Black Pearl R&D ongoing ;)

[makeitfit]

Warning: I may be some time :sly
I started off with the cheapest black TDi I could find. I won it on fleabay .
This is the earliest shot I have of it. It's still got gay bling on it but I had done the 2" suspension lift here. Those were my old 31" Insa Dakar tyres and Pajero alloys. I've also fitted the LWb roof bars here by the look of it :thumbs

I.C.E. was a bit naff so I chopped the metal work in the doors a bit so I could fit some 6x9 speakers in.

I modded the door cards and speaker position so I could still use the plastic facia thingy for protection. Muddy boots etc offroad

Then I got stuck

I fancied some roof lights as at that time I just wanted to be able to see a bit further when the headlights get covered in gunk or were under water. I needed them to be removable too. Some of the woods we offroad in are very good at cuffing the roof :hmh
So I mounted the spots onto a spare roof bar and used a waterproof military style plug n socket

You can see here that I kept them as low as possible just in case .

Gay bling had to go. So here you can see I binned the old chrome mirrors and got black ones on instead. I also painted the grill and head light surrounds black too.

Rear windows then got black limo tints . I had the film in my shed since I used to custom cars back in the 70s I did it myself with 30 year old film, result

I.C.E. needed more oomph so I fitted some 10" free air subs in the back :sly

Much plastic trim cutting later I got this far.

Made up a bit of MDF into a cover grill

The grill was a bit too restrictive in practice so I binned the grill and cut up an old flag instead. here's a dodgey shot but you get the gist of the finished speaker cover.

To be continued.:beer:

 

[Terranical]

Nice potted history, look forward to the next instalment.

 

[exosteve]

ill just fetch me popcorn:thumb2
cant wait...too long:bow

 

[R1cho]

oooo pearl porn :naughty

 

[makeitfit]

I.C.E. was still a bit limp, so I wired in a power amp. I modified a few bits of steel plate so I could mount the amp onto the set subframe.

All the wires were fed along the existing cable conduit and then to the seat area.

Finally in place and high enough off the floor for most deep water crossings :thumb2. Ofcourse if it was a landie I'd have bolted it to the roof :lol

NB
Since this install I learned that it's bad joo joo to fit the amp upside down. As it heats up the heat sinks can delaminate and cause component failure
the amp is now the right way up
CB install was pretty straight forward too. I went for the cubby hole option as it fits in nicely. Mic mount on the dash and bingo 10/4

Now with all the sounds sorted I needed some more secure seating to help stop my head banging against the windows Not from the sounds but from offroading :lol So new Rage bucket recliners seats off fleabay fitted the bill
Old seats out reveal the subframe ready for modding.
Simple mod was to extend the frame by making up some metal brackets so I could bolt up the slightly longer seat base of the new ones.

And sorted :naughty

So much better being locked in on the ruff stuff :spanking:
Next part inc some POWER mods :naughty

 

[Sweety]

Makeitfit if your planing on using the amp Please fit larger power & earth cable to run the amp 8 or 4 gauge wiring is needed as your wiring is far to small for the job as it'll heat up/catch on fire when the amp draws a lot of current:thumbs my speaker wire to my sub is thicker:lol

 

[exosteve]

:beer: im well settled in

 

[makeitfit]

Cheers Sweety, I know, I've learned a lot since that went in 4 or 5 years back :lol I think that got wired up using off cuts of cable found lying around in the garage :augie That said it ain't caught fire yet :thumbs

 

[AlexD333]

That's looking awesome quite jealous! Is there a sub going in? :naughty

 

[makeitfit]

TDi intercooler works a treat while bowling along the roads with loads of wind forced over it.
Offroad however it just becomes a big old heat sink, warming up nicely over the engine
So I made up an intercooler cooler using a rad fan. Nice n easy. Just oik off the alu trim and bolt it on :thumbs

Anyone can do it but I wanted a bit more and so went for a water spray set up too :naughty Again fleabay came up with the spray nozzles and I used some plastic pipe to link them up.

Plate and assy back in place. NB since I did this I've also bonded the fan brackets with goo as they rattle themselves to death in a year

A new water washer bottle just about fits with some persuasion :clap

I "found" a nice waterspray switch off a scooby doo and fitted that in the little switch dash thingy. Also there is the fan toggle switch, circa 1972 mini I think

More dash mods shortly :beer:

 

[makeitfit]

That's looking awesome quite jealous! Is there a sub going in? :naughty

Not exactly mate, but I did fit a couple of big speakers in the back. See above somewhere.

 

[exosteve]

that's a belting cooling system. looks like a trip up me local scrap yard

 

[makeitfit]

Extra gauges and CB surround.
I got a set of 3 aux gauges off fleabay and set about mounting them somewhere. 1st mock up I did this

Then decided it was a bit poo and thought again about the whole area. Went for alu tread plate as I had some kicking about the garage :clap
CB mount plate cut to shape and incorporating a few more aux switches. Yep ebay :lol and they have little LEDs in the end.

Now for the gauges I popped up the scrap yard and "found" a little dash cover off a pajero :thumbs Stripped out the inards and got this.

Cut some more alu to fit it and then cut the gauge holes .

Mounted where the old ash tray was and looks like it was meant for the job

In that pajero dash thingy was an angleometer which I had to fit following a recent falling over
So I had some of those gauge pods and used one of them to mount it into . then fixed it to the dash :kiss:

Snorx next :naughty

 

[exosteve]

more:bow

 

[makeitfit]

Snorkel. Roof scoop style

When I did my snorkel there were only a few external ones available from Johnny foreigner at ridiculous spondoolicks
I was inspired by a member on here at the time who put his air intake through the roof :sly I liked and ran with it :naughty
1st cut is the deepest as they say :nenau In my case, the roof. I had a visit to the scrap yard and was unable to find the scoop I wanted and so had to buy it :wasntme
it came off a jap 4x4 people carrier thing, Hi-ace maybe :nenau
Here's the first test mount. There's not much room up there with a gay old sunroof in the way :lol

Mind the gap !
Fibreglassed the ends in place.

Then filler and sand for a while

Some rattle can black and things are looking smooooth

Now to the inside. Black rain water drain pipe fits the bill. it's about 64mm diam and as big as the std intake. Oh and it's also cheap :clap

More fibreglass to bond it to the roof section.

Some flexi through the awkward bit under the dash and into the engine bay.

Then modify the air filter box to take the new entry position. Plenty of room on mine as there's no gay ABS :augie

A quick test down the beach went well

and a little reward for all my hard work (and it helps with the design process )

What next? hmmm, suspension lift :naughty

 

[exosteve]

you git.
do you think I will sleep tonight watchin this truck porn:naughty

 

[makeitfit]

you git.
do you think I will sleep tonight watchin this truck porn:naughty

I should have done it as I went along really but as there's now a special porn section I will press on :naughty
Back in the day there was another member on here who had a batch of +2" rear coils made up for the SWB. I had to get some Also as a result needed some longer shocks. Just as well I did as this is what I found when I got the old buggers off

New coils in and the shocks on full stretch :sly You'll notice I've also binned the bump stops too, as this give me more compression travel

A quick flex test :naughty

The ARB is off here too and helps get full axle movement

Front ARB off too and gives even more flex before the other wheels come off the ground.

Or put it another way, I can climb the front over a 30" bolder before a wheel looses grip

I was on good old BFG A/Ts back then, awesome all round tyre I seem to recall :thumbs

 

[R1cho]

i thought bump stops just fell off in due course, well mine did :lol

 

[makeitfit]

Just noticed on the last shots there I did a rear work light mod :lol
I actually used some landie parts for this
Thinking ahead (as I was then ) I wanted to make a rear steel bumper. One of the things to sort was the reverse lights, as there would be no lights in the new bumper. Also I wanted a bit more light on some situations
I drilled a hole the size of the new reverse lamp then one a bit smaller to glue it onto.

Then siliconed in place I got this


To fit these in place the body needed some cutting too

Then all fitted it looks like this

A bit too in your face I thought and so applied a bit of lens tint to tame it down a bit

While at the back I moved the number plate off the plastic bumper and up onto the door. That needed a light too and so I went to the scrap yard and found one on a transit van :sly

On a lights theme I also had a set of PIAA 8" main n dip jobbies off fleabay. I fitted them to my steel winch bumper :naughty
(Details to follow ) :splif:

To be continued :beer:

 

[exosteve]

mint stuff dude.
I notice you moded the exhaust a bit too. that's on my to do list