Fido666's 150 Kakadu

[fido666 Banned Find all posts View Profile Close fido666]

Fitted a set of Bosch Aerotwin wiper blades today.

Old vs New (this was the passenger's side one) :-


Part nos for the 150 are BBA650 (driver's) and BBA500 (passenger's), verified as per http://au.bosch-automotive-shop.com/en. They seem to work better than the OEM ones they replaced, time will tell.

Some more pics of the fitting process here :- http://www.pradopoint.com/showthread...des-150-Series

[Wagon Man Member Find all posts View Profile Close Wagon Man]

Corine , I bet your now praying for it too rain....

[fido666 Banned Find all posts View Profile Close fido666]

Corine , I bet your now praying for it too rain....

How did you guess? :-)

I know the Toyota ones they replaced were useless but then they were the original set AFAIK.

[Chopinjo Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close Chopinjo]

False floor mounting.

Fido i love your build thread !

Just a quick one with the mounting of the false floor on the seats that you left in, did you use the existing Tee slots to hold down the false floor ?. Did you notice with the fridge full of food and extended out with that the floor wanted to lift the seats up ?. I am looking at doing the same set up but a little concerned there might be a bit too much weight over hung at the back..
regards !

Another few mods crossed off the list yesterday.

False floor completed and fridge slide in place :-


Had a few dramas with glue running out just shy of completion of Project Iceberg and a faulty staple gun but a couple of trips to Masters later that was sorted (glue ran out 1st and then the staple gun wouldn't play nice hence 2 trips). The glue around the folds actually held with just the weight of the board resting on it, that Bostik Instant Pro turf glue sets fast. Have put the staples in anyway just to stop the edges from peeling back but could have done without them really.

Fridge slide extended :-


Kept it away from the side of the luggage bay to allow for ventilation around the fridge and access to the floor fixing bolts since we won't be leaving the floor in permanently.

IPF HID upgrade kit off eBay seller 95Soarer installed as well. Came with almost everything needed to install the new bulbs, the only thing not supplied was cable ties to keep all the loom wires bundled but I had plenty of those anyway. The kit even came with a small tube of Permatex silicone for securing the ballasts in place, I used the whole tube as there's some largish gaps to fill after putting the ballasts in the housing.

Kit components (you get 2 lots) :-


The new vs the old (left to right) :-


Hopefully you can see the difference in colour temp from the photo, the new bulbs are pretty much the same as the factory high beams and very bright. I opted for 4300K bulbs rather than 6000K ones, this seller does not offer 5000K ones.

For $80 posted I'm pretty happy, time will tell how good or bad these are.

[fido666 Banned Find all posts View Profile Close fido666]

Fido i love your build thread !

Why thank you kind sir!

Just a quick one with the mounting of the false floor on the seats that you left in, did you use the existing Tee slots to hold down the false floor ?

No, I just used longer bolts than the ones that hold the T slots in place. They go through the top of the false floor straight into the existing bolt holes. I also put washers under each bolt head for extra grip as the heads were a bit small. The ones I have used are M6x50x1.00 and M8x60x1.25 from Masters. The holes at the front were a different size to the ones at the back. I think I have to replace the front ones though as they keep coming loose, they are just a little bit too short.

I did take one of the sets of T slots out (can't recall if it was front or back) as it was just too hard to line up the bolts otherwise, have just kept them and the original bolts aside should I wish to take the floor out at any stage. Lining up the holes in the ply with the bolt holes in the back of the seats was tricky and some filing was required, it's not perfect but for a DIY job it turned out OK.

Did you notice with the fridge full of food and extended out with that the floor wanted to lift the seats up ?. I am looking at doing the same set up but a little concerned there might be a bit too much weight over hung at the back..
regards !

You can see the ply floor flex a little bit at the back (so behind the 2nd row seats) with the slide extended out but it doesn't lift the seats. I used a 15mm thick piece of marine ply though and with 2 coats of varnish and a layer of carpet stuck over it it weighs a fair bit even without the slide and fridge, that helps to keep the seats pinned down.

The only issue we've had with this setup is the screws we used to secure the slide keep coming out so I'm going to source some Tee Nuts and suitable bolts to replace them, screws just aren't up to the task when off-roading.

[fido666 Banned Find all posts View Profile Close fido666]

Had my 5 x 2015 FJ Cruiser rims sourced from an eBay seller delivered today. Still grappling with the "to paint or powdercoat" question, decisions, decisions.

Mine came with the tyres stripped off as I will be putting new rubber on them, but want to go from this :-



To this :-



I'm doing this to gain some extra sidewall height and reduce the cost of future tyre purchases because 18s are mega expensive compared to 17s.

[mjrandom Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close mjrandom]

Black but keep the Tojo logo silver like Anthony's.

[fido666 Banned Find all posts View Profile Close fido666]

Yeah, that's what my current factory rims are like. The rims came with all the caps so I can get them done as well. Not sure how they get the Tojo emblem off, think they just pop out, presumably have to be masked off or perhaps they just re-do the silver bit afterwards.

[mjrandom Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close mjrandom]

Ask he knows everything! Or ####!!

[AussieAndy Find all posts View Profile Close AussieAndy]

I hope I'm not "he who know everything", and I know I'm not ####, but they do unclip

The four little tabs hold the logo on, I used a pair of scissors to depress them, but anything solid will work

And off she comes, easy as

[fido666 Banned Find all posts View Profile Close fido666]

Thanks Andy, even easier than I thought. I hadn't actually pulled the caps off to have a proper look.

[Westcoast Mark Member Find all posts View Profile Close Westcoast Mark]

I look forward to seeing how the FJ rims look when you get them on :-)

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

Nice build thread, love your work.

[fido666 Banned Find all posts View Profile Close fido666]

Thanks Mark and Steve. Still mulling over whether to paint or powdercoat those rims. Today I had a powdercoating place tell me that 2-pack paint would be more durable than powdercoat, yet others say the opposite. Seems a bit odd, perhaps the powdercoating place did not want the work? Will ring another powdercoating mob tomorrow, see what their advice is.

[Nik83 Member Find all posts View Profile Close Nik83]

Hi Fido, love your Prado, it's pretty much where I want to be! With the rear cargo bay, how did you secure the Marine ply so it doesn't move around? I'd like to make a rear cargo platform, like yours but more as a multi use tie down extravaganza for all my stuff (I don't have a fridge).

Cheers!

Nik