It has been a while since I updated my build thread. Things have been a little slow since Bruce came home from hospital. Weekends, mornings and afternoons and sadly nights and early early morning have been busy looking after him. Worth it though as he is awesome
Ok, back on topic.
I finished the roof rack and set up the roof lights and UHF ariel were I wanted it
Roof Lights
Ariel
I had the Spot lights, roof lights, uhf and reverse camera hooked up by an auto electrician. Bought some Custom Rocker switches too and wanted them positioned in a place that was easy to get too and showed them off. After a bit of investigation I made up a switch plate under the ash tray. Also incorporates the cable for the iPhone/iPod and the UHF mic. Mild steel sheet and vinyl from Clark Rubber.
Switches
Reverse camera screen
All the lights on
Next step was to get prepared for 2 ½ weeks on Fraser. This involved sorting the dual battery, power to the tray, led lights in the canopy and a place to mount the fridge slide.
I couldn’t figure out the dual battery tray from TJM (bloody instructions made no sense to me
) so Dad helped me sort that and install the Projecta Isolator. The battery I got on special from Autobarn. Have read mixed reports on the brand but has been good thus far.
Power to the tray is in the form of a regular 12v socket and a merit plug. Have the Waeco set up to the merit plug.
Led lights are awesome, massive amount of light out of these.
Just needed something cheap and nasty to mount the fridge slide too as I left it quite late to do anything better. Also realised that as cool as it looks the Canopy is far from practical
. The only way to fit the fridge in is to have it right up in the back corner so I effectively loose half the tray. So it’s a temporary measure at the moment and will need a total redesign before the cape trip in 2013 so didn’t want to put together a flashy draw system that would likely have to change.
Fraser, as always was awesome!! First trip in the camper trailer, Bruce’s first camping trip and the first decent break away we have had in a loooooong time. Cant wait to get back there again but not sure on when that is going to be possible. Need to save all my leave for the Cape trip in September.
Western Side
Me and my boys, Jake and Bruce
After getting back from Fraser I spent 3 hours under the car with the hose. We went up the beach again a fortnight later just for the day and brought back half of double island point in the chassis rails
!! This prompted me to book her in for some rust proofing. Decided on the chemical rather then the electric purely as its what I had on the old Hilux that saw a lot of beach time and was rust free after 15 years of faithful service. We always give the rig a good wash on our return from the beach but surface rust was popping up pretty bloody quickly. It also looks great having nothing but black under the rig.
They did an awesome job of cleaning the engine bay!!
Ok, now for a few cosmetic changes. I wanted to make the car a little more me, and a little less standard. Check out the results
Before
After
A mate gave me a hand to trim the nudge bar which was promptly sent to the powder coaters. I then took to the bumper with a grinder. Scary but liberating!
How much was removed
One side done
Final result
But what about the washer bottle I hear you ask
Well I am glad you did. This was more a proof of concept idea. Just wanted to see if it would work. It does
So will need to tidy it up in the future.
PVC Pipe and a garden hose
Positioned behind the lower part of the bumper
Hose in
Route to filler
Filler
Am super happy with the results of Rig Jnr’s nip and tuck. Could not wipe the smile of my face all day.
That’s it for the moment but have some further plans in the not too distant future. Have some bash plates from Prestige Offroad on the garage, just waiting on the mounts. And now the missus is back at work I might just celebrate by sorting out the ReKon Suspension from Monster Rides.
More to come soon (hopefully)…