110 CrewCab restore project ...

[Retrofit]

Ok, here goes:

Started off with an imported 1984 Defender 110 that had already been somewhat restored with a galvanized chassi and a 60k 200tdi engine. Even though the work had been done in the UK I was unsatisfied with alot of it.

1 - The bulkhead was starting to rust but not rot yet. It was also from a diffrent vehicle and was of a diffrent collor.

2 - The electrical was a disaster waiting to hapen. When they (the previous tech that woked on it) took the bulkhead from the donor Rover they just cut all the wires at the bulkhead and spliced them back to the other harness in a fashion that would make your spaghetti bowl look pretty neet and orderly.

3 - The whole thing was put together crooked. The doors where closing with a large gap that could not be filled by the door seal. Even when closed, you could see daylight between the seals and the front doors.

4 - The damn thing was missing so many bolts that it was starting to worry me.

5 - The engine needed some work to make it nice. Turbo needed an overhaul, timing belt, water pump, steering box.

6 - And finaly needed to instal a Webasto Blueheat.

So with all that I figured might as well start from the bottom up.

To see the truck as it was when imported you can check my web site here : www.quebecroverimports.com

So I took a full day to strip the whole truck and take it down to the bare rolling chassi, engine and trany.

Follow-up Post:

After the whole thing was taken appart I elected to have the bulkhead, door post assembly and radiator brackets mediablasted and then galvanized. I had some experience in metal treatment but never something of that nature and that fragile.

So I did some seaching and found a place that would professionaly do the blasting and one that have large enough facilities to acomodate the bulkhead for hot zinc coating.

I picked up the parts a week ago and here is what it looks like :

[JimC]

Mmmn, lovin' it. Cant wait to see more.

[TDI Guy]

Gooks cool. I guess you are keeping it RHD huh...

[Retrofit]

Gooks cool. I guess you are keeping it RHD huh...

Yep, I'm actualy fond of the right hand drive, and so is the wife.

[Cirbo]

Looks like care was taken by the galvanizer. Nice results!

[TDI Guy]

I would be into a pole driving RHD. I drove one once and got all freaked out. lol

[Retrofit]

Looks like care was taken by the galvanizer. Nice results!

Yep ! I was very satisfied by the medial blasting peoples and the galvanizer. Very professional and did an outstanding job.

Now up to the painters, they are supposed to be very good with these types of jobs. I am taking all the parts for them to be painted individualy. Then I will start going the other way ! Building back the truck.

Pat

[mikeslandrover]

Looks good, I've just got my bulk head back from the galvanisers too. :)

[TDI Guy]

See you guys were all afraid to dip your bulkhead.... I told you it would come out nice and BLING..... :zbling :)

[Retrofit]

Just took delevery of the Webaso heater friday and finaly took a look at it today and I have to admit this thing is very well built and packaged.

The instal kit I got is very complete and looks almost childish to install. Can't wait to try this baby.

Having the truck apart makes it so much easyer to install such items. Ordered 4 wiring harnesses for fog lights and also 2 for the winch (front and back) that will be seemlessly integrated to the trucks main wiring harness.

Tomorow I will be ordering all the VDO gauges and probes:

Mecanical Temp
Mecanical Oil
2 Volt meters
1 Amps meter
1 Tach

And also an Omega i32 EGT gauge and thermocouple.

I will also be putting in an IronGoat center console. Any one with recomendations on this unit ? I think it looks OEM and is not too bling.

Let me know what you all think, and suggestions are always welcome !

Pat

Follow-up Post:

Looks good, I've just got my bulk head back from the galvanisers too. :)

Did you do the sills and piler as well ? How about the tub cross bars ?

From my experience with the galvaniser I have to admit that even as minor as it was there was a light warp in the metal in some (mostly invisible once put together) part of the bulkhead from the very high heat of the zinc baths.

Pat

[mikeslandrover]

Did you do the sills and piler as well ? How about the tub cross bars ?

From my experience with the galvaniser I have to admit that even as minor as it was there was a light warp in the metal in some (mostly invisible once put together) part of the bulkhead from the very high heat of the zinc baths.

Pat
Yes, and I'll be getting the body cappings and under floor stiffeners done too, maybe the font shock turrets as well, but I might just fabricate some new ones.
See
http://www.d-90.com/forum/showthread.php?p=86431
for the ongoing rebuild story with my 110. :)

Follow-up Post:

Crew cabs are very cool, especially the Tomb Raider ones.
I did consider rebuilding mine as a crew cab

[brn24whl]

Don't forget to Galvy all the body to frame mounts and the front bumper while your at it :-) I picked my Galvy up last week and all came out well very very little warping where the heater mounts and thats it.

Eric

[Retrofit]

Yes, and I'll be getting the body cappings and under floor stiffeners done too

I did not get the stiffeners done yet cause I am making a rceiver for the winch that will allow me to mount it up front or slide it out of the front bumper and slide it in the back close to the bumper with the swinging gate open and to use it in the rear as well. Once you are done with the winch you can just slide it all the way to the front against the cab and lock it there.

So I will probably end up modding those alot to make the floor realy solid.

Pat

Follow-up Post:

Don't forget to Galvy all the body to frame mounts and the front bumper while your at it :-) I picked my Galvy up last week and all came out well very very little warping where the heater mounts and thats it.

Eric

Same warping here.

Pat

[Retrofit]

... with the pre paint body work. Even though the body was in very good condition it requiers a large amount of time to prepare for a color change. Taking all the doors apart and taking out all the windows ... finaly it is almost done.

My next step will be to address the electrical system. Being in the aviation industry I was able to get my hands on aviation type breakers. So I decided to do away with all the fuses all together. I will be putting a circuit breaker panel similar to the ones found in aircraft. Included in the panel will be all the breakers for aux lights, winch, Webasto, CB, radio, and so on ...

I understant this might take few extra hours in making a panel for this even if I am starting with a Painless 18 circuit wiring harness. But I believe this should look quite professional and be very practical to have in the long run. This panel will not have a cover and will be apparent.

Here are a few exaples of what I mean.

Let me know what you all think !

Pat

[mikeslandrover]

Looks good to me :cool:
My only thought is dust/water proofing :rolleyes

[Retrofit]

Looks good to me :cool:
My only thought is dust/water proofing :rolleyes


Good call Mike, I will work on a nice stainless steel container like housing. Should give it a nice look.

Thanks I did not think about that.

Pat

[mikeslandrover]

:hmm Aeroplanes tend to keep a good deal cleaner than the inside of a LandRover. well if mine's anything to go on. It was previously owned by a farmer, I found straw in every corner on disassembly. :rolleyes & spent cartridges in the 110-it's ex-military :eek:

[Retrofit]

Mine was not so much of a mess but you did get me thinking, and I thank you for that.

I will be putting the breaker panel in a enclosed box, probably a Pelican case or something of that line, made of hight quality plastic and waterproofed.

Again, always glad to have your input.

Pat

[kevb]

looking good Pat, make sure you disable those thrust reversers! i am watching with interest as i just got a 110 for a wee project. i am thinking of using the body for a 100" TDi auto but if I do then I have to shelve the 11a for a while and get the lightweight finished and sold.

[Retrofit]

Well after a little baby girl and a change in primary employment, I finally got some of the parts back from the paint shop.

Here goes.

[130Tdi]

Wow- is that zermat silver ? Very, very nice.

[TDI Guy]

I guess I wont be the only one with a silver truck on the board anymore...

[Retrofit]

It is Zermatt Silver. Epoxy primer, 3 coats, catalyzed base coat, and 3 coats of polyurethane clear.

Almost cried when I saw it for the first time.

Pat

[mikeslandrover]

Very neat, very shiney

[surf110]

It looks really good. How much did the whole paint job run you?

[Retrofit]

Just under 4k plus tax, and I brought all my panels, doors, and all that good stuff ready for prep. It was allot of work on my end but got everything the way I wanted and threw all that in a 10X20 trailer and got that to a paint shop who specializes in museum showpieces old 20's and 30's cars. And who the owner, a lady, owns and drives a pretty cool Suzuki rock crawler.

The thing was that I wanted someone as passionate about paint that I was about Rovers. So I drove about 1.5 hours to her shop and things are trickling down now.

Pat

[surf110]

What are the differences between Zermatt and Zambesi Silver?

[Retrofit]

Actually, I don't really know. I think the difference might be in the pearl effect that is in the Zermatt.

I will ask my painter next time I talk to her.

Pat

[TDI Guy]

prob jus a little different tint or something... very sweet..

[130Tdi]

Pat,
Looking for more pictures of this rig coming back together....

[Retrofit]

Comming soon !!! I have to upload the latest pics this week and will post some more.

Stay tuned !

Pat

[JimC]

Too slow!

[Retrofit]

Here goes.

Please don't comment the shop, its being overhauled this summer, once this one is out the door.

Pat

[130Tdi]

Very nice- bet its hard not to go spend all of your time putting her back together.Those front shock towers are cool fab work-what shocks are you running ?

[brn24whl]

Doug
They look like Disco 2 shock towers.

Eric

[Retrofit]

Yes they are D2 shock towers blasted and Por-15. I have Fox 2.0 Emulsion 10" shocks all around. A concoction put together by Keith at Rovertracks with a 3" lift.

For the time part, I invest allot of it on my kids right now. They grow up way too fast and I really dont want to miss any of it. So yes its hard and no it isn't if you see what I mean.

Pat

[Retrofit]

Here are some pics from last week !

Pat

[rgrrvr]

what size tires are you running? Also what is the best way to get the windscreen in? I made a mess of getting mine out and now need to buy another and don't want to screw it up again, life is harder!

[Neil McCauley]

If I may give a suggestion, on your front grille, get the Range Rover super charged emblem thats black and silver. It will look sick!

[Retrofit]

If I may give a suggestion, on your front grille, get the Range Rover super charged emblem thats black and silver. It will look sick!

Noted ! Good idea.

Thanks

Pat

[Retrofit]

Going to start it next week !!! If all goes well that is !

Pat

[TDI Guy]

Pure Rover Porn. I love it...

[Retrofit]

So the front end is almost in one piece. I used Second Skin Audio Damplifier Pro through the cab except for the lower part that is getting Linexed. I also used their Luxury Liner sandwiched between the wing and hood protector and the paint to block some of the sound.

Now if I can just put all the electrical back in with new wiring and start it.

Also another D in the shop with a picture of the shop cat AKA "Petite Madame".

Pat

[Bozman]

That is going to be one beautiful truck. I am super jealous!

[130Tdi]

Is that vacume line silicone ? Where did you get it ?


Digging the billet shift knobs.

[Retrofit]

All my fuel lines and vacuum lines come from Paragon Performance;

http://www.paragonperformance.com/Silicone%20hose.html

Don is a nice guy to deal with.

The billet shift knobs were a Christmas gift from my wife who just can't wait to drive this one.

And thanks for all the positive comments.

Pat

[130Tdi]

Great link- thanks for sharing.

[Retrofit]

Here is the dash that I had to re-upholster with marine grade vinyl. The center console is an Iron Goat with a Mud Pod from Mud UK. In it will be going VDO load meter (amps) and a physical temp meter. Also coming is an Alpine iDA-X001 head unit and rocker switches for ARB, winch selenoid and aux lights. In the Mud Pod will be the Webasto controls and some space for future mods.

Pat

P.S. sorry for the dust

[Retrofit]

I did not want to put in fir tree type fasteners cause like everyone knows you can only take them out once and up here at -30C they tend to break. So I elected to put rivnuts all around and go with stainless steel finishing screws.

Have a look at the end results !

Pat

[Retrofit]

So now I have to face my daemons ! :gag

The whole harness has to be redone. I am facing some dilemmas as to take the whole thing out for another harness (ie: Painless Performance Product) or make an hybrid harness out of the two or go all out and get a genuine OEM harness at 1200$ a pop !

I am leaning towards the hybrid.

Here is a pict of the whole mess ! The thing would heat up when the truck was running for long periods. Disaster just waiting to happen.


And by the way there was about two pounds of electrical tape holding the thing together.

Pat

[JimC]

Not to be a wet blanket, but if you splash out for the genuine harness, you'll get not only ease/speed of installation, you'll be able to refer to a LR diagram for any repairs. And not that you want to sell, but anyone in the future that has to work on the electrics won't have to pull their hair out. If nothing else, suck it down and go genuine with the wiring.

[130Tdi]

$1200 whew is that the dealer price ? The wiring harness on a 200 tdi truck is incredibly simple hard to believe that price. Have you checked with George @ RDS ? The back half of the truck harness is reasonable.

[TDI Guy]

New should be about $600 from the UK. Check Autospark in the UK

[mikeslandrover]

I was quoted around £ 300 for a new loom from Auto Sparks, If your old loom was chopped up and badly spliced then a new one would be the way to go. Luckily only one wire was crispy on my loom so I spliced in a new section.

[Retrofit]

After going through the whole thing I got to the burnt part of the loom and isolated the what I thought was the problem. I will start trying the loom tomorrow and will get a better sense of things from there. A new loom was something I was hoping to avoid as I will be putting allot of extra wires in there so chopping it a little myself.

I will post more in the coming days.

And thanks everyone for you support, it truly makes this experience more interesting.

Pat

[mikeslandrover]

I soldered all the connections I made, and made sure all the connector block terminals were corrosion free.
On reassembly I gave all he connectors a smear of petroleum grease. So far everything has worked fine including 1000 or so miles off road in Morocco this summer. When putting the loom back together use loom tape - it's got no adhesive. :cool:
The worst bit was getting the loom through the chassis to the rear lights :eek:

[Retrofit]

Thanks Mike ! And definatlly soldering is the way to go and also dielectric grease in the connectors. From today it seems that I may be able to salvage it in a decent and clean fashion.

And yes I am dreading the frame rail fishing afternoon for the rear loom.

But I'm not saying victory yet.

Pat

[Retrofit]

So up to now all the wiring as went in and sadly enough I was unable to route the rear loom through the rails. After spending more than 4 hours trying I finally gave up. :angry

So it went with the fuel lines over the frame.

After integrating the Webasto heater, EGT, National Luna, CB radio, Alpine radio, Oil pressure and Engine Temp (both mechanical), ARB compressor, Amp (load) meter, Warn 9.5 XP and twin Odyssey 1500s I am finally seeing the end of it. I also added a parking brake light in the dash that was there but not connected to anything. I put a little normally closed microswitch and bingo !

The only remaining item was the oversized intercooler and boy was it something. I really wanted to do it right, and hopefully I did. (unless you guys point something out :rolleyes ).

Attached you will see pics of the massive intercooler with the preliminary brackets. Its not connected yet as I am waiting for the silicone hoses but I should be ready to fire up the engine next friday. Also you will find The new dashboard too.

The intercooler fit with 1/4 inch on top from the latch and between the radiator. Tight but a good fit.

Thanks and I will post on the start up !!!

Pat

[JimC]

Your truck makes me very happy.

[mikeslandrover]

So up to now all the wiring as went in and sadly enough I was unable to route the rear loom through the rails. After spending more than 4 hours trying I finally gave up. :angry

It took me hours to run a pilot wire through the chassis, there seem to be hundreds of obstructions on the inside of the chassis frame :eek: getting the loom through was no joke either. I ended up feeding it in through the rear of the chassis and out of the hole in the chassis at the front. Not a job I;d undertake lightly again. The whole job took about a day :rolleyes
Your truck is looking really good though, love the intercooler :cool:

[diesel_jim]

It took me hours to run a pilot wire through the chassis, there seem to be hundreds of obstructions on the inside of the chassis frame :eek: getting the loom through was no joke either. I ended up feeding it in through the rear of the chassis and out of the hole in the chassis at the front. Not a job I;d undertake lightly again. The whole job took about a day :rolleyes
Your truck is looking really good though, love the intercooler :cool:

I used an cable puller i've got at work, it's like a huge recoilable tape measure, that spring steel stuff, with a loop on the end. took about 5 minutes of jiggery pokery to get the thing pushed down the chassis, then just tie the loom to it and jiggery-poke it back up again.

I've done all my chassis-up rebuilds with it, makes the job quite easy.

[mikeslandrover]

That makes me Sooooo happy :)
I ended up using TV areal cable after trying twin flat & earth cable with zero success.

[Retrofit]

Thanks Jim,

I will give it another try using your method tomorrow.

Pat

[130Tdi]

Pat,

Is that one of the $148 ebay intercoolers ? I have one lying in my den waiting for me to get inspired and install it. I like the brackets you made in the front/top. What did you make for the pins on the bottom ? Just a section of bar stock with holes ? In looking at what Allard shows as their mounting hardware thats what it appears they use.

[Retrofit]

Pat,

Is that one of the $148 ebay intercoolers ?

Yes ! And from what I can see its four times the useful size of the OEM.

I like the brackets you made in the front/top. What did you make for the pins on the bottom ? Just a section of bar stock with holes ?

Thanks ! For the top its just 1/8" steel bended at two 45 degrees angles. As for the bottom, I use 1/4" steel plate cut in an "L" shape with holes for the lower rubber grummet and two holes to mount on the two bottom bolts from the radiator/intercooler rack. I had to use spacers to lower the mounts about 5/8" so the top of the intercooler would clear the hood catch. You will have to use longer bolts and one bracket is going to be longer than the other if you want your in/out pipes to clear the shroud properly (don't have electric fan yet).

I bought steel tubing (2") in pre-bent "U" shape that I have cut in section and TIG welded back into pipes with silicone ends.

I will post on those once it is completed.

Pat

[130Tdi]

I bought steel tubing (2") in pre-bent "U" shape that I have cut in section and TIG welded back into pipes with silicone ends.

I will post on those once it is completed.

Pat
Pat,
Please do. I'm having trouble visualizing. I'm running the engine driven fan and the VDO gauge seldom gets above the 180 degrees needed for the thermostat to open. Being much further South I also plan to add a/c and need to fit the condensor up there as well. In speaking to Pendy I will be playing with moving the pegs on the bottom of the frame in order to move that radiator an inch or so closer to the fan to make some more room. Have you turned up the boost and tweaked the pump for additional fueling to take advantage of the cooler charge yet ? Really interested in hearing what your performance gain is.
Doug

[Retrofit]

Her are the finished pipes temporarily mounted to the intercooler. It required 3 x 45 deg. and 1x 90 deg. silicone units.

As you can see I will also have to baffle the radiator to maximize the airflow.

I will start the engine next week and I will probably tune the pump and turbo lightly.

I will let you know of the end results for sure.

My only question remains is what to do with the cross bard that go from the each side of the chassi to the hood catch ? Are the required or should I fab some new one ? Anyone ?

Pat

[130Tdi]

nicely done what type of cool clamps are you going to use on those silicone hoses ?

[JimC]

You should use titanium, pg 249 of the mcmaster catalog.

[130Tdi]

Need something better than the stock "Jubilee" clamps. I have popped to hoses off and I haven't turned the boost up yet. The exhaust on my boat uses a "T" clamp.
These are 316 stainless and the bar part of the t is mounted to the band on one end and the shaft of the t is threaded through a flange on the other. You can exert some pretty great pressure compared to normal hose clamps.

[JimC]

Yes, I have one of those t-clamps where the rad hose enters the water pump. I just couldn't get that joint to seal up with a regular clamp.

[130Tdi]

page 252 McMaster Carr

T-Bolt Hose and Tube Clampshttp://www.mcmaster.com/catalog/114/gfx/small/5312kp1s.gif (http://javascript<b></b>:chgimg('ED6AE');)
T-bolt design provides high strength and a 360° seal. Clamps are reusable. Locknut has a nylon insert. Band is 3/4" wide and 0.025" thick. Tighten with a 7/16" wrench. Temperature range is -75° to +250° F.
300 Series Stainless Steel with Zinc-Plated Steel T-Bolt— Housing and band are 300 series stainless steel for very good corrosion resistance. Band has rolled edges to protect hose and tube. T-bolt and locknut are yellow zinc-plated steel, which has fair corrosion resistance.
All Stainless Steel— Have excellent corrosion resistance.
Note: When choosing a clamp, measure the outside diameter of your hose with the fitting installed

[Retrofit]

I did go with that type of clamps, not McMasters as we don't have it up here, just went to an hydraulics shop and took the toughest they had out of stainless.

Front grill went in today and almost finished the electrical under the bonnet. It should start purring by the end of next week. Hopefully !

Pat

[130Tdi]

I'm jelous. The solenoid on my starter died today.

[Retrofit]

I'm jelous. The solenoid on my starter died today.

Don't feel too bad, mine has not run for the last two years ... Can't wait ... 2 more weeks !!!

Pat

[Retrofit]

Well I finally got the rear wiring through the chassi rail and it only took like 15 mins with a fisher. WOW !

I am now finishing the connection of the twin Odysseys and the National Luna and Warn winch and I will call it done.

Next week is all about making myself a nice font bumper with brush guard and a rear bumper with integral swing away tyre carrier and Hi Lift holder. Then its repainting those with the 5 wolf weels semi gloss black and off to Line-X we go !

Thanks all ! I will post more pics as I go.

Pat

[Retrofit]

Here are the pictures I have from my laptop archive.

Pat

[130Tdi]

Pat,
thanks- that shows the angles that I needed.

Doug

[PanamaD110]

congratulations, your project came out GREAT! Im about to embark in D110 2 door pick up project, no engine right now, I was thinking of putting in a chevy 350. I will post a thread in the next month about it.

[cabell]

Pat,
Your truck is looking great. I'm working on a tdi project as well and really like the way you have done the fuel lines. I have been perusing Paragons site but am not sure exactly what I need. What type of fittings did you use? Did you connect directly to the steel tube banjo fitting eliminating the plastic pipe? I think one hose is 5/16", the other 3/8"? Any help you can offer would be greatly appreciated.

[Retrofit]

congratulations, your project came out GREAT! Im about to embark in D110 2 door pick up project, no engine right now, I was thinking of putting in a chevy 350. I will post a thread in the next month about it.

Thanks ! Its not quite done yet as I have been working way too much for my own good lately.

As for your project looking forward to that thread.

Pat

Follow-up Post:

Pat,
Your truck is looking great. I'm working on a tdi project as well and really like the way you have done the fuel lines. I have been perusing Paragons site but am not sure exactly what I need. What type of fittings did you use? Did you connect directly to the steel tube banjo fitting eliminating the plastic pipe? I think one hose is 5/16", the other 3/8"? Any help you can offer would be greatly appreciated.

Hi Cabell,

I will let you know the minute that I am back at the shop for more than an hour with all the details.

Pat

[Retrofit]

I have been busy. So after working my day job for 3 months in a row, I finally got around to get some more work done. I added some lights(4 Hellas 500 on the rack, and a set of Light Force XGT on the bumper), wiring and all and now have completed most of the installation leaving only the back of the truck to be done. I have to note that I went with led bulbs all around for brightness and longevity (since they don't get too hot and melt the receptacle) so I had to add resistors to all for blinkers to keep the turn signals to go stroboscopic on me. Now this brought another problem of its own as my running light now seem yellowish in color compared with the white parking lights. So now I have to source a set of 7" round H4 receptacle for the front, might even go HID on them.

After 2 years on the shelf, the 200tdi started right up on the very first turn of the key. Bare with me that I was not expecting that at all, but it started right up and worked flawlessly. After running it to temperature and making sure all the gauges worked as I have put a few extra gauges (mechanical Temp and Oil Press gauges, Tach, EGT) I bled the steering fluid on the PAS box and was extremely pleased at how smooth everything went. The air got out of the cooling system pretty quickly and on the next day I fired off the Webasto heater a hot cylinder head was achieved in a matter of 5 minutes from garage temp. witch was impressive.

Now all I have to finish are the speakers install and I am good to go ! Go make those bumpers that is ... :cool:

Attache are a few pics of the winch set up with the remote plug in the cab and control box in the right wheel well, engine bay and battery box.

I will also post a youtube link later with the truck swap we had to do in the shop for another project (engine rebuild and some restoration and some preventive maintenance .

Pat

Follow-up Post:

Here is the video of the truck swap ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCuYdm1lMOo

Pat

[Retrofit]

So I have spent a fair bit of time putting those speakers up front and just finished building a speaker box for the back and making the most of the small space of the double cab. I use Pioneer Premier speakers all around.

In the front I went with 6.5" component speakers and installed the cross-overs with the radio in the Iron Goat dash. Tweeters went in the top for maximum sound quality and dispersion.

For the back I had some gauge 100 aluminum bent to fit the profile of the rear seats and made some ribs that I riveted and will be applying some Second Skin Audio sound deadener to the inside to seal each chamber and maximize resonance for the 10" sub and 6" x 9" . As a preliminary test I ran the system all hooked up and sounded really clear and very loud. I am also putting in a 300 watts amp for the sub the will be in the sub enclosure. Not ideal I know but it is the best I can do with the little space I have available. Something I like about the setup is that nothing touches the floor and therefore is not exposed to moisture.

Also the bottom of the speaker box is a good base for other equipment in the future (Ham, Inverter, ...)

A few pics attached :

Pat

[cabell]

I was thinking of doing something like this in my pickup. Have you put the seats back in to see how it sounds?

[Retrofit]

Not yet, but will let you know as soon as I do in two days.

Pat

[Retrofit]

Well today I have put all the audio together and gave it a try and got literally blown away ! I sounds very loud and very clean" the funny thing is that with all the sound deadener I put in you can hardly hear the music from the outside witch is pretty neat.

Pics coming tomorrow.

Pat

[130Tdi]

this thread is useless without pictures of the door skins flexing as the truck thumps....

[Retrofit]

Sorry Doug, here goes :

Pat

[Retrofit]

I do have results to show for it. The day job and family has been keeping me very busy for the last two months but I have managed to get the front bumper done.

Essentially its a pre-bent 3/16" pre-bent channel for the corners that I kind of "origamied" to the shape I wanted and welded the seams. The winch tray is 1/4" pre-bent 90 degrees and cut to shape. As for the tubes they are 1.5" .120" bent on a Pro-Tools bender.

Installed are the support for the two Light Force XGT and limb risers bracket.

Now the only thing left is to send it to the sandblasting facility and paint it with Por-15 and top coat Hardose semi-gloss black.

It weighs in at 85lbs unpainted.

I will post some pics of it on the truck but in the meantime here goes...

Pat

[Retrofit]

Voila !

I really wanted a low profile bumper that didn't stick out so much in front and keep a good approach angle.

Pat

[Hazard]

Very skilled build. Still waiting on a picture of the whole finished product!

[Retrofit]

Thanks !

Sorry for the wait there, just waiting for the weather to clear up to get some decent shots of the whole thing.

Pat

[Retrofit]

But it has only been out of the shop a few hours so I'm not going too far yet to get the kinks out.

The rear tire carrier came out real nice and works like a charm.

So far so good, a flat tire, fuel pumps needs work and one brake was adjusted too tight.

Enjoy ! Cause I am :cool:

Pat

[diesel_jim]

Lookin' mighty fine!! :cool: :cool: :cool:


Good to be out in it after all the hard work??

[Bozman]

So nice, excellent job. Thanks for sharing, keep the pics coming!!

[Retrofit]

Yes it does feel good to drive it once again. The only thing now is to get my diesel issues solved. I might need to get the injection pump rebuilt still have to troubleshot. Otherwise it is just awesome ! Now I am getting all my recovery gear ready and putting together all the camping stuff so I will be good for a long fishing and hiking weekend.

I really enjoyed doing the rear tire carrier and it was allot simpler and cheaper to make than I was hopping for. It hardly cost me 175 $ of material including swivel pins and the hinge pine witch is rated at 1000 lbs and has grease nipples. The front bumper was a little harder but straight forward to make. It still amaises me what you can do with a small mig welder and some quality time. Next stop ... the expedition tent trailer mounted on a rear salisbury axel with 33" tires to compliment the truck an get it ready for the trails.

Thanks for staying tuned all and yes more pics will come and if any of you want pics of particular parts just let me know it will be my pleasure.

Pat

[aclarke]

Your truck is looking very fine. It must feel good, being able to finally drive your truck around. Congratulations!

- Andrew.

[revor]

Pat!!!

That looks great!!! Do I get to see it in person soon?

[Retrofit]

Your truck is looking very fine. It must feel good, being able to finally drive your truck around. Congratulations!

- Andrew.

Thanks Andrew ! And yes it feels really good actually. How is your engine problems turning out ?


Pat!!!

That looks great!!! Do I get to see it in person soon?

Man ! It would be all my pleasure but with my son's (5y) diabetes (3 months now ...) we are just starting weekends out and camping. We are slowly stretching our comfort zone. I was hoping to make to Colorado for the ROAV but it is looking bleak right now.

On the other hand it might be good for MAR witch I doubt you will be there (or not ...)

By the way the suspension setup is really nice to drive, only complaint would be a small re-valving of the Foxs.

Thanks and I do look forward to meeting you guys.

Pat

[aclarke]

Hi Pat. I'm sorry to hear about your son. (edit: that sounded more "final" than I meant it! Please take it the way I expect you understand that I mean it...)

I'm still waiting for all my parts to arrive from the UK. They're still sitting in a container somewhere on the wrong side of the atlantic.

I'm also hoping to go to MAR this year. I've never gone before so if you go too at least I'll get a chance to meet you there. I thought MAR was an easy target but with the container still in England I'm starting to wonder if I should be getting a little nervous...

- Andrew.