Besides some mountain bike rides, you can catch some video's here; https://www.youtube.com/user/meignotus
I put in the thermostatic control for my electric fan and wired in a relay. Pretty straight forward follow the directions. The hard part was the wiring for the probe was short so I HAD to mount the controller on the top of the radiator support panel.
above is the probe and below is the controller
Also in my head has been the lack of storage issue. I wanted to take advantage of the space above the rear side windows for some time. Last winter I spent a week or so making a prototype but when I got to the latches, the flush pull ones I picked out just didn't work out so I scrapped the idea.
Then one day I was looking at my scrap pile and noticed that the old Land Rover roof sections I had were almost the exact size and shape I needed. A couple of weeks ago I went to work, measuring and cutting, fitting and cutting, drilling and fitting, bending, filing, paint removal, primer, paint, hammer rivets, grinding and shaping, searching the hardware stores, respray, fitting,
First I cut the dimension I needed for fore and aft and then the width, the height was already established at the factory. Since this was either a Series 1 or Santana roof it had the raingutter spot welded in and would give the rigidity and support I needed without drilling into my roof.
Next I cut the notches for the galvanized interior gutter and the top roof rib. Once I had a good fit I could start on the door.
Not being sure if I wanted 1 door or 2 I pondered this for several days. What was going to be my intended use? How big was it? How would the door/s hang. What kind of hinge? How can I make it so it does not stick out and catch me on the head and still be simple and "fit" the vehicle?
At first I thought backpacking type meals would go there for easy access and low weight up high, then maybe clothes or a sleeping bag. The food I could do 4" doors but other stuff might need more. My choice was to make 1 door 24"x 5".
So laying out a 24 x 5 rectangle on the storage bin, I drilled a 1 1/16" hole with a hole saw at each corner and cut down the lines with my jigsaw. This provided a nice radius for strength and beauty. I had purchased for the job an offset tool and went around the bottom and the sides to help with making the lid fit flush. That is when I found out that my top had a double thickness due to the raingutter and the offset tool would not fit..I countered this by offsetting the opposing lip of the lid.
HINGES,
Originally I wanted to use piano hinge because it hides nicely and looks good. But testing showed that in this case I could not make it work like I wanted, so back to the hardware stores. I decided on the strap hinges you see because I could not find any Rover hinges small enough to "look the part" and I could use hammer rivets to make these seem factory(after all it is a factory roof!) I bent the hinges to fit the curve of the roof.
I still struggled to find a good latch. First I had left too small a space to fit something like a striker latch and the lid needed a single latch in the middle as opposed to 1 on each end, as the center bowed out.
LID;
Using some aluminium I had I cut a lid to the necessary size and bent the lip with my offset tool. The hard part was forming the lip to the shape of the roof. Can't say I like my result but it works. I bent it by clamping it on my welding table and using a 2x4 along the length to bend it.
Then it was a matter of locating the hinges and drilling holes, stripping the paint from the bin and painting it all up. After the paint was dry I hammered the rivets in and came up for a plan for the catch.
The CATCH;
I was going to at one time or another buy/make, magnetic, striker, barrel, latches. I even toyed with making small antiluce latches ala the tailgate. Common sense prevailed and using 1/8" angle iron I crafted the latch you see. I wanted to hammer rivet it also but I do not have any 1/2" long rivets. Maybe in the future. Using my dremel tool I cut the slot in the bin to accommodate the locking portion.
I am using a lynch pin to hold it closed
In the front I fitted the bin and drilled a locating hole in the roof rib for support. There was installed a 10-32 rivenut. This combined with a stainless machine screw supports the front end. The sides and rear are supported by the bolts securing the roof to the sides as seen in this bottom photo.
You can barely see the front screw here;
You can't see it too well but on the back I had to fit a piece of wood between the bin and the liftgate hinge to hold the bin tidily flush with the inner roof. I did not want to put any more holes in the roof than necessary.
Update; 6.15.2015
Still waiting on the turbo so I went ahead and did the other side of the storage bin option. I mean I had the part and the time so might as well right?
Looking from the front right
Left front
Rear view
right side
Left side
This was a fun project and I think they came out nice. There is a surprising amount of room in them and I am glad that I made 1 large door because I could easily get my arm in there to tighten up the bolts. The space is roughly 10"x10"x37". I used 3" zinc plated strap hinges from my local hardware store.
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