Archive for February, 2009

I keep telling people that I am building my FJ up as an expedition vehicle. Earlier this week I started asking my self what this really means. In places like Africa and Australia there are many WIDE OPEN spaces where one can leave the highway for days on end. For trips in those regions... more

After careful consideration and discussion with other Toyota FJ Cruiser owners I decided to install a Safari Snorkel on DaToy. I do not anticipate deep water fords, rather, I installed the snorkel to provide a clean air intake. We use our Toyota FJ Cruiser as an expedition vehicle in the southwest. Many of the... more

With the redo of DaToy’s electronics I decided to get away from the laptop and implement an integrated Car PC. The Computer is designed to have the following functionality: - Built in GPS using Garmin GPS 15 - Integration with the FJ Jammer using Car2PC - OBD II Support - Touch Screen Capability - Bluetooth Support - WiFi Capability Supported software: -... more

Ever opened the hood of your FJ Cruiser at night and been unable to see right? Enter my LED engine compartment light. No more searching for the head lamp or other light. When I open the hood this light comes on automatically. It utilizes a retro mercury tilt sensor switch mounted to the hood. The... more

I have owned my Toyota  FJ Cruiser for over two years and spent lots of time considering what I wanted for lighting. Roof mounted off-road lights are a valuable tool when running at night. They allow you to see over obstacles that would be in shadow if only lit by lights on the bumper... more

I spent some time today getting my LED rock lights installed on my Toyota FJ Cruiser. The LEDs are 1 watt and I installed 5 of them under the FJ. They are wired into a relay under the hood that is controlled by a switch in my switch console. I could have wired these... more

In Colorado, fog lights can be a very good thing to have. In heavy snow the lights will do the best job at lighting the read ahead with out blinding you. The problem on my Toyota FJ Cruiser is that I am using an aftermarket bumper and I want the lights to be mounted... more

I finally have my All Pro Off Road front bumper reinstall complete. The powder coat on the original was junk and started pealing off after a year. I figured if I was going to get it powder coated I would also make some modifications to the bumper. The first issue was do modify the bumper... more

We spend most of our off road time running solo. Our solo expeditions take us a long ways from civilization and assisted recovery or rescue. With this in mind I have customized our recovery kit to help facilitate self recovery. The main tool in my recovery kit is common sense. If possible, I avoid situations... more

This last weekend I completed the installation f my new accessory electrical system for the FJ Cruiser. The system is designed to isolate all my installed accessories from the Toyota wiring harness. If you look at the Toyota harness you can see that it has been designed with SMALL gauge wires too meet the... more