I bought an SV - BIG Build thread

[Projectblue51]

Update time:

Because I've had so much lovely support here, you special monkies are getting this before anyone else
This update is a bit wordy. TLDR - got some new tyres. Drove a long way to get them. Very happy.


Yesterday I did a round trip of just shy of 500 miles and 15 hours from SW England to Market Harborough to do a parts pick up (as you do). Then on to Doncaster to drop off and then back to SW empty because I was in a hire van and it needed to back the following morning.

Those of you that have been paying attention will have noticed I picked up some spare new tyres. Rosie currently sits on 14.00 Conti M&S but they are mullered. Plus, I'm a great believer in tyres make a big difference. So, I was always intending to switch over to 395/85/20's which are wider, but about 5cm less in diameter. They are optioned by the military for this truck, so I'm happy they will be right.

So 395/85/20's are used by the US military a lot and it's reasonably easy to find used with around 70% left but I dropped on a chap selling 4 brand new, never fitted. Not only that. I agreed to buy them the day BEFORE the Govt paper gets released saying truck tyres must be less than 10 years old. And these are only 5 years old. Result. Stop one, Market H'borough to collect four new tyres.
Note: Wheel & Tyre = 120kg. Tyre alone 70kg. Tyres stacked in garden which is DOWNHILL. Who f****ng stacks mahoosive tyres at the bottom of a slope? Army, that's who. Muscle power, no thinking ;-)
Tyres in the van off I go to Doncaster.

It's about here that I began to question my sanity. I've just dropped £1,600 on just four tyres for a truck that I can't drive, isn't registered, and is partially dismantled. I'd been up since 05:30, it was 11am and I'd just done my second work out of the day. And for those who have watched the Youtube vids, you can see that 20 years behind a desk living easy life has taken it's toll. I know I need the work outs, but my knees were complaining like mad.

Just as there was a danger that I was feeling I was doing a stupid thing, and I should just give up, my favourite thing happened. A road I have never travelled unravelled in front of me. This is genuinely one of my guilty pleasures. Like exploration in terms of "ooh, never been down here, wonder what sights I will see?" as much as "wonder how technical/quick/flowing this road is" - Tell me I'm not the only one who thinks that?
Anyway, the additional weight in the back had calmed Skippy the Box Kangavan down, I followed the satnav around the back of Rockingham Speedway and out onto the A43 heading Northeast for the A1. What a lovely part of the world that area is, and I'd never experienced it before.

Anyway, enough 'feelings' nonsense. Back to tyres. The original two tyres I had found came on Hutchinson military split rims. Expensive when new, many kicking around used but they have seen hard work (and been blown up) in 'Ghan. These two were immaculate. The 4 tyres I picked up were also new, never fitted to a rim. Bonus.

So Rosie has 6 new boots. Total cost £2,400. Just need four more of those Hutchinson rims and that's those done.

I also spent an hour with the owner of Motorcraft Adventure Developments. The chap is a wizard engineer and thoroughly nice bloke and went all the way through my questions and discussed what can be done, what should be done, and what i can afford to have done. Many discussions were had about the options and the following elements are going to be added to the build.
Two 'Safari' style windows. These are large almost stable door type openings, but with a window built in. So you can open the window for air, or open the massive opening for full ventilation and that 'inside/outside' feel.
One Skyhatch. Same concept as a Safari window, but in the ceiling. Allowing access out onto the roof (gain access to the PV panels, cleaning etc). Few more windows one for the kitchen, one for the bathroom.

I also met up with a couple who were basically parked in the yard waiting for DVLA to process the registration of their truck. They were lovely and I had a brief tour but time was running out. Hopefully I might be back at some point and get a better tour of the truck. I didn't want to intrude as they were fixing dinner.

Finally, I got home about 22:30. Knackered and hating Transit van bog spec and then this morning left to drop the van off and, sob, p/x my beast of a VXR8 against..... a diesel mini . Needs must when the Devil is emptying your bank account so you can build your dream project.

YouTube Vlog coming soon, when I've edited it - talking of which, can someone tell me how to embed the YT link please. It's not in formatting help, I checked.

p.s. Also took the winch up, because it needs fitting to the rear of the truck chassis prior to the box going on. Once the box is on, it kinda gets in the way for lowering a BFO winch in to place.

Edited by Projectblue51 on Saturday 18th July 18:13

Edited by Projectblue51 on Saturday 18th July 20:49

[Watchman]

20 years ago I was drooling over lightweight racing wheels and tyres for my Caterham. These days it's the big stuff that works for me. Those are epic.

[naturals]

Projectblue51 said:

talking of which, can someone tell me how to embed the YT link please. It's not in formatting help, I checked.

You can't embed the video. To create a link you want the following [BUT TAKE OUT THE TWO SPACES - I had to add these to stop it generating a link]:

[URL =url]text[ /url]

So URL=your_Youtube_link, text is the wording as you want the link to appear in the post (i.e. "click here").

Hope I'm not teaching you to suck eggs...

[Projectblue51]

Cheers Naturals. I can do that bit, but the member doing the GTR build has embedded his, so I'm sure it can be done.

[agent006]

There's a [youtube ] tag to use for embedding, like this:

[Projectblue51]

ZX10R NIN said:

Great work OP I know how much work it takes to build something like this (I've had to fit out a couple of race trucks) but keep up the good work.

Thanks, appreciated. The race trucks are cool, but one of the things with those (and most motorhomes) is they are designed to driven on normal roads and then parked up. The difference with these Expedition trucks is the punishment they get makes the interior build more akin to a boat than a van, if you get my drift. But it's nice to know you have done them. I shall be in touch for pointers

[InitialDave]

Projectblue51 said:

Yesterday I did a round trip of just shy of 500 miles and 15 hours from SW England to Market Harborough to do a parts pick up (as you do). Then on to Doncaster to drop off and then back to SW empty because I was in a hire van and it needed to back the following morning.

Lol, if you'd said beforehand, I could probably have arranged a cuppa for you in both places!

[Quirrel]

Link below for two campers in mongolia.
They were built by two guys where money was no object. One owned Chingis brewery, the other coal, copper and a couple of oil rigs.

Nice guys, met them with their converted H1 hummers with flat roof shooting platform with in built heating panel for winter wolf hunting.

Link below. Not sure of the range.

|https://thumbsnap.com/LL1zhya7[/url]

|https://thumbsnap.com/Vcjuv67S[/url]

|https://thumbsnap.com/3kT89GR9[/url]



https://www.caravancampingsales.com.au/editorial/d...

[MC Bodge]

agent006]There's a [youtube said:

tag to use for embedding, like this:

Wow.

[Projectblue51]

Quirrel said:

Link below for two campers in mongolia.
They were built by two guys where money was no object. One owned Chingis brewery, the other coal, copper and a couple of oil rigs.

Nice guys, met them with their converted H1 hummers with flat roof shooting platform with in built heating panel for winter wolf hunting.

Link below. Not sure of the range.

Wow, cool. I love those Zetros trucks. 100k for the chassis cab alone.

[LochTay]

Where's the 'follow thread' button?

[Projectblue51]

LochTay said:

Where's the 'follow thread' button?

At the top of the page 'watch' / 'bookmark'

[Projectblue51]

Hello lovely people! It's here. It's faster, funnier, rockier, more truck content blah blah - oh, and a photo of the new runaround to boot

Edited by Projectblue51 on Sunday 26th July 15:03 - removed launch date as now passed

Edited by Projectblue51 on Sunday 26th July 15:04

[AeroS]

Projectblue51 said:

Hello lovely people! It's here. It's faster, funnier, rockier, more truck content blah blah - oh, and a photo of the new runaround to boot

Edited by Projectblue51 on Sunday 26th July 15:03 - removed launch date as now passed

Edited by Projectblue51 on Sunday 26th July 15:04

Good episode sir,

Just remember you are trying to make it look enticing - £800 per tyre doesn’t feel enticing hahaha

I didn’t realise you were using motor craft adventure - would you recommend so far (they’re not too far from me....)

Aero

[Hyde]

Just subscribed, I am number 250

[Projectblue51]

Hyde said:

Just subscribed, I am number 250

Thanks for your support

AeroS said:

Good episode sir,
Just remember you are trying to make it look enticing - £800 per tyre doesn’t feel enticing hahaha

I didn’t realise you were using motor craft adventure - would you recommend so far (they’re not too far from me....)
Aero

Thanks for your support, appreciate the positive (and constructive) feedback.

I know what you mean, but I promised myself at the begining not to edit out the ugly truth. And that's just as much my dealing with the project as it is the costs or the difficulties of the project. So the ugly truth is, there are some unavoidable costs with machines this big. It's like owning a Ferrari, you know servicing is going to be expensive. 12 tons rolling on massive tyres isn't cheap. BUT £800 is the full whack. Like if you rolled into the truck version of KwikFit. I paid half that per tyre for all of them, because I was careful and waited and they were needed. Plus, you won't get much cheaper than £400 each. However, the key factor is how long they last. If I get 30,000 miles and or 5 years (oldest is 2015 so will be 10 years in 2025) then I consider them good value.

I'm loving Motorcraft. The owner is just great, he goes out of his way to help. Like properly invests in his customers. I don't just mean pie and chips (I strong armed him on that - can't pie chips and gravy down in the South). Also, I buy stuff for a living. I've got a degree in it. I'm not boasting, just for a reference point. I have an established way of assessing prospective suppliers and that's asking each one the same set of technical questions. Some will bs you trying to sound amazing. Some will lie because they don't know and some will tell you the straight answer. But the best ones tell you the straight answer, without the BS, but you know they could have, if they tried. They just don't need to. Their confidence is in their knowledge and ability, if you get my drift.
Put it this way, I've spent millions of someone elses money at Babcock MacNeillie. They convert loads of stuff, but some of it is top level sneaky SF stuff. I'm as confident in Motorcraft's ability as I was with MacN. And they nicknamed me Mr Picky - to my face

Edited by Projectblue51 on Sunday 26th July 23:59

[custardkid]

More truck details needed in the videos

Like what is all the gubins beind the cab?
What is going to happen to it?
What is the box on the roof ?
Etc

Also a look round the other trucks in the motorcraft yard would be interesting

[jaybarts]

custardkid said:

More truck details needed in the videos

Like what is all the gubins beind the cab?
What is going to happen to it?
What is the box on the roof ?
Etc

Also a look round the other trucks in the motorcraft yard would be interesting

Behind the cab drivers side you have the hydraulic oil tank, below is the cab tilt pump and behind that where you see the empty frame work is the spare wheel holder and pump system to raise and lower the spare tyre.
Behind the passenger side is the radiator and coolant tank.

Usually on top of all this is a metal basket which would be used for storing the cam net, absolute pain in the arse trying to drag the net up there as it gets caught on EVERYTHING!

The box on the cab is just the cab roof with the air con integrated and then you will have the cupola hatch (sunroof) which I hope is kept haha.

Haven’t watched any of the videos yet but I’m saving them for a quiet day at work and will be subscribing as I love this project!!!

• Edited for being a *

Edited by jaybarts on Tuesday 28th July 00:45

[AeroS]

Projectblue51 said:

Thanks for your support, appreciate the positive (and constructive) feedback.

I know what you mean, but I promised myself at the begining not to edit out the ugly truth. And that's just as much my dealing with the project as it is the costs or the difficulties of the project. So the ugly truth is, there are some unavoidable costs with machines this big. It's like owning a Ferrari, you know servicing is going to be expensive. 12 tons rolling on massive tyres isn't cheap. BUT £800 is the full whack. Like if you rolled into the truck version of KwikFit. I paid half that per tyre for all of them, because I was careful and waited and they were needed. Plus, you won't get much cheaper than £400 each. However, the key factor is how long they last. If I get 30,000 miles and or 5 years (oldest is 2015 so will be 10 years in 2025) then I consider them good value.

I'm loving Motorcraft. The owner is just great, he goes out of his way to help. Like properly invests in his customers. I don't just mean pie and chips (I strong armed him on that - can't pie chips and gravy down in the South). Also, I buy stuff for a living. I've got a degree in it. I'm not boasting, just for a reference point. I have an established way of assessing prospective suppliers and that's asking each one the same set of technical questions. Some will bs you trying to sound amazing. Some will lie because they don't know and some will tell you the straight answer. But the best ones tell you the straight answer, without the BS, but you know they could have, if they tried. They just don't need to. Their confidence is in their knowledge and ability, if you get my drift.
Put it this way, I've spent millions of someone elses money at Babcock MacNeillie. They convert loads of stuff, but some of it is top level sneaky SF stuff. I'm as confident in Motorcraft's ability as I was with MacN. And they nicknamed me Mr Picky - to my face

Edited by Projectblue51 on Sunday 26th July 23:59

The transparency is very good and one of the many reasons I’m loving the project. It’s always frustrating to watch projects that don’t even give an order of magnitude with regards to cost! Nobody is expecting the exact costs as these will always have a sensitivity to builder and supplier but general costs are really appreciated.

Your endorsement of Motorcraft is great, I’ve been ‘umming and aring’ about calling them to have an initial discussion and I think you’ve just made up my mind in the positive direction!

[Projectblue51]

custardkid said:

More truck details needed in the videos

Like what is all the gubins beind the cab?
What is going to happen to it?
What is the box on the roof ?
Etc

Also a look round the other trucks in the motorcraft yard would be interesting

Always keep them wanting more I was once told
Behind the cab tour coming in part 2.
What's going to happen to the truck is talked about.?
Which box on the roof? the one driectly on the cab? or the basket?

Also, the look around the other trucks will happen too. More truck related goodness in the next one, possibly two videos. Promise.

Edited by Projectblue51 on Monday 27th July 23:08