[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 I've already accomplished.

So I'm tired of going through the rigmarole of stopping, opening up the rear 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 on the console. 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 on the left.

Below: The console surround after cutting.

Above: Center 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. EDIT: This didn't work out as the water bladder that fits there rubbed against them.

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.
Below: The rear of the fridge secured through the seat belt slot.

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. Adjusting it while driving was a bit sketchy, as I had to take my eyes off the road and crane my head 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 roof rack.

Below: The rear end of the roof rack. The flat plate overhangs the rear doors and works well as a roof to stop rain getting into the cabin whilst camping.

As I found out a couple of trips back, this lets rain into the kitchen 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 cover. This leaves holes where the bolts used to be, which isn't ideal. I've already moved the position once when I switched to my new roof rack 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 shifting 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 which way is 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 my lead-acid 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.

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 existing bends 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.

 

[Neardood1]

So I will be procuring a secondhand liquid to liquid heat exchanger from work. It's inspired me for my next project. I already have a shower rigged up to my water bladder, now it's time to make it usable when it's cold. I'm going to rig the heat exchanger up to the heater core tubes from my engine so that I can have a hot shower while out bush.

My main challenge with this project is the size and weight of the cooler. At about approximately 50cm and 7kg, finding a place to put it will not be easy considering my engine bay is jam packed. At this stage I'm considering mounting it to the chassis rail on the passenger side (opposite the aux fuel tank) and running the plumbing along or possibly inside rail up to the engine.

The second and most important concern is reliability: if coolant leaks out during a long drive the engine may overheat in such a way that my digital coolant temperature gauge/alarm may not give enough warning. For this reason I'll be fitting two valves to the T-pieces i'll install on the engine coolant linesn and ideally secure them to the body or chassis to prevent their weight stressing the hoses.

Finally, I've got to work out how I'm going to control the shower temperature. Having a fancy digital controller that controls coolant flow through the heat exhanger would be nice, but in reality I'll probably just throttle one of the isolation valves to limit flow. I have no idea if my ZD will even produce enough heat at idle to sustain the shower temperature, but there's only one way to find out .

This project won't happen for some time, but I'm looking forward to it.

In other news, I've decided to replace my abomination of a draw setup. I bought the kings double draws (before they made available single draws) and decided it was too heavy, so I took an angle grinder to it and chopped the thing in half. It's functional, but looks bad and I really need more draw space for recovery gear, cooking equipment ect. I've heard good things about Drifta, I appreciate their innovation in reducing weight and the wide range of accessories they offer.

Can anyone recommend any other draws to look at before I place an order?

 

[geeyoutoo]

I idled my ZD30 up to operating temp the other day on a cool morning, took longer than expected so about halfway through I switched on fast idle, it helped to get it to 82c in around 20 minutes.

 

[Neardood1]

That's probably about what mine takes. However I don't think the amount of heat produced when warm (even with idle up on) is going to be enough to continuously heat water at say 10C to 40C. I hope i'm wrong though. This is probably the only time I wish I had a teakettle .

 

[Knuckles]

This is probably the only time I wish I had a teakettle .

Oooh cheeky.

 

[Neardood1]

Hot Shower Project Planning

So I've finished designing my hot water system. I decided to scrap using the big heavy heat exchanger from work , mainly because it was taken out of service specifically because it leaked when under pressure with hot fluid inside. Instead I've ordered a vehicle hot water heater from Glind.
I decided to use a solenoid valve to make things easier and add some automation to the process. This will be wired to open when the water pump is turned on.
I also ordered some quick disconnect fittings to make removing the water bladder much easier when its not required.
I've added a ball valve as close to where the cooling lines split from the engine as possible; they serve two purposes. 1 - to eliminate any potential leaks from the hoses or heat exchanger, and 2- to be able to control how much coolant flows through it, thereby controlling the water's temperature.

Above - The water pump i'll be using, it has a 1/2" inlet and 3/8" outlet. I was concerned about passing the two tubes through the floor of the body, and i'm pretty sure the small size will allow it to fit through unused wiring penetrations without it being a tight squeeze.

EDIT: I've changed the design during the build; the drawing above's basic flow is the same however I put a 3 way valve where the Tee piece is, and removed one ball valve from the hot water side too. The hose sizes used in the final build are different also.

I've tried to save weight and fittings by using male-female threads wherever possible. here's a list of what I've ordered, I have revised it after completing the build, so this is a final parts list of everything that went into it:

Fittings:
1/2" BSP barb fittings 1/2" tail (nylon) X4
1/2" 90 degree hose joiners (brass) X3
1/2" quick connect fitting m&f
1/2" female tee piece (brass) X2
1/2: BSP nipples (nylon) X2
1/2" BSP barb fittings 3/4" tail (brass) X2
3/8" BSP barb fittings 1/2" tail (brass) X2
3/8" BSP barb fittings 5/16" tail (brass) X4
3/8" BSP socket (brass) X2
3/8" BSP 90 degree m-f fittings X2
3/8" BSP nipple (stainless steel)
Many hose clamps of various sizes (I used Australian made Tridon ones as they are good quality and can be tightened without them breaking).
Universal hose fitting (male, 1/2" if possibly but I could only find 3/4")
3/4"-1/2" reducing socket (nylon)

Valves:
3/8" Ball valve (stainless)
1/2" Ball valve (stainless) with safety locking lever
1/2" Ball valve (3 way)
1/2" 12 Volt solenoid valve

Hose:
3/8" Water hose 2M
1/2" Water Hose 1.5M
1/2" heater hose 2M
5/8" heater hose 2M

Misc:
Glind hot water heat exchanger
12V Water pump (mine has a 1/2" inlet and 3/8" outlet)
Kings shower kit
Custom made bracket for Glind & monting hardware

I suggest buying as much as possible from Glind, I used ebay to source most of the things on that list but for convenience I would recommend going through them. I found their customer service is good too.

The locking lever valve is to solve an annoying issue with my previous setup - the drain valve somehow gets opened on its own while stored under the passenger seat, and I've lost most of my water twice now😒. Fitting one of those valves will solve this problem.

I can't wait to put it all together, and enjoy having a hot shower on a freezing cold morning out in the bush 🙂

 

[geeyoutoo]

Quite a few people I know have the Glind, seem to work well.

 

[Neardood1]

Shower Project Update 1

It should come as no surprise to anyone who has done a project before that things don't always go to plan. So after returning home and starting work on my shower project, I've made a few changes to the design.

Firstly, I decided to put the Glind heat exchanger in the engine bay, and instead of running the hot shower water hoses through the body under the passenger seat (I couldn't find any existing holes to run the hoses through and didn't want to drill holes) I'll be running them through the firewall.

Secondly, the 1/2" hose barbs fitted to the Glind are permanently attached (I missed that detail on their website). This isn't a big deal, however I'll need to reduce the hose size to 3/8" as I'll need a smaller size to pass the two hot shower water hoses through the firewall.

Thirdly, as the heat exchanger will now be mounted high up and away form the undercarriage, I've decided to delete one isolation valve from the engine coolant side. The other valve will be used to control water temperature by throttling it.

And finally, I've made a minor change to the valves; I've replaced the ball valve before the solenoid valve in the drawing with a three way ball valve. I'll fit a male garden hose fitting to make filling the water bladder much easier. It also has the added benefit of allowing me to drop a hose in a nearby stream so as not to use my onboard water.

So without further ado, here is what I've done so far:

I bought myself a little Bossweld S-140 MMA(Stick) welder to make repairs on my jerrycan holder, and decided to fab up a bracket for the Glind while I was at it. I didn't expect much from it, but the little thing packs a punch! It has no problem welding 5mm plate with a 3.2mm electrode. I picked up some 5mm flat bar from my local salvage yard, I would have gone 2-3mm plate steel but they did not have any small pieces of plate lying around. A couple of hours of measuring, cutting and welding later and I had myself a very heavy duty but functional heat exchanger bracket.

Above: The finished bracket looking from the firewall side. I used the bolts and spacers supplied with the Glind to mount it to my bracket.

I decided to mount the heat exchanger above the engine in the center of the bay as it is nice and close to the two heater pipes I'll be teeing into. However, I'll need to use a couple of fittings to turn the engine coolant pipe 180 degrees back to wards the passenger side of the engine bay. I'll probably do the same for the hot shower water pipe, however I'll have to join them via hose barbs as the fitting on the Glind can't be removed.

I wanted the Glind mounted as far toward the passenger side as possible, which made making the bracket more complicated (3 sections welded together at funny angles), I could have used two 10mm studs and mounted it relatively easily farther towards the driver side, but I think the way I've done it looks better and will work better too.

Above: The heat exchanger test fitted in the engine bay. I used pre-existing studs and holes; one 10mm stud to attach the bracket and hold it against the firewall, and a 6mm threaded hole to support the other end.
Below: A view from the side. You can see that the top 1/2" fitting is glued to the copper pipe that runs inside it.

All that's left to do with the bracket is take it off to be powdercoated along with my repaired jerrycan holder.

I've installed the valves for the shower side of the system under the passenger side seat. I'm considering securing the valves, however it seems to be fairly secure where it is.

Above: The quick disconnect allows me to quickly and easily remove the water bladder when it's empty. The tee goes down to the drain valve for quickly and easily filling water bottles, washing hands ect. The solenoid valve opens when the water pump turns on, this has the benefit of isolating the shower when not in use to prevent leaks. The three way valve will have a male garden hose fitting attached for easy filling of the water bladder. I will cut a notch under the left size trim panel to allow clearance for the hose to fit under it, this should secure it in place. EDIT: I have since redone this section as I was not happy with it; read farther.

All that's needed is to run the tubes through the firewall, plumb up the heat exchanger and test the whole thing out. More updates to follow.

 

[Neardood1]

Rear Storage Solution Purchase

I've decided what to do for storage in the rear of my rig. The system I have (double titan draws cut in half with a tilt slide on top) isn't working for me; it's ugly, heavy for what it is, and the draws don't open or close properly due to how I've secured the sub woofer in front of them. Having a full fridge up that high not only raises the vehicle's center of gravity, it also makes lifting the thing in and out of the vehicle that much more difficult. Even with the tilt slide, accessing things inside the fridge still isn't ideal either as the contents want to slide downhill due to the angle the tilt slide puts it on.

So, after doing my research I've decided to go with a complete solution, with some modifications of my own. I have chosen the Fourby Fitouts touring unit for my rear draws. It makes impressive use of almost every cubic centimeter of rear space, whilst not requiring the user to unpack some things to get to others, which is my number one gripe with the "put everything in the back in a neat pile" method I currently use.
However, I intend on running a 120Ah lithium battery in the back, and will need somewhere to mount my air compressor (its currently hidden inside the draw wing along with my 1500W inverter. A few weeks ago I ordered a Horizon Rear Storage Box. Right now I'm deciding whether to install it or not, as it requires permanent changes like cutting out part of the trim. At this stage I'm leaning towards waiting for the Touring Unit to arrive and seeing if I can fit everything inside it. If that's the case I'll sell the Horizon unit along with my soon to be redundant tilt slide. If I can't fit a battery and compressor in the Horizon unit, I'll install the Horizon storage box and modify things so that both products fit without interfering with each other.

I'm excited to complete the interior setup of my Patrol; once the rear is sorted the next major project will be an overhaul of the auxiliary battery wiring. This will be required as I'll be moving the compressor, sound system amplifiers and inverters into the touring unit as well as adding the aforementioned lithium battery. I also was never happy with mywiring job for the compressor and amplifiers. Finally, I'm seriously considering removing the 100Ah lead acid auxiliary battery from next to the engine. This should remove some weight from the front of Evy, and have the added benefit of making servicing easier. I also want to reroute some hoses that are in contact with the FMIC pipework and not having a battery restricting space will make this work a lot better.

As a side note, I've finally made a move towards installing mud flaps. I have purchased a set of heavy duty mud flaps, and plan on fabbing up some brackets out of the steel I have lying around. My rough plan is to weld a bracket onto my rock sliders that juts forwards for the front flaps, and weld or bolt a bracket to the rear bar support brackets.

 

[Knuckles]

Rear Storage Solution

I've decided what to do for storage in the rear of my rig. The system I have (double titan draws cut in half with a tilt slide on top) isn't working for me; it's ugly, heavy for what it is, and the draws don't open or close properly due to how I've secured the sub woofer in front of them (I'm using a ratchet strap that is twisting the flimsy frame. Having a full fridge up that high not only raises the vehicle's center of gravity, it also makes lifting the thing in and out of the vehicle that much more difficult. Even with the tilt slide, accessing things inside the fridge still isn't ideal either as the contents want to slide downhill due to the angle the slide puts it on.

So, after doing my research I've decided to go with a complete solution, with some modifications of my own. I have chosen the Fourby Fitouts touring unit for my rear draws. It makes impressive use of almost every square centimeter of rear space, whilst not requiring the user to unpack some things to get to others, which is my number one gripe with the "put everything in the back in a neat pile" method I currently use.
However, I intend on running a 120Ah lithium battery in the back, and will need somewhere to mount my air compressor (its currently hidden inside the draw wing along with my 1500W inverter. A few weeks ago I ordered a Horizon Rear Storage Box. Right now I'm deciding whether to install it or not, as it requires permanent changes like cutting out part of the trim. At this stage I'm leaning towards waiting for the Touring Unit to arrive and seeing if I can fit everything inside it. It that's the case I'll sell the Horizon unit along with my soon to be redundant tilt slide. If I can't fit a battery and compressor in the Horizon unit, I'll install the Horizon storage box and modify things so that both products fit without interfering with each other.

I'm excited to complete the interior setup of my Patrol; once the rear is sorted the next major project will be an overhaul of the aixiliary battery wiring. This will be required as I'll be moving the compressor, sound system amplifiers and inverters into the touring unit as well as adding the aforementioned lithium battery. Finally, I'm seriously considering removing the 100Ah lead acid auxiliary battery from next to the engine. This should remove some weight from the front of the car, and have the added benifit of making servicing easier. I also want to reroute some hoses that are in contact with the FMIC pipework and not having a battery restricting space will make this work a lot better.

As a side note, I've finally made a move towards installing mud flaps. I have purchased a set of heavy duty mud flaps, and plan on fabbing up some brackets out of the steel I have lying around. My rough plan is to weld a bracket onto my rock sliders that juts forards for the front flaps, and weld or bolt a bracket to the rear bar support brackets.

The Horizon storage box is a neat solution, I'm a fan of them (but I made my own version. Much smarter to buy theirs, it took me ages). If you're lucky it will fit with the Fourby fitouts unit.

 

[james008]

Excellent build mate.

I think you'll be happy with the Forby Fitouts gear, I don't own any but I've had a poke around his GU and it seems pretty well made.
Funny enough he also lives just around the corner from me lol.

 

[Neardood1]

At the price they're charging I hope so too! As I see it this is the best of the best, and nothing else on the market comes close to the level of innovation they've put into the one product.

 

[Neardood1]

I've placed the order with Fourby Fitouts, unfortunately I'll be away for when it arrives based on their current lead time. At least I'll have something to look forward to when I get home. I've been busy recently modifying my winch mounting plate so that I can run my winch as well as my FMIC. See my PDI Front Mount Installation Thread for the details.

 

[jackbyo]

Great write up.
Are you using one of those footwell bladders? EDIT: just seen that you are

The heat exchanger is a great idea. I’ve never seen one in the flesh but makes a hell of a lot more sense than those systems that hook up to a gas bottle.

if you end selling the horizons box, let me know mate. I’ve been contemplating one for a while.

how much was the rear touring unit from fourby fitouts?

 

[Neardood1]

Shower Project Update #2

I've spent the arvo completing the in-cabin side of the shower/water system. I decided to change out some of the brass parts in favor of nylon, mainly to save weight, plus the heat resistance of brass is not required on the cold water side of the system.

I was never happy with how the valves and tee piece sat, it looked ugly and it was difficult to use. A rework was needed.

After thinking about it for a bit, I decided to get rid of the tee piece and simplify the system. I realized that the drain hose (the one with the blue handled ball valve on the end) could also triple as a filling hose, and as a suction hose to use nearby water sources as a supply for the shower.
By turning the valve handle to the left in the photo below, the shower sucks from the filling hose. I'll use this if there is a tap or other water source avaliable.
By leaving it up as in the photo, the water goes from the onboard bladder to the drain valve and to the shower. This is the normal position.
By turning it to the right, the drain side becomes isolated as extra protection against leaks.

Above: The complete in-cabin install.

Notes:

• I have added a quick-disconnect to the 8mm (3/8") tube. This end connects to the shower hose (in the far right of the picture). I may leave the two connected, however it gives me the option to stow the shower head and hose elsewhere.
• There is a second quick disconnect in the right hand bottom corner of the photo. This connects to the water bladder.
• I am using the smaller 8mm tube as it fits in the gutter under the plastic step, and was relatively easy to feed through the firewall. The Glind heat exchanger takes 1/2" tubes however, so I will be adapting it to the larger heater hose inside the engine bay.

Above: The drain valve in the ready to use position. I will be adding a male universal hose connector to the end of the valve, to make filling the bladder with the garden hose quick and easy.
Below: The drain valve in the stored position. It is quick and easy to get to, and the three way valve doesn't need any drilling to secure it to the vehicle as the solenoid valve sits nicely below it. This position also maintains a downhill slope to the pump and drain valve, ensuring both are constantly primed even when the bladder is almost empty.

Above: the (empty) water bladder installed in the vehicle. It sits really nicely in the 2nd row footwell, however my fridge touches it when the bladder is full, which probably takes away 5l of volume or so of the 105L volume.
Below: the quick disconnect that couples the bladder to the rest of the system.

Unfortunately, I noticed that my Glind had become damaged in the mail (the 2mm thick plastic surrounding one of the brass fittings had cracked). Glind was very helpful when I rang them, and they have sent me out a new one before I had mailed the old one back. Once I receive the new heat exchanger and some final fittings, I'll finish the install and give it a test.