Kevdebbi's 120 V6 Grande

[kevdebbi Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close kevdebbi]

Hi every one, after several years of reading everyone else's builds I think it is time for me to start my own.

Our Prado is a 2003 V6 Grande 120 series which we have had for around three years. It has mostly proven to be very reliable and capable tourer. It didn't take too long for the modifications to begin. However it seems the more I modify the more I see that can be improved.

So far I have completed the following mods:

• Traxide USI-160 Dual Battery system,
• Hard wired fridge power and rear power outlets,
• Deluxe bull Bar,
• Grande 12,00lb winch with in car isolator and controller,
• Side and rear awnings with LED light strips,
• ARB twin air compressor mounted under the bonnet,
• Iron Man snorkel,
• 30" 5w CREE light bar
• Approximately 2" lift, front 795mm with Bilstein and King Springs, Rear 840mm Bilstein with Air Bagman bags,
• Oricom UHF radio,
• custom Bash plates made from 6mm alloy checker plate extending to just past the transmission cross member,
• custom steel rear bar,
• custom side steps / rock sliders,
• custom twin rear drawers with fridge slide,
• custom alloy roof rack,
• custom auto transmission manual torque converter lock up switch,
• Pacemaker extractors and custom 2.5" mandrel bent exhaust,
• SPC adjustable upper control arm,
• Whiteline lower control arm poly bushes,
• Whiteline Adjustable Panhard rod,
• Cooper AT3 tires, I now have the BFG KM2, so much better, just a little noisy.
• iPad mini with RAM mount running HEMA and Mud Map GPS,
• Eaton E-Locker,
• Front Diff drop kit,
• Extended rear sway bar links,
• RDA slotted and dimpled brake disks with Bendix 4WD pads front and back,
• Braided brake lines by "Safebrake" Front, real caliber and 2" extended rear diff,
• Rear Whiteline heavy duty adjustable sway bar,
• Front Superpro heavy duty adjustable sway bar,
• All suspension bushes have been replaced with Whiteline polyurethane,
• Power steering rack bushes replaced with Superpro polyurethane.

Still lots to do and it keeps getting longer.

• Finish my rear steel bar, I want to add a spare wheel carrier and twin jerry can holder (water),
• Sort out my Airbag Man air bags, they keep blowing out and breaking things, (Fixed I think)
• Cargo barrier,
• build a new set of rear drawers, two on top of each other with the fridge beside them. Or build a drop down fridge slide,
• Recovery points,
• And the list goes on.........

Over time I will try and post as much detail as I can along with some pictures. I will share what I have found to work and what does not. This is my first 4WD so it has been a very step learning curve. Having the collective knowledge of PradoPoint has taught me so much and saved me a lot of time and money, thanks every one for sharing your experiences and taking the time to share you knowledge.

Kevin.

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[kevdebbi Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close kevdebbi]

My Dual battery install.

I decided to mount the second battery behind the drivers side head light. It seems to be the most common and looks like Toyota designed the engine bay for this.


As shown in the picture I had to relocate the power steering reservoir. I also added three rivnuts which will be used to help hold the battery tray.


I made a spacer block to help spread the load, on top of this and the other mount I added some 3mm rubber to help dampen vibrations.


This is the the battery tray I made up, its made from 3mm stainless steel. It picks up on the three rivnuts I installed on the inner guard and the three existing bolts on the bottom surface.


Once the tray was bolted in I used two layers of the 3mm rubber to build up the hight above the bolt heads. I cut a thin stainless sheet to go over the lot to stop any chance of the bolt heads rubbing on the bottom of the battery.


All done, battery installed and wired up.

[kevdebbi Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close kevdebbi]

Custom Sidesteps

My Side step / Rock slider Build

The factory side steps look good but just weren't strong enough and had been taking quite the beating of the years. I decided it was time to build my own set of steps. I built them from 50mm square RHS and 48mm OD steam pipe, both with 3mm wall thickness. So far they are holding up very well and don't look too bad either.

[kevdebbi Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close kevdebbi]

Custom Rear Bar

My rear Bar build (still in work)

The rear bar of the Prado is a bit of a weak point and quite susceptible to damage when going over drop offs. I has been something I have been wanting to upgrade for some time now. The final straw came when we dropped down a bank of a small creek and there was a big bang and the sound of breaking plastic as I almost totally ripped the plastic bar off. After lots of research I found there was not really anything out there that really looked good and the cost was very high. When I saw the thread on AJ120's rear bar design and built I was finally spurred into action.

[kevdebbi Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close kevdebbi]

I made the main body of the rear bar was made from 120mm by 75mm RHS with a 3mm wall thickness, The side wings were made from 3mm sheet folded int shape.


I started with the main body of the bar, leaving it long on each end till I was happy with the shape.


Here I have started to weld on the wings of the bar.


All tacked in place and the ends trimmed off, time to remove it and finish it off.


I have drilled the holes for the stub axles to pass through.

[kevdebbi Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close kevdebbi]

My bar uses two bold on the bottom of each chassis rail and the four bolts in the centre where the factory tow bar mounts, It seems very solid and has minimal movement even when using the high lift jack.




Box sections welded in for the Narva LED indicators,


Painted and installed, Just need to get some pinch weld to neaten the gap.


Pinch weld added to neaten up the fit

[kevdebbi Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close kevdebbi]

My Iron Man snorkel install.

In my opinion the quality of the ironman snorkel is extremely good, much better than I was expecting. It is also much thicker and heavier than expected; the snorkel is at least 5-6mm thick and feels very solid. I think that if you were to break this than there would be a lot more damage to your car to worry about than just the snorkel.

The fit of the snorkel to the car was very good with no gaps when everything was done up. Being a cheaper snorkel I thought that it might be restrictive to the air flow, but I having had a good look over it I don’t think this is the case. It is of a large free flowing design. The piece that goes in the inner guard which connects the snorkel to the pre spinner is also as large as possible and free flowing with gentle curves to aid in good air flow.

The only thing that I would say let the kit down a little was the template was not very accurate. It still worked fine but the location of some of the mounting holes was a little out. I guess this is why they say to drill 16mm holes when the studs are only 6mm and to use the large washers which are supplied. In reality this not a problem as the snorkel body fully covers all the holes.


All the bits layer out , I am very impressed with the quality. The main body is around 6mm thick and very solid. If I break this I think there will be a lit more damage than just the snorkel.


Make sure you check the template against the holes in the snorkel, I found several of mine were out a little bit and needed moving. Its best to check this before drilling the holes.


Once your happy with the template, tape it in place on the car. Take your time and double and then triple check every thing. Take a deep breath its time to drill into that shiny guard.

I started with the big hole first, I used a hole saw to drill it but you could use a smaller drill bit and just drill lots of smaller holes around the circumference then file it smooth.


After drilling all the holes make sure you paint them to stop rust


Use sealant under the top bracket or it will trap moisture underneath and may cause rust.


All finished

[kevdebbi Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close kevdebbi]

My Custom Bash plates.

After destroying the factory bash plates I knew it was time to upgrade.



I wanted plates that fully protected the radiator and engine area from the normal bumps and things but also stray sticks as a lot of my driving is on old overgrown tracks.


My plates are in three pieces for ease of installation and extend to the crossmember behind the transmission.

I don't have any vent holes as I don't want to let any sticks in. I was unsure if this would effect cooling of the engine but I have I have never had a problem. Even spending the day at Stockton Beach in the middle of summer didn't cause any problems.

[D4D Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close D4D]

Very nice mods, and I thought I was OCD with my garage

[kevdebbi Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close kevdebbi]

Thanks D4D, I work on aircraft and this is how we account for all our tools, every thing has a shadow so you know when its missing. Apparently it very uncool to forget a tool and leave it bouncing around in the plane

[foxclan Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close foxclan]

Hi Kevdebbi
Thanks for sharing some of your quality mods with us, great work.
V. nice workshop also
Cheers
Troy

[kevdebbi Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close kevdebbi]

SPC 25480 Upper Control Arm

Specialty Products Company 25480 Upper Control Arm

Since raising the Prado I have never been totally happy with the way it handled. After several wheel alignments it got to a point where it was ok but I knew it could be better. I had run out of adjustment on the bottom control arms. I have been looking at aftermarket upper control arms for some time but had been putting them off due to the cost. At my last service the mechanic identified that all the control arm bushes and the upper ball joints were on their way out. So it was only logical to again look into aftermarket upper control arms. I ended up getting the SPC adjustable arms from Amazon for around $500 delivered.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

• Provides an additional +/- 2 degree of camber and 0 degree to +4 degree of caster change
• Built with an OE style ball joint and bushings
• Designed to correct alignment angles
• Hybrid tubular and forged steel design is tough enough to race - on or off-road

I also replaced the lower control arm bushes with Whiteline poly bushes. I used my bottle jack to remove to old bush, they come out with quite a bang so just watch yourself. I used a hydraulic press to put the new bushes in.

I am very happy with the overall improvement, the car drives much better now after the wheel alignment and seems much more direct. Obviously just replacing the old bushes and ball joint would have helped but now there is plenty of adjustment. I still think there is room for further improvement but I need to find some one to fine tune the wheel alignment.

[kevdebbi Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close kevdebbi]

External GME SPK04 speaker install.

I had a bit of spare time today so I thought get into a couple of job on the Prado. I am running an Oricom UHF180 radio with an external head unit. The main unit houses the speaker and this is installed under the glove box area, the head unit is mounted just below the ash tray area. I have alway found the sound a little muffled and a bit in the quiet side. I recently brought a GME SPK04 external speaker which plugs into the side of the remote head unit. I decided to mount it in the space behind the the remote head as there was some unused space and it would be neat and tidy.


GME SPK04 external speaker.


With back removed.


I cut a hole on the back of the console for the speaker to fit into.


Speaker mounted


speaker attached from the back

[kevdebbi Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close kevdebbi]

UHF External Speaker install

A few more pictures on my install.


this part of the dash also required a slight trim to clear the back of the speaker.


All mounted up, very subtle and hard too see. The sound is nice and clear now and there is much more available volume.

[craigm Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close craigm]

Nice mod fitting the GME External speaker Kevin. It reminds me that I need to install a similar thing as my TX3400 is tucked up behind the dash and the receive volume is very poor. Thanks for sharing.