Long time, no update... Life kinda got in the way and I've been living out of a suitcase for large parts of the spring, bouncing around countries. Made it home just as the family dog went from bad to worse and had to euthanize her a few days ago. Off to another project across the country again on Monday, no rest for the wicked...
Anyway, gotten a couple of things done between the battles:
Finally got around to move the licence plate and mount the bumper horns and winch fairlead. No winch behind it just yet, what I had been told was a 10k lbs unit turned out to be Warn z3500 that's pretty rough around the edges. Might use it for a rear winch some time in the future...
Then I got the snorkel mounted, at least most of it. Still have to fabricate an A-pillar mount and heat it into place. Was too cold to bend it when I was doing it, and kinda never got around to continue since. Current sideways angle is a little odd, but it's rock solid and hardly moves at all even at 60mph. Ended up having to cut twice (even after measuring a lot more than once!), but as the current front fenders are ready for replacement anyway it didn't matter too much and I was more free to experiment. Decided it worked out better having it a little lower rather than flush with the hood as by design. Still have to hook it up to the engine, never had time to go into the garage to remove the coolant tank and make the necessary cuts.
Picked up four 7.5" long beams some time ago, apparently with the same performance as Hella Rallye 3003's at a third of the price. When I recently found a cheap roof cross bar to mount them on I had to get them up.
How do you guys get on top of the lifted ones?! I barely managed to get up there with the (otherwise tall) stepladder.
However, getting them to do anything but increase drag up there involved a bit of wiring.. and hey, when I first get started I tend to overdo things. Starting out, everything was quite fine as it was.
A couple of hours later, well, a little less fine.
Yeeeey, wires! Everywhere!
Removed the rust in the ceiling and gave it a nice thick insulation cover. Cables coming down mid-picture power each pair of the long beams, the front warning strobes and the roof marker lights. They go through the roof via deck fittings from a boat store, anchored in a piece of food. Seems to be keeping the water on the outside. Getting power from a pretty thick cable the previous owner used to drive a big sound system. Routed it up along the c-pillar, hidden inside the wall.
Did a little work in the back as well. Added a second camera and two C-somethings from a hardware store. I later mounted warning strobes and raised brake lights to these. All the cabling going through screw-on boat deck connectors I installed last fall... it pays off having a plan with these things.
Finally a chance to install the Starcraft roof console that came with my spare truck! Made a small modification to it, repurposing the originally empty storage tray to a button panel. Front plate is just a prototype made of something I found in a scrapped caravan... it was an absolute horror to cut (with an angle grinder) and it broke twice when drilling holes. Had to stop short of completing the last hole, or it would have disintegrated completely :/ Still looks good enough from a distance after a few coats with a rattle can, kinda matches the lexan. Switches aren't the prettiest, but according to the regulations I need a light to indicate whenever a work light or long beam is activated so I ended up combining it. A little dimly lit, but guess that's for the better at night.
More wiring, yey!! Got pretty full in there.. Two blue switches are for the inside/outside pair of long beams, orange for warning strobes, outside red for rear work lights, other red for future application. Should have been another red switch, but I couldn't make the hole for it.
After a very long day of wiring (some time I'll start writing stuff down rather than keeping it all in my head) and trying to somehow hold the whole console up with three hands while drilling holes and fitting screws with four other hands - all by myself - I think it came out pretty good. It's a little off to the right (would've been easier to judge with the sun visors mounted by then) but nothing bad.
The new screen replaces the rear view mirror. While it's a little more in the way and the technology has it's obvious limits it's still FAR better than the mirror it replaced... mostly only saw car interior there anyway. Turns out it's not interfering with driving at all as it's just above my line of sight. If it becomes a problem I'll switch the two cameras and when not using the upper screen as a backup camera I can flip it up and completely out of the way.
The two cameras overlap, and the side view mirrors take over towards the sides. Compared to the original setup I've eliminated most of my blind spots. I have a video cable coming down to the center console in case I get stuck somewhere and want to watch something from an A/V source.
I've replaced all exterior lightbulbs with LED except for the front turning indicators (can't find a match) and the roof marking lights (LED replacements are too large). I also converted the backing up lights to turning indicators using orange LEDs. Works great! (b.u. lights are optional here)
Lastly I've also installed four more relays in the front. Now I can switch between original US high/low beam layout (two of each) and H4 bulb setup (all four having both). Legally I'll have to stick with US layout to have one of the pairs up on the roof. The other pair I'm not sure how to make legal just yet
On my immediate to-do list:
Finish replacing right-side exhaust system, hoping I won't also have to do the left side as well to pass inspection. Then doing a brake-light-only circuit for my raised brake lights and a euro-converted trailer coupling (no combined turn signal and stop lights allowed).
i dislike the orgiginal filter because it's expensive and too small for my liking, size matters!.
