So there's no doubt about it, Blackout is an absolute beast of a truck. It's been built to
tour. It's been built to tow heavy loads. And it can handle itself in the bush with
those heavy loads. So let's have a detailed look into what goes into a truck like this,
the gear that you have to put onto it to make it a standout machine.
Now the first thing you're gonna notice is it's not your average 200 series wagon,
because it's not a wagon. It's been converted into a ute. So it's taken the the power and
the performance of a 200 series Landcruiser and converted it into the practicality of a ute. So
it's a dual cab ute. And Creative Conversions, who are some of the best in the business,
we're going to show you where this all starts.
What we've actually done is we've taken the brand new Landcruiser,
and we've made it into two pieces. It's not as simple as just cut it and roll
it back. So we've actually cut it, we pull it back, we clean the chassis up,
we overlap all the joins, and then we put plates over the top to really give it some strength.
All right, so if you're going to start with a truck, you're going to walk around the
truck, I reckon you start with the front end. I reckon it's the most impressive part of the
truck. That's where you can get a lot of the looks from. So what I've gone and done this
season is I've put a new bar on. Now this one is by Offroad Animal. Now it's called the Toro bar,
and what it's got, if you'll notice, it's actually got this top hoop on here. Now that's for animal
strikes. I wanted that little bit of extra protection around my headlights and my grill
just in case I did hit something while I'm out in the bush. Now putting some lights on there.
That's pretty important of how and where you mount the lights. The beauty of this bar is,
if you have a look here, inside this section here there's a light bar in there. And then
I can put four spotlights on the front here. And I've got these two XTMs. They're a 7-inch
LED, and then on the out here we've got the 9-inch in the middle.
Now these ones in the centre here, they're the XTM paragon lasers. Now lasers? What do they shoot
laser beams? No, no, not quite. But if you have a look in the centre here, that's a little spot,
like there's two of them. So there's one in each light. And then around the outside is
the LED cluster of LEDs. So you actually see like a little spot that goes further down the
road which is pretty cool actually. Now this whole setup here--all the little extra fitment that I've
done to this truck was done at McCormacks 4wd. Now those guys specialize in these bars, by the way.
They're dealing with a lot of these day in day out.
Yeah we love the Offroad Animal brand. We supply and fit heaps. Yeah it's got all the fruit. It's
a lot better than other bars too, because you can change the winch in and out without
removing the bar, where most bars you've got to pull the bar off to change the winch which
is a great little option. Yeah a little light bar fits in the middle of it, so yeah, it's
pretty cool. They're built very well, so they've been tested. Obviously Jase is testing them. So
if they can handle what Jase can throw them, they can handle what most average people will do, yeah.
And the two aerials you'll see mounted on the top of the bullbar here,
this one here is for the XTRAK pro, which is part of the in-car. So that's
a new aerial from Uniden. This one over here, that is just for the phone booster.
All right so let's face it, the v8 Landcruiser's got some power, but you can get a lot more power
out of it. And when you're towing and doing those tough tracks that I do in the bush,
you want that little bit more power. Now how do I get that power? Well there's a couple of upgrades
that go on in here. First thing you'll notice is the snorkel, so I can get some air flow in there.
Deceptively deep, that one.
And that snorkel is then plugged into the old air box. Now that is a Fatz built snorkel and air box.
It's got one of those k&n filters in there, so that you can get a better flow.
And then also it's really fine, so that when you're getting that those really dusty conditions,
so I find that I really like that. I've got a intercooler upgrade there. Also there's
an Ultimate9 throttle controller which plugs into your ecu throttle there, and that really upgrades
the drivability of the truck. Gives it that sort of that power straight off the bat, you know,
and you can dial it down or dial it up depending on what sort of conditions you're driving.
All right, mate, give her the berries.
Yeah baby!
There's no doubt about it, we do truckloads of towing in the bush.
So the Clearview mirrors, they get bolted on. They get bolted on straight away.
But these ones are the Next Gen Mirrors, so they're the upgraded mirrors,
their new version. They're powerfold. They've got everything going for them.
Mate, I wouldn't leave home without them if you're going to do some towing, that's for sure.
So I've also chucked on a set of Clearview Powerboards, because you need to be able to
get up onto the roof. The beauty of them is they just tuck away. But up on the roof here we've got
a platform rack. So I've put the platform rack on from Rhino Rack. We've got the Stow-it mounts for
the shovel, which are just so easy to use. And of course on your roof rack, you've got to mount
things like we've got the Maxtrax. They're the Xtremes with the removable little knobs. They're
pretty good. And if you have a look, I've also mounted one of those XTM slimline light bars. I
find them really easy to mount, because they are a slimline light, yet they punch out a lot of light.
Now there's also a lot going on underneath this rig. The stuff you need to put in if you're going
to go out to those remote areas. So the first thing I've got is I've got some really cool tyres.
Now these are Black Bear Tyres, and they're an all-terrain / mud tyre, and they're sitting
on these Hammers. These are new rims from ROH. They're a Hammer rim. They're a pretty cool rim.
They look really good, especially for Blackout. Now in here as well, we've got the suspension.
Now suspension on a truck like this is extremely important, and I'll tell you why. It's because
you're getting a lot of weight. There's a lot of weight going into this truck,
and we're towing a lot of weight, and we're towing it in really adverse conditions like off-road,
you know, in really rough terrain.
And what's holding it all together? It's your suspension.
So it's fully adjustable. It's that Outback Armour, you know, adjustable suspension with
the coil over, the little helper coils on the back shock absorbers. It all sort of comes together and
creates a really good suspension package. Now also underneath here to protect your underbody,
there's a set of bash plates there from Brown Davis. And of course, if you keep going back from
those bash plates, there's the the Brown Davis long range tank. Now this is a serious tank.
It's got 273 litres of diesel in it, and it's just one single tank. That's a hell of a lot of diesel.
Generally I carry more diesel than I need compared to the other trucks, and they've got
long range tanks. So this one is outstanding, the amount of diesel that it can carry.
So you wouldn't believe it, but you can do some serious modifications inside a 200 series
cab. And we're not talking about just some dash mats either.
It's got so much going on in here. It's like a bit of a spaceship, because the first thing
you'll notice is the huge instrument layout. So completely, literally taken out. The guys at EC
Offroad have replaced the whole instrument cluster with this futuristic, space-age-looking thing. On
top of that, the steering wheel has been replaced as well. The guys at PVS have put a a fully kitted
steering wheel in it, which is actually quite comfortable to the hand. There's a massive big
display which is also EC Offroad as well. And I've got the overhead console in here which I
found really good to mount the XTRAK 80 Pro from Uniden. That's their new in-car radio. You know,
I've got a mount there that holds my iPad. I've even put a RedVision monitor, so I've got two
monitors. And I've brought that incorporated into the front here on its own little mount.
When you offroad, there's a lot of mud, and a lot of crap comes in and out of this truck,
so I've protected the seats with the Supafit seat covers. They're those black denim ones.
But yeah, you can do so much in these cabs.
Look I'm telling you a touring vehicle would not be complete
without an absolute kick-ass canopy. But on the outside of the canopy before we even get inside,
I put this custom Raptor coat on it. So I've covered that aluminium checker plate and guards
with a custom Raptor coat which it really protects it. But let's face it, the thing
is called Blackout, and that's why I've done that. Anyway let's have a look inside the canopy.
So when you're setting up a canopy like this, the first thing I think about is power. You
need truckloads of power depending on what you're doing. And for what I do, I use a lot of power.
I've got some huge Redarc lithium batteries in here. There's about 400 AH, and all that's managed
by the Manager30 there and the RedVision screen. And we've also got that whole RedVision system
where I can operate everything from that switch panel there. I can operate all the things that
I need to operate. But I've got twin compressors, so there's two twin compressors in there. And that
runs the hose reel, air bags, and even the Tyre Spider is connected into that. On top of that,
you've got to run things like the refrigerator, so I've got the Dometic fridge sitting in there. It's
a 110, it's an upright fridge. I've got all power banks up the top here, because I need to charge
things like iPads and camera batteries and drone batteries and all those things you've got to think
of which is going to drain the power out of your system if you're sitting for long periods of time.
All right so the other things that you put into a canopy are things like the outboard slides.
So there's a 20hp Mercury that sits in the back here on an outboard slide, and of course, there's
a boat sitting on the roof, don't forget that one. That's got the almac boat loader which makes
it easy to get off and on. I've put a set of rod holders in here to protect my fishing rods. That
was always a big thing with in the early days. I didn't have anywhere to put my rods, and nowadays
they've got these travel rods that are like three piece and they fit up there really well.
Then on the kitchen side is my coffee machine. And you remember to run something like that
which is a 240, it requires battery power. And that's where I get back to that amount
of battery power that you need. And then of course, you've got to convert that battery
power from 12 volt to 240 to run things like coffee machines. So you need that
big inverter as well. 2,000 watt is what I use, and that seems to cover those little luxuries.
Now the the whole build isn't complete without a wrap. Now the guys at Signorama
have done what they call the Blackout wrap. But the wrap also protects the whole vehicle.
And a couple years down the track, I can actually, literally peel that wrap off,
and underneath would be this black metallic pearl paint in really good condition.
So there you go guys. That's Blackout. It's an epic truck. It's been designed to head
out into the bush and tour this country of ours. Now it's taken us to some serious,
epic places in series 13. And I can't wait for you guys to see Blackout in its natural environment.