07 NS Shorty build

[cruisn06]

Was a great day when you get new tyres. stayed with the same size, 265/65R18 in the standard BF all terrains, although a slighter lighter weight range, which it seems only Oz and North America get the e rating, while the rest of the world get the D rated. but still well over the weight of the car.












And of course a lovely poser shot on the way home. Antalya, Turkey

[cruisn06]

And we are straight into the electrical today, It began with stripping the dash out:




Its a little messy after all these miles






Moving onto the interior panels, I have bought a nautia engineering 7 slot switch panel which fit fantastic and looks great, all has been wired to the factory harness for simple plug and play setup, I have also had him make a custom panel for the cig lighter area, here I have my battery isolator switch for connecting the batteries if required, my fuel gauge and transfer switch for the second tank and 3 Auber gauges for trans temp, boost and egt monitoring.







































I have also got the switch in place for the traction control off switch, I have ordered all factory style switches to look good on install.









Now I have also installed a factory rear locker ages ago, and now can finally finish the install, I have the air compressor and a factory switch, now the factory switch a 2 way switch the self centers and with a bit of work I was able to get it to lock into the on position, this provides power through pin 3 and 6 at connector d-120.




I have not finished chasing wires, but following the route as long as it does not send pin 6 through any ecu's on its route through connectors D-122, D-234 and into E-13 I can use the factory harness to operate a selenoid in the rear to operate the air compressor without aftermarket wiring which would be amazing. hopefully its a go.




Switch in use:

[jaffles]

The ol bus just gets better, nice

[cruisn06]

Got around to installing the cab end of the electrics, looks amazing, all lights are working on the dash switch and it cleaned up the overall look heaps.

As for the rear locker, I ended up testing the cables and was able to feed 12V to the switch through pin 3 and out of pin 6 which does in fact take power to the rear of the wagon for me to activate my diff lock manually. so that is fantastic news. later this week I will continue with electrical in the engine bay and locker install. I have a list 3 miles long for things I need to change or upgrade for the next round of trips.














Traction control off switch:






And a dark shot:

[cruisn06]

Well i brought home the jack stands and jack from storage, so that means only 1 thing, time to get up to date on the maintenance. starting tomorrow.

Few big days ahead,

will sort out the:

Valve lash

trans mount

rear diff mounts

steering rack

finish hooking up all new sensors

redo solar panels

tidy up under bonnet electrical.... fuuuu so busy.

oh and I have some new front wheel bearings I will put in for good measure.




The key to rarely if ever breaking down when on the road is keeping wear parts up to date. most of these parts being repaired are factory or changed well over 60k kms ago.

[cruisn06]

Well, we are into it, did the transmission mount today, and ran all the lines for breathers, plus started cleaning up electrical in the engine bay. big jobs that take time to keep looking clean.




setup:






Breather location, have filters on them as well.

[Two Emms]

Nice workshop !

[cruisn06]

Nice workshop !

Thanks, when people ask how I afford this... well. I do everything on an old cement pad behind where i live.. cheap cheap. lol.

As for todays work, got most lines in the engine bay tidied up and did the steering rack. plus front diff breather is finished. its a bit of slow work due to time constraints. I guess it could been seen as all the work I do as these wagons seem unreliable, but I'm just super picky on parts changing prior to failure as in my travels I do not want to spin spanners. This ol girl has yet to leave me stranded, cause even when the gear box failed I only lost 3-5th so it could still limp home.



Out with the old:






In with the new:

[cruisn06]

Steering rack is fully installed today, just need to get some oil, also sorted out the alignment to good enough to get me to a shop.




As for engine bay work, I installed the egt probe. ill tape the wires up later as I still have another sensor to run that way. slowly coming together.

I always choose cylinder #4 for the egt probe as it in theory should run the hottest dues to being furthest away from cooling and honestly, I've been doing it that way from day dot, and I haven't popped an engine so why change it.

[cruisn06]

Got a bit more done today, as I have been busy lately. so it breaks up my day.

but today i knocked out the boost gauge under bonnet, cleaned up the egt setup. also got my hood latch safety catch working again. just little items that slowly add up. found a 1/8npt weld on fitting for my trans temp sensor as well.




Did a fire up test on the steering rack and all works well without any leaks, although now my steering wheel makes a slight rubbing noise on the fire wall so I will sort that next week.




Got the battery bracket welded up. its a bit rough but will hold till I get my hands on a welder:






Also got some interior LED lights installed:

Before:






After:

[cruisn06]

Well I did a thing today, besides getting a 90 day visa for Iran... I went out and got a Webasto diesel heater for the tent. nor I need to fit all this before we roll out. Ill be busy busy




Decided on the smallest available, 2kW in size. I got an extra temp probe for in the tent so the heat control works since it wont be recircing the air.














Its quite tiny, so it should be to hard to find a home.

[jaffles]

ooo thats a bit nice, care to share where such luxuries came from. Weigh much?

[cruisn06]

ooo thats a bit nice, care to share where such luxuries came from. Weigh much?

I picked it up from some shop in Ankara after I finished getting my visa work completed. wasnt going to but the price was more than fair for a made in germany unit. I was out the door for about 890AUD with an extra temp probe for in the tent and a spare muffler to keep it extra quiet.

I will be having a small aluminium box made and I will cut it into my back door should work out well, I expect full install to weigh in at less than 10kgs. as the heater being the heaviest it 2kg. Then I will make some plugs for the tent so it is easy to hook up and detach as required.

[Scooby]

Did a fire up test on the steering rack and all works well without any leaks, although now my steering wheel makes a slight rubbing noise on the fire wall so I will sort that next week.

If the SWB are the same as the LWB, the steering column goes through a rubber grommet in the firewall and when dry it causes noises. A bit of lube fixes it.

[cruisn06]

Did the design for my heater setup today, then went to shop that does ally work, they will fold up my little box for me and ill have it for saturday next week, painted black. should do the job. and will look smart, we are doing a hinged door with locks as well to prevent theft instead of bolts. so Im quite happy with that.