Help me to make my new baby awesome!

[Turbo55]

I live up in remote Canada and have never even seen a Land Cruiser up until now. I owned 8 classic 4runners and always loved them but kept them stock.

The last three months my wife calls it my midlife crisis but I was looking for an excellent 4runner to make awesome for trail riding. Once I started looking I came across this site and instantly knew I wanted a LC. I started the long search and found one 1800 km away. A 2001 100 series stock and in perfect shape.

The guy wanted his money wired in full sight unseen. Remember I hadn't even seen one in real life much less drove one. Bought it, and had it shipped to me.

The thing is immaculate. I mean not a scratch and still original windshield. Could easily win first in class at an auto show.

I loved it the minute I got in it.

Only issue is I received this:

And what my brain pictured was this :

I've been telling all my friends about this awesome LC I'm buying and it looks like my wife's new SUV!

It's time to make my new LC awesome and I really need your help (I mean you guys got me into this )

I have a budget of about $4k for first 6months and $4k in following 6months.

So a quick ramble then I will follow with more direct questions:

I'm a welder by trade and have a metal work shop . If anyone has good pictures of a front/rear bumper, sliders, and roof rack please please send along! I would really appreciate it. And better yet, if you can point me to a post about DIY for this that would be really great! The sky's the limit so if you have seen the ultimate roof rack or bumpers please let me know, I can fab it in a day or two.

The existing wheels are bald . That was the best news I could get! Problem is in order to make it look like the picture I need bigger tires. Can't have bigger tires without a lift.

So I guess we start there? Or can I put the tires in the picture on before the lift? Any idea what size those would be? What kind of lift?

Is there anything I'm not seeing in this picture that needs to be done? Maybe under the hood?

Oh and for usage. This is going to be 90% highway, 5% open wet/dry fields, and 5% getting into some trouble. So no Baja and I need it to still take my family of 5 on long trips.


Here are my actual questions:

1) Lift kits. I will need to install myself. I believe I want a 3" but looking for feedback. I contacted a few places including my local (3 hrs away) 4wheelparts and they don't even know who makes this. I told them OME and they couldn't find the part numbers. (remember this is Canada, we don't have LC). Ok knowing my intention of 90% highway so mileage still matters and I don't need 74" of wheel travel, what kind/size of lift should I be looking for? In addition I find the stock LC to be very soft almost spongy, more of a lincoln and less of a sports car, maybe there is a tighter system? Steer me in the right direction with how to get this.

2) Rims. I love the 16" size of rims but the stock ones are boring. Anyone heard of painting them black? Seems a shame. Kijiji (Canada Craigslist) has tundra rims for fairly good price but 18". Any issues going to Tundra TRD rim package?

3) Tires. I need tires that LOOK AWESOME but can also handle snow and ice well and won't be super loud down the highway. What size can I go with that definitely look macho but not overcompensating ? In my research I only came up with
BFGOODRICH ALL-TERRAIN T/A KO2... Maybe like 285 or 295?

4) Roof Rack. What's the ultimate roof rack for utility? Pro's and con's to having the rail that surrounds the rack?

5) Front/rear bumper. I think these are fairly straight forward. If you have any pics of one that is off I would really appreciate it. Can I tremclad this or do I need to go 3 hours to the city and get it powder coated?

6) Tint. The tint is like amber but I saw on this site dark rims big tires and dark tint. Looked awesome. Can I put black on the amber factory tint?

7) Any quick and easy mods that I can do to get this process going?


Thanks to anyone who takes the time to read! And I look forward to any comments or suggestions.

 

[Lowbudgetlc100]

check with slee for the lift. forget 4wheelparts. i dont know if they make a 3" for the 100s 2.5 yes but not sure 3" if you go with slee get the heavy if you are going with front and rear bumpers.

 

[billbrown72]

Lose the running boards, takes the grocery getting look away

 

[cwininger]

OP- here's a few things i've learned from exhaustive reading on this forum (new hundy owner myself, so i'm trying to learn as much as i can before starting in on any mods)

• you can run 285 75 r16 tires on that truck with no lift and minimal to zero rubbing at full travel of the suspension

• the ko2's you linked to are highly regarded, but being in canada you may want to consider some others. i've heard and read that the ko2's aren't that great in heavy, wet snow. look at general grabber at2's and falken wildpeak at3's for the beef you are looking for with excellent wet snow performance.
• you can plastidip those rims any color you want for cheap and in a couple of hours by yourself, and they will look awesome and be pretty durable. or you can have them powdercoated for probably a couple hundred bucks.
• the tint for your model year is bronze reflective. it was changed to gray in 2004. from what i've read, it's pretty difficult to source bronze tint that's a good match for the stock. i read a thread awhile back where someone had bought a roll of tint that was a good match and was selling it off in pieces. you'll have to search around here and see if any is still available. i remember the tint was called "viper ceramic" or something like that.
• there are lots or rack options. a couple popular ones are baja and gamiviti. lots of guys just use the yakima or thule trays that will attach to the factory rack. depends on what you want to use it for. long distance overlanding, you may want something beefier than what the factory rack can provide.
• while you are deciding on sliders, i would rip the running boards off and add approach lighting. you can get a length of led light strip to add underneath each rocker panel. the lx has the lights built into the running boards, but i think the lc has the wiring already in place and you can just piggyback off that unused harness. i could be wrong about that. anyways, fun quick useful mod, and you can read about it here, starting around post #8

that's all i got for now. there are lots of other guys here that are way smarter than me that can give you a lot of good advice.

 

[CanadianRockyCruiser]

A few searches around the forum will yield all of your answers. I recommend you check out Cruisin' Offroad, since you are in St. Paul, AB. Shipping is cheap, and you won't find a better deal on Canadian made sliders...Chatted with Jason, and rear bumpers will be ready in the coming months.

If you find yourself in Calgary, send me a PM, and I'll show you what I've done to my rig.

 

[Turbo55]

A few searches around the forum will yield all of your answers. I recommend you check out Cruisin' Offroad, since you are in St. Paul, AB. Shipping is cheap, and you won't find a better deal on Canadian made sliders...Chatted with Jason, and rear bumpers will be ready in the coming months.

If you find yourself in Calgary, send me a PM, and I'll show you what I've done to my rig.

Absolutely I will, my wife's family lives in Calgary. Visit in laws or go talk cruisin'? Expect a call

 

[bfeister]

Any update on what mods you ended up going with @Turbo55?