PIMP MY RAV4.1!

[JJCRU23R]

Ok the thing I was referring to earlier was that late last week I was offered an even swap car for car by a guy who wanted a more practical car for his family.

Potentially, by the next few days I could have been driving around in a black Mitsubishi 5 seater v6. Lower kms than my rav by about 200 xxx kms, 17's, but otherwise stock ,straight body, auto. It was also blAck.. I love black. Did I mention it was black?!

Although I never advertised my car for sale, even with the grey patchwork showing no secret that there's still work to be done, I was given an interesting offer that I thought deep and hard about. never previously thought you can swap cars before!

This morning I contacted the guy, decent bloke, thinking bout my family and what we can afford, what I already have and what I can potentially receive and said thanks, but respectfully, no thanks.

[JJCRU23R]

That being said, as sorry as the car looks now, this wasnt the first person asking to buy the car from me. Definitely the most serious offer though! Because we test drove each others rides and the ideA of the swap was becoming a more and more likely in my mind.

Anyway, the other offers we're more of "omg rav4's are cute! How much did you buy it for?! Damn if you want to sell it- let me know!".. *cough*M_M*cough* lol!

[JJCRU23R]

Btw if you are in Sydney and interested in a 96 model Mitsubishi magna, let me know!

[JJCRU23R]

Lastest mod trial fitted.. Doesn't actually fit, it was more a case of checking out the actual parts functionality and checking how much exactly the part DOESN'T fit!

Apparently an Aussie patented invention, heavy duty bike rack!

Mounts on the towbar, but the towbar itself is too damn short, not long enough to drill another hole into to bolt it further away from the back door.

It would fit perfect if it weren't for the rear door plastic panel, the spare tire, the spare tire mount, and the passenger side corner bumper.

One of the main selLing points- the mounting arm folds down when not in use!

Push in that ball handle to unlock the rack, which is aided by a gas strut

7pin for the break light is not a straight bolt on. May look into adaptors or just cutting that off and replacing it with the round plug.

The pin lock on the left of that pic is heaps useful too...

[JJCRU23R]

It accommodates 3 push bikes, and a padlock to deter thieves. The plate that holds the bikes down has a pivot which basically means even if it's all unscrewed, I'll never lose that plate. It moves out of the way real well but its permanently attached.

As I mentioned earlier, that locking pin removes so that the entire rack can pivot counterclockwise, which SHOULD make me able to fully open the rear door unobstructed (for the most part).

Pivots well! The bin was used just to hold up the rack to stop it landing on the corner bumper.

Even the number plate mount pivots for easy brake light replacement in case it needs replacing.

For this mod to work, I'll need to go to a decent towbar place to buy a longer tow bar tongue, long enough for the rack to stand freely. That would limit the towing weight, however I don't plan on towing a trailer and bikes anytime soon.

Oh and another thing, the towing ball , once the bike rack is installed, is still free enough to mount a trailer!

[JJCRU23R]

Quick update, towball has an inscription which says it can handle 2500kgs which was the minimum required for the bike rack. It weighs about 12kgs on it's own, made from very similar metal as the towbar itself! Welded tough.

Another thing, im expecting tax return very soon so a chunk of that will definitely be put towards getting the 4.1 back up to standard instead of the primer grey patchwork and blue it's been since whenever I did the fenders?!

Im really tempted to lower - springs n shocks..

(And spacers for wider stance)

Or

replacing the damaged front fenders with same painted used fenders or continue with the existing panels and paint them as well as paint the other patches along the sides..?

Purchasing a flare kit from Japan or just buy a fiberglass front bar to change up the front?!

Need driving/ fog lights as well especially now in this Sydney winter we've been stuck in.

gotta do as much as possible on a budget! Less than 900 I'd like to spend since I have plans for the rest of my $$$ for the family.

What would you do if you had the choice?!

[JJCRU23R]

Fenders roughly 100 each..(eBay) but there are a wreckers about 30 mins away who have the same colour rav, hope they still in stock. I'd install it.

The springs n shocks to lower are expensive, possibly 7-900 supplied but I've been quoted 1400+ fully installed, regardless of whether it's lowered 2" standard height or lifted for supposedly top quality branded shocks n springs made in Germany *forgot the brand.

The flares may cost upwards of 4-500, however a rav4 bomex copy front bar from bodykitwarehouse.com.au would be roughly the same price delivered.

Which would you do? Towbar comes first, I know i got to finish the panels And paint... However I'm itching to lower it a few inches with king spring lows and Monroe gt shocks.. Possibly peddlers shocks n springs? I'd want improved handling but not a hard ride.

Ive been mentally shaving the body plastics on the doors and there's a few different methods I've researched. One option is to fill the gaps with foam filler, sculpt to shape and fiberglass over it, however I've also seen a 3m method of welding / melting the existing plastic, then body filling the remaining gaps

[JJCRU23R]

Update! Bought a mod and actually completed the job! How about that?!

BEFORE

The old and the new...

Needed to access the wiring harness via the air vent access through the rear corner bumper.. annoying and slowed the progress down especially on the drivers side. What I thought was gonna be 35-45 minutes tops took well into 1 and a half hours in the dark.

Total $150 which was cheap compared to the 300 odd bucks I paid for the altezza lights on my old 1zz.. I assumed that the LED lights at the bottom of the lights were actually reflectors that beamed a regular bulb light into many dots.. checked the wiring and sure enough the LEDs are the real deal and connect via the regular bulb wiring. Plug and play easy, except for accessing the harness.

Although my originals were in good working order, there is a noticable crack on the drivers side tail light which was reason enough for me to get these.. brand new unlike most things Im putting on the car!

More mods to come courtesy of tax refund! ahahhaaha

[ToyotaFreak]

Wow! Those taillights look good. Facelift RAV4.3 style! Wish there are more varieties for my RAV4.2 (The Chinese-spec Jonway UFO A380 [RAV4.2 Copy] have taillights with a pattern similar to yours, but wouldn't fit the Toyota.).

[JJCRU23R]

next mod... these would have been very useful in some trips weve taken in recent months.. or any time we drive long distances at night.

All up about 1 green plastic banknote worth of gear on the front.

I was tossing up between round lights and rectangle.. I chose the rectangle since the projected light appeared to spread rather than beam straight out ala the batsignal.

I saw a slightly cheaper pair of lights but I didn't like the thin piece of sheet metal they bent to make the u shaped mount which would be used to attach the fog light to the bar.

As far as it goes, I have not attempted to wire it just yet.. It was late night shopping tonight and its very dark when I got home. All up it was only 20 minutes to get the installation right, however I think I may need to redo the numberplate position due to it being too high under the "nudge" bar.. if you can even call it that.

[JJCRU23R]

RANT..

earlier this afternoon I drove pretty far to see this "towbar" specialist.. they wouldn't entertain the idea of a longer tow bar tongue, coming to the conclusion that the towbar would be flapping in the wind under the pressure.

Even If I bought one of their own towbars to suit the Rav4, they said it wouldnt be able to make a longer tow bar tongue to suit. I showed the saleswoman the bike rack and she said "oh thats for a motorbike!"

WTF.. My wife was in the car with the kids an she could tell this woman wasnt the best at customer service.

I pointed out the 3 spots for the pushbikes and demonstrated how the bikerack folded out.. I dont like pointing out when people are wrong.. it makes me look like Im putting them down.

The customer service sucked.

There was another place that my dad called for me and they wouldnt even entertain the idea.. didnt want to know...

anyone know a fabricator who would cut a straight bar for a tow bar tongue???!

[JJCRU23R]

Update regarding the towbar.. Ive talkd to the guys @ formula offroad, coincidentally not too damn far from work!

They can custom make a longer tow bar tongue, however itll only handle a maximum of about 60kgs on the tow bar. not very heavy duty?!

However, the longer bar will cost below 3 figures which is just fine by me... which includes custom towbar and driving the car back to my work since they know where I work!

YAY!

On another note, im in the middle of wiring up the fog lights and Im stuck on the switch! apparently I need to wire it to the negative? no sure... since the aftermarket lights say it needs to be spliced into the + fog light switch.

[95celica]

good news on the towbar. With your spot lights, wire them up to work off hi beam. Get a feed from the headlight switch for hi beam, run it to 1 side of you switch, then from the other side of the switch, run it to the signal terminal on the relay. This way they will only work only when on hi beam but you can switch them on and off also. Legally that is the way they should be wired

[JJCRU23R]

Hey Scott, I actually tried to do.. the very last step of the install was trying to figure out which headlight wire would work exactly as you described - turns off whenever you turn off the hi-beam.

However Ive read up online that theres plenty of problems doing so with toyotas since toyotas use a negative switch, while the aftermarket lights install instructions say I have to splice the switch into the positive hi-beam wire!

I attempted to mate the switch with all 3 cables which lead into the headlight stalk on the steering wheel. Each wire turned out something different like the fog lights switching off when the hi-beam was switched on!

If someone can simply tell me WHICH COLOUR to connect the switch, I'd do it tonight even if its freezing cold out right now.

My aim on all mods is to make it tasteful, useful and make sure that it doesn't ***** anyone off! (police and other drivers).

At this stage, Im just thankful that the lights haven't popped and they are working fine with the provided wires, plus a few extras that I needed since there wasn't enough provided.

Right now I've spliced the switch into the constant 12+ wire behind the stereo. If anyone has a explicit answer for this issue, lemme know! thanks!

[JJCRU23R]

Just read up here: http://www.4wdaction.com.au/forum/viewtopic.php?f=44&t=94942 ..

Im gonna try for a RED wire with GREEN stripe..

tomorrow! too damn cold right now.

[JJCRU23R]

Bought putty, primer, rust killer, sandpaper and a can of 8K4 paint from the local Autobarn. Hope to cover at least some of the grey on the panels ASAP.

[JJCRU23R]

Yesterday I managed to wash and cut n polish the fenders as well as some of the doors. there was plenty of overspray which covered up the original blue. Definitely not expecting a perfect repair job but just aiming to get the car back to the point where the repairs aren't obvious at first glance. I dot claim to be a pro at this stuff, just not afraid to have a shot at getting it done. It won't be a $2000 job as quoted by my panel beater but it'll at least be all blue!

[JJCRU23R]

Masked off..

Paint & clear..

[JJCRU23R]

Surprised how well the autobarn spray can matched the existing paint!

The cover panel just below the tail light was previously red, since I picked that up at pick n Payless wreckers. That got a shot of colour & clear too before I ran out of colour.

Still one corner to go. Trying to figure out how to sand a patch that big!

[JJCRU23R]

Fog lights are finally functioning as intended which means they are LEGAL to use! FINALLY!

Just spliced the red wire with green stripe as described a few posts above & works perfectly! It won't switch on unless I've activated high beams on the steering wheel stalk AND manually switched the foggies on/off switch that i installed on the dash.

If I switch the high beams off, it also switches the foggies off too - which means I can leave the switch located on the dash on only if I want the foggies on with my high beams!

[JJCRU23R]

Close up

[JJCRU23R]

Spent about 5 hours sewing and measuring by eye to get this done..

Based on my old corollas parcel shelf... but not sure I'd call what I made a "parcel shelf" but it does cover my load up the back all the same.

found these clips on rings in spotlight.. also where I bought the black fabric for cheap.. also bought the tubing and curtain mounts... pretty cool they came in black too!

1 old sewing machine and many broken sewing needles later..

clips with rings go here

This particular part was the bit I took from my old 1zz... cut down the middle so that either seat can be reclined without having to adjust the cover, plus my load stays covered!

The sewing machine gave up long before I did.. will sew in the final touches when I borrow dads sewing machine or if Im really bothered, Ill hand sew it.

Overall I'm pretty happy with the results. Checked and rechecked the windows and it covers 99% of what's in my rear! positioning and repositioning for maximum cover took up more time than I wanted which is why it took so damn long to have it made.

[JJCRU23R]

Car reached 400,000kms on 17:9:2012

Today I've just dropped the car into autotune for its first real service since I bought the car a year ago.. The woman I was speaking to quoted me a large sum and I'm on a tight budget.. But will have the most urgent things sorted and carbon clean by the end of the day.

[JJCRU23R]

Thanks to Ultratune I have a much better grasp of what the hell is going on under the bonnet.

There will be some considerable work done considering I am dealing with the sins of the previous owners of my rav4. It was obvious to the mechanics that the car wasnt properly maintained over the years and theyre actually surprised at how well its held up!

The car has just had:

new engine oil and filter

air filter

spark plugs

number plate lights

efi clean service

brake fluid flush

efi fuel filter

Service report showed lots of work needs to be done before next pink slip

diff and transmission oil surprisingly OK

exhaust gas analysis showed my car was running a bit rich on idle (6.9%, 523HC) and cruise (10% 580HC)..further investigation/diagnosis required to rectify

oil leaks observed in the engine bay.. nothing immediate to be done however it should be the first thing I should work on in order to further improve fuel economy and keep the engine happy

diff and transmission oil surprisingly OK

Radiator has a leak.

Several things need replacing which I wont go into but it seemed obvious that some parts that should have been replaced over time, have not!

goes to show you really do inherit the previous owners problems!

I am glad that the timing belt which the mechanic kept going on about today was indeed replaced in 2010 with the installation of the new engine. - the mechanic told me that this would be a big deal to fix which probebly wouldnt be worth the effort considering everything else that needs to be done, however I showed him a reciept from the previous owners when the engine and timing belt were replaced.

to be honest Im sick of driving an old car and wish I had the $$$ to buy new, but i have a wife n 2 kids and money isnt exactly falling out of the sky for us so putting everything in perspective Im just happy to be able to get to work.

im mildly familiar with the way the engine works but will become a lot more familiar over the next 6 months!

The car is supposedly more responsive.

[JJCRU23R]

drove the car around today.. i did hear a noticably different sound from the engine while cruising 50-70kms from mt druitt to blacktown. I particularly noticed a difference in performance trying to avoid some idiots who seem to ignore the fact that they are meant to give way at roundabouts...

plus Ive bought a VALVE COVER GASKET for $22 and a Gregorys Rav4 service and repair manual..

With the Ultratune report outlining what needs to be fixed, it makes it easier for me to figure out what to fix and which parts I need to buy!