With the 2011 WTAC coming up fast, Nigel Petrie from Engineeredtoslide.com has been busier than ever. It's been 6 months of intense building on his Toyota Hilux Drift machine, and its public debut is just three weeks away. Nigel was originally planning to compete with the Hilux, however he'll be drifting in his 180SX instead so that he doesn't rush the Hilux build. It will, however, still be making the trip to Sydney to be displayed in its unfinished state. Nigel was kind enough to take some time to show Speedhunters what he's been up to over the past few weeks.
After a full week of four hour welding sessions every night in my cramped little shed it was so good to have the chassis removed from the jig.
With the MCA coilovers hanging off the frame I was excited to get the wheels on and see if those measurements worked out how I had planned. I spent a few weeks up at MCA suspension in Brisbane helping them get their own PS13 ready for World Time Attack. While I was there they rebuilt my shocks and I brought them back with me on the plane.
The wheels of choice are some B.I.M Driftmasters in 18×9.5J +0 on the rear and 17×8.5J +0 up front, these will not be the final wheels that the finished product will wear as the rear fenders I have designed will allow at least 11J +0 to fit.
With the seats sitting in place you get a feel for the amount of effort I have gone to sit super low.
Seating position is pretty tight in the cabin but it was always going to be an issue, with a single cab I have no room to move further back.
The body is a simple 2 man lift over the chassis. It will simply clip on and be removable to make working on it a breeze, maybe even an interchangeable body in the future? The wheelbase is the same as a JZX100 after all…
The MCA coilovers were designed to be on the bump stops 15mm before the chassis, in this photo the chassis is 75mm off the ground. I can adjust the height to be 20mm to 120mm off the ground.
I'm looking forward to taking a final weight figure, at the moment it's quite easy to lift from both the front or the back.
The 2WD front Hillux fenders are from a 2004 model. I will be keeping this front end but swapping the guards to 4×4 items for extra clearance.
The front wheels are further forward than they should be, I have not added castor rods yet to position the front wheel central in the guard.
Taking low seating to the next level. I may have to space my seat mounts up a little.
The fuel tank is now in with the Bosch 044 fuel pump feeding directly from the internal baffle within.
I've fallen in love with Icore fittings for my Hilux.
Here I'm making sure there's sufficient helmet room inside the cabin, I guess there is!
I just can't wait to drive this, I'm in no rush but I would say summer is looking good!
I'm jumping for joy to have this Hilux finally rolling, it's a milestone for any build to be removed from the jig it was conceived on. I'd like to thank Casey for the writeup and the Shields boys for the photos. Stay tuned as the next part may involve some drifting?
-Casey
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