Silverbullets' resto: Interior

[Silverbullet]

Yeah you're right I should put something on the outside, at least on the backside where it's up against the hard plastic. Trouble is I don't want to make it too thick or it won't fit so perfectly anymore

Some more progress today on the box - went and bought some more resin and gave the insides another couple of layers of glass mat to strengthen it some more. Then got the speaker mounting ring about where I wanted it and secured it in mid air with dowels cut to length and hot glue (that stuff sticks amazingly well to polyester fiberglass!) Also while I was out this morning went and found some spandex at the textile shop. I stapled the fabric around the mounting ring and then stretched it over to the edge of the box all the way round and secured it with hot glue again. This gives a nice natural flowing shape to the front side (in theory) Soaking the fabric in resin will turn it into a hard shell, which I can then lay more fiberglass over to finish the box. I'll cut it out inside the mounting ring later.



This thing is going to look the bomb when it's done! Annoyingly I got some creases in the fabric due to my poor stretching technique - not too much of a drama since it will be glassed over.

[El_Freddo]

So the spandex is just a medium to get the shape of the rest of the box for the for regales to follow?

Awesome way of doing it! With that shape it'll look the bomb I reckon

Cheers

Bennie

[Silverbullet]

So the spandex is just a medium to get the shape of the rest of the box for the for regales to follow?

Awesome way of doing it! With that shape it'll look the bomb I reckon

Cheers

Bennie

Yes, the stretchy spandex just helps get a nice flowing shape between the rear shell and the mounting ring to fiberglass over - and the end result is:





This is awesome, can't wait to hear what the whole system sounds like now.

[El_Freddo]

Looks good mate!

I'm currently building an overhead console for a targa top to accommodate a CB radio. I've also been looking at incorporating a set of small speakers at the back of the cab but I reckon it'd be blasting in your ear too much.

It's looking good so far for the primary purpose... time will tell once it's made from marine ply and sprayed for a nice finish colour.

Keep up the good work. I'm sure you'll like the sound of that sub setup!

Cheers

Bennie

[Silverbullet]

New molded carpet arrived

From this website: http://www.all-car-carpets.com.au/ Considering they are made to order, it arrived quite quickly in exactly 1 week.

Custom molded to fit the floor pan of the MY wagon so it should look factory original, just the way I like it Has a nice foot pad for the driver sewn in which was a nice surprise. Looks like it should fit nicely, just needs all the holes cut out and trimming to size down the sides which I will do slowly and carefully when I'm fitting it. It's charcoal grey and I think is pretty close to what the head liner is. Interior should look cool with a patch of this color carpet sewn into the door cards, and the two tone black and lighter grey seats

To anyone asking if I'm worried about getting it dirty when off road - I never planned to do any deep water crossings through muddy bog holes in this car anyway so no I'm not worried Floor mats all round are obligatory of course, and I'm using closed cell type waterproof carpet underlay.

[El_Freddo]

Looks the same as what we put into the brumby a few years back.

It's wearing well. Some areas where the driver rests their feet are getting furry on the walls but otherwise it's going well after about 5 years I think.

And no water crossings or mud puddles when offroading... That's a good one!!

Cheers

Bennie

[Silverbullet]

Looks the same as what we put into the brumby a few years back.

It's wearing well. Some areas where the driver rests their feet are getting furry on the walls but otherwise it's going well after about 5 years I think.

And no water crossings or mud puddles when offroading... That's a good one!!

Cheers

Bennie

I meant no water crossings through muddy bog holes

Just water would probably be fine, since the underlay is closed cell/waterproof just the carpet would soak it up and need drying out.

Some progress from this weekend; finished the last mounting point for the passengers front seat, had to get creative with this corner on both seats that's why I put it off and took so long Also hooked up/tested all the wiring to all the doors e.g windows, locks and courtesy lights so I could wrap the loom all the way through the cabin. With that done I could finish the sound deadening and start fitting the carpet. It's gone pretty smoothly and the front section is pretty much done with underlay. Having the old mat to mark out the holes would have made life alot easier but that got wet and mouldy years ago No work on Tuesday so should be able to finish off the rear section and put the front seats back in at least, back seats need re-upholstering to match the fronts.

Fancy looking (but necessary) seat mounts for the rear bolt hole closest to the tranny tunnel.


How the interior looks after a day and half work on the carpet. Old trim pieces are just there for test fitting, they'll be replaced/repainted to look like the drivers side kick panel.

[Silverbullet]

A little more progress today - Made some ally mounting brackets for the amp to go under the passengers seat. Had to get it as low as possible to avoid the seat hitting it at full forward position. As it is now there is only 5mm clearance from the lowest part of the seat But clearance is clearance so I'm happy with that Also joined up the amps wiring harness with my loom to all the speakers and sub. I've got a fused power line direct from the alt to the amp, all I need now is a head unit to turn it on and I'll be rattling windows in no time

And again, those Outback seats are seriously comfortable And they swing so far back one could reasonably comfortably sleep on them if I was ever caught in a pinch.

[El_Freddo]

Hey SB, how did you fit those outback front seats?

I've got a set of foz seats to fit to the brumby but would like to know how you did it before I try out my way

Cheers

Bennie

[El_Freddo]

Hey SB neat work on the outback seats. Any further details on how you modified the mount points?

I've got a set of foz seats to fit in one of our brumbys and wanted to get further details of how you did yours. Also, how did you weld those tabs without burning holes in the seat's fabric?

Cheers

Bennie

[Silverbullet]

Hey SB neat work on the outback seats. Any further details on how you modified the mount points?

I've got a set of foz seats to fit in one of our brumbys and wanted to get further details of how you did yours. Also, how did you weld those tabs without burning holes in the seat's fabric?

Cheers

Bennie

Ahh sorry Bennie didn't see that post until now for some reason
Further details...details...well what you see in the pics is what I did 1 out of 4 mount points lined up out of the box (front bolt closest to trans tunnel on each) the other 3 were miles off. Basically make carboard templates, one by one, transfer to 3mm steel plate, cut, weld, fettle, curse, swear etc

The rear two were the hardest, with the rear one next to trans tunnel the absolute hardest; had to completely remove what was there initially and start from scratch with the bare rail. That part on my seats from the factory was MIG welded, spot welded AND riveted to the seat rail and were a real PITA to get them off. All that fixturing was probably a hint that they weren't supposed to come off As for welding without burning holes, I have a fire blanket I put over anything sensitive which does a good job of keeping the sparks out. Also have to be wary of cooking the rollers and their grease inside the runner; to this end I put the rail to the opposite end of where I was welding, used spot welds not a continuous run and stopped frequently while spraying with water to keep things cool. Fingers crossed all the runners still seem fine so far.

Also a little update and photo this week - I've had the rear seat parts re-upholstered to *sort of* match the fronts. Looking at the Forrester seats fabric closely the weave is amazingly complex with many flecks of different colors. I.e impossible to match with aftermarket stuff. So I picked black and grey fabrics that were near the mark, I think it will look fine. Also had the back of the back rest covered in the same carpet I've used on the boot floor, so when the seat is folded flat it will look like one continuous boot floor




And now to eat nothing but beans on toast for 2 weeks...that rear seat job was a bit pricey! The third most expensive thing I've bought for this car after the paint job and engine in that order.

[Silverbullet]

Another long overdue update, this time on the inside of the car. I sat in the drivers seat and looked around for something to do, noticing the double DIN mech-less head unit I bought years ago, so long ago that model is now obsolete It was sitting loosely in the center console, "why don't I mount that up properly" I thought then quickly realized why I'd put it off for so long. There is no semblance of anything existing in the console to bolt the unit to and there were no brackets or anything in the box with the head unit. Also I think I'm missing some original tin work from the dash/center console, as I didn't pull these from the donor cars myself originally. So followed 2 full days of cardboard templates, marking out, cutting, drilling, grinding, folding, welding to get the head unit to slide in and bolt up cleanly. The end goal being to be able to remove the unit without taking the whole center console apart back to the hand brake. In all, 6 unique metal brackets needed to be made. Hopefully if I ever want/need to replace the head unit, the last 2 brackets might be able to bolt straight onto the new head unit.

First bracket to attach the top drivers side mounting point of the center console to the dash.


Second bracket top passengers side mounting point, center console to dash. This bracket now shares 2 screws with the ignition computer so you can't see all of it. The next set of brackets need to use the holes circled in red.


Next bracket, passenger side center console to head unit, 3mm steel because I could tap threads into it and it is rigid...and all I had lying around


That bracket folded and installed


Repeat for the drivers side, this one was more difficult. 4 of 6 brackets complete!


Brackets 5 and 6 are the same but mirror image. I had enough thinner material to make these.


Like this


And the head unit slides into place! In hindsight it was a bit optimistic for me to think I would get the last mounting holes to line up. On paper it should had but the center console isn't exactly square and parallel. I'll tap some M3 or M4 threads in the 3mm steel bracket, mounting screws from the front. Then I need to make a plastic fascia to clip over the top and hide all the metal work. This is going to be rigid as, no rattling or wobbling.


And of course all the brackets will be removed again for clean up and paint.

[El_Freddo]

Looking really sweet there SB!

Those brackets are a work of art! What is it that you do again, not fitter and turner by chance?

Once that facia panel is made it’ll look very minty!

Cheers

Bennie

[Silverbullet]

Those brackets are a work of art! What is it that you do again, not fitter and turner by chance?

Yes, although not for the last 5 years I'm hoping to get back into that industry though, between jobs at the moment.

A little update for the last week or so; I finished up the radiator with 2 electric fans which allowed me to start wrapping up the engine wiring loom. Decided to keep the original fan on one side since it has a nice shroud, the fan motor still worked fine and moves a lot of air. This fan will come on automatically with the thermo switch in the radiator as per factory. The other fan is a little 10" SPAL unit, this one comes on with the A/C (both fans with A/C on actually) I was pleased to see my circuit design for the A/C works flawlessly, both fans will cycle on/off with the A/C compressor clutch. Also with A/C on, if the coolant temp goes high enough the main rad fan will still cycle as normal. Another thing I was proud of is the A/C compressor clutch will only come on if the interior fan is running. I remember this whole A/C thing being a PITA to work out, glad it all works as designed.



Also made yet another bracket to mount the aftermarket power window switches in the original position. This was a big job surprisingly, had to cannibalize the original switch assembly to get the mounting plate out and modify it massively for the new switch assembly.





Lastly, today I finished up every last wire under the dash which allowed me to pull the whole lot out into the drivers foot well and start wrapping it. With this I can say the wiring loom on the whole car is 100% complete It's been a long time coming, I remember starting the wiring when I was between jobs the last time Pics to come, I'm waiting on some special loom tape for the engine bay, will post pics when it is all wrapped and mounted back in place.

[TOONGA]

looking really good Sam

TOONGA

[El_Freddo]

Those electric window switches while not original, certainly don’t look ultra modern and out of place in the console!

Did you retain the auto up function of the power windows for the driver’s window? I’d like to work out how to mod my system in the brumby (yet to fully install) to auto up and down the passenger’s window too.

Cheers

Bennie

[Silverbullet]

Did you retain the auto up function of the power windows for the driver’s window? I’d like to work out how to mod my system in the brumby (yet to fully install) to auto up and down the passenger’s window too.

No, the aftermarket windows kit didn't come with anything like that. It's just up/down for as long as you hold the button. I remember when I bought the kit years ago the website also had some add-ons like auto up like you describe, also auto up for all windows after you turn the car off. Seems like the website/online store is long gone now though and I can't find anything like those add-ons any more.

Update time! I ticked off another little annoying job today, of which there are many in this car. The fresh/circ buttons in the HVAC control panel: they operate a mechanical vacuum switch, which will either send engine vacuum or atmospheric pressure to the vacuum can on the blower motor, this moves a flap which determines where the blower motor gets its air supply from. When vacuum is supplied, the vacuum can pulls the flap one way. When its open to atmosphere, a spring pulls the flap back the other way. Of course my vacuum switch didn't work any more (do any of them work anymore?) and worse it leaked vacuum. Anyone who's taken this panel off to get to this switch will know how much of a PITA it is, and so a leak like this would mean a permanent vacuum leak to the engine and no fresh/circ control. I took my switch apart to try and fix it, absolutely no go.



My solution uses all Jaycar parts, a micro switch and 2 vacuum solenoids. The micro-switch goes in place of the original vacuum switch, just need to drill 2 new holes and re-use the original screws. The switch has 3 terminals; Common, normally open, normally closed, of which all 3 are used for this job.



Make sure to leave a tiny gap between the switch and the "pusher" so you aren't forcing against the mounting screws. But the switch is still activated.


The common tab of the switch gets a switched 12v supply (brown wire in this photo, ACC or IGN power, up to you) the other two tabs will go to one post each of the solenoids. Doesn't matter which is which as long as the flap moves the right way when you press the fresh/circ buttons. The other side of each solenoid will be connected together and then to ground.



The solenoids can go anywhere, I just found it convenient to mount them directly to the blower motor box with some home made P clips.



The line from the vacuum can has a T piece in it, with each line from the T going to each solenoid. One solenoid gets engine vacuum (hose runs out of shot of the photo) and the other solenoid is open to atmosphere.



The way it works is this; there is always 12v going to one of the solenoids and supplies engine vacuum for example to the vacuum can. When you press the fresh/circ button in the dash, that solenoid will turn off cutting vacuum supply to the can and the other solenoid will turn on which will supply atmosphere to the can, allowing the spring to do its work and move the flap in the motor box.

There has to be 2 solenoids because when one solenoid is turned off no air can pass through it in either direction so the vacuum can would always be pulled in. Atmosphere needs to be supplied to the can to allow the spring to work.

Happy to say it works flawlessly, just hope the solenoids don't get too hot when powered since one of them will be on always whenever the car is on. Another good thing about this mod is if there is a vacuum leak you don't need to get behind the HVAC panel to fix it. That panel really is a nightmare

[El_Freddo]

That’s mint Sam - and thinking outside the box! So far my vac switches still work, maybe I’m lucky as both our brumbys don’t have an issue. I had to replace the actuator at the flap end as it was a vacuum leak and afaik they can’t be repaired - not that I looked into it.

Side note, that vacuum setup is exactly the same as what the Gen3&4 Pajeros use to engage and disengage the front diff side axle! An aftermarket unit is about $30 delivered from eBay.

Cheers

Bennie

[Bantum]

Been thinking of doing away with the vac lines all together, using a soleniod :

https://static.wixstatic.com/media/1e25 ... 0_s_2.webp



Cheers, Bantum ...

[Silverbullet]

Here's another little addition, some cheap insurance! I shudder to think about the scenario where your prized possession catches fire for whatever reason, the only thing you can do would be to stand there helplessly and watch it burn to the ground At least with this mod I would have a fighting chance of saving the car. Plus I believe it is a must-have when camping, off roading, even if you don't need it maybe you'll come across someone else that needs help.

This 1kg ABE powder fire extinguisher was $40 and fits nicely in the passenger foot well up under the little shelf, under the glove box. It doesn't take up too much leg room and you can still get a foot behind it. I had to make a simple bracket hanging down from the 2 studs that hold the shelf up, with 2 holes to bolt the fire extinguisher bracket to.

I highly recommend this mod for anyone who might be scared of losing their subi.