[davo]

Hello all, This is my first time posting on your site. Must say, Heaps of helpfull info to look through.
There is my suituation. I recently spent several thousand $ on new tires and suspension for my 1997 2.8 hilux only to go and roll it. Now im on the look out for a new bush ute.
I do have a bit of a soft spot for the serria and own two early 80's model SWB. Both are unregisted.
Now what i have been thinking about is using the hilux gear and building up a super serria.
Would like to hear from anyone who has done this conversion or peoples thoughts on this.
Would it be able to be registered here in wa?
The car would mainly be used as a weekend bush vehicle and not spend much time on the hiway.

Or my other option was to look for another hilux.

Cheers

[want33s]

See-air-ah.

[Gwagensteve]

Hilux.

From my understanding it will be quite difficult and very expensive to certify a Sierra with hilux running gear in WA now. (assuming you mean you want to run SPOA) If you were happy with the performance of the hilux just buy another one and swap the bits over. It's going to be a lot of work to build what you are proposing and the end result might just be overkill for what you want, even more so if you can't drive it to the shops without getting worried it's going to get attention from the cops.

Steve.

[sideways]

Given the terrain we have (which lets face it, there's basically nothing that requires big tyres) going to the effort of building a Sierra on HiLux diffs is pointless. The Hilux ones are only 60mm (I think, please correct me if I'm wrong) wider than WT Sierra diffs so there's no point in using them because they're wider.

I don't think you'd be able to get it engineered, especially if you want it SPOA.

One of those Sierras you've got on WT diffs and 31" tyres would get you just about anywhere.

What terrain do you drive? Why do you want the HiLux drive line?

[BlueSuzy]

want33s wrote:

See-air-ah.

He must be from niw zalind

[davo]

Nar mate, Im not from NZ. Born & Breed West Aussie!

This vehicle would not need to be road registered as i have plenty of places it drive with out even touching the black stuff.
Ive seen quite a few hilux diff conversions in mag's and there are a few in your readers cars section. Some were quite detailed as to the process
of it.
Why do these guys go to the trouble of all this work if standard diff, tyres are more then suitable?

[sideways]

davo wrote:

Nar mate, Im not from NZ. Born & Breed West Aussie!

This vehicle would not need to be road registered as i have plenty of places it drive with out even touching the black stuff.
Ive seen quite a few hilux diff conversions in mag's and there are a few in your readers cars section. Some were quite detailed as to the process
of it.
Why do these guys go to the trouble of all this work if standard diff, tyres are more then suitable?

Comp truck guys do, I don't really see the point if you're running 35s or smaller though.

Why do you want HiLux diffs??

[Red89]

What is your mechanical knowledge ? Will you be doing the work yourself ? If youre doing it simply because you can then go for it, if youre doing it because you think you need to do it to drive most of the bush tracks and beaches in WA then you dont really need to. Had I lived on the east coast I would have been very tempted to have entered in Tuff Truck with mine on Zook diffs and 32's, I reckon it would have surprised a few people too. I went to Lux diffs purely because I felt I had pretty much reached the limits of would I could reliably drive on built Zook diffs and still wanted more.

[masterA]

The best part about a Sierra is that it's narrower than the HIlux or Patrol or Landcruiser and 'mounts' the ruts those 35 or 37s dig up
Having the lux diffs will give you more 'stability' but unless you're doing some serious comps i wouldn't bother.....it's not a cheap exercise even if you do all the work yourself and at the end of the day, a mildly modified sierra will keep up

Oh yeah...just sold my hilux and added another sierra

[MrRocky]

hiluxes are ghey

[GRPABT1]

The people that go Hilux diffs and know what is capable with sierras these days with chromo axles etc generally end up fitting chromo axles and 37's to their Hilux diffs too. If you're doing this then you're most likely more knowledgable than most already and need not ask questions on here.

If you just want a fun toy and not the most competitive comp rig about then zook diffs are where it's at. Chromo's up front, lockers all round, transfer gears, limit your tyre size to about 34" and be mindful of using the right boot when on high traction surfaces (no bouncing wheel spin on rock etc) and you will drive anywhere any registered fourby would go and have alot of fun without breakages. Any further than that would be talking comp spec vehicles.

I drive a Sierra with the setup described above on smaller tyres daily and wheel on 34" swampers locally and hours away and don't have any problem embarrassing my mates with twin locked 35" patrols, cruisers and jeeps.

[monley]

masterA wrote:

The best part about a Sierra is that it's narrower than the HIlux or Patrol or Landcruiser and 'mounts' the ruts those 35 or 37s dig up
Having the lux diffs will give you more 'stability' but unless you're doing some serious comps i wouldn't bother.....it's not a cheap exercise even if you do all the work yourself and at the end of the day, a mildly modified sierra will keep up

Oh yeah...just sold my hilux and added another sierra ;)

Smart man!!!

[BlueSuzy]

Red89 wrote:

What is your mechanical knowledge ? Will you be doing the work yourself ? If youre doing it simply because you can then go for it, if youre doing it because you think you need to do it to drive most of the bush tracks and beaches in WA then you dont really need to. Had I lived on the east coast I would have been very tempted to have entered in Tuff Truck with mine on Zook diffs and 32's, I reckon it would have surprised a few people too. I went to Lux diffs purely because I felt I had pretty much reached the limits of would I could reliably drive on built Zook diffs and still wanted more.

On half the tracks it might suprise people, But the other half, Goodluck. There are no tyres under a 37". Even on whats left of zooks.

A zook on 32's might of been competitive when tough truck 1st started. Like The lj on 31?s Duncans Kermit

I went to lux/bundy for strength to run 35's reliably. On and offroad.
With this i can also upgrade my GVM

[ROAR99]

put one of your zuki bodys onto your hilux chassis.. then u have a "SUZOTA"

[alien]

if you only rolled the hilux, why can't you re-body it (with a hilux body) and call it a day?

[SierraDan]

alien wrote:

if you only rolled the hilux, why can't you re-body it (with a hilux body) and call it a day?

I know a guy who did exactly that. In a day. Haha.

[Red89]

BlueSuzy wrote:

Red89 wrote:

What is your mechanical knowledge ? Will you be doing the work yourself ? If youre doing it simply because you can then go for it, if youre doing it because you think you need to do it to drive most of the bush tracks and beaches in WA then you dont really need to. Had I lived on the east coast I would have been very tempted to have entered in Tuff Truck with mine on Zook diffs and 32's, I reckon it would have surprised a few people too. I went to Lux diffs purely because I felt I had pretty much reached the limits of would I could reliably drive on built Zook diffs and still wanted more.

On half the tracks it might suprise people, But the other half, Goodluck. There are no tyres under a 37". Even on whats left of zooks.

A zook on 32's might of been competitive when tough truck 1st started. Like The lj on 31?s Duncans Kermit

I went to lux/bundy for strength to run 35's reliably. On and offroad.
With this i can also upgrade my GVM

Admittedly I am only basing my opinion on the DVDs, I have never actually been there but...

I have found from past experience the tyre size of your competitors is irrelevant, no one is unbeatable. As you know just because a Patrol or Hilux or even a Lux diffed zook struggles on an obstacle doesnt mean that we are forced to pick the same line they all have and often enough we can drive around stuff they are forced to drive over. Obviously there are several sections where I would quickly run out of wheelbase and clearance but dont forget due to my wheelbase and track there would be no rear steer penalties and reversing penalties should be limited to a minimum, which would help out some. One of the biggest things I have found that works in our favor is providing you have an ultra reliable vehicle ie one that doesnt break every 2 minutes, and you present at every stage and you arent afraid to have a decent crack at every stage for the weekend then you are already ahead of 30% of the field.

Like I said, had I been on the east coast I would have been very interested in seeing how far a Sierra on a very basic everyday setup could get, and I would have been expecting a middle of the field finish or better, however I wasnt willing to bet the $5000 or so, total cost of entry from Perth, on a hunch

[alien]

^^ woulda been awesome but =) the crowd would have gone nuts for it too.

[SierraDan]

I doubt the organizers would even accept the entry.. They'd think you're taking the piss and wasting their time.

Otherwise I'd have a go haha.

[masterA]

SierraDan wrote:

I doubt the organizers would even accept the entry.. They'd think you're taking the piss and wasting their time.

Otherwise I'd have a go haha.

What do you have to loose....ASK and see what happens

[SierraDan]

masterA wrote:

SierraDan wrote:

I doubt the organizers would even accept the entry.. They'd think you're taking the piss and wasting their time.

Otherwise I'd have a go haha.

What do you have to loose....ASK and see what happens

True haha. I'll get some comp experience first but..

[LAY80N]

Having acutally competed in TT, a zook on 32's would stand very little chance of driving any of the tracks. And before you all shout me down, i have driven my zook on 32 swampers on the tracks a while back. You could drive some bits of some of the tracks, but thats about it, especially in a comp situation where you dont have an hour to keep working at one obstacle like your would on a weekend trail drive.

Layto....

[BlueSuzy]

LAY80N wrote:

Having acutally competed in TT, a zook on 32's would stand very little chance of driving any of the tracks. And before you all shout me down, i have driven my zook on 32 swampers on the tracks a while back. You could drive some bits of some of the tracks, but thats about it, especially in a comp situation where you dont have an hour to keep working at one obstacle like your would on a weekend trail drive.

Layto....

The log jumps would smack into the chassis..

[Fatzook]

LAY80N wrote:

Having acutally competed in TT, a zook on 32's would stand very little chance of driving any of the tracks. And before you all shout me down, i have driven my zook on 32 swampers on the tracks a while back. You could drive some bits of some of the tracks, but thats about it, especially in a comp situation where you dont have an hour to keep working at one obstacle like your would on a weekend trail drive.

Layto....

I agreee. The courses are specificly routed for vehicles on 37"+ tyres. To be honest, 40's are the new 37's. And that was last year. Maybe we'll see a few more 42's etc this year.....

[SierraDan]

LAY80N wrote:

Having acutally competed in TT, a zook on 32's would stand very little chance of driving any of the tracks. And before you all shout me down, i have driven my zook on 32 swampers on the tracks a while back. You could drive some bits of some of the tracks, but thats about it, especially in a comp situation where you dont have an hour to keep working at one obstacle like your would on a weekend trail drive.

Layto....

I have a solution to this.

[Brett]

im about to down grade to a dual cab lux from a vitara your wasting your time looking to put a sierra body on lux running gear, every thing good about the sierra isnt being used.

if you want a sierra, buy a sierra and sell the lux bits to fund building it up

[MrRocky]

sierra body is heavier than a hilux body and hilux chassis is heavier than a sierra chassis, so really u are just making a heavy
pig of a car, how do i know ? cause ive already done it.

[2stroker]

Sierra body heavier than a hilux body ??????? you rekon

[MrRocky]

im telling u it is, 2 blokes lifted the lux cab off, with the zook cab 4 blokes struggled