cruiseroutfit
Supporting Sponsor: Cruiser Outfitters
You should see your Helton kit tomorrow 
Expoordition 2011 Thread
- Thread starter cbradley
- Start date
cbradley
Adventurer
You should see your Helton kit tomorrow
I can't wait!
cbradley
Adventurer
Started a thread on planning for the electrical install: http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/66895-Advice-Needed-on-Wiring
Just tried it with my wife's iPhone, gives a message that the accessory isn't supported
Sorry, hope you are able to find a way to share photos, I'm sure we'd all enjoy seeing them!
loren85022
Explorer
Did I miss the scheduled departure date?
cbradley
Adventurer
Now that I *think* I have everything planned out for the mods, the next few weekends will be filled with executing the best laid plans of mice and men. This coming weekend will consist of a new set of tires (long, long overdue), alignment and some minor fab work in the cargo area. Next week I hope to get everything in the engine bay fabricated and installed so the Helton I received from Cruiser Outfitters and the electrical work can get done. From there I need to fabricate an Expoordition-inspired, budget light bar and work out any remaining bugs in the system.
cbradley
Adventurer
Though most of the vehicle prep will be coming in the short future, I did have the opportunity to actually get something tangible done, while otherwise wrestling with pen and paper, calculating voltage drop and wire lengths.
Headlight Output - $36
There is no doubt that a good set of driving lights greatly improve offroad night driving and should be on most people's wishlist, the truth is, most modern vehicles have headlights that are -good enough- for offroading at night. The 4Runner is no exception. My second cheapest mod to date was replacing my stock headlight bulbs with brighter replacements once the old ones had burned out. I replaced mine awhile back with Sylvania 9006SU Silverstars and they have made a huge difference. There is a price premium of about $5 per light, but the extra output has definitely been worth it. I wish I had taken some photographs comparing the OEM lights to the new ones, but suffice it to say that several people have actually mistaken the 9006SUs for HIDs.
Headlight Restoration - $18
Though the headlights are now giving off more light, the seven year old 4Runner now has seven year old headlight assemblies that have seen many miles of debris. Much of the light output was being wasted on yellowed and pitted lenses. Though a little skeptical about using it, I decided to try a headlight restoration kit. I headed to the nearby automotive store thinking I had seen a headlight restoration kit there before. They had apparently become quite popular since I had last considered using one, because now I was confronted with a panoply of choices. They all looked about the same, so I jettisoned the one that looked suspect and picked the cheapest one of the rest, a kit by 3M. It was the only one that included masking tape and was a net savings over buying the other kits and buying the tape separately.
.
3M Lens Renewal Kit 39014
.
With everything masked off, I steeled my self for potentially ruining the headlight assembly, knowing they were about $250 apiece to replace. The pre-restoration state of the lenses can be seen in the background.
.
After following step one, I began to panic, thinking about how much this was going to probably cost me to fix. The directions did say it should be milky white, but that did little to allay my concerns right about then.
.
Here it looked like things might turn out all right afterall.
.
After final polish.
.
The final result. Whew, definitely dodged a bullet on that one. The kit worked great and the directions were perfect. Definitely a bang for the Expoordition buck.
.
The difference the headlight restoration made was huge. I actually thought I had my brights on when I turned them on for the first time. Money well spent and the headlights will compliment a good set of off road lights in the future.
Headlight Output - $36
There is no doubt that a good set of driving lights greatly improve offroad night driving and should be on most people's wishlist, the truth is, most modern vehicles have headlights that are -good enough- for offroading at night. The 4Runner is no exception. My second cheapest mod to date was replacing my stock headlight bulbs with brighter replacements once the old ones had burned out. I replaced mine awhile back with Sylvania 9006SU Silverstars and they have made a huge difference. There is a price premium of about $5 per light, but the extra output has definitely been worth it. I wish I had taken some photographs comparing the OEM lights to the new ones, but suffice it to say that several people have actually mistaken the 9006SUs for HIDs.
Headlight Restoration - $18
Though the headlights are now giving off more light, the seven year old 4Runner now has seven year old headlight assemblies that have seen many miles of debris. Much of the light output was being wasted on yellowed and pitted lenses. Though a little skeptical about using it, I decided to try a headlight restoration kit. I headed to the nearby automotive store thinking I had seen a headlight restoration kit there before. They had apparently become quite popular since I had last considered using one, because now I was confronted with a panoply of choices. They all looked about the same, so I jettisoned the one that looked suspect and picked the cheapest one of the rest, a kit by 3M. It was the only one that included masking tape and was a net savings over buying the other kits and buying the tape separately.
.
3M Lens Renewal Kit 39014
.
With everything masked off, I steeled my self for potentially ruining the headlight assembly, knowing they were about $250 apiece to replace. The pre-restoration state of the lenses can be seen in the background.
.
After following step one, I began to panic, thinking about how much this was going to probably cost me to fix. The directions did say it should be milky white, but that did little to allay my concerns right about then.
.
Here it looked like things might turn out all right afterall.
.
After final polish.
.
The final result. Whew, definitely dodged a bullet on that one. The kit worked great and the directions were perfect. Definitely a bang for the Expoordition buck.
.
The difference the headlight restoration made was huge. I actually thought I had my brights on when I turned them on for the first time. Money well spent and the headlights will compliment a good set of off road lights in the future.
cbradley
Adventurer
Nathan gets all the credit for the passenger side one.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Last edited:
loren85022
Explorer
I take it that the actual route is classified. Is there any plan to publish the route during or after the excursion?