Another green laner build

When I got to it I nearly did the sensible thing and backed out of the lane. There was a fairly nasty bit further back that would have been tricky to reverse over so I decided to go for it. The plan was to straddle the big hole but right at the worst point I fell in.
In the pic I'd already winched the front out and I had enough traction to drive the rest of the way.

Well, It's been a while since I last posted an update. Over the summer the air compressor for the suspension seized and the Jimny got left in the naughty corner for quite some time. Just before Christmas I got some spare time and started getting the Jimny back up and running. I think the compressor over heated. The engine bay was just too hot for it. After spending a lot of time scratching my head trying to find an alternative location for the pump I ended up installing it under the left hand wing. This time I'm using a BMW suspension pump. It is not as fast as the previous pump but it's better quality and small enough to squeeze into the available space. These BMW suspension pumps are pretty reliable and second hand ones are really cheap on eBay.

 

I also changed the valving. Instead of individual solenoid valves I'm now using a Mercedes valve block. Pattern valve blocks are easy to obtain but the special plug to fit it took some finding. One advantage of this valve block is that I can isolate the tank making it faster to pump up the suspension if the tank is empty.

 

PS For a change the rust on the inner wing looks worse than it actually is. I just slathered it in an experimental 50/50 mix of waxoyl and hydraulic oil. Hydraulic oil creeps into crevices a lot better than waxoyl and the waxoyl helps hold the oil in place so it doesn't just run off.
 

Last year I mentioned I wanted to spend a few weeks in Wales. Well, this year I intend to actually do it. However I hate camping in tents. As I'll be on my own, I don't really need the passenger seat. With the seat out there is just enough length for me to comfortably fit laying down. Many years ago I did this to a previous car (a rare Reliant Fox van) and it worked quite well but I didn't have enough storage space for more than a couple of days.
Let's see if I can turn this beast into a practical camper. Here's my initial list of requirements.
Lots of storage
Refrigeration
Heating
Comfortable sleeping area
The modifications should be mostly reversible and as light as possible. Keeping weight down is going to be an issue.
No roof tent/roof rack - it would make the Jimny too top heavy.

I will need some sort of awning over the back. Cooking inside the cab is not practical but a shelf on the back door and an awning over the top should make a workable cooking area. This is an initial proof of concept. When stored the fabric rolls up into a compact package that lives on the roof. I 3D printed a bracket that clips onto the top corner of the back door and supports the end of the awning. The two braces support the other corner. One clips onto the door latch and one onto the roof rail. Hopefully this setup should be able to withstand a reasonable amount of wind.
Currently I cannot find a good place to store the two braces. I may have to come up with some way of splitting each one into two pieces. Apart from that the biggest issue I have found so far is that it's very easy to forget to remove the 3D printed bracket on the door after stowing. Closing the door with the bracket attached results in a sickening crunch.

Here is the awning extended. Please ignore the fact that my workshop is even more untidy than usual.

   

And here it is stowed.

 

The fabric is currently just hot glued into place as it's quick and easy to remove while I experiment.
I have yet to come up with a good way of attaching the awning to the roof. Hot glue unfortunately isn't a permanent solution!

Now to add a second deck in the back with room for supermarket totes to fit underneath. This is the MK1 version made out of 12mm ply. There is enough room above the totes for pull out shelves.

 

I made this version too short and the 12mm ply is a bit heavy. In the MK2 version I dropped the height a few centimetres so there is just enough room for the totes to slide in and out and scrapped the shelves. All parts are cut on the CNC router so it's easy to tweak the drawing and re-cut the parts. The ply is fairly cheap so it doesn't matter that much if I waste some. Here it is with the walls glued to the base. The top is still removable to simplify installation. The weight of this part is a bit over 10kg. Not great but not horrific either.

 

To prevent rattles and spread the load evenly I laid some plastic dust sheet in the back of the Jimny and added some spray foam.

 

I then fitted the woodwork, allowing the spray foam to expand and form itself to the shape of the floor.

 

This almost worked but I didn't add enough weight and the foam lifted the woodwork slightly, pushing it out of alignment. Apart from that issue it looks really good.
Luckily spray foam is relatively easy to scrape off. It also occurred to me that the spray foam could trap moisture so I'll leave it out for the time being. It's easy enough to re-do it in the future.

 

More progress. First a shelf for the back door. This will be mostly used as a cooking area.

 

 

By the way if anyone wants the drawings for any of the parts in this build just let me know. I can also cut them out for the cost of materials plus a small donation towards my time. Collection only on that one though - I'm not getting involved with postage.

Next lids for the front compartments. I found some nice catches on eBay that work well. They are almost flush and once the panels are carpeted they should end up slightly below the surface.

 

A few posts back I showed the new suspension valve block. Well later I realised that the only suitable place for the cab heater was in that space so the valve block has been shunted over and the air reservoir relocated to the back, just behind the bumper. It's not ideal placement but I'm really running short of space. Here's a pic of the diesel cab heater in place. Ignore the ugly wiring - it will get tidied up.
The cab heater is very effective. In testing, with the outside air at 10C and the heater at it's lowest setting I got the cab up to 21C. It was still slowly climbing when I shut the heater off.

 

I found some useful plastic containers on eBay that fit perfectly in the space between the fridge and the back door. I'll probably use them for food storage. They are very lightly built which is good from a weight perspective but I'm not sure how well they will hold up to use.