Out With The Old…
So to get the ball rolling, I really needed to start with quite a big commitment – Upgrading my car. Without a capable 4×4 vehicle, I won’t have the means to do any of the adventures I plan to do safely.
To begin, I already was a 4×4 owner. I had myself a 2003 Jeep Liberty. I was nervious buying it at the time, but it was a tidy car, was compact and had a punchy 3.7 litre engine. Mechanically it never gave me a single issue so It was honestly a great car to me. That said, it was an old car, and not in a good way. I suspected that should I test the limits of the vehicle in anyway, It would bite me with something breaking – and given it’s age and worth, it could easily become a write off.
In With The New…
After reviewing numerous modern jeep options, I realised I probably won’t strike a good balance between on road and off road capability, space and reliability!
This lead me to look towards Toyota, with the 4Runner series being a perfect fit. Turns out is quite a premium fit. They are not cheap, but for a reason. I managed after a few weeks of hunting around found the car I was going to go with, a 2011 4.0L V6, with a 2 in lift in place and a facelift.
However, this one was their trail edition. This is the precursor to the now TRD Pro series. It brings some pretty great off-road ability right out of the box. The only downside was the colour. While it looks neat in black, but I know over time that won’t fair well. Off-roading will see its fair share of scratches and dings, all which show up badly on black. Protection options run into the range around 5K, so that’s not happening. I’m going to wear it’s damage with pride instead, unless I think of something else.
The Plan
The plan is to completely fit the vehicle out to be liveable, for many days at a time. From the exterior, the car will remain relatively discreet. No rooftop tent for now, or big winches or anything like that. There will be changes but the goal is to be able to park this in any location like a city and not appear to be someone’s home. This means privacy will be a major theme, and with an internal bed – the interior design and fit-out will need to be very well thought through. Power, refrigeration, double size bed, and gear storage need to all be harmonious. Additionally, I will want a quality entertainment setup, and a comfortable solution for digital production on the go too.
Rear Tray Install
After a good ol’ wax on, wax off and some plastic restoration, I immediately started to look into some initial upgrades.
First up was a molle panel and tray system. This brings extra storage to the interior and once installed, let’s me better determine how much I can get away with in my bed platform build, especially the height.
I found a good value aluminium solution on Amazon, and proceeded to fit that into the car. Pretty straight forward!
The result is still a very decent amount of room in the back, but with a good amount of extra storage capability.
Window Tinting
To ensure the privacy at the back was established, I also tinted the window with 5% transmission tint, prior to installing the panel. I intend to tint all the rear passenger windows too. Just need to order more tint!
LED Lighting
Next set of easy upgrades was with the lighting. The entire interior lighting predates the use of LED lighting, and lacks brightness. Once again Amazon provided me a kit set that let me go around and replace all existing bulbs with new much brighter LED, which I hope will minimise the need to add additional interior lighting to the car.
What’s Next
I think the next update will be the addition of a 120v Ecoflow Power Station + Alternator Kit. I had not actually planned for that to be next, however just saw an amazing special on that gives me exactly what i;m after, for around $600 below budget. Goes without saying, I’ve made the purchase, and will be installed that as soon as it arrives!
More to come!