Look what just drove up in my driveway, it's Rusty!

[86Scotty]

Well, Slacker has put the word out but I asked him if he would like me to continue this thread, so here goes. Rusty has been sold. New member Slacker has been talking to me for a couple months about it. We did the final deal Monday, but it's far from over. Rusty is getting some major improvements before he takes delivery.

Slacker is a seasoned world traveler and is setting up an SMB for Pan American travel. He has had other overland vehicles but never an SMB. His plan is to spend several months exploring so Rusty needs to be much more livable for 2.

I'll be doing the work over the next month or so, to include:

Painted and Raptor lined top replacing hardware with stainless
adding second 100w panel for 200w setup
48" led bar on front of PH
Fantastic fan in the PH roof (yep)
New Thin-lites in the PH
Stained birch ceiling in the PH to match the rest of cabinets (out with the white SMB ceiling panels)
Full Aluminess rear bumper
Rear hitch with moto rack for dual sport bike
Loncoin flooring to replace horrible indoor/outdoor carpet I put in
New cabinet layout (mostly) resembling an RB30 plan
Suburban 6 gal HW heater
Suburban stove/oven combo
most likely bigger tires and maybe more lift (to be decided)

Probably more I've forgotten. My shop is full of boxes. It's gonna be pretty nice!

Pics and progress to come
At this point ownership has been transferred and I'm just the builder. Comments/questions to me or Slacker here I suppose

[shenrie]

cool deal you guys worked out. props gents! look forward to the progress.

soooooo, when you gonna be building for you again???

[rallypanam]

Sweet! Looking forward to see Rusty's (second) transformation!

[JoeH]

What 48" light bar were you going to put on it? Crazy expensive for a good one and would rather not go that route since I'll surely break it on a low-hanging tree branch but don't want to cheap out either. Generally I find that you get what you pay for.

If you need any ideas I'm looking at doing a gutter mount rather than attaching it to a rack on the penthouse. Why add more weight to the penthouse if you don't have to? But easier to run the wires perhaps.

These are the mounts I'm looking at. Kinda pricey but the one I like so far. C-Profile Light Bar

[86Scotty]

Joe, Slacker bought the light on Amazon I think. We'll see how it works out. It's the first LED bar I've worked with but the construction and quality look pretty good. It will be mounted to the PH on an aluminum frame holding the solar panels, up front. It will actually be hanging from below the forward panel. Yes, more weight up there but not much. I'll be working on that sooner than later so I'll post some pics as it comes together.

Thanks

[arctictraveller]

[QUOTE=JoeH;171886]What 48" light bar were you going to put on it? Crazy expensive for a good one and would rather not go that route since I'll surely break it on a low-hanging tree branch but don't want to cheap out either. Generally I find that you get what you pay for.

Interestingly, after I bought my 40" spot bar (Outlaw LED) for something like $400.00, I started looking closely at some of the other brands. From what I can tell, many of them are exactly the same, just re-branded. I was in the extrusion business, and I'm positive that they all came out of the same extrusion die, and were manufactured in the same plant. I've seen the same bar as mine on Amazon for as little as half what I paid. So far, mine has survived a couple thousand miles of off road, 10K on road miles and has been bashed by plenty of branches with out a single problem, and it's stupid bright. Bright enough that road signs reflect back and blind you. I plan to add another flood pattern though and I'll try one of the less expensive ones. I'd prefer Rigid or Baja Designs, but at three or four times the price I think it's worth the risk.

[86Scotty]

That was our logic too. We'll see how it lasts. I'm not home right now but will find out what brand it is.


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[SLACKER]

Macusa.......Damn cheap but quality actually looks pretty good. I am no expert on LED's by any means but think in todays market it's pretty easy to overpay. Time will tell...got them on Amazon for $129-
86Scotty is doing a bang up job re-sorting a lot of things for me! driver and passenger seat upgrade is the latest wrench I'm thinking of throwing in the works......Currently considering these Sienna seats with Ujoint adapters....
End Summer Sale Truck Van Bus Hotrod Tan Leather Bucket Seats 2015 New Takeout'S | eBay
Or these which may not require adapters;
New Bucket Seats Brown Leather Truck Jeep Hotrod Classic Car Bus Van Boat | eBay

[arctictraveller]

[QUOTE=SLACKER;171999]Macusa.......Damn cheap but quality actually looks pretty good. /QUOTE]

Yikes, $79.00 for a 50 inch curved bar. That's exactly the same bar I have, same mounts and everything only mine is straight, and I paid $400.00 For that price I think I'll order another, and if it quits, I'll throw it away with no regrets. What a bargain!

[86Scotty]

I've started another thread for the second rebuild of Rusty which can be found here

http://www.sportsmobileforum.com/for...tml#post175985

Sorry for the convoluted mess it is but I think it better fits in the homebuild section.