September Update
It has been a while since the last update, mainly due to work and other priorities I have not had much time to spend on the truck. I have managed to get a little bit of progress done though. First off is the overhead console, and much shaping and sanding, I was finally happy enough with it to send it off for upholstery. This is the finished console, all painted up ready to go off.
The were a lot of small details for fitting the radios and all the other systems that needed to be installed. Things like the opening for the fuse boxes, and accessing the rear of the radios, and a place to put the iPod that will live inside the console. I have an "iPod classic" with 160Gb of storage, which is more than big enough for my entire CD collection. This will live inside the console, permanently connected to the head unit but easily removed to add more songs. The Pioneer DEH80PRS head unit an control two ipods, and an SD card so I should never run out of music.
This shows the over all roof of the truck, the plywood panels will be covered in the headlining material. We are still deciding whether to go with a wood finish on the aluminium bit, or cover it in the small leatherette as the console. All the wood veneers are completed, a 3mm Jarrah veneer over the aluminium inserts to match the wood finish in the rear of the truck. It took a number of tries to get the wood veneer to work, as some of the sections were very thing and until I figured out which way to place the grain, I managed to break them when sanding and cutting out the holes. In the end they look great, and well worth the two weekends of effort to make them all. Once all that was done it was time to send the console off to be upholstered. The upholstery place promised to have it back in within a week, in the end it was a month.
In the meantime, I worked a bit on installing all the cameras. The right side view camera is mounted high up on the roof rack and well protected from branches
This is the view it gives, not only of the lane next to me, but more important the clearance to any overhanging branches etc. I can see the ground about 3m behind the cab door, so should be able to see any vehicles hiding in any blind spots, even Little sports cars unless they are right next to the passenger door, in which case the mirrors also give me a view, but then they don't do much of a job at the overhead stuff. The left side camera gives a similar view which so should make maneuvering in tight places a bit easier. The cameras ( of which there will be 6 in the end) can be selected from the screens on both drivers and passenger side. The passenger can select the quad screen view or the high mounted camera, and the driver can select the quad view or a narrow angle rear view camera mounted high up. The left side camera gives a similar view which so should make maneuvering in tight places a bit easier. The cameras ( of which there will be 6 in the end) can be selected from the screens on both drivers and passenger side. The passenger can select the quad screen view or the high mounted camera, and the driver can select the quad view or a narrow angle rear view camera mounted high up. I can set the camera to change view based on the indicators, or the selecting reverse, but that would add even more wires. The screen auto dim when the headlights are switched on as well.
The dual air con system is a bit complex, as I needed to have either the left or the right system being able to work independently. There are two solenoid valves, and they block off the flow of the refrigerant to the unit switched off. However, to ensure that the is no possibility of the compressor pumping against a closed valve, the solenoids are controlled by the same DPST switch that allows the system to switch on the compressor. This was each unit is completely independent and can either have cold air, or just recirculate the air, without affecting the other system at all. I also discovered that when the solenoids are switched off, there is a huge voltage spike flowing back into the power system which made the amplifiers give quite a load thump on switching off the solenoids.. A pair of blocking diodes to direct that spike back to earth solved that.
There are two fuse boxes in the overhead console, one wired to the Ign/acc position for things like the a/c system, heater mirrors, power windows, video cameras and screen etc. The other fuse block giving permanent 12V power for the interior lights, the CB and sound system etc. The fuse block have a diode that lights up if a fuse is blown, making it easier to see which one needs replacing.
The console finally arrived, and I fitted the monitors and all the other items, The wood/aluminium inserts had to be sanded down a bit more, as I had not allowed enough clearance for the leatherette, especially the double stitched sides around some of the holes. It was a bit nerve wracking fitting the inserts, being so careful not to damage the leatherette. I did make a few little scratches on it, but in the end if worked out great.
This is the finished result with the the radios and speakers all in place. I think it looks pretty good, and can't wait to finish the headlining etc around the roof of the cab.
The sound system is very good, nice and clear yet able to go loud enough to really rock down the road. It is however missing one thing - a decent sub-woofer to provide the missing base that the 6x0 just can't produce. To this end, here is the planned box, for my 2000W 12" sub woofer. There is just enough space for the correct volume, and give me a reasonable amount of clearance to the gear stick on full forward throw.
I'm going to start building the box when I get back home again, and hopefully can test it soon. There is a huge amount of man-hours put into this overhead console, the a/c system and the sound system, but in the end it will be worth all the effort.