So let the games begin
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The Initial story:
I live in Europe, in Poland. FJs are rare here. As in I`ve seen one in the last 2 months of driving-rare. Fuel prices, size, practicality etc. make them pretty much non existent here. We (my partner and I) are a lot into offroading (been through Jeeps, Nissans, Land Rovers, Suzukis, You name it, we`ve had it) and into camping, travel, etc. Never owned a Toyota 4x4 thou. We`ve been on the fence concerning FJ for about 5-6 years now. Finally, after all this time, decided that the time is now. The search began.
Since these are so rare around here I kept asking friends if they knew someone with an FJ. One of them responded and said he does not know anyone in my neck of woods but has a friend in Dubai who has 2. After a 2 hour call and a good talk about technical stuff this guy mentions that in fact, he has a friend in Warsaw who returned to Poland from Dubai 3 years ago and brought his FJ with him. And he does not drive it here because he liked dune bashing and does not like technical forest trails, mud, etc (no desert in Poland
). 15 minutes later I get a call - "Hey, I heard You want to buy my FJ". Yep...
So, the truck found us. Long story short, after 2 weeks of waiting (the owner was away skiing) we drive to Warsaw and buy the FJ.
Picture below is from Dubai, my FJ is leading.
The Czolg
So, czolg in polish means tank (as in tracked military vehicle). Why such a name? Not a clue but my partner came up with it and it kind of stuck. It`s on the big part of the vehicle sizes around here and the view from the inside is quite similar (I have some military background - not as a serviceman but as a journo specialized in the subject).
Anyway, Czolg is a 2009 4WD Automatic FJ build for US which somehow ended up in Dubai. It seems like a strange crossover between the 2009 and 2010 versions.
Some specs:
Stock double VVT-i engine with just some kind of sports filter and 135000 km (just short of 85000 miles)
BP51 suspension with uprated upper arms (AOR going off the invoices provided)
BMC is done
Almost NO rust anywhere
33-inch Yokohama Geolandars on beadlock wheels
Engine and drivetrain skidplate
Factory locker and A-trac
Fender flares x2 (got a spare set)
Some strange factory-looking roof rack (but it ain`t OEM)
Half-bucket seats
And a bucket-load of dodgy electrical mods, half of which do not do anything, and the other half causes issues.
Nice set of Bison Gear stuff like drawers, table, rear molle panels, rear upper shelf.
Funny enough car came with everything the guy used when wheeling in the desert. Maxtracks, compressor, deflation devices, lights, ropes, shackles, a metric ton of desert sand...You name it, it`s there.
The Plans:
For now - get it to my standard of maintenance. Flush everything - coolant, gearbox, engine. Change fluid in the diffs, transfer case, power steering, and brakes. Change the thermostat (more than likely it has some kind of colder thermostat installed as I`m not going over 1/3 of the stock gauge), spark plugs, and filters.
The engine bay and underside need a good cleaning as I could build a small dune with the sand that accumulated in there.
Coming Monday it goes to a specialized shop for an LPG conversion (I know, an odd thing for most of You but the gas prices around here are a bit mad and LPG cuts the fuel costs pretty much in half).
I will keep updating this as I go. Won`t be anything spectacular, the rig is pretty much built. All it needs is some love and small stuff...yeah...right...I`m fooling myself. Off the top of my head, I can think of: adding a winch, building a better roof rack, building a better set of drawers that suit my needs, adding lights, adding a camping battery setup, adding RTT, getting the BP51s setup for my kind of terrain...errmm..ok, it ain`t built but it`s a solid start.
Will be back with more info once the games really begin. Thanks for reading this far.
If You see anything out of ordinary or any problems please point stuff out. I`m new to FJs but a quick learner
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Some bonus pictures:
