R&M Shower in an FZJ80

[Beast II]

Has anyone installed an R&M shower in an FZJ80 ? I just bought one and I'm trying to figure out a good location for the heat excahnger http://www.off-road.com/toyota/tech/shower/1106.jpg. The thing is huge and it needs to sit very securely as coolant lines connect to it. Can anyone tell me which of the coolant lines it should connect to ? From reviewing a thread it looks like Slee put it on top of the engine towards the firewall https://forum.ih8mud.com/showthread.php?t=20351&highlight=R&M

Here's the link to the shower: http://www.hotcampshowers.com/new51788.html

Thank you,

Matt

 

[LandCruiserPhil]

I'm going to mount mine in front of the P/S cooler and get my water source by interrupting and eliminating the PHH.

 

[concretejungle]

get my water source by interrupting and eliminating the PHH.

That's a pretty slick idea Phil.

 

[Beast II]

What's a PHH

Dumb questions, but what's a PHH ?

 

[LandCruiserPhil]

A 2" piece of hose that connects to a nipple out of DS(US) block then to a metal tube that feeds the heater control valve. A search should provide you with lots of pictures.

 

[stayalert]

phh is the hose as described above (pesky heater hose)

 

[LandCruiserPhil]

phh is the hose as described above (pesky heater hose)

Yes you are correct

 

[Gold Finger]

Please do not laugh, but my wife and I ran a shower in our LR 101FC for many years, using it on all our off roading trips which were frequent and used it in all weathers including blizzards. It was a two gallon watering can which we practiced with at home to get the best use out of it. The practice was essential because if your ran out of water before washing off all the soap it was iether cold water from then on or you had to wait for it to be mixed up. OK in the summer but you froze your nuts off in the cold winter winds and gave a new meaning to invigorating! It actualy worked very well as two gallons was just about sufcient for one person.

 

[Aussie cruiser]

We have a similar shower available in OZ made by Glind. I have one on my Cruiser and it works great. I fitted the heat exchanger on the passenger side (left) on top of the fuel filter.(diesel) and plumbed it into the heater hose on the out line from the heater core so the temp can be controlled by the temp slide on the heater control on the dash. One thing I found though is that when you turn off the flow of water to soap up (if water is scarce) when you turn it back on to rinse off the water comes out extremely hot. What I do is heat the water up before using by running it from a container through the heat exchanger and back into the container. When all the water is at the correct temp shut the motor down and enjoy a shower without worrying about getting scolded

 

[Beast II]

R&M SHOWER

I'm plumbing mine into my 52 Gallon water tank that attachs to the African Outback drawers. Still can't figure out where to mount the heat exchanger though ! Any ideas ?

 

[Rich]

In terms of how to plumb the coolant feed to the shower heat exchanger take a look at post number 74 in https://forum.ih8mud.com/showthread.php?t=6845&page=3. See the 180 degree bend pipe at the left edge of the picture? Remove that pipe and the rubber hoses that are connected to it. Connect the heat exchanger, replacing the bits just removed with appropriate lengths of coolant hose. I recommend using Gates green stripe 5/8 inch hose. Now you will be able to control the flow of heat into the heat exchanger by using your heater temp control on your dashboard.

In terms of heat exchanger placement, investigate if it will fit inside your front bumper. If you do so, and you operate your truck in very cold areas, you may wish to consider insulating the hoses, with material suitable for use in an engine compartment, to reduce heat lose to your heater cores.

Based on reports I have read of others reporting that the heat exchanger can output scalding hot water (after the flow of shower water has been interrupted), I would suggest incorporating a thermostatic mixing valve to prevent injury. Here is a link to such a product that may be suitable: http://www.lawlervalve.com/html/products.asp?id=5&sid=3&grpid=34. PDF: http://www.lawlervalve.com/assets/applets/86810.pdf

 

[cpg]

I mounted mine in line withn the engine on a 96 just above the hard line work great.

 

[sandcruiser]

we've got a glind on our 84 fj60. Love it. Very well-made product.

The problem with using a thermostatic valve is that the valve assumes that you are using both hot and cold water inputs. Most underhood showers only put out hot.

Maybe you could Y off of the pump, then run part of it through the heat exchanger, and the other part direct to the thermostatic valve, then it would adjust temp accordingly... but that starts to be an awful lot of work! What I found worked well for us is to use a bucket (or pool, or river) for the input water and to just put the shower head back in the bucket while I soap up. Eventually the heat rises, but never had a problem with it.

 

[Rich]

Of course the thermostatic valve requires an input of both heated and unheated water. That is not a problem, as pressurized unheated water is already a part of the shower system. Besides the valve what is required is a bit of extra hose and some simple fittings. There is no need nor expectation that the heat exchanger would have a redundent output of unheated water. When I install my shower system it will incorporate a thermostatic valve. I like my showers as hot as possible, but not scalding hot. The thermostatic valve will make that easier to accomplish.