JimmyC's 2010 150 GXL build

[Dabeanian]

Hi Jimmy,
Like your mods to your truck , seems like you have a good job to pay for all your bits and pieces bet you never spent that much or time on your other suburban vehicles, have fun , loved Darwin and Katherine on our last trip from Perth.
Alan.

[JimmyC]

Installed a LED light on the rear door to shine into the drawers to light up that area. Went for a Narva 114mm led strip. Hooked it into a permanent 12v and a push button switch.
http://s30.postimg.org/k1twrkmch/121...42993155_n.jpg
http://s21.postimg.org/nbhc3ogef/121...52577195_n.jpg

I also installed another Narva 178mm led strip under the awning on a bracket I made out of 3mm aluminium. It is designed so it bolts to the channel on the awning using the bolt heads (same way it bolts to the car). Saved a lot of drilling.
http://s9.postimg.org/5vy8mh9hr/1217...98638913_n.jpg
http://s10.postimg.org/ew20em6vt/121...74217966_n.jpg
http://s17.postimg.org/t11h2g58v/121...75378500_n.jpg
http://s27.postimg.org/j3ac3l7w3/121...17932855_n.jpg

[Hollywood]

Looking good mate. I remember that Alice dust well!

[AussieAndy]

Outlet now has a rubber covering. The old fully metal one used to get hot after a bit of use and could quite easily burn if you didn't realise. Personally I prefer the metal one because I can see the rubber part going a bit crappy with age, especially under the bonnet.

[JimmyC]

Rotate the outlet 180deg away from the guard and there would be plenty of room for getting the bolt in. The outlet has changed recently and has a different outer part.

Cheers, didn't even think of that. Managed to get the bolt in with it as per the picture, everything is nice and firm and mount works great. Ended up mounting the relay under the switch on the flat part of the bracket. Very well made bracket and everyone who has seen it is very impressed with the design of it.
Now just have to decide on the fuel filter. Thinking the Racor and just working my way through the threads for peoples opinions on the micron rating. 10 seems to be the winner so far.

Rotate the outlet 180deg away from the guard and there would be plenty of room for getting the bolt in. The outlet has changed recently and has a different outer part.

[JimmyC]

Installed an ARB compressor on an AMTS mount. Installation went well but ended up making my own wiring loom instead of using ARB's supplied one. Getting the rear most guard bolt in was fairly tough though.
Is that air coupling on mine a new thing for ARB? Looks different to everyone elses I've seen.

http://s17.postimg.org/4jc9rhzlb/121...31626342_n.jpg

[JimmyC]

Installed an ARB 2.5 x 2.5 awning today. Long overdue!
http://s30.postimg.org/589imocxt/image.jpg
http://s12.postimg.org/juvjaqzyl/image.jpg

[JimmyC]

Just fitted up some new 9 inch 185w LED's from vic offroad. I went from lightforce XGT halogens to these and the wiring was the easiest thing I've ever done as when I installed the XGT's I used way heavier gauge wiring than needed so handling the extra 85w per light was easy as!
I decided against the 10 inch 225 w ones as the extra 3000 lumens wasn't worth the extra $200 I'd have to pay. I'll be posting a new thread with a very detailed review of them with comparisons against the XGT's.

http://s3.postimg.org/xca3ffek3/New_Lights.jpg

[JimmyC]

A couple of weeks after the fuel tank was the suspension lift. Being my first 4x4 I didn't know much about brands so I read the forums and came out even more confused. Ended up going with OME simply because they were easy to get in Alice Springs and it was a brand I'd heard of. Took advantage of the creature comforts deal and got the $250 voucher with the lift that will be spent on an awning (or a compressor, haven't decided).
Ended up with a 43mm lift front and a 60mm lift in the rear which drops to 50mm with a full fuel tank.
First impressions with the upgrade is a slightly stiffer ride that is still comfy. Off road it handles well and holds the road better. only downside is on corrugated corners it seems to slide a bit easier than the old suspension.

http://s4.postimg.org/4vm8bxskd/1196...46204241_o.jpg

Next on the list is an awning. Still trying to get through all the reviews and decide on one. Looking into the wing style ones if anyone has an input I'd love to hear. After that will be an under bonnet compressor mounted on an amts mount.

[JimmyC]

Next modification was the long range fuel tank. There is plenty of talk on my other thread about the problems self-installing it but if I had to summarise it here are my tips for success:
1. Clean the area you are working as you will spend a lot of time lying down in it.
2. When disconnecting the 5 hoses mark which of the 6mm ones are which. They are easy to mix up and you will end up breaking down if not connected right.
3. Replace the gasket around the fuel sender unit, it WILL leak if you don't.
4. When trimming the soft lines to fit the new tank 2-3cm is more than plenty (you'll know what I mean if you do it).
5. Take the time to grind/cut off the brackets as neatly as possible. Time spent here will be worth it.
6. Bring friends to the party. Even 1 extra person will make lifting the tank into position 100x easier.

All in all it is a worthwhile mod to the car for sure. How I found it works is the distance to empty doesn't function effectively but the fuel gauge is accurate. Will display full until approx. 550km then start dropping at a slightly slower rate.

http://s23.postimg.org/3y7vs4j8b/119...03103197_o.jpg

[JimmyC]

Yeah they are pretty good. Slide nicely but with just enough resistance not to slide back in on a slope. Very well built drawers

[Madkore]

How are you finding the Drifta drawers Jimmy?

They look really neat.

Are you able to open them if the car is parked on a slant? And if so, do they stay open?

[JimmyC]

Next on the list was to sound deaden the car as much as possible. I bought 36 square feet off eBay for $170 and set to do as much as possible. After removing the drawers and all of the plastic panelling in the rear of the cargo area (not too hard just follow the screws and don't force anything) I found that the large rubber grommets on both sides had come out and behind everything was caked in dust so about 3 hours just to clean the damn stuff. The dynamat went down easy enough. While all the panelling was out I took the opportunity to run a power box I bought from home of 12v which has an Anderson, 2xusb, accessory socket and a volt meter. All installed neatly in the storage box. When putting the drawers back in I also stuck some 'acoustic pinboard' on the underside of the false floor.
Dynamatting the doors was easier than expected. Prado door skins are some of the easiest to get off (by the way if anyone has any tips for the rear door I'd love to hear). A quick clean and measure and the dynamat was down. Makes the doors close nice and solid as for the noise I'll post about that in my other thread.
I've since run the 8 gauge cable, replacing the 10 gauge stuff. Straight into a Baintech 12 way fuse box attached to the back end of the drawers.
Today I just purchased my long range fuel tank to be installed. Ill post a detailed thread of the install if anyone is interested.

Power outlet: http://s2.postimg.org/ok7xfxbnt/20150510_161143.jpg
Dynamatting doors: http://s29.postimg.org/b2544gtw7/20150510_165222.jpg

[maulbeagle]

yeah 8 gauge will be enough.