Isuzu mu - winch, bulbar, lifted, MUDs

[topgun94]

BUMPERS, GUARD CHOP AND INNER GUARDS
Well in this episode of MU2 we Paint the modify Bumpers.
After loving the finish of the floor and walls of the BULLY liner i purchased another 4L. It painted the Rear Bar and the front bar with it.
The Front Bar was shortened and the hoops cut off to bring approx 4inch closer to the front of the car. The hoop holes left however make great fishing rod holds. The rear bar was also shortened in height after the loss of body lift and to suit the rear quarter chop.
35. Black Bumpers.jpg

You can see in this photo how close the front bar sits AND how well it works as a Rod holder
36. Front Bumper Fishing.jpg
The stock inner guards was non-existent on the driver side and a little worse for wear on the passenger. TIME TO REPLACE AND UPGRADE
There is a gentleman on gold coast QLD who builds vehicle specific parts (is also a legend) and makes / imports parts for our beloved isuzus. https://munji.com.au/
He makes - Inner Guards are now CNC'd out of High-density Polyethylene (HDPE). They don't just look amazing but work amazing! I have them on my Dmax and love them.
26. Munji Side.jpg
After fitting the Bundera steering box during the SAS some of the body was cut away to make it fit. IF this body was still there i would not require a Zip Tie at the Front. (they worked perfect on the other side)
27. Munji Side.jpg

Guard chop!
To make the the monster 33's fit on the front i need more clearance!! Out with the trusty 4inch and off with a inch and a half of guard.
38. Guard Chop.jpg

[topgun94]

DRAW SYSTEM
At the heart of every good camping car there is a quality drawer system!!
This car was not different and i wanted a rough and tumble draw system to max the attitude of the rest of the car. The Drawer system is made out of Painted marine ply and Galvanised RHS. With little worry i will be able to grab the hose and wash the back down if required. I also wanted a water tank. After only having a jerry bounce round in the back for many years i wanted something bigger and more pernament without the sacrifice of precious room in our SWB vehicle. After much measuring and thought i opted for a 43 L tank to hide behind both Seats. The entire draw system is removable however i wouldnt want to do it on a regular basis.

The drawer slides are a big decision when building drawers. After learning from the DMAX drawer system i chose to opt for Sealed Roller Bearing Slides. They at 700mm long (drawers are 900mm) and have sealed ABEC bearings. They are the best slides i have found for Dirty and dusty conditions. My dmax Drawers survived 6500Ks of Cape York Bulldust and Corrugations. https://dunnandwatson.com.au/shop/drawe ... es-100kgs/

43L water tank hidden. Will Be attached to a 12LPM Pump and maybe even a hot water system!
Comment about a big boy - My Old man is a Boilermaker by trade and helps alot with my projects
37. Drawer Frame.jpg

Drawer view - Fridge slide on the Left for ARB 47L. Drop down Stainless steel table.
31. Drawer rear view.jpg

A 140AH AGM battery hidden in the drawer system - It is layed on its side as they can be mounted at any angle.
The Fridge slide can also be seen here. Housing the ARB 47L
32. Drawer battery.jpg

A 'secret' compartment or a good use of useless space. A cupboard for spare CVs, Tie Rods, Hubs, Grease, hoses, belts, oils Etc.
I wanted a spot out of the main drawers that i could put these items if required and not always in the way.
33. Draw compartment.jpg

A couple Dividers to organise tools, food, cooking equipment etc.
34. Drawers.jpg

Cupboard behind the Seat. Bigger then my last set of cupboard built to take up almost all the room behind the seats / ABove the water tanks.
30. Cupboard.jpg

High and Dry and Close to the 140AH AGM battery i have a DC to DC 20A CTEK charger.
In time an inverter will also be homed on this wall. One Anderson for the Fridge and one anderson is for Solar Input.
ALl the wiring is hidden behind and in between the Cupboard wall and Secret compartment.
29. Drawer Electrical.jpg

[DAKARMU94]

What a great looking MU!
Definitely a lot of hard work and time spent making this beast. I'm especially a fan of the rear bar, amazing work.
I too have a MU very similar to this one but without all the drawers in the back (kept the seats) and some different personal touches.
I like your table idea on the tail gate but I took that as an opportunity to put in a switch panel (5 switches, voltage metre for second battery and 2 USB ports) for 2x 7" camp lights on the back of the roof cage. I also placed a 1 metre LED strip below the panel to act as a low camp light with another strip for the boot section. I'll take a photo of the set up tomorrow.

[topgun94]

Been a while.
Heres a vid from the ol girl at Glasshouse Mtns in QLD. Not alot of mods to the MU lately been sorting the rear brakes out that have been leaking
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmTZg-Esn84

[PUMPS]

great build. thanks for sharing. You could your dinner out of that engine bay.

[mumanbeing]

Epic. Thankyou for sharing the journey and tips, anothy old gal lovingly saved for more great memory making.

[topgun94]

Back from the beautiful cape York!
So I took my dmax to the cape but my wife's sister asked if she could borrow the MU! With no 4wd experience she absolutely smashed it, I drove a few of the harder lines but otherwise all driven by the newbie! While it was a bit of work to get it back upto standard for a 6500km corrugated round trip she absolutely loved it! This is the second time we have taken a MU to the cape and the second time it's been the most capable car in the group! No aircon or creature comforts made for some interesting bull dust tans but needless to say she made it back and did us proud! We lost the starter motor on the first week, melted a throttle cable and driver's door handle stopped working!
We completed the telegraph track, pajinka 4wd track, Frenchman's track, PDR and all of the water crossings between!

[topgun94]

Couple more photos from the trip!

[topgun94]

Few pictures and updates to keep the build thread updated.
The ol MU gets out for the occasional trip, used as transport to work when the weather isn't to hot and whilst I spend most of my time with the MU out enjoying it, occasionally I spend some time repairing, fixing, tinkering.
I have recently been on a few 4wd trips with her breaking a CV at a 4WD park in Warwick QLD and broke my welded front differential whilst in the high country Victoria!
I have basically completely run out of genuine CV joints, so I went to Repco who were having a clearance and bought 8 spares! To also accommodate the frequency of breakages that I think the Chinese CVs will bring i installed a quick release CV kit.
The CV I broke at the 4WD park was due to a bump stop falling out. The Differential broke due to 8 years of abuse.
Broken Diff.jpg

4wd park carnage.jpg
Quick release.jpg


HIGH COUTNRY PICTURES
Mu snow 1.jpg
Mu snow 2.jpg
Mu snow 3.jpg
Mu dargo.jpg
Mu high country river.jpg

[topgun94]

Mu high coutnry.jpg

NIGHT WORKS.jpg

Mu sunset.jpg

mu sunrise.jpg