Build My HJ 75 series ute

[barnsey]

Built a floor into the bottom front of the canopy for the two 120ah house batteries to sit on & fabricated up some battery mounts to hold them in place.

also removed the 3mm plate shelf above them for better access.

 

[barnsey]

Also relocating the Redarc BMS from above the bed into the cupboard above the batteries.

 

[barnsey]

made a power distribution box to go in the cupboard as well, it contains 1 x 80 amp & 2 x 30 amp circuit breakers & a manual battery cut off switch. just waiting on my blue sea bus bars to turn up & my solar leads & adapters so i can finish wiring everything up, then i will be ready to put the insulation on & start cladding the outside of the canopy


the box will be mounted just above the batteries.


barnsey

 

[barnsey]

Not much happening here atm, been busy with work, looking forward to April when i plan on taking the whole month off to do some camping fishing exploring etc
have finished off most of the wiring on the canopy, still lots of jobs to finish off both on the canopy & the cruiser, I spent my day off today sorting through all the wiring under the dash & in the engine bay, there are lots of wires going nowhere from people adding and removing stuff over the years, I think i must have removed about a kilometer of the stuff so far lol, I pulled the UHF out of the dash to make way for a double din type stereo reverse camera gps etc, the old UHF i pulled out is an older GME TX3220 & i think it may only be 40 channel, i plan on mounting it up in the roof console as a backup & also getting a later model 80 channel GME to mount beside it, unsure of which model GME UHF to get but was thinking that any current model 80 channel GME would be suffice, I also started running the main wiring from the start battery through the cab & back out to the headboard with a 50amp Anderson plug attached, this power supply will feed into the redarc BMS. the canopy will have a mounted Anderson trailer type plug mounted on the front of the canopy for this lead to plug into, then if i decide to remove the canopy for any reason it will be as simple as unplugging the leads. I will post up plenty of pics as i progress
Did i mention i plan on taking the whole month of April off work! I will need to start using any & all of my free time from now untill April out in the shed, with so much to do & so little time to do it before April i can see lots of late nights out in the shed, I'm going camping in April whether its finished or not lol.

 

[ozcrusier]

Nice work barnsey any updates as it must be getting close.

 

[barnsey]

Nice work barnsey any updates as it must be getting close.

yep its getting closer will post some updates tomorrow night, started doing some cladding on the weekend & after work this week
few pics & vids on my Instagram Brett Mcleod (@brettmcleod062_) • Instagram photos and videos

 

[barnsey]

slowly coming along finally got my photobucket to start working again although its still very slow,
been getting out in the shed in the afternoons and finally started sheeting the outside of the canopy, just the roof and rear of canopy to clad now & a couple of small doors in the front of the canopy, all the 12 volt power is hooked up and batteries are charging off the redarc bms, hopfully i can get it finished enough to get away camping for a week or two in July for a bit of a shake down and find any bugs, only driven it 180 kilometers since blueslipping and registering it in December 2015, its basically just been sitting in the shed while i have been playing with the canopy, it gets fired up once a week and thats about it so i am looking forward to getting it finished and using it,
anyway here are a few of the latest pics.

I brought all the alloy sheets to clad the canopy a while ago and finally got a day to take a couple up to the fab shop and had them cut to length and folded to fit the door frames.

I sanded the sheets with 60 grit then etch primed & coated them in hamertone black.

 

[barnsey]

 

[barnsey]

BMS is all hooked up and keeping the batteries charged, the 240v 15amp inlet circuit breaker lights and power and switches will be hooked up over the next couple of weeks

kitchen area is finished & the coffee machine makes great coffee in under a minute

 

[barnsey]

Brought a few 285/75/16 tyres

Had them fitted with the writing to the back to keep with my black and blue theme

Also brought some TJM front flares, haven't had time to install them as yet (photobucket is really slow tonight)

 

[barnsey]

Got some boss airbags, yet to install.

also have a few other goodies on there way, i brought a black bonnet protector, some slimline smoky window shields, a new black Grill with horizontal bars, some new front indicators and some 9"HID's
Got tomorrow off so i get to have a day in the shed, hopefully i can get something more done

 

[barnsey]

The new Grill & indicators turned up, they sent me two RH indicators instead of a RH & LH gave them a call and they have put a LH one in the post for me, The 78/79 Grill & indicators were pretty easy to install with no major hickups, the indicators use the same mounting holes as my hj75 so bolted straight up, only thing i had to do was cut the new plug off and solder my original plug on as the new plugs were not comparable, round verses square, so now my wiring still has original factory connectors
the grill was also pretty easy to install, the two top mount holes on the grill needed to be allengated about 2mm to get it sitting in the right position and the two lower mounting brackets on the cruiser needed bending down 5mm easily done by hand, the two center mount push in clips on the grill sit about 5mm too high, i just need to rivet a small piece of flat bar to the existing cruiser bracket & drill two holes the size of the clips in the grill and everything will be mounted as it was designed to be mounted, It definitely changes the look of the old girl

 

[barnsey]

.

 

[ozcrusier]

Man it's looking good you have done a great job building this truck when's the holiday start.

 

[barnsey]

Man it's looking good you have done a great job building this truck when's the holiday start.

Thanks mate, Hoping to get away for a week or two in July, just a shake down run camping trip to sort out any bugs, then i might start planning a trip somewhere

 

[skidplate]

Outstanding! Excellent skills. Looking forward to some pics. of your camping trip.

 

[barnsey]

painted the headboard today then moved the box into its final resting place ready to be bolted down tomorrow will prep and paint the rest of the tray after my new tail lights turn up and i finish the rear wheel carrier on the box and sheet the roof of canopy

 

[barnsey]

cut the middle bar out of the bull bar and moved it down to fit my 9" HID lights, just need pull it back off to clean up the welds add a couple of aerial mounts and prep the bar for some satin black

 

[barnsey]

worked out a better way to mount the bar, the old bar used to have two bolts through the side of the chassis and one going vertical and was easy to mount as it was only C channel, the new bar is square tube that slides over the chassis horns and no access to put nuts on the horizontal bolts, I welded 4 nuts on the inside of both chassis rails to make it a lot stronger than the old bar mounts, it will also have the vertical bolt through the chassis as well as the two outrigger bolts on each side of chassis making 7 nuts and bolts on each side '

hoping to prep the bar and get it painted and mounted tomorrow after work, only have about an hours work to do tomorrow and i will be home

 

[barnsey]

bar is painted, just need to tighten the bolts