Building my own Expedition Roof Rack

Excellent - Cant wait to see it on with lights and luggage whilst traversing a deep gorge (oh er missus) lol

Looks awesome mate..

Well, just got to see how my dreaded MOT goes on Monday to whether or not this will be fitted or sold to the highest bidder to fund repairs

Well at least your welding skills will be useful if you require them.

Good luck on Monday.

Aye, wont be to bad if that's what the old girl needs, just worried it might be something else instead that i can't easily do or sort out

In my experience I have learnt that there is nothing that cannot be repaired on a discovery. It's a simple beast.

Very true, to which I am learning.....and enjoying

Well, after the joyous news of the re-test pass thought I would get back to something fun, and have started again on my rack....just trying to work out the best way to make up some brackets to clamp onto the gutter rail - have got a few types already made up now, so will get it sorted out tomorrow and hopefully all finished ready for the last job of painting...

Not the best of pics....but something to give you an idea....





It will look a lot better once the Light Bar has come off and the lights mounted onto the rack

Give yourself a pat on the back mate , very nice. another credit to the forum , theres some handy people on here...

Blimey Mate, craftsmanship an half!! looks good and bet it's as strong as an ox.

Good on ya.

Thanks for the good comments guys

Well I am done - (well almost - just have to put on the final coat of paint) I have sorted out the brackets, and they work well...and here it is in all its glory.....



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Looks a little odd with still having the light bar fitted, but I have incorporated a front light bar on the rack so that can come off

Just over 32 metres of Steel in the end Quite scary really the amount it needed to make it - but to say its strong is an understatement

To say I am chuffed is again an understatement, given I haven't done this type of stuff before - only just bought my mig and a pipe bender....now what's next......

That's really good man. Say if you need to get rid of the light bar I may be interested.

So what's next?

Cheers mate...as for what's next, I would love a 4 seater 'atom' type buggy/car....probably based on a 2.5 3 series.....but might be a bit too ambitious for now.....

That autobot decal on the bonnet is awesome. Much better than just painting the bonnet matt black to stop the glare from the roof lights.

Cheers mate, initially I wondered what I could put on the bonnet to hide the scratches, then came up with this idea.



Got a load of mat black vinyl for under a tenner and then got to work with a knife and scissors and made up my autobot head

Have translated the alphabet into the Transformer writing too, as I had the idea of putting it along the sides instead of the tyre decals you see.....but still thinking on that idea

Ha ha! imagine if they had a Disco transformer, it would always be breaking down and going rusty, it would go anywhere mind...

Nice idea, I like the sticker too and agree that it would be a robot similar to WAL-E lol.

Just in the process of making another style of rack based similar to the American 'Bajarack' rack's so it will sit as low as possible with the roof rails

Baja Rack



Finished a jig at the weekend, and hopefully will have it finished in a week or so, and have decided on getting this powder coated so it will stand the test of time on my roof.

Thing is I don't want to have that many runners along the base of the rack as the pic above, as it will just add too much weight, but still want something that will hold boxes - like wine boxes for example - as I think a booze run over the pond is imminent according to the mrs

So I was thinking along the lines of wire/chicken mesh etc but still need something tough enough to take a bit of weight without just giving up the ghost - anyone got any ideas of what to use and where to get some from?

StuRox said:

Just in the process of making another style of rack based similar to the American 'Bajarack' rack's so it will sit as low as possible with the roof rails

Finished a jig at the weekend, and hopefully will have it finished in a week or so, and have decided on getting this powder coated so it will stand the test of time on my roof.

Thing is I don't want to have that many runners along the base of the rack as the pic above, as it will just add too much weight, but still want something that will hold boxes - like wine boxes for example - as I think a booze run over the pond is imminent according to the mrs

So I was thinking along the lines of wire/chicken mesh etc but still need something tough enough to take a bit of weight without just giving up the ghost - anyone got any ideas of what to use and where to get some from?

Click to expand...

Now that's a nice rack ...

don't worry - pics will be posted once its build.

So far I have done the gutter rail frame, with the light bar incorporated at the front, have even curved this one more than the last one I did (getting better with my pipe bender the more I use it ), and got the bottom frame made up last night that follows the roof line. So just got to make an identical top frame, wind deflector and piece it all together.