new to mu

[panie]

hi i am relatively new to owning a mu about 8 months now and am stoked with it even though all my mates think its crap because its an import i have since towed my mates 4 runner out of 3 holes and overtake him every time we get to a hill. now looking into juicin it up a touch. looking at a 2.5 s/s exhaust from back of turbo, interested in a intercooler? if its worth the outlay and possibly the calmini 3 inch lift kit but a little sus if the shocks in the kit are worth it. also where are people finding bullbars from? ahh so many things so little time oh an cash. whats the best order for modding my mu?????? just wanna teach some lux's a sound lesson

[geeves]

Forget the calmini suspension. The upper A arm in the kit is good but you can get the same effect with a ball joint flip at no cost. The springs are no better than localy made ones at half the cost. Shocks are equal to ranchos similar cost. I wouldnt bother with stainless for the exhaust. Diesels dont eat exhausts like petrol engines but 2.5 inch and intercooler well worth doing

[blowout]

You should buy the Calmini Upper Arms for the front suspension definately. I ran on wound up torsion bars and ball joint flip on standard arms and i chewed through top and bottom ball joints like no tomorrow, this is due to the angle imposed on them. Also when the suspension compresses the top arm pushes the top of the wheel out exerting huge strain on the ball joint bolts increasing risk of breakages. After I swapped for the Calimini upper arms handling increased dramatically and so did the ride comfort. Plus the ball joints are back to the standard angle and minimal strain is exerted. All-in-all, Calmini Front Arms are the way to go. And for the rear just get lifted TF rodeo springs (non-heavy duty) and a set of Snake Racing Shackles and you are on your way to a very capable truck. Hope this helps.
Blowout

[kingman]

Those Calmini Shocks front shocks are not up to what i had imagine either...they were to soft...the Ranchos are much better expecially the Ranchos 9000X fully adjustable 9way

[Demonic]

new to Mus or new to 4x4ing in general?,
I would ahve suggested 1.5in to 2in Lift, with 32/33in tyres, from what i have seen it would get you most places. both can be done on the cheap by adding shackles at the rear and winding the torsion bars. So thats basicly at no cost, try that for a start and then if you want the extra inch then you can buy parts and make it so.

I reckon the first thing you should buy is a good set of tyres...thats were id start modding.

[supamu]

new to Mus or new to 4x4ing in general?,
I would ahve suggested 1.5in to 2in Lift, with 32/33in tyres, from what i have seen it would get you most places. both can be done on the cheap by adding shackles at the rear and winding the torsion bars. So thats basicly at no cost, try that for a start and then if you want the extra inch then you can buy parts and make it so.

I reckon the first thing you should buy is a good set of tyres...thats were id start modding.

I totally agree. Going up from 31" to say 33" will make a huge difference to how far you can go offroad, lifts everything. If you are driving alot of bogs and mud get a good mud tire with wide apart lugs so it will spin clear the tread. Snorkel would have to be up there somewhere in priorities to.

[Pissy]

Just a quick note for QLDers is that extended shackles are illegal,...not that I have heard anyone being done for it,...but should we have a crash, your insurance may not be valid.

[LittleBuddha]

Any word on the bullbar? I have registered under the username of Little Buddha but the site won't let me log in.

Thanks.

[LittleBuddha]

OK so I am obviously logged in now, even though it kept telling me I had a wrong username. Great site. Tahnks again.

[pig75]

Bull bar of a rodeo of the same year will fit
I had a 2" body lift 33"tyres front locker and terra low gears when this video was taken. It goes most places

[Pissy]

1+ to what pig said, rodeo ball bar, it's what I have, no idea what model or year but it came of rodeo.

Cheers

[Fly3r]

Welcome to the Mu world

Personally i would go lift first then get tyres to match, and mods from there you can get anything in any order.
I got a few photos of my mods in order:
Stock

3in calmini liftg kit

33x12.5x15

2in body lift

Bull Bar

Intercooler

Snorkel, front locker, 35in tryes, cut guards


Hope it helps, there are plenty of way to mod out your Mu.

[jezza]

Now that is a cool photo

[kingman]

Niceeee..How does the Calmini Shocks feel??

[Fly3r]

the shocks arn't that crash hot, but they did the job. after a year and a bit they are shot now.

[kingman]

Those Photos are Great..Your MU Looks Wicked!!

[LittleBuddha]

Thanks for the bull bar tip. I noticed you ditched your side steps Jezza, mine has none and the missus hates jumping up into it. Did you find they reduced clearance? Side stpes saved me as lot of panel damage on my last truck, especially with a side bar running up to the bull bar.

I won't put it all in this forum but I followed up with China 4x4 after seeing some potential for cheap parts on this site..they are damn cheap, and the freight is very reasonable so the catch is the number of itmes you have to buy...like 5 snorkels at a time. I reckon there's have to be 5 people wanting a snorkel at $75 a hit (plus freight)

[LittleBuddha]

Sorry, I wanted ask about your intercooler too Jezza. I have a little top dwon version like your, came with the truck but not fitted have you found it worthwhile? I have a 5 inch lift so freeing up the donk to suck a bit more power is next on the list

[Fly3r]

My side steps were weak. so they needed to go, they also got caught up on alot of things. those ones in particular would have samed much damage to flimsy.

plan on creating rock slider instead and connecting them up with the bully,

The intercooler, i didn't notice to much, its definitly not doing any harm. that mod came with a few others at the same time so it was a bit hard to diferenciate between them, but every bit of extra pwr helps

[LittleBuddha]

thanks mate, I have the bits and pieces so no real cost involved so I reckon I'll do the intercooler. Bloody handy to have this forum...beats going to most dealers and hearing "MU...nah, nothing for those..." Cheers again, very helpful.