Corey's FJ with a few mods!

[noworries]

Who did you have do it, and if you don't mind what did they charge?

[Corey]

The first phase was to remove the factory headunit detailed earlier in this thread back at the end of March 2007.

The second phase consists of getting rid of the junk factory speakers and going with better ones that let the real music come through, and also an amplifier to power the speakers in all their glory.

The following components were installed stealth, you can not tell they are there.
1. Focal 165V2 6.5" component speakers with tweeters.
The Focals replaced the factory 6x9s in the doors, and the tweeters replaced the factory speakers up in the dash.
The shop made custom plates that matched the factory ones to hold them in the cavity of the door.

2. Infinity Kappa 3.27KF 3.5" speakers for the very rear in the cargo bay.
We were going to do Focal 4" speakers, but they were to deep to fit in there.
Plus the Kappas were close to $100 cheaper.

3. Alpine PDX-4.100 amp which is a four channel amp pushing out 100 watts each channel.
This is powering both sets of speakers.

4. Dynamat Xtreme two door kit to make the Focals sound even better.

Below are some pictures I pulled off the web of the components since all my gear you can not really see.





The sound is great, but I still have some tweaking to do with the equalizer on the headunit to fine tune it to the way I like it.

Phase III will consist of a JL Audio W6 10" woofer housed in a custom shop built fiberglass enclosure covered in black carpet, and another Alpine PDX amp, the 1.600 which pumps out 600 watts mono.

I need to see if I can move the ARB fridge first to the rear seat on the drivers side when it is in the down position to make room for the sub.

Links:
Focal 165V2 speakers
Infinity Kappa 3.27CF speakers
Alpine PDX-4.100 amplifier
Dynamat Xtreme two door kit

[Shadow-Warrior]

Corey, I've been thinking about what you said about just doing a 4" hole for the Snorkel. If it's that close of a fit, ARB may have wanted it a little biger for any kind of fender movement, body movement, etc. I'm just wondering if there may be a rub issue with a 4" hole?...just thinking out loud..I think, it's been about 7 years ago when I installed a snorkel on my 85 Toy pickup, that ARB supplied you with a rubber or plastic channel that sourounds the hole in the fender that you cut out for the snorkel, do they still do this? Thanks

[Corey]

Hi Mike, no surround type of gasket for the hole.
He painted all of the holes though and debured them first to prevent any rust.

There is plenty of movement once you push the snorkel on.
You can move it back and forth and up and down close to 1/2".
That is why the holes are about twice the size they need to be for the studs you loctite and screw into the back of the snorkel body.

With the snorkel moving as it did when we positioned it to where I wanted it, I could see the 4" hole was big enough too, or the it would have kept it from moving any.

[Corey]

The contents of my M-Packs does not really constitute a mod to the rig, but I feel it is a requirement to have in the rig if there was a disaster that would keep me at work or somewhere else where I could not get home such as an Earthquake or another terrorist attack.

I thought I was going to be able to get all of the contents as see in the first picture into one of the bigger packs on the door, but nope, so I had to use two.
The pack with the two-way radios has the cooking pot and stove, and a few other things, and the other pack has all of the Mountain House freeze dried food and some dehydrated fruit in it.

Also seen on one of the packs is the Gerber LMF II Infantry Black survival knife I just picked up.
It has a built in sharpener in the scabbard, and the end of the handle can be used as a hammer, and the point on the end of the handle is one of those window smashers just like the Life Hammer in case you need to break out one of your rigs windows.
The Gerber Store - outdoor hunting and fishing knives and tools

In the first picture below is a Camping Gaz stove with cartridge, an MSR cooking pot, the granola bars in the baggies fit into the pot for storage.
Emergen-C packets of vitamin C that boost your immune system, one twin pack of 5 Hour Energy Drinks, dehydrated fruit, a small blow torch for lighting the stove, or setting on fire a terrorists beard, and plenty of freeze dried food with breakfast and dinner entrees.

Not shown between the rear seats and the cargobox are two six packs of bottle water.
That will be used for reconstituting the food after it is brought to a boil on the stove, and for drinking water.

Work even tells us we should have a survival pack in our vehicles, as if we were stuck at work for some reason, the cafeterias would run out of fresh food awfully fast.
I have about three days of food there.

[Corey]

Spring has sprung, thus a new year of mods having been dormant over this past winter.

There is a constant joke on a few FJ Cruiser forums that goes around in threads asking "Can you sleep in it."
Of course you can, member LandCruiserSteve (a moderator over on fjcruiserforums.com) has proven that by building a nice bed system in the back of his rig that accommodates him very well.

With the way I have my rig setup in the back, that will not work out for me.

I have been looking at roof top tents as of late, and finally settled on a fiberglass one made in Italy like Wayne has.
Many thanks to Wayne (member KD7NAC_07FJ) for helping me make a selection on this model, it is the same one he has on his FJ Cruiser, the medium model.

Wayne used Yakima Lowrider clamps on the stock FJ rack, and then 58" crossbars held in place via the Lowriders.
The AirLand mounts to the crossbars.

I went to the shop Friday the 21st of March to get it installed, and they recommend I use four crossbars instead of two to distribute the weight, as that is the way they have been doing them.

I just got done opening it up for the first time since I left the shop after the install, and I am really impressed with the quality of the AirLand unit.

It cranks up just like a tent trailer (I have owned two of them in the past) after undoing two latches up front, and one latch back aft.

After cranking it up you can grab the aluminum ladder from inside and extend it.
It is fully adjustable to accommodate any vehicle.

Once I had the ladder up I climbed inside and took out the three pillow it came with and put the flannel pillow cases on that I bought.
For the medium AirLand tent, full size sheets are a perfect fit.
The bottom sheet is a fitted one, with the top sheet being the normal tuck in type.
I still need to pick up a warm down comforter, and the size that will fit will be a twin as to not have to much over the sides.

Getting up and down the ladder for me was not that difficult at all.
Now when exiting the tent and coming down backwards, you want to use caution since you can not see the rungs, you feel for them with your feet.
If I can do it, anyone can.

After getting the sheets on and the pillows in place, I climbed up inside for a few pictures of the interior, then I laid out like I was going to sleep in it.
There is plenty of room, and my feet do not even touch the ends of the tent wall.
I am about 5'10", and I did not feel cramped at all.
There is plenty of room for a second person too, and possibly a child if you have one.
It would be better with just two people though.

And not once did it feel rickety to me.
It was very stable, and a very cool feeling being up in the air like that.
I have a feeling I am going to sleep very well in this tent.
The best thing of all is being able to pull into a site whether in a regular campground, or when you are out 4wheeling, Overlanding/exploring, and just whip out the hand crank and crank up the tent and have your bed all setup in less than one minute.
This is the real advantage to a unit like this.

Here are a few pictures of the AirLand.









Links:
Maggiolina AirLand tent
Autohome's main site in Italy
Lowrider clamps
58" crossbars
Rack n Road Bellevue, WA. store
Full size flannel sheets
The comforter I may get if they get it back in stock

The Rack n Road store I visited (official reseller of these for WA. state as seen on AutoHome's website) has a team of top notch installers/manager working there.
Evan (store manager) and Colin were the two installers who installed it.

Shortly before I left too YotaTech member nickr9287 showed up, he also works for the Bellevue store and is an installer.

If looking for a system like this or any Yakima or Thule type of gear for your rig around our area, give these guy's a call.
Great team to work with.

Probably around sometime in May I will have some camping pictures from up at Greenwater with the tent all setup in the outdoors, and some other new camping gear I have been hoarding up on for a good time out in the woods.

With this I think my rig is nearing completion.
Still have to settle on a rear bumper, there are still a few in works.
The selection is getting bigger all the time.

[GTKrockeTT]

that looks sweet! i'd love to do this, but being able to park at my house is more important to me right now.

[layonnn]

Looks nice. Can it support weight on top? Seeing as how you loose the functionality of the factory rack it would be great if the roof could have a rack and mount the tent directly to the FJ (a la remove the factory rack all together).

[Corey]

Thanks guy's.
They do make other models that have a roof rack on top,a nd I am sure my model could have it added.

Here is one with a rack.
http://www.autohomeus.com/products/m...inaExtreme.php

I still have room under the tent that I can slide stuff into the factory rack if I want to.

I have a Cabela's picnic table and a Cabela's kitchen, and I may be able to slide them into the rack.

The tent is very stable.
The whole time I was moving around and flipping up the mattress to put the sheets on, it did not move one bit.
I was surprised at how stable it is.

[Jenks]

Very interesting idea. Is this something that you will leave on the truck all the time, or is it fairly easy to remove during the "off" season of camping? Also, is there a way to level the tent, or do you just basically need to level the truck where you park, best you can?