Author: Nigel Ferguson

This particular job has been in the planning stage for at least 18 months…………

Shortly after purchasing the Perentie I knew that I wanted to upgrade the rear drum brakes to discs. There was no conversion kit available in the UK and the only option would be to swap the whole axle, maybe from a Discovery 1. I wanted to retain my strong Salisbury axle, so this was not an option.

My friend and Land Rover afficianado Darren pointed me in the direction of KLR Land Rovers in Australia, the same outfit from which I was sourcing the Water Pump and related parts. KLR make a specially machined hub and bracket than enables the discs to be bolted on to the Salisbury rear axle. I had discs on the front already.

The parts were ordered up and have been sitting on the shelf since January 2021.

Other jobs took priority, but in the meantime I replaced all of the brake pipes in readiness; eventually the time came to do the job. I decided to replace the rear bearings at the same time and also new bearings, discs and pads on the front. The swivel joints looked good, so I would end up with a completely new bralking system and bearings – Fab!

Now this job was on the edge of what I thought I could tackle on my own, so Darren very kindly offered to help me. He was conviced that we could do it in a long day – it would have taken me a fortnight on my own, I am sure.

The day of the job arrived and Darren arrived with an assortment of parts that “may” be needed, and I hoped that I had ordered all of the other stuff correctly.

With the vehicle jacked up and supported we made a start by removing the existing rear drums.

This where I would have ground to a holt on my own, as I simply did not have the strength to get to drums off as they were on VERY tight – Darren to the rescue.

I tried to mirror on one side of the car what Darren was doing on the other, but I also had cleaning the hubs and packing the bearing with grease duties (very messy) to fulfill!

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Then the “Special Brackets” can go on.

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With the bearings greased up and hubs back on, the discs and calipers can be mounted.

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With the rear done, it was time for lunch before tacking the same process again with the front of the Perentie.

We worked so hard in the afternoon, I forgot to take pictures, but we eventually finished by about 7.30pm – in time to enjoy a delicious supper made by Benita.

Given that my compressor had given up the ghost so we could not use Darrens pressure brake bleeder, we decided to leave bleeding through until another day.

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We are both usually such organised workers, but you would not believe the number of tools scattered around the drive at the end of the day……..not to mention the empty Britpart boxes – I finished tidying up the next day.

My sincere thanks to Darren for his help on the day (and on many others!)

Now, I am no Plumber and I don’t like Plumbing – but what I do know is that water is not dissimilar to electricity in the way that it flows. Oh, and it won’t give you a shock or cause a fire………..

So I drew a plumbing diagram, like a wiring diagram.

I knew I needed a sink with hot and cold water and the same for a shower output. I just needed to get cold water to both and to the water heater and from the the heater, to the sink and the shower – simple….

Well it would have been if you were not trying to install it in a Land Rover, but at least I had a plan.

The water tank was going under the vehicle where spare wheel was mounted – the water heater would just fit into one of the side lockers. The filter and expansion tank would go into another side locker and the pump in a cabinet inside the vehicle – just need to connect them up…………

I decided to use John Guest fittings as they were east to fit and virtually leak proof when connected – once I worked that they do not work with standard (blue) water pipe we were away.

There are a number of options for heating water, most are designed for larger vehicles and run on gas; others heat the water from the engine and I did not want to run pipes (which would be vulnerable to damage) from the engine to a calorifier.

I sourced a small (6 litre) water heater from Surejust whch would just fit in the side locker. This unit works on 12v DCand 240v on an immersion basis. The idea being that you heat the water whilst travelling from a 12v DC circuit. The insulated tank then keeps the water at a reasonable temperature for 24 hours – we will see. With a hook up, no problem as the 240v supply will give us constant Hot Water.

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The cold supply to the heater and the hot water (via an expansion tank) back had to run underneath the vehicle to prevent the drilling of even more holes in the vehicle.

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I used bulkhead fittings to get the pipes through the body, though this meant that the pipes were a little longer than I would have liked, as you need some slack to able to make the connnection. I learned the hard way as the first connections leaked and I had to make the pipes a little longer so they clicked in properly. They are nowhere near the wheel travel, so I should be OK.

Inside, pipes were run up from the water storage tank into the pump and out via an accumulator tank to the sink/shower and heater. Likewise the hot return goes off to the sink and shower.

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I went for a larger sink, so a least it would be of some use – no point if you can only fit a cup in it! – a nice stainless steel one from Amazon and a mixer tap with John Guest connections was sourced.

I am no carpenter either, but I managed a reasonable job of making a frame and a worktop – given that everything was a bit wonky and it was difficult to get a good fixing. This can aways be re-done in the Winter now I know the measurements.

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The splashback, worktop protection and the cupboad fronts which have magnetic catches are are an aluminium composite which can be ordered in exact sizes from Sheet Plastics.

The cupboard fronts were a pain, the first trial was with plywood, whch was too heavy – I then used these as a template for the composite.

When looking for a water tank, it turned out the standard Fiamma one fitted the space perfectly; I know its blue, but I figured that it would look worse if I painted it it, when the paint started to come off…………

I fitted the water tank one weekend using the metal straps supplied – then decided that it did not look right, also the tank had a tendancy to move slightly and I could not get it to tighten sufficiently.

When the vehicle was with Neil Read for the heater fit (more of that later) I asked him to make up some brackets for me – as usual he did a splendid job.

I purposely fitted the tank upside down so I could use the big red cap to empty and clean – this meant adding the nut-in fitting in slightly different locatiosn to the ones that Fiamma suggested. I also fitted a level guage and a heater, in case we encounter low temperatures a some point – maybe in America.

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Wiring for the heater and level monitor. You can also see the fitting for the filler and the output at the bottom.

After having connected up most of the 12 v circuits, I needed a way of switching them.

A couple of circuits were sent to the front of the vehicle to be switched from the Centre Console – for example, one of the rear lights for reversing and an on/off for the water heater. I also needed a place for the control panel for the Votronic DC to DC charger.

I could not find anything off the shelf, so in the end measured up and sourced a black adaptable box in the correct size. Mud Stuff sell a panel for Carling Switches, so I got that and 6 switches to install in the box.

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Bringing the wires to the box position was straightforward, a couple were a bit short and needed lenghtening. At this stage making careful notes of the colours for each circuit.

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I left a bit of space, as I knew I would need a location for a water level guage and the control panel for the heater at a later date.

A similar wiring job was carried out in the front, adding circuits for the alarm, water heater, rear reversing light, fuel transfer between tanks, heater, a USB Charger and a spare!

The LED for the Alarm was added in the same location.

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Another job done, although it did take a couple of days to get it all working correctly.

Whilst I had spent time calculating power requirements, battery storage and the Watt hours that solar panels of various sizes can provide, this is at its very best, theoretical.

I only have so much room on my roof for solar panels I have no room to transport additional portable panels and only so much space to store batteries.

The runners for the roof bars restrict the width of the roof panels that I can install and I want to retain the ability to store some light stuff on the roof, at the front using roof bars (without casting a shadow on the panels and restricting power generation).

I also wanted flexible panels as these are lighter and can fix directly to the roof, thus keeping weight on the roof to a minimum, important as we have to lift it regularly to access the sleeping area.

After the usual research, I found a 200w panel at Photonic Universe which fitted exactly between my roof bars and was self adhesive, so less messing around with sealant during installation. A bonus was that the panel was manufactured in Austria and not China!

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The panel was installed with the wiring block towards the front, so that the cables can more easily be passed through to the interior. Strangley, some flexi panels have the wiring block in the back, so it pays to read the small print.

Next time I would get some help positioning the panel on the roof, as once the adhesive touches the surface, it is not going anywhere; I had to tale a small slice off of the right hand side just to make it fit correctly. I will add Sikaflex to the edges to ensure that water does not get underneatht the panel.

All that remains is to connect up the wiring and fit a Scan Strut waterproof grommet where the cable passes through the side of the roof.

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Then add some protection to the worres and we are all done. I will finally secure the wires to the roof bars once I know there final position.

The scratches on the paint were as a result of removing the front roof rack and will be sorted when the rack is re-fitted.

All Done!

When we had the VW T25Camper, the electrics were rudimentary at the best and caused problems.

The Perentie will require much more power, so I spent a lot of time thinking about and calculating exactly what power would be required and how to store sufficient when we were off grid.

I am not going to cover the detail here as this has been done many time before and can be found easily on You Tube. However, it is not all correct………I would recommend Greg Virgo’s channel on You Tube. I will just explain what I did and why.

I do not want to carry gas as a permanent fixture, partly because I have no room, secondly and more importantly; I don’t like it from a safety point of view. Different fittings in different countries are a complication and I don’t want the hassle in the USA. A portable gas burner used whist in the UK, will be fine though, for occasional use.

So, I wanted enough power to be able to use a low powered kettle and induction hob, if not connected to the grid; even to save the cost of an electric hook up for an overnight stay. We would be driving most days, so keeping batteries charged should not be as issue, especially as I am planing solar as well.

So the core of the system is a Votronic 3 way DC to DC charger which is a compact unit and negates the need for a separate Solar Controller. It will intelligently charge the leisure and starter batteries when the vehicle is running, from solar and from a 240v/110v supply when plugged in.

The 12v supply was easy. I used a Blue Sea fuse box with a common earth from the leisure batteries with a 50a breaker for protection. This gave me 12 x 12v circuits which was just enough. (I did have to double up on the LED lights, but these draw hardly any power).

With the 240v, I wanted to be able to easily switch between mains (shore) power and the 240v supply that was being provided by the inverter when off-grid. Therefore having only one set of 240v wiring. I was only running three 240v circuits, one for a light, one for a double socket with USB points and one for the water heater (see separate post).

So I split the shore power coming in. One supply went to the Votronic Charger and another to a 2 Way double pole isolator switch.

The output from the inverter also went to the double pole isolator switch, so I could choose the source of my 240v supply. The output from the switch goes to a distribution board for the 3 x 240v circuits that have their own RCD. This means I can add more 240v circuits later , if needed.

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Thus all added up to quite a few wires. You have power in from the Solar which is fitted with an isolator as it is always live. Then power out to the starter and leisure batteries with an earth. Then you are feeding power back from the leisure batteries to the 12v fuse box and the inverter. The inverter is 3000w so a big cable with a 250w breaker. There are also a few wires for battery monitoring and others that I needed to run to the front of the vehicle, so I can switch them from there e.g. A rear light and the water heater.

I fitted all of the electrics into a cabinet that we got with the vehicle, this was placed just inside the rear door, on the passenger side. I had previously run the wires that would need a 12v supply to this location.

The water will go in an identical cabinet on the drivers side.

Well, we were always going to need a heater and I must admit that I have been putting it off for a long time. But as the end of the build approaches, the job must be done.

Something always has to be last and in this case it is the heater, partly due to the cost, as it has to be professionally installed and partly, I was struggling to decide when to put the heating unit itself and the hot air outlets in the vehicle.

Early on, the thought process was, that if I put the heater in first, then it was bound to be in the wrong place. Leaving it until last, reduced the options for the installation and required a little ingenuity to get the thing fitted so it worked well, but in the end everything worked out.

Again a number of options for air heaters exist and it is easier to make a decision for an air heater, than for a water heater. Simply it had to be a diesel heater as I would always be carrying plenty of fuel for it. Eperspacher units seem to handle altitude better than Webasto, so that was the decision made.

I have mentioned Neil Read before in a few posts and I had already been in touch with Krueger a firm in New Milton that are Eperspacher installers. I did not realise initially that Krueger is opposite Neils workshop and that Neils son, Owen, works there……….

So when the Perentie was at Neils having the front roof rack sorted (Yes, in another post) we all met up and had a look at install options.

Not the easiest, but my suggestion that the heater unit was fitted on the chassis next to the second fuel tank was agreed upon. Owen figured the positions for the air intake and suggested solutions for two air outlets, one by the front passenger seat, slightly elevated and the second running towards the back of the vehicle to provide warm air at the back of the vehicle. Neil was happy to make a bracket to fix the heater to the chassis and to protect it from the elements.

I had already run a power supply from the main fusebox, so we were good to go.

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Neil fitted the bracket, having already drilled the precise positions for the mountings and the outlets.

Over to Owen to fit the heater itself, the air intake, the outlets and the exhaust – this was positioned on the drivers side, well out of the way of the awning, which is on the passenger side.

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There was just enough room in the passenger footwell for the intake. Next to my newly made gearbox tunnel carpet!

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Outlets are in the rear between the fridge and the electric cabinet and next to the passenger seat for heat to the front. Land Rover heaters are notoriously rubbish, so this will be a great addition to the vehicle and used daily in the Winter.

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The next issue was where to position the (small) control panel. My plan originally was to be able to turn the unit on and off from a switch on the centre console and contol detailed options from the rear. However, in reality the unit needs constant power to retain its settings, so this was ruled out.

At the moment the panel is in the rear near to my main switch panel, good for camping, but awkward in the Winter when you just want to turn the heater on for everyday driving. I could move it to the front, but then, when camping, we can’t reach it.

There is (a very expensive) solution; the App – there is an app for everything……..But the app needs a module which also need a home and approx £500!

So at the time of writing the Jury is out…………………..

I not sure that they really needed to be replaced, but they needed to come out…….

This was because there was some surface rust on the bulkhead where they are fitted and a leak into the drivers footwell, the source of which was hidden by the said fittings – well that was the theory.

These are relatively inexpensive parts, so may as well replace them as they have been removed.

Oh! and the brake pipes, these were steel and looking sad, the fittings were also showing signs of corrosion; so these needed to be replaced. The problem here is that they are not all standard UK Land Rover parts, so I had no choice as to buy the correct tools and make my own; another learning curve.

Dodgy brake fitting

The first thing to do was to take everything apart to see what we were dealing with, this went smoothly.

Some surface rust, caught in time, was dealt with, together with a few holes in the bulkhead where screws had once been. Also, some restoration on the pedal towers, these were replaced with new seals to the bulkhead.

I replaced the pipe from the Clutch Master to the join with the Flexi hose from the slave, which had already been replaced.. Luckily this was a standard Land Rover part and ran up along the top of the bulkhead behind the air filter.

The other brake pipes were more bespoke, so it was out with the brake flaring tool. Now, this one one time when it is best to ignore what you see on the internet and ask someone who actually knows. There is various advice online about the flares needed and most of it is wrong. My Land Rover guru friend Darren confirmed that both inner and outer flares were required.

Making the pipes was not difficult once you had the right gear, the flexi hoses were standard, but I got the ones for a vehicle with 2 inch lift, because of the suspension and wheel changes; stainless steel so they will not corrode!

The pipe runs were a different matter as they must have be fitted originally before the engine and steering box went in. Anyway, patience prevails and these were made up and fitted.

The one which was impossible was the pipe that ran from the master down under the steering box, along the front chassis member and around to the nearside front wheel. This was mostly because I could not remove the old one, let alone wiggle a new one into place. So I decided to follow the path of the clutch pipe along the top of the bulkhead and take a different path down to the nearside wheel.

So that is where we are with the brakes.

I have new discs, pads and wheel bearings for the front, as well as the rear disc brake conversion kit for the rear, So I will wait for this work to be done before bleeding the system through and testing.

I will leave the clutch slave for now as I might change the transmission later in the year, but more of that later as well.

Well, there is no room in a Land Rover for a shower, (or a Loo for that matter) so what is the solution?

An Alu-Cab Shower Cube………………of course!

You may recall that I fitted an All-Cab 270 degree awning last year, which is a brilliant piece of kit. I have used it all Winter, keeping me dry when working in the car in all weathers.

Well, the Shower Cube works on a similar principle. It is mounted to the base of the Alu-Cab roof, two aluminium arms fold out and the fabric drops down to form the cube – all in less than 2 minutes.

As I have said before this type of working is all about thinking three steps ahead (at least). I wanted to fit steel a cabinet just inside the rear door of the truck, so the shower cube had to go on now, else I would loose access to fit it.

Bearing in mind that this was during lock down, a search on the internet found and total of “none” for sale. I purchased the main awning from Tuff-Trek and they were showing no stock.

I rang Dara at Tuff Trek to see when stock from South Africa would be available; after a pause I was informed that they one remaining in the warehouse – SOLD.

They also had the Storm Gutter for the 270 Degree Awning in stock. This fits between the rear door and the edge of the Awning and prevents water from falling between the two and running down your neck!

The Cube arrived very quickly and after the debacle of fitting the 270 Awning, I sat down with the instructions – same process so easy? – Well it would have been if they had sent the correct brackets.

Another call to Tuff Trek was disappointing as they had no stock, but would try to source some. I had little hope as I knew that Alu-Cab in South Africa had been shut during the Pandemic. For once good news, Dara called back to say that they had found a set in South Africa and they were on their way. They were with me within 10 days and Tuff Trek arranged to pick up the incorrect brackets – Great Service!

And yes. fitting was easy. With the help of my dad we marked the position of the brackets, avoiding the supporting struts inside the Alu-Cab roof and bolted then into place.

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That done it was a simple matter to attach the Cube to the brackets.

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Then open up the Cube………………….

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The only drawback I guess is that it does not have a roof, not great for using the Loo in the rain, but an Umbrella will serve the purpose.

Note the extra piece of cargo rail slightly lower down for the loo roll and shower gel……what did I say about forward thinking!

Thinking ahead (again), it is likely that I will want to carry something, maybe sand ladders, on the side of the vehicle. Off side only as there is a window on the near side.

Given that work on the inside will be carried out soon, I need to mount Cargo Rail (1805 light duty tracking) now. Once the interior panels are fitted, I will not be able to access the ends of the bolts to secure them.

I found some very nice Aluminium Brackets from Oryx Solutions in Germany which fold down, so you could use a mounted sand ladder or recovery track as a make shift table. These were ordered as they would determine the gap between cargo rails.

Oryx make some great products for all sorts of vehicles and if I had not wanted to make use of the cabinets that I already had, then their range of interior fittings would have been very tempting; maybe next time!

The brackets are beautifully made but very expensive, especially when you factor in import duty. The actual cargo rail and fittings are not exactly budget purchases either!

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Having the ply lining inside, made a very secure way of bolting the Cargo Rail on the vehicle.

This was one of those jobs that you cannot do on your own, so I enlisted the help of my Dad to hold the top rail whilst the holes were drilled and the rail bolted into place – stainless steel with lots of Sikaflex.

We then used the brackets to correctly position the bottom rail and repeated the procedure.

It was then simple to mount the brackets . I have other fittings, so can use the rail for other items as well, in the future.

I ordered some recovery boards, that I suspect we will only use for levelling the vehicle on camp sites and for getting out of the odd slippy situation. If we were considering serious off reading then I would go for the Matrix product.

The fittings in the brackets that secure the load, have very clever locks built in – great security – you get what you pay for.

You can see our Shower Cube in the picture, I will cover this is a separate post.

Before I start talking about where I have installed electrics etc, I guess it is best to discuss the internal fixtures and why they have been used.

When we bought the vehicle it had a large very secure and lockable “Gun Drawer” this was the width of the floor at the rear and about 1m deep. There was also another steel cabinet (“T” Chest) which is designed to sit between the “wheel arches”, this is made from heavy steel and is also lockable.

In addition, there were two other cabinets which the the previous owner was going to install either side of the rear door, on top of the wheel arches. These were actually tool chests, but turned their side they became a cupboard; but with one problem! You can get this of thing from various places but I think they were sourced from Mobile Storage Solutions.

These items are all very heavy, so again help was enlisted from my Dad in order to check out how these were going to be installed. Regular readers will recall that they were removed because a leak soaked all of the carpet underneath them. The leak, seems to have been fixed…………….

The idea was to fit the “T” Chest where it should be, behind the bulkhead and then place the gun drawer in front of it, the idea being that the gun drawer would open though the open rear door.

When we tested this, the gun drawer extended towards the rear door to the point that the two cabinet doors would foul the top of the gun drawer. Whilst this could be solved by the application of an angle grinder, this would make a right mess and was filed under “too difficult”. Given that we would have to stand on the Gun Drawer when inside the vehicle, was another reason for not doing this, although it would have made accessing the bed in the awning easier. We will have to find another solution for that.

So we ended up with this layout.

The gun drawer was pushed right back up against the bulkhead and the steel cabinet was placed on top of it. Not ideal, but the space under the left and right hand sides of the back steel cabinet can still be used. I could have had the shape of the black cabinet changed, but I did not, in case I changed my mind on the layout.

You can see how the drawer pulls out to give a fair amount of secure storage.

The leisure batteries will live in the black steel cabinet, which is why you can see all of the wires heading that way.

I bolted the “T” chest to the bulkhead through the back and to the gun chest though the bottom. I will bolt the gun drawer to the body of the vehicle through the floor, next time I am underneath with the drill! – Which will be when I fit the waste water tank which will be in the same area. I just did not want the fittings for the gun drawer to be under the water tank, in case of future maintenance.

In the image below, you can just make out the other cabinets which sit just inside of the rear door.

Here is the cabinet on the drivers side which will house the water pump etc, there will be one on the passenger side which will house the electrics.

The problem that I mentioned earlier with the cabinets that sit inside the rear door, you can see one here with the black chequer plate, is that they are designed to lay flat with lid opening upwards.

We wanted to use them upright, but with the door opening towards the back door to give space inside if they were opened, this meant that the door would slide off of the pins in the hinge after a while. After a little puzzling and dismissing re-welding the hinges, a simple solution was figured out.

Each door has three hinges with a pin that can be removed. I fitted the door using the hinges on the top and the bottom, and replaced the middle one with a cable tie; that will prevent gravity from working when the doors are open, which will not be that often.

I hope all of that makes sense, please ignore the sink……….I will cover that later.