Mitsubishi

Triton

2020 Mitsubishi Triton MR

Ultimate 9

evcX Throttle Controller

Pierre Botha

Pebble is a 2022 JB74 Suzuki Jimny

Before I picked her up in early Jan 2022, she had a pre-rego Ironman GVM upgrade installed. Then, within a few hours of getting her home, we had the interior pulled out for soundproofing, and the front end off for recovery points and the original ARB Bullbar. 

Now 4 years later none of those first mods are on the car, the ARB Bullbar and recovery points were swapped out for a Raslarr bullbar, and the ironman suspension has been replaced by a custom setup with Toughdog Coils and Shocks. The clutch has been replaced twice now, first time with an xtreme offroad heavy duty option, then a few years later with an NPC clutch and flywheel. 

The setup has evolved significantly over the past four years, with modifications being added and then removed as my usage of the car changes. Now that she's been retired to a weekend fun car we are working towards offroad improvement mods. With reduction gears and suspension upgrades already done, and lockers, new tyres and more suspension work planned soon.
Assuming I can keep it running long enough to do them 🙃


2022 Suzuki Jimny JB74

Engine/Performance modifications:
Platinum turbo bypass
Platinum hot pipe
Platinum throttle body
Platinum mid entry snorkel 
Platinum custom air box
Crg intercooler 
Platinum 3” dpf delete straight through exhaust 
Tuned by Dynamic Diesel Performance 190hp 560nm
EvcX throttle controller

Exterior modifications:
Dobinsons 4/2” suspension 
PSR 2” body lift 
CalOffroad upper control arms 
PSR rear arms 
Ironman commercial bullbar
PSR diff drop 
PSR bash plate and underbody protection 
Dirty life DT1’s 17” (0 offset)
Maxxis Razr MT772’s (305s)
Ironman rear bar
Trailmax roof rack 
Himod S5 rear lights 
Modern craze grill
SCF rock sliders 
Uniden XTRAK80 
Maxtrax mk2 (black)
IVD Vinyl Co black banner

Lighting modifications:
Stedi typeX EVO (mounted on bullbar)
Roadvision S40 stealth series (mounted on roof rack)
Stedi work lights (mounted on rear of the roof rack)
Chrome delete seres 5 headlights 
Stedi LED rock lights (mounted in wheel arch)
Stedi LED strip lights (mounted inside tub)
Stedi 26” flood lights 2600k (mounted both sides of roof rack)


Tub setup modifications:
Series 5 tub
Nissan tonneau cover (custom made to suit tub rack)
PSR tub rack
XTM draw system 
XTM fridge slide 
Dometic CFX3 75L fridge 
Custom control box with redarc dcdc charger 

Interior modifications:
4x4 concepts pillar pod
Savage Boost/EGT digital gauges 
Blacked out trims 
Extnix 2k headunit 
Kickass 170ah battery (behind rear seats)
Grip.and.go grab handles 
Bedrock floor liners
Gator rear view mirror with reverse camera 
Custom made steering wheel wrap

Camping modifications:
23Zero Dakota 1600
23Zero awning 
Voltech 200w solar blanket 

I have heaps of camping and recovery accessories but don’t want to go in to fine detail 😂

Supported by:
4x4 Network
Platinum mechanical & suspension 
Stedi Australia 
Uniden Australia 
Saber Offroad
Blackops Offroad 
Anarchy Auto Care
Extnix Car Audio 

Discount codes: use NELLYTHENAV
Platinum Mechanical & Suspension - 5% off
Steering Wheel Wraps - $35 off
Anarchy Auto Care - 10% off 
Blackops Offroad - 10% off
IDV Vinyl Co - 15% off
Extnix Car Audio - 10% off
The Wild Ones - 20% off


2019 Nissan Navara NP300 ST

I bought this car brand new and kept it stock for the first year to test the capabilities of an off the shelf Ranger.
I instantly tested all the functions including 4WD Hi and Lo, Rear Diff Lock, Traction Control, Hill Decent. It was surprisingly capable of most tracks I sent it up and down. The Ranger really stood out on the sand up at Stockton. It handles sand very easily on the stock height and wheels. I had bought myself Maxxtrax to assist if I managed to get stuck. Which I never ended up using.

The first upgrade I did to the Ranger was installing Recovery points. I ended up going with the Roadsafe pair of recovery points. I then had Blue Flame Automotive Narrabeen on the Northern Beaches install these points after I struggled to do them myself in my garage on the ground.

The next upgrades I focused on was the bar work and winch. I ordered this through BarsNRacks Brookvale. I went for the Ironman Commercial hooped bullbar, brush bars and side steps. Then went with the Runva 11XP winch with synthetic rope, with isolator. On top of all this I wanted to keep everything underneath the car safe, so opted for the Iron Man underbody steel protection kit.

I will note that adding the bar work, winch and underbody protection notably made the car heavier and in turn my litres per km went up by at least 1L/km.

I quickly found that as soon as the tracks started to get more technical my stock ride height, tyres and size where holding me back. I would get hung up or seesaw on my chassis.

My next purchases were lift, wheels and tyres which were ordered and installed by Blue Flame Automotive in Wyoming on the Central Coast.
I opted for Dobsons 2inch Monotube due to conversations I had on the trails and with Blue Flame regarding a good renowned brand with lots of reviews.

I was originally looking at the Method Wheels 308 Roost's but due to the cost per rim being around $500 it was going to be quite an expensive purchase. 
Instead I opted for a cheaper brand with a good enough rep on the trails. I chose to get the Dirty Life DT2 17X9 with 0% Offset. I was lucky enough to see another PX3 ranger with the same size and offset wheels so I could really sure I was going to get a good amount of poke without looking like a Texan F-450. 
When it came to choosing my tyres, I went with feedback from peers which lead me to purchasing the Maxxis Razors. I was unsure if I should go the mud terrain or all terrain. Given I don't drive much during the week, I opted for the mud terrains to give me that slight advantage on the technical trails on the weekend.

I started to use the Ranger for more overnight/weekend trips with the family and found the open tub tray a bit limiting and time consuming trying to keep dry. So I went round to ARB and checked out the ARB Accent canopies. I loved the style and the central locking ability for all windows.
I went online and found a second hand canopy from a wreckers that was in perfect nick for half the price of a new one.
I then carried out majority of the install myself but needed the wiring kit to be ordered and installed. I reached out to an old mate who now owns a renowned auto electrician shop in Brookvale on the Northern Beaches called Pez's Automotive. He did a great deal and helped with the final parts to get the canopy ready to hit the trails.

Recently I went on a tour exploring the areas between Capertee and Sofala where my walkie talkie ran out of battery and left me using my daughters walkie talkie to communicate with the rest of the tour group. 
When I returned from that trip, the first thing I did was click and collected from Anaconda the GME XRS™ CONNECT 4WD PACK. Apart from running the wiring the kit was fairly straight forward to connect up and have running.

Another thing from the trip that started to annoy me was scrubbing in my front guards from my wheels. This pushed me to order the Dobinsons Upper Control Arms and have Blue Flame Automotive install them and wind my front suspension up to 3 inch. 

I tested this setup off road yesterday at Dora Creek and it was perfect. No scrubbing whatsoever. So safe to say, if you are going 32s or 33s on your Ranger, you're going to want to have a 3inch lift.

With all the added weight of the vehicle I wanted a quick way to get a bit more punch off the mark and quicker throttle response, so I opted for a second hand Ultimate9 evcX Throttle Controller. I cannot believe the difference and wish I had done this earlier.

Ultimate 9

Builds with this Part