New JB74 from Brazil (replacement for my 3rd gen)

wrote:

Thanks DrRobin and Keithy! I will add new pictures once I get to travel again.
That's a very distinctive looking 3rd gen Keithy! Has it evolved from the one on your profile pic? I see you had the Brazilian front bumper installed previously.
 

Yes it's had a few facelifts since I got it

I'm sure I'll change it again at some point!

Superb photos from Brazil. Love your new Jimny, ours is the same colour and gets a lot of attention!

My Jimny is about to reach 10,000 km and has accumulated a few mods - all of them internal - that I would like to share with you:

• Small additions from AliExpress: cargo attachment rings, cargo net fitted to the rear (I noticed I needed one last time camping when my towel fell on the dusty rear bumper) and plastic covers for the rear window wiring.
• Audio modifications: I asked a car audio store from here that I have know for over a decade to work on Wasabi's sound system and the results were pretty awesome; they soundproofed the rear of the cabin and the doors (both inner and outer panels to make them good quality speaker boxes); the original speakers were replaced by 5" mid-range Audison speakers sitting on custom wooden baffles that allowed them to be installed in the original door mount without modifying the door plastic cover or the door frame; those speakers came in a kit with tweeters that were installed on the plastic cover on the door near the A pillar; an 8" Hertz subwoofer was installed on the rear wooden deck (more on the deck in the next post) and a Hertz processor and an amplifier were installed under the passenger's seat (they were bolted on pieces of wood placed under the floor carpet; the wood was glued to the metal sheet of the floor, so no drilling was required); the amplifier draws current directly from the car battery - the wiring goes through the passenger side firewall grommet and has a waterproof fuse placed next to the battery (they also reinforced the battery grounding by adding a second ground wire from the battery's negative terminal).

 

Soundproofing doors and rear.


Tweeter installed on the door A pillar plastic cover using the mount that comes with the speaker kit; the mount's base has two holes through which it gets attached by screws onto the cover.


Hertz processor (closer to the camera) and amplifier installed under the passenger's seat; it is a vulnerable position if I were to do something like a deep water river crossing, but I don't plan to go that far when off roading. I considered having them installed under the rear deck, but I was told they wouldn't have proper cooling there and could shut down during long trips.


Small remote controller for the audio processor added between the 12v and USB ports. An L shaped bent piece of plexiglass and double-sided tape were used for mounting.

For the rear deck, I initially had plans to keep the rear seats and had clever ideas for attaching points to hold cargo/fridge from Soeley and wjamieson , but I noticed the fridge weight would deform the rear seats plastic panels over time. Also, tbh after owning a 3rd gen Jimny for 6 years I could remember of only 3-4 occasions in which I actually used the rear seats. So in the end I decided on replacing them by a wooden deck, which I had the same shop from the car audio to fabricate for me. I wish I could do it myself, but not only I don't have a garage and tooling that allows me to do that as my woodworking skills are somewhere near zero.

So using the commercially available rear deck and some ideas from the internet (such as lookonimages ') as a reference, my passtime for the last 1-2 months was to make a virtual model of such rear deck. I wanted a deck that would make a single level surface with the wheel arches and that would be sturdy enough to stand the weight of a person on each side so I could sleep on the passenger side and have my fridge on the driver's side. It shouldn't extend too far to the front so it would allow the back of the front seats to lean back flat. It should also allow access to the space under it for storage - a part of such space would be used by the subwoofer box so I wouldn't have to worry about placing it above the deck.

I thought about making the deck tall enough to fit an aux battery under it, but that would make it taller than the wheel arches, with the need of additional supporting structures that would increase weight and reduce the rear cabin height. I gave up on that idea - I will either use an aux battery slim enough to fit under the deck or - most likely - I will place the battery behind the passenger's seat.


Rear deck model.


Rear deck model supporting structures; I initially thought about having them made of steel, but I would have to go after a second shop for that so I resorted on having everything made of plywood.

 
Rear deck with subwoofer; cargo net and the cover for the rear window wiring can be seen as well.

 
Rear deck with access panels removed.

That looks very neat, great job. Only concern I'd have is the subwoofer being exposed like that, any plans for a protective cover/grille?

Hi Gadget, thanks! Yes, the exposed subwoofer is also a concern to me. A protective grille was ordered but it hasn’t arrived yet.