Offroad MK3 Camper

[axxez]

I continued with the dashboard. It is mounted with those screws showed in the picture, quite annoying to get behind the dash, but as soon as they have grip they will stay. It's feels now very solid and is way better than wood- / metal-screws or glueing.










Some more electrics, maybe a bit too much protection but I like it:

[transitandy]

Nice work and good thread m8y

[axxez]

Thanks Andy!

Didn't do too much today, just finalizing the switches. They don't all have a function yet, but the white box contains all the cables so I don't need to open the dash when I install them.

[axxez]

Some pics from the result of the previous weekend.
Today I added some USB-plugs to the dashboard, not much more. Parts for a solar-shower are bought and I found someone to build me some nice boxes for the roof.





Some holes to clamp some cargo:


My roof-window-protective ladder

[axxez]

I wanted to have some solid boxes for the roof, so I started to messure and design them. I found some nice looking boxes on the web for a good price, but they where made of 1,3mm aluminium. Creating some on my own got quite expensive on the paper, so I continued to search. Asked some people with skills that I found on the web and one of them had a good price and quality. So now I finally got my perfect aluminium-boxes, custom size. They are made of 3mm aluminium and are quite stable! I can put 80kg on them easy without a lot of warping. Only the lock bush was sh*t, so today I changed them for proper ones. The boxes will be painted in the color of my van, not to attract too much attention (those nice shiny bling-bling boxes!).

[AlanN]

Very smart bet they cost a fair few euros

[axxez]

Not that much in comparison (see pm for details), was quite a good deal! Maybe I'll ask that person to make me some heavy duty bumpers as well..

[axxez]

Some little more work on the dash.

[axxez]

Boxes finally mounted on the roof, as usual with anti-theft-protection. Screws could be unscrewed, but clamps work well.
I also took care of the undercoat, that's why I drove it on a ramp.

[axxez]

A question:

I have something very very similar to this Monroe ride leveling on my rear axle:
viewtopic.php?f=27&t=103443&start=30 (in the middle of the page)

So driving it in the "green" area is ok for sure. But what about the maximum? Can I put it up to 12 for daily drive?

[axxez]

Ok so noone seems to know about those Monroe ride leveling..

Right now I am building a little oven (maybe) for the van, which is to be tested further.. Not sure yet if it's a good idea to use it in the van. If I will use it, I'd be quite carefull. Fire only if I am awake, always having enough water next to me an an option to easily kick it out of the van in an emergency situation. Anyway, here is what I built till now:

[KING OF ENGLAND]

You sure know your stuff
dash board looks great

[axxez]

Getting a lift (new rear springs with more layers, some blocks, new offroad shocks), difflock, offroad-tires to the papers, uprating from 3.2to to 3.5to @ http://4x4customcars.de
Let's see how they will be doin.. Technically they should be really good, as they are offroaders themselves for a long time. Only annoying thing is that my van is away now for some months.. Can't wait to continue!

[axxez]

So.. I finally got my car back The lift is actually not as much as I wanted it, but on the other hand I got it on the papers now and it is street-legal. It is maybe around 3,5cm higher now, a lot of the lift get's ruined again by the smaller tires. Before I had 215R14 but now 195R14, but they are mud-terrain! It was very difficult to find 14 inch mud-terrain tires with the correct load-index at all, otherwise I would have gone for bigger tires.
The diff-lock is a customized self produced lock of 4x4 custom cars, which works great! I banged the bus through some nasty mudholes this weekend and it was not really stopping. Also tried to drive on a small quite steep hill but stoped as I feared not to be able to return savely.

So here are some pics:

before the lift, 215 tires:




after the lift, 195 mud terrain:












spring-hanger on the rear-end of the front-spring, front-end is still stock:




rear leaf-springs before the lift:




rear leaf-springs after the lift:




old shocks:




new OME-shocks:




axle with diff-lock mod:




vacuum-activator of the diff-lock:




vacuum-system in the front (note that the compressor below is not part of that system as it was for the old rear shocks):

[axxez]

Repaired some rust on the back door those days. During work I got cought by a bad weather which made everything more messy than it should have been.. On a certain point the aluminium sheet was partly riveted to the door, but the door wouldn't close. Some 15 minutes to a heavy rain left to do a very dirty job. Then today I did what I could do, leaving some small stains of grey sealing..
--> Rust should be stopped for the moment, later I will put some more grease into the door.

And just for those who dislike it too much: All the aluminium sheets (also the dashboard) are bend with a hammer and a caliper, nothing else. Maximum unprofessionality