Paint your Wagon

[Wheeledbeast]

Well i definitely need to think about some sort of raised bed.i am not sure if the roof is strong enough to support a hammock. i guess i woud need to build some sort of frame.

[DasLandRoverMan]

Why not have a tent hanging off the crane, top gear style?

Also, it seems a strange time of year to decide to leave the warmth and comfort of the house and go and sleep in the truck.

Or was there something in the house you were trying to avoid?

[Wheeledbeast]

I thought that if it was manageable in the cold, it would deffo be okay the rest of the year..... Always best to keep out of the house

[Wheeledbeast]

I have not made much progress recently, but I have started work on insulating the roof of the Fc. I have used Celotex TB4000 polyisocyanurate (Whatever that is ). It is similar to polystyrene sheet to work with, and can be cut down easily with a Stanley knife. The outside is covered in aluminum foil on the front and the back. You can see it in place in the left hand photo.



The roof of the fc is a fiberglass cover over the driver and passenger that starts the same with as the windscreen and slowly expands over the doors to be the same with as the rear body. Then from the rear edge of the doors backwards it is a curved sheet of aluminium held up by curved C section aluminium channels.
I cut down some roofing baton to fit exactly in she the channels and screwed it in from the sides so that it could not pull out. Between the two C channels at the front I added three lateral pieces of roofing baton to support the interior light. (Again these were screwed through the sides of the C channels).
I cut the 25mm Celotex to fit the gaps and glued it in with spray adhesive. (Left hand picture). Then I have covered the whole lot with hardboard which I screwed to the batons. Unfortunately I could not get a piece of hardboard large enough to cover the whole roof, hence the thin piece added towards the rear.(Right hand picture).
The new interior light is held up with three “tool clips” screwed to the lateral Timber batons. It was £25 from Aldi. It is connected via a fuse and a switch to the auxiliary battery, so it can be recharged, it can also be removed and used as an inspection lamp. I gives a decent amount of light in such a small area, probably enough to read by if you sat right under it.
The front half of the roof it going to take more thought because of the unusual shape. I’ll have to get back to you on that one later.

[Wheeledbeast]

I have bought some closed cell Foam panels from Ace foam.( http://www.acefoam.co.uk/ ). They were very helpful and have cut the foam to size for me to be a push fit into the window aperture on the rear doors. These will act as Curtains for the rear cab as well as providing some insulation for the rear doors. The "curtains" are easily removed and should be totally water proof.


View from outside.......................................................................................................................................................... view from inside.

I also bought some egg box style acoustic foam to try and line the forward section of the cab. This will hopefully provide a bit of insulation and a bit of sound deadening. It will be nice to make the place look like a 1980s pirate radio station . I will let you know how I get on with that.

[Wheeledbeast]

Look what Santa has brought (no not a 101" ).
I have leapt straight into the 21st century with some reversing cameras .
I Got the idea from a chap I met at Billing. His 101” ( pictured below) Has front and rear reversing Cameras.
You can just make out the front camera hanging from the driver’s side lamp guard just above the reflector.

I got all the kit of the Flea Bay. I brought a small screen which I have mounted in the cab just above the rear view mirror.
The Screen is wired up to take two normal video plug inputs (I tested it with an old VCR). Then I have mounted two Cameras ( see Photo below).
One is on the rear panel next to the fog light.(where the Fuel filler should be). The second is mounted in the front grill just below the Land Rover badge.

I mounted a DPDT switch just above the driver’s door. ( The switch also had an off position half way between the two throws).
Push the switch forward and power goes to one camera and the screen, pull it backwards and it goes to the other camera and the screen.
Both cameras a permanently connected to the screen. The screen just displays which ever camera is powered at the time.
Both work brilliantly in terms of letting you know how far you are from something in good daylight.
The photo shows a car parked about 3 foot behind me, that would be almost completely invisible in my mirrors.
I can easily and confidently park within a foot of other cars (even little ones that I can barely see out of the window).
The cameras are also good in poor light, what they are not good at is high contrast.(street lamps, house lights etc. Mess up the image)
Also the front camera shows a mirror image of what it can see.
In short my reverse parking is still as bad as ever , but I can drive in and out of supermarket parking bays with out needing to call the insurance company .

[DasLandRoverMan]

You had a chat with Hugh Billingham without a planned escape route and survived?

Nice chap, but I'm glad I'm not a donkey with hind legs I'd miss if they were talked off.

Some useful technology there though, in need of a DVD player to allow you to watch movies whilst driving now?

[Wheeledbeast]

I did think about pointing one of the cameras at my road atlas and pretending that i had a sat nav.

[Wheeledbeast]

So this morning was our first snow fall of the year. Overnight rain had turned to snow that had then frozen. It was not deep, but was very Icy and slippery. No drama though I shall simply go to work in the Fc….. Excep the B%$£@?* thing will not start

Eventualy got it to run, but it seemed to be only firing on two or three cylinders no time to investigate, so just had to leave it behind. A bit disappointing really, the first time it has ever let me down and just at the moment when it was meant to earn its keep .

[Wheeledbeast]

I had a play with the FC Yesterday. I got it to run, but only at about 500 rpm . It smelled rich and I assumed it was not firing on all cylinders. Pulling off the leads seemed to indicate that all cylinders were firing, just very poorly. I tried a new supply from the battery to the coil to bypass the ignition circuit, then a different coil and a new HT lead from the coil to the dizzy. The points and the dizzy where dry and in good condition. I was starting to suspect the condenser when I noticed how much the carb was whistling. This is probably down to my lack of experience with SU carbs, but I had assumed that if the butterfly was working then the rest of the carb should be okay. What I discovered was that the slide was not moving. Probably caused by the intake of some water from all the splashing about over Xmas.
Then it went from bad to worse . I started stripping down the carb to give it a good clean and oil.( working outside in the cold). When I dropped the slide . See if you can spot what is wrong with the needle



I have bodged it back into some sort of shape with a heat gun and some pliers. (I seemed to get it back into the shape of Harry potters wand ). Anyway it is working for now, although I need to get a new needle from some where.