My 2001 Pathfinder (R50 ) mild/budget build
- Thread starter stioc
- Start date
mortonm
Expedition Leader
Haha please elaborate as to what a beach ape is
Weekender41
Ready to Learn
Nice! The weight thing I hear you for sure.
stioc
Expedition Leader
Thanks guys! I may be the only one here who is always struggling to pack 20lbs of crap in a 2lb bag if you will. The gf even refers to it as 'the mule' when she sees it getting laden with the latest and greatest camping 'must-haves'. Occasionally I even get these foul thoughts in my head of replacing it with a Land Cruiser or some such junk to have more storage room for a family of 4 :sombrero:
@mortonm - I'm not a carpenter by any stretch of the imagination but this one is so simple and straight forward. You can build it in one afternoon.
@bushnut lol
@mortonm - I'm not a carpenter by any stretch of the imagination but this one is so simple and straight forward. You can build it in one afternoon.
@bushnut lol
richard310
pew pew
One thing that always bothered me is the wasted spot where the wheel well is. Personally, I'd have that top deck extend all the way to the inner side panels and cut away the profile of the wheel well or just build the top deck right on top of the well using it as a semi support.
bushnut
Adventurer
it's not really wasted. you either have the wheel well inside (gaining more interior room) or outside like a JK with less interior room and more crap on the roof rack. I built my storage system to be the same hight as the wheel well. that means less room for my dog but more room for my tool box. you just have to figure out what compromises you can work with.
Allof75
Pathfinder
That tent heater comes to my mind
stioc
Expedition Leader
Just got back from a camping trip. Trip report and more pics here: http://www.expeditionportal.com/for...al-getaway-near-Blythe-Joshua-Tree-Salton-Sea
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stioc
Expedition Leader
Played with the truck this weekend. Blacked out the front grill with Plastidip, I'm not sure how I feel about it, it looks better than before but perhaps a bit too shiny/prominent? Maybe with some fading it'll blend in better?
I also converted the IPF968s to HIDs. Normally I would never recommend putting HIDs in a halogen reflector/housing (without projectors) or you'll blind people due to the crazy amounts of light scatter. In this case though I never use the IPF aux lights on the road. However, when I'm out on the dark desert roads I need more light. The IPFs come with 55w (street legal) and 100w (offroad) bulbs included in the kit but I went back to 55w because honestly the light output difference wasn't 2x like the amps were. I decided to buy a 35w 4300k HID kit instead because the amps are lower and the light output it typically 4x. Of course, I messed up the housing on the first light by drilling a hole a bit too big and then trying to fix it by doing plastic welding with a heat gun :smilies27 but nothing a goop of RTV couldn't fix and no one has to know lol The second one came out perfectly though.
The light output from these is just insane! I was still seeing black spots in my vision even after 10mins since looking at them to snap a couple of quick pics and I wasn't even trying to look at them directly. I didn't get a chance to really test them last night as it was late but they make my Philips Xtreme bulbs look like candles and this is just a 35W kit. Since the IPF 968s have a dual reflector I could turn off my headlights with these on and couldn't tell an ounce of difference. The light is very white bordering blueish (which I dislike and wanted to avoid as much as possible) but 4300k is the lowest they sell.
The light goes everywhere even if you point them downward. This is why it's bad to put HIDs in a halogen light for street use- it'll will blind other drivers:
I did manage to snap a couple of somewhat decent pics without blinding the camera's iris, you can see the comparison to the OEM headlights which are fairly bright with the Philips XtremePower bulbs:
On the other hand these should work well off-highway. Now I just need to mount two more facing behind the truck so I can turn them on for those drivers who put these HIDs in their halogen headlights
I also converted the IPF968s to HIDs. Normally I would never recommend putting HIDs in a halogen reflector/housing (without projectors) or you'll blind people due to the crazy amounts of light scatter. In this case though I never use the IPF aux lights on the road. However, when I'm out on the dark desert roads I need more light. The IPFs come with 55w (street legal) and 100w (offroad) bulbs included in the kit but I went back to 55w because honestly the light output difference wasn't 2x like the amps were. I decided to buy a 35w 4300k HID kit instead because the amps are lower and the light output it typically 4x. Of course, I messed up the housing on the first light by drilling a hole a bit too big and then trying to fix it by doing plastic welding with a heat gun :smilies27 but nothing a goop of RTV couldn't fix and no one has to know lol The second one came out perfectly though.
The light output from these is just insane! I was still seeing black spots in my vision even after 10mins since looking at them to snap a couple of quick pics and I wasn't even trying to look at them directly. I didn't get a chance to really test them last night as it was late but they make my Philips Xtreme bulbs look like candles and this is just a 35W kit. Since the IPF 968s have a dual reflector I could turn off my headlights with these on and couldn't tell an ounce of difference. The light is very white bordering blueish (which I dislike and wanted to avoid as much as possible) but 4300k is the lowest they sell.
The light goes everywhere even if you point them downward. This is why it's bad to put HIDs in a halogen light for street use- it'll will blind other drivers:
I did manage to snap a couple of somewhat decent pics without blinding the camera's iris, you can see the comparison to the OEM headlights which are fairly bright with the Philips XtremePower bulbs:
On the other hand these should work well off-highway. Now I just need to mount two more facing behind the truck so I can turn them on for those drivers who put these HIDs in their halogen headlights
richard310
pew pew
Looks great! Try some matte dull coat on the plastidip. Not sure how the reaction between the two would be but it's worth giving it a try on a test piece if you dislike the semi-gloss look.
Those HIDs are blinding! Gotta love HID in a halogen housing for offroad lights. Scatter scatter scatter. But for those guys dropping into oem (road use) housings, they need to at least re-aim their lights lower. The amount of glare and bleed is ridiculous. Never look directly into a 55W+ HID... save a 35W unit. Man, I know how you feel. I swear even when I closed my eyes for a few minutes, I could still see the black spots.
4300k should be pretty white. The whitest they come without dropping to 3000k (yellow). Perhaps the bulbs weren't up to spec, as a lot of the aftermarket kits aren't. I hear people getting mismatched bulbs even though the temperatures were stated to match lol. You get what you pay for. Try a different 4300k kit, and you might just get the light you're looking for.
Those HIDs are blinding! Gotta love HID in a halogen housing for offroad lights. Scatter scatter scatter. But for those guys dropping into oem (road use) housings, they need to at least re-aim their lights lower. The amount of glare and bleed is ridiculous. Never look directly into a 55W+ HID... save a 35W unit. Man, I know how you feel. I swear even when I closed my eyes for a few minutes, I could still see the black spots.
4300k should be pretty white. The whitest they come without dropping to 3000k (yellow). Perhaps the bulbs weren't up to spec, as a lot of the aftermarket kits aren't. I hear people getting mismatched bulbs even though the temperatures were stated to match lol. You get what you pay for. Try a different 4300k kit, and you might just get the light you're looking for.