Build/activities thread: 1989 Raider, 2010 Sequoia, and my other stuff.

[irish44j]

With new coil, distributor/cap, fuel pump and primer switch.....STILL hard starting, and worse now that it's really cold. So I guess the next thing on the checklist from the symptoms is injectors (since it still seems like they're leaking causing too rich mix in the cylinder until it clears out). If that doesn't work, will troubleshoot further. So, ordered up some injectors. But then we had this "big" snowstorm (got about 10", which is paralysis in this area). So it was cold and snowy and I spent two days shoveling, snow blowing, etc. I did get the Raider out in the snow for a bit, nothing difficult at this depth but it did fine, and of course too, a few snow pics...it was only about 5" at the time, between two bands, so pretty wimpy looking lol.

And I jury-rigged the hitch with a strap and towed my snowblower across the neighborhood to do my in-laws' driveway and sidewalk, which worked out fine but got some odd looks from people I drove by who were shoveling or whatever...

Oh, and tonight the injectors made it here...

Supposed to be cold AF for the next week or two, and the garage is double-occupied, so we'll see if I want to do the injectors and freeze my butt off (spoiler: if you read this thread, you know I'll just do it anyways because I have no patience...)

 

[irish44j]

So yeah, it got cold...

Not doing this stuff outside with the cold expected to go on for a couple weeks, so had to do some vehicle rearranging. The rallycar is out of action at the moment (fuel pump) and that side of the garage has an overhead rack that's too low to fit the Raider, so the Porsche had to come out and brave the weather. It had been sitting for a month and the battery was totally dead (gotta chase a drain, I guess....) to the point my jump pack wouldn't start it. So had to push it out manually and jump it off the Raider and then move it to the Raider's usual parking spot. Then to get the Raider into the garage I once again had to air down the tires to about 15psi (the roof boxes clear by about 1/2" that way lol). But all switched up...

a bit snug in here, though the Raider is so short in length there's actually about 6 feet of space in front of it (the Porsche is actually LONGER)

So, got into the engine, taking stuff apart and pulled the intake manifold to get to the fuel rail. Two of my plug wires separated the spark plug, so guess I'll be replacing those with some better ones. I pulled the plugs and they all look normal other than one that had the threads suspiciously wet and gassy-smelling, so hopefully this whole injector swap is the correct track to fix the hard starting. I'll put in new plugs while I'm there.

The old injectors. I honestly can't recall if I got these new/refurb when I first did this build. I guess I could look back in the thread but that seems like a lot of work for no reason.

Interestingly, the new ones have a thicker nozzle and more of a "fan" spray pattern. Unsure what that means...they both have the same part number on the casing, so who knows. The new ones fit just fine though.

So, shiny stuff in. I'm also replacing the FPR while I'm there, since it's pretty cheap and hard to access if that turns out to be the problem.

It also gave me the opportunity to check other stuff. I had noticed a small amount of coolant-like residue near the thermostat housing, and turns out both bolts for it had loosened up a bit so tightened them down. Also the bracket for the oil dipstick was way loose so cranked that bolt down as well (it's HARD to access with the engine in the vehicle, incidentally). And checked all my hard-to-access hose clamps for the heater hoses and such. Also found this:

This is one of the three plugs that go into the coolant block/thermostat area. I forget which of them is the ECU coolant temp, gauge, etc. I wonder how long this ground wire for it has been broken and if it has any negative effects. Anyhow, I spliced in some new wire and it's fixed now.

So as I wait for the new plugs/wires/IM gaskets to come in, a few other things. I got a larger medical pouch for the molle panel on the "door" in the back that fits my medkit and some additional items I want to add into there. Also did a bit of rearranging of some of the other molle stuff to make things easier to access.

I've also been looking for better cooking gear. I'm not much of a chef, but the pots/pans/utensils I have are mostly just crap leftover from the house kitchen or wal-mart, and the stove is just the cheapo Ozark Trail one form walmart. It' works, but it's cheap-feeling, rattly, and pretty low output in terms of BTUs. So I did some research and decided on a Camp Chef Everest, based on what I've read on the forums being a good one for a good price. I was about to buy it online but decided to check FB Marketplace real quick and it turned out someone about 20 minutes from me had one listed and available BRAND NEW for half the Amazon price. Apparently she got it for camping but never used it because it was too big to fit in their camper (??). Well, it's not too big for the little Raider, so I ran out and scooped it up tonight. Definitely bigger than the Ozark one, but not too huge. Also feels very nicely built and I like the lid lockdowns that double as locks for the wind wings. Naturally, it has a different input thread for the gas line than the Ozark one, so my regulated line for my 5lb tank doesn't fit :/ Why can't these companies just use a standard fitting already??? Talking to you Jetboil and Camp Chef lol...

Dog approves

Also searching for some better nesting pots/pans, utensils, and such. I don't like how my cooking kit packs out - badly-fitting stuff and not very good stuff taking up too much space. So we'll fix that going forward.....

 

[ZombieCat]

So yeah, it got cold...

Not doing this stuff outside with the cold expected to go on for a couple weeks, so had to do some vehicle rearranging. The rallycar is out of action at the moment (fuel pump) and that side of the garage has an overhead rack that's too low to fit the Raider, so the Porsche had to come out and brave the weather. It had been sitting for a month and the battery was totally dead (gotta chase a drain, I guess....) to the point my jump pack wouldn't start it. So had to push it out manually and jump it off the Raider and then move it to the Raider's usual parking spot. Then to get the Raider into the garage I once again had to air down the tires to about 15psi (the roof boxes clear by about 1/2" that way lol). But all switched up...

a bit snug in here, though the Raider is so short in length there's actually about 6 feet of space in front of it (the Porsche is actually LONGER)

So, got into the engine, taking stuff apart and pulled the intake manifold to get to the fuel rail. Two of my plug wires separated the spark plug, so guess I'll be replacing those with some better ones. I pulled the plugs and they all look normal other than one that had the threads suspiciously wet and gassy-smelling, so hopefully this whole injector swap is the correct track to fix the hard starting. I'll put in new plugs while I'm there.

The old injectors. I honestly can't recall if I got these new/refurb when I first did this build. I guess I could look back in the thread but that seems like a lot of work for no reason.

Interestingly, the new ones have a thicker nozzle and more of a "fan" spray pattern. Unsure what that means...they both have the same part number on the casing, so who knows. The new ones fit just fine though.

So, shiny stuff in. I'm also replacing the FPR while I'm there, since it's pretty cheap and hard to access if that turns out to be the problem.

It also gave me the opportunity to check other stuff. I had noticed a small amount of coolant-like residue near the thermostat housing, and turns out both bolts for it had loosened up a bit so tightened them down. Also the bracket for the oil dipstick was way loose so cranked that bolt down as well (it's HARD to access with the engine in the vehicle, incidentally). And checked all my hard-to-access hose clamps for the heater hoses and such. Also found this:

This is one of the three plugs that go into the coolant block/thermostat area. I forget which of them is the ECU coolant temp, gauge, etc. I wonder how long this ground wire for it has been broken and if it has any negative effects. Anyhow, I spliced in some new wire and it's fixed now.

So as I wait for the new plugs/wires/IM gaskets to come in, a few other things. I got a larger medical pouch for the molle panel on the "door" in the back that fits my medkit and some additional items I want to add into there. Also did a bit of rearranging of some of the other molle stuff to make things easier to access.

I've also been looking for better cooking gear. I'm not much of a chef, but the pots/pans/utensils I have are mostly just crap leftover from the house kitchen or wal-mart, and the stove is just the cheapo Ozark Trail one form walmart. It' works, but it's cheap-feeling, rattly, and pretty low output in terms of BTUs. So I did some research and decided on a Camp Chef Everest, based on what I've read on the forums being a good one for a good price. I was about to buy it online but decided to check FB Marketplace real quick and it turned out someone about 20 minutes from me had one listed and available BRAND NEW for half the Amazon price. Apparently she got it for camping but never used it because it was too big to fit in their camper (??). Well, it's not too big for the little Raider, so I ran out and scooped it up tonight. Definitely bigger than the Ozark one, but not too huge. Also feels very nicely built and I like the lid lockdowns that double as locks for the wind wings. Naturally, it has a different input thread for the gas line than the Ozark one, so my regulated line for my 5lb tank doesn't fit :/ Why can't these companies just use a standard fitting already??? Talking to you Jetboil and Camp Chef lol...

Dog approves

Also searching for some better nesting pots/pans, utensils, and such. I don't like how my cooking kit packs out - badly-fitting stuff and not very good stuff taking up too much space. So we'll fix that going forward.....

FYI, Bass Pro sells a nice padded bag to carry/protect your Camo Chef stove for $20. It keeps mine from getting beat up.

 

[irish44j]

I had expected to get plugs, wires, and a few other things from RockAuto today to put everything back together. Thought it was odd no "your shipment arrives today" notification and couldn't find a shipping email in my box. Went back to the RA page and found it was still on the checkout screen from 5 days ago, so I didn't hit "pay" button. So that's annoying (not the first time I've done this....) and now I'm waiting until Friday for parts hah.

I spent a bit of time shortening my winch wires. The winch came with long wires and when I installed I didn't have any large butt connectors/crimps so just coiled them up around the intake tube and kind of forgot about them. With the intake out at the moment, no time better to cut 18" out of them and "right length" them now that I do have large connectors. So did that (no pics, it's not exciting).

Well, no RockAuto, but I did get the first of a few things I ordered for my camp kitchen. As noted before, my kitchen gear so far has been crappy cheap pans and cooking utensils from walmart, which all kind of suck (both in usage and in packing). After a bunch of research and getting opinions of people on Overland Bound forum, still a lot of choices. In the end, for pots/pans I got a Stanley nesting set that comes with 4 plates/4 bows and some utensils. Not too expensive, stainless, lifetime warranty, and had several people suggest them as good for a budget. So they arrived today, and I'm pretty happy with the size of the set nested

Here's the layout.

The frying pan has a pretty thick base and feels like "home quality" and the folding handle seems very sturdy. The pot is nice, definitely lighter base but should be fine for boiling stuff, etc. The bowls and plates are nothign special, but are a decent size and should be fine. The plates feel like a Frisbee. The "Spork" utensil has a fork on one end and spoon on the other that connect with a tab and split to fit inside the nest. They seem fine, but the disconnect is tight and kind of annoying. The two larger utensils have similar setup but are easier and reasonably nice.

I will probably have some secondhand wood and stainless stuff to put in the kit eventually but will keep these in there as well. So that's it for the moment; I know, not that exciting.

 

[irish44j]

Another cold-ass day, a few other little things until I can put the engine back together.

So I do have a 5lb propane tank to take for longer trips, but sometimes it's just more convenient to have a 1lb if I just want to make some hot water or something small and don't want to hook up the larger tank. I don't like having 1lb cans just stuffed in wherever they fit, and came across this double-can 3D printed "rack" for them (on Amazon, but independent seller). It was pretty inexpensive so figured I'd give it a try, and it came in today. Overall, nice quality, great fit and a nice design

I mounted it up on the little swing-out door (where my Jetboil now lives) for easy access just high enough to get my footlocker out beneath it. So, it's pretty much out of the way, does the job, and uses space that nothing else really uses anyhow.

==

On the kitchen end of things, I ordered a Kelty kitchen bag that seemed to be the size, setup I wanted, and it came in today too. There are some cheaper knockoff one on Amazon, but this one seems to be built pretty well and has a lifetime warranty on it I think, and looks pretty nice.

It folds out so it can hang off a rack or whatever when cooking

I think it'll work great, but then I got distracted by my really annoying coffee box, which is totally inconvenient and I have to unload half of it to get to stuff I need.

Hey, let's see how the coffee stuff fits into the Kelty bag....

hmm...that actually works really well and makes all the coffee stuff easily accessible. So yeah, I'm gonna use it for that and order the other (slightly smaller) Kelty kitchen bag as well. I think the coffee stuff will actually fit in the smaller one and I'll use this one for cooking stuff. Or vice versa, TBD.

 

[irish44j]

So, my stuff from RockAuto came in so time to get the engine back together. Immediate problem.

They sent the wrong gasket kit for the IM. The part number is actually correct for this vehicle, so Fel-Pro is probabaly in the wrong here, not RA. Luckily, the old one was still in good shape so I just put a bit of RTV red on it and re-used it. Anyhow, got everything assembled, including new plugs, new wires, new PCV (while I was in there), all back together, then went to start it up, expecting it to just come to life and.....it didn't. Cranked, and cranked, I could hear it trying to fire. Eventually it fired up and......was misfiring badly. Like, barely staying running. WTF.....

Turned it off, checked the order of the plug wires (correct), checked that they were seated well (yes), triple-checked everything else was hooked back up...no dice. Then I pulled the plugs to check if I was getting ignition/combustion.

Hmm.....three of the six look like nothing is happening......no fuel. They were all sparking when tested. So now I think i got half a batch of bad new injectors, but that seems extremely unlikely. So maybe I broke some of the old wires in the harness while taking stuff apart? Either way, I have to take the IM and everything apart again to do that, grr. First I figure I'll check the plug for the one injector I can actually get to that wasn't firing....... now keep in mind, I cleaned up all the injector plugs/contacts and may have made an error regarding use of dielectric grease. I use that stuff on all the connectors on the 1985 rally car (e30) but those are tight German connectors. So I'm thinking maybe these not-German old mitusbishi connectors aren't as snug, and aren't wiping the grease when plugged. So I clean that one plug out well, and then use a little pick to bend in the contact surfaces for a tighter fit. I plug it back in and try the car. It stumbles to life again, still misfiring, but definitely LESS misfiring (like, 2 cylinders instead of 3). So that seemed like the solution. Took everything apart, pulled all the connectors, and cleaned/re-bent them like the other one. Plug it all back in, put it all back together, and after a few cranks it fires right up again. So that did the trick.

Now, that was last night. This morning I decided to test if it was starting quickly - since all this was due to perceived leaky injector or whatever. The answer is NO. I had to crank it for about 5-10 seconds before it came to life, which seems a lot like what the problem was previously. So I'm at a bit of a loss here now. Everything in the fuel system is new. New coil, plugs, wires. Did a smoke test and no vac leak. The only thing I haven't replaced is the little "ignitor" ....so maybe that's the culprit? THough again, engine runs perfectly once started. So may have to trouble shoot some more.

Oh....and while doing the rear plug on the driver's side, I leaned into the brake master reservoir (36 years old...) and it literally cracked across half of it...

Love that brittle plastic. Guess better to do it here than on the trail, so I have a new one on the way.

- also, my second Kelty kitchen bag came in. This one is the "not Deluxe" one which is only 10 bucks less. It's not as nice, and definitely not as large (which I'm surprised at, a bit), but should be fine for my limited cooking utensils, plates, etc.

It actually fits better in my cooking footlocker anyhow. The coffee one will live outside the box for quicker access :)

--
and just a quick follow-up, the new brake master/reservoir arrived. It's identical to the old one so that's good, because it meant I didn't change the master itself since no air got into the system, I just changed out the reservoir itself. So, I think the rig should be back in action now.

 

[irish44j]

With it down in the teens-20s today, the Raider was REALLY hard to start. Like, took a good 30 seconds of cranking. Once started, ran fine, and started up instantly after I was in the store for 15 minutes. Clearly it's not about an issue in the fuel/ignition hardware at this point, and the most likely culprit is the system that tells the ECU the coolant temperature when cold so it can change the fuel map. Oddly, this is the same sensor that had the broken wire on it that I fixed a few posts up. Maybe it's been broken for a while but it didn't matter until it started actually getting cold out. But fixing the wire didn't do anything, so there are three things in the system that could be the issue: the ECU, the sensor, or the wiring itself. The wiring is a tough one so not starting there. I have a spare ECU, so plugged that in and it made no difference....so ruled out. I'm searching for the spare sensor I have (or will order one today if I can't find it), and will try that. If not, then will start tracing wires......

 

[irish44j]

so, replaced the coolant temp sensor: no change
swapped out my spare ECU: no change
tested the wiring from the coolant sensor to the ECU: good continuity from what I can tell.
tried with various things unplugged to try to limp mode it (MAF, IACV, temp sensor): nope
removed and cleaned IACV: no change
removed and cleaned MAF: no change
replaced MAF with a new one: no change
checked more plugs, examined more wires: nothing noticeable of concern
at this point the only actual components left that I could possibly replace are the ignitor and the crank position sensor - and I can't see how either of those would work or not work depending on engine temperature or ambient temperature (independent of some other issue).

So it's probably down to a bad wire or something at this point. The next test may be to run a separate pair of wires directly from the sensor to the ECU pinouts and see if that helps. Otherwise, I'm pretty juch out of ideas and may just have to deal with long cranking times when it's cold - since it always starts eventually, and then runs fine until being shutdown overnight again. That's annoying AF but not the end of the world, as I'm pretty much over throwing more money at the problem.

On the upside, have a trip planned for a few days with some friends later in the month so it'll be nice to get back out into the woods and do some camping.

 

[irish44j]

today figured maybe I'd splice in a few extra grounds to various things with the idea that maybe a bad ground is causing stuff. Plan was to start with the coolant temp sensor, but got distracted as I noticed (again) that my thermostat housing was wet around the base. I've noticed this before but wrote it off to water from rain/snow or whatever, and snugged the (loose) bolts down thinking that would take care of it, but still leaking. So I pulled it off and immediately noticed the housing was cracked partly by one of the bolts. I thought about just JB welding it but housings are dirt-cheap (like $12) so just ordered a new one (and gasket/thermostat). A little part of me thinks "well, that leak is right next to the coolant temp sensor so maybe that was affecting something" but that seems highly wishful thinking lol.....

So so far I've not managed to fix the original issue, but had to replace the brake MC and the thermo housing (and alot of other things that didn't need replacing). So yeah, not exactly what I had hoped for lol.

 

[DintDobbs]

@irish44j This thread keeps me coming back to OB in the off season. I like small-scale builds and yours is very sophisticated, every thing purpose-designed, clean and tidy. Detailing the troubleshooting process on the forum might be boring to you at times, but nerds like me enjoy following the progress while we do our own maintenance. Keep chasin' it, eventually you'll get to the problem.

And your rally stuff is rad. Some day I hope to build a speed car, may be after I retire.

 

[irish44j]

@irish44j This thread keeps me coming back to OB in the off season. I like small-scale builds and yours is very sophisticated, every thing purpose-designed, clean and tidy. Detailing the troubleshooting process on the forum might be boring to you at times, but nerds like me enjoy following the progress while we do our own maintenance. Keep chasin' it, eventually you'll get to the problem.

And your rally stuff is rad. Some day I hope to build a speed car, may be after I retire.

lol thanks, hopefully I'll eventually have a solution to the boring troubleshooting stuff. This truck has been totally reliable since I first built it, so I'm not used to frustrations with it lol, even if this one is fairly minor since it always starts eventually.

it's funny it happened recently, since I had just been thinking "hmm, I can't think of much else to do on this rig at the moment" :P

Would eventually like to do some more things to the rig as well as some more adventurous trips farther from home, but I'm a federal employee so for the moment kind of in a holding pattern when it comes to spending money, etc. until there's a bit more clarity on how things are gonna shake out around here. Which is annoying, because I like to spend money on cars haha....

-- the rally stuff is fun, though I'm dialing it back a bit (lost two friends in the sport over the last two years so that kind of reduced my enthusiasm for it). And it's REALLY expensive compared to wheeling/camping. Two rally weekends (towing + entry + lodging) probably costs more than everything I've ever spent on the Raider. Build a speed car for track stuff, it's way more affordable :)

 

[irish44j]

well, not much real news on the hard start. Still doing it and I'm mostly out of ideas for the moment and have other things to do. It always starts eventually so I'm not losing sleep over it. This weekend heading out camping into western MD (which will be chilly) so doing some quick projects to address some minor things. It's been cold and snowy recently so biting into my project time...

Unsure how much snow we'll get this week, but the camping area could be snowy (old or new) and need to bring a snow shovel. This is a small rig and not a ton of room left inside as you well know. so stole some shovel mounts off my Sequoia and put them up top

So that should be fine. I also decided i'll probably sleep IN the rig this time rather than snowy/muddy ground so flipped the front seat around in advance for my platform (since no riders are expected)

Last time I just rested the front end of the platform on the back ledge and put some sweatshrits under it as base, but want to improve that a bit. So on the back end I added a couple pegs to stop it from sliding forward off the lip of the rear section

And built a basic front frame to hold it at the right level. Janky, but it works

So, that should be better...

Then loaded up most of my gear in case the weather sucks later this week (it will...). This little thing is getting a bit snug for sure...

Yesterday was a federal holiday and reasonably not-frigid, and sunny. In the winter with the low sun I get terrible glare off the hood (made worse by a 30+ year old windshield with lots of rock chips) so decided to sand it down and paint the center section with some satin bedliner to reduce reflections, which was pretty easy.

Came out pretty good and hides most of the dents and big scrapes on this beat-up old hood. I only had enough in the can to do the center section but may do the outsides as well at some point since the paint there is pretty awful.

 

[phlfly]

So since I have my build threads on my various vehicles elsewhere, I'll just pick up here where I am on those, and post about various stuff I'm doing TO them and WITH them (admittedly less cool than the adventuring many of you do, but hopefully they'll improve!

Here are a few relevant links if you want to see earlier stuff on the different projects (hopefully it's ok to post these here!)

Raider build (from the start): Rad Rally (Dodge) Raider (akaMonteroakaPajero) Build
- Cliffs: I built it out of two Raiders, and the end-result is that it has zero rust anywhere, it has the factory offroad package (basically an LSD rear end), it has the 3.0L V6, it has a manual transmission. Basically, it's practically a unicorn with all of those things together in a short-wheelbase Montero. It's mostly stock mechanically, Bilstein 4600s and some bushings, and just has some armor and A/T 31s on it, plus a home-made roof rack and a good bit of interior customization (like WRX seats on the stock "suspensions bases").

Sequoia build, though ExPo forum doesn't really seem to work these days, IDK..: Pitchblack Motorsports - 2010 Sequoia rally support and light adventure rig
- Cliffs: Stock-ish mechanically + Lexus 18s and BFG ATs slightly larger than stock, home-built 8' rack, road shower, awnings, lights, the usual. Plus a 7' sleeping/storage platform and som eother interior functional upgrades.

Offroad pickup bed trailer build (scratch-built frame with Mighty Max bed to match the Raider): Mighy Max Rally Service/Adventure/Utility Trailer

If you want to read about my 1985 BMW stage rally car build (and my 1988 Porsche 924S): BMW Rally Car + Porsche 924S Build + other projects

Here's the Raider:
View attachment 268458

Here's the Sequoia, which is used for some camping and mild offroad stuff, but mostly for towing and recovery of my stage rally car and hauling gear

Here's the Trailer, with the Raider and my old Sequoia
View attachment 268459

oh, and the rally car, since it's offroad more often than most 4x4s.

Just wanted to say hi we meet in Leesburg at Sheetz gas station
Cool car and trucks .
Maybe we can come out one day

 

[irish44j]

Yeah, great to meet you. I looked up your rig when I got home - very cool!

If you're on facebook, look up "Northeast 4x4 Club" - that's a lot of guys I wheel/camp with and they set up all kinds of events around the mid-Atlantic. Andy (who was out with me this weekend) is one of the guys who runs it.

 

[irish44j]

This weekend I headed out with my old college roomie and a couple of his friends to Green Ridge State Forest in MD/PA for some cold-weather camping. He's from Montana, an experienced camper, but is just starting to build his Tacoma to do anything really "offroady" so Green Ridge is good since it's pretty easy trails/roads that any stock truck/SUV can do without issue. Jim and Amanda decided to come along, and then Andy (who leads a lot of our trips) jumped in for Saturday/Sunday since he lives an hour away and loves to be a tour guide.

The weekend forecast was single-digit night temps, so decided I'd sleep inside the truck just to keep things easy. And of course had to bring more stuff (heater, more heavy clothes, etc) so it go pretty snug inside the Raider on the way out (granted, I could pack the sleeping bag in the compression bag, but why bother)

Met up with the group at the site - a large open site right next to 15-mile creek, which was frozen over pretty good. Friday night was super-windy too, so that was quite chilly with the temps already in the 20s...while eeryone set up.

Got to use the new grille (which is awesome), as everyone made some dinner and lots of hot drinks

Yeah, I'm so gourmet...

Got a good fire going and everyone hunkered down with whisky etc....

I'll note that Jeff brought his "hot tent" which would turn out to be very useful for a quick warm-up (and very good for him since I got food poisoning on Friday night and had a rough time - but not as rough as if he were in the single-digit temps!)

Anyhow, eventually everyone hit the sack. I got my warmed nalgene bottle of water (mostly for coffee in the morning), and put the buddy heater on for about 10 minutes to warm things up before getting into the sleeping bag (Marmot Never Summer, in case you care).

So as noted, temps outside got down to about 7 degrees that night. This is the coldest I've ever camped, and a few things made for a crappy night:
1. I slept with my head toward the rear of the truck as I've done before, but I didn't level it as well as I thought, and my head was slightly downhill I think. Plus a slight lean toward the side I like to sleep toward, made me feel like I was going to fall out of bed. Need to do better next time.
2. The Never Summer bag is warm AF, no issue there, other than I wish the zippers went further down to make it easier to get into. In fact, I ended up ditching my thermals by later in the night and was just in shorts and a t-shirt (and socks and a hat), but I was getting a 7-degree breeze on my neck so eventually dug out my hoodie from my bag while freezing, so that sucked. The bag was at the front driver's seat and hard to access inside when sleeping the other way. There's not a ton of space to sit up/turn around.
3. Something else I'm forgetting. Whatever, moving on....

In the morning my thermometer had the car inside temp at 30 degrees (which I find hard to believe, since just sticking my head out of the bag felt like the coldest I'd ever been, even as someone who has skied all over the world....) but eventually rolled out of there, heated up any clothes that weren't in the footwell of my sleeping bag, and got up to make some coffee and eggs (which were cold practically as soon as I put them on the plate lol)

Andy showed up an hour later and eventually we all rolled out so Andy could give the "tour" of Green Ridge to some of the new guys (I've been on the "tour"). Nothing too tough, the roads were largely dry with a few sections of residual snow, but it's nice to cruise around and see some scenery. A few frozen streams, nothing particularly deep. We did laugh as I went right over one without breaking the ice and then Andy's big GMC smashed right through haha..

At one point near the top of the part was a pretty good incline up to the overlook, covered in ice. Most of the bigger rigs had to get a good running start at it to get up - and the Lexus LX570 (driven by an Aussie overlander) actually didn't make it the first time and slid all the way back down with brakes locked (we expected that might happen, so it was a straight shot back to the gravel). The Raider has zero issue going up....almost did it in 2WD actually but needed to go 4WD to make it.

It never looks steep or slippery in pics, but trust me

Then a bit more scenic stuff, the spots everyone stops at....

Plus the old railway tunnel, which is pretty spooky

Headed back to camp on normal semi-maintained roads, I ran over a small tree branch that had fallen...nothing very big, and everyone else had already driven over it. The kind of thing you see 100 times on the trail every time out and never think about......And then...my clutch immediately went to the floor. WTF. Look under the truck and i see brake fluid all dumped on the ground/skidplate. And there's this fking piece of the dead branch sticking out from the (literally) 3" gap between the skidplate and the frame rail.

So now I'm looking up and I think it's somehow snagged/broken the clutch hardline, which would be a major issue, but as it turns out it somehow hooked the clutch soft line to the slave cylinder and pulled it just right so that it yanked the banjo bolt loose half a turn,which apparently was enough to spray out the fluid.

Seriously, I could run over that branch 1000 times and never have it do that again, just an unlucky thing. Luckily, I had brake fluid with me so tightened the bolt up and bled it lying in the dirt and getting brake fluid sprayed on me, and all was fine.

Swung by a brewery for a beer and some food and then back to camp again to hang out.

And I burned that damn stick, which somehow rode all the way back sitting on my rear swing-out where it was in the prior pic lol...

Anyhow, bedtime came earlier that night and this time I leveled the rig better, and slept facing the other direction, and put my hoodie on. And overall slept pretty well and wasn't cold except whenever I stuck my head or arm out of the bag, so that was good. Convincing myself to actually get OUT of the bag in the morning took some motivaton thought, lol...

Anyhow, Andy was already up with his electric coffee maker. He has a 2000W Jackery and was running a heated blanket all night in his rig with it, and uses it for coffee rather than propane.

Except the blanket on for 8 hours got him too low to finish his brew so he had to pour-over anyhow ahha

So yeah, we had some coffee, cooked some breakfast, and all headed home (Andy and I went to check out a couple other out-of-the-way campsites for future reference). All in all a good time, but one of the coldest times I can remember as well. Some more lessons learned on the camping side of things, but pretty pleased with the truck setup overall. Just a few minor tweaks to make this time around.

 

[Grit City Paul]

. . . but wait, what about that sweet-ass visor shelf . . . ? Work out alright ? After installing mine I could never see having switches anywhere else. . .

Great write-up, thanks for sharing.