Drift truck or drift ute? That is the question…. Anyway whatever its called heres an introduction to the build that you will be seeing from time to time on this site.
In the announcement you may have read ive had this vision for a long time. I built a hilux minitruck sometime ago for daily driving, i spent a year building it and it turned out really nice. I sold it a while ago and it left a hole that needed to be filled.
All i needed was a cabin. I wanted the shape to be an 98-05 model hilux single cab. You would have seen thousands around our roads everyday. I found one in Sydney from a guy who started to build a hilux drag car.
Because of the spaceframe idea the cabin only needed to be a bare outer skin, something to hold windows, doors and panels. I didnt waste any time getting the cutting out of the way.
Can you see the cuts? Thats because i always use 1mm disks on a 5ich grinder, it means less work and a neater cut.
It peels apart leaving a light weight outer skin.
Why didnt i brace it before cutting it apart? Simple, this body section will remain like this, it will be removable leaving the spaceframe, floor, firewall, pedals steering coloumn, making it look like something you would see at the speedway.
It will stay white, with gunmetal grey cage, black BRIDE seats, grey bumpers and 04 grille and clear headlights/corner lights. Tailights will remain factory and ill be using a metal rear tub with everything cut out of it. I plan on having the battery, an electric water pump, radiator, fuel cell, fuel pumps, surge tank, oil tank all in the tub.
Wheel choice wont be BEE*R, wont be Driftmaster it will be
TE37s possibly in gun metal grey
This will be a huge project, something that will start relatively slow and gain momentum, i dont have huge finances to complete it in a short timeframe and i want to concentrate on driving the 180SX in drift comps, getting an S15 ready for Sprint driving, heading to Japan again and all the other stuff going on right now. What i will be doing is getting it to the rolling stage by completing all of the fabrication work myself then assesing my options when it comes to the expensive part of fittings, motor, gearbox, ect ect.
MitchS14
Wicked idea! Have you decided on the running gear yet? Looks as though you’d be able to keep it around a ton, with a light motor and box
Seems you’ve got quite the wheel collection there, any spare TEs around 😛
Nigel
Thanks mitch, the plan is to try and keep it on or under 1000kg. With good weight transfer it should be competitive with a reletively cheap tyre. No spare TEs lying around 🙂 They are all being used haha.
anth
Nigel, this is beyond awesome, you’re gonna get so much exposure from this. I mean the 2x S13s are masterpieces in their own right, but this is gonna plant you even more firmly on the map due to its uniqueness. Can’t wait to keep seeing it progress on the site, just wish I could see it take place in real life!
Nigel
Thanks Anth, means a lot, ive had this planned for years but havnt done anything because of lack of room. If you want something on Build threads ill do you a write up when its progressing. In a few weeks it will be on a jig and all ready to start the frame. Cant wait!!
anth
just keep doing what you’re doing, your photos and write-ups are great, I’ll just do a little write-up and then link to your site when the build is a bit further along so that way you get all the traffic 🙂
Nigel
Cheers mate, much appreciated, keep up the good work with the site, i gain a lot of inspriration from it.
marcus Gibson
Nigel I will be watching this very closely I have 99 questions but Im sure all will be reveled over time. look forward to the build. Im posting one of the pics on OC tonight its too kool.
Justin
3RZ Turbo Please 😛
Can’t wait will awesome to see
Landberg
Haha love it! 😀 This will be awesome!
4dori
Truely awesome bro! what engine ideas do you have floating around?
kriss
any ideas on what motor youre thinking of using ?
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Steve Kae
faaaarkk, i “was” going to do one, but way to much modifying. would be a great job for you but 🙂 cant wait to see the progress
plz do a 2jz, or a blown 1uz
Nigel
Its going to look so good once its ontrack 🙂
Markee
I’ll have mine with a twin turbo, alloy Toyota V8 please. *wink wink
Love ya work mate, when ya wanna blow off some steam let me know and come do a supermoto track day again!
seventhskyline
I like everything about this. Makes heaps of sense too, for a bloke like you who can build and fab anyway.
Having practically everything behind the axles should be great for handling and crashability, just give it some decent nerf bars behind the bodywork lol.
sambo
Brilliant work mate, keep it up 🙂 U should go with something unusal for the engine because it such an unusal build 🙂
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