Defender 90 Build - Locking Storage

The Defender is not known for its storage, hell it only has one compartment to put anything in. I already fixed up the cubby box to make it functional again and I used the seat boxes for things like electrical gear and an air compressor. For trip gear I figured I would use soft bags tossed in the back but after a few day trips I realized I didn’t love my recovery gear or tools shifting around back there. I looked around and finally came across Mobile Storage Systems out of the UK. Like the name implies, they specialize in metal storage solutions for Land Rovers.

I decided to try out their wheel well locking storage boxes, of which they make a couple different sizes. My goal was to get as large of ones as I could to maximize the dead space above the wheel wells. As you may recall I removed the jump seats (as they are death traps) and installed an OEM bench which left the wheels wells open. Mobile Storage Systems makes a large box, a large box that fits around the fuel filler, and a small box. I determined I would get one large box for the driver side and a small box for the passenger. I did this because the fuel filler large box would not allow me to retain my rear speakers and Mobile Storage Systems said a normal large box would not fit on the passenger side of a NAS due to the smaller space between the fuel filler and the cross bars.

Once the large and micro boxes came I test fit them and found out that you can mount a large box on either side of a NAS but just barely. So I ordered a second large box and will sell the micro. With this storage capacity I will be able to permanently store my recovery gear and a set of tools. I also found that for the passengers in the back these boxes act as nice arm rests.

The install is straight forward. Each box has 6 bolts that go through the top of the wheel wells. I previously had bolt holes in the wheel well for the jump seats so while I was here drilling the appropriate holes for the storage boxes I filled all the unused holes with JB Weld. The lesson I learned is to make your wheel well holes larger than you need so that you can have some minor movement in order to line up the other bolts.

Sprinter Build - Grille Lights and Switches

A while back I wired up a light bar and area lights to a Trigger Controller (blog post here). At that time I thought I was doing myself a favor to use the Trigger Controller as it would prevent me having to wire in relays and switches…..something I was not overly familiar with at that time. The Trigger Controller is app enabled and comes with a wireless switch block to control the lights. At that time I completed the installation of the light bar and area lights but only mounted the grille lights into position, I didn’t actually wire them in yet (due to time). Everything worked great but over time I noticed some weaknesses of the Trigger Controller.

The first is that it is not easily expandable since you either buy a 4 switch system or a 6 switch system but to expand means buying a whole new system. The second is that their wireless switch block….sucks. The LED lights of the switch are weak, the switch block is not that attractive, and the batteries run down rather quickly. More importantly, once the batteries run down the switch acts odd and on more than one occasion once I turned on the lights I could not turn them off unless I went into the app. But the biggest issue I have found with the Trigger Controller is that the circuits can only handle lower amps. On a 4 Trigger Controller only two circuits can handle 30 amps and the other two circuits can handle only 10 amps. Finding lights that take 10 amps or less is not easy. You can add a relay to a circuit to up the amps but that sort of defeats the whole point of having the Trigger Controller. You might as well have total control and flexibility and wire up relays. More on that in a second as you can guess what I had to do :)

I lived with their wireless switch block for awhile but eventually I was tired of it, so I bought their hard wired switch kit. This is a wire loom that you can add to your Trigger Controller that allows you to then use traditional switches. By doing this you can ditch the wireless switch block all together. Seeing that I like and trust MGI Speedware for my custom wiring needs I went with their 4 aviation style switch panel. I then had the joy of cutting a hole in my headliner to mount the switch panel and to route the wires to the Trigger Controller which I installed under the front driver seat in the electrical box.

While I was deep into this project I decided to finally wire up the grille lights. I went with the Rigid 360 6” lights that have an amber background. I did this for a few different reasons. The first is that these lights can be wired on two circuits (one for the main light and one for the backlight). This means that the amp rating on each circuit is rather low and based on the documentation from Rigid it would be below 10 amps on each circuit (at least that is what I thought). I was also hopeful that the amber backlight could be used as fog lights while the main lights could be used as offroad driving lights. As it turns out the amber is not bright enough to be effective fog lights. The amber looks good but it is not bright enough. The main light is very bright and a wonderful offroad light with a retro style, but the amp rating documented is the nominal load not the startup load. I found that my 10 amp circuit could not handle the load and thus it blew a fuse. The fix for that is…..you guessed it, wire in a 30 amp relay. If I am going to do that I might as well upgrade the grille lights to the Baja Design LP6 or LP9 which are amazing lights.

So all in all I would recommend the Trigger Controller only to those that have limited switch needs, who don’t feel comfortable wiring switches and relays, and who don’t need to power higher load circuits. If I could do it again I would skip it. If you like the idea of a controller that has most of the wiring done for you check out the SPOD system as it is a more powerful system. Given my Defender project I am not comfortable wiring relays and switches so my preference is to buy a custom relay panel from MGI Speedware and have total flexibility. I like the Rigid 360 lights for their retro look but for my needs I like the Baja Design LP9s better. So once I add a relay to my grille wiring loom I will jump over to the BD LP9s and join the many Sprinters who use those. In conclusion I would say you get what you pay for. The Trigger Controller is inexpensive for what it is but has many limitations and overall I spent more time than it was worth making it work for my rig. But with that said it does work great now and their customer support is excellent.

Defender 90 Build - Air Compressor

I decided early on that I wanted onboard air for the Defender. I wanted this for airing up after a day on the trails but also in case I ended up with air lockers (more on that later). My original plan was to simply put a Viair compressor like I have in the van but once I started looking into the ARB compressors I was sold. They are small, they have a couple of difference sizes, they can power air lockers, and they come with a nice wiring harness. Initially I was interested in ARB’s larger compressor but the size held me back. I ended up going with their most popular compressor the CKMA12. It can handle tire inflation easily but it also has some ports to add solenoids for two air lockers. I also liked how flexible it was for the installation. You can twist the mini air tank and compressor body to get it to fit just about anywhere.

Defenders are short on space, but there is one area that just about every Defender owner installs an air compressor and that is under the passenger seat. Both of the front seats sit on a metal box which makes it rather easy to hide some gear. The driver seat has the car battery and I went and filled the rest of that space with an aux power tray. If you are interested in that project read more here. The passenger seat box holds the OEM jack but is largely empty. In 95-97 NAS (yes I know 96 was not a real year for Defender NAS imports) the passenger seat box also holds some OEM wiring, but in my 94 there was none so I had the entire space to play with. I decided to mount the air compressor there, bolted it to the floor and wired the switch to my switch panel I created on my center cubby box. I then ran an air line out of the box under the car up to the front bumper where I installed a quick disconnect for easy tire inflation. I will be able to add more air lines later for the lockers.

While it is easy to simply have a portable air compressor for tire inflation I am happy I spent the time and money to get a permanent onboard air setup. The hardest part was figuring out where I wanted to run all the electrical and air lines, other than that it is a quick and easy install. And for you Jeep people, it is even easier because ARB makes mounting brackets specific to your truck (as always Defender owners have to do it the hard way).

Defender 90 Build - Rock Sliders and Skid Plate

Our Defender, like all Defenders, had the terrible OEM side steps that were rusted thru, ugly, and useless to protect the Defender. So we took them off, removed the painted body panel under the door frame and installed proper rock sliders. We wanted a set that would protect the body of the truck, would act as a jack point, fit the 90’s style of the truck, and have tree guards to act as side steps. We went with Rovers North’s version because they were available plus these things are burly. They bolt into the frame using existing mounting points so there is no damage to the body.

Next was to get a skid plate to protect the front steering and suspension components. Again we went with Rovers North. It is an easy bolt on design and the skid plate can come off with just a few bolts. The brackets are steel while the plate is thick aluminum.

These are both great additions to the truck that offer excellent protection while keeping the look of the truck intact.

Sprinter Build - Let’s Talk Toilets

I have been surprised how often someone asks me about how we take care of business on our backcountry trips. So this post is to talk about our experience (without too many gross details) and how we ended up finding a solution that worked for our needs.

First off there is a wide range of options you can explore. You can go old school and dig a pit, but that takes time and in many areas this is not allowed. On the other end of the spectrum you can have a black water holding tank and a permanent bathroom built into your van, but this requires maintenance, spending time at dump stations, and winterizing the holding tank. You then have the solutions in the middle like a bucket (not kidding) and the ever popular cassette toilet. These solutions are portable, temporarily hold the waste, inexpensive, and you can dump at a dump station or any permanent toilet. By far the most common solution is the cassette toilet.

Out of all of these options my family was not going to dig a pit every time. I was not willing to deal with the permanent toilet as I didn’t want that feature permanently built into the floor plan. This is because we take lots of different kind of trips and some don’t require a toilet so a permanent bathroom in the van would be a waste of space. I also didn’t want the extra maintenance of the holding take and I especially didn’t want to be driving around with frozen human waste in the winter. The bucket options is just nasty so that left the cassette toilet which we did try. This is a good option as you can do your business in the van or move it outside when you are at camp, everything is contained in one nice package (fresh water to flush and a small holding tank), and it only costs a couple hundred for a nice model. But in the end we hated it. Even with holding tank chemicals to break down the waste and cut down on the smell……the smell was always present. And when you are driving through Utah in summer and its 90+ degrees in the van that smell can be powerful. Also when it is time to dump out the portable holding tank we ran into issues. I will spare you the details but let’s just say it is easy but not the most enjoyable experience. But given all the other options we knew about the cassette toilet was still the best option for us….until a friend of mine told me about the Wrappon Green Toilet.

The Wrappon does not really fall into any of the toilet options I have gone over. This thing has created a new toilet category “heat sealed disposable waste packets”. So what the hell is that? Glad you asked. This is a Japanese electric portable toilet that was originally designed for crane operators. It is a 19x19x19 metal box that you sit on, do your business, drop in some powder that turns your urine into gel, and then press a button to heat seal your waste in an air tight packet which you simply throw away in the trash. The way this works is that in the middle of the metal box is a long plastic bag, a motor to unroll a part of that bag to collect your waste, a heat element to close off and seal part of the bag to create a packet, and then the packet drops out the bottom for you to collect.

Because the packets are air tight there is NO SMELL. We had a family of four in Death Valley for 4 days where we used the Wrappon extensively and simply put the waste packets in our van trash can and we never noticed any smell. No joke this thing works. And since it is portable you can use it in the van or put it outside at a campsite; all you need is a power source. There are three ways to power this bad boy (120v power plug, 12v cigarette lighter plug, or a battery pack). The battery pack they sell for the Wrappon is super expensive but you can rig your own battery pack if you have basic 12v electrical skills, or you can do what we did and simply get a small Goal Zero 150 power station and use the 12v cigarette plug. Doing it this way means we can use the toilet in the van and outside with the Goal Zero with the same power plug to keep things simple.

In my eyes the Wrappon is the best of all worlds. It is portable, it is easy, it does not smell, and the maintenance is low. But it does have two draw backs, the first being price. This thing is over $800 compared to a cassette toilet that ranges from $150-$300. So I would call this a camping luxury item. The second draw back is that there is a possibility for a packet to not get a perfect heat seal. This happens for us about 1 out of every 5 times we use it. I have two theories on why this happens. The first is that the 12v doesn’t provide quite enough consistent power to the heating element to get a perfect seal. The second theory is that as you drive the van is bouncing around and the plastic bag in the Wrappon gets misaligned with the heating element. What ever the reason sometimes the seal will not be perfect and you end up with a small leak of your waste on the floor. But before you freak out keep in the mind we are talking about a small leak (like pin hole). Sounds bad I know but the fix is easy. The Wrappon comes with an align tool so if you are worried about a leak you simply realign the bag when you get to your campsite. For added protection we simply put a small plastic container under the Wrappon where the packets come out just in case there is a small leak. But honestly this is not that big of a deal as it is rare, easy to fix, and the leak is very small when it happens. It’s a small price to pay for the overwhelming benefits (at least in my family’s eyes). I do think Wrappon should address this as I am not the only person this has happened to.

To make this toilet even more useful we built a wooden cabinet around it in the van so that we can sit on it as a stool but easily remove the Wrappon when we want to put it outside. We also got a pop-up bathroom tent that we can setup outside if we are camping near other people and want some privacy but don’t want to do your business in the van. I am the first to say this is a luxury item but honestly after using the Wrappon with the family I can’t imagine ever going back to a cassette toilet.

Defender 90 Build - Hi-Lift Jack Mount

Hi-Lift Jacks, so functional yet so dangerous. But hey, if you are going to drive a car that has zero safety standards might as well pair it with a jack that could kill you. In all seriousness the Hi-Lift Jack (or Farm Jack) are wonderful jacks so long as you know how to use them. They can lift or pry as well as act as a manual winch. The problem with them is that they are huge. If you have a Jeep you have a ton of aftermarket mounting options to pick from. But if you have a Defender (especially a soft top) your options are limited.

At Cerrone’s (a local mechanic shop that specializes in Land Rovers and Defenders) I saw a Defender with a brilliant solution. Mount it to the aux mounting points on the ARB bumper. All you need to do is go to a hardware store and find parts to makeshift the mounts. I designed mine with long bolts, some washers, wing nuts, and large spacers that are actually bushings.

Now I have a permanent home for the jack and it doesn’t take any cargo space. Problem solved and onto the next Defender problem.

Defender 90 Build - Winch & Hella Lights

When I bought the D90 it had an ARB front bumper that is highly sought after. The ARB is an all steel bumper with marker lights, mounts for driving/fog lights, winch mount, license plate mount, recovery points, and event some aux mounts for more lights or radio antennas. So while my Defender had the perfect bumper it was not optioned with a winch or working driving/fog lights. Frankly it looked a little sad….

I decided to ditch the extra large non-working Hella lights, but they did inspire me to keep a retro look. So I bought slightly smaller Hella incandescent lights as they fit the vintage of the car. I picked up a pair of Hella 4000 compact lights which act as great offroad driving lights. Given I had recently created a power tray with relays and fuses for just this kind of modification the wiring was easy. I placed the switch in my recently modified cubby box which is where all of my aux switches will live.

Next came the winch. I decided to get a Warn VR EVO 8-s (8k lb capacity) winch. I went with a synthetic line which is less retro but more practical and safe. What I love about this winch is that it can be mounted at just about any degree which is handle since the only way to mount this to the ARB is by rotating the housing 90 degrees. It also can have its control box separated from the winch body which is required once you mount it rotated. The wired remote can also be wireless which is great so that you can stand even further away during the recovery.

The biggest challenge was to find an easy way to mount the control box separated from the body….luckily Vice Design creates a wiring kit for this winch that allows you to mount the control box just about anywhere. I decided to mount the box right above the winch. This keeps an authentic look while fitting the ARB nicely. I replaced the line hook with a Factor55 FlatLink E (not very retro but a lot safer). My only regret is that I wish I had upgraded to the 10k winch (male ego at work here).

Defender 90 Build - Cubby Box

Anyone that has owned a Defender knows there is limited storage space. The original cubby box was a decent design as it has a place for the radio, locked storage, and 2 cup holders….but they deteriorate over time and there are no OEM replacement parts. There are a few aftermarket options which are nice but I wanted to try to restore my original cubby box. The lock no longer has a key, the strike plate is misaligned so the lock can’t engage, and the plastic trim for the radio mount is cracked all over.

I also wanted to make some changes to make it more useful for my needs. I want to add some switches for air compressor, lights, etc. There are some OEM and aftermarket solutions for this but none worked for my 94. The reason is that in 94 the AC unit put a switch in the center dash right where you could put an aftermarket or OEM radio mount. This was changed in 95. I also didn’t want to damage my dash in anyway. Another option is to hijack the ash tray and put a Mudd switch panel there but I am using that spot for a Rovers North phone mount.

That led me to my plan of removing the radio from the cubby box and use that space in the cubby box for a switch panel. I would then get a headless radio unit so that I could install it in a hidden location and simply stream music from my iPhone. I also wanted the option to install a two way radio system for when I am off roading with friends. To accomplish all of this I bought a Mudd subwoofer cage that mounts under the cubby box. Rather than using the cage for a subwoofer I would mount the headless radio and two way radio there which happens to be where all the wires go anyway.

With that as the plan I started out by installing the Mudd subwoofer cage which was easy enough. I had to grind out a small piece of metal to pass through the OEM radio wiring harness. I also had to raise the cage off the floor of the car a bit by stacking some metal washers to make space for the wires. Next I took apart the cubby box and started gluing the plastic trim back together and then hit it with some black paint. Not a pro job but good enough. The original cubby boxes had some wood risers nailed into the bottom which are normally not noticeable but once you raise it up by the Mudd cage all of a sudden those risers were an eyesore. So I removed the risers to bring the cubby box flush to the cage. The cage rises the cubby box by about 4 inches which makes the cubby box more comfortable as an armrest.

I then spent some time bending and positioning the strike plate so that the lock mechanism would engage properly. After many attempts I finally got it. Next I took the lock mechanism to a locksmith who rekeyed the lock so that it would function properly. Now I have a working lock for the cubby box albeit not overly secure….any child could simply rip these lids off the hinge. For me I just wanted the damn thing to work properly.

For the stereo I tried a couple different headless radio solutions. The first was the Memphis Car Audio. That had a volume issue so I ditched that. I then tried a small Kicker amp with an MTX bluetooth module which worked well but the MTX had a lot of interference in the sound. I tried a few things to reduce that interference but I could not get rid of it and realized it is just the inefficiency of the design…..so I ditched it. I ended up keeping the Kicker amp and simply plugging in my iPhone to the RCA hookups of the amp. That eliminated the interference and gave me great volume control. To make it a bit easier to control the songs and volume while driving I got a bluetooth remote that mounts to the steering wheel. I then replaced the marine grade speakers with more responsive speakers by Kicker.

For the switch panel to hold the Carling switches in the cubby box I went with a custom solution by Mudd. The final result is a working locking cubby box that is more comfortable as an armrest since it is raised and I have a hidden radio solution with 6 switches to power my accessories over time. All while keeping the original 90’s look with no damage to the truck.

All in all this was a much bigger project than I had thought. The amount of reworking I had to do to get the system working properly while keeping the original look was a PITA. But I am happy with it.

Defender 90 Build - Electrical

Before we add aux equipment to the D90 we wanted to create an electrical panel designed to fit our needs while not taxing the OEM fuse box or electrical system. This meant adding an aux fuse box and some relays that are wired into the battery without going through the OEM system. This will allow us to add some switches to aux gear and upgrade the stereo system. Since this is an off-roader and run about we don’t need a full overlander system…..for that we have the Sprinter Adventure Wagon. So for the D90 we planned to add some off-road bumper lights, winch, air compressor, upgraded stereo, and enough open slots for future roof rack lights, seat heaters and 1-2 other things.

The first decision was where to put this gear as Defenders are short on space. The battery box under the driver seat had enough space and made the wiring clean and accessible. The driver seat simply lifts up and you can easily access the battery box in seconds. We didn’t want to simply throw gear in the battery box so we built a wood panel that is bolted to the metal wall of the battery box and then mounted all the aux electrical gear to that wood panel. This allows us to build and wire everything outside of the truck and then simply bolt the whole panel in.

We wanted to make it as clean as possible with as few wires as possible with plenty of protection for the battery and systems. The relay systems were built by MGI Speedware who offers extremely nice car electrical components. The fuse box is made by Blue Sea. Here is what the panel includes:

• positive power distribution block that hooks up to the battery

• relay control box with 4 relays, this also has an inline fuse for the unit and dedicated fused for each relay

• a dedicated relay for the air compressor due to the high load, this also has its own inline fuse

• a fuse box with 6 slots that are all individually fused and the unit has its own inline fuse as well

• a negative distribution block that grounds to the chassis

The relay control block will allow us to hook up switches for the bumper lights, future roof lights and seat heaters while giving us a couple slots to tap into in the future as needed. The single relay for the air compressor is designed for high load motors. The fuse box will give power to the stereo amp and any other future gear we can think of.

Because we like clean wiring, we decided to install battery terminal distribution blocks so that we don’t need to stack up connectors on the battery terminals. We found a great solution with SDHQ who makes solid block battery terminal distributors where you can easily bolt on multiple connectors. This way we can have the winch, the OEM systems, and the aux panel all wired directly to the battery terminal but on separate mounting points.

In the end I will admit this was a bit overkill to add a few aux equipment. But The goal was to do it once and for it to be ready for any future needs.

Sprinter Build - Winch

Not that long ago I told a friend of mine that the winch is the last thing I would do to my van. I was not saying I WOULDN’T put a winch on the van….I was saying it was something I would do when I finished everything else first. So I guess the fact that I just got a winch put on the van means I am coming to an end of this build and yes that is exactly what that means. Thank god. I have really enjoyed this build but its been 16 months working on this van, it has cost a ton of money, countless hours in the garage, and it is time to work on the Defender now.

A winch is not needed for most van owners. They look cool but honestly most people who own a van say something like, “I put it on but I hope to never use it”. When I talk to van owners most never take their van off-road to the degree where they risk getting stuck. Because of that a winch is really not needed for 95% of van owners. We however do like to go miles off-road with the van and we have already had a couple situations where we almost got stuck. We also have aspirations to take out the van plus Defender on trips off-road where the van acts as basecamp and the Defender acts as our runaround. So I feel it is important to be able to self rescue…..thus time to get a winch.

Most people put on a big metal bumper in the front and then mount their winch to that. There are some great ones out there but I don’t really see the point. To me they seem to be mostly about the looks. Also some of these add a lot of weight and disable or complicate the use of MB’s various sensors (parking, lane departure, active cruise control). Also some of these bumpers cost over $2k….for a look. We decided to go with a winch mount from Van Compass. This is a steel mount that you install under the MB plastic bumper that gives the front end added strength to support a winch plus it gives you two recovery points. It doesn’t change the look of the van too much, it is likely stronger than most of the metal bumpers out there, it does not impact ANY of the MB sensors, and it cost less than half of some of the metal bumpers.

We then decided to go with a Warn VR EVO 12-s winch. This is a 12k synthetic rope winch with a lower AMP draw. There are a few other 12k winches from Warn that have a bit more power and features but for the money we felt the VR EVO 12-s was a good fit for our van. Let’s be real, even with all the work we have done to this van it can’t get into too gnarly of a situation as it is just too heavy, too under powered, and too long to do real off-roading.

One last thing. If you plan on adding a winch to your Sprinter go ahead and buy extra long power cables as the ones that come with winches are WAY TOO SHORT. You will need 12-14 feet if you plan on wiring the winch all the way back to the main van battery in the cabin under the driver floor. You should wire the winch directly to the battery without any couplers and you should get large gauge wires (I used 2 gauge but the larger the better). Some people will put a terminal block in the engine bay and run the winch to that. The problem with this is that most terminal blocks are rated to 200 AMPs and a winch can pull up to 400 AMPs. Another thing you will have to deal with is that Sprinters don’t have a dedicated attachment bolt on the negative to connect your cable. What I did was modify the OEM negative cable so that I could sandwich the winch cable between the main mount and bolt. This requires some dremeling but its easy.

Public Service Announcement…..if you plan on owning a winch also plan on taking a recovery class. Don’t think it is as simple as knowing how to turn on the winch. There is some knowledge, skill, and practice needed in order to do a proper and safe recovery. I would also reconsider simply taking a recovery course from your local off-road club. While that might be totally fine it is unclear how knowledgable the club members really are since they are most likely not a professional recovery crew. If you are in the Bay Area consider taking a class from The Driving Company who is a professional organization that trains fire and police departments as well as search and rescue crews on proper off-roading and recovery techniques.

Sprinter Build - Custom Woodwork

We are getting to the end of the build!!!! Now that all the big stuff is done it was time to do some minor clean up by getting some custom woodwork complete. The first was to finally install the Adventure Wagon fuse box in a permanent location, an inset wooden box (in bamboo) in the wall panel behind the driver seat.

Next was to redo our coat hook board in matching bamboo.

We also wanted a permanent place for our Wrappon Green toilet so we built a bamboo box around the toilet that acts as a seat when the lid is closed. It also has a door in the front to access the deposits :) We also ran power to the box so that the Wrappon was on its own circuit. That also meant we could install an Aux USB charging port behind the captain chair.

And while we were at it, we decided to make a trash bin out of bamboo as well to make everything match. It also gives our dog a way to climb up to the bed, sort of like a doggy ladder.

And hell, since the power tools are out….might as well convert this service panel to a door with hinges for easy access to the water system mechanics.

Lastly, and a bit less exciting, I rewired the electrical hot water system to trigger off the camper battery system versus the van system. This has a pro and con. The pro is that we don’t need to turn on the van to run the hot water as it can run off of the camper van. The con is that it takes a ton of power and thus can drain the camper battery quickly (within a few hours) if you forget about it. To prevent that, I have it on its own kill switch plus I wired an indicator light as a reminder for when it is on. When we are using a lot of hot water and getting a bit nervous about our battery levels we can switch over to our propane hot water system. I also installed a water tank monitor system which works pretty well. It does give fault readings if things like wires get too close to the sensors on the tank. But overall it gives us enough of a reading to know if it is time to refill.

A big thank you to Kamper Vans in Reno for getting all the CNC work done with the wood.

Defender 90 Build - Suspension

Defenders are very capable trucks off-road but there is always a bit more performance you can squeeze out with the right mods. When I bought this truck it came with stock OEM suspension and wheels but very wrong tires. The ride was ok but adjustments were needed. It was clear the prior owner didn’t know how to match the right tires for this truck or set up the suspension properly.

Since I needed to replace the tires anyway I might as well get slightly larger. I decided to go with 305/70/16 BFG KO2 All Terrain. I also knew I wanted a winch and that means more weight on the front which means some adjustments are needed to ensure the truck doesn’t nose dive. For the wheels I was torn on what to do. I really like Hutchinson Rock Monster bead lock wheels but they cost a small fortune so I decided to keep the stock wheels for now. I might powder coat them matte black if I decide not to buy the Rock Monsters. But let’s be real…..I will end up with the Rock Monsters at some point. DOT legal bead locks designed for military applications? Who could resist that?

All of that meant we needed the following suspension upgrades:

• 30mm wheel spacers

• OEM HD springs

• Old Man Emu shocks

• Old Man Emu steering stabilizer

• 1” spring spacer in the front to prevent nose dive when the winch is put on

Now the truck looks proper (in my eyes) and performs much better on-road and off-road.

UPDATE:

After driving around with this setup I decided to remove the front and rear sway bars. What I found was that the springs and shocks are stiff enough to give me the stability I need on the road so the sway bars were not as important. Also by removing them I will get better articulation off-road. This mod is not for everyone because you are removing a safety feature to some degree. But for how I use this truck this seemed like an acceptable tradeoff.

Defender 90 Build - The Plan

Full restoration, partial restoration, full on modification? What direction to take a car project can be a difficult decision. This D90 is mostly stock but there are a few things that are not original that can not be put back to the factory spec. For instance, the car has been resprayed AA Yellow which is the correct OEM color of this car but it is clearly not original. It has inward facing rear seats which is very Defender….but this configuration was not available with NAS Defenders. So these were clearly added on at some point. This car either came with no rear seats or it had a bench at one point but it has since been lost. This is fixable but with considerable effort and cost due to the lack of seat belt mounting points. That brings us to the biggest non-original element of the car and that is the rear roll cage bar.

NAS Defenders had their roll cage encased in a foam/rubber padding. This padding is not removable and is actually molded onto the roll cage. Only NAS versions had this done to the roll cage and since there are not that many NASes created (since they only were manufactured from 94-97) no one is offering replacement parts. Safety Devices who is the worlds largest roll cage manufacturer for Defenders offers all configurations except the padded NAS version. That means if you are missing any parts or need a replacement roll cage for a NAS you only have two options: 1) you find a NAS junker and pull the parts from that car but this is rare and often the parts are of poor quality or 2) you switch to a non-NAS roll cage.

My truck has the original NAS roll cage on all bars except one bar, the rear hoop. I don’t know what happened as there is no record or evidence of an accident. My best guess is that there was some damage to the rear hoop or the padding started to rip (which is common) and the prior owner decided to replace the hoop with a non-NAS. Another possibility is that this NAS truck only had a front section roll cage and no rear seating (fastback style) but at some point the prior owner wanted rear seating, put in the inward facing seats, and found some NAS and some non-NAS roll cage parts to create a mismatched full cage. Either way, me finding a NAS cage in good shape that I can buy to put my cage back to full original is going to be hard if not impossible.

Because of that non-NAS rear hoop, putting an original rear bench will be expensive, but I am going to do it anyway. The inward facing seats I have now are cool but impractical and not stock. I have found an original NAS bench that needs to be refurbished. I will get new foam inserts and an upholstery kit as well as strip and paint the metal frame of the bench. This will get me a period correct stock rear seat that I can mount. As for the seat belt mounts I will either need to weld on mounting tabs to the rear hoop (which is actually possible since my rear hoop doesn’t have the NAS padding….hello silver lining) or I will mount a four point harness to the floor of the truck.

The last non stock thing on the truck is the bumper. Right now it has a period correct ARB safari bumper versus the original bumper. Mounted to the ARB bumper are some Hella Rallye 2000 off-road lights. This is a great bumper but not the look I am going for. This bumper was designed to accommodate a traditional steel cable winch and as you can see the bumper has a lot of protection….but changes the look of the truck. I have decided to change this bumper out with a Terrafirma Pro Taper bumper which is a more streamlined steel bumper that more easily accepts modern winches. This means we will no longer have grille lights but it also means the boxy Defender front of the car will be more prominent.

Everything else is stock and can easily be maintained or refurbished as needed. But all of this is a long way of saying I don’t think this is a full restoration candidate to be locked away in the garage and babied. I think keeping the spirit of the original truck is key, keeping most of it stock is desirable, but doing some modifications should be considered. Those modifications should be bolt-on whenever possible, tastefully done, and done with a purpose of increasing safety or increasing fun. So with that in mind I move on to building out the project list.

Defender 90 Build - Inspection

Well I took delivery of the D90 and drove it immediately to a local shop for an inspection. I bought this car sight unseen and unfortunately no paper records came with the car. I bought it from a dealer in LA who I talked to by phone and I did an extensive FaceTime session with them to check for rust. I also ran a CarFax to understand prior owners, possible accidents, and to receive some of the service records. Everything checked out in the buying process but you still never know until you get the car…..there is always a few surprises when buying an old car.

From the research I have done, this #1317 Defender has had three owners and has passed through an auction house and a dealer. The first owner was in Idaho who owned it for 13 years. It was then owned by someone in California from 2007 until 2012 and then sold to someone who also lived in California but who then moved to Florida. In 2021 it passed through an auction house and was picked up by a dealer back in California which is where I found it. All in all this Defender is actually rather well documented and didn’t pass through too many hands.

Since the car only had 83k miles and was a NAS I figured my risk was low to moderate. The FaceTime call gave me confidence that there was little to no rust and the fact that the seller was a dealer made me feel I had at least some level (albeit low) protection if something went wrong. But it felt great when the car showed up from the shipper and indeed there was no rust, it drove, and generally checked out against my expectations. But off to Cerrone’s European nonetheless for a real look over. Cerrone’s is sort of the local Defender whisperer. They have been in business a long time and focus on euro cars but the owner Frank has a 94 D90 NAS and a reputation of working on all the Defenders in the area, so they were the obvious choice for a look over.

I was thrilled to find out that the car was in great shape. They found some loose bolts here and there, some burned out light bulbs, and they suggested coolant flush. The only material thing we found was that the catalytic converters were shot so we are replacing those. There are some minor cosmetic things I will take stock of to figure out what to replace and what to live with. Frank and I talked about what direction I want to take the car and I have decided that light mods that enhance the spirit of the car, make it safer, and increase the fun factor is the goal. This is not a garage queen, it is not a show car, it is not a collector car, it is not a daily driver, it is a fun weekend warrior car.

So in a couple of weeks the first project will be to replace the tires and do a light suspension upgrade. This will allow us to run proper 33” AT tires. We will widen the stance a bit and we will put on Old Man Emu shocks and Heavy Duty springs so that we can accommodate the added weight of a winch down the road. If you are a Defender lover then you know this is sort of the standard suspension upgrade. After this we will simply enjoy the car for awhile to determine what else to do. It is a delicate balance between doing enough mods to achieve the vision you have and doing too many mods. I am not a Defender purest but nor am I looking to have a car that is all show and no go.

Sprinter Build - Captain Chairs

This was the hardest part of the build…..by far. When we started this project we began with a 2019 2500 170 WB crew 4x4. That meant we had some windows, a full wood floor, a ceiling panel with lights, some half wall panels, and the three person bench seat. We got rid of the ceiling and wall panels and replaced them with an Adventure Wagon interior kit. We kept the wood floor as it is a high quality wood floor yet we ended up with some regrets with that decision which we will talk about later. But the bench seat had to go. It is a nice quality bench seat but it is big, heavy, does not slide, and generally is always in the way. It blocks the full use of the side door but it also does not have much leg room for the passengers. Overall it sucks unless you are looking for a people mover van.

In our build we only needed seating for four but we wanted as much usable space as possible while also making it comfortable for LONG road trips (we are talking road trips through 4 states with kids). So we decided we wanted two comfortable captain chairs to replace the bench seat where we could mount them further back in the van to provide more leg room plus a bigger entrance for the side door. We also wanted to put a removable table in front of those chairs so we could turn the driver and front passenger seat around (we installed swivels for those chairs already) so we would end up with a four person dining area.

Here is the problem. It is not easy to find safe, comfortable, captain chairs that easily mount into the Sprinter. Most of the seat options don’t leverage the factory mounting points from the bench and frankly even if they did the seats would be too far forward. So that means you need a mounting system for nearly any seat option you can find for the Sprinter. Some of those mounting options require you to replace the entire floor of the van at a cost of $10k+. These floors give you rails to move around the seats which is perfect for some applications but not for a simple 2 captain chair option like we were trying to create. Other mounting systems seem too light weight and are not tested for safety. And then you have the DIY version which frankly I would not trust unless it was designed and built by an engineer and tested to meet specs and by then they are not DIY. And then if all that didn’t make it hard enough just try to find something in stock. I ended up placing two orders with two different companies both of which had back orders for 4 months and in both cases I had to simply cancel the order because they could not fulfill my order.

But then we found one option that is well designed by pros, tested, purpose built for Sprinters, comfortable, has great features, and readily available…..JMG Systems in Souther California. This small family owned company has been in the seat business for over 40 years and got their start designing, manufacturing, and installing seating solutions for commercial vehicles like luxury shuttles, high end tour buses and VIP coaches. They also supply some of the larger seat resellers with vehicle specific base plate mounting systems. The company was founded and run by engineers who test their seating solutions to verify each one complies with federal motor vehicle safety standards (FMVSS) and therefore DOT compliant. Recently they have branched out to the camper van space and sell and install direct as well as supplying a handful of high end van outfitters.

I was impressed with JMG’s product. For the Sprinter they have three different seat sizes to choose from, a few different upholstery options, and two different types of mounting solutions. The drop in/bolt on seating solution is a custom 1, 2 or 3 person seating solution that uses the OEM Sprinter seat rails. While this is a great solution for a quick and easy upgrade you cannot adjust the seating location because they bolt onto the factory seat rails. So we went with their custom swivel captain chair mounting system which uses the JMG mounting plate that the two chairs bolt to. The mounting plate then bolts down through the floor to brackets that wrap around the chassis rails and anchor the whole seating solution down to the Sprinter frame rails. This seating solution allows for a couple different mounting locations to give you more leg room. It’s also built like a tank. After seeing how they install the base plate I have to think it is stronger than the OEM bench and seat rails.

We went with the 20” wide seats, which are plenty big but still narrow enough to allow easy passage to walk between the seats. They are mounted as far back as we can go, which gives a huge space to enter the van and a ton of leg room. The seats recline back to a 40 degree angle from the upright position, have arm rests, swivel, and can slide forward & back 6”. They have integrated 3 point seat belts and even have child seat anchoring points. JMG Systems follows Mercedes' Body Equipment Guideline (BEG) book and has designed their FMVSS Tested/Certified swivel chair seating solution to avoid drilling through any frame rails or cross members. The seats are upholstered in black leatherette with light grey stitching that really matches our van and the foam is custom formed to provide an incredibly comfortable seat. Also because these are not electric they are lighter and we don’t run the risk of motors breaking down and we don’t have to complicate our van wiring.

mainframe rails in green dashed lines, and the locations of the cross members in red dashed lines, #1 and #2 indicate the two mounting position options

notice the steel U brackets that wrap around the frame rails

massive hardware to mount the base plate to the underside brackets, also the wood floor has been cut around the base plate

then the seats mount to the base plate

huge amount of space, don’t mind the wall I will reinstall the panels later

As for the floor we bought a brand new MB wood floor designed for a cargo van and cut around the mounting plate to have a clean transition. This is where I wish I had done something different. Don’t get me wrong what we have works extremely well. Our plan is to get some marine grade carpet and custom cut and bound it for a perfect flush fit that is also removable for easy cleaning. Once that is done the floor will be better insulated and more comfortable and very practical for 4 season trips. But, if I could do it again I would have removed everything from the van and put in a custom wood floor that is even more flush (example pictures below). We didn’t do this because we didn’t want to remove the cabinets, electrical, and water tanks for such a minimal improvement. My suggestion is that if your build allows (which ours did not) install the seating solution FIRST, as JMG requires installing the mounting plate on the bare metal floor with no compressible material in between them. After the mounting plate is in place you can build up the sub-floor around the mounting plate for a perfectly smooth flat floor. Then you can move onto the interior kit, and then build your cabinets and bed on top of all that. This will allow for a perfect wood, vinyl, or carpet floor without any compromises.

Example of a custom floor that completely hides the mounting plate.

The install was quick. I drove down to Orange County on a Sunday, spent the night with some relatives, and showed up at JMG’s shop at 7:30 am and in less than 3 hours they had installed the base plate, seats, and custom cut the wood floor. I was on the road back to the Bay Area by 10:30. JMG SYSTEMS also works with other Upfitter Partners who can do the install for you. If you are really handy, you can do the installation yourself with a bit of guidance from JMG’s lead design engineer. I am thrilled with how everything turned out. JMG has a fantastic product that more van builders should look into. Reach out to them and have them recommend a certified & tested seating solution that is right for your van.

Sprinter Build - Custom Bed Platform

If the production bed solutions like the Adventure Wagon MOAB or the Flarespace solution work for you then do that as you will save yourself a lot of effort. Unfortunately none of the solutions readily available worked for our needs. We wanted a bed system that would sleep four without someone being jammed up inches from the ceiling, we wanted to sleep sideways to save space, and we wanted it to fit the Trail Kitchen cabinets and Adventure Wagon interior kit. That meant we needed to go fully custom.

At least at the time of our build the Adventure Wagon interior kit did not on its own fit Flarespace pods so we had to modify the interior kit and Flarespace trim rings to get everything to line up. That meant we had to build our Trail Kitchen cabinets to line up as well. That left us with one bed option which was to have Trail Kitchen create a platform that spanned across the driver side and passenger side wheel well cabinets. That allowed the adults to sleep sideways in the Flarespace but to have plenty of headroom and the kids would sleep under the adult bed platform on the floor of the van. Boom….bunk beds in a van.

This floor plan does not interfere with the kitchen area or the seating area so it maximizes space in the van. Also during the day we can store gear in the “garage”, the area under the bed platform where the kids normally sleep. The bed panels from Trail Kitchen were removable by simply unbolting the panels so technically we could remove the bed and use the van as a hauler. One issue we found with this setup was that while unbolting was easy it took some time and you needed to store the panels somewhere.

So we rebuilt the bed panels and put a hinge on one side so they can flip up to convert the van into a hauler, or flip down and enable sleeping for four. Trail Kitchen cut the new panels and installed the hinge and it turned out great. The next problem to solve was to figure out how to secure them in the “up” position. I could have left them leaning against the wall and simply use straps to secure them to the Adventure Wagon L track, but the panels would have rattled and rubbed against the wall. I wanted to see if I could secure the panels when they are standing straight up so it created a cavity behind them where I could store the mattress cushions or other things. That meant finding a way to brace and secure the panels as they floated in air.

Folded In Up Position

Removable Brace

Quick Disconnect Knob

After countless hours thinking about it I came up with an idea where I could use basic hardware to create removable rods that mounted to the Adventure Wagon wall L track and then attached to the panels to hold the panels in place standing up. I used an L track bolt attachment, along with an M8 bolt coupling, an M8 threaded rod, some M8 nuts, and an M8 star knob. I made four of these (2 for each of the 2 panels). Then I drilled holes in the panels where the threaded rod would pass thru and the star knob would secure the panels on the other side. When screwed down the panels are totally secure and give me some storage space behind them. For added safety I also use a strap to secure the panels in the up position but frankly that is not needed. To lower the panels you unscrew the star knob, put the panels in the “down” position, and then remove the support rods by unscrewing them from the L track bolt attachment point. To reduce any rattling when the panels are in the down position I put some foam tape on the support rails. I can now switch between the up and down position within minutes.

To accommodate the new design I also had to cut up my mattress into smaller more easily movable pieces. That gave me the opportunity to also get the mattress upholstered to protect the foam and keep it cleaner while also giving the van a more finished look. I went with a retro 70’s plaid that VW and Porsche used which I felt would fit the van. It is a gray, black, white, and blue plaid that I think will wear well. I had Sidco Custom Upholstery in Mountain View do the work and it turned out amazing. Check out how the pattern flows across all sections. I plan on working with Sidco on a few other projects as they are masters in their craft.

Defender 90 Build - A Dream Since The 90s

There are some cars you see and you stop in your tracks and tell yourself “I must have that car”. In the late 90’s that car for me was the Defender 90. At the time I was working for The North Face in Palo Alto and making virtually no money after college. The manager of the nearby San Francisco store, which was The North Face’s flagship store, was a woman named Barb and she was a big deal. Yes she ran The North Face’s largest and most profitable store….but she also owned a Defender 90. I remember meeting her and seeing her in that D90 and telling myself “Wow Barb is a badass” as well as “I must have her car”. But like I said, I was dirt poor so buying a new D90 at $35k was completely out of the question.

Then in 1997 Land Rover pulled the Defender out of the US and my chances of owning a D90 become even more unlikely as the prices for used D90s shot up almost immediately. I ended up buying a Jeep which I loved…but it was not a Defender. I kept dreaming of owning a Defender and every few months I would poke around on the used market to keep taps on prices. Life then got complicated and I shelved my D90 dreams, but I never stopped looking.

Me with my Jeep in 2003…

As time went on more and more imported Defenders came into the US as they crossed over in age. Once I had the means to buy a Defender (now at a premium) the issue became how to legally acquire one which was not easy since I live in CA. The Defenders that were built for the US market between 94 and 97 were NAS (North America Spec) and thus could be registered in any state. The Defenders built for the rest of world but imported into the US are difficult to register in CA due to CA DMV’s regulation. You could go through the process to get one of these non-NAS Defenders inspected by the DMV, CHP, and registered but it was a long process and you ran the risk of owning a car you could not legally drive. Not to mention many of the imported Defenders came from wet environments like the UK which meant they had more rust than metal. So I focused on other car projects….namely track and race cars.

1994 Defender 90 NAS

Then one day my wife and I were talking about Defenders and we said F%ck it. You only live once and we wanted a fun weekend car for the family. So I found this beautiful 94 yellow D90 NAS virtually stock in great condition and we immediately bought it. We will do light modifications to this but we will do our best to stay true to the Landy spirit, but hopefully with less oil leaks. This is also a good starting point to go deep into the Defender world as I have also always wanted a Defender 110 with an engine swap, but that is a project for another day. For now we will enjoy our Defender and I will finally make good on the promise I made myself 24 years ago. Barb I am sure you don't remember me but I still remember you as a bad ass…..and now I have your Defender.

Sprinter Build - Awning

An awning is a great way to give you more space when camping with your van. The two largest awning companies that supply the van life movement are Fiamma and Dometic. Both offer manual and electrical awnings in various sizes and at least Dometic also offers legless models. Many people like an electric awning but for us we didn’t want the extra cost and maintenance of an electric motor that is likely to fail at some point. Not to mention an electric awning also requires drilling a hole in your van to run some electrical wires to power it. The legless versions are nice but considering we have a 170 Sprinter our awning would be 4 meters long and getting a legless version that large became difficult not to mention they weight more. Lastly we wanted to mount the awning to the roof rack not the van itself which allows us to keep a clean look without any damage to the van. After taking all this into consideration the Fiamma F45s in black and 4 meters long was the right awning for us.

The F45s has three mounting plates that clip into and bolt into the back of the awning housing. This model mounts on a flat/flush surface yet you can buy other brackets for different configurations. The install was easy yet you do need two people as the awning is large, heavy (60 lbs), and you will need to hoist it up two ladders. We could not use the factory holes on the mounting plates due to their location in relation to our mounting points on the roof rack. So we had to mark and drill new holes that lined up better to our roof rack mounting points. The mounting plates use carriage bolts which meant we had to turn the circle holes we drilled into square holes. For that we used a special tool to “broach” the hole. How this works is that you lightly hammer the tool into a circle hole and as it passes through the hole it cuts the metal into a square hole. We then bolted the plates to the roof rack using a bunch of washers to fill a gap that was between the plate and the roof rack mounting point. We then placed the awning on the mounting plates and bolted it down to the plates. It took a friend and I 3 hours to do everything, including going to the hardware store, but we were moving slow to get it just right. If I was to do this again it would likely only take 1.5 hours start to finish.

I like the simplicity of the F45s but that simplicity means you have to be a bit careful when you roll it out. They recommend that you roll it out about 1 meter and then pull down the legs to support the weight before you roll out the rest. Not a big deal but I can see the value of having a legless awning. One last comment on awnings, all of them are meant for sun protection. None of the large RV style awnings are meant to protect from wind and rain. So as the weather turns you need to close up the awning. The one advantage of the electric awnings is that some come with a sensor for wind and rain and they will close up automatically to protect the awning. We are looking forward to testing out our awning this summer on a few camping trips we have planned to SoCal and Montana. As nice as the interior of our van is….the whole point is to be outside and having an awning makes that even more pleasant.

Sprinter Build - Solar Panels

We finally got solar panels installed. Our plan was to have the panels a long time ago but we wanted the FreedomVanGo roof rack with a floor to walk on and custom solar panel mounts to angle two large panels up front. This allows for two 160 watt Renogy panels that will clear the front roof vent while still allowing storage space on more than half of the roof. Owl Vans fabricated the solar panel mount and it turned out great, in our opinion.

As for the wiring I initially thought series was the way to go, but quickly found that two panels this large paired together was pushing too many volts to the charge controller and thus throwing errors. So I switched the wiring to parallel which ups the amps but holds the volts steady at around 12. This meant the charge was within spec for the controller and was no longer throwing any errors. For good measure I put an inline 30 amp fuse on the positive line from the panel running to the charge controller.

I should be able to stay charged from the solar without much dependency on the alternator. I will test out the performance on our next road trip to the backcountry and will report back.

Sprinter Build - Coleman Conversion to Propane

While we have a brand new single burner cooktop that runs on butane, we prefer to use my grandfather’s Coleman two burner stove which was manufactured in September of 1973. They run on white gas which is inexpensive and readily available and burns clean. I recently found this stove in my mom’s garage and to my surprise it still had white gas in it that was at least 20 years old and it fired right up without any issues.

There is a hot (see what I did there) debate on what the best camping fuel is….white gas, propane, butane, kerosene, or wood. We don’t want to use wood given the inherent danger of wildfires from sparks. Kerosene is nasty and oily. Butane is fine but can be hard to find in large containers for extended trips. White gas is clean and inexpensive but needs to be pressurized and can leak since it travels in liquid form. Propane is available everywhere, inexpensive, and there are a ton of different container sizes to choose from.

One of our two hot water heaters runs on propane so we carry a 5lb small tank in our outside cargo box. Since we already carry propane it seemed obvious for us to choose propane as a single fuel source for all of our camping needs. But then comes the challenge of figuring out if we can convert our 1973 Coleman stove from white gas to propane. At first I thought this would be easy as I quickly found a conversion kit made by Stansport. Two issues came up. The first is that I found it hard to find someone who would sell me one and ship it to CA. Given CA laws many online stores would not ship it to that state so I had it shipped to a friend in NV and then I picked it up during one of my visits to Tahoe. The second issue is that the conversion kit is made to work with 1lb disposable propane tanks….which sort of defeats the point for us because that would be another fuel tank to carry around. Not to mention those are expensive for what they are and create waste.

So I was on the hunt for a way to connect my 5lb propane tank to the Stansport propane conversion kit. Online was not that much help because most people simply convert their Coleman to work with the 1lb tanks but to hook up the Coleman to a 5lb tank you needed to understand regulators and gas fittings. The solution is to get a propane gas line that does not have a regulator built in, on one end connects to the common propane bulk tank fitting, and on the other end has a fitting for the female end of a 1lb propane tank. Sounds easy but it was actually hard to find the right gas line. In the end this gas line did the trick.

Now we have a single bulk fuel tank that you can hook up to your old Coleman stove as well as our water heater. And while the 5lb propane tank works for us, this solution would work just as easy on a 10lb or 20lb tank. I think my grandpa would be proud seeing this stove get used by his great grandkids.