Bits and Bobs (2)

NEW ARRIVALS.

Started to gather together some bits and bobs to resurrect another dormant project....

This is a 'walnut' trim plate for the central switch console. I sourced this from 'Custom Cars' on E-bay and have bought other walnut trim pieces for Hx from them.

I have searched E-bay for the switches and the switch-plate and have missed out twice on a good bargain due to waiting till the last minute before bidding and then forgetting to do it!

The trim panel actually arrived a few months ago and was the prompt to acquire the switches. Big clue here is in the blanked-over switch plates. That is where the switches for the heated seats are mounted. Hx does not have heated seats, but after doing the research it soon will.....

This week's E-bay bargain. New, unused and with the sticky mount tabs intact. A 'manual' seat-back heating pad for £18. That's below half price and they are still available new from LR aftermarket suppliers. Each seat has two pads, so it's back to the search...

HGT500050 MANUAL

Always wondered exactly how the heated elements were laid out inside the pad. These photos were taken with the pad stuck to a window to 'backlight' the wire element. It winds it's way all around the pad like this. The white plug connects both pads together.

THE CHINA CONNECTION. 

Bought some electrical connectors dirt cheap off E-bay. They are what I term 'Tyco' type/pattern connectors and come in a bag all dismantled and jumbled up.

They look like a bag of juicy wine gums.

... good enough to eat !

The above ones are 6-way male/female connectors and I plan to rewire the sunroof switches with these. I also bought some 3-way connectors shown below (in a slightly more assembled condition)

One of these will definitely be used on the P38 light install.... ideal.

COVER GRAPHICS..

Always thought the rear wheel cover provides a good space for displaying some custom graphics. Nine times out of ten times its just used for some cheap Land Rover dealer advertising. Even so , it can be a buzz when another Landy is seen with the same 'dealer' sign on the back, especially if its one from far away..

When I had the old 300tdi, the rear cover was from 'Hillendale' up in Pendle and used a small little witch on a broom graphic. ...hmm, very fitting! Even to this day, I still look out for them!

Hx arrived with a boring 'South-West 4x4' cover and eventually I decided to replace it and make Hx a bit more individual.

The rise of vinyl-graphic print shops means that getting a one-off vinyl sticker printed is not that expensive and the hardest part is deciding what to actually put on the cover design...

  

ROUTING THE CABLES. 

Installing the red rear door marker lamps and the white front door puddle lights meant getting down to routing some cabling into the door cavities.

The work was done whilst the door cards were removed during the panel spraying.

I used spare 2 core speaker cabling sourced from the aftermarket speakers that I had purchased earlier. The cabling had the standard 'black' and 'black/white' trace colouring and throughout the install I used solid black for the negative/earth connection and the white trace for the positive connection. 

Front door lights were straight-forward. The feed was from the footwell lamps and the new cabling passed through the existing door loom grommet. The new cabling was looped around the existing cabling where possible but also cable ties and tape were used to secure the new cabling and guard against potential chaffing.

The rear door was routed through the B pillar then down to the floor and along the inside of the carpet finishing strip to end up also in the front footwell.

All the above photos show the routing of the cabling through the B-pillar. This was slow and awkward but once sussed it was easy enough and made doing the other side a breeze.

The inspection mirror was invaluable in assessing the situation and use was made of 'that piece of wire' as a cable puller....