The Alchemist

STOCK-AS-A-ROCK N70 HILUX GETS TRANSFORMED INTO A GOLD NUGGET.

- Matt Raudonikis

WHEN IT comes to building a competent custom 4x4 tourer, an old N70 Hilux is a pretty good place to start. There are thousands of them available out there for respectable prices, they offer the option of petrol or diesel engines, and there’s an endless supply of aftermarket equipment available to kit them out to your specifications and requirements.

Melbourne’s Brandon Droessler thought as much when he went looking for the right 4x4 for him. This 2005 dual-cab V6 Hilux was stock as a rock when he found it, and he applied his alchemist skills to transform the rock into a gold nugget.

“A lot of little things changed pretty quickly,” Brandon recalls of his first months with the Hilux. “Lift, tires, bar work, body lift, winch, basic lighting, and a plastic snorkel all went straight on. I installed my own custom-made overhead console with gauges and UHF.”

As is often the case, Brandon’s project snowballed and one mod led to another as the Hilux was totally transformed.

“Then things really changed and I spent some good money on it, redoing all the suspension, from inverted shocks and Colorado leaf springs to whole new front coils and hydro bumps,” he says.

Turning this Hilux into the mud monster Brandon wanted to require some serious suspension updates. Up front, it starts with a set of Profender coil overs wearing 16-inch travel Eibach springs. They are fitted using adjustable upper control arms (UCA) from PSA, while a diff-drop kit from Phat Bars keeps the geometry in check with the raised height. Hydraulic bump-stops help with heavy landings when Brandon gets a bit overly keen with the jumps and bumps.