Mouse

[xathor]

I figured I would post a "build?" thread on my 1990 Land Rover Defender 90 200Tdi, as I pretty much am always doing something to it. I try to pick one little project a day... and I have lots of little projects. I'm very much a DIY, not buy, kind of guy... so hopefully my posts will help someone out.

In August of 2017 while my wife was out of town I flew with a long time friend of mine to about 30 minutes outside of D.C to check out a Defender I had seen for sale on the internet. The pictures weren't super great, but after having looked for a few years this one really called to me. The price was considerably lower than I had expected to pay for a decent Defender, so I was intrigued. The seller also had two 130's for sale and this 90. Unfortunately upon initial inspection, it appeared pretty much nothing electrical worked minus the starter. The alternator wasn't charging, it had dual batteries, one was totally shot and a bunch of interesting wiring. The only real problem was the non-charging alternator, which was fixed somewhat by exciting it with liberal application of the skinny pedal.

So I purchased Mouse (named after the mouse figurine a previous owner glued to the dash) and prepared for the 700ish mile trip home in a totally unknown Land Rover. I had done similar trips on dirt bikes, so how bad could it be?

I brought with me an assortment of tools, also owning a Discovery 1... I am familiar with what tools are needed to work on a Defender.

So funny story, apparently you can't bring any tools longer than 7 inches on a plane. I ended up nearly missing the flight, having a mild panic attack that TSA might seize my tools and luckily was able to check my toolbox and retrieve it without anything missing.

The trip home was totally uneventful. The only tool I needed was a #2 phillips head screwdriver and my multi meter. I did have to stop for ant spray and sunscreen, two things that never crossed my mind to pack! I didn't want to push an unknown motor so I stayed at 60mph pretty much the entire time, which made the trip take two days. Unfortunately 60mph in Virginia is pretty much asking to get flattened by a semi truck.

My first task was to rid the truck of the shitting wiring. Having went to school to be an electrician, I don't like shitty wiring.

From then up until present I went through most of the wiring harness and everything works minus the horn, which just needs to be replaced. The interior light doesn't work, but that's because I am replacing all of it and in the process of adding LED's around the inside of the cab.

I had recently pulled the dash to check all the wiring behind it and add a few more circuits, fused, from the battery.

Added a Blue Sea fuse panel behind the dash for all the additional projects in the future.

Added additional wiring and speaker wires for a 300W amp installed next to the battery.

Also installed a Whelen TIR3 in the fog light spot, wired up to the brake lights and replaced all the lights with LED.

Not sure I am super happy with the LED bulb in the projector housing. Might put a projector lens inside the reflector housing, similar to how Singer builds their headlights for their 911's.

Needed a headunit, but I don't fancy the crazy pulsing LED's of modern headunits and I wanted something I can customize. Also, I needed an on-board computer for future projects so I glued a 7 inch touch screen to the center console cutout and attached a Raspberry Pi 3+. I'm by profession a Linux guy/programmer, so this was a natural fit.

When plugged into my phone the computer runs OpenAuto, which functions like Android Auto. Works well, has Google Maps, Waze, Google Music, shows notifications, etc. When unplugged, I use Kodi to play music. Right now I am using a USB DAC as a sound card for the Pi, but I will probably buy a HiFiBerry in order to have better sound and an equalizer. I've got a 10hz GPS receiver that will log routes for me, as soon as I program it up. Still looking for open source GPS mapping for the Pi, but I haven't looked too hard right now. My phone works like a WiFi hot spot, so I can use Google Maps and such on the browser when not using Android Auto.

I had tried multiple storage solutions... I didn't like this too much, mainly because it was slightly too large to fit flush and sometimes the drawers would fly open in a corner. It also screamed, "Steal me!"

I strapped a ActionPacker in the corner and put my Pelican case in front of it, which worked well over the winter. Unfortunately it's getting hot as f*$@ in Alabama, so I naturally want to leave my side windows open. I was afraid someone might just reach in and walk away with my Pelican case, so I needed another plan.

Modeled in Fusion 360...

The drawer couldn't be too wide or it would hit the door, so I made this long skinny slot for long tools like breaker bars and torque wrenches. Also my snatch strap fits nicely in it.

Built out of 3/4 MDF...

Rough test fit. The drawer was coated with bed liner then painted over with Krylon, mainly to see how I would like the texture and durability. The drawer front will either be steel or wood. Might line the top with carpet, we'll see. The back pocket is going to have a lid of some sort whenever I figure out how I want to do it. This is essentially just a place to stash items that can be reached from the driver/passenger seat.

 

[xathor]

... continued!

Took all of the windows out to tint them, I hate tinting.

Looks much better now, I also tinted the front side windows... not show in the picture.

New radiator as the old one was horrid. I've got a pusher fan, not installed yet that I am testing. Might do a push/pull combo. It doesn't overheat without a fan, so no rush so far.

Painted the roof rack in my favorite rattle can hammered finish.

Painted the attachments red, just because I could. I also snagged a tree going through a parking lot and came back home with a souvenir.

Mouse came with a locking metal center console, but it is quite narrow for the opening, a little short of a good elbow position and lacked cupholders. Fusion 360 to the rescue.

Made of 21/32 Birch plywood for no particular reason. I probably should have made this out of MDF.

In comparison with the locking metal one, mine doesn't lock (yet) but is wider, deeper, taller and has cup holders. It also features a much firmer padded armrest covered in only the finest old uniform material. I kind of halfassed building it... I need to sand it down some, fill in some spots and reline it. My plan is the install a drain inside and then flex seal the entire inside so it can be used as an ice box for drinks.

I drive Mouse every day and try to work on something everyday, so I am sure I'll have plenty of things to post here if people are interested.

 

[tritonl]

Nice upgrades.


Sent from my iPhone using OB Talk

 

[xathor]

I wasn't happy with the finish of the Krylon rattle can over the bed liner. I went ahead and covered the box in black latex paint, which the parts of the box that weren't covered in bedliner absorbed nicely. I highly recommend just using the latex paint over bare MDF.

I went ahead and put a 3/4 inch poplar face on the drawer and stained it just for fun.

Tomorrow I'll probably finish up my DIY Arduino EGT gauge project now that I finally found an exposed tip ungrounded probe. Stay tuned for that.

Sent from my Pixel using OB Talk mobile app

 

[xathor]

I got tired of the drawer banging open and closed constantly, so I built a little latch. Routing tiny parts is super sketchy. I had considered more complex alternatives, but this is easy and just works.

I've been building a digital EGT gauge that averages, records peak EGT and current EGT. It'll be a relatively cheap and easy electronics project using a Arduino, Adafruit MAX31855 and a color OLED display. The project is mostly finished, I need to put final touches on it. My problem was that the cheap EGT probe I got was listed as ungrounded and it was actually grounded. I finally found a supplier of a high quality exposed tip ungrounded EGT probe that says it's good for EGT's that the 200Tdi will produce. Once I'm finished testing and touching up the code, I'll release it for everyone. I expect the project to be cheap. The total cost will be under $100 inf you purchase the highest quality of every part.

The new EGT probe from Amazon... This one is MUCH higher quality than any other EGT probe I have tested for only a few dollars more than the cheapest ones I could find.

This is the location pre-turbo that the probe is installed in.

I'll post a picture of the project here shortly whenever I find it on my phone...

 

[xathor]

Here's a tiny gif of the EGT gauge I have been making for a while. It runs off an ESP32 (~$9), a MAX31855 ($4-$16), an OLED ($12-30) and an EGT probe ($18).

My gauge shows instantaneous EGT temp as well as peak and average EGT. The colors change depending on how high the EGT gets, yellow for a mild high EGT and red for danger zone. The screen will also flash white and red (or whatever you want) to let you know you've gone over your EGT threshold. The average can be set for a time limit of how ever long you want... if that's last 30 seconds or last 5 seconds, or the last 10 minutes. I can also add additional values and a lot of other stuff if people are interesting or have idea's.

It's not ready to be released yet as sometimes the MAX31855 goes nuts, I need to do some more troubleshooting to determine why it goes nuts and how to stop it.