well I finally got something 'done'...
As I mentioned previously, I had fitted a replacement centre console to the rrc and a few other things.
Those 'few' other things ended up taking the best part of a fortnight to complete.
Here's a bit more detail.
Firstly, the centre console kept rubbing on the DIN mounting for the cd player so I had to remove the lower dash section. This also ended up becoming removal of all vents, the steering wheel, column surround, under-column section, carpet, and other ancillaries.
Stuff was trimmed, fabricated, glued, broken, re-glued, screwed and relocated to ensure no more squeaks rattles or creaks. Then I ended up removing the door trims, fitting some new speakers, running new speaker cables and as you'd know that comes with its' own kind of pain.
Then I recabled the main supply to the aux battery from the isolator with some new 000B&S cable, which is a PITA to route at the best of times, but with a holesaw, a step drill and a few salvaged wiring harness grommets from my old Mercedes, I managed to get that hunk of copper through to the back nice & neat.
I was never happy with the marine battery box, so I decided to drill holes in the rear floor area and used 2 battery anchors with some threaded rod and got the huge battery snugged down properly with absolutely zero movement.
I then went about refabricating and rewiring the aux battery accessories, so that everything had a switchpanel and circuit brakers as well as relays for isolation.
Added a few things and then rewired the rear tailgate light switch with an isolation switch to enable the interior lights to be switched off with the upper tailgate open.
Then the tailgate latch decided that was the right time to crap itself, so I spent another 3 hours removing, cleaning, fixing, refitting and adjusting the whole setup. it's smooth as a baby's now...
Fabricated a side-panel out of formply, as an interim measure until I work out how I'm going to setup the rear cargo area. The Engel is taking up quite a good amount of space, and I'm OK with that, but can think of a few more future alterations involving a custom made fridge slide and a couple of drawers beside the fridge. For now though, the rear is dine until I decide when and where I'll fit the 240v inverter sockets - they are not required at this point.
Then back to the front and I finaly fitted the redarc dual battery gauge, which wasn't too difficult, but does require tapping into the under dash wiring harness, which I did neatly, unlike previous butchers.
cleaned out the HVAC, cleaned the vent cowl and vents, sprayed the centre section with matt black for a contrast and it's made the dash look quite decent.
Used some single-sided closed cell foam tape on the dash sections to quiet things down a bit, and overall pleased with the result.
Then drove the thing down to Jervis NP for the day (yesterday) to check that everything was working properly. Fridge is good, accessories are working, stereo is finally audible and centre console doesn't squeak.
Floors have been given the once-over and I'll keep an eye on them to see how the killrust holds up, but it should be OK for quite some time.
Can think of plenty more things to work on, but right now, I can enjoy the car for a while until I get stuck into the world of transfer case and engine swaps....
Roads?.. Where we're going, we don't need roads...
MY92 RRC 3.9 Ardennes Green
MY93 RRC LSE 300tdi/R380/LT230 British Racing Green
MY99 D2 V8 Kinversand
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