Finally making a start on my camper conversion

Next ....

The rain kinda slowed play down a bit for the past couple of days. But I have been doing a few wee bits and bobs indoors. I tried (and failed) to make a flange to fit the Genny exhaust manifold, because I'd overlooked the need for one. I had originally intended to cut the original silencer and extend it with flexi pipe, but it turned out to be too short to do this with so I decided to make a flange with a little bit of pipe to bolt to the engine etc. The pipe I was using was too thin for my miserable welding abilities and in the end I farmed the job out to a local engineers and asked them to make me two, one for the engine and one to marry up to the original silencer. I won't get them until tomorrow (Friday.) So I haven't been able to get on with that side of the interior.... I don't want to box in the genny until it's all connected up etc. The failed flange fabrication wasted a bit more time than I had intended so all I really got done was to quickly cut a hole in my other wheel arch:



This rough cut out was tidied up a little and a bucket was dropped in as a storage compartment:



and with a temporary lid on it:



The rest of the time was spent getting the wiring in a roof bar ready, fitting the lights and a cb aerial base. Next I prepared four rear anchors for the Rad Haz kit by ripping some hinges apart and I made some hangers:

I needed the bit in the lower right corner


The hinges were bolted on near the back as anchors for the Rad Haz kit:


They were bolted on with small brass bolts and "Lift The Dot" pins, which will be used to attach an awning of some sort once I make it:



and the hangers screwed onto the crossbars to help hold the straps up and minimise sagging:


Then I drilled and screwed a panel to the cab roof, which will be needed later as I will be making a roof console:



Today....

I managed to get the Rad Haz kit half installed, but it kept ****ing down with rain so I called a truce and gave up. Tonight I will be playing with an EGR pipe very kindly sent to me by AaronMorris (he wouldn't even let me pay the postage ... thanks again Aaron) after my appeal for a couple in a different thread. Tomorrow I will be busy fitting the new bushes to my rear radius arms (new Flo-Flex poly ones) but I don't think the old ones are poly so it might take me a wee while to get the auld anes oot.

Saturday I am heading over to Loch Lomondside with the intention of joining in with Scotgrc's green-roading day (my first chance to get on a trip 'coz I usually work Sunday nights) and I'll probably just take a few days to wander home after that 'coz I'm not back to work until Wednesday night.

Nothing to report today...

'Coz I was busy fitting new poly bushes to my rear radius arms. I'm off on a leisurely wander over to Loch Lomomdside tomorrow staying B&B in Tarbet ready to join in my first Scotgrc green-road driving day.

Then I'll probably just be taking a slow wander home again on Monday.

Finally, back to work...

Had a lovely week-end wandering around but came home to reality in time to find my man hadn't made my flanges for the exhaust yet. I wasn't well pleased and in the end decided to fanny something up myself. So to simplify things I abandoned the origonal idea and just fannied up two flanges to match my genny and bought a bit of 25mm flexible exhaust. Drilled a hole in the floor for the flex-pipe to pass through and using lots of Gun Gum put everything together. This is the silencer mounted underneath and strategically placed to vent towards the outside world as much as possible ... It works very well actually ...



Today I started measuring up and planning the "box" I intend to build round the genny and the plan then evolved into making a bit of a storage/cabinet/table thingie. Sadly, I go back to work tonight (0115hrs.) so most things will now have to wait until week-ends.

Hi there matey... looking good... like the piccies and on-going updates.

Just a thought with your gennie housing... have you thought of making access from the outside? Thinking of those fuel can cupboards on the military 110's...

The reason I suggest this is to try and keep the interior sealed from noise and fumes - particularly those few drops of petrol that allways escape when topping up... I think I have even seen set-ups where the gennie can be slid out to assist with maintenance too...

Just a thought...

The Gribbin said:

Hi there matey... looking good... like the piccies and on-going updates.

Just a thought with your gennie housing... have you thought of making access from the outside? Thinking of those fuel can cupboards on the military 110's...

The reason I suggest this is to try and keep the interior sealed from noise and fumes - particularly those few drops of petrol that allways escape when topping up... I think I have even seen set-ups where the gennie can be slid out to assist with maintenance too...

Just a thought...

Click to expand...

Hi Grib, thanks for your comments. No I specifically wanted it inside to protect it from adverse weather but more to protect neighbouring campers should I have it running because I can shut the landy doors if need be (with me on the outside of course!) The genny will never be used if I am inside the landy, so the internal noise factor is of no consequence to me, fumes also are no longer noticeable since I sealed the cap properly (I noticed the other day that the rubber seal wasn't seated properly) and it is my intention to only put a minimum of fuel in the tank at any one time, also I plan to built a box around the genny to keep it sealed off from the interior when not in use. I have owned this genny for at least 5 years from new and it hasn't even used it's first tank of fuel yet so using a minimum of fuel is quite practical from my point of view. Finally, any physical movements of the genny are totally avoided by this method and routine service can be done in situ. The air filter, spark plug, oil drain and re-fill plugs are all easily accessible where it is and if it does have to come out, it's only a matter of taking off three nuts underneath and disconnecting the flexi-pipe on the exhaust.

I had her running yesterday for the first time and I was very pleased with the results. I even tried out a new single ring electric hob I bought and it worked out fantastically better than I had hoped. The GAZ cooker I had been planning on buying to attach to the rear door was about £40 to £50, this wee hob was only £16 and a double hob was only £26 or £27. The genny can handle two x 1000watts ok, but I really don't need two hobs.