Owning A "Fort": My Pre-Owned First Gen Toyota Fortuner

[SilverEyez]

work in progress and fitting: I am particularly interested to be able to remove the aux lights after a road trip to prevent theft and also damage in city use.The electrician suggested welding clamps to front cross member but refused any permanent modification to the factory finish.Then came the issue as to where to mount as the front cross member was just behind the front bumper and drilling holes into it again I refused . Then we found a metal brace used for screwing in the vertical bumper overhangs and support radiator from inside engine bay.
Got 2 custom made L shaped clamps with appropriate holes .Although it would be crude and not prevent the lights from vibrating fully I was happy as I am not off roading with these lights anyways and more importantly the factory finish wasn't disturbed.
I would have loved to get the clamps painted before installation but I have kept it for a DIY project in future.
10 mm bolts and lock washers are used to fit the clamps into final position and lights mounted .
The wiring was done to directly connect to the battery with independent relay and fuse and a separate switch in the dash for operation of the driving lights.I also got the entire wiring covered by corrugated pipe to prevent rat attack.
I haven't yet been able to find a dark area to test and adjust the driving lights .I shall post pics /video once I do the same

Hi @Driveright
Are these lights allowed legally?
I read somewhere in the forum that these lights attracts fines.

 

[Driveright]

There is a concern regarding it's height of installation that it needs to be below the factory headlights . Whether legal or not I am not sure as highways are full of these lights in all configuration.Even few of them in cities have terrible LED and driving lights running on well lit roads .Use of these lights judiciously ultimately depends on the owner .

 

[Driveright]

December vacation updates :
My relatives were visiting us after a long time.Planned for a bangalore -mysuru-badami-pattadkal-aihole -bangalore trip for 4 days. The team consisted 6 adults , 3 children,their luggage and the "fort"

day 1:
Started at 3PM from Bangalore via Kanakapura -Malavalli-Mysuru route .Reached Mysuru by 5.45 checked into our hotel got freshened .Went to Brindavan garden that evening to witness the musical fountain .Heavy rush took us around 1.5 hrs to cover 8 kms to reach the Brundavan gardens due to large school educational tour crowds and weekend crowd.
However we had a good time at the gardens and fountains as the shows were prolonged due to crowd up-to 10PM. Finished the show ,drove a bit into the city for a late night drive in the empty streets,headed back and hit the bed by 12AM.
day 2:
had a sumptuous complimentary breakfast and reached the Mysore palace gates by 9AM after checking out from hotel as I had expected a big weekend rush. Also the tourism department had arranged a special flower display and other exhibits as the Christmas vacation had started.I was the third vehicle to reach the gates and got a super parking spot under the tree.Very happy and got the entry tickets to the palace easily due to less rush at the morning hours.Quickly we took lots of picture of the external palace and the exhibits and leisurely entered the palace after 10.30AM.
The palace no matter how many times we have visited still stupefies us each time with its grand splendor !By 12PM the crowd has swollen up due to the large influx of school kids.We slowly decided to leave the city to our next destination which was Aihole in Bagalkot district of northern karnataka .It meant I had to cover nearly 560KMS before 11PM.

 

[Mathew]

Congrats. Suggest to make these images as embedded in the test, not as thumbnail.
I was on vacation recently, and around 50 percent of the time spent inside Fortuner.
How much you are getting, mileage?

 

[Driveright]

Hi Mathew thanks !I shall take your advice .I shall soon post the mileage of the entire trip and the avg fuel economy I have calculated and the displayed mileage on the MID.
FYI the Bengaluru-mysore- aihole- bangalore circuit was 1232 kms and I used 110L diesel giving 11.2kmpl!this was through no roads ,super smooth highways ,village roads and traffic stops with full time AC .

 

[Driveright]

continued ..
Started from mysuru by 12PM and had a lot of catching up to do for the day.The route was mysuru-madduru- huliyadurga -kunigal-tumakuru-sira-chitradurga-Ilkal-aihole.As darkness fell ,the speeds reduced at within 100-110kmph .Somewhere after Tumakuru I had a dog hit in the high way where I lost the left front fender liner and the fender flare clip was broken and a small paint damage on the front bumper.Nobody knew We had a dog hit until after I told them when we reached the destination.Too bad but it was unavoidable in the circumstance on the highway .
reached the hotel we had reserved at 11.15 PM checked in had a nice hot shower and hit the bed .
Day 3 :
started early after breakfast we started to visit the Aihole monuments all of which are in a radius of 2kms from our place of stay .The monuments are protected by the Government and declared UNESCO world heritage sites.You have to see it ti believe the amount of effort and detail of the work done by stone sculptors .

Day 4:
we drove straight to Badami to finish of with the cave temples.The then ruling kings shuld have had skilled engineers who are really been masters in calculation to the accuracy of less than Milimeters and digging into huge rock faces to make the .We thoroughly enjoyed the sights and leisurely enjoyed the sunset at Pattadkal.We had jolada rotti and giramittu from an eatery out side with coffee to top it off.

day 5:
I had planned for a visit to the TB dam on the way back but since on of the kids had not been keeping well we dropped the idea and started on the way back to Bangalore .
total distance round trip :1232 kms
total fuel consumption :110 litres diesel
vehicle issues any :none
vehicle damage: left fender lining and paint on bumper

Again I should reiterate the comfort and secure feeling me and family experienced all through the trip in our 'FORT'uner and look forward to many more such memorable trips.

 

[Driveright]

second trip :
once i came back from our vacation ,my relatives had their train reservation done .But since the kid wasnt well ,I decided we drive with the kid and parents back to kerala whilst the others took the train ride .Also I had anyways decided to go to kerala for the new years to attend a program at the temple .
Route planned was bangalore -hosur-salem-coimbatore -palakkad-ernakulam -allepey-haripad.
Started at 4 AM and reached palakad by 10.30AM. From the kerala side onwards it was slow morning traffic and i ended up reaching home only at around 4.15 PM.
All in all the trip was uneventful and reached home safely.
Next i dropped of the kid and their parents to their home and then went to my wifey's hometown about 70kms from my hometown;reached by 9.30PM ,freshened up had dinner and crashed to bed.
The next day was the temple festivities and I was waiting for night fall for the "Theyyam".It is a art form from northern kerala and is uncommon in south kerala and i was witnessing live first time.

From the high ranges of Kottayam we went back to my hometown and land of beaches which my daughter enjoys

total distance round trip :1437 kms
total fuel consumption :120 litres diesel=11.9 kmpl
vehicle issues any :none
vehicle damage: pre-existing left fender lining and paint damage on bumper

 

[Driveright]

UPDATE:
I have been contemplating to "name" my fortuner ever since I have started to own it .Recently when i was cleaning up my attic at home ,I found a lot of the 80's and 90's comics of mandrake ,Tarzan and Phantom.Those who have read them in their childhood can surely relate to the excitement I had when i found them .
Tarzan had a giant comrade in a the form of elephant named "TANTOR"which I thought was an apt name to christen my Fortuner .
And lo behold I name my dear companion as "TANTOR"

 

[Driveright]

TANTOR had a rat invasion again !this time they ripped apart the cabin AC filter .I was getting the smell from outdoor even in spite of re circulation mode and I checked the AC filter behind the glove box to find rat poop .Immediately took pics and sent it to my service advisor at toyota .I was appalled at the fact that i had recently installed the rat mesh at the Fresh air intake recently and how on earth the vermin go into the guts of the air filter
needs investigation ; TANTOR starts and runs fine though

 

[Ambylovers]

Hi,
You cant stop Rats in all the way service advisor and team suggests. Me too tried Mesh,Sprays,type of leaf,sticky pads. Even worse i once captured a rat inside the car using rat trap device.
My father suggested to get a cat which solved all problems.
From my point of view, Cat is the only way you can get rid of Rats entering Cars. No others can stop rats for long period.

 

[Driveright]

yes the cat can be a good rat deterrent .The problem with cat is they start clawing at the two wheeler seat ..one problem solved another problem starts .Fortunately i have been having a stray cat coming to my parking place and so far it has been keeping the mice away.It has clawed my bike seat though for the favor

 

[Ambylovers]

yes the cat can be a good rat deterrent .The problem with cat is they start clawing at the two wheeler seat ..one problem solved another problem starts .Fortunately i have been having a stray cat coming to my parking place and so far it has been keeping the mice away.It has clawed my bike seat though for the favor

Cost wise it will be easy to manage. Bike seat covers.
Anyways Stray cats coming because of rats i believe. Cat sound will surely not let Rats to think about your car.

Make sure you keep the cat milk plate near the car when its hungry.. Doing so it will always be under the car whenever it comes your home. But once it had that food, take that plate and keep somewhere else and make sure it should not see that.

 

[Driveright]

Exterior cosmetic upgrades :
I made a small addition to the exterior of TANTOR in the form of bumper protectors just from a cosmetic point .The area was cleaned with soapy water and then wiped with NC thinner to remove wax and grease for better adhesion of the glue tape .A mock up was done with masking tape and final positions and orientation marked up .The backing tape is peeled of and the flexible rubber protector seated into final position and held in position with masking tape until the glue binds firmly .Time taken 20 minutes .

 

[harishankar]

For the rat problem, have you tried tying few country tobacco strips in the engine bay while parking the car? I was advised to do this and I did. It definitely gives a strong smell though!

 

[Driveright]

yes have tried it ..the tobacco leaves were zip tied to various areas of the engine bay..and iv been using hit spray also as a deterrent every night