[HK1837]

I’m only going by real world dyno pull comparisons, using one brand of snorkel. Saw a V6 drop near to 10kW peak at the back wheels between pre and post snorkel. As Taresk says though you have eliminated the heat soak issue which is decent gain and you do have a superior air filter now.

[ptrl1600]

Hi HK1837,
As I mentioned, I did it for durability and because my factory filter had a lot of dust in it after a trip where I had a lot of bull dust holes to go through. Getting the intake out of the inner guard was my main concern. I don’t doubt that extending the intake with a snorkel would result in a slight loss of power on a dyno run, but that doesn’t really replicate real world conditions such as travelling at 100km/h where intake air could be forced into the snorkel and reduce the restriction slightly. In the end I’m happy to sacrifice a bit for the peace of mind knowing that the filter will do a better job and as a bonus, the filters are cheaper to replace.

[HK1837]

Totally understand, you are using a snorkel for what it is designed for!

[ptrl1600]

Another minor update - fitted new side steps after damaging one on a Flinders Ranges trip.
Improved the ground clearance a bit, but now the exhaust is the lowest obstacle.


I'll need to do something about that exhaust?

[ptrl1600]

I found that I had a distinctive whine which got louder the faster I went, but couldn't determine whether it was coming from the front or rear, so I decided to replace all the wheel bearings starting from the back.
Easy enough to remove the axles!

And check the seal ring location.

Had to knock up this tool to press them off.

The tool made the job easy.

The whine certainly has been reduced, but is still there slightly. I think the rear driveshaft center bearing may be the culprit.