My new overland project

[Cruiserdude]

Wow! What a great project to have going!! Look forward to seeing it come together

 

[fbnss]

No idea if these are of any interest but you the only person I've met that' got a MAN

 

[Olazz]

Not much exciting to post at the moment, but loads of build planning nearing completion.

Next on list:

Truck will have the rear box lifted next week, and the chassis cleaned, blasted, rust proofed and painted.
I will then drive it to Austria to get the basic rear box built and the through cab hole cut.
Then on to Holland for the electronics and electrics.
It will then come back to the UK for final fitting and finishing.

I did manage to find proper Tangye 20t hydraulic jack for the truck. Should make wheel changing easy!!

We are up to Job 8/118.... only a 100 to go.

 

[Chris]

I hope you've got the handle for it

 

[Olazz]

Handle?
It's push button isn't it? The silver button and up it goes...no?

 

[guruvetim]

You're missing all the fun here in Zimbabwe...

 

[Olazz]

A task I was dreading to tackle as I'm not the worlds greatest with electrics. So spent most of the day yesterday removing all the unwanted wiring from the truck. I was astonished to find how many times the main loom had been cut into and bodged with extra fuses hidden in inaccessible places; places that I'd never have found if we had a problem in the bush. Got it all removed and rewired a few switches only to find the truck wouldn't start. (told you I'm rubbish at electrickery). So I hot wired the starter and it burst into life...

So spent the next 2 hours searching for where I'd gone wrong, only to come across a silver box that was hidden behind the main dash. It was spliced into the main ignition circuit. Now I knew from the wires used that it wasn't MAN wiring, so had to be after market. With some concern and after taking plenty pictures for reference, I cut it out of the ignition circuit, and removed the box.

Attached to the box and hidden in the pillar was a tracker antenna and a separate GPS receiver. The part number trace showed it was an immobiliser track and trace unit issued to Dakar competitors. Held my breath and turned the key...Voila!! The truck fired straight away!

Very glad I found the culprit, but even more so I got rid of the immobiliser altogether.

Here is where I got to thus far:

Box of wires removed.

Still a way to go yet, but most of the major stuff sorted.

 

[guruvetim]

Wow that's some box of spaghetti.

 

[StarCruiser]

As long as you're methodical, use heat shrink and solder the joints after twisting one to tother either in a V or straight through, you should be fine. The best way is to test after each item is removed. That way you only have to go one move back to unpick anything that went wrong.

 

[neillop]

Hi there, new member here, I've signed up because I have a couple of rims perfect for this truck but I can't work out how to pm people
Neill
'97 80 series 246,000 miles

 

[StarCruiser]

Click on your name at the top of the page neilop, a menu will appear, chose 'conversations', then 'start a conversation' add the recipient's name and the rest is straightforward.

 

[Olazz]

Howzit Neil,

Sent you a PM.

 

[Gr8Yota]

Sorry late to the party.. great bit of kit. Ikve only driven the military version so this’ll be a lot of fun!

Colour wise..if it were mine there’d be some lime green somewhere....

Tax etc wise..all the ‘Mogs I've used are registered either plant or agricultural would either of those help u til it can be registered as a motorhome?

 

[hopeless wanderer]

OMFG !! That is a beautiful machine.
I'm not even (that) envious but i really am inspired. I'm gonna be a good boy and save for a used Merc fire truck to build onto. keep it coming with the pics of the composite box construction.
Have you had to build a subframe to deal with torsion in the chassis or did the rally box already have one ?

 

[Olazz]

Sorry late to the party.. great bit of kit. Ikve only driven the military version so this’ll be a lot of fun!

Colour wise..if it were mine there’d be some lime green somewhere....

Tax etc wise..all the ‘Mogs I've used are registered either plant or agricultural would either of those help u til it can be registered as a motorhome?

Lime Green..... The whole registration issue is sorted, so I'm cracking on with prep work.

OMFG !! That is a beautiful machine.
I'm not even (that) envious but i really am inspired. I'm gonna be a good boy and save for a used Merc fire truck to build onto. keep it coming with the pics of the composite box construction.
Have you had to build a subframe to deal with torsion in the chassis or did the rally box already have one ?

Been very busy with stuff that is of little interest but needs to be done as part of the preparation. Body hasn't come off yet as there is an issues with the air intake routing that I need to get right before I remove the body. Frightening how quickly rust has started to appear so have spent days coating as much as possible with anti rust stuff, until I get the chassis blasted and painted.

No torsion frame, so having one built to match the box. Lots of stuff to come over next 14 weeks as the truck goes to Austria in mid Jan, for the work to commence.

 

[hopeless wanderer]

Lime Green..... The whole registration issue is sorted, so I'm cracking on with prep work.



Been very busy with stuff that is of little interest but needs to be done as part of the preparation. Body hasn't come off yet as there is an issues with the air intake routing that I need to get right before I remove the body. Frightening how quickly rust has started to appear so have spent days coating as much as possible with anti rust stuff, until I get the chassis blasted and painted.

No torsion frame, so having one built to match the box. Lots of stuff to come over next 14 weeks as the truck goes to Austria in mid Jan, for the work to commence.

Ah brilliant, keep the pictures coming. Can't comprehend the speed of that thing it must be incredible.
The ultimate sleeper

 

[Olazz]

Rather excited today as the seats that I have been waiting for, for 10 weeks, finally arrived.
I had to "special order" seats with centre seat-controls, as the roll cage didn't allow use of conventional side seat-controls. Trying to find a manufacturer that would accommodate this was not an easy task. Vorsprung Durch Technik ! Thankfully the Germans came up trumps... (for my left kidney)

In for a penny, so went full suspension with built in harness and the whole grocery list of armrests, headrest, heating, lumbar, tilt, slide, lateral, swivel, blah blah blah...

Now finally I can remove the arse-numbing, leg-deadening, bucket racing seats that are hard bolted to the floor... air ride comfort at last .

As I have an extended cab, will be able to recline to afford a snooze when stuck at border posts. Will post pics when they are finally installed and plumbed in.

The build continues.

PS. I was quite amused as I asked for the seat dimensions... Here is what they sent me.

 

[Chris]

But no ejector seat, eh? Thought you might have fitted a passenger side one for Doiliy.

 

[fbnss]

Do they have adjustable bouncyness? some bumps can be real nut crushers!

 

[Olazz]

Doily has a special seat reserved !

Yep adjustable from 80kg to 200kg bounce, but with lockout, so can be fixed. deffo a bonus when off-road and need to have control of throttle.