Cheese's Slow and Steady Build

I figured I might as well start my build thread after my first major mod so here goes . So this was the starting point of my build. This was picture taken on the first time off road a few weeks after I bought the truck.

It has lots of scratches and a few dents as expected from a used truck. 90% of the scratches polished out easily but I'm planning on getting the fenders and front bumper repainted to fix the worst of the damage. At least the flare which has the bad damage is thankfully on the passenger side so I don't have to look at it every day .

In the back I have 2 Rockford-Fosgate 12" subs in the back with a 500 amp Alpine amp. Super Ghetto set up for now. Just a box that sits on the back "seats" wrapped in a blanket so it doesn't slide around while the Amp is mounted underneath the passenger seat.

I got my Bilstein Adjustable 3" lift kit on Tuesday so I had to be tortured looking at them sitting in my garage until Saturday. My dad and I got to the shop this morning at around 7:30 and had the kit fully installed by 11. Having a proper lift and tools really makes life easy.



Before the lift the front was sitting at 35" from the bottom of the tire to the flare and the back was at 37". After everything was installed it now sits at 38" in the front and back. Here's how it sits now. I definently need bigger tires


I had the mechanic coming in at 12 to do the alignment for me so I had some time to kill. I ran across the street to Canadian tire and bought a can of Tremclad. I did a nice layer of paint on the frame to try to protect it from rust and it looks way better than before. I painted the frame from the skid plates all the way to the rear axle and diff.



The brownish part was where the lift was while the truck was in the air and the rest is painted. I'm sure it will be caked in mud by next weekend but hopefully it will slow down the rusting. Once the mechanic got there the alignment was already super close and it just needed a slight tweak to be in spec.

The mods I have planned in a vague chronological order are:

Toyo M/Ts or Duratracs (can't decide) I would like to keep the stock rims.

A proper alarm system.

New Stereo Deck/All new stereo system/subs

Wet Okole Seat covers.

I'm leaning towards a LED lightbar for my front end in the lower gap of the bumper. I'm thinking about possibly doing a Satoshi Grill with the Toyota emblem from the FJ's in Red with General Grabber wheels with the red lettering with lights behind the grill. That might be too cheesey/ricey though.



I don't plan on doing any super crazy off roading but thankfully I now have weekends free to go do some wheeling with buddies so I should have some nice action shots to update with in the near future

 

New Tires put on last Friday but it turned into a shit show.

I dropped the truck off at 11 and I was super excited all day to pick up my truck so when they called me at 3 I raced down to the shop to get it. First I had some issues paying which I dealt with fairly easily. While I was walking back inside the Kal Tire I checked how much room I had between the tire and UCA and apparently I had none . No clue how the tech didn't notice.... There was no way I was gonna make it home with the tires rubbing like that.

I had to order rims to make it home and go on the camping trip I had planned later that night. I went with the XD Hoss rims but apparently the Warehouse that stores the rims was broken into the night before had ever single 16" rim stolen the night before.

So not only did I miss camping on Friday way off in the bush with 10 buddies (missing out on some wheeling/drinking) my truck wouldn't be ready until thursday. This meant also we had to take my GF's Accord to the island for "camping" this week .

I didn't get my baby back until tonight but I'm really happy with how the truck sits now. My neighbour has a stock Taco OR and he was parked behind me and they look like two completely different trucks.

A friend of my mine knew the owner of the Kal Tire so I got the Nitto Trail Grapplers 285/75/r16 for $280 and when the salesperson saw the issue with the truck he gave me a really good deal on the rims at like $150 each and free labour. I'm annoyed the tech fucked over my plans but I guess every business has good and bad employees.




Got a bit of trimming to do but that's not a biggie. I'm debating if I should get a CAI/LED Light Bar next.

 

Looks nice man...that's bad luck with the tires. Cant wait til I can get home and start working on mine. 1 more month

 

Looks great! What are your front billies set at, 2.5?

 

Thanks guys, yeah 2.5.


I'll post some pics of the trimming I have to do when I get around to it. It looks like the end of the flare at the front needs to be cut off for when I'm wheeling and the plastic part that drops down needs to go too.

 

First off I really like the look of the truck and I can't wait to see what you do next.

In regards to Kal-tire, I only deal with them not because they are the cheapest or have the best service but they admit when they are in the wrong or could do something better. When Kal-Tire is in the wrong they usually do an amazing job of compensating for it.

P.s.
Damn I miss BC

 

truck looks sick! always nice to see another BC truck

Ive never had an amazing experience with Kal-tire. They've tried to fuck me over a couple of times and really screwed up my friends truck and only reluctantly admitted it and fixed it. That being said, that was just one or two of their stores.

And you should!

 

Nice wheels! I'm pumped for an upgrade one of these years. Yeah, I miss BC also, but since my son lives there now, I get my fix once a year!

cheers all,

Barney

 

I like the build. I have been to vancouver once, it is a beautiful place.

 

Nice looking truck!