Thread: Plugger and The Camel

Originally Posted by Toxic_Avenger

30 years of 'adverture' ???

I thought it might have been french for 'adventure', but google tells me the french translation is "aventure".
Maybe it's Engrish?

I was waiting for someone to finally notice that - 99% didn't!! A bit of black vinyl will fix that!! Well spotted Toxic!!

Originally Posted by NOMIS1234

Plugger & Tricky,
Thanks for such an awesome thread! Very, very inspirational. I have just read it from beginning to end. I am loving the new windows and roll cage/seatbelt mount!

What kind of cruising speed are you expecting from the custom transfer gears?

Cheers,

Simon

Hi Simon,

My calcs show 2650rpm @ 100km/h with the current wheel/tyre combo. Once he wears these out and we fit the 235/85R16 BFG's that should drop it down to 2500rpm @ 100km/h!! I got the smaller tyres so cheap I could not pass them up - less than $150 new each!! Just means that he has to drop the highway cruising speeds a bit to save on economy while he is a learner and P-Plater which is not such a bad thing!!

Cheers,
Tricky

Originally Posted by Archangel007

I was waiting for someone to finally notice that - 99% didn't!! A bit of black vinyl will fix that!! Well spotted Toxic!!



Hi Simon,

My calcs show 2650rpm @ 100km/h with the current wheel/tyre combo. Once he wears these out and we fit the 235/85R16 BFG's that should drop it down to 2500rpm @ 100km/h!! I got the smaller tyres so cheap I could not pass them up - less than $150 new each!! Just means that he has to drop the highway cruising speeds a bit to save on economy while he is a learner and P-Plater which is not such a bad thing!!

Cheers,
Tricky

Hey Tricky,

Awesome! I think I will do that to mine too. He will have one of the most envious vehicles out of all the p plater’s!

Cheers for the reply, looking forward to more progress.

Simon

Thanks Simon, glad you like the thread.

Progress will be slowed somewhat now as we have packed up everything (well mostly everything) for the move to Hervey Bay. The rental that we are in has no facility to work on vehicles and that will now have to wait until we come back down to Brissie (the wife is down here working and looking after the house until it sells) and The Camel is down here as well - I am unsure whether to take him up to Hervey Bay until we sell or not, he certainly won't be in the first lot of gear that goes up as there is not a lot of room.

New shed - ManCave Mk II - should be finished around June/July and hopefully we can get back into the full swing of it then. This also means that we won't be taking The Camel to the 70th LR Reunion in Cooma! Sorry guys, and depending on Plugger's sporting commitments for the school, we may not be able to attend either - he has obligations to fulfil under his scholarship!

Sadly, that's about it!

Cheers and thanks,
Tricky

Hi Gang,

Recently I had a couple of deliveries show up that will (almost) complete the procurement process for the Camel - sans door rubbers n stuff. One was this radiator I got off eBay. Its aluminium of course and to suit a Series 2A/III. Now after starting a thread of the S2A forum about why wont a S2A/S3 radiator fit into The camel I finally got my answer - those that make them fit cutout a notch from the front crossmember to make them fit. So, after taking some measurements, that is exactly what I proposed to do. The same company I bought the other two 'Series 2a and III with Holden 186' radiators from supplied this one, and it was less than $200 delivered. The 'Series 2A/III with Holden 186' radiators were $680 - probably because I bought two of them and sent both of them back as (of course) they didn't fit. Oh well!

Here is the rad, just your basic aluminium 3-core:
20180108_202100.jpg

The other delivery we got was from Charlie Emberton - of Emberton and Co. They make period reproductions of the switch labels and things like that for Land Rovers. I ordered a whole ensemble of Lucas switches, labels, warning lamps and a mounting plate from him as all of Camel's switches were more or less knackered.
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Now I could not help myself. Once I had unpacked the radiator to test fit it to the front panel, things just snow-balled from there and I just had to get it installed. First off I test fit it to the front panel to get an idea if any modifications will be needed. Now it was a job of drilling some 8mm holes in the front panel to through-mount the M8 Stainless Steel domed Allen head bolts ad nylocs. On one side I had to make up a small aluminium angle to bolt through. Then I checked out the original thermo fan that came with the original Holden LX Torana radiator - it was just a 12" fan and I wanted something larger that would move a lot more air. I chugged off down to Supercheap and grabbed a 16" unit for $94 - they are cheaper on eBay but at least if this thing has a rectal prolapse in 12 months Supercheap will still be around to replace it. Test fit - looks just fine:
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Well I just could not stop there. It was then over to the chassis, test fit, measure. Sadly the engine-bay battery holder was in the way so it was the first casualty of war. Ahh well, the rad takes priority obviously. I will just have to relocate it a little further back.
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Next up was to cut the front subframe and notch it for the radiator recess. The alternator had to be removed so I could get a good swing at it with the 5" angle grinder. Once t was all marked out, time to cut. And for those that are going to go through this a some point in the future, this is what you end up with:
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This cutout gave me around 5mm of clearance all the way around. I was glad to see that the inside of the crossmember wasn't a flaky sea of rust and rot. So, just to give it a bit more protection and you know 'while I was there' I decided to give it a good drowning in CRC Tectyl wax spray:
20180109_150839.jpg

Grab some 3mm plate, cut to size, bend and then test fit and tack in:
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Before we get carried away, let's test fit the radiator in the recess and see how good we think we are. Looks good from the back:
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Looks ok from the side:
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And looks pretty damn fine from the front:
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Right, let's do some welding. The slits that I cut into the horizontal part will allow me to weld on top of the PTO tube without getting in and trying to do it from underneath. Weld the verticals first, limit heat build-up and stitch as you go!
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And finally, once it has all cooled off, give it a nice thick coat of epoxy black chassis paint:
20180109_165431.jpg

Ok, so that was yesterday! Today I went up to Bunnings and grabbed some foam strip to lay in the recess and protect the radiator and to stop any dirt, mud and crap getting in between the radiator and the crossmember and nestling down in the recess and causing any rust issues. The foam came in 6mm x 19mm roll and I laid it along the vertical face and also along the horizontal face to cacoon the radiator and seal out the crap:
20180110_110701.jpg

Job done!! And I am please to say no Camel's got hurt in the making of this production!! I will have to do some mods to the radiator - the lower water outlet needs to move from the right side over to the left, and be increased from 32mm to 40mm OD to match the Holden water pump inlet. I will have to TIG on some alloy bits to hold the thermo fan in place - definitely not going to use those stupid through-radiator plastic ties - yuck!! But that's for next week. Re-pack up everything now in readiness for the big move Friday.

Cheers and thanks,
Tricky and Plugger

Great job as always,,
Was a fleeting thought given to some form of flexability in the mounting?
I read about ally rads being a little more prone to cracking??
I freely admit to no technical expertise in this area

Aside from aluminium cracking, there can be design concerns with radiator mounting and dissimilar metal corrosion, namely due to the reactivity of dissimilar metals (Al will corrode in preference to iron, Iron in preference to copper etc). But it would pale in comparison to damage caused by a radiator flapping loose on its mounts. If it's possible to isolate the radiator on rubber or plastic mounts, that would prevent much of the potential for corrosion.
But yes, you are right, it's looking mighty fine.

Hello from Hervey Bay!!!

Yep, relocated and back online. May even have some shed space leftover to do some Camel work when he finally get's up here.

The question as to whether the radiator should be able to flex or not is a complex one, as it needs to be viewed holistically I think. In the past I have rubber-mounted the aluminium radiators with no ill effect where there is room to do so. Other times I have solid-mounted them with the same no ill-effect as well. I think its ok to solid mount them as long as what you mount them to is solid-mounted as well. In the case of Camel, because the radiator itself is 'floating' its fine to solid mount seeing as it should not (except in the case of a shunt or some other blunt-force trauma to the front) come into contact with any other part of the vehicle. In essence there is clearance all the way around the radiator with regards to the chassis and only the 6mm foam touches it. As long as the front panel does not move it should be fine.

Galvanic corrosion is an issue where dissimilar metals come into contact with each other. Usually you need some sort of electrolyte for this to happen - salt water works well! The way to get around this is to electrically isolate the dissimilar metals from each other so there is no conductive path. The paint coverage of the panels helps in this regard. Using stainless fixings with aluminium panels is considered safe as there is little risk of corrosion. I think Camel will be just fine with the stainless fasteners and the alloy radiator and the paint insulator.....time will tell I guess.

Cheers and thanks,
Tricky

Tricky is that engine mounted further forward than a Holden six would normally be in a 4 cylinder Landy,
as there doesn't seem to be much room between the front pulley and the radiator?
Usually with the chassis cross member recessed for the radiator to move forward, there is ample
room to run an engine fan.
It's looking great and it's a shame you won't have it finished for Cooma.

Cheers, Mick.