G63 Build - Rock Sliders and Skip Plate

When I bought the G I knew right away I had to do something about the side steps and side pipes. While it is a classic look on the G’s they are only functional for around town. Off road these things are a liability. The side pipes hang very low and are right in front of the rear wheels which is a likely place to get hung up on a rock. The side steps are functional as steps but not as rock sliders. They also look dated as they are large and silver.

OEM Side Steps and Side Pipes

There are lots of options out there for different side steps or rock sliders. I wanted effective rock sliders that could double as side steps, that were black, and would compliment the lines of the truck. I ended up getting the Eurowise rock sliders with optional side step attachment. These don’t hang down much, they offer robust protection of the body and door sill, and the optional side step attachment is functional (sticks out just enough and has grip). These are simple bolt on so no damage to the truck for the install.

To appreciate the difference here are some side by side photos.

Resolving the side pipe was not as easy as there are not many options (only one option that I could find outside of just cutting off the side pipes). There are two issues with the OEM exhaust system. The first is that the side pipes are not practical for an off road application as they stick out too much and hang down too much. The second is that the whole system sits below the chassis rails and thus even the muffler is likely going to get banged up. The solve is the MBRP high clearance exhaust kit. This tucks the whole system up higher (by a couple of inches) so that not much hangs below the chassis rails. The side pipes are replaced with just some turned down cut pipes that end under the chassis in front of the rear wheels. The end result is much more clearance. As for the sound of the exhaust it is even louder and deeper than stock which is hard to believe if you have ever heard an AMG G63. It’s not too loud but almost. If you are into deep, expressive, and head turning exhaust notes then you will love this kit. If you are trying to creep out of the neighborhood without being noticed this is NOT the kit for you.

The last thing we did at this phase is add a bit of protection for the truck. The truck already has a front skip plate and rear skip plate but the transfer case is exposed. So we added an ORC transfer case skip plate to protect the truck further. With all this in place the next phase will be wheels and tires. I know what I am going to do for the wheels, but I am still thinking about the tire size as it is a slippery slope to go up in size. More to come soon.

G63 Build - Less Chrome

The G is a great car that was built to last, to be capable, and to be rugged. But over the years MB found that they needed to make it comfortable in order to move units. That led to leather interiors, fancy infotainment systems, side steps, side pipes, and CHROME. Lots and lots of chrome. I am not sure which happened first. Did the chrome attract the rich and famous to buy the G? Or as the rich and famous bought the G and helped it reach iconic status did MB add more and more chrome? Either way, there is too much chrome.

Our G had the OEM front bumper bar, some chrome accents, side steps that are silver, and chrome side pipes. The first thing we did was remove the chrome front bumper. It is held on by only two bolts which tells me it is all about show and not function. Any minor bump and that bar would cave into the front end. Once you have it removed you just need to install some bumper caps where the bar use to mount. I found ours on eBay for less than $100.

Before

After

We might black out the chrome accents, but that is pretty low on the priority list. The side steps and side pipes are being addressed shortly, more on that in a future blog post. We did buy on eBay a black replacement to the side rubber strip that runs down the truck. The stock version is silver and changing that out to black should help quite down the look. But this first step of removing the bumper bar has already helped.

G63 Build - First Impressions

The G wagon has a rich history. This was Mercedes answer for a utility vehicle for the military and civil duties. From 1999 to 2018 the generation was called W463 and this design did not changed much during that time. It’s a ladder frame chassis, boxy body design, solid axel, coil over suspension, with triple lockers. Just about the perfect combination for a capable off-road vehicle. There are very few vehicles made today that follow this formula as most have moved to independent suspension, or a different chassis construction, or more modern body lines. The newest G wagon’s (W465 from 2018 until today) have moved away from their winning formula in favor of wider, longer, heavier, independent suspension, and frankly more comfortable but a less capable design.

Because of this we opted for a W463 (2018). Within this generation there are a few engine options. We picked the AMG G63 which is a 5.5L V8 bi-turbo monster producing 563 HP, but if I could do it again we would go for a G550 which is a 4L V8 bi-turbo producing 450 HP. The big difference is that the G63 has more intercoolers in the front bumper making it much harder to fit it with aftermarket bumpers to support winches. In fact there is only one front bumper that fits the G63 and it is still in development from Jack Wagon. Another issue with the G63 compared to the G550 is the exhaust. The G63 has side pipes which most people love, but they hang low and in a location where they are very susceptible to hit rocks when off-road. The G550 has its exhaust tips under the chassis and thus is more protected. There is a solve for the G63 if you go with the MBRP high clearance exhaust kit.

The G63 will be a daily driver but it will see some light off-road time (mostly trails). As a daily driver it is fantastic IF you are looking for a retro ride. Its powerful, it has a nice interior, a good infotainment system with CarPlay, not too big, and easy to drive. With that said it does drive like a truck. With a body on frame, ladder chassis, and no air suspension it is not a soft couch. It’s a luxury truck through and through. When off-road it is extremely comfortable compared to hardcore off-roaders. So it’s exactly what we are looking for.

So the plan is keep it a great daily driver but make it even more capable mostly by giving it better clearance. So we will be removing the side steps in favor of rock sliders, install the MBRP high clearance exhaust, put on a transfer case skid plate, new wheels, a 2 inch lift kit, 33” tires, and if needed front and rear steel bumpers. Follow our journey as we change this mall crawler to a trail master.

Defender Build - Modified Soft Top

Let’s just say the Defender soft top is a design that could use some improvements (like all things Land Rover). I had a Badger Coachworks soft top which needed replacing so I traded that for an original Mantec snorkel. I replaced the Badger top with an Exmoor soft top. With the Badger top I had already upgraded to the UK gutter kit versus the NAS 5 snap bar. The gutter kit provides a much better seal for the door but when I say seal I mean a 95% waterproof seal which is as good as most Defenders can get :)

The Exmoor soft top can support both the UK gutter kit or the NAS 5 snap bar. I tried to go back to the NAS 5 snap bar to be more “original” but I didn’t like the seal so I converted back to the UK gutter kit. The only issue with the Exmoor soft top with the UK gutter kit is that the Exmoor did not come with straps to loop through the gutter kit and thus the front part of the soft top flapped a bit. The Exmoor does have velcro where the gutter kit is so the solution was simply to apply a large velcro strip to the gutter kit which would then lock in the soft top (works great).

The next issue I wanted to fix was a gap between the rear soft top window and the rear door. Normally that gap is very small and you use a bar that pulls the soft top to close that gap and prevent too much flapping. My gap is too large for that bar to be used. That meant that I got some flapping at highway speeds (which for a Defender is like 70 max) but it also meant when I was wheeling dust would come in from the back. I spent a long time to figure out a solution but in the end it was an easy one.

There are snaps on the rear door where the original soft top use to snap. All I had to do was have an upholstery shop get me some matching black canvas and create a panel that would use those rear door snaps and then install some snaps on the Exmoor soft top rear window so that you could snap the panel in to cover the gap. This reduces the flapping but more importantly it reduces dust coming into the cabin when offroad.

At this point there is only two things left to figure out to make the soft top “water tight”. The soft top cut outs for the external roll bar does allow a small amount of rain to come in (not much but just enough to be noticed). I think I can create a gasket of sorts to help seal that better. Lastly, I have one leak in the driverside door frame which I need to track down and seal. Both of these are minor compared to the other mods I have done but I will report back if I can get them resolved and finally make the D90 soft top a 4 season top (how novel).

Defender Build - Cross Bars

With a truck like a D90 you want to take it surfing, skiing, snowboarding, kayaking, or biking. It’s a truck built for adventure. But that means it needs to haul your gear. That can be a bit tricky with a soft top. I fixed the first problem by getting a custom fabricated safari rack that does not impact the soft top. To read about that project go here. The platform is great for roof top tents, cargo boxes, and kayaking…..but not so great for skis, snowboards, and surfboards. I wanted to find a solution to have cross bars mounted to the safari platform.

I ended up getting some Yakima HD rails and believe it or not the holes in the rails lined up perfectly with the perforated floor of the roof rack. I then got some Yakima launch pads that mount to the rails and then some Skyline towers. The final piece was to get some HD cross bars. The Skyline towers and cross bars can simply unclip from the rails in minutes for a sleek profile when you don’t need the cross bars. Is this setup overkill….yes just like the rest of the build :)

GT4 Build - Front Axle Lift Kit

The GT3, and some other 911s, have the option for a front axle lift system but the 718 GT4 does not allow for this factory option, at least it didn’t in 2021. I didn’t think it would be much of a problem but I quickly found out otherwise. Speed bumps, driveways, hell even pebbles strike fear into the heart of any GT4 owner. You end up getting use to the scraping sound of the front splitter.

Because this is meant to be a dual purpose car I do want to drive it more on the street but at the moment the race pads (more on that later) and the constant scraping don’t allow it. I looked around and there are a couple different aftermarket front axle lift kits but most are $4k and above. I then found Designs by Jacob’s system that only costs $1,500. The system is rather simply in that it is an air compressor, air cups, some air lines, and a wireless remote. The net result is a simple way to lift the front of the GT4 40-50mm with a push of the button in about 5-6 seconds without sacrificing handling or alignment. The added weight is about 11 lbs in total which is a small weight tax for the added benefit of getting over speed bumps and driveways. Because it is a wireless system you can program the remote into one of your factory garage door buttons on the rearview mirror. You do lose about 20mm of adjustability in your shock but you can make that up by changing out the springs (which I did). After talking to Designs by Jacob I decided to get the front 280 lb springs by Swift which tighten up the front just a touch (stock is 257 lbs springs) but also recapture the lost adjustability caused by the air cups. I should be left with the same ride height I have today but with the courage to drive my car around the streets without fear.

Here are the Swift springs I bought from Designs by Jacob. Aren’t they beautiful?

Here is a short video of the lift in action.

While I was getting the lift kit installed I also swapping out the racing pads (Ferodo DS1.11) for some street pads (Ferodo DS2500). The DS1.11 are amazing on the track but just too loud on the street when cold which is most of the time. To make it easier to swap between the race pads and the street pads I had a stud kit installed for the calipers and the brake line mounts. For the calipers I installed the Girodisc stud kit. For the brake line mounts I installed the Tarett stud kit. I also installed recline brackets on the lightweight bucket seats (LWBS) to better accommodate my helmet when on the track.

All of these changes, plus the new street wheels and tires, are meant to give my car two distinct personalities…..an aggressive daily driver and a track monster.

UPDATE: The front axle lift kit is amazing and well worth the money and effort. The kit comes with two remotes but you can program Porsche’s built-in garage door buttons to activate and deactivate the lift kit. It will require using two of the garage door buttons (out of three), one to lift and one to lower. Also it lifts the front of the car by 2 full inches at the front splitter, and just over 1 inch at the wheel well (see photos below). I have tested it out on a few of my local problem areas on my property and it works great. It takes 4-5 seconds to lift and only about 2 seconds to lower. Also with the front springs changed out we were able to get the alignment to match the pre-kit settings. So no loss of suspension tuning that we can find. Huge fan of the kit!!! During this install we also installed street pads which you can read about here under the 4th update. The quick read is that I love the Ferodo DS2500 pads for the street….no noise. We also installed reclining brackets for the LWBS (race seats). With these you do lose some seat travel, at least I did due to the head rest hitting my half cage. I am guessing we lost about 1-2 inches of rear travel but it wasn’t enough to be a problem. I am 6’1” and I can still move the seat back enough to be comfortable to get in and out and for leg travel between pedals. I am guessing that if you don’t have a half cage you wont lose any seat travel. I do find the seats more comfortable with the recline brackets. You sort of fall into them which makes getting in and out just as hard as before….maybe a touch more difficult. But that is worth the added comfort while driving. It will also make it more comfortable with a helmet and Hans device when on the track. Without the reclining brackets the headrest pushed your helmet forward a bit and after a day on the track I found my neck sore. This should resolve that. So in my opinion, just as other GT3 and GT4 owners have told me, this is a good upgrade.

GT4 Build - Street Wheels and Tires

A while back I installed some satin black Apex SM-10RS wheels to accommodate much wider tires (265 in the front and 305 in the rear). I also wanted to drop down to 19” wheels versus 20” to get more sidewall. To fit that I had to modify the suspension. You can read about those projects here. The satin black wheels with Pilot Sport Cup 2 tires are a great dry track setup, but I wanted something for the street that could double as a wet track setup. So I decided to get another set of Apex SM-10RS wheels but this time in satin bronze. The bronze looks great against the Oak Green paint. For street tires I went with Pilot Sport 4 S. Now I can keep the bronze on the car most of the time and swap them out for the track set on dry days. I will store the OEM silver wheels in case the next owner wants to go back to stock. But before I store the wheels perhaps I should burn up the tires doing so autocross or burnouts :)

Here is the track setup (since this picture was taken I have removed the center caps because I melted the APEX ones while on the track).

Here is the street setup (I put in OEM stain black GT4 center caps with I think is an interesting contrast).

Ride report: Its hard to know if the street tires are the sole contributor to this but the GT4 feels softer and more forgiving with these street tires compared to the track tires. That would make sense but it’s hard for me to prove it. I would guess that the Pilot Sport 4S has a softer sidewall. It certainly has more tread than the track tires. The compound is also different than the track tires, so my hypothesis is that the combination of these things creates a softer, tamer, more forgiving ride compared to the Pilot Sport Cup 2. So far I am very happy with this street setup just as I am happy with my track setup.

Sprinter Build - Starlink Gen 3

I have wanted to do this for a couple of years and I finally get around to it. I already have a cell boost, which works to some degree, but I wanted to have wifi virtually everywhere. I got a Starlink Gen 3 for our house as a backup ISP and given the Gen 3 has a quick disconnect base I felt I could use it for the house and the van. I mounted the Starlink to the house with a pole attachment and for the van I used the car/boat roof mount. Because I have a roof rack with a perforated floor bolting the mount was rather easy. I had to get different bolts, washers, and nuts to fit the holes of the perforated floor but a quick trip to the hardware store fixed that.

I am still torn whether I want to use 110v with my inverter, or get a 12v power source converter. There are pros and cons for both. The 12v power source converter will save a touch of power but then I would have to use a different router. If I use the standard power source and router with my 110v inverter I will use a touch more power but I will have all stock Starlink equipment which might be more reliable (plus I can control all the settings from the Starlink app). So my short term plan is to run a cat6 permanently to the roof in a clean way and get a router/power source wall mount. I can then grab my dish, the power source and router and simply plug them into the van leveraging the pre-installed cat6. It would take about 2 minutes to hook everything up.

I am going to test out this setup and then adjust from there if I run into issues. I will report back any updates to this post.

Defender Build - More Lights

When I got the truck it had two large aux driving lights but they were old, mismatched, didn’t work, and were HUGE. The only thing I liked about them was that they were Hella which was the official brand Land Rover used back in the day for their Camel Trophy trucks. In fact there was even 4 special edition Hella Defenders made. So one might say Hella and Defenders are intertwined and thus when I pick out lights for the D90 I only use Hella.

1994 Hella Defender #1515

1994 Hella Defender #1235

The original Hella lights used on Defenders were the 3000 series, but I find those a bit big at 7.6 inches tall and I am not a fan of the chrome housing. So I went with the 4000 compact black series which are 6.7 inches tall, thinner, with a black metal housing. I could have gone LED but I went with Halogen to keep a more retro look. I wired these up to the ARB bumper and put them on a new dedicated circuit using a fused relay and Carling switch. They are great lights but not as driving lights on the bumper. First off they are too bright if you want to use them on-road, they are really an off-road light only. Second, I wish they came with a rock guard versus a complete rock shield. I also wish you could get them in amber so they could act as a good fog light.

Original Hella 3000 lights

Hella 4000 compact black Halogen

Hella 500 amber driving light

After lots of debating (with myself) I have decided to switch out my setup. I bought some Hella 500 amber lights which are 6.8 inches tall, very thin, with a black plastic housing. These do support rock guards and rock shields so you have options. Being amber will make them a bit more useful on the front bumper during storms or off-road driving in dust. And since the 500s are halogen they have a nice retro look and feel. They will be bright but not as bright as the 4000 series. I don’t love the plastic housing but its not a big deal and maybe an advantage because these lights are not expensive and thus very replaceable in case they get damaged.

Hella 500 amber driving lights test fitted

This allows me to move the 4000s I have to the top NAS roll cage and add two more which will mimic the Hella Defenders. I know the more modern solution would be to get an LED light bar but I think that would look odd on a 1994 Defender that has maintained its retro look. The 4000’s don’t need the rock guards only the rock shields because of the high placement. Fun fact, in CA you are required to have full covers (rock shields) for off-road lights when driving on-road to prevent accidentally turning on the lights and blinding other drivers. These off-road lights are on their own switch separate from the amber driving lights. I made a wire loom with waterproof plugs for easy repairs. The switch for the 4000’s is next to the fog light switch by the steering wheel.

Defender Build - Dome Light

If you have read this blog you know I am trying to keep the old school feel of this project while making it more drivable since it is my daily driver. I had already replaced all the dash lights with LED bulbs in OEM green. This made the dash actually readable at night. At that time I also replaced the dome light which was broken. That came with an incandescent bulb which was fine but I replaced that bulb with an LED bulb to make it brighter. The prior owner tried to fix the original dome light (which was obvious due to all the tape and glue) but when he/she put it back together the door switches were no longer turning on the light when the door was open. I lived with this for a couple of years and just used the dome light as a manual turn on, but it was on my list of things to address at some point.

So on a lazy Saturday I decided to figure this out. The first thing was to ensure I understood the wiring. As it turns out there are three wires to the dome light (black = constant ground, purple = constant 12v, purple with a blue trace = door switches). The next thing was to understand how the door switches worked. They are actually ground switches not positive switches….meaning the door switches connect or break a ground to the chassis. The screw of the door switch creates a ground to the chassis but that ground is only passed through the wire when the shaft of the switch is not pressed in by the door. The ground wire from the passenger door switch runs to the driver door switch and then it runs to the dome light as the purple with blue trace wire.

With that understood, the next thing was to ensure the wires were hooked up properly to the dome light. Mine were not. It should be purple (constant 12v) plugged to the bulb body, dome light switch position 1 hooked up to the black (constant ground) wire, and the dome light switch position 2 hooked up to the purple with blue trace (door switch ground) wire. This way when you put the dome light switch in position 1 it will manually turn on, but when you put the dome light switch in position 2 it will turn on when either door is open.

In my case the light would come on with the manual switch but the door switches would still not turn on the light. Upon inspection of my door switches I notices they were corroded which is common with this design. I cleaned up the terminals and then everything worked. Since new door switches are only $20 I ordered two new ones to be safe. Now I have a fully functional dome light and with the LED bulb it is much brighter. With this fixed there is only one thing left in the entire car that is not working as it should and that is the driver seat belt warning light. So that is next on my list.

Defender Build - Roof Rack

There are lots of great things about having a soft top, like open air driving and the cool factor. But there is also a ton of downside like noise, not exactly air or water tight, and making it hard to have a roof rack solution. I have wanted a roof rack since the day I bought the truck so that I can carry surf boards, kayaks, skis and snowboards, and possibly a roof top tent for overlanding. But there are very few options on how to get a roof rack on a Defender 90 soft top. Safety Devices made a rack for soft top and hard top Defenders but they long stopped making the soft top version.

I could go with a fully custom unit but then I am paying to have someone figure it out. I could cut into the soft top to attach a traditional roof rack to the safari cage but that seems like the cheap solution. I wanted a rack that fit with the spirit of the Defender, did not impact the soft top functionality, but was also very functional. Luckily I found Chase Chop Shop & Urban Offroad who has already designed and built many Defender 90 soft top roof racks with a unique mounting solution using double ladders in the back and cross bars that mount to the external roll cage over the front doors. This design mimics the original Safety Devices version but uses better materials and some design tweaks. He makes a basket version of the roof rack which looks more traditional, but he also makes a flat roof rack which I think is more functional. With a basket the side bars tend to get in the way of mounting ski racks, surf boards, or roof top tents as you either need to mount inside the basket (which some things don't fit) or on top of the basket (which makes the truck extra tall). With a flat roof rack you can mount anything on the deck of the rack, thus minimizing the height while maximizing the versatility. The double ladder in the back also gives great access to the roof rack.

Because my truck is not perfectly square (most are not) I asked Derek @ Chase Chop Shop to keep the roof rack unfinished so that if I needed to grind, bend, or cut anything to get a good fit I can simply powder coat after the mods. I also wanted a walkable floor so Derek is welding on a metal floor with perforated holes. To give more lashing points he also built into the design some tie down points in the mid-section. So basically I was able to use Derek’s design but then customize it to my needs.

After a few weeks the rack arrived and we did a test fitting. It fit well but we needed to redo one of the brackets as it came damaged from shipping. Then it was off to the powder coater where we did a black 60% gloss to match the Defender’s external roll cage finish. Then it was time for the final finish which was easy at this point. I think this fits the original design of the truck while being highly functional. Next up is to mount 4 Hella off-road lights on the external roll cage just below the roof rack platform.

Defender Build - Door Adjustment

This is not a frame off restoration project where every nut and bolt is replaced and the truck comes out better than when it was originally built. This is a high-end restomod. I think a little wear and patina fits this car better than it being a garage queen. With that said there are three things that have always driven me nuts and that I have spent countless hours trying to figure out and improve.

  1. making the doors fit better with tight seals (let’s be clear a Land Rover is never waterproof but it should be highly water resistant)

  2. the mystery non-OEM C pillar bar that is very functional but not the stock padded NAS bar

  3. a soft top that is as quite as possible

I can’t explain why my doors did not fit well, but I finally have them nearly perfect. It took Exclusive British European 3-4 hours of bending, adjusting, rebending, and readjusting but they did it. My doors are tight, latch well, are mostly waterproof and nearly air tight. This is no small accomplishment for a 94 soft top Defender with 2 part doors. As it turns out the bottom half needed hinge adjustments and the top half needed bending (in) to match up to the door frame better. I could not be happier with the result. The paint was slightly damaged in the process on one door but it is an easy fix with a respray. Before the Defender watch dogs jump all over me….keep in mind my truck has already been resprayed.

BEFORE

AFTER

I have given up trying to figure out the C pillar. What I have is strong, works well, looks fine, and not worth chasing any further. The mystery gives the truck character. If I ever come across a NAS safari cage in good shape that I can pick up I will. And if my non-stock C pillar bothers me later I could always spend a ton of money and get the Rovers North remake. But like I said, this is not a frame off restoration project. This is about making the Defender a nice driver. This is an old picture as the rear jump seat have been replaced with an OEM rear bench. But as you can see my C pillar is all metal while all the other parts of my cage are padded…and no my C pillar is not simply missing the padding, it never came with any. I have even talked to Safety Devices who manufactured the cages for Land Rover and they claim this is not their product.

For the soft top I have a fix. I just need to work with an upholstery shop to add 6 straps and one flap which will turn this Exmoor top into an Exmoor / Badger hybrid design of my own making. It will be the best of both designs and make it as quite as possible. More on that later once I get the work done.

Grenadier Build - Canceled For now

Well this is not how I thought it was going to end up….but I have canceled my delivery and asked Ineos to reroute my car to another buyer. I am very disappointed so let me explain how Ineos lost an extremely excited customer.

Everything was great. My car was built, shipped to LA, and it was waiting to be released to the NorCal Ineos dealer located in Redwood City. I was suppose to take delivery before Christmas but then Christmas became January and then communications shut down from the dealer in Redwood City. By talking to other frustrated NorCal owners and then finally Ineos I learned that the dealer in Redwood City was not going to be ready to take deliver of the cars or service customers and it was unclear if/when they were going to be ready. I am guessing that there was a dispute with the landlord of the building and/or city permit issues. Ineos offered to have my car delivered to a Pasadena dealer who would reach out to me and organize delivery to my house. I never heard from the Pasadena dealer. I asked Ineos who would service my car locally and Ineos said any BMW service center could handle warranty issues.

But the idea that BMW would service my car when only their engine is used in the Grenadier didn’t sound right so I dug deeper and talked to more people. I found out that Ineos was wrong and that all service would need to be done by an Ineos service center. That would mean I would have to ship or drive my car 5+ hours to get a software update or to take care of a warranty issue. That is completely unacceptable even for a Toyota, but for a new car that has lots of online reports of sensor and electrical issues it is especially risky.

So I canceled my reservation after waiting for 3 years. I might come back to Ineos and place another order once there is a local dealer and service center but I am now running the risk of a price increase or a dealer markup. So there is only a 50/50 chance I come back to Ineos. I love the idea of the Grenadier but Ineos really screwed up and did it in one of the best car markets in the US (NorCal). So I am shifting my attention to my Land Rover Defender 90 NAS soft top (which is a much cooler car than the Grenadier anyway) and will make some improvements of that car to make it more of a daily driver. I will also look into some other options such as the new Toyota Land Cruiser, a used G wagon, a “rad dad” Defender 110, or maybe something out of left field completely like an 80’s Carrera. So for now my Grenadier journey comes to an end thanks to Ineos not being able to launch properly in NorCal…..what a mess.

Defender Build - Dual Amps

If you have followed this build you know that I have tried a few different stereo setups in this Defender. Once I settled on a head unit in the OEM stereo location I always had the plan to add an amp or two in the Mud Stuff locking storage cabinet under the cubby. The space is small and there are other wires in that cabinet (OEM stereo loom and some additional wires I installed for the seat heaters) so you have to pick small amps. I first started with the Kicker 4 way (50 watt each channel) D class amp the Key200.4. This not only has cleaner power than the head unit but it also has a DSP built in to optimize the sound. This is a very small amp so it is easy to fit. The next challenge was to find another amp for a future sub. That was a bit harder but once again I turned to Kicker as they have a single channel 500 watt D class amp the Key500.1 which is just a bit bigger than the 4 way. While they both fit it was tight once you added the positive and negative distribution blocks. I spent hours thinking about how to fit everything but then it came to me. Simply turn the amps on their side and mount them to the side walls of the locking storage cabinet. This left the center of the cabinet open for the distribution blocks and the other wire looms. To round out the install I ordered a Crutchfield dual amp wiring kit which came with great wires, the distribution blocks, the in-line fuse block, and fuses (yet I had to change one of the fuses to match my specific system).

I had hoped to make the wires a bit more organized so that is something I will try to sort out in the future. The main reason it looks like a rats nest is because you need all the wires running to the head unit to be long enough for the cubby to slide back….thus requiring many wires to be excessively long.

The 4 way amp not only makes the audio louder but also cleaner. Even without the DSP activated or tuned the audio is massively upgraded. With the DSP activated and tuned it improves the audio even further. I don’t have a sub yet as I need to design the sub box to mount to the rear swing out door behind the rear bench seat. Once that is in place I will update this writeup.

Update 1/16/24

I cleaned up the wiring, ran the subwoofer speaker wire (still no subwoofer yet), and installed the base control knob. Everything works great so far. The DSP really improves the sound and once I get the sub box built and installed I can drop in a 10” low profile sub. I am thinking of getting the AudioMobile EVO 10.

Defender Build - Fuse Box

I have done a lot of electrical work in this truck. Some of it was to make it more reliable and some of it was to add new functionality. One thing I have wanted to do was to wire up my seat heaters, GMRS radio, and a fuse box to run some aux gear. I have gone back and forth on how to do that as there are lots of options (switch based, auto on with the ignition, etc). I finally decided to have ignition power trigger a high amp relay to send power to a fuse box where I can then have 6 different fused circuits. The relay I am using is an 80 amp relay which will power a fuse box where I will have the two seat heaters (7.5 amp each), the GMRS radio (15 amp), 12v power out for a portable fridge or other gear (30 amp), USB charging (5 amp), with one circuit open and 15 amps to spare.

By making the fuse box auto triggered from the ignition and moving the GMRS radio power to the fuse box I can free up two switch bays in the center dash. This means my 6 switch panel in the center dash will now have 1) air compressor 2) front locker (future install) 3) rear locker (future install) 4) winch power 5) open and 6) open. I wanted a clean look and to make the GMRS radio secure (hidden) so I installed it in my locking cubby box. The unit is a Midland MXT575, 50 watt, GMRS, with the display built into the mic so you can hide the base. I also wanted some more USB charging options in the center dash so I installed 2 USB charges by the switch panel that will power my phone and Garmin GPS.

One might say all of this is a bit over-engineered but the way I look at it I have put in modern wiring, increased functionality, fused everything separate for safety, future-proofed the design by running more wires than I need, left myself some open circuits as my needs change, but kept the original look of the Defender. So ya….its over-engineered.

GT4 Build - LWBS Mods

I, like many, love the Porsche LWBS. The only problem is that they are hard to get in and out. That is a small price to pay for nice carbon fixed back racing seats. But the issue is that you slowly damage the bolster leather of the seats and if you need to replace that later it is very expensive. The solve is to get leather covers of the bolsters from EdGuard. I decided to keep the GT Silver stitching theme and to add a couple more of EdGuard’s products. I picked up some seat belt loops to hold the belts in place as well as a headrest cover. I noticed when on the track with a helmet and HANS device you rub the headrest leather. EdGuard makes a short and full cover offering and given the car’s track us I went with the full covering. While I was at it I had him embroider the SVMC logo into the headrest cover also in GT Silver. Installation was easy (about 15 minutes per side) just follow EdGuard’s instructions carefully.

If you have haven’t read my other blog post, I also installed 6 point racing harnesses while keeping the street 3 point belts. To get the 6 points installed I needed a sub bar, I had to cut a hole in the bottom of the carbon fiber shell on the passenger seat, and modify the passenger seat cushion to create a slit for the sub belts to pass through. Read the write up here.

This completes my seat mods…..time to hit the track.

GT4 Build - Phone and Catalyst Mount

Quick mod…..a mounting system that will work for my iPhone when on the street but also my Garmin Catalyst when on the track. A track friend of mine had this and I felt it was a cleaver solution so I copied it. Here is what you need.

  • Rennline magnetic mount

  • Ram 1” mounting ball

  • Drill out the hole just a bit on the Rennline magnetic mount so you can use a bolt that fits the Ram 1” mounting ball

  • Peak Design 1” ball magnetic mount as the Rennline magnet is not strong enough. The Peak Design will also charge your iPhone. You can get cheap China knockoff versions on Amazon but I went with Peak Design as they are a quality company.

  • Any Ram double ball arm (there are a few different lengths and you can even do double arms if you want)

With this set up you can mount just about anything to the Rennline mounting plate. I decided to use the Peak Design magnetic charger for the street but then when I am on the track I can swap out the arm and mount the Garmin Catalyst.

GT4 Build - Track Ready Brakes

When I got the GT4 I had thought I could get away with doing very few upgrades to make this a dual duty street and track monster. I started out with racing belts and half cage, then did suspension, and then did wheels and tires. My hope was that I didn’t need to upgrade the brakes and after a couple days at Sonoma I felt that plan was possible. The stock brakes are surprisingly good and I was confident in their stopping power and feel.

That changed once I did a two day track event at Laguna. As I got faster I realized the stock setup was not up for the task of a true track car. I never had brake fade but my confidence was declining as the day went on and I could tell I was pushing the pads beyond their heat limit. By the end of the track weekend I had glazed the pads and the brake feel was terrible.

So I have decided to do the following upgrades:

Front Brakes

Rear Brakes

There are more aggressive pads but I was looking for a pad that still worked well on the street. The Girodisc rotors will allow me to lower my replacement costs in the future as I can simply replace the ring, and this design has better heat management and is lighter. I wasn’t sure if the brake lines really needed to be replaced with stainless but felt it was a low investment considering the other upgrades I was doing. I will report back on how this setup performs but at this point it wont be until the spring.

UPDATE 1: So now that the rotors and pads are installed I can report back on initial thoughts. The feel of the brakes is much improved. More responsive, higher bite, firmer feel in the pedal. The downside is that when cold and doing light braking the pads squeak which is fine for the track but annoying for the street as you rarely get the pads up to temperature. I will see if that squeak settles down after some wear. If not I might need to go to a two pad solution (driving season = squeaky race pads, non-driving season = quite boring pads).

UPDATE 2: I have completed a track day at Sonoma Raceway on the new brakes and I can report back that they are a big upgrade over stock. The real test will be when I go to Laguna and see how they perform on a brake heavy track, but I suspect they will perform extremely well. I did not have brake fade, I did not glaze my pads like I did on Laguna, and the brakes have become a bit more quite on the street (but not silent). These brakes allowed me to hit a new personal best at Sonoma at 1:52 so ya….I like the brakes.

UPDATE 3: Well as much as I like the Ferodo DS1.11 for the track I don’t like them for the street. They are simply too loud with too much bite. So I have decided to run two sets. The Ferodo DS1.11 will be the track day setup and for the street I will run Ferodo DS2500. The DS2500 are rated for light track use so there might be a touch of noise. To make pad change outs easier I am installing a Girodisc caliper stud kit and a Tarett brake line stud kit. This will allow me to rather quickly change out the pads without cross threading or stripping out the bolt holes (a common problem with Porsche). Once this is all installed and tested I will report back AGAIN.

UPDATE 4: Well the Ferodo DS2500 street pads (actually light track pads) are installed and they are great. No noise, easy to modulate on the street, and enough bite but not too much. I think they are a great street option and will compliment the Ferodo DS1.11 race set. In hindsight I wish I had just installed the VERY expensive AP Racing BBK as it would allow even easier pad changes (from the top so you don’t need to remove the caliper) but now that I have the Girodisc, stud kits, and the pads figured out it is hard to justify tossing all that out for the AP Racing kit. But knowing me I might end up with the AP Racing setup in a couple of years. For now I feel I have a near perfect dual purpose brake system.

Grenadier Build - Street Test Drive

As you may know I have made contact with the NorCal (Bay Area) Ineos dealer and service center….Kuhn Ineos. Dave is frantically getting things ready and has been great to work with. This week he took delivery of two test drive vehicles and he reached out to me to see if I wanted to be one of the first people to test drive the Grenadier on the street. I immediately dropped everything and ran over to Redwood City to take him up on his offer.

I have driven the Grenadier at Hollister Hills months ago and was very impressed on the fit and finish, feel, drivability, and off-road capabilities…..but I was not able to drive it on the street as those vehicles were prototypes and not street legal. I have read online from Grenadier owners outside of the US about the software issues they have faced as well as some of the oddities of the Grenadier on the street. There is a software update out this month that is meant to address the glitches many have experienced and I am told that update will be installed on all US Grenadiers day one. In modern cars regular software updates are becoming the norm, unfortunately.

The driving oddities people have pointed out are mostly related to the feel of the steering. The feedback I have read is that the steering feels delayed on the turn in which requires the driver to adjust their steering input. This is not an error, it is actually part of the design. The Grenadier’s design is so focused on off-roading capabilities that they designed the steering to be optimized for rugged terrain such as when the wheels are pinned between some rocks or stuck in ruts. When you are off-roading you are generally crawling at low speed with a lot of force applied to the front wheels due to the terrain, so having the steering too forceful or too precise can be a disadvantage. Ineos addressed this by designing a steering system that is forgiving, yet the byproduct of that is a delay in the turn in when on the street.

Back to my experience…..So Kuhn Ineos is in Redwood City at a building I know all too well. At 380 Convention Way Redwood City there is a building I have visited as a kid. At one point it was a Peugeot dealer but then it was converted into a Chuck E. Cheese which I had some birthday parties at. Then it shifted to a Harley Davidson dealership until it was converted to a high-end boxing gym. Dave and Ineos are converting it back to a dealership yet keeping some of the lounge elements that the boxing gym built out. It's a great space that wont feel like a dealer but more of a club house.

He has a mushroom white and a shale blue Grenadier ready for test drives. They are equipped differently so that you can experience the various options. I drove the mushroom white one. I can confirm that the steering is “odd” but easy to get use to. I adjusted to the steering within 15 minutes so I don’t view this as a deal breaker. It does require turning in a bit early, the lock to lock is rather long (another off-road specific steering design) and you need to adjust your steering input on the turn out. It’s really not that big of a deal. Another observation is that the Grenadier does not exactly jump off the line. On take off it almost feels under powered but as you go through the gears the power seems to fold in. My guess is that this is due to the mapping of the drive by wire pedals. This too is an advantage when off-roading as it prevents hopping on take off when your wheels are pinned which can cause damage to the drivetrain or axles. But when street driving it might feel a bit delayed on take off. I am not concerned as this is not a sports car or sedan. It’s a truck and it feels and drives like one (in a good way). I did experience a glitch in the infotainment system where the screen turned off for a few seconds while I was driving but it came right back. Another example of a software issue that will likely be resolved with an update.

On the plus it looks fantastic, the doors are heavy and solid, the seat are very comfortable, the visibility is great, and the fit and finish seemed well put together. There is a lot of plastic (like most cars under $100k) but it felt higher end than many other cars. I did not notice any squeaks or cracking sounds on this test drive or when I drove it off-road at Hollister Hills. I had my wife in the passenger seat and my son in the back seat, both of which are tall. There seems to be plenty of room in the rear seat for adults. The rubber flooring (an option which you can replace with carpet) is surprisingly nice and will make washing out the Grenadier a breeze. This is the option I picked.

All in all I think it’s a great car for what it is. If you want a do everything, go anywhere SUV that has enough creature comforts without all the waste, then I think the Grenadier should be considered. If you are looking for a mall crawler then you might not love the Grenadier because of the steering, delayed acceleration, and use of plastic. As for me….I am excited to take delivery of the Grenadier and feel it will be a great daily driver, tow vehicle and adventure SUV for the family. My order is for a shale blue version but I have to admit the mushroom white is pretty awesome.

GT4 Build - Garmin Catalyst

I feel like I have tried EVERY video and data logging system out there. I have done Harry’s LapTimer and many other iPhone based systems, RaceLogic VBOX HD2, Apex Pro, Swhoon, and more GoPro options than I care to admit. Anything that relies on a GoPro for video will fail if you ask me because GoPro remote turn on options rarely work consistently. Systems without video I find a bit boring as I like to relive the day. Some options require having GPS units or OBDII units to become more accurate. Some options require offline editing….who has the time for that? The best option I have ever used was the VBOX HD2 solution, but it is extremely expensive at $5k. When I had a race car it was worth it as you get motorsports grade data logging and 2 HD cameras and everything is spliced in real time for immediate playback on a Mac, iPad, iPhone, or a Windows machine if that is your thing. RaceLogic recently came out with an all in one unit called the VBOX HD Lite which captures data and video but doesn’t seem to splice it in real time. I think this could be an interesting option for many if you are willing to spend $900.

In a similar price point ($900) is the Garmin Catalyst which has a single camera and a large touch screen that has built-in GPS. This unit is becoming very popular for track days as it seems to be nearly an all in one system, with video capture, instant replay, data logging, and…….live coaching. The simplicity is attractive but what I am really interested in is the live coaching which you can play through the car stereo system, through the touch screen’s internal speaker, through a mic out, or if you are a dork like me through a bluetooth comms device that patches into your helmet speakers. The live coaching announces your track time, where you can push more, and where you can brake later based on your current lap time and line versus your previous lap time and line. That kind of AI based coaching could be valuable for those of us who mostly self coach.

Here is the system I have pieced together and once I give it a shake down at Laguna Seca next month I will report back.

UPDATE: I have now taken out the Catalyst on the track and I have to say it is my favorite system so far in the $1,000 price range. It worked flawlessly which I can’t say about many systems I have used. Also the all-in-one package is really nice and easy to use. The video quality is really good, not as good as a GoPro but good enough. The real time analysis is quite good. I paired my system to a bluetooth module so that I could hear the system’s live coaching and time announcements (kind of game changing if you are looking for dynamic coaching without a right seat instructor). The ability to do data overlays to videos on the device back in the paddock is great. This allows you to not only review data and video right after a session you can grab that off the microSD card and share it to help others or to show off. In my case there isn’t much reason to show off :)

While it is extremely good there is room for some improvements over time. I would like all of my driving data to be stored in the cloud. At the moment it seems a subset of the driving data is stored (or at least accessible) in the cloud with the rest being stored locally on the device. As part of this I would like the free companion app to do more. Specially I would like to share more details of my driving data with my saved friends and be able to pull up a friend’s detailed driving data to use as a reference lap for some side by side comparisons. Another call out is that some of the coaching and optimal line recommendations are off so you need to know when to ignore and when to agree, but honestly it is very good so you can mostly agree. I found that at times it was asking me to track out more on turn 11 at Laguna when I was already tracking out as far as there is pavement. I would love them to offer an OBD II accessory that pulled in additional data from the car (RPM, gear, wheel speeds, brake position, throttle position, and steering angle). This would take the system from a casual track day device to an amateur racing device. Other systems have predictive lap time calculated in the moment as you drive, this would be a nice feature to have. I would like there to be two way audio over bluetooth. This would allow me to capture my real time driving comments on Garmin’s video recording. At the moment it does have a good built-in mic so if you are yelling your voice will be picked up but the ideal would be to make the bluetooth connection 2-way versus 1-way, or to have the option of an external mic jack. This would also allow you to patch into a helmet to helmet communication system between a driver and coach, thus allowing you to capture more coaching instructions.

Some of those requests are more niche and would make the device $100 to $200 more expensive and thus perhaps shift the target market from track rat to racer. Other systems have all of these features yet cost $5k (VBOX HD is an example) which is why if Garmin did these improvements they could offer a robust system for $1,200 and sweep more of the market. In some regards they already have swept the market as the number of Catalysts I see on track days is starting to overshadow the other systems. Well done Garmin!!!! I can honestly say I highly recommend the Garmin Catalyst. I also have the Garmin Overlander for my off-road toys and while that is good I think the Catalyst is more thought out and easier to use. For the record Garmin didn’t support this review but I would love them to sponsor the club in case anyone has a connection :)

This was my fastest lap of the day at Weathertech Raceway Laguna Seca. At 1:41 there isn’t much to write home about, but hey it’s good for me. Please ignore me congratulating myself on the video for doing a PR in this car at Laguna.