[Neardood1]

Well, better late then never. I've already done the majority of work to my 'troll, but there are always mods and projects on the go, and I figured i'd document the remaining work to be done on her. See my showcase for a list of what has already been done to her.

So I'm tired of going through the rigmarole of stopping, opening up the bar and back doors, then pulling out the fridge to get a beverage every time I want one. Next mod to rectify this; console mounted fridge and console to hold said fridge. I have the fridge, its a 10L waeco CF11, and have ordered the console, the only decisions I need to make are where I'll put my radio (was housed in the console), and what to do with the 3 extra carling switch sockets the console houses. I'll use one for the switch for my USB charger which I'll mount to it (was mounted in the rear of the old console), and I'll probably end up moving my power wing mirror controls over to the there, providing the switch fits nicely in the remaining two slots.

I have also bought shelf kit for the rear passenger side, I plan on fitting a lithium-ion battery or two to increase my capacity, as right now I have to be pretty selective about what I run at night whilst camping.

In other news, I saw a custom made inlet manifold with plenum for sale, and couldn't resist snapping it up. I don't like the idea of the charge air from the FMIC going through an extra 3 bends, and through the factory Y-splitter, only to enter at one end of the manifold where the air is not evenly distributed.

I really like my 30 second wing awning, however I have some improvements i'd like to make. Firstly, I have bought a couple of canvas walls and an extra pole. These will help keep out the wind if it picks up, and depending on how the walls go I may buy a wall/door and possibly even the attached tent, to do away with my heavy and bulky swag.

And finally, I have decided that the power and torque figures i'm making just aren't enough. I'm going to ring up a couple of places and discuss going bigger injectors and a tune to match. I have all the other supporting mods, my only real concern is messing up my excellent fuel economy figures as larger injectors can cause cause excessive soot and therefore wasted fuel at low loads.

 

[Squalo]

That is one hell of a Patrol, well done. Goals 👍

 

[Neardood1]

Horizon Center Console Fridge Install & Review

Well, After doing another 500km round trip, and replacing my alternator and idler pulley afterwards (both bearings gone), I decided to install my new center console.

The instructions provided were pretty clear and easy to follow, however the photos left a little to be desired as the detail on some things wasn't great. The first thing was to remove the diver's seat and the existing console and gear shifter surround, then measure and cut the rear part of the gear surround off. Horizon recommends using a cordless grinder, however don't have one and my Dremel wasn't big enough so I ended up using a hacksaw, which worked pretty well except in the part that dips down to the left.

Above: Centre console and shifter surround completely removed.

After that the shifter surround can go back in, then the two (very sturdy) support brackets bolt into existing holes in the body, and the holes for the factory center console bracket.

From there I assembled and test fitted the console, minus a few bits:

Now, I had a couple of things to sort out: firstly, how to power the Waeco CF11 fridge/freezer, and adapt the console to incorporate the USB charging ports and cigarette lighter socket I already had installed in the factory one. I decided to bolt a couple of cigarette lighter ports underneath the rear of the console; one for the Waeco and the other as a spare or for the Engel in the back.

After a quick trip to Jaycar and some drilling & painting I had the two sockets installed. I faced them outwards so as not to interfere with my 105 liter water bladder that sits directly behind the front seats and console.

As for the two USB charging ports, I decided to make use of the three Carling switch mount holes provided. I used one for the switch I had in the back of the factory console, and I've ordered two chargers that will fill the other two switch holes. Until they arrive I've blanked off the holes with the provided plastic parts.

I was expecting that wiring up the switches and getting them to fit in the small space provided would be a real pain, however I was pleasantly surprised. There was enough access and clearance to make it all work with no issues whatsoever.

It was finally time to mount the fridge. I used 3 straps (not provided) to secure the fridge into the supplied mounting slots. I joined 2 together and ran them up over and through the seat belt securing channel built into the fridge, then ran one into the front fridge slot on down to one side. A second strap up front would not fit through the front of the fridge, however it's not required as it sits really securely.

Above: You can see the strap and slot for a second.

Finally I tightened the cable tie for the handbrake surround, and installed the provided foam to cover the join between the console and factory gear shift surround. I had one thing left to do however. My GME TX500 radio was installed in the factory center console. It looked good, but wasn't best spot as the channel knob would occasionally get bumped, and adjusting it while moving was a bit sketchy as I had to look down and to the left. So I decided to keep it simple and move it to the side of the gear surround. It turns out the hand piece mount holes line up perfectly to the radio surround, so I mounted it there.

Overall I'm very happy with how it turned out. The fridge makes a comfy armrest, and the console is very good quality, I couldn't fault it. If you want one check out their online store.

 

[Neardood1]

30 Second Wing Awning Walls & Adjustment

The walls and extra pole for my awning arrived, and I decided to do some long overdue adjustment to the awning itself. While my revised mounting system consisting of 6mm galvanized steel plates sandwiching the roofrack plus the supplied L shaped bracket works well and is very solid, the whole awning was spaced too far back, which left a gap between the awning and the plate at the rear of my roofrack. As I found out a couple of trips back, this lets a bit of rain into the cooking area in the rear. The one flaw of the 30SWA's design, is that adjusting the position of the mounting bolts in the channel can only be done by punching new holes through the canvas cover. This leaves holes where the bolts used to be, which isn't ideal. I've already moved the position one when I switched to my new awning setup, and I didn't want to punch a second set of holes. Luckily, after doing some measuring and having a think, I was able to move the awning forward the perfect amount by moving the L-brackets forward on my mounting setup. No new holes were required either, so it was win.

After sorting the awning out, I unwrapped and set up the two walls. They zip into place easily, and the turquoise trim and black skirting makes finding the right way up a non-issue. They also come supplied with 3 pegs and 4 guide lines each. I was very happy with the result of having just 2 out of 4 possible walls installed, to the point where I am considering ditching my big heavy swag for a small windproof tent to put under the awning.

The walls are not rectangular shaped and instead flare outwards to give even more sheltered space under the awning. Packing the walls up was easy enough, and the bags they come in are actually big enough to fit them back into .

The final modification I want to do to my awning is to replace the overhead LED strip lighting I've fitted to 3 of the spokes. Firstly, it consumes a lot of power (65 watts!), which combined with the fridge, sound system ect drains the secondary battery quicker than i'd like. There is also an intermittent short circuit between one of the strips and the aluminum spokes, which keeps blowing fuses. Secondly, one strip is a cool white while the other two are a neutral white; I much prefer warm white, it gives the campsite a much cosier feel. I have bought some warm white strips and will fit them in the coming days.

Finally, I had a chat the other day with everyone's (seemingly least) favorite diesel tuning/turbo supplier; unfortunately getting a bespoke remap is still in the works, so I have decided to hold off for now on the power mods. My intake manifold has arrived though, and it sure is a monster. I'll need to modify my turbo to engine pipework to make it fit, I'm weighing up cutting and repurposing the bends on the engine or talking to PDI to see of they can sell me a section that will fit.

 

[Neardood1]

Centre Vinyl Flooring Install

Well, after what has to be two and a half years I've finally finished converting the carpet in Evie to vinyl. I bought all of the moulded vinyl flooring from TruFit Auto along with the moldproof and waterproof underlay. I did the rear section years ago, and the front probably 3 months ago.

Fitting it really wasn't difficult; just time consuming. I trimmed the front and back parts of the vinyl off and overlapped them over/under the front and rear sections, respectively. Then i marked and drilled holes for the front seat brackets and middle row seat bolts, which i used to help hold the vinyl in place.

The tubing connects to my105 liter water bladder that fits along the width of the 2nd row footwell. I've teed it; one tube goes to a valve for washing hands, fillling drinkbottles ect, and the other goes to a12v pump that is connected to a shower head. Combined with the awning and walls it should make a convenient beach shower in summer.

Overall i'm happy with my interior now; the vinyl makes vacuuming sand out very easy, and water/mud can be easily wiped up.

 

[Marko_SJ]

Very, Very cool. Looking forwards to next installment.