Tawayama Safaris - CrewCab, Page 2

Here's Page 2 of the construction story of our flagship, the CrewCab. You haven't read Page 1 yet? Go back and read it first, it'll make more sense.

Other items that got done while at BCB were the rock sliders and roof-stretch. We started with an early factory 127 roof that had a galvanized raingutter channel and Series Land Rover ribs on top. Interesting to note that the ribs were stamped '109' and were apparently left-over roof ribs from the Series III which was officially discontinued prior to the introduction of the 127 model. The raingutter was seperated from the roof and lengthened 4 1/2 inches and a section from a Series III roof was used for the center flat section to graft between the rear fiberglass curved cap and the front angled roof section.

This roof is a hodge-podge of earlier series pieces and later ones. In fact, there are many instances of the original 127 parts that I got where Land Rover wasn't quite finished with the Series parts and was making the transition to the later coil-sprung trucks, the 90, 110 and 127. I had the underside of the roof Rhinolined as well. Visible are the gaps between the roof and the doors, the rear windows are missing, and there are no headlights wired up.

This photograph was taken just east of Mojave, California on the trucks maiden highway voyage. Since there were no headlights and we didn't leave Paso Robles until noon, we only got about 4 hours of the way through our normally 6-hour trip. We were heading east of Mojave and I ran out of gas. The gas guage was non-functional and I only had one tank working. I was not very good at estimating how much fuel I had. My buddy went back to Mojave to get some gas and I sat with the truck all alone out in the desert for about 40 minutes just watching it as the sun set. Of course I had to grab the camera and take a shot. We stayed in Mojave that evening and got into Vegas the next morning with about 40 minutes to spare before getting Lou to the airport and back to Portland.

While the roof was off getting Rhinolined I took the chance to photograph the interior from a higher angle. A lot is going on in this photograph, but you can see the MOMO steering wheel, Tuffy box (no stereo yet) and instrument cluster. In the Tuffy box is the starter switch and turn signal switch. The instruments are all VDO and include a combination of marine guages, oil temp, air pressure (2), outside ambient temp, clock, tach, speedo (programmable), and a 6-switch panel to control compressor clutch, air-lockers, windshield wipers and exterior lights.

Different from any other Land Rover's dash, I still use the factory vents which open for fresh air and the factory windshield wiper motor and arm, which is hidden by a brake-bent piece of steel which was later painted black.

The rear seat was something that I agonized over for months. What do I use that will do exactly what I want it to? I couldn't find anything I wanted so instead of doing something I was unsatisfied with, I kept putting the rear seat further and further down the list of things to do.

Visible in this photograph is the fuel filler neck which enters the body and then turns back outside the body at about a 45 deg. angle and into the central tank.

I have since made a panel that replaces the lower section of the rear bulkhead that is removable. Accessible behind that panel and mounted to the front surface of the storage box are the air fittings, filter, regulator and solenoids for the various pieces that are run on air.

Mounted to the front side of that removable panel is a 1500 watt power inverter to be able to run just about any household item you could need.

Over the next few weeks I slowly did all of the bodywork on the CrewCab, did a lot of the wiring, and generally got it ready to drive. I scheduled an appointment to have the truck painted at Las Vegas' largest truck service center. They have an oven that a semi-tractor/trailer can be painted in and baked. Here's the inside of my garage while I do a little filler here and there, do some sanding and prep-work before it's scheduled to be painted.

Prepped, sanded and ready to go. I have to admit, even with all of the qualifications of the paint-shop that was doing the work, I was still nervous. I don't know why, they have done all of the Fire Trucks, Ambulances and hundreds of semi-trucks perfectly. Why should I worry? I can't explain it, but I was.

Once it was all masked and primed they could shoot it. I gave them the factory code for Alpine White to match the other three Range Rovers I owned at the time, I was going for a consistent look in my mini-fleet of Land Rovers. The paint they used is used on semi-trucks and is some kind of a two-part acrylic. I don't fully understand what type of paint it was, but it's supposed to be tough. After it was shot I couldn't wait to see it so I hurried over while it was drying to shoot some pics. The paint on the flat doors looked like spilled milk it was so glossy and beautiful.

Ready to drive it home after putting some taillights on it and taking the back-roads from the paint shop. I had the hood and wingtops painted in a crinkle-coat that is satin-black to cut down on the glare from driving in the sun. It's kind of a shame to put the truck to work and get the paint scuffed up, it looked so beautiful out in the sun all fresh and perfect.

Got the truck home and it was time to start making it truly driveable. Added the headlights, turn signals and park lights. I wanted it to look a little series-esque and not so modern, so I used the European scheme of front marker lights. I also added side marker lights that flashed via a relay for an additional side turn-signal.

One of the things I really wanted were some nice big mirrors. I hunted around a bit and found some semi-truck style mirrors that weren't too obnoxious and added some smaller round convex mirrors. I needed to be able to see to the reverse well, and short of a rear-mounted video camera this is as good as I can do. The rear doors still aren't lined up properly and you can still see that I haven't made up the trim pieces to go between the roof and doors. The rear doors are also missing any handles and were bunjeed closed.

I also re-installed the ARB bumper, WARN winch and IPF driving lights while it was at home. I contracted with a local company who does refrigeration units for semi-trucks, ambulances and fire-trucks to install my roof mounted RedDot unit. It is a combination heater and air-conditiner and needed some special tools and someone experienced to install it. I wasn't comfortable doing it myself, but in hindsight believe I could have done everything short of charging the AC system.

A hole had to be cut in the roof, houses routed from the engine bay to the roof and the compressors hooked up.

The RedDot unit I selected was originally intended for use in small buses, fire-trucks and ambulances. I liked this unit better than any of the others I had done research on, and I was able to visit their manufacturing facility in Seattle, Washington to see the units in person and talk to technicians about questions I had. This thing really puts out both the heat and the cold very well. I've put it through a full year's testing keeping me cool even in the dead heat of the Las Vegas summer and warm enough during a Utah winter to defrost you after a long day out in the snow.

Perhaps the trickiest part of the installation was the routing of the hoses. The heater core is warmed by coolant from the engine, so a supply and return line from the engine block are required. This gives me an additional 2 gallons or so of coolant in my system which is nice. The water pump I have is strong enough to feed the water through the additional length of hose and up the back of the cab to the roof. The same route had to be taken for the supply and return lines for the AC unit. Bundling them all together and running them down the frame rail and up the back of the cab didn't make things too obnoxiously visible. Most people mistake the RedDot unit for a roof rack or a storage container of some kind.

The heater and AC unit were the last major component to be finished before I took the CrewCab out on it's first true off-road test. A bunch of friends in a Land Rover internet club get together every New Year's for a drive through the Mojave Desert. I decided this would be the perfect way to do a fairly easy break-in of the truck, learn what needed to be changed, how to make things better, and generally get a feel for it. This trip is chronicled in one of my Safari Journals and can be read by clicking HERE. The 5 preceeding photographs were taken on that trip. Two of my best friends from Portland came down to Vegas and graciously traveled with me driving my LongWheelbase Range Rover on the trip to offer support. The Discovery and Defender 110 belong to others on the trip.

One of the major things in the cab section that I've worried about from the start was the rear seat. I never could find what I wanted and I visited dozens of car dealerships junkyards and internet sites looking for what I wanted. Nothing I could find was quite right. Either it was too large for the space, didn't have the features I wanted, was too expensive for what I felt I could do it for, or was just down right ugly.

Somewhere along the line I stumbled upon the Volkswagen EuroVan and saw the seats were just about perfect. They had all the features I wanted-armrests, integral seat-belts, headrests and were very comfortable. But the most important item that they had that just about every other seat I looked at didn't have was a built in seat-base. With the flat-floor we had created I wanted a seat that was self-supporting and one that I wouldn't have to make brackets and a frame for.

The only problem with the VW EuroVan seat was that it was 6 inches too wide. I filed the seat in the back of my head and continued looking. After about 9 months of not finding anything that was remotely close to the VW seat, I decided to get one anyway and modify it to fit the cab section. After all, how hard could it be to do yet another custom modification right?

I located a seat in Portland, Oregon and picked it up as I was conveniently passing through town on a business trip. Threw it in the back of the CrewCab's storage box and took it back to Vegas. I found a tiny hole in the wall upholstery shop in Las Vegas that did custom interiors and met with the owner and discussed what it was I wanted to do. He quite confidently said it wouldn't be a problem so I left the seat with him.

He completely disassembled it and I returned the next day with the truck so we could take some measurements. We chopped the frame down the center and removed 3-inches from both sides. Taking the extra 6 inches from the center we were able to leave the outer two seating positions unaltered and leaving a center seat that would be fine for children or a very small adult.

The cushions were also cut and trimmed in the same manner and an entirely new seat cover was made out of a tough but soft textured velour. I did end up having to make some custom brackets to hold the seat back in place and the lower seat frame to the floorboards, but now that the seat is in I am extremely pleased with all of the design desicions we had made nearly 3 years earlier.

The VW seat and the flat floor offer me a lot more options for storing items under the seat and having very easy access to them. The factory Land Rover seat box arrangement for the back seat is clumsy and wastes a lot of space. This is another example of how we were able to re-engineer an item to meet our specifications. I have had Defender 110 owners sit in the back seat and realize just how much of an improvement the rear bench seat of the CrewCab truly is.

A custom reciever hitch was installed to give us the option to tow the ChuckWagon or our Series One Land Rover to the trails. The 7-pin trailer wiring plug is located in the stock military Land Rover trailer plug position to the right of the trailer hitch in the recessed oval.

As remarkable a project as the design and production of the CrewCab was, it is just a step in the final goal of being able to share wilderness experiences with those who come with me on safari. A tooth on a cog that's part of a bigger machine is how I am looking at the completion of this vehicle.

The biggest compliment I have had given to me regarding the CrewCab was from an anonymous truck driver whom I met just west of Albequerque, New Mexico. I was changing a fuel filter at a truck stop and he came over to see how I was doing. He was very interested in the truck so I gave him a little tour. When he looked in the cab he chuckled and smiled. He said, "One thing's for sure, and that's that this is definitely a work truck". I nodded and chuckled myself.

The CrewCab is no show truck, it needs to earn it's keep. We built it for that purpose and intend to use it for decades to come.

Since the truck has been on the road I've been able to finish the 'extra' things that are making the truck truly complete. Visible is an ARB snorkel and some IPF side-mounted work lights. What's not seen are all the things hidden, interior lights, seatbelts, interior soundproofing, floormats, Maxi-Drive rear axleshafts and the list continues to grow. I suspect this truck will truly never really be done, but will be a continual work in progress.

This picture was taken on the first trip I was able to make with my entire family to Zion National Park. This trip wasn't anything remarkable except for the fact that for the first time since the inception of the CrewCab I was able to take my wife and two children for a ride in it. With the addition of the rear seat I was truly able to put the CrewCab into service taking clients on safari. I was glad that I had the chance to break it in with my family. Without them, their patience, support and understanding this project would have never been possible.