Water Carriers

IMG_0051We’ve been looking at a number of ways of carrying enough water in the vehicle. It would be nice, in some ways, to have some sort of fancy built in water tank with a pump and a tap at the rear of the vehicle etc… In the end though we decided to try and find some decent 10 litre containers with taps so we can have some flexibility.

IMG_0055We found some ideal looking water containers at the right price but when they arrived they wouldn’t quite fit on the wheel arch where we needed them to go due to the shape of the rear tub. A quick consultation with Brendan suggested I might be able to modify them by heating them in boiling water. 30 minutes later, with the aid of a pan full of boiling water, the bottles were reshaped to fit the shape of the tub. I was surprised just how soft and pliable the plastic got at comparatively low temperatures.

We can now fit three of these along the wheel arch next to the fridge.

I replaced the ARB locking diffs in my challenge motor with Ashcroft lockers with the intention that the ARBs will go into the 90. Sent the ARBs off to Crown Diffs to have them reconditioned and tested.

Starting to move the wiring

One of the windscreen wiper gear boxes failed on the 90 a couple of weeks ago. Unfortunately it was the driver’s side one which is the more difficult of the two to replace. It’s a full dashboard out job so I thought, as I was going to have the dash apart I’d start moving some of the electronics from under the driver’s seat at the same time.

Anyway the wipers are working fine again now and should be good for another 15 years and the under seat ECU box is now a little less crowded than it was and I’ve rerouted some of the dashboard power from the aux fuse box.

Fuel capacity

Original fittings and cage mountA few months ago we looked at fitting a Safari Equip auxiliary fuel tank as it looked like a good solution to add extra fuel capacity without using up any storage space. It fits under the wheel arch, replacing the pipe between the filler cap and the fuel tank and adding an extra 30 litres of fuel capacity allegedly.

At the time we couldn’t see a way of making it fit though as the roll cage mount clashed with it so we ruled it out. Having talked to Brendan at 4×4 Overlander at some length he offered to “loan” me one so I could try and see if I could modify the roll cage mount to move it out of the way.

Modified cage mountIt took a couple of days to fit due to the changes required to the roll cage mount but, in the end it was possible. On the P&P cage the roll cage brace that goes to the chassis goes to the rear cross member next to the chassis. The aux fuel tank has a cutout in it that looks to be to accommodate a roll cage brace BUT it is for a brace that goes to the end of the cross member.

By spinning the bracing bar through 180 degrees and making a new bracket from the old one and some 6mm plate I managed to reverse the direction of the bracing bar, allowing the tank to fit around it. It’s a close fit and I had to grind the plate down as close to the tube as possible but the tank would just squeeze in.

Fuel tank installedLike many of these jobs it took a lot longer than expected but after two days of fitting, measuring, removing modifying and fitting again it finally went in and was plumbed in, ready for it’s first fill. We still need more fuel capacity but the current thinking is that I look at moving the electrics out from under the driver’s seat and fitting an old style underseat fuel tank which, with the standard tank and auxiliary tank will give us around 140 to 150 litres in total.

That’s it, summer is over

snorkel2Took the roof tent off today, it’ll live in the dining room until it’s next needed. We’d been discussing how we were going to get it down off the roof safely for a while and in the end we went for a combination of winch and straps to make a “ramp” for it to slide down. It worked really well and the tent was soon safely delivered to the ground without too much effort.

The plastic air intake cover on the off side wing went MIA somewhere on it’s daily commute into York and back. As good a reason as any to fit the P&P snorkel that we’ve had sat in the dining room since the cage was fitted. Pleased with the look of it and should be a big enough diameter for the performance to be unaffected. The snorkel came with a vortex style ARB top that we’ll save for Australia, The Safari snorkel top is a straight fit, arguments about ram air effect versus collecting water/grit ignored in favour of looks, it’s facing forward at the moment !

A test trip – day 3

imageOur final destination for our mini trip was Flamborough Head – a quick visit to the lighthouse offered a quick photo opportunity. Then off to the campsite to set up, followed by a walk down the coast to the pub for a bite to eat.

All in all our mini trip was quite successful. We experienced a range of weather conditions and  found a few problems and areas which we need to modify, as well as a lot of things that worked well. The 90 performed well and the extra load was no problem.

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The suspension all worked well even on some of the very minor roads with pot holes, hump back bridges and tight bends that gave me a chance to test it’s stability and handling.

A test trip – day 2

imageOur second stop of our mini trip at Newton upon Rawcliff. The advantage of this particular site is that it’s at the back of a pub 🙂

The first job when we arrived was to figure out what had gone wrong with the fly sheet. As it turned out it was a simple problem – the buckles on the straps that hold the sheet on were all threaded the wrong way, allowing the straps to come loose.

10 minutes spent sorting the buckles out and we were good to go again.

 

A test trip – day 1

IMG_1456After dropping the tin tent back home we set off in the 90, this time with an itinerary of overnight stops at camp sites scattered across Yorkshire. This was to be a practice run allowing us to see how the 90 and the tent performed when touring and to see what worked and what didn’t with a few stops along the way.

imageThe weather was “variable” with strong winds and rain some days and clear blue skies on others. In a lot of ways it was the perfect shakedown.

The first night, which was also the worst weather of the trip was at Bungdale Head, this revealed a bit of a problem with the flysheet, as we found out in the morning after a night of strong winds and rain. As we were closing the tent up in the wind the flysheet tried to escape, we managed to get it put away but there was obviously something not right with it.

Off road testing

IMG_0226Well, we spent the August bank holiday weekend at a club event near Helmsley, we set the trial out on Saturday which gave us the opportunity to see how the suspension works off road. Initial testing revealed a problem with the amount of travel the rear shock absorbers are giving us – the top of the springs kept dislocating on the axle twisters, we’re going to have to get some relocation cones fitted. The transfer box problem (jumping out of low ratio) also reappeared so looks like another session will be needed to try and get more throw on the lever so it engages properly.

We put the roof tent up at the camp site (always good practice) and spent a night in it, odd with the caravan parked next door but we needed to test it 🙂

ICE anyone ?

Spent some time on the ICE in the hope that we’ll be able to actually hear the radio/mp3s. Very impressed with the way the solenoid mounts and connects to the winch motor.

The ICE work involved fitting another pair of Kenwood speakers in the rear (already fitted some in the front) and a small subwoofer behind the driver’s seat. Sounds good, the subwoofer makes a huge difference.

Also wired up the winch and ran the airline for the freespool, then put the rope on the winch so it’s actually possible to use it now.

Finally, it’s arrived !

rooftentAt long last we got the roof tent today, what a saga that turned into, having ordered it in November. Went over to Trek Overland to get it fitted and for a quick tutorial on how to set it up and put it away.

Very pleased with the tent and with a bit of practice we should be able to get it up and down quite quickly. They fitted the tent so it hangs over the back to clear the spare wheel, not sure I’m convinced by it like that but we’ll see how it goes when we get to use it in anger and may decide to move it further forward.

We’ve tried putting it up and away a couple of times in the drive since we got back and we kind of know what we’re doing with it now. Pam is the official “tent monkey” spending most of the time clambering around on the roof using the roll cage as a climbing frame.