Australian 4WD Action – July 2019

• 4in Dobinsons Coils front and rear


• Custom length King 2.5 Remote Res shocks


• 35in BF Goodrich KM2 Muddies


• 16in King Steel Rims with a -44 offset


• Custom Built Rear Bar


• Custom Modified XROX front bar


• Custom Made rock sliders

“I love the height with the 4in coils,” Mitch says. “We’re currently

running HD coils because we used to have our tent on the roof

and the Cruiser was fully loaded to go away. Now we tow a

Patriot X1GT and everything has been put in the trailer so the HD

coils are too stiff. New coils are on order to suit the weights at all

four corners.

“The custom sliders were on the 105 when we bought it, but

I’ve built or modified everything else. I built the rear bar myself. I

taught myself to weld because I didn’t like any bars that were

available and wanted to build something different and unique.

We’re really happy with how it has turned out and it’s held

together through some pretty hard abuse. I originally put an

XROX bar on the front but after building the rear bar I wanted to

change the look of the front too. I plated up the wings and cut the

centre hoop to make it a little different from the rest.”

SUSPENSION & BARWORK

• 1HD-FTE Conversion


• 850Nm and 225kW


• Upgraded Toyota H151 Transmission


• Marks Adaptors 25% reduction gears


• Nitro Gear 4.88 Diffs with Harrop Elockers front and rear

After blowing the factory 1HZ, Mitch decided it was time to swap

out to something with a bit more grunt. Enter the 1HD-FTE. “The

engine conversion went really well,” Mitch says. “It’s a pretty

straight forward conversion. Just had to change the engine

mounts from the 1HZ and swap the sump over and it slotted

straight in. I sent the 1HZ and FTE loom off to a bloke on

Facebook who is known for splicing the two together.

Unfortunately though, I bought a motor privately that had a lot of

issues. He clearly had no idea what he was doing when he rebuilt

it. The fuel pump was cactus and installed incorrectly which

destroyed two sets of injectors trying to diagnose it. The motor

was also out of time and smashed all the valves in the head so I

had to rebuild the head too. It was a nightmare but it is finally

running awesome now. Last trip to the Dyno it belted out 850Nm

and 225kW!

“As far as the driveline goes, I always liked the ideas of

Elockers better than air personally, and I’m really happy with

them. The reduction gears are awesome. I’d read that it makes

such a difference when running 35s, so decided to do it while I

was in there for the lockers. so much nicer to drive and heaps

better off-road.”

ENGINE CONVERSION

& DRIVELINE

07

4

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There’s no doubt that

MAD RIG has some flex

The custom built drawers are

perfect for their needs

With Diff gears and Elockers, this

beast eats tracks for breakfast

After all work Mitch has put into this

engine, it’s now just how he wants it