Toyota Hilux MK5 Restoration And UZ Swap.

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I got home from work sometime in April, to find a package had arrived for me, via DHL. I opened it up, to find my projector headlamps, and matching crystal indicators / side lamps. It's quite well made too, with a built wiring harness and a pair of relays, making the headlamps plug 'n play in my Hilux.

Remember, the OEM Toyota Hilux has just single headlamps, with a common bulb for dipped and main beams. The new set up has separate bulbs for dipped and main, with the outer projectors dedicated to dipped beams. Just needs a nice HID kit and it's good to go. Being used to my Audi's with their factory HID headlamps, I find the stock Toyota halogens way too yellow to live with.

Still waiting for my LED rear lamps to arrive. I DID pick up a set of stock Toyota clear side repeaters, to replace the rather boring amber units. They look good, but seeing them against the nice fresh crystal front lights, they lack sparkle. So of course, a set of crystals has been ordered. Can't wait to get my hands on those sweet li'l suckers.

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By Monday the 05th May 2014, my Toyota Hilux 4x4 was declared road legal.

Having been laid up for a while, it was inevitable things would have degraded. Both front CV gaiters were shot, and the parking brake cable had seized solid.

Replacing the CV gaiters was not easy, very different from the procedure used on a regular FWD car, or indeed the Toyota Hilux 7, which is similar to a Toyota Camry, as far as the front driveshafts are concerned. Not a job to do on your driveway.

The handbrake cable replacement was another ball ache. The fuel tank needed to be pulled, to gain access.

All these were done on a Saturday, and the MOT carried out the following Monday. So for the next 12 months, she's road legal.

Things are looking great.

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My crystal side repeaters have since arrived, the LED rear lamp clusters had been out of stock, I received an email letting me know they were back in stock. I snagged a set, they were dispatched same day, and should be with me within 24 hours.

I definitely need to get cracking with my custom solid rear tonneau cover, so it can be painted the same time as the rest of the truck. I've also ordered some chassis black paint, so I'm going to be pretty tied up. This weekend however, I'm giving some time to my Audi A4 Quattro DTM V8 Competition car.

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My new LED rear lamps arrived 24 after ordering, as promised, they'll freshen up the rear of my truck real good:

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I had the rear of my truck measured up to get the frame of my custom, hydraulically-operated rear lid / tonneau built. Of course, my truck had the optional Toyota rear roll bar fitted, so that had to go:

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So out came the cage, and I ended up with a clean rear tub:

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Losing the cage though, meant I ended up with 16 holes, where the cage was bolted to the rear deck - 8 at the end of the load deck, and the other 8 on the rear wheel arch tubs. Not a big deal, I'll simply have them welded up:







The rear tub was originally boarded out with 6mm ply board. Essential in keeping the rear load area free of dents and major damage. But not if my purpose is to build a show truck, which is what I'm doing here.

So on a Saturday morning, I tackled the job of removing the lot. And an hour later, I had drilled out the last aluminium rivet, and removed the damp ply board. I was expecting to find the rear bed rusted through, with a view of the ground through gaping holes. Fortunately, all I found was light surface rust, just needs a rub down, priming and paint.

It was good to lose the wood, it was ###### heavy!

[Siena]

One thing's for sure - it's great to have a skill that's in demand, besides working for yourself, you can do a trade with a more common skill, or qualification.

I have recently been on a number of Toyota-sponsored courses, and examinations. One of these is Hybrid Control. I passed my Hybrid examinations at Pro-Tech level a couple of months ago, and much more recently (15th May 2014) passed my Hybrid Control examinations at Diagnostic Tech level. I was glad I did.

Now, there's a bodyshop the Toyota dealership I work for is affiliated with. They had a client bring in a 2007 Toyota Prius, with front end damage. It was driving when it went to the bodyshop, but the insurance company of the owner wrote it off. So the bodyshop siphoned all the gas out. Then the owner decided to buy the salvage rights back from his insurer, and get the car repaired privately. Unfortunately, the car could not be started. A few technicians tried their best, to no avail.

Anyone familiar with Lexus / Toyota Hybrid System will know that in order to get the system into READY mode, the transmission has to be in P, the foot brake must be depressed then the POWER button operated. If these conditions are not met, there's no way to get the car started. And if there are underlying Hybrid issues, no way to get the transmission into neutral.

This car was recovered to my dealership, after doing the rounds of local garages.

The deal was simple - if I could get the car started, and drive it, the bodyshop would carry out the bodywork - prep work, priming, and welding, then final colour change. And best of all, the work would be done at the cost of......

So this morning, I drove into work, and attacked the dead Toyota Prius. Naturally the first thing I did (or rather tried to do) was check for DTC's. Whatever had gone wrong, would not allow communication with Hybrid Control, or Engine ECT. And this was using Toyota's Techstream TD4. The only option left was to go the old-fashioned way, with manual diagnostics. And my efforts, and skill were rewarded - 40 minutes later, I had the car up and running. And drove her round the block.

A call made to the bodyshop by my dealership to relay the good news, some negotiation, and the owner was happy for me to drive down, and let him look my Toyota Hilux over. And I was able to see what the quality of this bodyshop's work was like. The shop is massive, with room for at least 30 cars at any given time. And it has the benefit of 4 spray booths, and of course, this means 4 ovens.

After I had a chat with the manager / owner, told him exactly what I wanted, he was only too happy to take on my Hilux. It's due in any time after the forthcoming Bank Holiday, which is the 26th May. I can't wait to see how this all pans out.

Next, I'm going to be updating this thread with some of the modifications I'm carrying out, prior to paint.

[Siena]

My Toyota Hilux is the Single Cabin, 4WD EX spec. So this means the rear tub has the hooks at the top, for tying down a tarpaulin tonneau cover. It also has the nasty groove all the way round. The tailgate also echoes this groove, and tie-hooks.

Since I won't be using a tie-down tonneau cover, I have decided to delete these. If it were just the hooks, it would have been a simple case of grinding them off. But the groove / recess means a more drastic approach is needed. The recess will require the entire area, on both sides to have new steel welded in place, filled, then sanded to shape. The rear tailgate is easier - simply replace it with the tailgate intended for Japanese-spec SR-5 models. This tailgate is smooth, and besides losing the recess and hooks like mine has, the embossed TOYOTA logo is deleted. The tailgate has been ordered from Thailand.

My truck has the recess and hooks on both sides of the tub the same on the tailgate, and the embossed TOYOTA logo.

Tailgate, showing recess, hooks and embossed TOYOTA logo:



Sides of rear tub, showing recess and hooks:

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And pictures of the rear tub and tailgate with the look I'm after. The gold truck is a Japanese / Thai model, pretty similar to UK-spec Hilux. The smooth sides (no recess or hooks) is only available on the double cab models. The white truck is an Australian-spec SR-5 model. Note the tailgate lacks the upper recess, hooks and embossed TOYOTA logo.

Tailgate, showing smoothed look, no TOYOTA logo:



Sides of rear tub, showing no upper recess, or hooks:

[Siena]

Another aspect of the Toyota Hilux KDN165 I don't like, and have decided to change...

...the pesky rear fog lamp in the lower panel, beside the licence plate. It looks home made, like a last minute after thought on Toyota's part. Echoing it's Japanese origins - as fog doesn't exist in Japan, fog lamps were never fitted to Japanese-spec Hilux's. So for export markets where fog lamps are mandatory, a rectangular foglamp was fitted to the left or right, depending on country.

On my truck, as is the case with all UK-spec Hilux's, the rear foglamp is on the right lower panel. Not very pretty, it looks like a cheap universal unit, similar to the foglamp on a car trailer. The rear reflectors too are very cheap looking, and not part of the rear lamp clusters:



As I have purchased more modern-looking LED units, I have decided to lose the factory rear foglamp, and the reflectors. The LED units have reflectors built in. As for the foglamp, I'm using a red bulb in the right hand side reverse lamp, I have swapped the pins in the connector accordingly. So I end up with just one reverse lamp on the left. The holes left by removing the solitary rear foglamp, and both reflector holes will be welded up.

The Toyota Hilux KDN165 had two, or shall I say three options for the rear bumper:

No rear bumper (EX, FX utility models).
Grey rear bumper (EX, FX, GX utility models).
Chrome rear bumper (VX Hi-spec models).

Whatever bumper was fitted at the rear, for some odd reason, Toyota chose to fit it way below the lower rear valence (licence plate area). Probably due to the fact the early MK3 and MK4 models had a similar rear tub, and the MK5 (KDN165) was based upon the earlier models. As the licence plate area was the same, and no rear bumper existed on early trucks, a bumper would have obscured the licence plate, rear foglamp and reflectors.

So a bumper was designed to keep the critical areas visible. Thus, the bumper for the KDN165 was born. It had a centre dropped section to clear the licence plate, and to keep the rear foglamp and reflectors visible, was mounted low down. The result was a sagging, / drooping abortion, that Toyota classed as "rear step". It looked horrible, I actually prefer NOT to have a rear bumper than be stuck with that!

I opted for a chrome bumper designed for the Toyota Hilux KUN25/26. I took measurements from a truck at work, and in terms of width, it was a perfect fit. It incorporates the licence plate too, so that would clean up the rear of my KDN165 a treat.

Saggy rear bumper on KDN165:



Straight rear bumper on KUN25/26, which I opted to retro fit:

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Current 2KD-FTV turbo diesel engine makes a paltry 101 hp and 260 Nm. A good work horse, but not fun to drive.

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I arrived home from work one day, early June, to see a rather large box had been delivered to me, carrying a Tokyo postmark.

Yep - my Toyota Hilux SR5 tailgate had arrived, to replace my UK-spec Hilux EX item. The SR5 was a Japanese trim level, which eventually filtered into the North American, Canadian and Australian market. The UK never got this model, so the only way I could get my hands on the SR5 tailgate, was to order from Japan or Thailand.

The only body parts I'm waiting for right now, are the SR5 fender flares. Fender flares are available on UK-spec models, but only on the VX, a trim level only available on the high-spec Double Cabin model. The front flares will certainly fit my EX Single Cabin Hilux, but the rears are different between Single And Double Cabin models. Double Cabin models have the rear flares split on both sides - part on the rear body, the other parts on the cabin.

So mine have been ordered from Japan. They should be with me next week. My Hilux is booked into the body shop at the end of the month, and while she's away, it'll give me a chance to concentrate on the interior, getting a set of 2005 Toyota Celica GT-S sport seats retrimmed in black and ***** leather, ready for when I get my truck back.

I can't wait to see her in her new paint.

[Siena]

For the custom hydro-electric rear deck lid, I needed hinges. Of course, I could have used any hinges, after all they won't be visible. But I want this project to be perfect, or as close to perfect as it could ever be.

So I opted for genuine brand new Toyota Prius front door hinges. Keeping it Real, keeping it TOYOTA.




Paint and other materials. From left to right:

Laquer.
Pear Laquer coat.
Base coat.
Hardener / activator.

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Toyota Hilux SR5 tailgate: