Thread: Plugger and The Camel

Hi Everyone,

Just a quick update from last weekend for you all.

Been very busy getting the house ready to sell and our move to Hervey Bay (any forumites located up that way??) so time spent on the Camel has been a bit limited. But we did manage to close some things out which is good in terms of actually finishing something before moving on to something else.

Managed to weld in the threaded inserts for the shoulder mounts on the rollcage hoop. Not something that took very long mind you, about an hour and a half including the drilling the 20mm diameter holes with the hole saw. But now that it is done it can be sent off to the powder-coaters for some nice ripple black finish. Done!!
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Next was the desire to finish off the exhaust headers for the Holden six. As most of you might remember I had to cut the headers off forward of the last collector to get them to fit the engine when mounted in the Landie. Otherwise the collector would have been smack bang into the middle of the engine crossmember. I didn't expect them to fit seeing as they were made for a HZ Holden and not a Series 2A Land Rover - but yes, they were as interfering as you can get!! What I had to do was set-down the headers another 300mm or so to get them to pass underneath the crossmember with a bit of clearance, but not too low as to become an issue by being a hang-up point.

The bends arrived mid-week so it was on with the show. Basically a couple of 90-degree bends, an new 2" into 2.5" collector and Bob's your Auntie's live-in lover!!
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And test fitted back onto the motor, plenty of clearance around the alternator, starter and the engine mount etc
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Plenty of clearance from the engine crossmember. I think my inverter card on the Uni-Mig might be on the way out, it wouldn't hold a constant voltage...
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And plenty of clearance underneath, and although it doesn't look it in the photo it doesn't hang any lower than the engine crossmember, with just enough clearance to clear the gearbox crossmember as it runs along the frame rail
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And finally, with a bit of the Ol' Rolling Stones 'Paint it Black'...!!
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Now, got the centre console back from the upholsterers. While not something that would be put into an Aston Martin, its good enough to go in a Landie called Camel!
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And with the cup holders and the 12VDC power socket and 5VDC USB ports added for effect! The mesh pocket at the front is for his phone (no touchy while driving Plugger!!) and I think the yellow stitching ties it in nicely with the Dakar Yellow of the car. High Class I hear you say, well no, not really but good enough for the Camel!
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And the internal waterproof light for the inside - its designed to be used in a bait well so 100% waterproof. It glows a nice soft blue which is supposed to be the easiest on the eyes and will hopefully limit it as a distraction if he opens the lid while driving at night.
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Surprise...!!
And last but not least, especially in terms of dollars, are these little beauties! I put in a call to Otto Instruments to see if we could get Camel's original gauges reconditioned and also get the speedo converted from miles to kilometres (I know what you guys are thinking, just keep it miles and do the math, but when a 16 y/o boy is driving I want him to concentrate 100% on the road, not spend 50% of his cognitive ability doing miles to kilometre conversions especially when it comes to the trip-meter - which a Landie does not have!). By the time I got a quote from Otto, factored in some additional gauges for oil pressure, volts, and maybe a tacho etc this was by far and away the cheapest option. It is a GPS speedo in kilometres from Speed Hut, with digital odometer, trip A + B, indicator LED's, high beam LED and integrated tachometer. The 4-gauge cluster has water temp, oil pressure, volts and fuel level - with programmable warning lights for all of them including low fuel, low oil psi, high water temp, under- and over-voltage!
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Service from Speed Hut was impeccable and delivery time was around two weeks!! For and extra $10 they even put the Land Rover label on the speedo! And here they are just quickly test fitted into the dash plate - a perfect fit for the 4" (100mm) holes!! I was hoping to keep the original Land Rover gauges but they are a mess internally and the cost to have them rebuilt and re-calibrated was just prohibitive. At least now the speedo, trip and odometer is in km/h so no excuses for a speeding ticket. The accuracy of the speedo is down to 1 m/s so that's pretty accurate. The gauges come with all senders, cables and brackets etc and is a doddle to fit. Pity is I bought a new cable for his Land Rover speedo so if anyone is chasing a brand new unused cable let me know. I now have to make up a cable-delete plate for the gearbox suppose.
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And for those of you who might be thinking of going down this route, the gauges from Speed Hut are hugely customisable with everything from face colour, to font style, to night-glow colour all being able to changed. I think they are cool, and the yellow faces should tie in nicely with the rest of the truck.

Well that's all for now. More next week.

Cheers and thanks,
Tricky and Plugger

Love the gauges, and not wanting to throw a spanner in the works, but can you get it registered up there with a GPS speedo in it - you wouldn't down here. Not a huge issue, but if you get pinged for it, you may have to shove the factory one back in to get it on the road.

They aren't legal because they don't work under all conditions - like in heavily built up areas, tunnels etc. don't think I'm ragging on GPS speedos - I'm about to order one myself for the 101 but just giving you a heads up.

Keep up the great work!

Originally Posted by Homestar

Love the gauges, and not wanting to throw a spanner in the works, but can you get it registered up there with a GPS speedo in it - you wouldn't down here. Not a huge issue, but if you get pinged for it, you may have to shove the factory one back in to get it on the road.

They aren't legal because they don't work under all conditions - like in heavily built up areas, tunnels etc. don't think I'm ragging on GPS speedos - I'm about to order one myself for the 101 but just giving you a heads up.

Keep up the great work!

Hey Homestar,

Yes, I think the engineer will allow it. Will have to wait and see I guess. They might not even notice!!

Cheers,
Tricky

Hi Gang,

Well in the middle of all that's happening with the move etc, Plugger and I managed to fit in some hours midweek and Saturday on The Camel. I have resigned myself to the fact that there is a major possibility that The Camel won't be finished prior to us pulling up stakes and heading north so it looks like he will have to be trailered to his new home. Of course this depends on how quickly we can get the rest of him finished and how long its going to take for the house to sell etc...

Anyway, this week saw us continue on with the exhaust system now that the headers have been finished. I ordered a few 2.5" bends and a 2x1 metre length of straight 2.5" pipe from my supplier, along with two mufflers. All this arrived mid-week and as soon as it arrived I decided to not wait until Saturday but get a good head start on the fabrication.

In reality it wasn't that hard a job, the only issue was trying to fit all the bits under the tray - ahh yes don't we all love packaging constraints!! Anyway, first order of business was to tack on the other side of the 3-bolt flange onto a straight section and continue the exhaust aft. Then it was a couple of bends up and over the differential. I gave it just enough clearance from the gearbox crossmember and kept it as close as I could to the passenger chassis rail.
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Up and over the diff and tucked as close as I can to the underside of the tray - clearance to the floor of the tray is 65mm, so hopefully this should be enough of an air gap as to not radiate too much heat into the tray floor. The underside of the mufflers is still above the bottom of the bump stops so no chance of getting hit by the diff in full compression.
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And this is the configuration I came up with for the mufflers. With the offset of the first muffler (centre entry and offset exit) I had to tilt the rising tubes over a bit to hit the centre and still leave enough room between the exhaust can and the chassis rail. The next muffler inline was pretty straight forward once I had all the measurements and levels right. Why two mufflers, because with no sound insulation or deadening of any kind these Rovers can be noisy, and I don't want Plugger to be bleeding from the ears after a long drive so quiet it has to be. and besides, he doesn't want to wake the girlfriends parents when he's sneaking back home at 3am in the morning !!
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And this is what I did with the tailpipe! I dumped it. Just in case Plugger snuffs it fording a creek or river or something I wanted to keep it up as high as possible to avoid sucking in water (maybe) or even just getting hung up. It sits tucked in nice and tight beside the rail and it well protected.
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Now that the configuration is sorted, its time to turn our attention to the support structure. I decided that three rubber hangers should be ample to hold this exhaust in place, while allowing for some movement from the engine etc. I bent up some 3mm flat bar for the mounts that will be welded to the exhaust and the same for the hanger bracket that will be welded or bolted to the car. I did the rear one first. I am using some rubber twin-bolt mounts that are Landcruiser (oops, sorry for swearing) type! They are very strong but quite flexible. here is the rearmost one tacked in place.
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The middle one between the two mufflers...
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And the forward mount using the Land Rover chassis mounting bracket with a piece of bent up 5mm flat as the bracket...
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And now that all the support brackets were done and the exhaust was self-supporting and looking good, it was time to disassemble and fully weld up all the joints and brackets. I then decided that I would paint the exhaust pipework in heat-proof matt black because while the straight sections were aluminised, the bends were just raw steel and would surely rust and look ugly in short order. Also where I welded on the brackets for the mounts would rust as well seeing as it burnt off all the aluminised coating. I left the mufflers natural for effect.
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And once the heatproof paint had dried it was time to reinstall and marvel at what we had done. I think it looks good and it should be well protected up between the rails.
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I think it turned out pretty good. Well with the rain pelting down all day no painting got done so that's now a priority! Anyway, that's all we got done for Saturday so it was time to pack up and have a beer!

Cheers and thanks,
Tricky and Plugger

I understood the rules required the exhaust to go to the edge of the bodywork. Your engineer may have some words to say. But adding a bit to carry it to the standard exit point is not a big deal.

In my experience, exhaust noise is not an issue with these vehicles (except perhaps the Isuzu) - you can't hear it above the wind, tyre and gear noise!

Originally Posted by JDNSW

I understood the rules required the exhaust to go to the edge of the bodywork. Your engineer may have some words to say. But adding a bit to carry it to the standard exit point is not a big deal.

In my experience, exhaust noise is not an issue with these vehicles (except perhaps the Isuzu) - you can't hear it above the wind, tyre and gear noise!

According to the ADR 42 John its 300mm rearward of the last operable window. It also cannot exit directly on the passenger side. However, being built in 1969, it does not have to comply with any ADR's per se! There is no reference to bodywork...

Here is the current legislation:
42.8. EXHAUST OUTLETS
42.8.1. Enclosed LE vehicles, and MA, MB or MC vehicles must meet the following requirements:
42.8.1.1. the exhaust outlet must extend at least 40 mm beyond the furthermost outboard or rearmost joint of the floor pan which is not continuously welded or permanently sealed which could permit direct access of exhaust gases to the passenger compartment, but not beyond the perimeter of the vehicle when viewed in plan;
42.8.1.2. the exhaust outlet, if to the side of the vehicle, must discharge to the right hand side of the vehicle and downwards at an angle to the horizontal of not less than 15 degrees and not more than 45 degrees; and
42.8.1.3. the exhaust outlet, if to the rear of the vehicle must discharge at not more than 10 degrees above or 45 degrees below the horizontal.
42.8.2. Omnibuses (MD and ME Vehicles)
42.8.2.1. the exhaust outlet must be as near as practicable to the rear of the vehicle;
42.8.2.2. except in the case of vertical exhaust systems, the exhaust outlet must discharge rearwards or to the right of the vehicle, either horizontally or at no more than 45 degrees downwards, and must not extend beyond the perimeter of the vehicle when viewed in plan; and
42.8.2.3. when the exhaust outlet is vertical, it must be located behind the rearmost portion of the passenger compartment and may discharge either vertically upwards or rearwards at any angle above the horizontal.
42.8.3. N-Group Vehicles must meet the following requirements:
42.8.3.1. the exhaust outlet must be behind the rearmost seating position and at least 40 mm beyond the furthermost outboard or rearmost joint of the floorpan which is not continuously welded or permanently sealed, and must not extend beyond the general perimeter of the vehicle when viewed in plan. In the case of permanently enclosed vehicles not fitted with vertical exhaust systems the outlet must extend to the perimeter of the vehicle when viewed in plan;
42.8.3.2. the height of the outlet must be either greater than 150 mm above the maximum height of the cab or less than 750 mm above the ground;
42.8.3.2.1. for above-cab exhausts, the direction of discharge must not be to the left of the vehicle and must be above the horizontal ;
42.8.3.2.2. for other exhausts, the direction of discharge must not be to the left of the vehicle and must be between the horizontal and 45 degrees downwards; and
42.8.3.3. any exposed section of an exhaust system discharging above the cabin must be shielded to prevent accidental personal contact in areas where contact can occur during normal operating and servicing conditions.

Yes, it will be ear-muffs optional for sure!

Cheers,
Tricky

I hope you guys realise how much better than TV this is! The challenges, the questions, the drama, the welding. Is Matt Damon playing Plugger in the movie? More importantly, is Charlize Theron playing his girlfriend?

we can only hope,,

so who's playing Tricky?
I'm thinking Mr Cool Sam Elliot,,