G'day from Australia. Motoz MN GLX R: Evolution of a Warrior

[motoz]

I now have a man crush.

And reason #2,590,589,385,382 to move to Australia.

Beautiful build. I'll drink to that.

Errrr... thanks mate... I think...

No seriously though you could do a lot worse things in life than move to Australia. It really is an amazing place.

The vehicle started out as just a tow rig for my main passion being offroad bikes. Yet I seem to be having more fun these days getting out there with the missus and exploring in the 4B. I've always been into the customization thing I just cant seem to leave things standard for too long.

Here's a few pics of the dirt scooter if anyone is interested...



yet I digress back to he build thread...

[motoz]

We were lucky enough to get given the old camper trailer recently from the farther in law. They've had it for the last 20yrs and its itching for a revamp and new lease of life. I've come up with a few ideas of how I can modify it to suit our needs. I'd like to use the RTT on top of a custom rack and storage tray.

It needs a bit of work though I think its a solid base to start with and gives us another option for extended trips away where you'd want to setup in one spot for a few days and explore. Here's a couple pics of how it is at the moment...



The plan it to remove the current top and make a new one that includes a kitchen area on one side and storage on the other. To fit twin 60lt polly water tanks underneath, recovery hitch, awning and fridge box on the front. This is a similar design to the one I want to make;

It's going to be a long term project yet I'm sure I'll be quizzing the people in here to make this build happen.

[motoz]

the love afair with the strip lights continues...

There has been a few times while out when I could have used some decent lighting while tooling under the bonnet. Sometimes the head torch just doesn't cut it and the fluro work light is a PITA to get in the right position. I was toying with the idea of adding some of the LED striplight I had left over so here's the install.

I cut just under a metre of light and soldered the cable onto the end. I ran the 3mm twin core sheathed cable under the bonnet lining and bought it out near the feed lines for the windscreen washer jets...



I then ran the wires along the inside of the LHF guard and cliped them into the washer feed line stays...



From there I fitted the pin switch to the radiator support pannel. There is already two holes in this so it made the install pain free. The negative wire is connected to the base of the switch. Once again I soldered and placed heat shrink over the connection...



The positve side was run back to the battery via a 2amp fuse. I then went about securing all the wires and fitting the strip light. It stick's along the bottom edge of the bonnet right where the second support brace turns up at 45 deg to meet the bonnet skin...



I had to wait till dark to see if I'd stuck it on the right angle. It came up a treat and throws out a serious amount of light into the engine bay...




This should make it a lot easier next time were away and I need to do some tooling.

I also got around to mounting the dimmer box for the RTT lights. This is a great bit of kit, the keyring remote stays clipped in the tent and with push button on / off as well as a dimmer is $7 well spent.



I still want to add a run of light inside the track of the awning as well as a couple other little projects.

to be continued...

[SOFpirate]

That is way cool!

Awesome job.

[motoz]

That is way cool!

Awesome job.

Thanks mate.

[motoz]

Roof top storage...

I've been wanting a tray for on top of the roof racks for a while though was waiting for the right priced one to come up. I was going to get a Rola Vortex though the bloke I was getting it from ended up selling it with the vehicle. I got talking to a bloke at a mates birthday and he told me he works in the roof rack game so after a few cans did a deal with him and scored a Rhino HD alloy roof tray with fitting kit for under $400.

It was probably a little more than I really wanted to pay for a tray though the benifits of the alloy over a powdercoated steel tray won me over. There are a lot of accessories available that make mounting a spare tyre and fuel cans a lot easier as well as light mounts etc. Some though are pretty expensive though :shock:

There is some minor assembly involved though all in all was fairly pain free and took about an hour to fit.
The box comes flat packed just like IKEA... :lol:



The ABS plastic mounts have intergrated recesses for the extruded runners. These then have coated steel plates that secure them to the roof rack bars.
You remove the rubber strip that goes into the top chanel of the rail then fit these plastic locking cams in between the tray runners. These stop the tray from vibrating and make it more rigid...



The whole thing mounts with four eyebolts that can be used to secure items in the tray. All up it weighs 13kg which isn't too bad for the size 1500mm x 1010mm.



I think the size fits the roof perfectly and with the RTT mounted the whole setup is the same height. It will be great for being able to through up a bit of wood etc while on the move rather than trying to find space in the tub.

[motoz]

New Boots...

I managed to score a great deal on some new hoops for the Triton. My local Beaurepaiers were offering 20% off and a further 20% being the last day of the month on some family and friends deal.

The end result was 4 x Goodyear Duratrac's fitted, balanced and aligned for $1100. There a fairly aggresive looking AT tyre with side biters and a cool rim protector. They seem to be a popular choice for a lot of mining companies for use on there fleet vehicles so I thought I'd give them a go.

I decided to go back to a 32" so am running them in a 265/75x16. Although the 285's (33") look a lot better there just a hastle and really not worth the headaches on the Triton.



I gave them a real workout on the recent HC trip and was very impressed with their performance on the drive over, in the mud, rocks and gravel roads. I was running them at 38psi on the blacktop and at 24psi off road. After the 3000km trip there was no cuts or chipping. They handled all the greasy climbs and rocks well.

[motoz]

ECU and Accelerator interception and enhancement...

I jumped onto the Chipit group buy a while back. I was tossing up between either a chip or ECU retune for a long time. I read every post, review and comment about both. Both have there positives and negatives though for my application the Chip was the easiest option.

I not after huge power I just want to get back what I've lost through the extra weight, drag and larger rolling stock. I took advantage of the discount and bought the full kit with EGT, fuel limiter, OBD2 scan tool and Sdrive throttle controler.



The chip is a full 'plug n play' system. The harness is prefabed with all the matching plugs to allow for a 15min install. I took the time to ensure the loom was routed smoothly without any kinks. While everything was loose I gave all the plastic plugs a dose of silicon spray on the outside of the plasic connectors to keep them from going brittle.



The kit came with a billet blank for the fuel rail though I wasn't keen to use that on my setup so I exchanged it for the Hi Spec unit. This was one part of the instal that I wasn't too keen on to be honest. I'd had a couple looks at the location of the limiter and all the stuff in front and around that I put it in the too hard basket.

Tune 5 ran a dream and I was very happy with the result. I had a play and loaded Tune 6 then 7 though it seemed to have less power with a noticable flat spot around 3000rpm. I assumed that maybe the standard limiter may have been the cause. Armed with a fist full of tools I dove in and swaped over to the Hi Spec unit.



It was a easy job though there is a lot to remove and reinstall to make it happen. In a nutshell you have to remove the battery and tray, move the dipstick, disconnect the loom, remove the throttle body, remove the EGR pipe, remove loom support brackets then you've got enough room to get to the banjo bolt on the end of the limiter.



Once you've fot that off the line needs to be gently moved out of the way to enable the fitting of a 19mm spanner onto the limiter...



These things are dam tight though came loose with no spilled claret... :lol: The upgraded unit fitted, done up tight enough to pop a grape out ya date then reinstall everything in reverse order. I took the time to clean the throttle body as there was a mist of oil residue. Re sealed the EGR and torqued all bolts back up to spec.

I went for a test run and Tune 6 went a lot better than had done previous. With no fuel leaks or issues I'll put this one down as a win.

[motoz]

Anyone who's driven an Auto MN will know that the throttle responce is virtually non existant. I had heared raved reports about the Sprint Booster though just couldn't justify the asking price. The Sdrive unit seemed like a great option considering the amount of modes it has and the price point.



The unit comes in three parts. The visual display, the control unit and the loom. The looms are vehicle specific though there the same part for the MN / ML.



Installation is only a five minute job though there are a few things to look out for. You have to make sure the car has been turned off for at least 10 min before you dis connect the loom plug on top of the accelerator pedal. Once plugged into the accelerator and power plugged into the OBD2 port you have to calibrate the unit.

This involves recording the voltage values at both 0 and 100% accelerator application. Once set your good to go. There's three Economy modes, nine sports modes or an off position to choose from. In simple terms I'm a convert. They make the vehicle a lot more responsive.

With the Chip and on the lower sport settings ie Sp4 ive virtually eliminated the lag problem when taking off from a standing start. The higher settings Sp 8 and 9 are too aggressive epecially with the auto. It loads the TC up too much for my liking so i find the lower settings better.



8-)

[LaOutbackTrail]

What is the general opinion on the Duratracs down under? I like mine, but I also pay very close attention to what you folks use... Obviously they can't be that bad, you have a set!

New Boots...

I managed to score a great deal on some new hoops for the Triton. My local Beaurepaiers were offering 20% off and a further 20% being the last day of the month on some family and friends deal.

The end result was 4 x Goodyear Duratrac's fitted, balanced and aligned for $1100. There a fairly aggresive looking AT tyre with side biters and a cool rim protector. They seem to be a popular choice for a lot of mining companies for use on there fleet vehicles so I thought I'd give them a go.

I decided to go back to a 32" so am running them in a 265/75x16. Although the 285's (33") look a lot better there just a hastle and really not worth the headaches on the Triton.



I gave them a real workout on the recent HC trip and was very impressed with their performance on the drive over, in the mud, rocks and gravel roads. I was running them at 38psi on the blacktop and at 24psi off road. After the 3000km trip there was no cuts or chipping. They handled all the greasy climbs and rocks well.