Will this be the Ultimate Prospecting Vehicle?

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Thanks for the tip on the headlights too but I cant seem to find them on thier website? Off the top of your head can you remember the cost?
I will replace mine for sure, though they are still better than the ones on my toyotas.
 
madtuna said:
Thanks for the tip on the headlights too but I cant seem to find them on thier website? Off the top of your head can you remember the cost?
I will replace mine for sure, though they are still better than the ones on my toyotas.

Lightforce HTX :Y: every day of the week / year you won't regret it. They won't retrofit inplace of your existing lights but they will stun anything in their view.
 
i was told by a sparky that the main problem with most vehicles mainly ones with a little bit of age is not the lights but the wire feeding them .he and i rewired an old ford van of mine years ago using the old wiring to turn on relays to the new wiring and it made quite a difference .the factory wires are just barley heavy enough for the job and they degrade over time to where they are not good enough for the job .just what i was told , but i hate working on anything with wires i am a nuts bolts and bearings person and am much more at home with a spanner or on the lathe and mill than with a multimeter .
johno
 
Wiring thru relays rather than supplying power thru a switch will usually eliminate a lot of voltage loss. In the "old" days switches were tough enough to do this when new, but nowadays the cheap stuff used wouldn't handle the load in any case and probably result in a melt down :eek: .
Stedi lights do some good products and best part is he backs without question what he sells, so any problem isn't a problem so to speak :Y:
Di H again your attention to detail and no cutting corners will without doubt result in a trick vehicle at the end :Y: It's always great to get away, and doing so in a well thought out vehicle, not only makes the trip more pleasurable but the time spent camped up as well once the destinations reached. ;)
 
Had some fun yesterday, the finished chests arrived a couple of weeks ago and having been stripped of all fittings, were finally taken for chromating yesterday so they can be sprayed. For those unfamiliar with painting aluminium, most paints won't stick well and special primers have to be used, these acid etc the aluminium so the paint will stay put, without them it comes off easily.

The other alternative is chromate, don't try at home, it nasty stuff! I took everything down to the local powdercoaters and they did the job in their massive chemical tanks, had to drill a few drain hole but to get everything professionally treated for $300 I think is a bargain.

1529533182_chromate-chests.jpg

1529533212_centre-chests.jpg


Lizzy wouldn't start yesterday so decided to get the battery checked while the chromating was progressing, sure enough... battery was old and stuffed so new higher capacity battery was installed, then things went wrong!

When doing the terminals up, the mechanic slipped and his spanner arced across to the front brake line from the master cylinder.... straight through.... brake fluid everywhere and a few interesting words flying around! :mad:

2 hrs later, a new brake line had been made and installed so I could pick up the chests.

Had an interesting chat during this, the assistant at the battery shop, who was in his 60's and just working there to keep him self busy, turned out to have worked for a number of years with Peter Jackson on Lord of the Rings :eek: and a heap of other films as a cameraman, since I used to do a bit of this myself, time passed quickly! :)

Anyway the next step is the painting which should commence this weekend. More pics to follow... stay tuned as they say!!
 
Bit of progress... Saturday doing the epoxy undercoat then today 3 layers of the base colour, now to let everything harden up for the week then bolt all the chests together next weekend. Finally seeing so light at the end of the tunnel... :) Once everything is back in place then it's the final colours, green and black for the authentic look.

1530418133_chests-base-colour.jpg
 
Dihusky said:
Bit of progress... Saturday doing the epoxy undercoat then today 3 layers of the base colour, now to let everything harden up for the week then bolt all the chests together next weekend. Finally seeing so light at the end of the tunnel... :) Once everything is back in place then it's the final colours, green and black for the authentic look.

https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/img/member-images/10304/1530418133_chests-base-colour.jpg
It's going to be quite the beast when finished Di H :Y:
 
Well its been a while but progress has been happening, albeit slowly, but quality manufacturing takes time. The guys that built the cabinets for the back did an awesome job, fitted to the 'mm', so any delay was well worth it; CampKing :Y: :Y: :Y:

So now the chests are finished, mounted and painted, happy with the look plus Dinah loves her!! :) :)
1532862922_getting_close.jpg


Now I'm into the big wire up, worked out what we wanted then added a few spares just in case and had the switch panel laser cut, nest the spaghetti!
1532862516_switch_panel.jpg


Not my strongest area so gotta keep track of what I am doing as there is both 24 and 12v in the panel, all the top outlets are 12v for charging stuff like Minelab batteries, plus there is a 12v circuit for the compressor via the compressor switch, everything else is 24v, plus each circuit is fused and switched so each of the switches have their own fuse etc. Going to be a bit of a birdsnest, can't imagine doing this without different coloured cables,the fuse box will also get a work out from the Dymo!

There is a second panel behind this which carried the solar charge system, 24-12v converter plus all the neutrals.... it's a busy little box!!
 
Mackka said:
Just wondering what sort of fuel consumption you get from of those?
Mackka

Too early to tell but should be around the 18l/100klm. Had the diffs changed from 4.7 to 4.1 so she now cruises easily at 100klm/hr running less than 2900rpm, the turbo upgrade with a 3" exhaust has also made a huge difference.
1532864287_turbo-upgrade.jpg
 
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