Outback Roof Console

Although we bought and fitted our Outback Roof Console some months ago, we have been meaning to fix the problem of the LEDs which glow partially, and very annoyingly, when they are switched off... this is a widely known problem with LED's which can be illuminated by just the current leakage across wires running in close proximity to one another.

 

We tackled this issue by adding a small 12vDC Finder relay which disconnects the switched-ground wire when the door is closed, so the current leakage coming down the ground wire cannot illuminate the LED's. Wiring Instructions;

 

Cut White wire - Attach the side with diode to NO on the relay, and the other side to both COM on the relay, and to the coil

Tap into the red wire and connect to the coil

 

Job done.

 

Our next mission was to bring a power wire into the console, as the fine wire that delivers 12vDC to the console is not man enough for powering anything like a radio for which the console is designed. We did this by feeding a draw wire from the center of the roof, down to the side of the car and under the drivers door seal, entering the dash in the drivers footwell. We then fused these wires to 3A, and intalled a double "Cigarette Lighter" in the console, now we can power our devices from the console which avoid having wires trailing all over the cab.

Snow 2013

Nothing beats a bit of snow to remind us how versatile 4*4's can be with the right equipment. During an adventure to the Brecon Beacons, the only thing that stopped it was a 5ft snowdrift, I was tempted to try the snow chains but didnt want to risk ruining the new tyres. After getting bogged down up to the side bars it was time to churn our way back out and head to the pub.

 

 

 

 

Front and Rear Diff Breather Extensions for Hilux

Due to constant flooding here in Dorset, and the need to now drive through 2-3ft floodwater at least twice a month to get to work, i had to make some minor modifications to the Oily Beast to calm my nerves at a time when there is plenty of other things to concentrate on, like not floating away.

 

The front and rear diff on the Hilux are fitted with breather valves, on the rear the valve is a one-way valve, but on the front they are only open ended breathers, mounted around the height of the wheel arch - if water gets this high then the diff could suck in water. The rear one way valve is very well made, and reliable, but you just cant be sure it is working properly, even if the valve is working properly, on older vehicles the oil seals in the axles wear and these can also suck in water under vacuum, despite not letting oil out.

 

To eliminate this risk, the valves can be removed, and replaced with tubes, which convey the vent point to a much higher level, in the case of this vehicle, by taking the line into the air box, the level becomes that of the tip of the snorkel - and if that goes under water then the diff will be the last of ones troubles.

 

To extend the diff breathers, i created a new product for Oilybits, as the equipment list was stuff that is normal stock for us, hopefully we can sell a few of these kits, these are available HERE, and having seen whats on the market, these are simpler, more thorough, and less costly than everything else that is out there.

 

DIY HID Conversion on KC Rally 800 Spot Lamps

A few years ago, i bought some KC Rally 800 Driving Lamps, which came with 100W halogen bulbs. Well, the original bulbs lasted about 2 weeks before they were black and burnt out, and the lamp cases were always foggy which led to corrosion destroying the reflectors about 6 months down the line. I was enormously disappointed about this but then remmebered, they have a 25 year warranty!

 

A few weeks later we got new reflectors, seals, screws, faceplate washers, bezels, and stone guards, and I invested in a set of H2 HID bulbs and controllers from HIDS4U. To convert the lamp to HID, we drilled out the old cable hole to 14mm to allow us to fit a cable gland - to keep water out, we then had to cut the DIN plugs off of the H2 bulbs, and push the cables through the gland, soldering the cables back togther inside the lamp, a heat shrink adhesive sleeve was used to finally seal the joint up to protect from a 24kv shock or water ingress. The HID bulb was a little too "deep" so using a stanley knife we cut excess heat shrink off of the rear of the bulb which made it short enough to fit in. We then fitted the lamps back together.

 

Result is amazing - a piercing white HID glow, reflected through massive 8" lamps - these almost turn night into day.

The final mod to the headlamp system was to create a gadget to switch the HID driving lamps on when the main beam comes on. This was more difficult that it looks because the Toyota Hilux Mk6 headlamps are "switched ground" headlamps, this means that the ground and live feeds alternate between off, headlamp, and main beam, this makes it imposible to tap into a high beam "live" wire to control the spot lamp relay. To get around this we created a plug in relay which is controlled by the hi beam solenoid on the bi-xenon (hi/lo) bulbs. We butchered some old HID bulbs to get male and female 2 pin connectors to mate with  the standard Philips HID bulbs, bought a "Finder, 16A 12vDC Minitaure Relay with Spade Terminals, and 45ma coil", and put this into a small waterproof enclosure. Totally plug and play and works a treat.

 

Next mission is to fit a breather tube to the bottom of the lamp, and tee this into the diff breather extension system, to keep out moisture but allow the lamps to vent unhindered, this will be especially useful in floods when the lamps cool quickly, and otherwise have a tendency to suck in water which completely destroys them.

Santa Brings a Snorkel...

To keep myself busy over Christmas i decided to fit a Snorkel. We went for a 4*4 Direct Snorkel for the Mk6 KUN25 Hilux. The main reason for this choice was cost, at £95 + VAT this model is around 1/4 of the cost of a 'Safari' branded Snorkel! Okay im sure the Safari version might have better instructions, and a more advanced top hat, but seriously, £95 vs about £400 - there was no discussion.

 

First observation on opening the box was relief - it is actually a really good snorkel for £95. The top hat is strong, and appears also to drain in a similar way to the safari snorkel, through fine channels in the slotted top hat coupling. The fixings for the main snorkel body are stainless steel which is also great.

 

On the downside, there were no instructions regarding how to assemble the kit to the vehicle, or a parts identifier, and on the wing cutting template, there was a note saying to hold the template up to the snorkel to make sure the template holes are in the correct position!! surely, the least you can expect from a template is that it actually tells you where to CORRECTLY put yor holes - but on checking, it was out by around 3mm, so its just as well we checked. At least the location of the main duct hole was spot on.

 

Drilling and filng the wing took some effort, but after a few hours of elbow grease and a few dollops of silicone sealant, the snorkel was on, and all the joints sealed up and waterproof. It actually looks superb. From memory, silicone buggers up paintwork, so i painstakingly scrubbed off all traces of excess silicone before it set.

 

There were a few parts which we didnt fit though - the riser tube is supplied with an aesthetically-disappointing 3mm steel mounting bracket and bolts, which looked naff, and i just knew was going to rust, it was also intended to be riveted to the A post - drilling through the A post in this location could have ruined the aerial cable that runs inside it, so i avoided this by using a blob of silicone to glue the riser to the A post - the riser sits flush with the post so it was not visible, this worked a treat. There was also a large silicone "reducing" sleeve and 2 jubilee clips for it, but the silicone sleeve did not match up to any 2 diameters of the ducting, and the only place in which it could have been intended was inside the wing - where there was no visible spigots to slide it over, so we just siliconed everything together and omitted the sleeve. The reassuring thing in the wing is that when the main body of the snorkel is bolted on, it is impossible to remove the joining duct that connects it to the air box, so we know this part will never come loose without us knowing ( it is also impossible to fit it with the snorkel bolted on, so if youre fitting the same kit, fit the joining duct with the bolts loose, before tightening them up)

Lift Successful!

Thanks to Chris Reece at Townsend Motors in Broughton Gifford, the suspension lift was successful, though it took him, and at times 1 or 2 other colleagues 7 HOURS to complete the job, as there was an awful lot more to fitting the kit than was stated in the instrictions, and the modifications affected other retro-fit equipment i had, such as my ASFIR front skid plate which had to be bushed up @ 40mm with towers of bolts to get me on my way, i will replace the bolts with solid bearings when i find some of the right size.

 

The 33" BFG's went on the following day at DCM Tyres in Blandford, though some minor nibbling of the front fenderwell was required to give them enough clearance. They also needed HUGE amounts of balancing weights, one tyre took over 300 Grams of adhesive weights, the pile of weights being an inch high, the lad who did the job took over an hour to fit & balance the 5 huge tyres, and said he hadnt sweatted so much fitting tyres ever before. lol. One thing i did find is that there is no way that a tyre any bigger than 33" can go on the hilux, because a 33" tyre touches the chassis mounting point behind the tyres when on full lock, so to get anything bigger on you would need to move the front axle forwards which is a job only Arctic Trucks in Iceland are likely to be able to perform.

 

The drive afterwards was in my opinion the same as the drive before the lift, no noticeable difference at all in a straight line (apart from the 4" ride height increase), though the cars ability to "bump-steer" around corners has been reduced, instead of digging in (assisted by the suspension "Rake" that we have taken away and the previously lower centre of gravity) and making the turn it wants to bounce into the ditch, but you soon get used to it and take bends a bit slower, the only consolation if you did end up in the ditch is that the hilux would probably be able to get itself out okay!

One amazing difference is that the new tyres are giving me more MPG - an increase from 32 to 34.5 MPG (rural use), and contrary to my thoughts, they dont make any greater noise than my previous tyres.

A couple of weeks after the fitting we had severe floods at Hammoon, which is on the route to work, the road was flooded to 70cm for over a week but the Hilux passed effortlessly, with the Lift and the bigger tyres it has increased the wading depth from 70cm to 81.5cm. 81.5 being about 1cm above the top of the tyre tread, which is ideal as i can see the level from the window. The only thing you cant see is all the crud on the road underneath you, which in the case of hammoon included 3 telegraph poles, though the balloon tyres soon nudged them out of the way. Pleased to find the double door seals kept the beast waterproof with the water 6" up the doors, though when the entire drive shaft gets submerged the noise of sloshing water beneath you and in the engine bay is a little un-nerving.

Where did the time go?

After 2 years of inactivity i thought i better write another blog posting, goodness knows where the time has gone, but were still going strong!

 

Looking at my last postings, one referred to the Cooper STT tyres i put on the Oilybits truck, well, that was now 45,000 miles ago and their whopping 18mm of tread has been reduced to 5mm, so were back on the tyre trail, though theres still probably 5,000 miles of tread left in them. The great news is that the Cooper tyres have lasted an unbelieveable amount of time, and were exactly as i was told, sticky, great on road and off, quiet, self cleaning, and with solid walls, not one tyre has needed attention in the whole time they have been on the truck.

 

Typical of me though, i want to go one better than before, so im going to try and get 33" tyres on the beast, the sad news is that Cooper dont do the STT in 33x10.50R15, and their 33x12.50R15 are too wide for my Stock '7J' rims, which i like too much to change, so we need to change to BFGoodrich Mud TA KM/2 33x10.50R15. The KM/2 is supposed to be a better tyre than the KM/1 which had mixed reviews, but looking at the tread these are going to be noisier tyres than the Cooper STT's due to the tread spacing, and this will mean they will reduce fuel efficiency. The Cooper STT's had a more equal tread spacing across the tyre making them quieter and more economical. The only other visual negative is the tread is only 13mm deep, compared to the STT's 18mm.

 

At the same time as bigging up the tyres i wanted to uprate the suspension but have drawn a blank on this, i bought some KSI (KS International Ltd) Coil Springs and some KSI 0079224 Leaf Springs www.ks-international.com via a third party advertising them both as "Uprated", however, having received these, and measured them in comparison to the originals, they are nowhere near as strong as the stock Toyota Suspension, so I have returned everything for credit. The comparison measurements are below for anyone else considering an upgrade using KSI parts, as far as i know KSI parts are the only parts which are sold by some agents as "Uprated" for the MK6 Hilux (KSI say they are direct replacementS), I also tried Bilstein but they have discontinued their uprated kits due to low demand. The only other providers are based in Australia and are extremely expensive, so we wont be uprating the suspension this time.

 

Original Toyota Coil Spring - 16.60mm Wire Gauge, 10 Coils
KSI "Uprated" Coil Spring - 15.85mm Wire Gauge, 9 Coils

 

Original Toyota Leaf Spring - 5 Leafs, 8mm, 8mm, 8mm, 12.5mm, 10.5mm, total thickness 50.5 mm
KSI "Uprated" Coil Spring - 5 Leafs, 7.3mm, 7.3mm, 7.3mm, 7.3mm, 16.8mm, total thickness 48.3 mm

 

Although i did not compare the springs in any mechanical test, i believe it is virtually impossible for the KSI parts to be in any way stronger than the originals, just from looking at the above figures, so beware agents selling these as "Uprated" - they are not, they are at best comparable to the original equipment, at worse, slightly less strong than the original equipment. If KSI or one of their agents selling these as "Uprated" can prove to me otherwise then i will gladly buy them again and edit this posting.

 

One thing i did buy and keep was Monroe Adventure GAS shocks for the rear, the originals are a Gas/Oil mix, but i can see one is knackered and is leaking oil. The Monroe shocks do look a lot thicker in the body, and have good reviews, so they may offer some, albeit minor ride quality difference. I sprayed these black as their stock yellow colour is a bit tacky.

 

So, the total kit list for this mod is 1x "Readylift" www.readylift.com 69-5055 suspension lift kit, to lift the front end 2.75-3.00", and the rear 1" to accomodate the bigger tyres, 1x pair of Monroe Adventure Gas Rear Shocks, and 5x BFGoodrich Mud TA KM/2 33x10.50R15 tyres.

 

My mods list for the near future includes a winch and snorkel, but i need to design a bespoke laser cut steel bracket to accomodate the winch as i dont like winch bumpers, so this will have to wait for a bit.

Mongol Rally Saxo Converson

A 7.30AM arrival in Hammersmith was the beginning of a manic, but productive day. I met Jenna at a house where a friend was kindly storing the car for her, and she then followed me to Pit Start Garage in Acton, where we had booked a bay to convert the car. Everything went completely to plan and 8 hours later, Jenna drove out of the garage on 100% Biodiesel. The next stage of testing is an 1100 Mile drive from London to Inverness and back next weekend with her team mates using Waste Vegetable Oil, if it survives that then i am confident it will survive the trip to Mongolia. After completing the conversion we drove back to Hammersmith on Biodiesel, then to a pub for a pint.

Brecon Beacons 2010

After a week of healthy snowfall it was decided that the Oilybits Hilux should be put through its paces in the deep snow, the venue chosen being just north of the Brecon Beacons in Wales, where much of the recent snowfall has been the heaviest in years.

Our trip started in Brecon town where we stopped for a mug of tea and a bacon butty to start the day, the snow was falling and the skies looked laden with plenty more. Having met some friends we piled into the Hilux for our first drive to Garth, via the B4519. This road proved to be a great opportunity to see what my Low Range gears were like as until now i had not needed to use them, and also to get used to driving on the deep snow. The drive was fairly easy as the snow wasnt deep, although in Low Range Gears for the steeper sections, the truck was doing just 6 MPG! After arriving in Garth we then took the MOD road up over the top of the hills to Tirabad, and what an amazing road this was! The snow was deep in the road, up to 12" and so high between the wheels that my sump guard was acting like a plough. My new Cooper Mud & Snow Tires did an excellent job though and in Low or High range the truck did not miss a beat and stayed firmly planted, averaging 30 to 40 mph regardless of the conditions, Low Range was useful for a couple of steep hills, where the High Range just spun out. At the top of the first hill was the beginning of the MOD track to Tirabad, where we were suddenly surrounded by sheep! I can only imagine they thought it was their farmer with some food for them, but alas we had nothing, and a few toots of the horn soon shifted them (note; very girly horn, I must buy something than sounds more 'manly'). We passed one snowdrift as high as the roof just after Tirabad and stopped for a photo opportunity, then made our way back down into Brecon for dinner. All in all a brilliant day, and some great photos were captured. Hilux 1, Snow 0

New Tires for the Oilybits Hilux

After a lot of deliberation (20,000 miles worth!) I finally decided on which "Nobbly" tires i would be putting on my beloved Hilux, the winners being the "Cooper Discoverer STT" in 31x10.50xR15. These were chosen because:

1. The tread pattern is awesome, and they also have White Lettering which is dead cool

2. They are much less expensive than BFGoodrich Mud or Goodyear Wrangler MTR

3. Their soft, sticky compound makes them better on-road than the competition

5. The A-Team used Cooper tires, so if theyre good enough for Mr.T, then theyre good enough for me!

After a lot of searching around the usual online outlets, Melksham Motor Supplies gave me the best price for 5 Fitted and also used adhesive balancing weights resulting in a superb finish. Contact them on Melksham 01225 703529

Due to the bigger width and diameter, and despite having also fitted 30mm aluminium wheel spacers all around, the tires rubbed a little inside the front arches, so some minor adjustment was carried out to the corners of the front bumper... with a hacksaw. The tires still rubbed on the mudguards a tad on full lock after this, but this was cured by heating the mudguard with a heat gun until the plastic was semi-liquid, and moulding it into a more appropriate shape to avoid conflict. Sounds crazy melting and chopping off bits of my car to accomodate oversize tires but it is definitely worth it.

Of course enlarging the tire OD has resulted in the MPG calculator reading lower as it thinks the engine is using the same amount of fuel but covering less Miles, the Bridgstones rotate at 690.7 Revs-Per-Mile, but the Coopers rotate at 654.2 Revs-Per-Mile, so I have to mentally divide my MPG and MPH displays by 1.0558 to get the true figures, this is like being back in a cockpit, just my brain isnt as quick as it used to be. Fortunately as all cars read 10% over on the MPG display, it still means that im not travelling quite as fast as the display shows, so ive no danger of being framed. After a 50 mile combined jaunt across the plain im averaging 36.9 MPG, a slight increase on previous figures, and a truly excellent figure for a 3.0L Turbocharged Engine, beats all the competiton by a huge margin, the Toyota is definitely the only option when it comes to Pick-Ups.

The next question was what is the correct tyre pressure for these oversized tyres?!?! Well, there is a proper calculation to determine this...

Look at the sidwall of the tyre, there will be text saying max XXXXKg at XXPSI - on my Cooper Discover STT tyres this value was 1030Kg @ 50PSI. Now, times 1030Kg by 4 (the number of tyres each capable of bearing that weight on the vehicle) this gives you 4120Kg. Now divide the normal weight of your vehicle, in my case this is 3000Kg, by 4120Kg this gives us 0.7281553, finally times this by the maximum tyre pressure of 50PSI, this gives us 36.40 PSI :-)