82 Hilux 2wd brake/steering conversion

[gareth]

Hi, against all better judgement im going to have a crack at dragging an 82 lux i just bought (aswell as some street driving). Chasing quite a bit of power so trying to work out what i can do to improve the front end. I have scoured many threads for a few days and i have found the following

* Later model steering boxes (including power boxes) are a bolt in bar one bolt that needs a new hole drilling, or perhaps the plate removing from the old box and bolting to the new box before it bolts to the chassis - this seems pretty straight forward.

* Brakes possibly a 4 pot land cruiser caliper and a ms123 crown front disc (this still seems small), i know i cant use a later stub because of the ball joint but what if i use the upper and lower arm aswell - would this work? are the chassis points the same? Will this ruin my geometry? I believe i could run a falcon/skyline brake combo then

Anything i can do to stiffen up the torsion bar front? Bar of another model? Anything i can do to improve geometry/stability/handling beyond replacing old parts?

I will put some pics of the lux up tomorrow

Cheers

[gareth]

As promised

[alan.chalkley]

Hi Gareth
That is a nice tough ute.The new models are not as tough.
Mine is a 97 model and it hauls around 1000kg for about 200kms x five days a week and so far i can't kill it.
Why not keep yours stock and tough?

[gareth]

I guess i like to tinker. I dont want to lose anything in the appearance stakes, the wheels have to go. I lowered the front a bit but it could use a bit more and the back. Idler arm, rubber grease rebuilt sticky calipers and it will likely stay as it is until i get serious building a motor. But brake and handling upgrades cant hurt.

I looked over a 94 lux yesterday, i think the front end chassis pick up points are the same for upper and lower arms so -should- all bolt across

[gareth]

i have some rx7 rotors and land cruisre calipers here, maybe i should invest in a hobby lathe

[brucey]

G'day Gareth, nice looking ute. Is that an RN30 or RN40 with short bed?

[gareth]

RN40

Im still chasing info on this, looking at the ba/skyline brake conversion they do on later hiluxes, im wondering if arms and/or uprights are interchangeable between the rn85's and mine

Anyone know? Or want to sell me a front cut of a later hilux cheap to find out?