Project Dino Evolution

Off-Road through the Paracas Desert

Felix — Wed, 18 Dec 2013 16:56:12 +0000

We had a great time going off the beaten path in Peru. One of our most favourite area was the Paracas National Reserve, South of Lima. An endless stretch of huge sand dunes and Limestone formation next to the ocean. Filled up with enough water, food and fuel, we drove around for days and absorbed the unreal landscape. Below a short video of what we experienced.

The post Off-Road through the Paracas Desert first appeared on Project Dino Evolution.

Off-Road in Central and South America

Felix — Sun, 15 Dec 2013 22:43:45 +0000

Every time you go off the trodden tourist track you can be sure to have some interesting and challenging surprises to manage. Specially if you travel by car through unknown territory and countries with poor infrastructure. Enjoy a short video of selected off-road scenes from our road trip through the Americas. After we explored a bone-dry desert in Peru, it is now time to go deep in the jungle of Central & South America and play in the mud.

The post Off-Road in Central and South America first appeared on Project Dino Evolution.

High Quality Art Prints & Products

Felix — Tue, 10 Dec 2013 03:34:22 +0000

The 22 months road trip along the Pan-American Highway is over and a new part of our life has already started. After the digestion of all memories we went through thousands of photos and came up with a selection of great artwork. They are getting reproduced on different materials; from framed art prints, mobile devices cases to throw pillows. We produce them using only the highest quality materials, and ship it world-wide to your door.
If you enjoyed reading our blog and maybe even got something out of it for your own built, please support us with buying one of our products. I’m pretty sure you will find something you are going to like or even better you can give as a gift to your loved ones.

For a full overview of our products go to our store at Wanderkind Studio

The post High Quality Art Prints & Products first appeared on Project Dino Evolution.

Dakar Rally – The ultimate off-road race

Felix — Sun, 08 Dec 2013 11:43:36 +0000

In light of recent events, I want to share a new photo gallery with you guys. On our trip through the America we had the opportunity to watch the Dakar Rally a couple times in Chile. A great event for every car, bike, truck and off-road enthusiast. The footage you see on TV doesn’t do justice to show how hard actually this race is. So watching it live was a fantastic experience we won’t forget anytime soon.

Enjoy the gallery with tons of photos.

The post Dakar Rally – The ultimate off-road race first appeared on Project Dino Evolution.

Time To Say Goodbye

Felix — Fri, 01 Feb 2013 22:15:55 +0000

After almost two years on the road, our trip through the Americas is coming slowly to an end. The near future is going to bring some big changes for us and unfortunately we can not keep our beloved expedition vehicle.

The van is in great shape (beside a few cosmetic scars) and served us very well over the last few years. We professionally built it from the ground up, invested well over US$ 30k and a year of work to make it to one of a kind expedition van in its category.

There is almost no rust as it has never seen salt in the winter. Compare to other vehicles it is also very economical and it is no problem at all to find spare parts in the Americas. With the low range gear box, four-wheel-drive and the compact outside dimensions we went everywhere we want and the Turbo-Diesel helped a lot to save on fuel.

Having instant hot water for a shower (or washing dishes) and an interior heater made a huge difference in the cold climate. The extra tank for Diesel gave us the opportunity to drive far into the wild where no fuel was available. Of course a reliable compressor fridge saved us the day in the hot climate. Interior space is plenty to dwell during bad weather.

We are selling the van as a complete travelling package. That means everything (beside our personal belongings) is included. From tons of spare parts, a full box of tools, recovery gear, to the entire camping equipment and kitchen supplies. All you need is your backpack and you can start your trip of a lifetime as well.

Our trip is going to end around May/June 2013 in Chile or Argentina. We are still flexible and would adjust our plans to the arrival time/location of the new owner.

Check out the modification page to see a full list of all the work we have done to the van.

– SOLD –

[See image gallery at dinoevo.de]

The post Time To Say Goodbye first appeared on Project Dino Evolution.

Wiring Diagram

Felix — Mon, 08 Oct 2012 07:58:23 +0000

A very helpful document throughout the entire project was a proper wiring diagram. The quality of the printouts and handbooks I found so far are pretty bad, so I made my own high-resolution version which gives the option to zoom in and follow the wires closely. The type is still not the greatest, but nevertheless it is way better than having no diagram at all.
It is for a 1990 Mitsubishi l300 with manual transmission from Europe, so some parts might be a bit different to your Delica.

The PDF-file is 8MB and might take a while to load, depending on you connection. If you want to download, just use the button on the right upper corner in the viewer below.

View Fullscreen

The post Wiring Diagram first appeared on Project Dino Evolution.

Camping Table

Felix — Sat, 06 Oct 2012 16:38:34 +0000

As it came down to choose a table we take along we had the same requirements as for most of our camping equipment: as durable as possible and very easy to set up. This already ruled out most of the common roll-up/collapsible tables you can buy at your next camping store. The plastic joints are just too fragile, setup time is too long and also it takes up too much space.
After looking around I found the Front Runner Stainless Steel Table. As the price is on the high side, I checked it out in person before hand. The quality is outstanding and the table folds down to an ultra-slim plane. Which was handy as I immediately came up with a slick and secure solution for storage under our roof rack. After using it for over a year on a regular basis I can say this is the best camping table ever. Easy to clean. Very sturdy. Doesn’t rust. Under half a minute setup-time. Big enough for four people.
You won’t need another camping table in your life :)
[See image gallery at dinoevo.de]

The post Camping Table first appeared on Project Dino Evolution.

LED Interior Lights

Felix — Sat, 21 Jul 2012 19:45:51 +0000

Quite a few people asked me how I solved the interior light. First of all, every illumination is done with LEDs as the power consumption/light output ratio is unbeatable. Also gone are the days where you can only find unpleasant cold-white LEDs. Instead I went with comfortable looking warm-white or natural-white LEDs in the wavelength between 4500K to 3000K.
In the cockpit I reused the stock light fixture and replaced the bulbs with ultra-bright Festoon LED bulbs.
In the living/sleeping area I installed two long strips of waterproof, flat LED rope lights along the seams of the headliner panels. These rope-lights are fantastic as they transmit a very nice and uniform light inside the entire van. They are bright enough for most applications, but in case we need extra powerful light we also have the flexible utility flood light.
When we are in bed and just need focused lights, we use two goose-neck lights above our heads. They are strong enough to read a book, but focused enough so you don’t disturb each other in case one want to sleep and the other not.
For our kitchen area in the back, there is a short strip of LED rope light on the bottom inside of the hatch, which gives plenty of light for cooking and sitting outside.
All lights are switchable separately and/or go automatically when the doors.

[See image gallery at dinoevo.de]

The post LED Interior Lights first appeared on Project Dino Evolution.

Hatch Door Holder

Felix — Wed, 30 May 2012 19:45:43 +0000

We knew, we are going to drive through some serious hot/humid environments, so coming up with a good plan for ventilation during the night was essential. I already modified the side panels to pop out as well as a 12v fan is installed inside, but to have a proper draft we needed a bigger opening. My idea was to open the hatch door to an extent that hard rain as well as theft is not a problem. Therefore I created a little bar that goes between the latch which is secured with a padlock. On the hatch side I used a carabiner to slide easier into the door lock. Locking all doors from inside with the central locking system also fully locks the carabiner. Mission accomplished.
In case mosquitoes and other little crawlers are around, we just use a regular mosquito net sold by the meter and magnets on the inside of the opening. [See image gallery at dinoevo.de]

The post Hatch Door Holder first appeared on Project Dino Evolution.

New Shock Absorber

Felix — Fri, 04 May 2012 18:16:32 +0000

Last but not least our suspension got new shocks from ProComp. The ES9000 are nitrogen gas charged with a twin tube design and 10 stage velocity sensitive valving. They are a little bit stiffer than the ones we had before, but with DinoEvo fully loaded on our trip they are just right. I also had to change the stock rubber bushings to Polyurethane for durability.

The post New Shock Absorber first appeared on Project Dino Evolution.

Amp Hour Meter

Felix — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 18:06:32 +0000

To get more information about how our auxiliary battery is doing, we installed a DOC Wattson RV & Marine Battery Monitor and a Current Shunt Resistor. The monitor measures Amp-Hours, Kilo Watt-Hours, Amps, Watts, Peak Amps & minimum Voltage as well as Voltage.

The Amp hour (Ah) and Kilo Watt hour (KWh) measurements are much more accurate “fuel gages” than voltage measurements which depend on many other factors. Kilo Watt Hours are better than Amp hours because the effects of voltage change are included in calculating the actual energy delivered to the load. Ah and KWh are much more accurate than the voltage based RV or marine “Battery Indicator” measurements.

Peak Amps and minimum volts measurements show you even short duration load events and help you troubleshoot hard to find electrical problems. Statistics are reset when power is removed.

Our electrical system including solar and dual batteries is now complete and should give use enough power to stay independently when we are on the road.
[See image gallery at dinoevo.de]

The post Amp Hour Meter first appeared on Project Dino Evolution.

Air Compressor

Felix — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 20:47:14 +0000

Having a reliable source for compressed air was a necessary topic we need to solve. First, I air-down the tires when we go on 4×4 excursions for several reasons: Larger tire contact patch improves traction, way better ride quality over bumpy, rocky surfaces as well as washboards and in the end less risk of punctures from sharp objects. Second, fixing a flat tire doesn’t work without an compressor. Third, blowing out dust or pumping up a air-mattress is just so much easier.

Ultimately a system with an air tank would be the best, but our tires are not overly huge as well as time for airing them up is not an issue on a long road-trip. Also using air-tools is not necessary either.

In the end I went with an ARB CKMA12 high output air compressor* due it’s very compact size and power. If I decide to add differential lockers in the future, this compressor makes it easier as well as all the necessary wiring is included.

As for the installation location I chose the area right behind the fresh water system with a hose and a quick connect coming out below the water faucet in the back. To round up the equipment I also bought the ARB Air Compressor Pump-up Kit.* It contains the right length of a quality hose with the right connectors as well as everything you need to fill up your tires and other stuff. [See image gallery at dinoevo.de]

The post Air Compressor first appeared on Project Dino Evolution.

Fresh Water System

Felix — Sun, 11 Mar 2012 01:17:39 +0000

At our last visit of the Abenteuer & Allrad Overland Expo in Germany we found some interesting ways of how other travellers did their fresh water system. I adapted a few of these ideas and came up with the following:

Tank:
Most of the more advanced systems had custom made tanks which I didn’t like much. First, they are harder to clean, way more expensive and sometimes tricky to fill. In our previous camper we were quite happy with a couple of military water cans. They are light-weight, easy to store and clean as well as they can be filled up almost everywhere without moving your car to the nearest tap.
This time though I wanted to hock them up to a proper pressurized water system with a pump, filters and a faucet. To do so I modified the lid of the water cans and attached a pickup-hose with a quick-connect to it. Under our sleeping platform is enough space for two 20l water canister which slide in very easy from the back. When one can is empty, I just swap it with the full can from behind.

Pump/Filter:
As a pump I got a ShurFlo Aqua King Junior 2.0*, which draws not much power, has enough flow-rate and can dry run without getting damaged.
One main goal of our fresh water system was to produce pure drinking water. We wanted to be able to fill up our canisters at any questionable tab or fountain and not getting sick from it.
For this reason, I use a four stage treatment. First, the pump picks up the water from the canister and sucks it through a strainer with a stainless mesh to keep debris and other bigger particles out. After that it goes through the pump into an accumulator tank, which extends pressure switch-controlled pump life by reducing pump on-off pulsation. From there it goes into standard marine water filter housing with a 5 Micron filter cartridge. Constructed of a carbon impregnated cellulose media, these dual-purpose cartridge filters out fine sediment particles and reduce unwanted taste, odor and chlorine taste from the water. Also this pretty cheap filter element extents the lifespan of the main filter.
From here it goes into the main water filter which is a Seagull IV X-2KB. This filter is the best of the best and it is used extensively in the high-end expedition- and marine-industry. It is not cheap, but our health is us worth every penny.

All Seagull IV purification systems are independently certified to meet EPA guide standard protocol for microbiological purifiers against bacteria, cysts and viruses. Plus, Seagull IV systems excel at removing chemical and aesthetic contaminants including herbicides, pesticides, chlorine and foul tastes, odors and colors, for great tasting water on demand.

The smaller Seagull IV X-1F* would have been enough for our task as well, but I got a good deal on the larger system so I went with that instead.
If we are really in doubt about the water quality we also add a little bit of Microdyn* (or bleach) to be really on the safe side.

Faucet:
Finding the right faucet with an hot/cold outlet took ages as most of them are just the standard low pressure faucet you see in RV next to a sink or are simply way to big. I wanted something small with a quick connect, so I can also plugin a shower hose. After more research I found a company in the US with an interesting product called “Hot & Cold Spray-Port”. Exactly what I was looking for beside the white plastic box, which was easy to remove. I hocked it up to the hot-water tank as well as the cold water line and it was ready to go.
For the actual outlet I also chose a great product from the creators of the faucet. A flexible, durable food-grade plastic spout. It plugs in right to the quick connector of the faucet and can be bent in any direction. As for our shower, I used the same quick connector on a long hose as well as the smallest RV shower head I could find.

For a better understanding how everything is connected together, here is a diagram of DinoEvo’s fresh water system:

All in all it turned out to work great. It is just such a luxury thing to have instant warm water for a quick shower or even to wash greasy dishes. In the future I probably going to add a thermostat-valve before the hot-water-outlet, because the water coming from the Elgena is boiling and I don’t want to burn myself if I’m not careful. A small downside of this system is obviously you do everything with pure drinking water, but with such a long lasting filter and limited space it is a compromise I can live with.

In terms of location, the entire system fits nicely in the opening over the driver side rear wheel well and can be accessed through a removable hatch. [See image gallery at dinoevo.de]

The post Fresh Water System first appeared on Project Dino Evolution.

Thank You!

Felix — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 02:43:59 +0000

After 1.5 years, hundreds of hours, many many late nights and a lot of scratching heads and bloody knuckles, I really want to say thank you to a few of my friends who helped out on this project. Without them this van wouldn’t be as awesome and tricked out as it is.

My special thanks goes to Jay who is a great mentor and the biggest helping hand on this project. Mr. Electric showed off all his skills and his profession in the boating industry made DinoEvo almost an amphibious vehicle :)

Thank you Rich for your wood working skills, ideas and the time I could use your shop. The cabinet turned out fantastic.

Thanks to Butch the owner of CVI for his help, knowledge and the time I could use his shop.

Thanks to my friend David for his hospitality, tools and all his great help to pull off our road trip as well as being the supporting trip member back home :)

Thank you Jesse for sharing your knowledge and ideas on this project.

There are many other people out there I had contact with to bounce off ideas and ask questions via email. Thanks for your effort and replies. Also thank you to all the members of the different forums around the globe who took their time to reply to my questions.

THANK YOU

The post Thank You! first appeared on Project Dino Evolution.

Sleeping Platform

Felix — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 05:31:53 +0000

Lets talk about the most complex single project during our camper conversion. The main cabinet. It took about 6 month from the initial ideas to the stage when we finally installed it. A big part of the work was done by a friend with a lot of passion and wood working skills. Initially we came up with a long list of requirements.

Lightweight, but durable
Accommodate a 10l Scepter fuel can for our Diesel coolant heater.
Space for at least 40-60l of fresh water
Cutting area and a storage for all our kitchen supplies
Accommodate a multifuel stove (like a MSR DragonFly)*
Storage for our Engel fridge*
Space for a proper fresh water system (pump, filters) as well as an air compressor
Cabinet design need to be free standing and not screwed to the vehicle body
Accommodate a 200cm / 78inch long bed, but leave enough space to sit on the engine hump
Area for two to four large plastic containers

After that we approached the design from many different angles made one drawing after another one and bounced several ideas around. All of them had pros and cons but in the end we settled on one design with the most advantages and most economical space usage.
[See image gallery at dinoevo.de]
Front:
The idea was to raise the platform as high as possible, but still be able to sleep comfortable. On the other hand there need to be enough space between the cabinet and the front driver/passenger seat to have some kind of area you can sit and live inside when the weather is not good. To do that the cabinet had to have an extendable bed, otherwise the bed would be not long enough. The solution was two large storage drawers with strong sliders in the front.

[See image gallery at dinoevo.de]
Rear:
Another large part of the cabinet is the area with our fridge. Having a proper fridge (and I’m not talking about a cheap 12v cool box) makes all the difference on a long trip like that. So we knew we are going to use it several times a day, which means it has to be very accessible. Solution: a heavy duty, full-extension slider in the back. Underneath that another small sliding table.
Right next to the fridge there is one 24″ and two 42″ long storage drawers. The bottom drawer is our cooking area. In the front is a MSR Dragonfly multi-fuel stove including a 1l fuel can. The stove burns pretty much every fuel and is very reliable. It also can be removed when we want to go camping with a tent. The lid of the bottom drawer is out of a butcher block material and works great as a cutting area.
Beside the large drawers there is a long space for one 10l Diesel can as well as two 20l military Scepter water cans.

After our first packing session we were really amazed how much stuff you can fit in the cabinet.

[See image gallery at dinoevo.de]

Mattress:
We bought two different coloured Sunbrella fabrics from outdoorfabrics.com and gave it to a foam shop which made the covers as well as provided the (puuuhhh expensive) high-density foam pieces. With the main foam piece set in place as well the two separate pieces we are pretty flexible in setting up our bed. Either the entire bed is open or just one side. So one person can still sleep when another person sits on the engine hump using the area as a table.

Details:
All slides are heavy-duty and rated for 200lbs (90kg) each set. One of the heaviest parts on the cabinet, but we didn’t want to compromise in durability.

We used regular climbing rope as a handles for the rear drawers which works really well, is lightweight as well as a good bump stop against the rear hatch door.

All drawers are secured with stainless sliding pins from a marine shop. I also made metal inserts to prevent any worn out pin holes.

On the passenger side we built another box over the wheel arch to store bigger items as well as attached an axe and saw with a couple Quick Fist* rubber clamps. On the opposite side is a compartment for portable water filters, water pump and an ARB air-compressor (more about that in a separate post)

As you see in the photos below, all edges are protected with Marple hardwood, wile the rest of the cabinet is half inch birch plywood. The drawer front face is made out of clear coated solid Marple hardwood as well to give it extra protection and a nice touch to the cabinet overall.

It took quite a long time to finish the cabinet, but in the end everything worked out well and we are very happy with the outcome. Thanks to my friend for all the time and effort he put into this project. Without him this cabinet wouldn’t be as nice as it is.
[See image gallery at dinoevo.de]

The post Sleeping Platform first appeared on Project Dino Evolution.

Fire Extinguisher

Felix — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 01:33:50 +0000

One safety item I don’t want to miss in a car is a fire extinguisher. Unfortunately all the products I found in the regular stores are either way to big or crappy made and don’t look very reliable.
There are a few companies out there who produce well made extinguishers in the right size. I specially liked the products from H3R Performance and decided to go with the MX250R.* Their HalGuard product-line would be even better, but the high price tag turned me off.
The 2.5lb version I bought fits perfect right next to the sliding door and with the provided mounting bracket the fire extinguisher can be removed quickly. Hopefully we never have to use it though.

The post Fire Extinguisher first appeared on Project Dino Evolution.

Storage Curtains

Felix — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 20:17:37 +0000

As you know we took two of our side windows out and replaced them with something more solid. Step two of this project was to come up with an useful solution of the area inside. First, I applied another layer of Neoprene. After that it was the turn of my better half. She designed and sewed two large curtains with storage pockets out of Sunbrella fabric. The top and bottom had a loop with an aluminum flat bar in it to mount it on the side walls. Beside the pockets with zippers and pleats for more volume, there is also a lot of storage behind the curtains. [See image gallery at dinoevo.de]

The post Storage Curtains first appeared on Project Dino Evolution.

Rust Proofing

Felix — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 19:25:31 +0000

As we bought DinoEvo in Japan it had absolute no rust. Not a single spot. Quite unusual for a 15+ year old vehicle, but I guess the previous owner didn’t use the van that much as well as kept it inside a garage most of the time. I’m pretty sure this van had never seen snow and salt either.
To keep it this way and protect the undercarriage when we travel, I wanted to apply some sort of rust prevention. I’m not a fan of the common black tar spray as it covers everything underneath with a thick heavy coat. That makes it hard to see rust right from the start when it’s still easy to treat as well as harder to work on any of the covered parts.
Therefore I used a large bucket of Fluid Film*.

Fluid Film is formulated from specially processed wool-wax, highly refined petroleum oils and selected agents to provide corrosion control, penetration, metal wetting and water displacement. These long lasting products contain no solvents, will not dry out and will penetrate to the base of all metals, providing corrosion protection from both natural and industrial atmospheres.

It was easy to apply with a air gun, even inside the subframe and tight areas. It probably will last for a couple years till you need to apply another coat. Another side effect of the product: DinoEvo smells pretty good now :) [See image gallery at dinoevo.de]

The post Rust Proofing first appeared on Project Dino Evolution.

Multi-National

Felix — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 02:11:39 +0000

We thought we should give DinoEvo a little bit more personality and wanted to add our national flag to the front to show off from where we are. It is a little bit more complicated in our case so we had to add three flags.

The post Multi-National first appeared on Project Dino Evolution.

German l300 Sales Brochure

Felix — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 09:47:12 +0000

Beside the Japanes accessory catalogue I also found a German sales brochure I wanna share with you guys.
It was the first time I actually saw some crash test photos. Doesn’t look too bad, but still a head on collision probably doesn’t turn out well with this van.

View Fullscreen

The post German l300 Sales Brochure first appeared on Project Dino Evolution.

Solar Panel

Felix — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 01:51:40 +0000

Another addition to our electrical system is a 100W solar panel from GrapeSolar*. Manly to extend our off-the-grid or not-driving-to-charge-the-battery time. After calculating the consumption of all our electrical devices we should be able to add another 2-4 days under good sunny conditions.

The GS100 is the cream of the crop when it comes to solar panels. It boasts 18.3% module efficiency and is composed of 32 back contact solar cells. Compare that to standard crystalline modules with 14% to 16% efficiency. This panel has a very small footprint and fits into places other panels can only dream about. As for weight, this baby comes in at a mere 14.5 pounds! Another distinct advantage of the GS100 is its width of only 20.7 inches. The mono-crystalline, back contact cells on the GS100 means there are no grid lines blocking the sun’s rays. It also means you can expect outstanding performance in both high heat and low light conditions.

To regulate the power coming from the panel to our battery-setup I installed a Morningstar SunKeeper SK-12*, which is one of the smallest and most reliable battery-chargers I could find and fits perfect in the small battery compartment of a Delica. Also it constantly measures the temperature of the battery and adjust the charge accordingly.
To run the heavy-duty wire form the panel to the battery I used a waterproof plug from the marine industry. That makes it easy to remove the roof rack when we need to load DinoEvo in a shipping container. Also the plug has still a few more connections available in case we want additional lights up on the roof rack.
[See image gallery at dinoevo.de]

The post Solar Panel first appeared on Project Dino Evolution.

Awning

Felix — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 15:49:10 +0000

One of our great new summer additions to DinoEvo is an awning. To be exact the ARB Offroad Touring Awning. We didn’t want something as flimsy as the Shadyboy neither did we want a too heavy RV self supporting awning. This awning is somewhere between and the great thing about it, you can get a Mosquito net as well. The 2.5m wide version fits nice along the side of a Delica and is long enough to create larger area of shade. [See image gallery at dinoevo.de]

The post Awning first appeared on Project Dino Evolution.

Tire Mount

Felix — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 21:25:50 +0000

As the tire size went up on DinoEvo, the spare wheel didn’t fit in the original spot under the van anymore. Also the area is now used for an additional Diesel tank.
I was thinking about to do a rear bumper swing-away tire carrier, but decided against it for several reasons. It is very crucial for us to have easy and quick access to the trunk door. Opening the tire carrier several times a day would have been annoying. Another reason was the overall added weight of a heavy steel bumper. Sure, it would add more protection, but adding a couple hundred pounds just to carrier a tire wouldn’t be smart with the overall already limited payload. Therefore the spare tire went on the roof. Not as good for weight distribution, but the lesser evil.
DinoEvo came with a light-bar on the roof, which I took off right away. Now I used parts of it again to make the structure for the tire mount. The design of the mount is pretty simple. I bought some heavy-duty aluminum rectangular tubing and bolted four of them with stainless steel hardware to the existing roof rack as well as the old light-bar crossmember. The tire itself is going to be tie-down as well as secured with a lock. [See image gallery at dinoevo.de]

The post Tire Mount first appeared on Project Dino Evolution.

Sliding Door Step

Felix — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 00:30:35 +0000

A while ago I took off the plastic side step at the sliding door. Hidden behind is quite a bit of space which can be used for other stuff. I didn’t want to have the paint exposed as you would probably wear it off quite fast with your boots. So I bought two pieces of aluminum checker plate at the Metalsupermarket for about $25, put some insulation and rubber floor behind it and screwed the plates with stainless steel screws to the body.
As for the little light I found a watertight light housing for boats which fits really nice in the existing hole. Later on I’ll change to bulb to LED.

Update July 2011:
After meeting with Pablo & Anna from viajeros4x4x4 I revised my initial plan of finishing the entry step a bit. They cut off both sided of the round corners to gain more space. While I found the rear piece quite useful I agree the front part is not. So I took a grinder and cut it off, finished the corner with some left over maple hardwood and bolted a thick piece of angle aluminum on it. Project done.
[See image gallery at dinoevo.de]

The post Sliding Door Step first appeared on Project Dino Evolution.

Diesel Heater & Hot Water Tank

Felix — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 19:22:36 +0000

Having an auxiliary heating system with a hot water option was a high priority for us. Specially on longer trips in colder regions, a warm shower and warm interior makes a huge difference for you personal comfort.

There are many different ways of heating air/water in an RV. For us a Diesel powered coolant heater from Espar (Hydronic D 4 W SC) made the most sense for a few reasons. First its very compact as space is limited, second you only have to have one single source of fuel on board and third you can preheat your Diesel engine on very cold days. The reason for an Espar vs. Webasto is the better availability of spare parts worldwide as well as the possibility to run the heater over a longer period of time in high elevation (over 1500m above sea level – with special fuel pump sensor) which we are going to have a lot during our time in the Andes.

Finding the hot fresh water tank was a challenge as most of the RV or marine tanks in North America are way to big for the limited space we have available. I was close to get a custom tank made, but we finally found the perfect size at the Overland Expo in Germany. Elgena – an established company from Munich – offers all kinds of stainless steel water heaters in smaller sizes. We bought the Nautic-Junior M with 10 litre capacity.

After getting all the parts together, we had to find a space to mount them. Most sense made for us to take the rear air-condition and heater core out (front AC is still working) and build a box for everything. After months looking through ads on Craigslist I found an old toolbox with almost the exact measurements we need. I sandblasted the box and gave it a few coats of paint and mounted all the brackets. The big opening on the side of the tool box matches up with one of the openings of the old rear heater. So all the cables and hoses are going up to the cab this way.

[See image gallery at dinoevo.de]
Next step was to mount a new heater core inside the van. I found a small auxiliary heater core at Princess Auto. The quality (and noise) of the 120mm computer fan mounted on the back of the core was not the best, so I upgraded it with an ultra-silent fan and installed RPM dial switch to make it even more quite. Right above the Diesel heater was a big enough spot behind the side panels to mount the heater core.

The fuel pickup of the Diesel heater is connected to a Scepter military fuel can inside the van for two reasons. First, I still want to be able to mix WVO on warm summer days into the engine fuel tank and second on really cold days – when you actually need the heater most – the Diesel won’t gel up in the warm cab.

The plumbing inside the box was very tricky and time consuming. I wish there was more space as there are a tons of hoses going back and forth. The system is set-up in way that the fresh water tank gets even heated with just the engine coolant alone. So basically when we drive around and come to a campsite, the water is already hot. The same is with the rear heater core. It also works without the Diesel heater. Only if we are camping for several days at the same spot or for cold nights we need to use the Espar.

A schematic overview of our system:

Coolant is coming from the engine to a temperature sensitive valve (1). It goes than to the Espar (2) and gets heated up. Hot coolant is going to the Elgena hot water tank (3) and heats up the water. After that it goes to the auxiliary heater core (4) inside the cab. Than coolant is going back. Now the valve (1) comes into play again. Initially, up to a cooling water temperature of approx 67 °C, the heat from the Espar is only fed to the heat exchanger and hot water tank – inside of the vehicle and water heats up fast. From a cooling water temperature of around 67 °C, part of the heater’s heat is also fed to the Delica’s engine. This slowly heats the engine circuit, without causing the “small cooling water circuit” to rapidly cool down.

So far everything is running how it should, but we still need to extensive test the entire system as well as hook up the fresh water tank. [See image gallery at dinoevo.de]

The post Diesel Heater & Hot Water Tank first appeared on Project Dino Evolution.

Carpet Panels

Felix — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 23:14:55 +0000

Our Delica – a GLX model – came just with plastic trim, which wasn’t the most comfortable looking finish. Also as I took the side panels and headliner off to gain more interior space, sheet metal got exposed.
Looking around for different options to cover everything in a nice way, I came across a thin Indoor/Outdoor carpet at Home Depot. The 6′ x 8′ rug has no backing material which made it very flexible to wrap around corners. After testing a few different ways to glue the carpet down, I went with Contact Cement.
Beside the strong fume, working with Contact Cement was straight forward. Just make sure your pre-cut piece of carpet fits perfectly, as there is no way you can adjust the position once both surfaces touch each other.

After about 6 liters of glue, 1.5 rolls of carpet and about 30 hours in total, the panels were all covered. [See image gallery at dinoevo.de]

The post Carpet Panels first appeared on Project Dino Evolution.

DinoEvo meets SuperExceeded

Felix — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 21:30:44 +0000

At our last local Delica gathering I had the chance to check out an interesting mod of another l300 owner. Arnold – the owner – cut the end off one Delica and welded the half of another Delica together. Pretty crazy undertaking with a unibody vehicle and a little 2.5 Diesel engine, but I have to admit it looks cool. He is planing to swap the engine, transmission and power the third axle as well as change the front suspension to a solid axle. So a lot of work ahead, but the start is done. Looking forward to see the finished van someday…

The post DinoEvo meets SuperExceeded first appeared on Project Dino Evolution.

New Mudflaps

Felix — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 16:03:36 +0000

Our van came with red mudflaps from Japan, which I have to admit looked like they came off a poser car. Changing the mudflaps was quite low on my priority list, specially because I couldn’t find a perfect replacement for them. Either mud flaps (or sheets of heavy-duty rubber) are quite expensive, already pre-shaped to a certain car model or just too short for larger offroad tires. After hunting around for a while I found the right product on Amazon* (yeah I know sound weird) for $14 a pair.
I kept the really nice stainless steel hardware from the old mudflaps and just replaced the rubber. Also I still had to clean up a few spots where I cut back the wheel arch to fit the larger tires. So I cleaned the metal, primed and painted it as well as sealed and rust proofed the area.

The post New Mudflaps first appeared on Project Dino Evolution.

Interior Panels & Headliner

Felix — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 22:56:33 +0000

We didn’t really like the stock plastic interior panels. Also after I took the first panel off, I realized how much space was wasted behind it. So everything had to come out. As the interior is going to be our bedroom, living room and kitchen at once, we wanted something nicer and more comfortable. Wood was our first choice, but I didn’t want to add a lot more extra weight compare to the stock panels. After looking around I couldn’t find the right wood, till I talked again to Glenn from Vurv who already gave me a hand for the side windows. He had some 5’x5′ ⅛ Baltic Birch panels which are perfect for this kind of application. To give the panels a good protection, I stained them with Behr Outdoor Stain and finished is with a clear coat. After cutting them in the right shape I glued a layer of ¼ Neoprene on the back and attached them with finishing screws to the van.

[See image gallery at dinoevo.de]
The headliner was a little bit more complicated to mount as the wood panels had to be bent and pushed into the roof shape. First the old headliner came out, then I clued multiple layers of insulation to the roof and mounted the panels with the help of a friend in an overlapping pattern to the cross beams. Only two small seams are left which will be covered with LED stripes as our interior light. All in all we are very happy how the panels turned out. [See image gallery at dinoevo.de]

The post Interior Panels & Headliner first appeared on Project Dino Evolution.

Insulation

Felix — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 05:26:43 +0000

I recently finished insulating the interior. At first against noise and now against extrem temperatures. Important for the insulation material is the fact that is does not trap water. The only option I found – specially when you have only limited space and no straight walls to work with – is closed-cell foam. After some research I found Neoprene has one of the best R-Values in this category. Unfortunately it is not the cheapest material either.
In the end I picked a mixture of materials for different applications (windows, panels, headliner, floor). Every possible area is now covered with either reflective bubble wrap, Eco Foam or ½ inch High-Quality Neoprene which should keep the interior at a decent temperature on hot days and frosty nights. [See image gallery at dinoevo.de]

The post Insulation first appeared on Project Dino Evolution.

Mechanical Work

Felix — Sat, 04 Jun 2011 16:27:31 +0000

There were still a few things on my list of mechanical work I wanted to get done before we take off. Some of it was outside of my knowledge so I worked together with the guys at CVI to bring DinoEvo up to my standards and ended up doing the following updates:

New rear brake shoes
Replaced all remaining old coolant lines
Rebuilt alternator including new housing
New brake master cylinder
New fuel filter
Replaced steering boots and tie rod ends
New upper and lower ball joints
Replaced all CV boots
New sway bar stabilizer bushings
New clutch slave cylinder
New clutch kit

That should be it with preventive maintenance. I’m really happy how the van performs. Most of the components that wear out over time should be good now for a long time.

The post Mechanical Work first appeared on Project Dino Evolution.

Window Covers

Felix — Tue, 31 May 2011 04:25:15 +0000

We thought about making some curtains for a while but decided against them for several reasons. First, they do not insulate a lot and second, unless you have some thick felt curtains they do not block light very well (yes we are want to sleep in quite often :).
Therefore bought some regular silver coated bubble wrap from Home Depot, cut it in shape of the windows and wrap the edges in foil tape. The pieces can be folded or rolled together. These covers bring also down the temperature significantly when we park our car in the sun and provide us with more privacy than a regular curtain.

P.S.: The bubble wrap is also perfect to use behind your back when you sit near a campfire at night.

The post Window Covers first appeared on Project Dino Evolution.

Auxiliary Diesel Tank

Felix — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 05:47:56 +0000

After a long time of figuring out the right approach, the auxiliary fuel tank is finally done. It is a 85 Litre custom aluminum tank in the same spot where the spare tire used to be.

Due the size of the new wheels, the spare tire does not fit anymore in the stock location which left a nice, large area for either a storage compartment or a tank. After I changed the stock exhaust to one with an side exit, the idea was to have a tank there. The problem was, that we couldn’t figure out a proper way to fill the tank. Also the size of the tank couldn’t be exceeded beyond around 40-50 Litre, which was not big enough for the additional effort and cost of a second tank.

Design:
In the end we gave up the storage compartment idea and went ahead with a large tank in the back. Many people who run WVO have their second tank in the same spot. What I don’t like on all of them is that they take away the great departure angle, therefore our design had to be different.

In the initial design I tried to push a squared tank as far up between the crossmembers as possible. Later on the tank grew and reached far more forward including two big angles. One along the leaf springs and another above the rear axle. After taking rough measurements I created a few cardboard prototypes to make sure everything fits. Andrew – our welder – did then a fantastic job fabricating a 1/8″ aluminum tank from my drawings. He also came up with the basket system to securely hold the tank up.

Connections:
I wanted to keep it as simple as possible. No pump or electric valve to fail, no pickup and return line. Just a simple feed to the stock fuel tank including a manual valve to disconnect the two tanks. The only thing I had to add was a steel fitting in the stock tank. The Broadway Welding Shop took care of that.
The breather hose was a little bit more work as it has to be as high up as possible which means I had to drill through the subframe. Not to weaken the frame and also to make my life easier with the hose I cold-welded a stainless steel pipe through the frame and connected the breather hose to it.
For the filler hose I got a good deal on a 1.5″ I.D. fuel hose without a wire in it, which makes it way more forgiving to work with in smaller voids, but on the other hand you get pretty quick some kinks in it. I thought about using just the stock filler for both tanks, but found it would make it more complicated. Instead we installed a Perko Marine filler neck* with an extra lock* on the side of the van right next to the tail lights.

Painting:
Even though all fittings are stainless steel and the tank is out of aluminum, I wanted to give the system extra protection against corrosion. Therefore I primed and painted everything with Tremclad. Also while the stock fuel tank was out, I gave him a good coat of paint and all new hoses as well.

In combination with the stock fuel tank (60 Litre) we should get now a rang from around 1300km per fill up. [See image gallery at dinoevo.de]

The post Auxiliary Diesel Tank first appeared on Project Dino Evolution.

Front Window Guards

Felix — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 21:21:07 +0000

Another small safety feature in addition to the door locks is a strong stainless steel band going across both front windows. They are wrapped around the handle bar (with steel core) and are attached with padlocks from inside. That should prevent (or at least slow down) people from smashing the window and getting inside the van when we are not around. Unless they want to squeeze their little kid between the openings :) [See image gallery at dinoevo.de]

The post Front Window Guards first appeared on Project Dino Evolution.

Headlight Protection

Felix — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 23:41:27 +0000

Unfortunately the headlights of a post ’89 Delica are not common on this side of the planet, so buying a replacement lens/housing on our trip is not an option (or really expensive). Therefore I wanted to protect them as good as possible against any stones and other stuff which could crack the glass.
I bought two small sheets of Lexan Margard and cut it to the shape of the headlight. Apparently Margard is very scratch and break resistant and gets usually used for security windows. Bending the sheet was tricky though as the Margard coating did not cooperate with the heat gun and created little visible bubbles. Note for next time: Don’t use Margard or don’t do any bends :)
Three out of the four mounting spots were straight forward, but unfortunately there is no access (beside removing the dashboard) to the upper center body panel. We had to use “Nutserts” instead which are basically pop rivets with a thread inside to solve this problem.
The Lexan sheets are mounted with stainless steel hardware and can be easily removed for cleaning or when a road officer complains. [See image gallery at dinoevo.de]

The post Headlight Protection first appeared on Project Dino Evolution.

Additional Door Locks

Felix — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 21:37:46 +0000

Just from looking at the wimpy stock door locks as well as the experience from other travellers, I decided to add some proper locks on each door. After researching what other people have done and what’s available I ordered the cargo van hasps* as well as three keyed-alike puck locks.* The hasp was too large and the wrong colour to fit nicely on the outside of the van, which was easily solved with a grinder and paint. Mounting the hasps was more challanging though as there is just a very small sweet spot where you actually can mount them. Tighten these bolts was a pain and took forever as the available space was really tight. Overall I’m happy how well everything blends in.

Another small “security-feature” is now the tamper proof bolts for the front- and rear licence plate.

There is still a lock on the trunk door missing as the hasp system doesn’t work there. Also another project will be the protection for each window. I have already something in my mind, so stay tuned… [See image gallery at dinoevo.de]

The post Additional Door Locks first appeared on Project Dino Evolution.

Brake Caliper Paint

Felix — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 09:40:41 +0000

A few month ago we upgraded the front brakes to a double piston setup. After a while they had some surface rust on it. As you know I hate rust and like to tread it before it is too late. I found a good deal for a brake caliper paint kit* including cleaner. So I took the brakes off again, cleaned and painted them properly. The yellow colour is not my favourite, but they are going to be dirty again anyway. The main thing is that they are better protected now.

The post Brake Caliper Paint first appeared on Project Dino Evolution.

Differential Breather Extension

Felix — Sun, 13 Mar 2011 19:20:49 +0000

After adding a snorkel the next step to make our van ready for deep puddles was to extend the front- and rear differential breather. The rear was pretty straight forward as it has already a hose attached which goes directly in one of the subframe cross members. So I took the old hose off and extended it with a 1/4 ID fuel hose to the inside of the van. The front was a little bit more tricky as it has some kind of valve cap attached to a plastic fitting. One option would be to take it out and cut a thread into the differential housing. I didn’t want to risk any metal shavings in the diff, so I cam up with another solution. I found a small barb brass fitting which was a perfect fit for the hole. To make sure everything is really water tight a neoprene gasket as well as silicone was added. The extension hose goes above the radiator with an return loop.
[See image gallery at dinoevo.de]

The post Differential Breather Extension first appeared on Project Dino Evolution.

Rebuilt Injection Pump

Felix — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 17:00:05 +0000

One item on our list of preventive maintenance is to rebuild the injection pump. They are prone to leak after a while due the dried out seals and of course a healthy IP is crucial for a well running van. As this is something way beyond my knowledge, I handed over DinoEvo to the pros at CVI Automotive in Richmond. These guys are the experts and it seems like they can rebuild an IP with closed eyes. After I saw it disassembled, I can not believe someone still knows how to put it back together. CVI did a great job and I highly recommend them if you have any problems or work to do on your JDM.

The post Rebuilt Injection Pump first appeared on Project Dino Evolution.

Removed AC

Felix — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 22:37:43 +0000

It was time to make some room for our upcoming Espar Diesel heater and the hot water system. One thing we didn’t use a single time over the last few years in a Delica is the aircondition. While the front Aircondition might come in handy when we are down South, we didn’t see any need for a separate rear AC.
So I dropped off the van at IcyCool to empty the system. After that I was able to dismantle and remove the whole rear heater/AC assembly, which opened up a nice, large space with all the necessary connections. The plan now is to create a water tight aluminum box with a service lid to fit the new equipment.
The front AC system is also plugged and fully recharged again.
[See image gallery at dinoevo.de]

The post Removed AC first appeared on Project Dino Evolution.