ETS Drift Ute – Touch Down

I am proud to announce that the Hilux has hit the ground. I woke up this morning and went through all the steps to get this rolling again, i needed to remove all the rear arms, remove the rear knuckles, remove the radiator under tray, then shift the 180SX, let the hoist down, shift the Silvia, remove one side of the hoist, roll the jig over to the hoist, refit one side of the hoist, lift the hilux off the jig, remove the jig, refit the arms, refit the knuckles, do a spanner check, remove the wheels from the trailer, fit the wheels on the hilux and then lower it on to the ground and check how the suspension, sway bars and everything else works with weight on it.

After spending a couple of hours doing all that (thanks for your help Greg) it was an amazing feeling to have it all on the ground again.

If you have been following the build for over a year you would have already seen this rolling but seeing it in this state of build was another thing all together, the entirely new suspension setup just looks amazing and to see it all working and holding weight just makes those months of late nights all worth it.

The alignment seemed pretty right with a few toe adjustments (which were easy) to get it rolling smoothly, the amount of adjustment on the rear makes aligning very simple, i have never had a rear end sit so happily with everything evenly weighted.

I just never get sick of looking at it, from each foot step away i get a different angle to look at, i sometimes forget the amount of time spent building it. Thats enough daylight for one day, time to roll back in the shed, love that word, ROLLING and not on the jig!

The fuel pump mount is also something new that you have not seen, i bought a generic 044 alloy mount (because seriously for $17.95 why would you build one) then made up a neat little 1.6mm sheet mount for the mount. Thats the difference with this build, its that extra step that i always take to make the most of every little feature, its bordering on an art piece now.

I refitted the rear underfloor and radiator to see how we were looking for clearances, it all looks good and now i have a heap more work to do.

After feeding about 10 meters of MIG wire out of my MIG (gas off of course) we hung the rear quarter panel from the roof of the garage, it was a nervous time for me as i wasn’t 100% sure on the width of the new rear end, i knew it would be close and i hoped everything would line back up, you get an idea for the amount of overhang i have, from here i have to build an entire tube structure to hang the rear panels and alloy diffuser from, theres a stack of work needed now!

I was stoked with the guard fitment, the front guards were also trial fitted (higher radius cut) so now i have an idea on how much to pump the fronts now. We also fitted the bonnet on the new Toyota bonnet hinges. I have months of work ahead of me to have all the panels permanently on and staying that way. Step by step its really getting there.

So so happy to be rolling on 100% hand fabricated front and rear suspension now.