I have personally
built the vehicle from scratch, it is based upon a 1992 model TD42
diesel Coil cab Ute. The vehicle regularly spends its days
towing a 2.8 ton trailer and tractor combination, at other times I
utilize it as a support vehicle for my activities with a Rural Fire
Brigade. The vehicle quickly converts to a fast response support
vehicle by the addition of a 800kg fire trailer. (Both can be seen
in the attached photos.)
Whilst the vehicle
has a tare weight of almost 3 ton it still manages to accelerate
0-100 in under 10 seconds and has a top speed of 220Km/H, which is
not too bad for a 3 ton diesel truck. The following
modifications have been made to enable this: The Standard TD42 6 cylinder diesel power plant was boosted
from its factory 85Kw to 155Kw and almost 500Nm of torque through
the addition of a Safari turbo charger and Intercooler Kit peaking
at 15 bar of boost. This kit was further enhanced by replacing the
factory injectors with a set of matched Safari/Barema injectors,
the addition of a safari snorkel, replacing the exhaust system with
a three inch mandrel bent system and increasing the fuel pump rate.
The standard Fuel filter was replaced with a high capacity
waterproof Racor filter to ensure greater power yields and better
injector life. The battery has been replaced with a Heavy Duty
Caterpillar battery to cope with the higher temperatures and the
heavy pounding that it receives. 
The addition of bonnet grills (see photo) was
necessary so as to reduce under bonnet temperatures. The
temperatures where reaching such levels that the vent air for the
cabin was being preheated to very high temperatures and also
resulted in extensive heating of the fire wall. After fitting the
grills the under bonnet temperatures have fallen drastically and
has also assisted in increasing air flow through the engine bay and
cooling system.
Due to the increased power
output the clutch also had to be heavily modified, finally after
trying 3 clutch kits which only lasted 15 000 Km each, the final
combination of a heavy duty pressure plate from a Ti efi Patrol and
a motorsport clutch plate has managed to handle the massive amounts
of power and torque. The clamping pressure now utilized in the
vehicle is almost three times that of the factory vehicle. To handle the increased power the vehicles suspension system
was replaced with a complete Old Man Emu Kit from ARB. The kit was
then further enhanced by the addition of Polyair suspension
bags(see attached photo) to the front and rear coil springs. This
has resulted in a vehicle that has no body roll and can out handle
many performance sports cars. The handling has also been improved
by increasing the track of the vehicle by approximately five
inches. This has meant that the vehicle is much wider than normal
on the road and has improved stability and traction whilst
cornering and driving under high speeds. The vehicle has been
fitted with 10R15 Cooper Discoverer's, these tyres are only lasting
a maximum of 30 000Km's, not surprising when you consider that it
still develops wheel spin in third gear on dry bitumen. A sharp tap
to the accelerator in third will make the back end step out without
any difficulty.The braking system has also been increased by utilizing motorsport brake pads and through increasing air flows to the disk rotors. In the near future the existing calipers and rotors will be replaced by drilled and vented disks and Brembo 4 pot calipers 
The cabin has also
received attention the standard radio has been replaced with a
Kenwood stereo system, the tray space under the radio has been
replaced with a Uniden 40 Ch UHF radio, a center dash pod has been
added and is fitted with a boost gauge and 40 Ch Uniden AM CB. The
vehicle has also been fitted with a Garmin GPS satellite navigation
system that is in a custom cradle on the dash pod and can be easily
removed from the vehicle when walking, hiking or adventuring away
from the vehicle. The spare space under the center console has been
utilized to carry the hardware for a phone booster system and
allows phone coverage almost anywhere. Other additions to the cabin
includes a Turbo timer, Recaro race seats, an electronic brake
controller and an internal/external thermometer display.
If anyone has any queries please contact me
at
qbfc@thehub.com.au. This vehicle serves several purposes, heavy duty
towing vehicle, off road 4x4 and performance sports car. And if you
are wondering whether it is any good off road, well it's left all
other coil suspension 4x4's that it has come up against for dead
and they had diff lockers.....Follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/OffRoadDotCom
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