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G'day, my name is Harry.
I'm relatively new to the forums, I had been browsing for a while (around 6 months) but never signed up until October 2016. I was a lurker, and had been for a while, while deciding what the next move in my life was going to be. This will hopefully all make sense in a while, after I give it some explanation.
Basically, around the start of April 2016, I was a completely normal person. 20 years old, just finding my feet and beginning to explore outside a couple of hundred kilometer radius of where I am based (Wollongong) I had just gotten back from a monumental solo trip out to a family property in the Mallee country of north west Victoria, out through the heart of South Australia and all the way up to NT, across to Uluru, Kings Canyon and the MacDonnell Ranges. Completely solo for 2 weeks, nearly 7000km and all the peace and tranquil escape from my daily life that I could ever ask for. I was in my trusty Forester, a Gen 1, SF 5 speed manual, non turbo that was kitted out to the extreme. I've never seen another Forester like it. Safe to say it was my baby. It drew so many heads at traffic lights, it wasn't even funny! 4 post bullbar, 3 inch lift in the rear, 2 inch in the front, heavy duty king springs and shocks. All terrains fitted, complete false floor interior with marine carpet from behind the front seats, slide out waeco cooler, slide out table. 2 100w HID spotties, assorted worklights etc etc.
This was taken just west of Kata Tjuta, at the start of the Docker River Road, about 190k's from the WA Border. I knew my limits and didn't go any further!
Like I was saying at the start of April this year, my life was turned upside down. I had always had Sacroiliac pain, which for those of you that are lucky enough to not know what it is, it is where you pelvis meets your spine. Deep inside your hip and up about 2 inches. I had never thought this was anything serious, as I had the pain on and off sporadically for about 2 years, never anything really serious, just go to bed and wake up and it was gone, or take a Panadol and it would vanish.
Anyway, I had to take a few days off work initially as it was bad enough to nearly reduce me to tears, and I like to think I have a high pain tolerance. Off to the doctor for scans and initially thinks it is obviously muscular and will resolve etc etc.
On some medication and rest. Does not improve one bit, if anything, it got worse. Off to see a physio, and luckily in hindsight, one of the ladies there listens to what I have to say about the on again off again style of pain, and refers me for blood tests to rule out various diseases etc. And sure enough I am in a debt of gratitude to this young assistant for the rest of my life. She correctly pointed me in the direction of a pathology, who then directed me to a rheumatologist. Sure enough, diagnosed an aggressive combination of Ankylosing Spondylitis, and Psoriatic Arthritis. Both aggressive autoimmune arthritis that attack the joints and cause constant debilitating pain and joint fusion.
Yeah nice. I was thrilled. Couldn't bend at the hips, sleep flat in my own bed, couldn't raise my arms, cut my own steak etc. Complete deterioration in 2 months, in an otherwise healthy 20-21 year old.
Going to cut out a lot of the middle section here, where I didn't leave the house for 2 months, had to quit my job, contemplated ending it all from the pain of my joints pretty much turning to stone (i'm talking 4 or 5 hours to start to move in the morning) didn't drive for 8 months, and now I can no longer drive manual. So the foz is going up for sale in a few weeks. Regretfully.
At this point, you are probably wondering why I am telling you all this. Well I was one of those people, "ah well that sucks, but it happens to other people, not to me". You never know when your life is going to change completely, so when you do have the ability to do things, go out and do them, because you never know when it can all be snatched away from you. I have been on a crazy strict diet, and taking medication for the last 7 months and it is seeming to be finally settling down and back under control. I'm still not 100% normal, but compared to what I was, sheesh, I'm so happy I have some quality of life again.
The delicate nature of this condition is that you never know when the disease will resurface, it can flare up and go away again. Generally diet, low stress and medication can control it, but you never know, so I intend to build up a sweet rig, travel while I can because one day, I may not be able too. If anything, I am glad that this has happened to me, because without it, carrying on like a normal person, I would never have had the perspective and appreciation that I have now.
Sooooo, now that all of that is out of the way, this is a 4x4 forum and that is what we are here to talk about right? I just wanted to give you some context when I explain this build to you all.
I needed something that was bigger than the Forester, automatic, with an actual transfer case and proper 4wd. I needed something with a high seating position, comfy interior, and ease of modification, and a variety of easy to source aftermarket parts and accessories. I needed something that would take me to all the places I wanted to go to, see all that I wanted to see, touring as much as possible.
I landed on a Gen 2 Pajero. I scouted out a couple and ended up with this one. Picked it up for 4000 in late November.
This is how it sits now in my backyard:
It has an ARB winch bar (that I have taken off temporarily)
2 Inch OME heavy duty shocks and springs
Reconditioned Motor with 60,000km - 3.5l V6 - Body has 308,000km
Dual battery system - will probably replace it, I want to do it all myself to know its going to be reliable.
GME UHF
ARB heavy duty tow bar w/ electric brakes.
It needs a windscreen and a rocker cover bolt. Might need an exhaust in a little while, but I was planning on that anyway
Passed compression test and all range of gears in transfer case, full lock with no clicks etc.
Pretty happy with it so far. Have not driven it apart from the test drives and all the testing etc. It is currently parked in my backyard with a couple of months remaining on the rego.
Now, here comes the fun part. Please note, I will be doing the majority of accessories and various mods myself, but all the fabrication and cutting will be left in the hands of a trusted contact from the local area who runs his own offroad fabrication business. He has done many chops on a variety of vehicles, coil conversions, 4 link rear ends, sas swaps etc. I have seen his quality of work up close and it is really neat. Its not going to be another one of those "my mate is a fabricator, she'll be right mate" type of stories. He is giving me a very good price for all the work that will be done. I'm easily saving $6-8000 once it is all done and engineered.
My plans include:
Tough dog heavy duty torsion bars.
Upgrade to black steel rims, set of 6: Looking at 16x8's at this stage with a 0 offset. Then putting 31 inch all terrains on (or 33" muddies if I can stomach the fuel economy)
Heavy heavy duty springs and shocks, whether mixing and matching certain springs from other vehicles will do the job, I'm sure you all have some input! I need something to take the weight of what is coming.
Doing all this first so all the fabrication will be done around what will be close to vehicles final height.
My fabricator will be doing:
Brush bars from ARB winch bar down to custom made steel checkerplate topped sliders/side steps.
Chopping the Paj into a dual cab.
Custom tray.
4 inch stainless snorkel.
Exhaust, stainless, depending on what diameter you all can recommend, either 2.5 or 3 inch, as non restrictive as possible.
Full body respray once the chop is done. Tossing up between the satin khaki green that you see on some troopcarriers, or gunmetal grey metallic. Examples below: Either the green on top, or the colour of the mustang.
All barwork will be painted satin black, including tray, upon which I will mount the two spares at the very back, and cover the rest in rip stop canvas with zips etc. Yes, I know most people that go the route of chopping their vehicle go down the route of a single cab, but I don't want to give up the seat space for 4 comfortably. I know the tray will be short, about 1.2m, but I will be basing my whole camp setup under a fox-wing awning, so the tray will act as a storage/kitchen/central point when setup for days at a time etc. It will fully kitted out with all my 12 volt gear and camp lights etc. I don't need a massive tray, just something that gives that bit of easy side access and flexibility.
Something similar to this design:
Obviously not exactly the same style tray, but there will definitely be some influence in there!
Either a long range fuel tank (145L), or a 50L sub. I'm leaning towards the sub at this stage due to if I punch a hole in the tank somehow, I won't lose it all.
Assorted parts have already arrived, like bonnet protector in black, black weather shields for all 4 doors and a dashmat. I currently have lights and aerials on order to arrive in the next week or so.
I have high hopes for this build. It will not be cheap, but I want something that has hardly been done before. I like being different, as you can tell with my previous Forester build. I just feel that traditional 4x4's have been done 8 ways from Sunday by every man and his dog, so in order to stand out, you have to do something a little bit different. I am not worried about dumping money into something that I won't get back on resale, this vehicle is going to be mine for a long time I hope. Looking forward to keeping you all updated as plans start to fall into place over the next couple of months!
I'm relatively new to the forums, I had been browsing for a while (around 6 months) but never signed up until October 2016. I was a lurker, and had been for a while, while deciding what the next move in my life was going to be. This will hopefully all make sense in a while, after I give it some explanation.
Basically, around the start of April 2016, I was a completely normal person. 20 years old, just finding my feet and beginning to explore outside a couple of hundred kilometer radius of where I am based (Wollongong) I had just gotten back from a monumental solo trip out to a family property in the Mallee country of north west Victoria, out through the heart of South Australia and all the way up to NT, across to Uluru, Kings Canyon and the MacDonnell Ranges. Completely solo for 2 weeks, nearly 7000km and all the peace and tranquil escape from my daily life that I could ever ask for. I was in my trusty Forester, a Gen 1, SF 5 speed manual, non turbo that was kitted out to the extreme. I've never seen another Forester like it. Safe to say it was my baby. It drew so many heads at traffic lights, it wasn't even funny! 4 post bullbar, 3 inch lift in the rear, 2 inch in the front, heavy duty king springs and shocks. All terrains fitted, complete false floor interior with marine carpet from behind the front seats, slide out waeco cooler, slide out table. 2 100w HID spotties, assorted worklights etc etc.
This was taken just west of Kata Tjuta, at the start of the Docker River Road, about 190k's from the WA Border. I knew my limits and didn't go any further!
Like I was saying at the start of April this year, my life was turned upside down. I had always had Sacroiliac pain, which for those of you that are lucky enough to not know what it is, it is where you pelvis meets your spine. Deep inside your hip and up about 2 inches. I had never thought this was anything serious, as I had the pain on and off sporadically for about 2 years, never anything really serious, just go to bed and wake up and it was gone, or take a Panadol and it would vanish.
Anyway, I had to take a few days off work initially as it was bad enough to nearly reduce me to tears, and I like to think I have a high pain tolerance. Off to the doctor for scans and initially thinks it is obviously muscular and will resolve etc etc.
On some medication and rest. Does not improve one bit, if anything, it got worse. Off to see a physio, and luckily in hindsight, one of the ladies there listens to what I have to say about the on again off again style of pain, and refers me for blood tests to rule out various diseases etc. And sure enough I am in a debt of gratitude to this young assistant for the rest of my life. She correctly pointed me in the direction of a pathology, who then directed me to a rheumatologist. Sure enough, diagnosed an aggressive combination of Ankylosing Spondylitis, and Psoriatic Arthritis. Both aggressive autoimmune arthritis that attack the joints and cause constant debilitating pain and joint fusion.
Yeah nice. I was thrilled. Couldn't bend at the hips, sleep flat in my own bed, couldn't raise my arms, cut my own steak etc. Complete deterioration in 2 months, in an otherwise healthy 20-21 year old.
Going to cut out a lot of the middle section here, where I didn't leave the house for 2 months, had to quit my job, contemplated ending it all from the pain of my joints pretty much turning to stone (i'm talking 4 or 5 hours to start to move in the morning) didn't drive for 8 months, and now I can no longer drive manual. So the foz is going up for sale in a few weeks. Regretfully.
At this point, you are probably wondering why I am telling you all this. Well I was one of those people, "ah well that sucks, but it happens to other people, not to me". You never know when your life is going to change completely, so when you do have the ability to do things, go out and do them, because you never know when it can all be snatched away from you. I have been on a crazy strict diet, and taking medication for the last 7 months and it is seeming to be finally settling down and back under control. I'm still not 100% normal, but compared to what I was, sheesh, I'm so happy I have some quality of life again.
The delicate nature of this condition is that you never know when the disease will resurface, it can flare up and go away again. Generally diet, low stress and medication can control it, but you never know, so I intend to build up a sweet rig, travel while I can because one day, I may not be able too. If anything, I am glad that this has happened to me, because without it, carrying on like a normal person, I would never have had the perspective and appreciation that I have now.
Sooooo, now that all of that is out of the way, this is a 4x4 forum and that is what we are here to talk about right? I just wanted to give you some context when I explain this build to you all.
I needed something that was bigger than the Forester, automatic, with an actual transfer case and proper 4wd. I needed something with a high seating position, comfy interior, and ease of modification, and a variety of easy to source aftermarket parts and accessories. I needed something that would take me to all the places I wanted to go to, see all that I wanted to see, touring as much as possible.
I landed on a Gen 2 Pajero. I scouted out a couple and ended up with this one. Picked it up for 4000 in late November.
This is how it sits now in my backyard:
It has an ARB winch bar (that I have taken off temporarily)
2 Inch OME heavy duty shocks and springs
Reconditioned Motor with 60,000km - 3.5l V6 - Body has 308,000km
Dual battery system - will probably replace it, I want to do it all myself to know its going to be reliable.
GME UHF
ARB heavy duty tow bar w/ electric brakes.
It needs a windscreen and a rocker cover bolt. Might need an exhaust in a little while, but I was planning on that anyway
Passed compression test and all range of gears in transfer case, full lock with no clicks etc.
Pretty happy with it so far. Have not driven it apart from the test drives and all the testing etc. It is currently parked in my backyard with a couple of months remaining on the rego.
Now, here comes the fun part. Please note, I will be doing the majority of accessories and various mods myself, but all the fabrication and cutting will be left in the hands of a trusted contact from the local area who runs his own offroad fabrication business. He has done many chops on a variety of vehicles, coil conversions, 4 link rear ends, sas swaps etc. I have seen his quality of work up close and it is really neat. Its not going to be another one of those "my mate is a fabricator, she'll be right mate" type of stories. He is giving me a very good price for all the work that will be done. I'm easily saving $6-8000 once it is all done and engineered.
My plans include:
Tough dog heavy duty torsion bars.
Upgrade to black steel rims, set of 6: Looking at 16x8's at this stage with a 0 offset. Then putting 31 inch all terrains on (or 33" muddies if I can stomach the fuel economy)
Heavy heavy duty springs and shocks, whether mixing and matching certain springs from other vehicles will do the job, I'm sure you all have some input! I need something to take the weight of what is coming.
Doing all this first so all the fabrication will be done around what will be close to vehicles final height.
My fabricator will be doing:
Brush bars from ARB winch bar down to custom made steel checkerplate topped sliders/side steps.
Chopping the Paj into a dual cab.
Custom tray.
4 inch stainless snorkel.
Exhaust, stainless, depending on what diameter you all can recommend, either 2.5 or 3 inch, as non restrictive as possible.
Full body respray once the chop is done. Tossing up between the satin khaki green that you see on some troopcarriers, or gunmetal grey metallic. Examples below: Either the green on top, or the colour of the mustang.
All barwork will be painted satin black, including tray, upon which I will mount the two spares at the very back, and cover the rest in rip stop canvas with zips etc. Yes, I know most people that go the route of chopping their vehicle go down the route of a single cab, but I don't want to give up the seat space for 4 comfortably. I know the tray will be short, about 1.2m, but I will be basing my whole camp setup under a fox-wing awning, so the tray will act as a storage/kitchen/central point when setup for days at a time etc. It will fully kitted out with all my 12 volt gear and camp lights etc. I don't need a massive tray, just something that gives that bit of easy side access and flexibility.
Something similar to this design:
Obviously not exactly the same style tray, but there will definitely be some influence in there!
Either a long range fuel tank (145L), or a 50L sub. I'm leaning towards the sub at this stage due to if I punch a hole in the tank somehow, I won't lose it all.
Assorted parts have already arrived, like bonnet protector in black, black weather shields for all 4 doors and a dashmat. I currently have lights and aerials on order to arrive in the next week or so.
I have high hopes for this build. It will not be cheap, but I want something that has hardly been done before. I like being different, as you can tell with my previous Forester build. I just feel that traditional 4x4's have been done 8 ways from Sunday by every man and his dog, so in order to stand out, you have to do something a little bit different. I am not worried about dumping money into something that I won't get back on resale, this vehicle is going to be mine for a long time I hope. Looking forward to keeping you all updated as plans start to fall into place over the next couple of months!
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