Ok here we go...PMF!

[dales133]

well no going back now , i welded on the attachment points for the sub floor to frame and cut the chassis down and caped off the ends, so it is now officially
5.25 feet wide,65 inches or 1.6 meters (depending on where you hail from) wide wall to wall and the track width outside tyre to outside tyre is 1875 or 73.8 inches or 6.15 feet, same as my landcrusier.
the wheel arches wont protrude into the cabin as im raising the sub floor higher than the wheel arches and incorporating side and rear access to the area between the floor and chassis.
at this stage it wont deviate more than a few inches of 2.7 meters or 108.25 inches/9 foot... give or take.
i think the best and worst thing i ever did was finding this forum, great people and so much talent but i had a plan before! ...even if it wasnt a great one the inspiration keeps me thinking .
im changing my mind like my teenage daughters change clothes.... and thats alot!.
one thing im pleased about is tracy (my mrs) is realy starting to get on board with the design too witch is cool.
im happy with the way things are going but from what i hear from others im suffering from the same pitfalls as many, the time vs money , constantly evolving thing.
but im enjoying myself and pleased to have found a bunch of people just as obsessed.
im going on vacation to the great barrier reef in a week so moneys tight and until i get my mudgaurds im kinda gonna grind to a halt soon

[dales133]

Well I finally got paid on one job ( joys of self employment)
And ordered some tb3 and a kreg jig .
I've got a 85m2 deck to build for a client before 12/12 but at 45 an hour cash I can get my teeth into my build

[Strop]

Dale good to see it progressing. I just wish I could weld but just add that to the list of things I can't do.

What rating did you go for with the suspension - 1400kg?

Laurie

[dales133]

Yea i got a heavy duty axle suspension package with greasable shackles ect but 1000 kg rated springs as I didn't want it thumping itself to pieces over rough train.
I can add or subtract leafs to this set up quite easily and I plan on adding shocks as well

[Sheddie]

Hi Dale
That is looking good so far.
It is annoying how "paying" employment has to get in the way of the fun jobs!
Frank

[dales133]

Yes it is! And holidays to cairns! (Been here 7 days but head back tomorrow) hopefully my tight bond3 and kreg jigs waiting at home for me

[dales133]

Did a road trip in the 80 series with a mate to pick up the gaurds for my TD.
We stayed up there 2 nights and ended up staying right by a blues festival witch was a nice little bonus.
I've taken some pics of the gaurds but I need to resize them and can't on my phone that I'm aware of.
They are 13.5 inches wide and 33 inch radius.here are similar smaller one from one of his ebay listing http://m.ebay.com.au/itm/231222207788

[KCStudly]

Wish I could have found nice wide fenders like those over here. I bought 10.5 inch wide aluminum flat top Jeep style fenders, but will probably end up making my own to get something that will fit 31 inch tires better.

Looking good.

[dales133]

Thanks kc, these are made in calafornia

[dales133]

dummy fit to see how they roll excuse the pun

and this finally arrived today too

[dales133]

Did another round of shopping today, took a drive to melborne and picked up 7 sheets of Dow foam got about 6 sheets of ply and some miranti and native hardwood for the floor rates 500 odd dollars after 250 last week en plus the road trip and acomodation... blues festival ect.
I have a question though.
If I want to make the EPF foam thier from 25mm to 20 mm what's the best way and if I used a hot wire do I need a transformer or something or would a car battery with no current adjustment be adequate?

[Sheddie]

Hi Dale, this is the way I did it. Worked really well.

Day 59: 15 Sept. 2012
Side panels have been sanded and the insulation has been glued in. Only problem there is that the ply is 19mm and the insulation is 20mm. How can we trim back the poly so that it wont hold the exterior cladding away from the ply. After trying a couple of other methods we decided a hot wire was the best method. I got a piece of wood and put 4 screws in the ends. 2 to secure a piece of s/s fishing trace and the other two to hold the wire away from the wood. I used a couple of slotted screws so the wire could sit through the sots, the screws having a slightly raised head. I connected a set of light weight car jumper leads to each end of the wire and the other end of the leads to a battery charger. By sliding the screw heads along the ply of the sitde walls, the hot wire sliced through the poly like a hot knife through butter, trimming wafer thin pieces of poly and leaving a nice smooth surface.

Frank.

[dales133]

Thanks Brian, would that work on the dense extruded foam?
I have cut poly with a hot wire before but it was the white beaded variety and more years ago than recall exactly what we did

[dales133]

The guy said I could sand it easily but I can see the belt sander biting in and ending up with a disaster

[KCStudly]

Hot wire will work on pink and blue foam, too. It is the heat that melts thru, so it is all temperature dependent (length and diameter of wire vs. current). Depending on the type of wire you choose, the temperature, the length of cut and the speed of travel, you may get some sag in the wire which can effect the accuracy of the cut. If this is a problem some sort of tension device (like a spring) will keep the wire taut (or use nickel-chromium wire).