Freelander 1 Not your normal Freelander mods thread.

I thought a thread on slightly more unusual or personal mods might be interesting.
So this thread is where members might like to post them.

Nodge68 said:

I'll start this thread with something I've been working on for a while.
It's my in mirror temperature display.
View attachment 141825

It all came about because my Fuel Burning Heater (FBH) environmental sensor failed.
Being tight I refused to spend £35 odd on a simple thermostatic switch.
So I started looking at various options for controlling the FBH in other, cheaper and more flexible ways.
This is how the display came about.

To be continued.

Click to expand...

Nice touch one which I am interested in more info when time allows nodge.

My freelander is a basic 1.8, it does have a A/C switch but the compressor is knackered. Compared to my last car, a Kia Sorento 3.5, it is bereft of any luxuries but compared to my series 3, it is a Rolls Royce. I hesitate to embark on any mods in case the shock causes it to sulk. A decent centre arm rest would be nice though.

Col

Top work Nodge. I've been looking forward to that write up.

kernowsvenski said:

Top work Nodge. I've been looking forward to that write up.

Click to expand...

+1 on that one question is that the original rear view mirror

Looks like the MG F one I think...

I want to fit one in mine. My Mrs has a Merc with similar map lights in the mirror body and they are great.

I thought it was a different one would this be longer than the original? Got me thinking now if the one I had on my last car will fit

Colthebrummie said:

My freelander is a basic 1.8, it does have a A/C switch but the compressor is knackered. Compared to my last car, a Kia Sorento 3.5, it is bereft of any luxuries but compared to my series 3, it is a Rolls Royce. I hesitate to embark on any mods in case the shock causes it to sulk. A decent centre arm rest would be nice though.

Col

Click to expand...

The replacement centre arm rest / cubby is a pretty straight forward job. You do have to make a simple bracket to attach the rear of the new cubby to the tunnel housing. I extended the window lift wiring to the arm rest switches. I'm tempted to fit two red LEDs facing the centre console similar to PopRivets post here. Easy to use the light circuit for the switches.

When I stop and think about it I've done quite a few 'mods' to my FL1.

htr said:

The replacement centre arm rest / cubby is a pretty straight forward job. You do have to make a simple bracket to attach the rear of the new cubby to the tunnel housing.

Click to expand...

This is something I have been thinking about doing on mine HTR what type of arm rest did you use ?

Do you have pics of this armrest?

tlo said:

+1 on that one question is that the original rear view mirror

Click to expand...

It's an MGF mirror with the lights in the bottom.

kernowsvenski said:

Looks like the MG F one I think...

I want to fit one in mine. My Mrs has a Merc with similar map lights in the mirror body and they are great.

Click to expand...

Spot on.

tlo said:

I thought it was a different one would this be longer than the original? Got me thinking now if the one I had on my last car will fit

Click to expand...

The MGF mirror is identical to the factory Freelander mirror, just with the lights added. The cut outs for the lights are visible on the underside of the standard FL1 mirror.

Thanks Nodge that's good to know , I tried my rear view mirror today it has auto dimming,temp and compass but it looks to be a couple of cm to big it catches the sun visor is the windscreen mount the same as the freelander as well ?

tlo said:

Thanks Nodge that's good to know , I tried my rear view mirror today it has auto dimming,temp and compass but it looks to be a couple of cm to big it catches the sun visor is the windscreen mount the same as the freelander as well ?

Click to expand...

What is the rear view mirror you have @tlo ?

if I remember rightly it is a gentex mate

tlo said:

Thanks Nodge that's good to know , I tried my rear view mirror today it has auto dimming,temp and compass but it looks to be a couple of cm to big it catches the sun visor is the windscreen mount the same as the freelander as well ?

Click to expand...

The screen mount is identical to the MGF mirror. The mirrors are identical except the MGF version has lights in it.

Little something i’ve Been working on.
Td4 Decat, centre box delete and performance back box. Induction pipe work, pipercross filter and strut brace. Remap next Sunday

Diesel Do said:

Little something i’ve Been working on.
Td4 Decat, centre box delete and performance back box. Induction pipe work, pipercross filter and strut brace. Remap next Sunday

Click to expand...

Nice. I wonder what it will go, and sound like.

Nice! I was going to de-cat my ZTT with the M47R, but the new MoT regs make this difficult...

I like the look of the strut brace: any discernible difference when driving?

Nodge68 said:

I'll start this thread with something I've been working on for a while.
It's my in mirror temperature display.
View attachment 141825

It all came about because my Fuel Burning Heater (FBH) environmental sensor failed.
Being tight I refused to spend £35 odd on a simple thermostatic switch.
I also felt the FL1 was missing a useful driver aid, of an outside temperature display.
So I started looking at various options for controlling the FBH in other, cheaper and more flexible ways.
This is how the display came about.
Being into electronics as a hobby, I thought an electronic module would give me the ability to adjust the FBH control temperature to whatever I fancied.
I had a look about for budget controllers that could fit the bill. I came across a simple unit generally known as a W1209. It's actually a small temperature controller board, using a W1209 microcontroller IC and all the other support components. This would allow me to alter the FBH switch on temperature and the display reverts to display the current temperature a few seconds after a button is pressed. The current setting is also stored in non volatile memory, so can it can be on an ignition supply and not loose it's settings. This is perfect for my needs, so I bought a couple.
The board as supplied needed some modification, but is it cost just £1.35, wasn't too worried about that.
Here's the board pretty much as supplied, but with the connector and relay removed. View attachment 141853

There were a couple of things on the board that needed addressing before it would be suitable for my purpose. The relay is in the wrong place, even if used for its intended use. If the controller is to be used to run a boiler or fan, then the relay and connector block needs moving to the rear of the board.
For my project, the relay and switches are remote from the board and the connector isn't needed at all.
Like this.
View attachment 141874

I then fitted the switches to a small piece of strip board, cutting the tracks where necessary and attaching flyleads.
View attachment 141875

The flyleads where then attached to the board, so switches worked in a memorable sequence.
View attachment 141876

Next I needed to prepare the mirror for the display.

I was using a previously obtained MGF mirror, as I also planned for ambient lighting at night. More on this additional project later.

The mirror casing required drilling so the switches could be accessed from the top.
View attachment 141877
The mirror glass needed to be prepared to take the board with its display showing through the top.

This is actuality quite easy, but needs to be done accurately if it's to look right.

First I cut the back of the mirror glass with a craft knife, exactly the size of the LED display.
View attachment 141878
The next part is tricky as the backing glue and paint need to be carefully scraped away, exposing the silver layer which can be polished off with cutting compound.
View attachment 141879

Once the silver was removed from the majority of the area, I carefully finished off the edges with a crafting scalpel.

The W1209 board also has a relay on LED which I wanted to see. So I used a 5mm drill to make a small circular hole in the silver backing, allowing the red LED to shine through. This would show me the FBH was active at a glance. I also fitted a lense and mask to stop the red LED bleeding light everywhere, except where I wanted it to go.
The lense and shroud are to the right of the LED display.
View attachment 141973

After the W1209 board was prepared and the mirror glass was ready to accept it, bonded to board to the glass.

Being a bit of a hobbyist, I went to my fast fix glue solution, my trusty hot melt glue gun. This was used to fix the two items firmly and accurately together.
View attachment 141974

Once the board was fixed to the glass and I was happy with the alignment.
View attachment 142105
It was time to start adding the other idea I had for the mirror project.

I always felt that finding the heater controls or cup holders at night was difficult, simply because the interior is so dark.

I wanted to address this at the same time as adding the MGF mirror.

I didn't want a bright flood lamp in the car however. I just wanted a faint glow, just to help out at night.

So having plenty of LEDs in my components trays, I decided to utilise a couple for the ambient illumination task.

I drilled a hole in each lamp housing to take a 5mm LED at an angle I thought would point the light in the correct direction.
View attachment 142106
I then wired the LEDs to the relay ignition live connection, using a 15 K ohm dropping resistors. This would feed each with 700 uA which gives a very low luminous output.

The next task was to fix the newly made switch board to the mirror shell. The trusty glue gun came in handy for this operation.
View attachment 142107

I also attached to the mirror shell the relay that I'd removed from the temperature board. This was wired up, along with the dropping resistors (visible in this picture)

View attachment 142108

Next was to add an extra 4 core cable to take all the additional wires needed for the temperature board. I ran this alongside the original 3 core lighting cable, enlarging the holes to do so. I connected all the cables into a low profile 9 way connector.
View attachment 142109
This was chosen so the wiring could be accessed from the roof space, above the interior light assembly.

The rest of the wiring in the mirror was finished View attachment 142218
all functions were tested View attachment 142219 before fitting the glass and clipping the mirror bezel into place. Note the 3 switchs are visible on the top of the shell.
View attachment 142220

I then fitted all the wiring into the vehicle. The ignition live was taken from the sunroof feed. The mirror lights were connected to the interior light circuit, matching the wire colours.

I then needed to run 3 wires to the front of the engine bay. The W1209 board uses a standard 10K thermistor which used 2 wires. The thermistor is now located in the lower grill space on the bumper.
The 3rd wire to the front connects to the original FBH control feed wire. This wire now goes live when the W1209 switches the relay on, firing up the FBH under electronic control.

To be continued.

Click to expand...

Brilliant Nodge! As you know I have an MGF mirror to fit to my FL1. I really like the outside temperature indicator - but I don’t have a FBH to control. Is there a temperature display module available off the shelf?