Just Downsized to a Renegade (build and trips)

[crossed-up]

Sorry for the late reply, I have been away for a couple of days in Barcelona (not with the Jeep!) and couldn't access the forum very easily due to a HD failure!

So far the brackets are holding up well, but I can't say I've really stressed them with a car wash or similar. I would think they should be fine and you could always run a cable tie or two around the strut to tie it back to the grill for some added security, although you would have to drill some small holes to pass them through.

 

[crossed-up]

Things have been a little slow on the Jeep front for various reasons but thought I'd do a bit of an update whilst we all ’confined to barracks’ on lockdown.

Back in mid February I got a last minute call to go and service for a mate on a rally, which I was happy to do, despite the short notice and 4 am start, as I know the car and crew are always well prepared and competitive, and the Jeep was already loaded up with tools and catering facilities. It all turned out to be great day resulting in a Class win despite of a few stressful moments, including replacing a broken driveshaft.

Some pics...

It was still dark when we arrived.

I arrived ahead of the rally car to setup and hold a space in the paddock.

Leaving the garage after a quick 'once over' before another stage.

Out on the stages

Back in the garage discussing progress

Lamp pod fitted and a final screen clean before...

'Consumables'

...heading out for the final stage as the darkness returned

At the other end of the motorsport spectrum I took an impromptu, and what turned out to be well timed, trip to Barcelona for the F1 testing. I'll post up some pics from that for anyone is interested, then I'll get on to some bits and bobs I've been doing on the Jeep over the last few days.

 

[crossed-up]

Here are some of the pics from my F1 trip.

First up, to keep it vaguely Jeep related, here's what FCA do with some of our money - I reckon after 4 Jeeps, two Chryslers, several Fiats and an Abarth, I've probably paid for at least few nuts and bolts over the years

 

[jgaz]

Dang!
Now that’s a pit, or paddock, set up!
Thanks for posting those.

 

[crossed-up]

Thanks jgaz, the level of organisation and cleanliness in the pit and paddock is fascinating to see.

Here's another set of F1 pics before I get back to some Jeep activities.

 

[crossed-up]

Right, back to Jeep stuff….

When I swapped to the Renegade it was only a few weeks before the trip to the Alps, so I basically swapped the drawer and fridge slide, and all the gear over from the WK as quickly and easily as possible with the minimum amount of modification. This all worked out well but I now have an opportunity to rationalise and tidy things up a bit.

I am actually going to make a new drawer to simplify the table arrangement, raising the cooker and putting a sliding table below. I might also make a plain drawer just for storage for daily use when the cooker isn't required, and possibly one to replace the fridge slide for when that's not needed too - to end up with a modular and configurable storage system. But that can wait for a while until I can get the materials.

In the meantime I have tidied up the cosmetics and tied it more into the Trailhawk black and red theme, as there is no wood trim as on the WK. It’s also a way to cover up the various bits of surgery that were needed to make it fit the Renegade.

Stripping drawer.

Pre-painting sections where it would be difficult to get the spray.

Sprayed up with textured paint (just rattle can bed liner, but it seems fine for this application.)

Fridge slide got the same treatment.

I had always intended to put a handle on the top drawer but never got around to it. I’ve got plenty of time at the moment, so made one up out of scrap ali.

For the top drawer I decided to add some graphics by painting a base layer of satin black and masking this off before spraying the texture.

More pics shortly....

 

[crossed-up]

Pics of the end result back in the Jeep.

I accented the catches and tray support in red to follow the Trailhawk theme.

Next up, dash cam install.

 

[crossed-up]

I'm finishing off the dash cam install today, but before that and whilst I was in fabrication mood yesterday, I thought I’d knock-up some little hooks as anchor points for a strap to secure soft items in the recess behind the C pillar. It was actually a perfect fit for the first aid kit which was previously taking up space in the rear drawer; it would also be a good place to stash the hi-viz waistcoats that are compulsory in Europe. This has led me to think about building some little lockers to fit in there, as they are other wise just wasted space.

 

[crossed-up]

The dash cam was another thing I removed from the WK but haven’t had time to refit to the BU, mostly because I like a nice permanent mount and wiring, rather than a suction cup and trailing wires.
I wanted to mount the camera as high as possible whilst still being within the sweep of the wipers to keep the view clear. I opted for the RH side of the rear view mirror, as close to the headlining as possible, assuming I could find an ignition dependent feed somewhere in the box behind the mirror or in the roof console.
As it turned out there was no power in the mirror box so had to resort to pulling the roof console. Its held on buy four strong clips (two at the rear and one each side), which can be released with a broad trip removal tool.

The wiring diagram indicated that the blue/white wire was from the 7.5A fuse from the Power Distribution Module, so that was what I chose, after verifying with a meter.

Made up a little mounting plate for the PSU (salvaged from a plug in adapter).

Splicing into the feed

Plugged back in for testing

USB cable fed through to the camera position.

Just need to finish off the actual camera mount now.

 

[crossed-up]

I finished off the dash cam install today.

I found that the sun visor clip mount made a convienient mounting point for a thin strip of ali slipped behind the roof liner.

The rest of the bracket I made up from a short piece of angle to mount the and scrap plate. This end was 3M taped to the screen above the mirror mount.

Prepped and painted. The camera is mounted via the head of an M3 screw slotted into its integral mount.

All mounted and finished with the trim back in place.

 

[Renegade Camping]

Read this thread in its entirety before I even joined this forum. Your fabrication skills are top notch and way more than anything I can ever hope for myself. For that reason, my build will be much different than yours, but I’ll still enjoy following this thread. Thanks for sharing!

 

[AggieOE]

Yeah all of the additions look great! The details are really what make it.

 

[crossed-up]

Thanks both, and good luck with your build Renegade Camping.

With the current lockdown its tricky to get materials but whilst tidying up the shed I found a sheet of 12mm ply left with some other offcuts. After a quick measure up there seemed to be enough to build version two of the drawer, providing I didn’t make too many mistakes! But because I knew I was going to be painting this one from the start at least I could use the less cosmetically good pieces too.

As mentioned above I had intended for the redesign to have the stove raised with a slide out table/work surface below. In the end I found there was actually enough space for the table to be a 50mm deep drawer that could accommodate the cutlery and utensils, which would free up some space in the main and parcel shelf drawer.

I used the same glued and screwed, routed groove construction as before as this has stood up well and provides a certain amount of self jigging, although its a bit of a pain when measuring and cutting as you need to allow for the extra material for the tongues that is lost in the grooves. Since building the first drawer I have acquired a table saw, so it was a much quicker job to cut the basic parts out this time.

The main carcass coming together.

Trial fit to check for clearance.

The drawer components.

Back on the bench to refine the design and look to remove excess material. I also decided to add some dividers to the drawer.

Gluing up the drawer. I added a rebate around the top perimeter for the lid/work surface to seat. I will cut a polypropylene chopping board up for this.

Checking drawer compartments for fit.

Almost ready for painting.

 

[Renegade Camping]

One thing I took notice of when I first saw your set-up is how close the stove is to your vehicle. I've grilled too close to the garage before and gotten hamburger smell in the garage, which drives me nuts. Are you not worried about getting the smell of cooked food in your car, especially if the wind is blowing in towards the rear of the vehicle as you're cooking? Were I you, I'd put the stove on longer slides and/or put some sort of roll-down fabric barrier at the rear opening. Of course, I'm not you, so totally you're call.

Thanks for the update...the new drawer looks great and makes terrific use of the available space.

 

[crossed-up]

I can’t say cooking smells have ever been a problem either on the WK or the Renegade, so not something I’ve been concerned with so far, When loaded up the parcel shelf has crates on it that pretty much block the interior off anyway.

I got the new draw pretty much finished this weekend. It was mostly prepping and painting and making the lid for the drawer, but I also enlarged the cutout on the LH panel to give a bit more clearance around the second burner control. Just still need to tweak the alignment of the drawer runners and some tidying up of some details, like a catch to lock the drawer in place. I might also modify the draw lid into a flip our tray. Hopefully it won't be too long before the lockdown is relaxed and we can get back into the great outdoors!