Tophers io
Hey guys it's about time I start a buildthread. I have a 2001 io ZR with roofs racks and other than that she's stock as a rock. I went offroad for the first time ever the following weekend after I picked up the car and I ended up destroying my bashplate so the list starts.
What I need:
Dual purpose battery
Bashplate
Compressor
LED lighting
Highlift jack
Alloy roof basket
Custom front struts
Bigger rubber
What I have:
Tyre deflator
Shovel & Mounts for roof rack
Led lights (ordered)
Handheld UHF
Warn Recovery kit
Digitec 12v plug system
Bashplate
G'day
Try this link for some ideas on the extended bashplate -
The following weekend
I was bogged like that for two hours while my mates try and get as far as I did in there hilux on 31.5s and there 60 series landcruiser on 33s. eventually they got close enough to join 2 snatch straps & 2 tow straps togeather get me out of there. and ontop of that we tore one of the tow straps
warning
Warning...picture of stuck io are not autorised.....lol that is a nice io living the real life!
I can see on the second picture what you mean by smashing the bash plate....that is a decent hit...(this plate is hopeless...)
Depending on your budget....If you fit some mud tyres (even 225/75/16, or a bit different...205/80...) I guaranty, you will have a much better 4x4. This is from my experience...but I am sure other will confirm. Yes much bigger tyre can be great but not as straightforward....
Have you check what strut you have....? I might be wrong but this model should have the "good" one to take the 225....
Nice, Happy io
Struts
I still have to get arround to work out what struts I have but it looks like I have 2 inches of clearance between the tire and the strut base (if you get what I mean)|
So yeah when i do my tire upgrade I will be aiming for 225s I found some muddies for $150 each :O but im sure my girlfriends dad can do better than that :P
I will post up some more photos this afternoon when I get home from work.
tyres
For mud tyres, and tyres in general, buy the best you can afford....they are not all the same, and they are the only contact between your life and the road....!!! and they can stay on your car for a good while, better be happy with them....
This said, cheap is not always bad and expensive is not always good !!! ask around, check review on the net before buying.....I think that the km2 and the kumho seems to be good, but plenty of other good tyres....
Happy io
Build thread update!
Just got back from camping at inskip point today and after a good clean I noticed a crack in my gearbox crossmember roughly 30cm long. Lucky I'm a welder by trade so after I source some steel to repair it with I'll repair & re-enforce the cross member. Photos when I pull it out as I'm way too tired.
Update
Just purchased 2x 27w flood lights producing 2160lm of light each! They will be be mounted to the roof racks facing forward. They are strictly for offroad use as every time Iv been out I haven't gotten home till 9:30 at night. Here's the link if your thinking of getting a pair.
http://item.mobileweb.ebay.com.au/viewitem?itemId=230760852436&index=3&n...
I also picked up my reinforcing section for my gearbox cross member.
Photos will come when I get near a computer. I have a little brother who lives and breathes on the damn thing.
Not sure.
There are a lot of dents in the bottom of it :P
But I believe it is from rust & stress but there's a fair bit of rust.
I will be removing for welding as its better to be safe than sorry.
Yeah I can't wait to have them. Im hoping they are really good if not I'll get a set of snake racing ones instead (3x the price)
It'll be interesting to see how those lights work.
I've been toying with the idea of buying a couple of pairs of small LED floods, but not for forward facing use - my plan is to mount them on the back of the rack for camp setup & lighting purposes, which is why they need to be LED as they will be running when the engine is off.
I would think twice about using them as driving lights - your needs may be different to mine, but I like my driving lights to give me both reasonable distance and spread - the bigger LED light bars often have a combination of 30* (for distance) and 60* (for spread), but they are frightfully expensive.
I like your thinking
Well my plan is to have the floods offset I'll draw a diagram of my full lighting plan this avo because I'll be on the computer but they will be angled like this;
\ /
If that helps lol.
If they don't work as well as I'd like they also sell the lights with a pencil beam so I'll move the floods to the rear for camping/reversing/recoverys and I'll buy 4 pencil beams for the front with this set up;
\ | | /
Each line represents an individual light and the direction it's pointing.
Also should add I'm choosing floods so it makes technical 4wding at night easier. That way you can see the stumps & big pointy rocks a foot from my wheel arches :)
Rust it is!
Yeah mate thats rust from the inside out, wasn't kept near beach & the previous owners "claimed" to have been to fraser island once..I think that was a lie. But anyway if you see the hole on the bottom of the crossmember, go 4wding and get up to your chassis railes in mud and sand and it will get jammed in there. Which is what I think caused the rust. Apart from the "crack" its hard to tell but if you look closely around the crack you can see the metal starting to give.
Shovel and rod holder fitted
Re-fitted my rod holder to center & fitted my shovel holder on the drivers side for easy access to dig out toyotas and alike :)
Rod holder was hard up against the left side but ill be fitting my lights hard up on the left and right side so it had to be moved to center.
What happens if you turn the shovel face down?
How did you mount the quickfists - did you just drill the roof rail and screw them directly to it?
I have crossbars and a roof basket on my GV. with quickfists for the shovel on the crossbars, just outside the basket, and also a second set of the quickfists that were meant to go on the iO, but haven't figured out how to secure them yet - I don't really want to drill the rails.
Self tappers
Self tapping screws straight into the bars. Shovel won't fit face down because it sits on the T section otherwise if i sit it the other way it moves a Bit and can hit my roof /: if that makes sense.
I went out 4wding today ( I had plans to fix the crossmember later the afternoon ) and I ended up damaging it more. Was almost unrepairable. But I fixed it with the help of my uncle ( Mechanic and Fitter and Turner by trade) Took 3 hours but its better than it was before. Im thinking of making a few reinforcement plates with built in bashplate if any of you might be keen. If your as wild as I am on the tracks you probably need it!
Photos tomorrow
Happy iO
plates...
I am good for the front bash plate, but very keen to see your design for the transfer case....I think that only Natsterrr has done one. So far I have been lucky, but I would like to modify my transfer case to have lower gearing, a good plate will be a good :)
Happy io
Crossmember
Heres the photos! Look closely to see the damage. The first few photos were taken after the repairing had started with the hammer. its as straight as we could get it with brute force so we had to take a different approach and put an inch of weld either side and use a vice to straighten out the rest of it. came up well if you ask me!
Crossmember
Heres the photos! Look closely to see the damage. The first few photos were taken after the repairing had started with the hammer. its as straight as we could get it with brute force so we had to take a different approach and put an inch of weld either side and use a vice to straighten out the rest of it. came up well if you ask me!
A little bit of math!
I know it's late but here's a bit of math if your going to wire up driving lights, or anything else electrical then you will need a fuse, and to find out the correct fuse size we need math.
Operating watts divided by volts = fuse size
Example, I am wiring up my driving lights to my car, most cars run a 12v system so our voltage is 12v. And I am wiring up 27w LEDs. So my opperating watts are 27.
27 divided by 12 = 2.25
So I need a 2.25 amp fuse per light.
Happy iO!
He'll probably be fine with a single 5A
Assuming a single circuit feeding two lamps, a 5A fuse should be more than adequate, the lamps probably won't pull the 2.25A anyway - I've seen a couple of supposedly 120w LED bars with a less than 10A draw, they are rated by a theoretical calculation - 9x3w LEDs = 27w, 2400 lumens, to heck with the actual power consumption or light output.
Lights
I now have the lights! Although they are not on the iO yet I have plugged them in for a little play around. I am pleased to say they are great lights, great for camping but should be accompanied by some spotlights for offroad use in my opionon. 7/10
I will be ordering more lights next week I think.
Photos will come when its all done :)
Happy iO
Sounds like what I was expecting.
I am pleased to say they are great lights, great for camping but should be accompanied by some spotlights for offroad use in my opionon.
Good spread, not so good reach? That sounds like what I was expecting - I'll be waiting to see thos pics.
not bad
I would say that for what you want them...low speed driving in 4x4....good value for money, and they looked to be great for camping too.
One thing I learned...white cable tie are sensitive to UV and will break quickly, the black one do resist the UV. Not always true, but the majority are.
I love the palm tree at the background, you probably don't see them anymore as they are here all the time but for me (in Canberra) it is a holiday sign !!!
I like the way you get thing done, no time wasted...nice and quick....
Happy io
Yup
Couldnt do better for that price I think! Im really happy with them.
Ill get photos of the switch location and what not.
Yeah black goes well. Stainless steel is best but they get nicked. When I get around to it there will be no wiring in the middle, ill make each lights wiring run down the A pillar for a cleaner look. But I just had to finish them by tonight for tomorrows meetup.
Happy iO
Syndicate
Photos
Photos will come tomorrow
01 ZR LWB, 2 sets of kumho KL71s on rims, custom one off belly plate, lukey sports exhaust and a right foot to suit!