6-Wheel Drive Discovery II - Am I totally mad ?

boguing said:

A thought on the alternator. Classic car builders are installing 'dynators' - an alternator mechanism built into a dynamo housing so that it looks original. They're quite a bit slimmer.

First link I found:-

http://www.fossewayperformance.co.uk/dynators-dynamos/

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Looks like they only go up to 120A, which probably falls a long way short of what's required on this build.

It's not a million miles away, the unit that's on there now is 150A, but the tricky bit is that it has no bracket, but rather bolts directly to the engine block



In all honesty though, once the steering box is relocated, the alternator is not going to be an issue as it is

Just a quick update, I've received the chrome door handles and they look gorgeous. The process is quite extensive - copper plating, then nickel plating and finally chrome, but the result is gorgeous, and much nicer than painted or wrapped in my opinion, what do we think ?

That will look great against the dark paint.

Them door handles are looking mint! Keep up the good work!

wow i cant wait to see this amazing vehicle in the flesh i hope you end up taking it to a show up north cos if not i am going to be traveling south

Is the map of the electrics available in english ?? lol. Very impressive build, but after mechanics the electrix are moon dust to me.

rover86 said:

Is the map of the electrics available in english ?? lol. Very impressive build, but after mechanics the electrix are moon dust to me.

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Lol, I do try and remove the gibberish .

I am eternally grateful to these forums, as the feedback and suggestions I get are inspiring, so it is in my interests for as many people to understand what's going on as possible

So if there is anything unclear or needs better explaining, please feel free to ask and I'll try to expolain it better

Thanks

Its not you Dave, its me. lol.

A few pics of the interior, you can see from these pics that there is still a LOT of work to do, but you can see the L322 seats clearly here


This shows a view of the dash, although the actual dash is out right now while I sort out some wiring, you can see the L322 steering wheel here too and VIP - The LCD instrument panel


And finally a close up of the instrument panel through the steering wheel

I'm really looking forward to seeing that panel come to life. Not cheap, I'd imagine..

I haven't done an update for a while, and as I finally got glass in the monster today, I thought I would add some pics



All the back windows are blacked-out limo glass, which I think looks good in the colour scheme, the fronts are of course a much gentler shade which looks a little odd, but keeps the police happy !



The windscreen is of course not tinted, but is heated - must get around to painting the headlight trim and bumper caps at some point ! I have a new and rather special grille to go on at some point too, but I'll save that for a later update



Another side view, there are new wheels to come of course, but again, more on that later



And the back, the registration is not valid any more of course as DVLA have deemed that she is going to be Q reg, and the rear light clusters are out, as they are currently being modded, again something really special coming in a future update !

So now she is water-tight ! this is a major milestone and means I can work on the interior even if it's raining ! I'm expecting to seriously accelerate progress now !

Looking very good Dave. The boy and I are looking forward to a guided tour...

Well I'm hoping to start road tests within the next month ! Still hoping to be able to make the 2017 show circuit !

Dave how have you come on fitting the l322 seats into the disco, looking at some seats for my disco 2 so the newborn doesn't mess up our cloth seats

Yeah, they're all fitted as you can see from my April 2nd post. The adapter frames are all fabricated and I've had them powder coated in gloss black which seems to go well with the interior decor.

The passenger side (non memory) all just works once you apply the appropriate power to it. The driver's side is a little more complicated, I have it working now, but it requires a CAN bus connection and some initialisation before it works correctly, I'll wrap this all into one of my ECUs soon, but for now, I have it operational via a CAN dongle and attached laptop - not very practical for a permanent fixture !

If you don't need the memory function, you could always go for non memory seats both sides, then they fit with minimal wiring, but I've never done anything on this vehicle the simple way !

If you PM me, I will pass you the contact details of my fabricator who built the adapter frames and still has the CAD files I believe

I really hope you get this project finished Dave - it's properly bonkers, and I am loving it.

Just wondering: two filler caps? Will both be functional?

rob_bell said:

Just wondering: two filler caps? Will both be functional?

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Well yes and no. They are both functional and both openable from the dash and the key fob, but only the rear one is petrol, the front one is the electric hookup - this being a PHEV (Pluggable Hybrid Electric Vehicle)

I'll take some pics at the weekend and post them here

Ah ha!

As promised, some pics to illustrate the point, sorry for appearing in reflection !


This overview shows both flaps open, as you can clearly see, the rear flap is for the petrol tank and is fairly conventional,whereas the front flap houses the electrics


A close up of the petrol flap


A close up of the electrics flap with the charge inlet connected


The same electrics flap with the charge input disconnected. This shows the J1772 inlet and the Ethernet port can just be seen to the left


A further closeup with the J1772 port closed and the Ethernet port open. The vehicle has its own network with several of the ECUs connected via wired Ethernet and a wi-fi hotspot available for the occupants. Internet connectivity is available via its own 4G router, external wi-fi or by a connected Ethernet connection right here