Making a ifting roof on a 110

[wuntenn]

Been a bit slow of late - the fabric maker doing my sides is on holiday and I've been away a bit and tied up in an editing project. Been sorting out and ordering wiring stuff, RCD for mains hookup, various lengths of wire and fuses which I should be able to start installing this week.

But I managed to fit a 3 gallon plastic waste tank in the rear wing corner - that's the top of the wheel in the lower left of the frame, and the tank situated a good bit up above the exhaust rear section. I've covered the tank sides facing the wheel and the ground with some of the old alloy and closed cell foam insulation from the roof cut-out so that will protect it from heat and cold, and stone bashing.



And my wee lad William has now checked it out and approves! Our border collie has taken up residence too!



And William did the ultimate test yesterday - would his wooden railway track be able to run all the way around the upper roof in a complete loop. Yes! He is delighted!

 

[krl81]

I like Williams criteria for approval. I might be blind but how do you drain the tank?

 

[wuntenn]

I like Williams criteria for approval. I might be blind but how do you drain the tank?

Ha! There's a waste inlet and breather on top that go inside, and on the bottom a tank fitting into which a pipe is to be fitted that has a loop to the right and can be tucked into a recess I've made between the tank and the wing, and it has a tap on the end. I can then pull that out and direct it into a gutter or bucket for emptying. There will be a small metal cover that goes over this so its protected from grot and road mank.

The orange bit on the bottom of the tank is a red lead painted angle-iron that holds the tank up (there's another at the other end) and it is part of the protection for the drain pipe - the small alloy cover will be attached to that with self tappers.

 

[krl81]

Aha! Sounds like a good solution.

I haven't figured out how to do with a waste tank but since I'm only using the "kitchen" outside the car I will have to do with just a bucket or something like it. Or make sure to park/camp where no one will be annoyed with me just pouring old tea or spitting toothpaste on the ground.

 

[wuntenn]

Slow progress as I've been away and tied up on other stuff. I've got the fabric for the sides being sewn up this week all going to plan, and have been making a bed for my wee lad.



The bed is basically two 2x2 inch battens bolted to the roof in the cab area, which have slots in them for a couple of cargo tie-down straps. The straps run round the battens and support a platform made from 2 pieces of 1/8 inch ply with some 2x1 inch in between, so its a sandwich construction. I was using up leftover pieces - the ply is utter crap and warped so the bed has a slight propeller quality to it but not so much you'd slide out of bed!



So the idea is that during the day this platform is cranked up on the tie-downs and sits securely overhead in the cab area. Come night time the seats are tipped forwards, the straps are released and the platform drops down and just rests on the seat backs, giving plenty of overhead space for the wee man to climb in and get comfy. A curtain track on the rearmost batten will allow him to be screened off from the main rear living area and have his own wee night light on a stalk to read with.





He tried it today and was well impressed. Whether he fits it next year remains to be seen!

 

[Arjan]

Interesting idea - well done !

Looking forward to see the fabric.

Hope your weather is as good as ours here !!!

 

[piratexpress1369a]

can we say KID APROVED lol

 

[wuntenn]

Hi chaps - aye it was a bit of an experiment but it seems to work. William is delighted and thought the slight rocking action was cool! So far so good! When he gets taller I can just open the window and he can stick his feet out!

 

[tacr2man]

I used one of these to achieve the required fit up , good VFM , as it ends up supplying the hook up cable as well JMHO

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Camping-M...4057?pt=UK_Cables_Hookups&hash=item5afe740949


just need inlet port and a suitable plug for the cable end

 

[wuntenn]

Your humble opinion is spot-on! Hadn't seen these - good idea.

 

[wuntenn]

Well another small step or two forwards - got the solar panel on and most of the wiring in. Decided to go through the back and run the wires inside rather than down the outside of the roof and in the front or side. I've got a mess of wires at the moment - there's the inverter wiring, a mains hook-up with RCD, four led lights in the lower roof area and three in the lifting roof. The wiring on the lifting roof lights goes down to the hinge end and is then fitted into some rubber tubing to give it some protection, and all of this then comes through the remains of the old roof to where I've got the solar controller and all the rest of the gubbins tucked away behind the drivers seat.









Also, had my first longish distance drive with the van this weekend since I put all the lifting roof on, which has added a fair bit of weight. I'd done a few short runs about town and got a sense of how it handled, and added a few lbs to the rear tyres and a couple to the airlift bags, and it handles really well (I have stock LR Genuine Parts springs and Armstrong dampers - nothing fancy, and SuperPro bushes all round, which are excellent). You can feel the difference as you accelerate, well 'accelerate' is a bit of an exaggeration - I went from slow to less slow, but a tad slower than I'd have done before I bolted all that stuff to the roof. But once its going it pulls well and there is no wind noise nor any rattles or creaks from the new roof additions.



I've also got the disco gearing (1:222 instead of the standard 1:410) so it bowls along nicely at 60 in very relaxed fashion and on the twisty turny highland roads I was able to confidently go round sharp corners with minimal body acrobatics, so I'm happy with the additional weight/handling results. I'll be interested to see what its like when there's three of us, all our gear, three bikes on the back and a roof box!

 

[piratexpress1369a]

glad you have taken it out for a spin ..do you think you may have to upgrade the springs for more weight

 

[MOB993]

What size is the solar panel? in watts not dimensions.. would you recommend changing from standard gearing to the disco if the majority of time was spent on the road?

Sent from my HTC One mini using Tapatalk

 

[wuntenn]

Pirate - well I did some research before renewing the suspension. I'd previously had HD springs in the rear and even with a decent load it wasn't very forgiving, and on one job in a very rough island environment I was being bounced about like crazy and the stock Land Rovers that were on the island with normal springs were much more controlled. Before I purchased I spoke to several spring experts and for my expected load/usage the opinion was that standard OE Land Rover springs and AirLift bags would be a good compromise. So I went with that. If it all proves to be too much once it's finished and too much even for the airbags I can either upgrade the springs, or remove the bags and add helper springs.

Mob - 150 watts panel. I've just connected it 30 minutes ago on a hot sunny day and its throwing out between 2.2 and 2.8 amps depending on the wandering cloud, and the battery is getting a steady 14V+ charge. Gearing - yes it's worth it. It doesn't unduly affect the normal pulling away ability, maybe if you were habitually pulling huge loads uphill all day you'd notice a difference. The waaaay more relaxed cruising ability makes up for any shortcomings lower down. The low range ability seems unaffected and it chugs and effortlessly pulls up most things you point it at just as you'd expect - so it's not really much different from normal apart from the cruising improvement. I've fitted a slightly bigger intercooler and a hybrid turbo so those, combined with premium diesel, makes it perform reasonably well.

 

[ersatzknarf]

Hi John,
Sorry for the long silence, but have been enjoying following every post
Thanks always for sharing !
Regarding the solar, here's a blog that I refer to often : http://handybobsolar.wordpress.com/
Perhaps it might be useful, if not too late ?