Andy Cunningham

After the electrics on the Dakar acting up again, major remediation is called for.

This means: if it carries current, isn’t part of the engine loom, and I didn’t put it there, it’s getting replaced!

Phase I – the stuff that’s broken

• Run new main power feeds from battery II and alternator to …
• Install new fuse box with relays controlled by…
• New Ignition Switch controlling main power via relays on new box.
• Re-wire hazards and indicator lights using existing wiring
• Wire new side/head light switch to existing wiring

In this phase I’ll pick up the existing wiring fore and aft for the lights.

Phase II – the rest of the existing wiring

• Wire Internal Light to Dash switch
• Feed Radio, dash sockets from new fuse board (ACC I)
• Replace wiring to front and rear lights
• Re-wire driving and rear work lights to Battery I.
• New Winch Control to front and repair front winch
• New Winch Control and power to rear and install rear winch
• Investigate and fix wiper stop problem.
• on a related note, install new washer jets and re-wire washer motor to new switch.
• Tear out anything not connected to the Engine ECU that isn’t my wiring and fix what’s broken.

Phase III – new stuff

• Install LED/strobe beacons
• Create new warning light panel to side of existing dash
• Re-wire Ignition, Oil Pressure, and Main beam switches back to new panel.
• Wire in a pair of Anderson Power Poles as ACC II to power amateur radio kit while out in the Dakar
• Install Circuit breaker in parallel with X-charge relay to allow starting from 2nd battery if isolated.
• Install warning light when second battery in circuit, and when second battery isolated when ignition on.

Yeah, lots of work.

So far I’ve got most of the bits, started to assemble the switch panel harness, fuse/relay box, and ignition switch harness.  Let’s see how this goes.

To give you an idea of the challenge, this is the space under the steering wheel right now:

And this is the space for the new switch panel:

The evidence is here

What happens when you take a Range Rover, remove 1/3 of the wight with a fibreglass body, swap the engine for a 5.7l Chevy small block V8, and strap a brace of turbos and a custom fuel injection system on it?

And then go for a play in the snow.  Skip the first 2 minutes.

Just got back from a cracking day out with the Thames Valley 4×4 Club at Hogmoor.

It’s a fantastic site – and it was good to have a co-driver for some of the day as well.

A job that I’ve neglected for a while is to replace the speedo cable on the Dakar.

Well, I say I’ve neglected it, but the truth is I replaced the broken cable soon after getting it.  And the speedo still didn’t work.  It’s finally risen up to a job worth tackling, and over the period of several days I worked out that the square drive on the end of the cable clearly hadn’t engaged properly in the mechanism on the side of the transfer box.

A post on the LR4x4 forum describes the fit better than I can.

After much exploration, not to mention removing the gear from the transfer box, I discover the problem – the end of the cable is 3mm across.  The hole in the transfter box is 2.75mm across.  I resort to using the Dremel to pare down the end of the cable, and hurrah, it fits. I just need to replace the drained out gear oil now, and all is happiness.

I still have a couple of other jobs to tackle to make the Dakar rather more pleasant to drive.

• Replace the broken wing mirror – with the poor rear visibility the wing mirrors are vital.
• Replace the worn and clunky wiper mechanism.
• Fix the dash gague lights.

Parts for the first two are en route.  The third is still at the troubleshooting stage.

Once that’s done it’s time for a complete set of fluid replacement – well not quite, as the axles were done last year, but engine oil, auto box oil, transfer box oil, and brake fluid all need doing.