Thread: Plugger and The Camel

Thanks Cookie Monster. That's a really nice looking Suzuki!!

Well things have been rolling along since the last update as we rush headlong into paint. But as per being typical with Camel its once again two steps forward and one step back. Because its Pluggers car, my son, safety is paramount. Camel never came with any seat belts of any kind - none whatsoever - so this was a good and a bad thing. The upside was that we could not install some good lap-sash seat belts instead of the simple lap ones. However, to do this we needed some anchoring points up high. Since no S2A Landie has any B-pillars per se it was a case of design and fabricate something that would replace the B-pillar and provide the mounting points we need - solution, a half roll cage. I am hesitant to call it a roll cage or ROPS instead calling it seat-belt anchoring structure!

I placed a call to Tubeworx at Clontarf and got them to bend me up a hoop made from 45mmx2.5mm DOM pipe - this is what is specified for roll cages in the NCOP, VSB 14 Section LK. The backstays are to be made from 38mmx2.5mm DOM. Tubeworx supplied and bent up the main hoop for well under $250. The 38mm pipe I already had. Then it was a matter of cutting it to length, to enable the roof to fit on with enough room for the alpine window rubbers.

A view from the rear trying to keep the roll cage as unobtrusive as possible
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Clearance around the alpine windows. In fact I cut a notch out of the roof and side mounting flanges to allow the hoop sit outboard as much as possible...
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And the view through the side window shows where the main hoop is located longitudinally. It is in the position as this is right above where the tray reinforcing hat-section is located. In fact you will hardly notice the roll cage as the windows are so dark...
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And making sure that the sliding window latches have just enough room to operate...yes they do!!
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Next, cut out and weld on some feet, cut and weld on some back-stays, make some underfloor plates, reinforce the whole structure back to the steel belt-rail at both the main hoop and the back-stays, drill a swag of M10 holes and your done....
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Then it was a case of making up some threaded inserts that take the 7/16th UNF bolts which attach the inertia reel and the upper torso mount. These were made from 20mm solid round, drilled to 12mm diameter to a depth of 20mm then drilled from the opposite direction to a 10mm diameter and then tapped to the 7/16th UNF pattern. These are yet to be welded into the main hoop...
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And finally the finished product sans the inserts. I am waiting on a dimension for the inertia reel location from the seat belt people
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Well that's about it for this update, more to come through the week. It's all happening...!!

Cheers and thanks,
Tricky and Plugger

Hi Gang,

Thought I would share this with you...

Finished repairing the bulkhead today, well almost. Some minor stuff to do like grinding back some welds etc and prettying it up, but its essentially done now enough to put back on the car and test fit a few things.

Replaced the passenger side floor altogether - it was an absolute mess as the PO had simply sandwiched the old decaying metal between some new decaying metal and through-bolted it. So out it had to come (how could people do dodgy stuff like this, it was an absolute bodge!!)
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Now replaced with some 1.5mm sheet! The floor didn't need beads rolled in them but I did it anyway for aesthetics. There must have been a ton of oil which had seeped into the old metal as I had a hard time welding it. As soon as some heat went into it the puddle out-gassed and welds went porous...
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And a new foot...
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Then it was a case of plugging all the old holes in the bulkhead sides where the ghetto rack was bolted too, and then grind smooth...
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I also repaired the inside of the footwell where the bolts came through into the cab but forgot to take a photo. Other than do some cosmetic touch-ups the bulkhead is now done - thank God! I now need to move on with doing some seat bases and other mods and I need the bulkhead in place to do this.

And finally some goodies arrived through the week - some S3 wing mirrors, new S3 door hinges (to take the new mirrors), new door latches with locks (no locking mechanisms on the previous latches), new plastic headlight bowls and some Mack truck rubber bonnet latches (Mack use them for their battery tray hold-downs)...
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Well that's about it for today. More parts to order and more work to be done - but we are making progress...!!

Cheers and thanks,
Tricky and Plugger

Hi, did you order the rocky mountain door tops from them direct or an australian distributor or from who?

Originally Posted by granny

Hi, did you order the rocky mountain door tops from them direct or an australian distributor or from who?

Hi Granny,

I dealt directly with Jeremy Pinney at Rocky Mountain products in Vancouver!

I thought this was the easiest and cheapest way without paying a middle man!

It made sense for me to do this as I import stuff from the US regularly so it just came over with some other stuff I ordered in a part container load Long Beach to Brisbane.

Hope this helps.

Cheers,
Tricky

Hi Gang,

I have spent a fair few hours this week playing catch-up with The Camel. As per the post last week, this week saw us turn our attention to the seat base and the work that needs to be done around this. Primarily the job of reinforcing the seat base because of two reasons:
1. The battery box and its surrounding structure that traditionally supports the seat base will no longer be there because this area is now taken up by the auxiliary fuel tank and,
2. The seats we are using in Camel are from a BMW 525i - they are nice leather buckets with a very low squab height. And of course, BMW mount all their seat belt anchorage points directly to the seats and not to the floor pan so the structure that mounts the seats also has to be able to cater for the loads on the anchorage points in case of a collision.

Now Camel when we got him already came with some bucket seats. Yes they were all torn, collapsed and horrible and they went to the dump. However what the PO had done to facilitate the fitting of these bucket seats was to remove all vestigial traces of the original seats and their mounting points etc. We thought long and hard about trying to make the seating arrangement in Camel as per factory but we couldn't find any parts locally that were any good and I already had the really nice 525i buckets - so it was decision made I guess.

First job of the day was to cut away the under-seat battery tray and all that associated sheet metal, which was a shame because it was the best part of the car. Usually they rust the tray out badly but Camel's tray was in pristine condition and solid as a rock - ahh well, it had to go ( no pics sorry). The we mounted the seat base onto the chassis and test fitted the seats just to see if the rails needed any type of adjustment - shortening in this case - but they were exactly the right length. At this point I was amazed at the lack of reinforcing that is under the seat base to take the seats - there is nothing, period! Obviously we will have to address this. Test fit of the seat base minus the battery box..

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I decided to mount the tray temporarily to the chassis as well just to get an idea of how far the seats can recline and if the seats impeded at all the bolting together of the two parts - all good. Seat rails were a good length - with the seat rail pushed all the way to the back...

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They just stopped short of the front of the seat base - perfect!!
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And the rails were the perfect width too...
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I also temporarily mounted the handbrake just to see whether the seats fouled it in any way - all good:
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First order of business was to reinforce the seat base back-to-front to primarily withstand the weight of the occupants. I just could not believe the lack of strength here - maybe its the original seat mounts that provide the extra strength. Anyway, what I did was get some 2.5mm aluminium angle and make bridging girder between the rear tray-to-seat base mounting flange and the vertical front face of the seat base. The angle was 50x50mm and once pop-riveted to the existing centre opening flange it stiffened this area up incredibly...
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Next was reinforcing the areas directly under the seat rail mounts so they don't pull through the aluminium in case of an accident. The design also called for supporting the weight of the seat back to some structural member and not just the aluminium seat base. This is what I came up with - supports the seat weight back to the steel sill underneath in the horizontal plane and also the angle that the tray mounts to in the vertical plane. Its 3mm steel so complies with the NCOP VSB14 Section LK in terms of seat mounts and reinforcement...
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The front mount was similar - reinforce the corner and take the load down to the sill in the vertical plane. The seat base is sandwiched between 3mm steel layers for extra rigidity...
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Inside mounts were considerably easier to design and to make. They consisted of a 3mm steel plate with a return flange bent across them to sandwich the vertical faces of the seat base. In the case of the rearmost mount, it sandwiched the tray-to-seat base vertical flange between one layer of steel in the vertical plane and two layers in the horizontal plane. No need to reinforce back to the chassis or other strength-member as they were in close proximity to where the tray mounts to the chassis so any kind of deflection here would be absolutely minimal...
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The front reinforcing arrangement was similar - a vertical return on the upper 3mm plate, with a 3mm plate underneath the seat base. The aluminium bridging girder is sandwiched bewteen the steel plates back and front as well so in essence we have 2x3mm steel plates, 1x2.5mm aluminium plated and 2x1.0mm aluminium sheets directly under the seat rail mounting points - there is no way this is going to bend!
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Everything is bolted together with 8mm Gr8.8 stainless dome Allen bolts and nylocs for that nice finished look. Test fit seat and have a sit - wow, solid as a rock! Mark out the seat rail through-mounting holes and check the ergonomics - good height, heaps of adjustment and very, very comfy for that long drive...
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Ok, driver's side done now to move onto the passenger side. Make up a bridging girder for support...
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Pop-rivet into the seat base...
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Make up some more brackets as a mirror of the drivers side...
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And then test fit the passenger side seat, mark out the M12 seat rail through-mounts and admire your work. Plugger weighs in at over 90kg, I am just on 90kg as well so our combined weight is in excess of 180kg. Both of us could not get the seat base to budge an inch even with only a handful of bolts holding it all together - I say mission accomplished!!
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Here are some shots as to how BMW mount the seat belt anchors to the seat itself - all very nice and tidy and saves me making anymore fixtures to cater for the seat belts. I have just ordered some new lap-sash retractable belts from Seat Belt Solutions in WA - thanks Alex and Derek for the custom yellow belts - should look a treat next to the black leather seats. A little leather gaiter hides the buckle side...
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And the loop-end simply disappears inside the seat, how neat is that??...
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Anyway, that's it for the day. I would like to wish all the dad's out there a Happy Fathers Day and I hope you all got spoiled rotten!!

Cheers and thanks,
Tricky and Plugger

Hi Peeps,

Been a while since we posted an update here on the site. Thanks to just being plain busy, getting in some holidays, getting the house ready to sell etc I haven't had a lot of time to devote to the Camel, but things have been progressing. I apologise for the lack of an update and I hope some readers are still tuned in. Is anyone still interested in this build?

Well I got a couple of hours to spend on the Camel the week before last and decided that now that the tray was (virtually) complete, sans paint, that I had better complete the stuff hanging off the tray - the swing-away spare wheel carrier, or SSWC!

Last time I had left it the frame had been completed and all that was left to do was make the brackets that mounted to the vehicle, and finish off welding the stand off that supported the actual wheel. I had not fully welded this as I wanted to make sure that when it was mounted that it cleared everything. And lucky for me I didn't weld it, it was 50mm too low to clear the towbar. But more on that later....

I made up two brackets out of 3mm plate - fairly straight forward items, that sandwiched the nolathane bushes between the frame and the the brackets themselves. The top one I looped over the top channel of the tray and the bottom one was bolted to the frame. Remember when we welded in the 10mm plate inside the rear crossmember when we were repairing it - well this has now come into play as the bottom bracket is drilled and tapped to take four M8 stainless Allen button heads
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Then it was a case of bolt on and test fit the swing for level etc. And it swung beautifully. No movement, no play and effortless, albeit a bit squeaky. Once I grease the nolathane bushes it will be silent. You can see the upper and lower brackets in question in this pic. Even with a full load on as seen here, it was rock solid...
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From the front (back?). Looks good.
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When the SSWC is swung closed, it it positively engaged with this device. I bent up a 3mm piece of plate and made a bracket to mount this. Its a rubber-coated series of fingers that engage a likewise set of fingers to ensure that the weight is kept off the hinges. Once engaged, it locates very firmly. Hopefully, there will be no sagging of the hinges with this device.
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And this is how the carrier locks. Its a simple over-centre latch that is lockable, and also has a safety catch that you have to depress to open it - hopefully no accidental openings! The bracket for the hook is simply welded to the frame. The latch is located underneath the jerry can holder to keep it away from prying eyes.
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And here is the whole ensemble as it stands open. I also welded a bracket onto the lower nolathane post and then drilled a hole through it into the lower bracket. Then I made up a simple drop-pin to go through both holes. This was done when the SSWC was at 90-degrees to closed and will act as a detent to stop it swinging open any further. Plugger will just have to remember to insert the pin when open and take out the pin when closed. Also in this shot you can see where I have had to raise the spare tyre stand-off post 2-inches higher to allow the tyre to clear the towbar tongue. Its now been disassembled and sent off for powder-coating
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There is an issue however. The anti-rattle latches now wont rotate fully in the up direction to allow them to drop over the tailgate loops and close the tailgate. I will simply drill out the pins in the anti-rattle latches and remove the center bit. Then its a case of using some appropriately sized snap-rings to close the tailgate against the rubbers. Ahh well, you cant have everything!

And a photo of it closed. Heaps of clearance now for the tongue to go into the receptacle. I think it looks great and Plugger was certainly happy with it. Lets see what it looks like when it gets back from the powder coaters.
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More to come...!!

Cheers and thanks,
Tricky and Plugger

Hi Again,

Its me, Tricky, with another all-important update on the Camel. Yes, got some more stuff done which we would like to share with you all.

Since we have decided to run an auxiliary fuel tank, and decided to locate it under the seat base as per the original but in the opposite side, this has created a flow-on effect with where to put the stuff that went into this space originally - e.g. the battery. And it was a pity really as the original battery tray was the best part of the whole vehicle.

We decided a while back that Camel will have two batteries - one to start and run the car, and the other to power the accessories - e.g. the winch, fridge, etc. The two batteries will be separated via a smart solenoid from Redarc or similar so that the starting battery can't be drained if the accessories are left on - all you guys know how this works and probably have it installed in your own trucks. So now we have to locate two batteries.

The first logical place to put the winch battery was in the engine bay where the original battery once lived - next to the engine. The original battery mounting structure was severely rusted out though and I gave it the chop early on. To this end I decided to fabricate a new battery holder into the same position. The old battery tray was too small anyway for the battery we had in mind for Camel's accessories. And what's more, it is a Hi-tec calcium battery and we got it for nicks so that was ok.

I had a fair bit of 30x30x3mm angle lying around so that was the raw material of choice for the tray. The rest was simply, cut, weld, bend a bit, re-weld etc until I had a half respectable structure that would not break in half at the first sign of some serious off-roading. I must admit I was very reluctant to put the battery in the original position, whatever I did here it wasn't going to look like the Taj Mahal!! But, in the interest of practicality - keeping the winch cables as short as possible - it was either here or nowhere. In the end, acceptable but not inspiring...
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Plenty of clearance around the fuel pump and enough space around the oil filter when it comes time for a service
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And the steering arm at full lock - enough clearance here too. The frame was ground back to bare metal and the holder welded in at three points. Its solid! The lower radiator hose might need some protection though against chaffing as it does a 90-degree bend right next to the battery tray support leg. We shall see! It looked better after a coat of KBS black chassis paint which we had left over from painting the chassis.
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The other battery - the main starting battery - was next. I went down to my local Super-Cheap and had a look through the Century catalogue to see what size battery they recommend for a Holden six. From there I went up two sizes in CCA to get something a bit beefier in case of a hard start or whatever. The Ultra Performance 660 CCA was what I came back with - mainly because they were on sale! After looking over some options, I decided to locate the main battery below the seat base next to the frame rail. While it may be somewhat inaccessible directly, I will mount an isolator inside the cab so that the power can be disconnected in case of fire or a short, or maybe even just maintenance. Opposite the handbrake seemed fine, and I made up a tray and a diagonal stay to securely mount the battery in.
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And here with the seat base mounted - plenty of clearance. I hope the battery won't get bashed around too much but if it does I will make up an alloy stone deflector for it. Its pretty high-up and out of the way!
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More to come later.

Cheers and thanks,
Tricky and Plugger

Hi Gang,

And for those of you who are sick and tired of me saying "getting it ready for paint", here is a bit of a teaser...

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That's about it for this week. More to come next week.

Cheers and thanks,
Tricky and Plugger