CHF 120 GXL 203 TD Prado

[Octane94]

Top effort there Chris! Great to see you doing stuff yourself. Thanks for sharing.

But I must correct you, Silver is a far classier colour than white or black.

silvers overrated :P coming from someone with a white prado also isnt this one called graphite?

[chris93]

Top effort there Chris! Great to see you doing stuff yourself. Thanks for sharing.

But I must correct you, Silver is a far classier colour than white or black.

Silver over black and white but grey over the rest

Chris

[Madkore]

Top effort there Chris! Great to see you doing stuff yourself. Thanks for sharing.

But I must correct you, Silver is a far classier colour than white or black.

[chris93]

yeah wasnt the easiest car to find but i had my heart set on a manual diesel so i kept looking till i got one, the colour was just an added extra i like it over the normal white silver black.

Chris

[chris93]

Here is what it looks like now....



Next inline will be the RFI ariel, 2 inch lift and some bigger rubber.

Unfortunately ive just noticed a rattle in the steering over rough roads which i believe may be the infamous steering rattle it appears the prados are commonly known for... so once that is sorted the mods will continue!!

[chris93]

So the cheapy uniden areil lasted 2/3s of a trip... first day out with it the whip snapped off without even hitting anything...just cruising down a rocking path and it disappeared... oh well RFI ariel now on the list

[chris93]

A couple more photos of the finished draws.

[chris93]

next was the most expensive so far with the addition of the ARB Deluxe bull bar. Well the before and after shots speak for themselves as to how it is easily worth the $1600

Before



After



Although putting the bullbar on yourself isnt a very hard job it does take time and effort getting the gap right, its a shame i didnt take any photos with my setup of 4 car jacks on blocks to get it sitting perfectly! but i think its worth everyone having a go :-D

[chris93]

its just an elcheapo reversing camera off ebay but once its all wired up it does the job and ive gotten pretty acurate with my reversing distances now! helps a crap load gone are those days of just guessing where my tow ball is and hoping for the best!



Then was the UHF that was put into a sneaky little hide away this was made possible only by the remote head feature, i mounted it on the outside face of the glovebox in between it and the cup holders, hidden away once the trim panels go on. All wiring for power and arieal etc were taken under seat carpet and to door trim to go either back to relay for power or out to passenger side firewall for ariel.



Obviously everything needs to be very neat in there to allow the pannels to fit back on but it becomes a very neat look with the remote head cable popping out the bottom of the panel and i made up a mount that fits into the spare switch cover so that i did not have to drill any holes in the dash.

Sorry for the crap photo
Lastly is to wire up all the switches and they ended up pretty neat, they are the Carlson couture switches they do fit the holes with some light slicing of the inside egdes with a sharp stanley knife.

[chris93]

Yes it should really be in split condute but you really think all that would fit!


I got a 200amp relay, yes overkill but was the only one i could find that had bolt terminals rather than blade terminals, i did this as i also ran a power cable from this relay back to my UHF so all auxilry items this could be operated off one switch but ill get to that later.



By the way guys if anyone does have any questions i did try (though i got a bit lazy) to take a lot of photos to that i could guide (well try) anyone who wanted to give it a try themselves later on.

Then was running all the signal cables (amp signals and rear view camera), i did this up the passenger side of the cab so that the power and signal cables didnt interfere with each other. Dont forget the slit conduit



Lets just say getting behind the headunit was "fun" i ran a wire down to the passenger foot rest area where you can pick up a reverse signal for auto switching the head unit. the rest were run along the side same as the power cables.



Obviously there are other cables going everywhere during these steps to deal with switching etc, but i wont go into that unless someone askes later...

Here it all is running finally!

[chris93]

Next was getting the power from the batteries into the prado and to the rear

I found this power distribution/fuse block at withworths near where i live, i had never used one before but it looked like a great way of consolidating all fuses into a relaitvely small area as close as possbile to the battery.



After a bit of stuffing around it was time to run the wires, i contemplated how to run them through the firewall for ages with all sorts of gland plug and grommet ideas but figured in the end the best way without drilling massive holes everywhere would be to just use the existing hole with the smallest slit possible. this wasnt that easy remember as i am running 4 length a 6B&S cable - 2 for general rear power and 2 for the amplifier.



Then ran these down the inside trip pannels (yes it was a very tight squeeze but surprisingly all fit quite neatly!

[chris93]

Next was the dual battery system and running power to all the stuff in the rear, this also included a reversing camera, this one involved some head aches with pulling the pre installed head unit apart.

I do like the off road down under battery holder very much, it is very sturdy and even comes with the rubber for under the battery! only disadvantage is the holes that need to be drilled but with some accurate drilling and some touch up paint no real harm done!



Next was to wire up the dual battery with the redarc isolator, i chose to mount the redarc isolator on the passenger side inside wheel arch bit? i know two more holes but i felt it was a great spot for it out of the way of everything!

[chris93]

It didnt take long for my first mod that being the rear draws and subwoofer holders along with amp and capacitor.




I made it all custom to accommodate for manufacturers recomended subwoofer enclosure size and just managed to later on fluke finding perfect length heavy duty draw runners at 558mm in length and are able to support 125kgs full extension to prevent any hiding spots for items, the right wing ended up being my electrics wing with the amp and capacitor for the subwoofers and also the storage compartment for the 50amp anderson plug (ill get to that later)



it came up pretty well once the whole thing was carpeted very happy with myself

[Octane94]

nice prado,

allways liked that paint colour,

i couldnt find one in a manual so i just got the common white.

Octane

[chris93]

These are some photos of how the prado was when it was first bought about 6 month ago with about 150k on the clock. Was relatively stock with just the touch screen/gps headunit and tinted windows.



Current Mods:
ARB Deluxe Bullbar
Dual Bat System with Redarc Isolator and off road down under bracket
Power Distriubtion Block
Full Spotty Wiring
Reversing Camera
Rear draws/Subs
Rear 50amp anderson plug
Custom Switches
Icom 440N radio with rfi ariel
BF Goodrich A/T tires
2 Inch Ultimate suspension lift
2.75 Buedesert Exhaust

Mods to come:
Spotties
Chip
Roof Basket