Project 80: Codename Grey Ghost

[Chris]

Grueller today. I don't do this much at work!

Would have liked to have got all this done yesterday but hey ho.

Milled some more out for the exhaust to keep Andy happy. I could just attack it with the angry grinder but where's the finesse in that?



Then made up the 10 step support brackets.



These weld on here like this. Handy bit of U section I had knocking around. Slightly slotted the holes just for wriggle room.



Offered the steps up for final fiddling session. Just a couple of snicks needed with the grinder tomorrow

I have only nipped them up with half the bolts, but there was no flex at all with me standing on just ONE peg.



Profile looks good to me.



Welder gave me grief today. I think it needs a service. Some of the worst welds I have ever done in places. I think the gas valve might be on the blink. At times it was like I had no shielding gas at all. I was working outside but I had the flow turned up and was sheltered. Lots of gas in some of the welds. Powder coating will hide most of that. It's not gong to cause them to fall apart.

 

[AndyCook]

Very good, I approve the milling to clear the exhaust
And very jealous you can mill slots like that.... Wish I had a milling machine.....

Nice work


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[Chris]

The miller was in action again today Andy. Slots. Mmnn, I love slots. They make a bodger's life so easy.

Finished fettling the steps this morning. Off to the coater tomorrow.



Cracked on with the air tank.

Mounted it on a plate



Ran it up to check for leaks. Blimey, done in one.



Made some support brackets



Nice easy location. Tipped it slightly down at one end so the condensate runs to the drain valve.



Tucked up out of the way. Will pipe it in another day. Got all the connectors sorted. I will be able to run either from the tank or directly from the compressor via a Tee

 

[clivehorridge]

Nice....

want, want, want...

 

[moggy1968]

bloody hell, thats a big tank, are you blowing up tractor tyres!!

mines a bit smaller
reckon it blows up my tyres as fast as a garage supply though. tank fills as you move between wheels, but in fairness, my tyres are probably rather smaller than yours.



fortunately I'd read the instructions, even thought the garage hadn't!! So they had to remount it the right way up!



Are you going to have an external air point?

 

[Gary820]

Sliders/steps are looking good, can't be many big jobs left to do now?

 

[moggy1968]

Very good, I approve the milling to clear the exhaust
And very jealous you can mill slots like that.... Wish I had a milling machine.....

Nice work


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In my day milling involved a pair of gloves and 2 people flailing away at each other!!

 

[Chris]

No not many big jobs at all Gary. Very close indeed.

Not really a big tank. My last one was 2.5 gall and this one is 2 gall. It will go in with 6mm airline to start with but will swap that to 10mm when I get the parts.

Yes, front and rear air points. I have the twin ARB compressor so it generates quite a bit of air. Something like 6.3 cfm. Might as well catch it.

 

[moggy1968]

you could set up a spraying business with that

so you could run air tools if you wanted?

 

[Chris]

Oh so close now I can taste the Tagines and feel the sand in my crack. Well better than that the other way around.

Got the sliders back today but unfortunately the *$£@^&ing courier didn't deliver the stainless bolts. I ended up in screwfux and got something close enough so I could get on. The old side steps are OK but corroded badly where the old bolts used to sit. I did get some nice end caps though






Had them coated in something different. It's a flat black slightly textured coating which seems much harder wearing.



Aspire very kindly offered to help me get these up into place - but I forgot my lad is home from Uni tomorrow so he will give me a hand before he goes back to bed.



So these will be on first thing and then .... Oh wait til you see the airline upgrade. Ha ha.

 

[clivehorridge]

Nice job there Chris

 

[Chris]

Not many pics to show you today. But before bacon and egg this morning these were on. There is zero flex in them even with my weight. The are spot on, I have to say I am pleased with them. Makes the RTT very easy. Set it up and put it away again in under 5 mins on my own.



Piped the compressor in but had some issues. Looks like they sent me a mix of BSP and NPT fittings. They will fit one way round, mixed male to female, but not the other way. So I had to go to plan B. But twin air outlets now in place with a by pass so I can come straight from the pump and by pass the tank.



THIS IS VERY NEARLY THE END!

 

[Blown80]

THIS IS VERY NEARLY THE END!

Yeah sure. Heard that before.

 

[Chris]

I can't really bolt much more on even if I wanted to.

 

[Gary820]

Loaded all my gear into the boot today, can imagine yours weighs a fair bit fully loaded!!

 

[Chris]

Gary, next time I brim the tanks at Tesco, I shall pop it on the bridge over the road. I'd like to know axle weights and total gross. It's going to be a lot.

 

[Blown80]

Maybe brakes should be the next project......

 

[Chris]

Brakes? Not with you. I have new calipers and slotted discs all round. It stops just fine. Might get through pads quite quickly though.

 

[Chris]

Well it's getting very close now. Just tidying up and finishing off stuff. Got the fuel gauge in and sorted. Reads spot on for full and empty. This equals 25 litres. Red light comes on at 10 litres.



Had a head scratching moment and after using the truck a few times, decided the tent would be better pushed right forward. I undid the roof rack 'planks' and turned them around to save drilling new holes. Didn't take very long. As I could push the tent right forward it has created more room on the rack and there is space to put the custom ally roof box back up there.


At present I've put the Wolf boxes back. Some parts should have come from Patriot on Saturday but someone made a whoopise and they didn't arrive. So I used a bit of the front rail to see if I could get the RTT ladder to go up the rear of the truck. And it does. Makes accessing the boxes off the rear bumper so easy. Had the tent up and down today as well just to see if that manageable. The spin off benefit is that it's shifted the weight forward and the rear springs look a little relieved.

Driving nicely, feeling smoother and quieter too. Got power up to the tent too so I can have my phone and ipad etc charging inside the tent instead of in the truck. Needs a good clean and polish though and I'd still like to do the arches in a graphite grey / charcoal wrap.

 

[chadr]

I'm sure the truck looks as awesome as ever Chris but I can't see any of your pics......