Toyota FJ Cruiser Modifications(Mods) & Information: May 2011

"Free" BFG AT's

The dealer that I bought the FJ from couldn't balance the cheap tires they put on there. They were brand new tires too. So I suggested that they place the originals on there - BFG AT KO - and use the spare as well. That way they would only have to buy 3. They went for it and I asked to keep the other street tires that were on the FJ when I purchased it. I left one as a spare and bought a cover for it. The other three are now in storage.

BFG AT's. Rear is spare, front is new. Some bluish tint-like material was around the sidewalls.

A few weeks later - washed and detailed. No more bluish tint around new tires.

TRD intake

Well, I didn't sell my TRD intake from my previous FJ. I never put it up for sale since it was missing the rubber piece that sits under the box and has two threads sticking out of both sides. Since I was missing the piece, I bought a long screw at Home Depot and found a bicycle handlebar adapter that was the perfect size to use as a spacer. The nice thing about it is that it was able to fit once the long screw was in place. It took a bit of work to get everything just right but after I tightened all the bolts inside the airbox everything was just perfect. No movement from the airbox at all.

The filter was extremely dirty. I had an old AEM cleaning kit from one of my earlier automobiles and used that to clean. There was so much grime it took about 4-5 sprays of cleaner and rinsing from inside to outside. Once it dried, I used the oil from the kit and let it soak for a day. There was a little excess that dripped off into the rubber end, which I wiped off. I also checked the filter a few days after install and there were a couple of drips at the bottom of the airbox that I cleaned up.

Installation was fairly simple with the exception of the homemade spacer.

Finished install.

CB Radio

Well, my dad had an old CB in his shed and I noticed it when I went for a visit. The middle of the antenna was missing a cover and it looked a little old. The cigarette lighter adapter didn't even work and I had to buy one from Radio Shack. I spray painted the antenna flat black. The center was also a copper wire wrapped around a nylon cylinder that had screw threads on both sides. Unfortunately, nylon doesn't hold up very well when screwed into metal. I left the antenna in the back and it snapped the nylon thread after the tire changing place I went to threw my old tires in the back. I then soldered the wire to the top part of the antenna, epoxied over that, wrapped it in wire loom and electrical tape. This wasn't sturdy enough so I bought some heavy duty shrink tubing at Home Depot. This did the trick. I also didn't have a bracket and I wasn't about to dish out over $40 for the Bandi mount. That's the cost of a cheap CB radio! So I took an old piece of metal from my homemade axe and shovel mount and drilled some holes into it to fit the antenna bracket. It fit nicely with a screw that I had to cut to the correct length so that it would not touch the door.

Overall the bracket was flimsy as certain folks pointed out. So I went back to Home Depot and found a much thicker chunk of metal from which I plan on making the next generation bracket.

So a fully functioning CB radio for $11 --> $6 for the cigarette lighter adapter with fuse, $2 bracket and $3 for shrink wrap = $11. Seeing that purchasing a cheap CB is about $30, the bandi mount is $40 and an antenna is another $35 or so, I think I made out. I'm also not planning on using it much so it made sense not to spend $85-$100 for a CB setup. I would also have to tune it, which would cost another $30 or so for an SWR meter. This one was already tuned for the antenna it came with.