Hi,
Thought I should share my triumphs and failures, and get some commentary from the brainstrust here.
So, the ute itself - 2015 MN GLX, white. Picked it up from the dealer with alloy wheels, TJM T13 bullbar (steel winch compatible bar, black), TJM Airtek snorkel, factory roof racks, factory tow bar, and window tint... and about 30km on the clock. If you're interested on price, it was $33,350 on road. I bought this with the view of keeping it for a minimum of 10 years.
Since then, I've put one or two more km on it and a few other things:
Outback Armour 2" lift kit - Goes great, reduced that boat-like body roll to something a bit more comfortable, got a fair bit of lift out of it, and the ride is fantastic. Handles corrugations well, and is pretty nice out bush as well.
265/75R16 Sailun Terramax AT tyres - For the price, they're great. That I got them on special (195/tyre installed) is even better. They're quiet on the road - much quieter than expected, and pretty grippy off road as well. None of that shitty "wet=slide" some of my mates get from their Coopers. Had no issues at the cape with them, in fact in areas where my dad had a bit of wheel slip in his Jeep, with KO2's, I had none. No punctures either, but the sidewall is about half as thick as the KO2 (which, if you've noticed, I use as a benchmark). They look a bit meh. You've also got to keep an eye on pressures, as they usually drop a few pound a month. I also picked up a second spare, on a king steel rim.
Custom Offroad bash plates - 3mm, 3 plates, most of you know the drill. If I could make this purchase again, I'd have gotten the stainless ones, as I ended up paying the difference in price painting the damn things.
Rock Armour steel side steps - a lesson in "the poor man buys twice". Only paid $400 for these and got a free tyre repair kit. In weighing up the cheap price vs. quality issues, which I knew of, as I'd already returned some rock armour bash plates from that shop - they gave me the wrong plates, but I wasn't impressed with their gear then. It was a calculated risk, but man... am I bad at math. The welds are so bad I think I can do better, and I've only welded once in my life - 7 years ago. The installation is a bit crap as well, as it's just u-bolts around the chassis rail and one bolt at the back. Not a fan, so much so that I haven't taken steel sliders off my list of things to buy - just dropped down to the bottom of the list.
K&N Filter - Impulse buy at Supercheap, only $20 more expensive than a ryco air filter. Made my fuel consumption better by half a litre per hundred. Keep the stock filter as a spare.
Adventure Kings seat covers - Great, keeps the seats clean. Easy install, makes me think the seats are more comfortable, washable. Cheap.
Adventure Kings awning - It's pretty shady...
Now, onto the stuff that I am pretty stoked with... my dual battery and 12v setup!
With the idea taken from Snoozy's build, I had a mate weld up a shelf to replace my back seats. It's 1200x500, made out of 25mm RHS mild steel with 5mm flat bar bent up for the mounts and crossbars. I used some of the thickest structural ply I could find at bunnings for the base of the shelf, and covered it with some spare marine carpet, courtesy of my dear ol' dad. ARB just happen to sell L-Track tie down rail in 1200 lengths, so that runs down the long sides and also holds the ply to the frame. It bolts straight into the seat mounts, and has a battery tray welded onto the back of it that bolts down into the child seat restraint bolt hole - with some of the dodgiest mounts there. A mate at work made up a spacer for the bolt, and then there's just a block of wood underneath the other side. Just holy crap, so dodgy, but I can't think of any other way to attach it just yet. Brains trust?
Using the rest of my ply and some spare rivnuts from work, I mounted a board on the back wall. I use it to mount up a negative terminal busbar, fuse box, and all of the 12v components - at this point (annoyingly) just a dual USB charge point. I did have grand plans of having a merrit plug for the fridge, which was loose as a goose upon testing it with the fridge plug (an hour before ETD for the cape), so I re-wired it through a anderson plug... Never buy anderson plugs from Jaycar. 4/4 failed. The plugs for the fridge? No current across them (testing one of the plugs I found that it was mcbuggered). So I ended up just hard wiring the fridge cable, which is probably better in the long run anyway... At least until I buy a new fridge. I also had grand plans of having my compressor mounted on the drivers side behind the rear seats, and controlled through a wireless relay. Stupid me. So, this wireless relay... It was cheap, $2 and free shipping from ebay. Unfortunately, I'm a mechanic, not an electrical engineer, and couldn't figure out how to wire it up in the time I had so it got left it out. Luckily, because it probably wouldn't have worked after 2 weeks of corrugations, and the anderson plugs I had on my compressor power cable (in preparation for the Grand Plan) just [censored] melted when it came to pump up my tires. 50A anderson plugs, the max rated draw of the compressor is 45A, and they melted (this was the third time I'd used it). If anyone was in Laura a few weeks ago and saw a balding bloke chuck a tantrum, that was probably me and that's the reason. The cause of the failures may be tradesman error, but with all of these plugs failing in different ways I'm pretty sure it's not.
Anyway... 125 amp hour AGM battery in the back, with a Matson voltage sensing relay in the engine bay. Works well, the battery charges up as far as it can with this system, and after 17 hours running my fridge, a Waeco CF50, at -15C, and charging up my phone (s7) it was at 12.6V - roughly 70% DoD.
I also run a snorkel sock in dusty conditions, and when refueling from a jerry (or worse, a dodgy looking servo) I use a Mr. Funnel.
Fully loaded, I had 3 weeks of food, clothes and consumables (sunscreen, toothpaste, soap, toilet paper), cooking and cleaning gear, as well as my electrical toolbox in the cab with us, and in the tray I had my second spare, a "recovery trunk" containing a hand winch, exhaust jack, recovery kit, water bra, gloves, rags and hatchet; a "tools trunk" with all my tools and spares, as well as some cleaning gear and a spare tarp; 2x20L jerry cans; 2x20L water jerry's; treds; swag (which busted on the second night, so the mattress and pillows went into the cab and we bought a $50 tent which was bloody amazing); chairs; and a bush saw.
Just a bit on the water bra... Home made out of an old tent ground sheet and some 100mph tape. Zip tie'd to the bullbar, it was amazing. I could roll it up out of the way, then when needed it was a matter of cutting 3 zip ties and applying some tape. Much better than a big heavy duty thing which we saw a few people struggling with. Off the car, it rolls up small enough to fit in my recovery kit bag.
List of mods and cost:
EGR blank - $8?
Tyres and suspension: $3005, installed.
Bash plates - $300, an extra $150 in undercoat and paint.
Side Steps - $400
Awning - $120 with subscription to 4wd action
Seat covers - $30
sound proofing - $90
rear shelf, battery mount, and back board - maybe $100 in materials and consumables for the fabrication, $20 postage for the carpet, $150 for the L-Track and tie down points from ARB. Not painted yet, still to be inspected for cracks.
12v components and wiring - Roughly $150
Matson VSR - $110
Battery - $150, inc. delivery.
Unifilter snorkel socks - $80
24 inch LED Light bar (a corrugation casualty) - $90
Total: $4,933... Lets say a neat 5 grand because there's probably something I've forgotten.
Best mod so far - Soundproofing on the back wall.
Worst so far - those accursed anderson plugs!!!
Future plans (in order):
Catch can. Probably should have done that by now.
Battery voltage indicator and cigarette lighter socket in the rear. Every time I wanted to test the battery, had to dig out the multimeter which got real old real quick. I also saw some strip lights that run from a cigarette lighter socket, and are able to switch between white and yellow which would work quite well for camp lighting.
Because my dad drives a Jeep Grand Cherokee, one of these:
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/TRITON-mitsubishi-MN-ML-MK-4X4-ACCESSORIES-DECAL-15-COLORS-/162141146995?hash=item25c05d8f73:g:4CcAAOSwwNVTtxorExhaust and ECU tune, coupled with a manifold clean. I just
need more power.
Secondary fuel filter
UHF radio. My little handhelds didn't really cut the mustard.
Long range fuel tank
DC-DC charger, with ability to accept solar charging.
Solar panels.
New side steps and brush bars.
After settling down, buying a house and having kids*:
Canopy and draws
Bigger awning
Move the 2nd battery to the tray
Water tank**
hot water system**
shower system**
Recaro front seats
Rooftop tent with an annex
*Who am I kidding? I won't be allowed to buy "car stuff" at this point.
**Some of these future mods may or may not be influenced by my girlfriend.