4x4 15 pass. stormchaser - Page 2

bettyford · 04-14-2011, 09:06 PM

Great Job, Im so glad you got it together.

Ron

dimension4 · 05-26-2011, 04:03 PM

i'm going to put in some house batteries soon. i have two 6V golf cart batteries. I will charge them from the alternator for now, i may add solar down the line. what did you guys find is the best route for the wiring from the engine charging system to your house batteries? it would be nice to know if you learned something that works better than something else. i bought a battery disconnect switch, like the kind used for race cars, so I will manually connect/disconnect the house batts from the alternator circuit. i could use what i think is called a blue sea switch but they're more money and they rob a little of the power.

so if you have a good suggestion for which way to run the cable i'm all ears. i think i'd put my disconnect switch where i can reach it from the driver's seat.

-an update on the poptop - i started sealing the rain grooves with marine tex epoxy. i mixed the epoxy with polyfill stuffing to make it go a little farther. turns out the rain seeps through the dried mixture, so i am going to go back and seal the outside of that with marine tex unmixed. i screwed the canvas down with #8 scews/nuts. the sheet metal screws kept backing out on their own. still haven't gotten around to installing the latches, so I still have the ghetto strap holding it shut...

carringb · 05-26-2011, 05:49 PM

Look at the passenger side frame rail, below the middle doors. My van came from the factory with aux battery wiring. There was a connector under the hood which wasn't connected, but it has it's own isolator setup, so the aux batteries only get fed if the van is on, and the starting battery has enough charge.

dimension4 · 05-27-2011, 12:45 AM

I will have to check it. I'm surprised it would have an isolator though. I do have two batteries for the van from the factory, one under hood and one on the passenger frame rail. I have been debating on running through the firewall from the alternator or through the floor from the rear battery.

carringb · 05-27-2011, 08:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dimension4

I will have to check it. I'm surprised it would have an isolator though. I do have two batteries for the van from the factory, one under hood and one on the passenger frame rail. I have been debating on running through the firewall from the alternator or through the floor from the rear battery.

Just realized you have the diesel. With the diesel, the batteries are wired in parallel all the time, while the V10s had the 2nd battery wired as an aux battery with isolator.

dimension4 · 05-27-2011, 11:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by carringb

Just realized you have the diesel. With the diesel, the batteries are wired in parallel all the time, while the V10s had the 2nd battery wired as an aux battery with isolator.

yep, its the diesel engine. i know some people mount additional battery trays underneath for their house batteries, but I didn't want to do that because adding water to the golf cart batteries could be epic.

jage · 05-27-2011, 02:13 PM

They don't make AGM / gel / maintenance free golf cart batteries? Even so an access panel could make it relatively easy.

dimension4 · 06-01-2011, 12:25 AM

i started with some interior paneling on sunday. i cut the vents out of the headliner for the rear heat/ac and covered that with a section of 1/8" ply.

i am looking for ideas to finish where i cut the hole in the headliner and the roof. i need something that covers the cut headliner and the exposed sheet metal in the hole. i am thinking i will put wood around the hole, but i can't come up with an idea to cover the vertical bit. since i'm using 1/8" ply there's not enough thickness to cover the vertical sections by screwing another trim onto the horizontal portion... so i'm picturing the hole trimmed off with wood on the cut headliner and on top of the roof, but i can't come up with a good way to cover the vertical part and make it look decent. the thickest part of this vertical section is about 2 1/2" (fore and aft, where the roof trusses are) and the thinnest part is about 1/2", where its just the headliner (1/2") and 1/16" roof sheet metal.

this is all i came up with:
http://www.mcmaster.com/#1120A865 but its 1 3/4" long, so it would be too long in some spots and too short in others. if you guys have any ideas i'm all ears.

jage · 06-01-2011, 06:59 AM

I'd be inclinded to use a wood frame, with some 1/8" veneer and scribe it to fit the profile of the top and bottom wood. I just did toe kicks in my bathroom and found a belt sander in the vice was my best option to shape the scribes. I'm sure there are better techniques.

Alternatively, cover everything with material (coin floor, matching seat fabric, carpet?) it's a lot easier to cover strangely shaped areas and you can put your wood over the edges to trim it out.

dimension4 · 06-01-2011, 10:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jage

I'd be inclinded to use a wood frame, with some 1/8" veneer and scribe it to fit the profile of the top and bottom wood.

that's what i'm thinking but i don't have a good idea to fasten it to the top and bottom wood because it's all just 1/8" thick. i want to avoid gluing anything to the body so i can remove it for any reason. i'm not much of a carpenter, this should be a pretty easy thing I suppose...