My 2004 GXL Diesel

[Flashover Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Flashover]

Hello Prado peoples, new to the forum, first post, but I have been trawling the site for years.
Thought I best put the rig up. This is my second Prado, had a 1999 RV6 for 6 years and took it allover Australia.
Still the best 4wd I have owned. Till now I hope.... just bought a 2004 diesel GXL in manual with 135k, have had it for 3 months now.
Came stock except for the TJM alloy winch mount bullbar. Looked for over a year for a good one and finally found one in Vic. Don't see many Prado's in Champagne on the forum, but I love the color and the interior.
I have some plans for the rig but not on the scale of some of the owners on the forum. But I do plan quite a few mods.
Here she is at the moment..


Got some Narva Ultima 225's in broad beam.


The tyres on the car were shot, so I took this as an omen to acquire 5 new Cooper AT3's in 265/65/17.


Added an ARB duel battery tray and redarc isolator.

[Flashover Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Flashover]

Added another 12volt outlet in the rear for the fridge.


Got some sweet Wetseat seat covers that match pretty well.


Put in the old UHF from my old Prado, a GME TX3400.


How she sits at the moment...


In the next few weeks I plan to have new Ultimate Suspension kit fitted.
Cant wait, that's all for now, thanks for looking.

oh and forgot to add I had the windows tinted as well.

[Steve M Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close Steve M]

Hi there Flashover, nice looking prado mate. That bar will take some up keep to keep it looking like it does lol but I reckon will be easier then the shitty soverign bar on mine, pain in the arse to keep shiny, give me a colour coded steel bar any day. Good size driving lights, and you have mounted your radio in the same place I mounted mine, infact its the same make and model. Neat spot for the extra power outlet for the fridge. Hope you havn't reduced airflow to much for the cooling system with those good sized lights ?? Although I doubt it, nearly every one has them mounted in the same position without problems. Just out of curiosity does the 1kz in the 120 have the same fuel filter as the 90 series 1kz ??........Cheers Steve

[Flashover Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Flashover]

Hey Steve, thanks mate I love the new 4by. Yep the bar is quite shiny at the moment, being new to me and all I spent plenty of time cleaning and polishing. Not to worried about keeping it that way. The UHF is in a great spot out of the way. I have the main radio part mounted in the center console. Yeah I hope the lights don't affect the air flow too much but a lot of people have the lightforce 240's which are even bigger than my Narva's and I haven't heard of any problems. As for the fuel filter...I have no idea, I had a V6 95 series, was a great car.
Cheers.

[JGill Member Find all posts View Profile Close JGill]

Hi Flashover.
Nice looking Prado mate.
I like the Narva's I have the same ones will be good to see what you do next.
Good luck.
Cheers,
Josh

[Flashover Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Flashover]

Update to the 4x4 project.
Well just had the suspension upgraded on Tuesday and WOW what a difference it makes to the ride and handling. Really shows you how ordinary the stock suspension is especially after 140k.
I have fitted an Ultimate Suspension kit with the Firestone airbags in the rear.


Went with the medium springs up front as I have a light alloy bar and no winch as yet.


Also the medium in the rear for comfort as I don't tow but added the airbags for when she is loaded for trips.


Sorry lads but I totally forgot to measure the before heights to compare to the new height.
At the moment the rear is sitting at 840mm and the front at 790mm measured from the bottom of the rim.

This shows the airbag inflation valves in the rear.

[Flashover Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Flashover]

And here we have some before and after shots....

Before....


and after....




Over all very happy and the guys a Ultimate were awesome, very helpful and really know their stuff, as you would expect really for how long they have been in business.

[Steve M Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close Steve M]

Big difference with the lift eh ?? Just noticed in the last picture http://postimage.org/image/3rbbsto67/ of the valve for the air lines for the rear bags, just as extra precaution I'd probably just add some plastic flexi tubing around the airline where its going back in through the chassis rail stop any rubbing from possibly occuring. Looks like a nice neat job without any issues which is good to hear.......Cheers Steve

[Flashover Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Flashover]

Hey Steve,
Yeah they did a good job, they did put a small length of flex tube on the air lines above the airbag but you are right I do need to put some more where it comes through the chassis. Not sure I would have routed it that way myself but its OK for now. I will keep an eye on it.
cheers, Glen.

[Flashover Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Flashover]

Update time, and ya just gotta love ebay.
Scored myself a set (5) of 17 x 7.5in rims in almost new condition.
I had a set of 95 series 16" Grande rims left from the old bus, so I put them on ebay and got $300 for them.
As the GXL rims I have, have corroded quite badly I was looking around for a new set of wheels.
Thats when I started noticing the FJ Cruiser wheels getting around on the FJ's.
I thought they might look good on the 120 so searched ebay and what do you know, a set for sale for $300.
This was too good to pass up so I sat and watched the wheels for a week till the end of the auction.
At the end there was still only 1 bid for 3 hunge. So I put in my maximum and won the auction, 5 wheels for $471. Awesome.
And there they are....









Will get em fitted tomorrow and post a few more pics.
If they are not to my liking I planned to get the GXL rims sand blasted and sprayed black any way, so no harm done. The FJ wheels also have a smaller offset, so they may stick out a little further than the GXL rims. 15mm further out per tyre but still should not extent past the flares, but will be close.

Glen.

[Flashover Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Flashover]

Well I have had the FJ wheels fitted to the 120.
Am quite happy with how they look, I think they suit it well.
I decided to change because the GXL wheels were quite badly corroding as you can see here...





To compare the width of each wheels you can see there is not much noticable between them..
Before...


and after....

[Flashover Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Flashover]

And the overall look now....

[JGill Member Find all posts View Profile Close JGill]

Hi Flashover, the wheels look good mate. Are you interested in selling the gxl wheels? I know someone looking for some.
Maybe inbox me if you are.
Cheers, Josh

[Flashover Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Flashover]

Hey JGill
Thanks, the old wheels really are quite bad, except for one which is perfect.
But I will keep them for now, I may use them later and I think I will have them repaired and painted or powdercoated.
Thanks for the offer tho.
Cheers.

[Flashover Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Flashover]

Update time.
A bit has happened since the last update in October. Have done a big trip to WA south west and SA Eyre Peninsula.
Was awesome and the Prado went very well.


greenshot screen capture


imag


upload pic


screen shot on a pc