I have no idea if anyone here is remotely interested in this but I figured hey why not share!? Seems to me most on the forum can appreciate a unique truck.
I named this truck "The Mongrel" because it is not one brand of truck. It is a fusion of multiple brands of trucks. I have had a lot of 4wds over the years. Rock crawler on 40" tires with 16" coil over shocks and full hydraulic steering, aka a trailer queen. A very nice v8 FJ60 Land Cruiser with a lot of mods and upgrades. A heavily built up super charged 2004 Toyota Tacoma I drove from Wyoming to Panama and back twice!
One day I was sitting around saying to myself, man I have all this stuff and not a truck that fits all my needs or desires. Rather than start over from scratch why not use all this stuff and build up a truck that will do everything I want. This is when the concept of The Mongrel was born. This truck is to be used for all my 4wd enjoyment but also serve as my long distance truck for trips deep into Latin America.
The truck consists of;
-a Nissan SD33T diesel that is heavily modified. The engine has been fully rebuilt from the ground up. Mods on it include a custom built turbo, a side mount super charger, large front mount intercooler, smaller top mount intercooler, a shaved sump system with a custom built oiling system and much much more. I had this engine built by a guy I know in Australia and then I imported it. Originally this engine was to go into my rock crawler which I have now killed that truck. It was a 1983 Nissan Patrol imported to the USA from Germany.
-Portal-Tek G3 axles. These are a custom built portal axle. They use Spirdertrax housings, Ford 9" centers flipped upside down for a high pinion with a special oil slinger for this, RCV CV axles in front that are 4340 chromoly, Superior rear shafts also chromoly, they use Ford F450 bearings and a few other bits. All parts for these axles are off the shelf stuff from other applications. The only part of these axles that are difficult to get would be the actual portal drop box and gears. The portals are a 2.0 reduction. Currently I have 3.0 gears giving me a final drive ratio of 6.0. I am however getting a new gear set in the 2.25 range for better road use. They axles have Wilwood calipers with dual in the rear. I plan to use the second set of calipers for my e-brake.
-1988 FJ62 Land Cruiser body. Very clean with zero rust. It will be configured and outfitted inside for overland use. IE, live inside the truck for months at a time.
-1994 FZJ80 Land cruiser chassis. I picked this chassis because I got it for nearly free! It is also very well made, stout and has no rust! The frame is being modified pretty heavily.
-NV4500 5spd transmission. Years ago I bought an adapter kit to bolt the NV4500 to the SD33T Nissan diesel. The diesel was put in Scout applications here in the USA and a Scout company had Advanced Adapters build the kit. It changes out the main shaft in the trans. I will be running a HD Chevy clutch. Transfer case is to be an Atlas 2 speed. However I am thinking about an NP205 instead.
-Suspension will consist of links. I have not decided if I will use the stock 80-series Land Cruiser radius arms in front or not, I am leaning towards using them though. The rear is going to be coil sprung using the stock Cruiser configuration with some modifications. I can't use the coil sprung front because I don't have the room with the portals. So I will be using a coilover instead.
-Steering will consisted of a conventional cross over set up. I will be using a Saginaw box and the engine already has a Saginaw pump mounted to it.
Any ways, here are some pictures!
The body
The chassis
The axles
The wheels I am using, 17" Walker Evans beadlocks.
The diesel engine
A video of me running the engine shortly after I got it from Australia.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2EymQDjKwEE
some fabrication parts I have, these are my front coil over shock towers made by RuffStuff.
Cheers
