Our new BT50 GT

[Millsy]

Thanks mate, we got her from the RSPCA when she was about 5 months, from what we gathered she was the 2nd last left of a litter of 8 that got dumped there when they were only 6-7 weeks old. Spending a few months in a cage surrounded by other poor cooped up howling hounds may be part of the reason for her timid/placid nature. She can be quite timid around new people but as long as they ignore her for a few minutes and aren't totally in her face, she very quickly warms to them, particularly if she can con them into a ball throw!

I reckon the brake controller will probably have to go in the centre console under the climate controls, on the drivers side. I should be able to get it pretty close to flush mounted under there and then I can knock up a panel for the various switches for driving lights etc on the left of it.

Any word on delivery of yours yet? Before Xmas?

Cheers
Shane

 

[cruza driver]

Its good when you can give a dog a 2nd chance form a RSPCA one of our Kelpies who is 16 now was from a dog shelter and is an awesome dog :thumb: anyway :focus: :lol:

Thats where Moto Moto has his controller and I was looking at the same place too. Mine is due at the dealers hopefully this week but I don't think delivery will be before Christmas at this stage, I dont want it rushed through if that makes sense.

 

[Millsy]

Looking good. Will it have a black BB or body coloured? With the black side steps and snorkle, a black BB would look good IMO (likewise black brush bars and integrated rear step / towbar / protection if TJM or ARB etc decides to make one for the BT). I like white n black cars!

Our thinking exactly. A good contrast with the black sidesteps, snorkel and window tint against the white paint. We are actually toying with the idea of getting it painted gloss black, the powdercoat finish on most bullbars always looks a bit average after a few years.

As promised in an earlier post, some more piccies of bits destined to find a home in Barry...........



For the UHF we have gone with a super heavy duty stainless steel spring base with a 2.1 meter :jaw: 6.5dB white enclosed antenna (and before anyone asks, no, this is not compensating for anything!) as well as a small 3dB fibreglass whip. The 2 are easily interchangeable, the big daddy will be used in the outback/remote areas, and the 3dB for general usage. No pics of the antennas as these are still at work.

The astute amongst you will have noticed the Cole Hersee solenoid beside the Ctek D250s DC-DC charger. This is because the Ctek doesn't have a built in manual over-ride, so the solenoid will be wired in via a dash mounted switch allowing manual joining of the two batteries if we should ever flatten the starting battery, or if for some reason we need to winch and the vehicle can't be started.

The HID kit is for the Narva Ultima 225 driving lights that currently reside on the Paj, but will be most likely called up for duty on Barry. That is unless the fellow who is currently looking to buy the Paj decides he really wants them on there, in which case I may find it hard to resist a set of Great Whites LED driving lights (provided no-one tells the missus how much they cost!)

The Narva fuse boxes are a nifty bit of kit, with dual power inputs (allows 2 lots of 6 fuses to be permanent or ignition switched), an earth input to allow all accessories to be earthed as well as powered from the fuse box, and a neat lockable cover that comes with a bunch of stickers to allow for identification of each fuse. One fuse box is for the engine bay, the other for bits and pieces run off the second battery in the tray.

Cheers
Shane

 

[Pace]

Looking better by the day, Millsy.

Yeap, sure agree there XP. Very nice Millsy. Pace.

 

[Millsy]

May as well get those Mazda alloys gloss blacked at the same time then! Did you think about getiing the Mazda alloy and black aftermarket rims or were they too exxy?

All that black might make that chrome rear bumper look out of place...but somehow i don't think you'll mind finding an excuse for another spend!

Not a fan of the Mazda option CSA Jackals. Too exxy from Mazda, much cheaper to get the same thing aftermarket. Looked at other aftermarket black alloys, but decided that its a bit too much coin for something that doesn't add any extra functionality or benefit apart from looks. Besides I think the BFGs make the factory rims look better anyway. Those dollars are better kept in the back pocket for when we take off next year.

You picked it like a dirty nose, I'm also considering getting spray painter mate to black up the rear bar at the same time! We did consider an MCC rear bar which includes the towbar, but it drops 350kgs off the tow rating. Considering we will be towing up near 3t, we decided to sitck with the factory towbar.

Cheers
Shane

 

[Millsy]

Yeap, sure agree there XP. Very nice Millsy. Pace.

Cheers blokes.

 

[Millsy]

A small Barry update.......

Barry popped his towing cherry last weekend. Dragged the boat from Melbourne up to Echuca and sipped 11.4 l/100 doing so. The VS V8 Commodore ute we used to tow it with used more than double that! Towed like a dream.



Still waiting on the TJM bullbar, really the last piece to the puzzle apart from some rear drawers, then I can start fitting everything. A Runva 11XP winch has been acquired to go in with the bullbar.



We got the local trimmer to make us up some canvas bags for our camp gear (gas stove, dutch oven, jaffle irons). He also made a rear seat cover to protect the leather from our hounds rather large claws.




On another note, said goodbye to the old Paj on Thursday night as it left with its new owner. Had some great fun in it and will miss it, new owner got a bargain!

 

[Brad]

Nice one Millsy.
That winch looks like a lure in my tackle box.
Got no idea if it works better than any other but man does the blue and red look good!!

 

[MolongMick]

Gee, I like the idea of the seat covers. They loo, as though they will handle the many torturous activities that my rug rats dish out. I will need to look into getting something like this for my BT.

 

[cruza driver]

Looking good Millsy, a bit of a coincidence to mate I use to have a VS V8 ute many moons ago :smile:

 

[brookes2622]

Nice one Millsy.
That winch looks like a lure in my tackle box.
Got no idea if it works better than any other but man does the blue and red look good!!

I have one and reasonably happy with it. The Blue fades a bit and my advice is to re-paint the cover of the solenoid as mine has faded from shiny black to dull grey.

 

[Millsy]

Gee, I like the idea of the seat covers. They loo, as though they will handle the many torturous activities that my rug rats dish out. I will need to look into getting something like this for my BT.

Thanks Mick. Make friends with your local trimmer.......he did the bags for the camp equipment and the rear seat cover for $200

Looking good Millsy, a bit of a coincidence to mate I use to have a VS V8 ute many moons ago :smile:

Yeah it was good fun, made a nice noise with extractors and exhaust, but really didn't go that quick and used a lot of juice doing it!

I have one and reasonably happy with it. The Blue fades a bit and my advice is to re-paint the cover of the solenoid as mine has faded from shiny black to dull grey.

Thanks for the heads up Brookes. In my experience all Dyneema rope fades with UV exposure, most of mine should be hidden behind the bar and it appears to have a black sleeve over the short length that will be exposed. I'll see if I can find room under the bonnet to mount the solenoid pack rather than mounting it on the bullbar.

Are you happy with how the winch performs? I did a fair bit of research before buying, they seem to get pretty good reviews, limited lifetime warranty, and they are currently selling for $300 off RRP.

Cheers
Shane

 

[MolongMick]

Thanks Mick. Make friends with your local trimmer.......he did the bags for the camp equipment and the rear seat cover for $200

Cheers
Shane

Will need to do that, there are a few in Orange, so I might have a bit of a look around and see what they can come up with.

 

[brookes2622]

Are you happy with how the winch performs? I did a fair bit of research before buying, they seem to get pretty good reviews, limited lifetime warranty, and they are currently selling for $300 off RRP.

Yep works well. Where mine is located makes getting at the clutch a PITA but that's specific on my setup yours will probably be fine. I have used it several time, not for pulling my truck out of a bog buried to the diffs but for use round the farm and the occasional car rescue it has been fine. Fast enough and powerful enough. The wireless remote seems a little "line of sight" if you know what I mean and I have tended to use wired but that may be a battery thing. I got mine about a year ago and I didn't get $300 off but even then for my occasional use it was a much better price then a Warn, all I'll ever need I reckon.

 

[Moto Moto]

I love the look of that winch Millys, Bargain price too.

 

[Millsy]

Well, I'm still waitng for the bullbar to arrive, so I thought I'd do something in regards to storage in the tub of Barry. Was originally going to pay for a set of aftermarket drawers, but after doing some research I couldn't find exactly what I wanted, and even then I thought the cost to be exorbitant. Due to the size of our fridge, I wanted fridge slide on the left, and drawer on the right. The cheapest quote I got was $1350, ranging up to and over $2000. One issue I faced was weight; we are going to be pushing close to limits for weight on our trip, and some of the drawer systems weighed up to 85kgs.

So, I ended up knocking this up myself. Cost came in at under $500 including the Evakool fridge slide (whose size matches the base of our Primus Mammoth 65l perfectly without wasting any space). Weight including fridge slide around 40kgs. Admittedly it isn't actually a drawer on the right hand side, it hinges open, but the majority of the stuff stored in there will be 'in case' stuff such as recovery gear and what not, not things that we will need to access every day. It may not be visible in the pics but the right hand side 'wing' over the wheel arch hinges off the side of the main lid, so that just the wing can be lifted up to store small items. Behind the fridge the second battery will be mounted as well as the air compressor. The air compressor will have a line run around to the fitting mounted in the right hand side where a switch will also be fitted to turn it on and off remotely. There is also a cig socket mounted here, and a Merit socket to come.

 

[cruza driver]

neat job mate also how did you find the fit of your canopy?

Can you get an internal bracing kit for a roof rack for it like an ARB canopy?

 

[Millsy]

Thanks Cruza. The canopy fit is very good, very happy with it. A trip up to Echuca over the long weekend showed up a bit of dust ingress, but I believe this is coming in through the tailgate. Sealing it up is on the list of 'to-dos'. I think there is a guy on eBay who is selling tailgate seals for the BT and Ranger.

There is a roof rack kit available for the canopy, but whether it has internal bracing i'm not sure. They list an 80kg and 150kg roof rack kit, you would assume that to rate it for 150kg it would need some form of bracing.

Cheers
Shane

 

[Millsy]

Finally received word that the bullbar will arrive on Monday after a 2 month wait. Then I can get to wiring/fitting up all the good stuff!

 

[cruza driver]

good news mate, don't forget the pics of the install