Have owned this hilux for 8 months, and been a member on here for 12 months or so, and have finally accomplished a few mods to "Heidi", so figure its now or never to start a build thread!
I plan to keep this car for a few years, as once I have it paid off, and with the money invested (or plan to put into it), I don't see the point in selling it- would rather keep it and fix what breaks, rebuild what wears out, and put my money into something that WILL make me money!! wishful thinking anyway.
Always been a Toyota fan, stems from the Old man. Now I wanted/needed a new car for work, and instead of being tunnel visioned, I opened my eyes to other options ie: Nav, Triton, Prado, older 100 series and very briefly Colorado/dmax. I ALMOST purchased a second hand Triton with all the fruit, already setup with drawers, dual batt etc etc, for less than a standard hilux. Got a bit scared about all the carbon blockage problems and engine/warranty issues, so left it there thankfully. People told me that for the price of a second hand hilux, I could buy a BRAND NEW D-max- very tempting, Yes, but my future plans/mods, plus other small factors, deflated this idea.
Fate or luck is a funny thing- I don't really believe in it per se', but sometimes I think it does exist. The Triton I almost bought, I later found out, had spent a fair length of time at mistubishi to have some 'problems' attended too. And several Hiluxs that I wanted to look at and sold prior, lead me to my current lux, "Heidi". I was looking up to 5 hours from where I was living at the time which included Sydney and Melbourne and found a handful of prospective vehicles. Now up popped this Hilux, in my own backyard, in a colour OTHER THAN WHITE!, with canopy, log books, cruise. Too good to be true I thought. Ended up winning it at Auction within budget ($32,000).
Specs:
2008 SR dual cab, silver, D4D auto, factory B/B, cruise, ARB canopy, goodyear silent armors, and full service history, 94,000km-Purchased through the auctions as an ex Water Dep. vehicle
The intial mods with limited funds where
GME tx 3400 UHF + 6.5dB uniden aerial.
IPF 900 driving lights
Black duck seat covers
Rear seat mod
Seat belt mod
Over the last few months have added:
9500pound winch- which has shit itself!
ARB rear step/towbar- Purchased 2nd hand from newhilux member "Matthew"
SR5 rims and Yokohama Geolander M/T
Rhinorack roof racks (basket in shed to modify)
Black Widow trade height drawers with Engel fridge mounted on slide- Purchased 2nd hand from newhilux member "Matthew"
Twin cigiplugs under canopy.
Again on the thing about fate and luck- I was really keen to get some outback or black widow drawers into my ute ASAP as I use them everyday for work. Found a few sets on Ebay but they were too far away, or didnt fit, or ended too soon. Eventually Matt advertised his, and I'm glad I got the trade height ones and not standard height- plus it had a fridge slide! I also brought the rear ARB step off him. I managed to reverse into a power pole and damage the tub corner and tail-light. Did a bush mechanics repair for that one.
Did a day trip up around Mt Buffalo with a mate in 2"lifted prado with cooper s/ts and the hilux managed everything the prado crawled over with minimal underbelly scraping. Was very impressed by its off-road capability in near stock form, and the AUTO worked a treat.
Coming into winter, the Goodyears where starting to go bald, so I was on the hunt for some new rims and tyres. After stalking on ebay and the forums, i found a set of sr5 rims with some 2nd hand 31x10.5" MT geolanders. Fitted with no scrubbing. Paid $700 for them, and managed to sell my sr rims and 20% armor techs for $200!
I have been quietly impressed by the Geolanders- going from a/t to m/t and the noise aint that bad- and these are a bit worn. They handle well on bitumen and in the dirt/mud- perfect for what I do week in week out.
Packed the ute and girlfriend up and headed up to the Barrington tops for 3 days after easter. Purchased some Rhino-racks from East-coast Racks on the Central coast- very nice guy, even hires them if you dont want to purchase them. Threw on the OzTENT RV3 and boy we had some fun. The tent was perfect for the 2 of us. The COLEMAN QB air mattress was great, threw some of those foam/rubber tiles down underneath and we were snug.
Will add some pics in new posts.
