Kylie Prep

Kylie has undergone some pretty extensive modifications since we bought her. She has definitely become the love of my life (after the wife) which I’m pleased to learn that is a common affliction shared by many motoring enthusiasts, in particular those who drive 4wds. I recently spent a day at Techno Automotive with Richard Bleier and we laughed while discussing how easy it is to convince ourselves that every new purchase for the car will be the last, I can’t need anything else can I?!!!

So here it is, a comprehensive list of the work I have undertaken with the help from a few people along the way.

Pajero modifications;
-Engine total rebuild (40,000klms ago) now has the 282,000klm on the clock and doesn’t use a drop of oil! Very reliable.
– Restored ARB bullbar bought on eBay and reconditioned
– New Tough Dog dual recovery points welded into chassis
– 2.5″ suspension lift – 2.5″ lifted Dobisons springs rear (+250kg GVM) / Heavy Duty Dobinsions Torsion Bars Front
– Raw Nito Max Shocks 41mm bore heavy duty twin tube shocks
– Snorkle – EBay copy of safari snorkle – a fraction of the price
– After market Davis Craig heavy duty transmission cooling system
– Dashboard mounted transmission temperature gauge
– Dashboard mounted fast step engine water temperature gauge
– UHF radio (aus frequencies)
– 147 liter Long Ranger replacement tank (refurbished)
– 50 liter axillary tank Long Range Automotive with dashboard switch that pumps into main tank giving a total 200litre fuel capacity. System complete with a LRA Y block filler.
– Cooper ST 265/75/R16 Tyres on King 16*8 black steel rims + 2nd spare wheel(second spare now ditched due to the weight)
– Diff, transmission & transfer case breathers extended to engine bay
– Full length roof rack flat trade style
– 2.5x2m awning roll out awning with mozzie room.
– Second battery box with an 2 x Ultimate 100 Amp-Hour Batteries to provide power to camp light and power to the 50litre fidge.
– Home made rough storage system in boot including a home made fridge slide and drawer

STORAGE:

One of the biggest modifications we made, was to strip out the rear 5 seats build our own full length storage system. We decided that the beautiful fit-outs Drifta do were beyond our budget, so over the Christmas break we bought the tools and materials we needed to build the system which included electrics, fridge, large drawer, a pull-out table, bag and food storage space. We even fully upholstered the whole thing, to give it a professional finish! Have to say, we’re pretty chuffed with the finished result, and although it’s not a Drifta by any means – it’s pretty good, and few thousand cheaper!

WATER:

We have 80litres of water storage split into a 60 liter bladder tank built into it’s own box and a 20l Jerry can. The water is filtered by a Doulton Ceramic/Carbon micro filter to keep it nice and clean. A 12v pump will be fitted to fill the tank and Jerry can.

TENT:

Our accommodation for the trip will be the Echo rooftop 1.6m roof tent. I looked at everything on the market and unless spending $4000 on a hard clam-shell tent this was by far the best. It also has the biggest bed and you can comfortably sit up in it. Echo originally developed their tents for the military and we really likes the the durability of it. http://www.echo4x4.com.au/roof_tent.php

ELECTRICS
Our existing battery box system we had wasn’t going to cut the mustard on this trip so a whole new approach was needed. We also learned that alternator charging while great for lead acid cranking batteries it doesn’t do the absorbed glass matt (AGM) batteries any good and doesn’t fully charge them. The whole system was stripped out ad we started from scratch. The system now uses an intelligent CTeck DC to DC 20amp charger that actually charges the AGM batteries to a higher level than the standard alternator charging. The second battery is now a pair of second batteries giving 200 amp-hours of power. I liked having two service batteries in case in a remote area and our crakning battery dies we can drop out one of the service batteries as an emergency measure. This system will keep us in power for two days when stopped at a camp without having to run the engine. The battery system fed through a fuse block now powers;
– Fridge
– Roof Lights 4x25w flood lamps
– 300w Projecta inverter providing 240V power for charging laptop and camera.
– 12v multi-socket for charging phones etc.
– 5 meter led cabin strip light

While at a camp site with power which we will use in Australia and South Africa we also have a mains power connection. This when plugged in the fridge will change over to mains power and another 5amp battery charger will trickle charge the service batteries. A power board or multi-socket will also give us handy charging points for laptop and camera.

As for mechanical work on the car Richard at Technoautomotive has helped with the following items.
– Automatic Transmission reconditioned
– New radiator
– New Wheel bearings
– New alternator
– New timing belt
– New water pump
– New fan and all fan belts
– New Rocker cover seals
– All new Bushes in chassis (made an amazing difference! pajero is like new)
– New tie rods, wheel alignment
– Replaced all the super select switches (expensive$$$$) as I had the c/diff light flashing.
– New starter motor

And i think that’s about it?!

Kylie – all ready to go

Kylie – the full set up