LOAD WARRIOR

The twin-turbo Toyota Land Cruiser ute of Queenslanders Luke, Scott and Garth French from GSL Fabrications was out for a blat at Willowbank recently. The guys sell aftermarket bits for V8 diesel Toyotas, and got this ex-mine mule to develop some new products. So far it’s run a cracking 10.15@133mph with a near-stock engine! The 1VDJ diesel cranks out a massive 720rwhp and has copped as much as 65lb of boost through a compound turbo set-up.

From 2007 to 2016 Toyota has run the same V8 diesel, so it’s been a great motor for the French boys to develop. At $12K brand new, they’re pretty affordable, too.

The only internal change the boys have made has been upgrading the valve springs.

The intake plenum has been replaced with a fabricated stainless item, and a PWR dry-ice intercooler has been added. The stock turbos have been replaced with two Precisions, one a 5558 and the other a 6870. The combination runs two Race Port blow-off valves and two 50mm wastegates. There are three four-port solenoids for the blow-off valves controlled by an e-boost.

The Baileys Diesel Group injectors are 150 per cent bigger than stock, and the engine also copped two nitrous kits – the first a 100-shot to get it up onto boost on the transbrake, and the second a 450-shot.

The stock trans has been replaced by a Gilroy Automatics TH400 with a Tci/allison 12-inch converter running back to a fabricated nine-inch rear end.

The biggest hurdle has been tyres, as the boys started with radial fronts and slicks due to the unavailability of a front-runner big enough. They then moved to a radial rear, but then the rear end would want to come around at three-quarter track. They’ve since fitted wheel adapters that allow the use of a front-runner, but it’s been a struggle to pull the two-tonne sled up in the top end, so a ’chute was recently added as well.

By the time you read this, the lads hope to have run their first nine-second pass!