Hello everyone,
Long time lurker, recent subscriber here. I had a couple of guys ask about my rig, so I figure this is the best place to post. Feel free to move it around if its in the wrong spot.
Okay, so my story start 5 years ago when I mentioned to someone I would love a cruiser, but I do so much travelling that the tractor noise is putting me off. And thats when I found out about the 200 series chops. Eagerly subscribed to Creative Customs and was amazed at their work and what is out there. Aftet checking my bank balance and confirmed the $5.48 I had in there, the dream of owning a chopped cruiser was relegated to fantasy and I continue to scoot around in my Subaru hatch back.
Fast forward to 2021, and I'm aimlessly scrolling through Gumtree in my local area and this beast comes up for sale. Chopped 100 series, in an xtra cab. At the time I was telling myself that I should be a grown up and buy a house, but I thought it wouldn't hurt to go check it out, and after all it was walking distance from my house.
I went around and had a chat to the guy who bought it from the guy who chopped it, and he had taken it through the Simpson Desert with his wife, and done loads of touring. But after recently having a baby, it was time to give up the two seater, and his work had provided him with a 200 series.
After mulling it over for a solid 45mins, I decided to throw caution to the wind and use my home deposit savings to buy the beast. My brother had a 200 series and regrets selling it, and I rationalised that I will never get a chance to buy a ute like this ever again.
So now I'm a proud owner and I have never regretted buying it. My plan is to have it for 20 years, so its a labour of love and have not skimped on giving it the attention it needs.
(PS I still bought the house, but its a lot smaller than what I originally could have afforded, but I dont care)
Okay so enough of my life story.
The specs when I bought it
2004 UZJ 100 series
Landcruiser white, with drop side aluminium tray
Dual fuel LPG and petrol
50L water tank
Dual battery
Lightforce HID
Rear facing work lights on the reverse, cabin switch, and in tray switch.
In tray lights
CB radio
ARB bull bar and side steps
ARB compressor
Maintenace Ive paid for (4x4 Obsession do an excellent job) to bring it up to scratch
Lots of work on the front drive/suspension. The CVs were shot, the shafts replaced, control arms replaced, etc
There was a tiny rust spot under one of thr little quarter panels, more on that later
And personally Ive done a heap of work
Tidy up some of the amateur wiring and protect the cables.
Installed GPS tracking, tyre pressure monitoring, external temp gauge, and a few extra bits.
Replaced the old rear facing work lights with Stedi work lights
Replaced the in tray lights with overhead Teralume dual colour strips
Replaced the Lightforce (ballast died) with Supernova Infinite 8.5
Mounted a fridge (still needs a proper mount)
200w of solar that doubles as protection for the fridge.
Put the full length rack over the top
Shower awning
With all the mods, plus a slide out platform Ive built, I can now live off grid for as long as my water and food lasts. I was planning on driving from Melb to Perth to see my family this year, but borders shut down that idea.
After all that good news, there were two challenges that I knew about when purchasing.
The chop was never engineered. It was chopped by Overkill (which I read on here was a bit hit and miss). But it was registered as a ute. While there is no blue plate, between the registration as a ute, and the insurance (Shannons) happy enough to take my word of mouth, it felt like I could move forward. The chop itself is basically the middle section from about half way through the back door, through to the old tail gate. I still have the rear arm rests and speakers in the back, and the rear window is the orignal rear window. I have some photos while the trim is off, and you can see the cut lines and spot welds putting it all back together.
It took me a few months, but I've finally found an engineer who can audit the chop, and hopefully with a pinch of luck can give me the blue plates and I can have some confidence its not going to fall apart. While the tray was off I had a good look at the chassis and everything appears to be in good condition, and the tray itself sits on existing mounting locations so as not to exert any weird or wonderful forces.
Now the rust. Below one of the rear quarter panels, I had a tiny bit of rust starting to form. Plus there was a number of spots that the putty was starting to crack away from the panels. Its one of those problems that is small today but can easily turn into a massive headache in the future. So bearing in mind that its a labour of love, and I would happily drop $2k repairing suspension, why isnt paint work repairs just part of the maintenance. I found a guy in Melb who works on customs cars, since most panel beaters only wanted to do insurance jobs. This crazy Russian guy quotes me a decent price. Given that the rust spot was in the custom panel, it was going to be a bit of a dog to repair.
In the end he had to remove the tray, strip all the paint, remove the quarter panels, and the windscreen. But he did a bang up job and went looking for spots to touch up and repair while the car was stripped, and ended up dumping a few cans of cavity wax in the rear panel, and scratching out all the windscreen channels and resurfacing the paint work in there to deal with some cracks. He just loved getting the chance to work on a unique car, and really gave it his all.
Then I get chatting and ask about, how much would a new respray be, and he says its only another $1000 since he only has to do the doors and bonnet. The front quarters he already planned to give a birthday to them. Sandy taupe has always been my favourite colour for a cruiser, so I thought what the hell!
Which then triggers, having to remove the bumpers and side steps so we may as well paint those. And then the tray will look funny in raw aluminium so lets give that a paint too!
In the end I wound up with a full colour respray, respray the bullbar and side steps in Raptor black, respray the tray inside in raptor black, and the tray and ladder racks in raptor sandy taupe.
Then we get to those little windows... as the chop was done through the original back window, thats a non-standard window. Overkill did a dodgy and the glass in there was only window glass not automotive glass. Luckily the panel guy knows a guy who can custom make panels that match the curve of the body. But when I hear words like custom, and curved, all I hear is $$$$ and wait times! Which is why I currently have some aluminium sheet infills.
So there you have it. My pride and joy. I have zero regrets, and each and every drive has something magical about it.... its just NICE to drive. Its a bitch to drive in shopping centres, but I live out in Macedon so I dont have to worry too much about that. When I got it back from the paint shop I flicked the previous owner a couple of pics to let him know its being well looked after, and he made the comment that he regrets selling it and keeps looking at chopped 200 series!
Next on the list for upgrades though will be:
Winch
New seats. And recommendations?
New suspension (that's a black art!)
Upgrade the 3" cat back exhaust to full high flow cats and extractors
I also have a problem that the tray is about 5mm off centre, and they cut the tray to be about 20mm too narrow, so when I fully load to 3250kg one of the wheels rubs on the tie down rail. I haven't decided on how to fix that yet, probably through suspension, maybe helper air bags, I'm all ears for advice!
Let me know your thoughts, and I'm always willing to get advice on things that people think I should consider upgrading.
Long time lurker, recent subscriber here. I had a couple of guys ask about my rig, so I figure this is the best place to post. Feel free to move it around if its in the wrong spot.
Okay, so my story start 5 years ago when I mentioned to someone I would love a cruiser, but I do so much travelling that the tractor noise is putting me off. And thats when I found out about the 200 series chops. Eagerly subscribed to Creative Customs and was amazed at their work and what is out there. Aftet checking my bank balance and confirmed the $5.48 I had in there, the dream of owning a chopped cruiser was relegated to fantasy and I continue to scoot around in my Subaru hatch back.
Fast forward to 2021, and I'm aimlessly scrolling through Gumtree in my local area and this beast comes up for sale. Chopped 100 series, in an xtra cab. At the time I was telling myself that I should be a grown up and buy a house, but I thought it wouldn't hurt to go check it out, and after all it was walking distance from my house.
I went around and had a chat to the guy who bought it from the guy who chopped it, and he had taken it through the Simpson Desert with his wife, and done loads of touring. But after recently having a baby, it was time to give up the two seater, and his work had provided him with a 200 series.
After mulling it over for a solid 45mins, I decided to throw caution to the wind and use my home deposit savings to buy the beast. My brother had a 200 series and regrets selling it, and I rationalised that I will never get a chance to buy a ute like this ever again.
So now I'm a proud owner and I have never regretted buying it. My plan is to have it for 20 years, so its a labour of love and have not skimped on giving it the attention it needs.
(PS I still bought the house, but its a lot smaller than what I originally could have afforded, but I dont care)
Okay so enough of my life story.
The specs when I bought it
2004 UZJ 100 series
Landcruiser white, with drop side aluminium tray
Dual fuel LPG and petrol
50L water tank
Dual battery
Lightforce HID
Rear facing work lights on the reverse, cabin switch, and in tray switch.
In tray lights
CB radio
ARB bull bar and side steps
ARB compressor
Maintenace Ive paid for (4x4 Obsession do an excellent job) to bring it up to scratch
Lots of work on the front drive/suspension. The CVs were shot, the shafts replaced, control arms replaced, etc
There was a tiny rust spot under one of thr little quarter panels, more on that later
And personally Ive done a heap of work
Tidy up some of the amateur wiring and protect the cables.
Installed GPS tracking, tyre pressure monitoring, external temp gauge, and a few extra bits.
Replaced the old rear facing work lights with Stedi work lights
Replaced the in tray lights with overhead Teralume dual colour strips
Replaced the Lightforce (ballast died) with Supernova Infinite 8.5
Mounted a fridge (still needs a proper mount)
200w of solar that doubles as protection for the fridge.
Put the full length rack over the top
Shower awning
With all the mods, plus a slide out platform Ive built, I can now live off grid for as long as my water and food lasts. I was planning on driving from Melb to Perth to see my family this year, but borders shut down that idea.
After all that good news, there were two challenges that I knew about when purchasing.
The chop was never engineered. It was chopped by Overkill (which I read on here was a bit hit and miss). But it was registered as a ute. While there is no blue plate, between the registration as a ute, and the insurance (Shannons) happy enough to take my word of mouth, it felt like I could move forward. The chop itself is basically the middle section from about half way through the back door, through to the old tail gate. I still have the rear arm rests and speakers in the back, and the rear window is the orignal rear window. I have some photos while the trim is off, and you can see the cut lines and spot welds putting it all back together.
It took me a few months, but I've finally found an engineer who can audit the chop, and hopefully with a pinch of luck can give me the blue plates and I can have some confidence its not going to fall apart. While the tray was off I had a good look at the chassis and everything appears to be in good condition, and the tray itself sits on existing mounting locations so as not to exert any weird or wonderful forces.
Now the rust. Below one of the rear quarter panels, I had a tiny bit of rust starting to form. Plus there was a number of spots that the putty was starting to crack away from the panels. Its one of those problems that is small today but can easily turn into a massive headache in the future. So bearing in mind that its a labour of love, and I would happily drop $2k repairing suspension, why isnt paint work repairs just part of the maintenance. I found a guy in Melb who works on customs cars, since most panel beaters only wanted to do insurance jobs. This crazy Russian guy quotes me a decent price. Given that the rust spot was in the custom panel, it was going to be a bit of a dog to repair.
In the end he had to remove the tray, strip all the paint, remove the quarter panels, and the windscreen. But he did a bang up job and went looking for spots to touch up and repair while the car was stripped, and ended up dumping a few cans of cavity wax in the rear panel, and scratching out all the windscreen channels and resurfacing the paint work in there to deal with some cracks. He just loved getting the chance to work on a unique car, and really gave it his all.
Then I get chatting and ask about, how much would a new respray be, and he says its only another $1000 since he only has to do the doors and bonnet. The front quarters he already planned to give a birthday to them. Sandy taupe has always been my favourite colour for a cruiser, so I thought what the hell!
Which then triggers, having to remove the bumpers and side steps so we may as well paint those. And then the tray will look funny in raw aluminium so lets give that a paint too!
In the end I wound up with a full colour respray, respray the bullbar and side steps in Raptor black, respray the tray inside in raptor black, and the tray and ladder racks in raptor sandy taupe.
Then we get to those little windows... as the chop was done through the original back window, thats a non-standard window. Overkill did a dodgy and the glass in there was only window glass not automotive glass. Luckily the panel guy knows a guy who can custom make panels that match the curve of the body. But when I hear words like custom, and curved, all I hear is $$$$ and wait times! Which is why I currently have some aluminium sheet infills.
So there you have it. My pride and joy. I have zero regrets, and each and every drive has something magical about it.... its just NICE to drive. Its a bitch to drive in shopping centres, but I live out in Macedon so I dont have to worry too much about that. When I got it back from the paint shop I flicked the previous owner a couple of pics to let him know its being well looked after, and he made the comment that he regrets selling it and keeps looking at chopped 200 series!
Next on the list for upgrades though will be:
Winch
New seats. And recommendations?
New suspension (that's a black art!)
Upgrade the 3" cat back exhaust to full high flow cats and extractors
I also have a problem that the tray is about 5mm off centre, and they cut the tray to be about 20mm too narrow, so when I fully load to 3250kg one of the wheels rubs on the tie down rail. I haven't decided on how to fix that yet, probably through suspension, maybe helper air bags, I'm all ears for advice!
Let me know your thoughts, and I'm always willing to get advice on things that people think I should consider upgrading.
