Jimmys 120 V6 GXL

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

Even though this car was recently written off (brisbane hail) I figured it wouldn't hurt to do a quick write-up on the modifications I made over its 2 years in my hands!

Purchased late 2012...It was a 2004 v6 White GXL Manual
and already had:
- X9 Superwinch
- Alloy bar
- Roof racks
- Roof-mount DVD player (which worked when it felt like it)
- Spotties

All nice enough.. but definitely need to be pushed to that next level!

As purchased.

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

First up I needed some extra battery power for the fridge so I knocked up a basic bracket to mount a 35Ah deep cycle battery in the engine bay.
With this I installed an ABR isolator I had taken from the old 4WD before sale.
Plus I slightly re-wired all of the internal Auxiliary sockets so as I could manually switch them between
- The existing circuit (OFF with the Car)
- Directly to the Aux battery (ON regardless)

Battery tray welded from scrap metal I had laying around the shed


Small Aux battery mounted in the engine bay on its new tray


Tracking down the Aux circuit and inserting a relay which I could switch
(note: it was the 2 pink wires)

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

The cars first holiday was 2 weeks on Flinders beach at Straddie a couple weeks after we bought it!

For this I threw on a small roof basket I had laying around, and we towed a trailer

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

A roof basket was purchased not long later
Tigerz 11 brand
plus they threw in a 2.5 x 2.0m awning for an extra $99 - hard to beat!

You basically get what you paid for with these baskets
I had to re-drill one of the brackets to properly fit the roof.
plus seal up a bunch of gaps in the welds/powder coat to avoid rust down the track



I even mounted the roof basket to the top of a trailer we towed a couple thousand k's on a trip around south/eastern queensland mid-2013

Brisbane - Auburn River - Isla Gorge - Carnarvon Gorge - Blackdown Tablelands - Cania Gorge - Home

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

Eventually had the time and upgraded to a full-sized dual-battery setup

Replaced my starting battery with an AllRounder MRV70 105Ah
and the aux battery was a Century Deep Cycle 100Ah
and the tray was from Offroad Downunder.
I liked this tray as it was bolted to the side wall of the engine bay.. not just the bottom!
last thing you want is a 25kg battery bouncing around your engine

Plus I threw in a remote control for the winch I bought for about $12 off eBay while I was at it - bargain!

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

On a trip down the Gold Coast one weekend we blew a rear tyre at 100km/h !
but still managed to pull back across 3 lanes with relative control and replace the tyre without major issue (yep thats right, I was the cause of one of those .. SLOW TO 60 flashing signs along the Gateway)

.. still made a right mess of the rear of the car

Later on when looking at the dates on the tyres, The blown tyre was dated March 2006 and the rest were dated some time in late 2011.

At best I can only assume that during a recent service they rotated what i'm guessing was the spare tyre from 2006 into the rear-left of the car
and as a result of sitting exposed on the back of the car so long it was only a matter of time before KABOOOOMMMM !!

SO BEWARE !!
I was told not long after that any more than 4+ years of a spare tyre sitting exposed on the back of the car then it's pretty hit and miss.
I know it's something I now regularly keep an eye on.

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

I always wanted a fridge slide and some drawers for the back of the car.. but wasn't keen on paying someone else to build something I figured I could knock up relatively easy in my spare time!

took a couple hours over 2 weekends as I recall


basically 12mm ply all liquid-nailsed and a bunch of nails from a finishing gun
covered in automotive carpet from the local Clarke Rubber

only real cost was the 2 slides, slam handle and some carpet
rest of the stuff I had laying around

I welded up the 40mm x 3mm angle which was used as the fridge base, and added some loops on the corners to tie it all down
came up a treat in the end ! I was dead happy with the end result.



installed in the car



Brackets I made to bolt it to the car in minimal time

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

And just to make everything a little easier while camping I rewired the fridge and replaced the original manual dial with a full digital setup!
All for the grand total cost of about $18 as I recall
.. mostly just did it out of curiosity and for a laugh

it works awesome though !
ECO/POWER switch
Digital Ammeter & Volt meter
Digital thermostat

The fridge is a couple year old 47lt Evakool - excellent fridge!

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

The inevitable

Installed a 2" Tough Dog Adjustable lift kit one weekend
well overdue!!

And I must say I loved the improvement in handling both on and off-road this setup gave me
Tough Dogs all the way !

unfortunately around 2 months later the car was written off in a hail storm !
but luckily I still had time to strip all of my goodies out of the car before having to hand it in

And as I get time i'll slowly put most of this gear up for sale as I've now got a 150 V6 Bluestorm which most of the stuff doesn't fit as nicely into

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

The final trip !
We spent 10 days at Flinders beach on straddie around Christmas 2014

The weekend before this trip I installed a Glind hot shower system - TOTALLY AWESOME
prior to this we had a Coleman HWOD system .. but it was just so bulky.

For this trip I wanted to avoid taking a trailer and had to downsize everything
(definitely not an easy feat for a family of 5)

Glind all nicely plumbed in (I cleaned up some wiring while I was at it)
I added a couple nutserts into the bay walls for that super-tight fit



No opening the engine bay for me!



While at the beach I also wired in a remote switch which allowed the person in the shower to turn it on/off without having to get back to the car (no photos unfortunately)





good times !
and sad to see it go!

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

Great job jimmy, shame your so far away, would have loved the fridge slide lol. Shame it was written off but I beg your loving the 150... Cheers Steve

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

And just to make everything a little easier while camping I rewired the fridge and replaced the original manual dial with a full digital setup!
All for the grand total cost of about $18 as I recall
.. mostly just did it out of curiosity and for a laugh

it works awesome though !
ECO/POWER switch
Digital Ammeter & Volt meter
Digital thermostat

The fridge is a couple year old 47lt Evakool - excellent fridge!

Neat job! Where abouts did you mount the temp probe?