Coyote; aka my 96 D1 5 speed build thread

[DiscoDavis]

To chime in, I too remember the whole dog and pony show the VA inspection racket is. I thought people were joking when they explained the process and how basically it is one big extortion but WOW. Only way I got my (perfectly working) D3 approved for another year of life was because I was sent to my uncle's "guy", and he even took an hour from work to come down to the shop and keep an eye on the "inspector" (very loosely applied term)... (ensure I passed). Very much a let my nephew go and I won't make life hard for you thing.

I know California gets a bad rap for stuff like this but Virginia is straight up crooked when it comes to a safety sticker.
Glad you got it eventually! The red '17 is definitely more fun than the blue '16

 

[Ray_G]

To chime in, I too remember the whole dog and pony show the VA inspection racket is. I thought people were joking when they explained the process and how basically it is one big extortion but WOW....
I know California gets a bad rap for stuff like this but Virginia is straight up crooked when it comes to a safety sticker.
Glad you got it eventually! The red '17 is definitely more fun than the blue '16

For real. There was a period of time this week where she almost became a resident of Wisconsin. That may still happen at some point as I tire of the racket and extortion. What I do love is going back to the place where I'd gone for the past few years and my Lebanese owner-friend looks at the window and was like
"What happened?"
"It was expired, I was out by the airport...unfortunate things..."
"It's ok, you are home now"

 

[LR Max]

Its worth it just for the look on people's faces when they are like 'no way that little box is going to start this thing'


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

My friend has one, threw it in the back of his wife's car. We went to drive his D90, and the battery was dead. Like, no interior lights...dead. Hooked it up, lit up the 4.0 V8 without a single issue. Then we had to jump it again 5 minutes later (separate issue). No issue, just did it.

Really a great piece of kit.

 

[97GreenMeanie]

Damn. VA inspection sounds like a nightmare.
In NY they are required to plug into the OBD2 port on my 97 D1 to check for codes, and a minor safety inspection.
If I went with one model year earlier it would have been safety only.

Glad you got it all sorted out.

 

[fishEH]

Damn. VA inspection sounds like a nightmare.
In NY they are required to plug into the OBD2 port on my 97 D1 to check for codes, and a minor safety inspection.
If I went with one model year earlier it would have been safety only.

Glad you got it all sorted out.

2 years probably. 96 was OBDII as well. That's why my next build is a '95.

 

[Ray_G]

2 years probably. 96 was OBDII as well. That's why my next build is a '95.

The 94-95 is tempting just to be OBD-I which nullifies emissions here (or you just garage it in a non-emissions portion of the state).
That said I prefer GEMS to 14CUX...and if I were going to do another at this point there is a strong lure to a 200 TDI import!

 

[Ray_G]

Garage move-in, workshop establishment

Firmly back in the US and starting to get established, one of the benefits of where we will be living for the next year or so is a two car garage. That said putting it together and starting to work in it has revealed that if, when, I build something there needs to be more openings as just having the two garage doors and one side door does not provide for nearly enough ventilation but that's life when you are renting.

A giant mess of multiple non-temp storage shipments & the express from overseas comes together. The house was far worse.

Workbench area starts to come together. The one on the right was existing, the left was my ghetto construction from my townhouse-still its nice to have my drill press, vice, and other things back after two years of working with hand tools or 18v electric in a UAE parking garage!

Decorations start to go up. Her old, old tire cover (was from the 'first' Coyote in fact). Sized for 235/85's and really too old for exterior wear and tear, so it turns into a wall hanging.

More hang up items, old plates and a replica of my M4/203 from once upon a time.

To think my wife was going to throw out this giant pint of Guinness when we met. The horror.

Hit up Harbor Freight since I didn't like any of the steel carts I'd see at Sears and such and grabbed one of their poly project carts. I have to say I rather like it. Light but sturdy, and since its HF I don't feel bad the minute I put it together drill holes in it and such. Finding it very handy for moving around the truck with me to sort things.

The first project tackled was un ********** wiring that had languished or was otherwise embarrassing. I should have taken a picture of the before, and I don't think this is terribly clean or elegant but it does get things bundled up with better protection from friction and such. Since I don't know that I documented this anywhere else what we're looking at is the passenger side front seat base area where the Cobra CB base, the Yaseu 7900 base, and the respective external speakers all live.
Speaking of the CB, I went ahead and installed a 2' Firestick on the rear door antenna mount. Need to check the SWR on the whole setup and recognize that a 2" antenna on the backdoor isn't optimal but CB isn't optimal to begin with and its only there really as a begrudging acknowledgement that on the East Coast at least a lot of folks still run them.

This precipitation from the sky stuff is interesting after two years of seeing little of it. In this case I was stranded in the garage with a single beer...which has led to the realization that I need to find the house power cord for my ironman fridge so I can stock beer out there.

Post rain temp drop and an early moon rise...I can get used to this.

 

[Kgh]

Welcome back. It feels like UAE here in Stuttgart today, 35!

But at least I don't have to sleep under the truck at night.

Looks like things are shaping up with the workshop.

 

[Ray_G]

Welcome back. It feels like UAE here in Stuttgart today, 35!

But at least I don't have to sleep under the truck at night.

Looks like things are shaping up with the workshop.

35 in DE, good god-that's like a thousand in a place that often doesn't have A/C!
Things are def coming together, as you likely know the train wreck of overseas moving is finally coming to an end. Well, kinda, since my LR3 and the rest of the HHG are in the same container and still a ways out but can't dwell on that at the moment since it gives the D1 deserved attention.
r-
Ray

 

[Ray_G]

Rear door redux ver 5.8 (or something)

While I love the diamond plate rear door setup that's been on my Disco(s) since...2007, I've been changing many elements of it throughout the years as needs change, products come on the market, etc. For awhile now I'd had a thought in the back of my mind that if I put some spacers in between the fold down table and the panel I could fit a rotopax on the door, and since I needed to pop it all off to put the CB antenna cable that was coiled inside the door back through its grommet to get up to the new antenna, the opportunity was seized.

Test fitting and such, after some chopping of the table it only required some 3/4 square tube sections.

Went ahead and put a light coat of rubberized undercoating on the back door just to help with rattles.

Using workout gear to get everything in place since I was doing it solo helped out, it takes a sec to connect the 12v outlet(s) and the switch for the rear cargo light-the wiring was visible from the previous shot so having a stand kept strain off the affair until that was sorted and then the 1/4 hardware could start going back in the rivnut mounts. If anyone does a panel like this I highly suggest taking the time to put rivnuts in vice re-using the holes from the original trim that won't carry much weight and complicate the inevitable removal and reconfigure.

A shot with it back on the truck and the reconfigure sorted. Worth noting that I moved the bottle opener over to the edge. Confession/Pro tip: the bottle opener is great, esp since it's New Belgium. Its location seemed great when mounting it-but in reality you couldn't get a bottle in there with the table up, at least not easily. Frequently I'd want to just walk up and open my damn beer without dropping the table so it sat there as an irritation for years but I didn't want to pull the table just to move it. Now it's perfect. I also moved a couple of Gerber tools to the back door to make better use of space in the truck and keep them secure at the same time. These are usually handed out to the kids to go get kindling when we camp-and while I wanted to retain access to the door handle the reality is I cannot think of a time when anyone has used it, and certainly not in duress, so it is still there and functional just would take a sec to get to. Lastly this is a good shot of what is in the SAW pouches and canteen MOLLE pouches affixed to the MPAC panel. From L to R you have ratchet straps, most pre-cut to fit certain applications (i.e. the forward portion of the SD rack to hold down a peli, or one with a carabiner end and a hook end for use in the rear storage area), beside that is spare batteries/instant coffee/fire making stuff, and lastly the jetboil that makes the coffee, on the table, with the water from the rotopax.

The obligatory shot of the water rotopax 'in action' on the back. The door panel and such also got a fresh coat of tan camo krylon to clean it up, and many of non-used holes from previous mountings were sealed with JB weld and painted over just to tidy it all up a bit more.

 

[NW40]

Great stuff, Ray! Jealous of all the time you've found to spend on Coyote! Though I know it's been a long time coming for you. It's cool to see such a functional, purpose-built truck, and it keeps on getting better.

I like what you've done with your door panel. Mine has been a blank slate since I installed the aluminum panel a couple years ago. I just need to pull the trigger and start bolting stuff on!

 

[Ray_G]

Great stuff, Ray! Jealous of all the time you've found to spend on Coyote! Though I know it's been a long time coming for you. It's cool to see such a functional, purpose-built truck, and it keeps on getting better.

The time has been quite therapeutic and a great way to transition back; but for my knuckles...that has been less than pleasant working with my hands and 're-earning' those calluses and such (along with working for a couple of days on a RRC with hand tools before realizing 'hey, there is air in here...why work harder when you can work smarter?')

Speaking of which, Coyote decided to show her displeasure in the way that a rover will and gave me this:

Was the right front wheel, and thankfully while the swivel was leaking it wasn't too severe and wasn't really getting all over the caliper (been there, done that). So I did the normal immediate action's; I cleared the breather but that didn't seem to work and she didn't seem to have any significant pre-load issues thus I decided that the next step would be to pull it all off, investigate, change the swivel seal for good measure and refill with grease.

Entire process is light years easier off the truck and on a bench.

I laughed later at this pic since I took it mostly to document how I was still working really out of the pelican from the back of the truck. A facet of several things; primarily it is because those tools have been an evolutionary process with this truck (and other D1s) for years so usually they are what is needed and I know exactly where they are. Its also a facet that my garage tools are disorganized still and have been cannibalized prior to departure for the D3's kit and such-at some point that will have to get resolved and I have some ideas about going with black sockets for the garage so anything chrome is a truck unit, black stays in the house.

What the picture really tells me is that it seems like no matter what the project is my entire pelican manages to get unloaded and I look like a yardsale!
cheers-
Ray

 

[Ray_G]

Strobes! & a wiring self-criticism session and subsequent improvement

Catching up on the thread with little odds & ends that have been done over the past few days as work prepares to begin in earnest.

I brought some of the cheap LED strobe/indicators back from the UAE that I'd put in the rear hatch of my LR3 there just to play with. Simple orange LEDs with two inputs, one that just has the light illuminate the other causes it to strobe. I decided to install them up on the roof rack beside the backup lights, this time deciding to play with rubber coated pipe clamps given that the lights weigh nothing and just need to be held in place.

Project was simplified by just tapping into the wiring job already done for a Uhaul trailer-in theory I could have spliced and left that in place but in reality I likely won't be towing given that I have two other vehicles that can do that, better (which now makes it certain I'll have to). Picture was just testing connectivity and such-the splices didn't stay that elegant. More on wiring expertise later. I ended up wiring the illumination wire to the respective turn signal so that the lights come on for left turn or right turn, or both come on with the signals when the hazards are on. The strobe I wired into the brake light for fun.

That said, and especially given recent experience with the state of VA I wired in a kill switch for the brake strobe function since these are just for fun and 'offroad use only', as well as a second kill switch for the whole array (negative cut).

Mounted:

Illumination! (Hazards on)

Overall one of those little 'happy projects' as I call them that have no significant impact on capability but allow me to play with the truck and tweak things to how my OCD head wants her to be.

The time back with these happy projects has involved a lot of wiring and that has made me realize I'm only now getting ok at wiring and have years of bodging to un F. So prepare yourself for this, I debated even posting this but for the sake of posterity and in the spirit of my wife's study of the PRC I figured a self confession/self criticism session would be worthwhile. My aux fuse box when I got back looked like this:

Horrendous, but sadly easy enough to have happen as I hacked into different things, added stuff on, wanted power quick, etc-instead of slowing down and doing things right or at least better.
So one of the first things I had ordered that I grabbed as I got back to the US was a larger fuse block:

A particularly nice unit, it allows for both switched and non-switched power distribution. Since I wanted everything non-switched I just added a jumper from one positive to the other.

As the area looks now-not perfect nor as clean as I want but getting there. No more fuse taps, far less excess wire, no more butt connections and things are crimped in well with shrink wrap. Removed some relays and such that were no longer being used, etc.


What's funny is as bad as I am at wiring I'm finding it increasingly soothing to do-which a facet of how much wiring I've 'fixed' and good since there is still some more to do-though far, far less now.

 

[Ray_G]

Shovel mounts and antenna holders

Since my wiring clearly is a work in progress, I decided to focus on simpler less fire prone activities too. Shovels are a necessary tool for the trail, particularly on the muddy east coast. During the past two years the truck had been stripped of a lot of the external stuff for a variety of reasons tied to her usage while I was overseas, but now back and with the LR3 on a boat heading this way the likelihood of her seeing more work during the fall wheeling season has necessitated a return of some of that kit. Previously I'd had my shovels mounted topside in a bracket that also carried spare rear axles-that worked well for VOT and mitigates the propensity for the trees to reach out and rip off the shovel or otherwise hang you up-but Maxtrax are now taking up space that bracket used.

So we're going back to the side of the roofrack. A place I'd been before so I decided to try out some ideas to make a more compact and functional mount myself. I know that I could probably get other mounts to work with the SD racks but I don't really like the way those work and I had plenty of scrap metal, already had tube mounts on the rack from previous iterations, etc. So here's a mock up of the mount:

Worth describing a little further, the front is a plate bolted to the backet that has a large bolt on the bottom with a spacer that allows the outer plate to swing. The upper bolt has a butterfly nut which I don't particularly like but does perform its function and in truth these won't come on/off too much-one hopes-so its good enough for now. The back is a quick fist; like any amateur I'd used quick fists before for both fore and aft mounts and it will do a great job holding the shovel on and mitigating vibration-it just won't do much to stop a tree from ripping the shovel right off. Hence why the front is a hard point and the quick fist is in the back.

Since they'll be on both sides this is all of it laid out post cutting/drilling/etc and ready for paint.

Mounted, sans shovel. The long piece of black PVC also visible will be covered a little further along in the post.

Close up

Now with shovel

And from a distance, illustrating how the nose of the shovel tucks up to the roof rack tightly which will help it not allow branches to come between it and the rack. Of note this is where I found that while I have three shovels...not all three are identical...so today I'll go shopping for another shovel that is both long enough as well as has the correct pitch to fit into my bracket...otherwise I'll have to make one of the brackets stick out a little further to accommodate.

All told they function as intended and will keep the shovels on the truck secure, not rattling, and available. Cost was minimal and they tuck in close-also let me work with a bunch of my metal work related stuff which was good prep as we head toward the inevitable busting out of the welder.

Another happy project that I wanted to do just because was to create some carrying tubes for my CB antenna(s). The 2' is nice but with parking garages slams into things stuff and even with the spring on it is unpleasant enough that it may not live on the mast full time. I also have a 3' that is obviously 1' longer so that is better when out on a trail or what have you but even worse for clearance. Thus I wanted to create stowage for both and decided to use PVC and then tuck it into the sides of the rack since with the shovels, boxes, maxtrax, VHF antenna, lights, etc...well lets just say she doesn't look like she's going to the opera. 1/2" PVC for the 3' firestick and the thicker 2' firestick ii got 3/4" PVC.

The front cap was glued in place, the back has an eyebolt run into it and secured so that I can pull the cap off easy enough to get to the antenna.

Since the 3" is visible in previous pics on the driver's side this is a look at the 2' holder. I'd like to say the couplings are a facet of building the holder into a stable/non-shifting mount but its as much a desire to make a 2' length of 3/4" PVC work for a 2' antenna...that I failed to account for the mount! Still, it holds the antenna and vibration is attenuated by my new fav rubber insulated pipe clamping technique, used here b/c like the strobes the lack of weight, static tucked away position, and desire to counter vibes all make them a good cheap solution.


More to come at an unknown pace. The welder is out as I try to modify 1 1/2" welded wire guards into my own custom fit rear cargo window guards-and the fridge is going back in!
r-
R

 

[NW40]

Great idea on the antenna tubes, Ray. I may have to copy that idea for my spare HAM antenna.

I'm also pondering how to tackle some window guards a la Mantec, as well as a cargo barrier. I now have access to a CNC plasma cutter, so may go that route. I lack welding skills, though it's something I've always wanted to learn. Looking forward to seeing what you come up with.

And it's great that you've been posting all these little projects. I always enjoy seeing a Tapatalk notification that you've posted more to your thread!