Hodakaguy
Active member
Up early this morning and back at it.
Time to fabricate the remaining two dome light switch panels. It's pretty easy to change the square piece of aluminum into a finished panel. First up mark out the location you need to cut out for the switch and put the piece in the vice.
Using a drill I made 4 holes in each corner of the inside of the cutout area.
Now I used a jig saw to cut out the center area and follow the lines until I have a square.
Now use a washer to mark out the curve for the corners.
Then use the disk sander to make quick work of rounding the corners down to the marked line.
Now just drill the mounting holes, sand the piece and paint.
This is the power panel I'll use to power the fridge plus whatever else we need to plug in. I'll use a Powerlet port for the fridge instead of a US cig plug. The Powerlet is awesome as it snaps in when you plug something into the port and you don't have to worry about the fridge coming unplugged like a US cig plug when bouncing down a gravel road for miles on end.
For the 3 way dome light switch I'm using a double pole double throw switch. I was asked how I will wire the dome lights from two separate power sources so here's a quick sketch using these switches. The switches will allow each section of ceiling lights to be either: OFF, operated via the door from the starting battery or manually operated from the house battery. I like options
.
Back to insulation work. Cutting more 3M Thinsulate. A good pair of sharp serrated scissors is a must here to get a clean cut on the insulation, forget trying to use an razor knife etc.
Hodakawife doing an awesome job insulating the rear doors.
Can't tell it here but she worked insulation up inside all of the nooks and crannys.
Last year at the Adventure Van expo is Oregon (not overland expo as it says in the pic) my son came back to the van from visiting a vendor and had this piece of Thinsulate with him that the vendor had given him, he said it was to help with the buil . I saved it and it's time to give it a home in the drivers rear door. He was pretty happy today to see it getting installed.
I'm going to re-use the lower plastic factory panels so they went right back on. I'll have matching custom panels for the upper parts of the doors.
When removing the door go very slow and use a propper panel removing tool so you don't break any clips or the panel itself. Here's a shot of the back side of the panel so you can see where all the clips are located.
And back on the van.
Fishing the insulation In behind the L-track.
Cleaning up the factory wiring and making sure it will sit behind the wood strip when the panels go up. Adding a bit of loom here and there to ensure no chaffing points.
More to come....
Hodakaguy
Time to fabricate the remaining two dome light switch panels. It's pretty easy to change the square piece of aluminum into a finished panel. First up mark out the location you need to cut out for the switch and put the piece in the vice.
Using a drill I made 4 holes in each corner of the inside of the cutout area.
Now I used a jig saw to cut out the center area and follow the lines until I have a square.
Now use a washer to mark out the curve for the corners.
Then use the disk sander to make quick work of rounding the corners down to the marked line.
Now just drill the mounting holes, sand the piece and paint.
This is the power panel I'll use to power the fridge plus whatever else we need to plug in. I'll use a Powerlet port for the fridge instead of a US cig plug. The Powerlet is awesome as it snaps in when you plug something into the port and you don't have to worry about the fridge coming unplugged like a US cig plug when bouncing down a gravel road for miles on end.
For the 3 way dome light switch I'm using a double pole double throw switch. I was asked how I will wire the dome lights from two separate power sources so here's a quick sketch using these switches. The switches will allow each section of ceiling lights to be either: OFF, operated via the door from the starting battery or manually operated from the house battery. I like options
.
Back to insulation work. Cutting more 3M Thinsulate. A good pair of sharp serrated scissors is a must here to get a clean cut on the insulation, forget trying to use an razor knife etc.
Hodakawife doing an awesome job insulating the rear doors.
Can't tell it here but she worked insulation up inside all of the nooks and crannys.
Last year at the Adventure Van expo is Oregon (not overland expo as it says in the pic) my son came back to the van from visiting a vendor and had this piece of Thinsulate with him that the vendor had given him, he said it was to help with the buil . I saved it and it's time to give it a home in the drivers rear door
. He was pretty happy today to see it getting installed.
I'm going to re-use the lower plastic factory panels so they went right back on. I'll have matching custom panels for the upper parts of the doors.
When removing the door go very slow and use a propper panel removing tool so you don't break any clips or the panel itself. Here's a shot of the back side of the panel so you can see where all the clips are located.
And back on the van.
Fishing the insulation In behind the L-track.
Cleaning up the factory wiring and making sure it will sit behind the wood strip when the panels go up. Adding a bit of loom here and there to ensure no chaffing points.
More to come....
Hodakaguy
