The plan

Hey all, I have been doing a lot of budget shopping / pricing today and thought I would share what I found.
I have a list of things I want done on the car and ill go from cheapest to the more expensive mods and upgrades.. It's not a very big list but I'll give as much information as I can on each of them. Most of these prices and parts will be around the same price where ever you go but I did go local to Brisbane, Australia.

I have always been told from the start that the first thing you get is a good set of recovering gear, first aid kits, survival gear, etc. Just take that into account before you go off spending thousands of dollars on mods and upgrade and going out and getting stuck..



First off, Spotties! Spot lights are obviously very handy in any off road driving. High beam head lights vs high beam head lights and 4 extra 100w spot lights? The price varies from brand to brand, quality, size, etc not including the mounts and other nic nacs you may need to fit and wire them.
What I found on price average for a cheap set of spot lights is about $120 - $200. I plan on getting 4 in total of the cheaper style spot lights as it will be YEARS before I need anything more. For $200 you can get quite a decent set but the price of them can go upto $300 - $400 for the extreme lights. Not to mention you can get spot light kits that I have seen for $1000+ that gives you like 7 spot lights, all the mounting gear and wiring gear etc.. Obviously the price differs from brand to brand, size to size and good to shit. If you go no brand no name cheap lights you can properly pick up a kit for under $100 but in my eyes it isn't even worth it.


Second, is a snorkel. Even the very beginner tracks have water on them at some point, never enough for the need of a snorkel but to my knowledge snorkel's don't just allow your car to drive in deeper water but also increase power and fuel economy as they are ram air intake. The reason I personal put this second on my list is for cosmetic purposes. They aren't VERY expensive for what they allow your car to do either, for example if you spent the money you could do a hell of a lot harder tracks and a hell of a lot more adventurous tracks and trails.
I found snorkels anyone from $120 for the kit it's self up to $500 for a kit. I went searching for places around my local area able to completely install and seal, rust proof and fit the kit if I supplied it and found that most places don't like doing that. ARB for example will fit a supplied kit but it costs a fair whack more then if you bought the kit from them and then got them to install it. I was told by ARB that in total I could spend $580 for the kit and it being installed, not too bad considering they will have a 100% professional job done with warranty and quality parts, etc but I could supply a kit I found on Ebay for $130 odd but I would be paying $200 odd for them to install it. I myself went to a company I work quite closely with that just happen to be a panel shop and asked them if they where able to do it as a favor to me and they said they can cut, fit and seal for me even if I do supply the kit for a lot less then $200. They have yet to give me a figure but they did inform me that it will be under $200. So for snorkels, just shop around and it's all up to personal preference.

Tyres / Wheels are next on my list, there isn't much to say about tyres as it's all up to what you personally want to use the car for. Where I live combined with the XJ's body and design I personally can't go over 235/75 15R tyres for legal reasons. Obviously if I had a huge lift (3" +) I could get bigger but for the XJ a 2" lift is the max legal height I can go and I am unable to do a body lift at all. I am personally going to go with the 235/75 15R MT tyres and once again for cosmetic looks as of now. Eventually when I am doing harder tracks they will come in handy and in any type of muddy off road or even loose surface they will help with traction.

Lifts! Once again, isn't much to say about lifts in general as it's different for every car but in this case, with the XJ I will be going with an OME 2" lift (Old Man Emu) and most properly done through ARB again. They are quite expensive but for something like a lift I would rather pay the extra money for the peace of mind I would get for it. The reason I am going with a 2" lift is because it's the highest I can go legally in my state. Price wise, from ARB they quoted me just under $2, 000 but I am sure if you want to find somewhere cheaper you will be able to almost half that I reckon. Once again, it's all up to you what you want to do with and in your car and also legal road rules etc.

Flares are a massive part of making your 4x4 look awesome. Not much to say here so I'll just let you know what I am doing to my XJ in the case of flares. I plan on getting a set of the full cut out bush whacker flares as most people do. They are a very common flare but they are common for a reason.. THEY LOOK AWESOME yet quite expensive. You can hunt around and get them cheaper online but from what I have seen shipping is the killer. As for installing them you can find tutorials if you are confidant enough to do it yourself but I am just getting the panel shop to do it for me on the cheap. I have found them from $400 upwards to about $700. They do serve a purpose though, they give you the extra width to put bigger tyres on legally. Once again this applies for my state not sure about anywhere else.


The last thing on my list at the moment is lockers. I have been looking, once again at the ARB air lockers, they are conventionally the same as regular lockers but instead of a power source needed you need an air compressed that comes with the lockers when you get it fitted by ARB. I'm not 100% sure on the following statement but I have it in my head that ARB are one of the only ones that sell Air lockers and I think they designed them. I don't have much knowledge in lockers but I do know what they do and how very needed they are in most situations. If you have any type of lockers in your car or have ever had the privileged of using them you know what I am talking about. The quote ARB gave me fell short of $4000 by a couple of hundred, I found this quite cheap really. If you can let me know that would be great.