With the build almost finished, I'm doing this the wrong way around, but better late than never...
It all started back in February 2008. After a month spent reading up on DC utes, the Triton got the nod. When they first hit the road I thought they looked like a joke, but they grew on me quickly, and the unique looks, combined with the class leading (size wise) 3.2 diesel and of course the significant price advantage over the Hilux made it an easy choice in the end.
So I found a Gumetal Grey GLX-R demo at a dealer. Had 14kms on the clock and set of bling bling 20" wheels that the dealer said I could have for an extra $4500
Did the deal, but told him he could keep the wheels...It's a diesel manual, easy select and it came with some free dents in the tailgate caused by too much hands-on attention in the showroom, but I shrugged that off and settled into a year of happy Triton ownership. The plan was not to waste any money modifying this car...but Newtriton.net was to change that...
First mod was forced upon me when the symptoms of carbon build-up arrived. A trip to the dealer for a new intake manifold and clean-out, was followed up with an EGR blank and a Provent PCV filter.
That thing with the round lid is the Provent 200
A view from the other side of the engine showing the PCV inlet and outlet
Overall engine view. Removed the plastic cover as it just makes getting to stuff easier
A DP Chip was then added, and made quite a difference to the engines performance, but also made it quite a bit noisier. Only half happy with this mod.
Then the seats got the did3.2 seat spacer treatment, and what a difference that made!
Next mod was a centre console armrest from Italy, thanks to Joe's very popular group buy. Another awesome mod I wouldn't be without.
Joe's imported Italian leather sliding arm-rest (great mod for the ML)
Throw in a couple of off-road excursions and the bug had well and truly bitten, and the changes started to come along thick and fast.
A set of Bilstein shocks, including a slight lift in the front made a big difference to the drive, but there was some worrying behaviour on rough tracks, with way too much steering feedback coming through. I'd manage to fix this problem later.
The infamous ChipIT - I'm a very happy customer...
By now, the EGR blank was causing regular CELs and limp modes, mainly at highway speeds, when using the cruise, but it wasn't cool... ChipIT provided the solution, and I got in early enough to get their 210 DPS module at a great price. So I sold the DP Chip, hooked up the ChipIT and was amazed at the difference! Muuch more oomph, a quieter engine than stock and no more limp modes or CELs.
Oh...and I added their boost controller set to 20psi, so I guess that made a difference as well. Threw a Uni-filter oiled foam filter element in when I spotted an intake full of dust after a trip off-road
Another problem fixed...An iCom 440 UHF was then added. Hid the box under the centre console, and with the controls on the handset it takes up little space and is a neat solution. Another great idea I found on this forum.
You can see the iCom 440 to the left of the stereo. All the controls are on the hand-piece so it is quite an unobtrusive fit
Got real busy in the winter of 2010, and added some Baysies bash plates.
The famous Baysie's Bash Plates - saved my 4wd actuator at least twice
An Ironman Commercial bar was next, along with a set of Roo-Light 220s and a Safari snorkel that took me 7 hours to fit, rather than the 3 quoted...
The front end sagged of course, so it was time to hit the road to Ultimate in Sydney.
The Billys came out, and the Ultimates went in. Comfort ride, with a 2" lift. The result was a revelation. The ride and handling were transformed, and best of all, the Triton's off-road ride was fixed. No more feedback through the wheel!
Full marks and a gold star to Brendan, he is a beaut bloke to deal with and they know what they’re doing at Ultimate.Look really closely and you can see the blue braided stainless brake lines
So I celebrated by having Ultimate fit one of their Sprint Boosters
. Another good move, and one of the mods I wouldn't be without now. Run it on green, and the throttle response is spot on. You'd also swear there was another 40Nm under the bonnet.The Sprint Booster meant that I needed to fit bigger brakes (of course
), so Ultimate threw on a set of their DBA rotors and Bendix pads to make sure I kept out of trouble. Damn those group buys... Razorback canopy is as quirky looking as the Triton. I think they go together like chips and gravy...
Got back from Sydney and started to research canopies. The ML has a tray that looks
but is too small to be really useful (especially if you want to fit a fridge on a slide), so the only way to improve the situation was to build...up. I looked at them all, but couldn't get past the steel construction, looks and most importantly the central locking offered by the Razorback canopy. So I bit what is a rather expensive bullet and got it organised.The rear door is hooked into the central locking system. Very
The canopy was fitted and looked (IMO) the ducks guts. Fitting was only 80% though, and I spent some time sorting the wiring out better, and refitting a bung correctly to prevent the cab filling up with water at the next creek crossing.
Somewhere in all of this I arranged a set of MTZ (265/75/16) on some Dynamic steelies, and swapped the boggo stocko tyres for some Maxxis AT700s in the same size as the MTZs. Muuuuch betterer!
Great tyres, and the rim/tyre combo really toughens up the look
A 3" Scott's Rods exhaust was the next item fitted, and while we were there we added some Hazzard Engineering sliders. Wrapped with both products, and the service received from both businesses.
A slightly deeper note was the only noticeable change after fitting the 3"
An NTN forum member then did me a deal on an ARB rear bar, that I fitted late in 2010. What a biatch of a job to do on your own...
Took a break at the end of 2010 and then started to consider the final stage. I wanted to be able to take the Tri across the Simpson with my folks in 2012, so a L/R fuel tank and a fridge were needed.
Did a lot of fridge research before settling on the ARB. It was either the ARB or the Bushman. Happy so far...
Settled on a CTEK 250s Dual for the battery management and charging. Spent a few hours running the cable from the engine bay out to the cab, and tied it all into a 100amp/hr deep-cycle battery and 47ltr ARB fridge on an ARB slide. Very happy with the way this turned out, and got a real buzz out of doing some auto elec work on my own (pun intended).
CTEK is a neat bit of gear. It not only isolates the main battery, but charges/conditions the aux battery rather than relying on the alternator which is hard pressed to do the job properly
With the fridge in, I hit the road and ended up back at Ultimate in Sydney to have some of their stainless braided brake lines fitted. A worthwhile improvement to the pedal feel was the result and even with 32s it's braking better than it ever did stock.
Unfortunately the Long-range tank group buy fell over, so that's a mod for the future, and needed before the Simpson trek, but it's time to rest now.
Except for a front Lokka...that's now a must have...
Bloody hell...I've been a car nut since I knew what a car was, but I've never enjoyed a car more than the Triton. I've had a ball building it up, and though it might be time to stop, there will always be some testing and tweaking to do as time goes on.
This one’s a keeper! A great car, with a great forum to go with it.
And fear not, this is a Triton that gets used...
A Snooozy happy snap from a recent Vic members trip. This was only a mild 4WD outing, but still a lot of fun.
