Building the Ultimate 4X4

I've always had an absolute passion for four-wheel driving and for exploring Australia and as the years kind of change in your life the vehicles tend to change so in my younger years I'd built up this amazing Suzuki Sierra one of the vehicles I definitely remember dad having as I was growing up was Otis I put 35 inch tires under it being lived Commodore v6 under the bonnet it was massive it was up on big tires it looked like a comp truck and I always remember been really excited when when mom would finally let us go out for a drive in it because she thought it was too unsafe as I got a little bit older and started to have kids I started to build slightly more sensible vehicles I've got up a land cruise a hundred series I do remember the camel cruiser in the driveway and mum needing a step to get into the car then a defender that was a bit of a desert torrid defender one thirty one of the craziest trips I've been on with dad was when he bought an ex-army Unimog didn't inspect it we just sort of booked the flights and and flew to Darwin to pick this uni Morgan this adventure is a little bit different to most of the other ones that I do and it involves the crew that I've got in fact I'd like to turn the camera back on to my crew here we have bill he's he's a cameraman on this adventure and over here we have gasps oh you're looking forward to this trip back with the old man good stuff well let's get into it so we drive the Unimog from Darwin back to Sydney in about seven days sweltering hot and we did get to do a little bit of pool driving in it even though we were kind of just rushing back to Sydney as fast as we could there's a lot of fun so the question was if I still wanted to keep on building four-by-fours what was gonna build now that was going to soothe me for this time in my life [Music] [Music] I haven't really been building up vehicles to for quite a while so I guess I've had something in the back of my brain just sort of tearing at me to think I should probably be building a car that is a lot of fun again and then I went over to the Perth 4x4 show and I just saw all these super tourist oil four-wheel drives but every single one of them with Toyota's and often they were there 79 series really cool-looking car big v8 under the bonnet but a lot of ways they need a whole lot of help the track of the vehicle is actually too skinny it's skinnier in the back then in the front so I started to sort of compare that vehicle and go well that as a base vehicle to modify sure it looks cool but it is really quite expensive if I was to look at it a mirach that kind of made a bit more sense it comes with an auto transmission it's got a supremely powerful engine I'm sponsored by them so that made it a bit easier but on top of that it's actually got a super strong chassis so if you want to modify anything you're got to make sure that the backbone is solid and with an Amarok I know that it is I want to build my ultimate 4x4 I don't think there's a better place to build the ultimate touring 4x4 and right here in Australia and that is what I intend to do [Music] the starting point is an Amarok 580 v6 and that 580 stands for 518 Newton meters of torque to start the build the v6 headed to Adelaide to adaptive manufacturing where they were about to create the first double XL Amarok in Australia the kit itself is manufactured in the Netherlands by a company called vet and then welded in place in Australia the bonus of this kit is that not only is it well engineered it's also covered by a factory warranty not to mention the ABS at blue and traction control is modified to suit the longer wheelbase I chose the six hundred and fifty millimeter chassis extension because it's going to allow for more storage space in a canopy build later on and give me better load carrying capacity by moving the axle towards the rear but as I found out it's not all roses when you're first in the country to do something I am a little bit frustrated because while this major surgery on my vehicle is going on behind these walls I can't see it it's all top secret no one is allowed to see the tools the manufacturing techniques I can't show you I can't let out cameras in I've just been told to trust them [Music] the rock then went to Melbourne and landed in the capable hands of Mark Dunbar from net 4x4 now I hadn't seen the car since I left outta life oh my goodness she sir she's definitely bit longer now that is crazy you hear these dimensions of 650 millimetres and you go oh yeah whatever thanks closer to a meter to me yeah yeah and now it's kind of got that sort of lowrider feel about it because you stretch it which is why I brought it to you mate we Jack them up here right yeah that's it we get their bellies off the ground wow this is gonna be fun let me tell you a bit about this guy after buying an Amarok in 2012 mark started building his own gear for it would spread in the Amarok community about what mark was doing put simply people wanted his stuff and knit 4x4 has been creating some of the most sought-after Amarok accessories ever since just love tinkering around with stuff and before the family moved to the farm you know as I was really building you know motorbikes out of you know dad's old one or so when we moved to the farm it was just just like open slather so for me to build cars was just a natural progression from there Mike runs his business from his sheds so he can be there for his daughter Annika who suffers from Rhett syndrome a rare neurological disorder that affects her body's development and her ability to communicate our youngest has Brett syndrome so she's you know I don't rely on us she's in a wheelchair for us it's not hard work it's just everyday life she comes out in the workshop with me you know while I'm out there working and doing stuff so it's good Annika loves getting out like the rougher and the better nanika goes everywhere with us could be quite challenging but it's still fun at the same time the 2014 we did a trip with two other families on covering the Simpson in 2016 we did Cape York those five-week trip up Cape York and we loved the outdoors a lot to get out there and do things and the Lucia I was diagnosed with MS about a month after we got back from Cape York in 2016 it can be restrictive in some steps but you know we just you know take each day as it comes in good gallon despite these challenges mark is just an incredible bloke who really persevered and has built net 4x4 into what it is today mark now had a few weeks to work on the vehicle before we needed to put the Amarok through its paces for engineering he began the process by first lifting the vehicle next up was the suspension lift using a net 4x4 kit mark upgrade the springs to 500 kilogram heavy duty leaf springs the rear shock absorbers were also upgraded to suit the additional height mark uses special cold wound heavy-duty coils to account for the additional weight of the bull bar and winch combo new upper control arms were also fitted which allowed us the clearance we needed to fit the bigger tires we made the choice to fit Delta 4x4 18 by 9 inch wheels and we wrapped them in thumping big 35 by 12 and a half inch BF goodrich km3 tires mark locked a whopping 47 millimeters to allow the wheels their full range of movement and to make it look pretty and legal he fitted a set of flares over the top Mike also fitted a pair of his fancy net 4x4 recovery points with all the work completed and engineering just days away I was back at net 4x4 to check out the progress yeah she's I'm she's brought up there now oh wow folks to give you some perspective check the height of this my shoulder top of it here Mark's truck over here 40 mil lifts on this truck that's where mine is so your regular Amarok is probably around about there somewhere without that 40 mil left so we're talking about mega lifts but let's have a look out the front because this is where all the problems tend to happen when you've got a vehicle with independent suspension might I've got to say though absolutely brilliant job that looks just meant lifting a 4x4 this high requires what's called a second stage manufacturing compliance you can't just go out there and Jack your car up I have you've really got to get it signed off by an engineer so Mike whole works been put into this truck a lot of time and effort but we still got some pretty serious hurdles being one with the engineering and there's a lot of engineering you know tires speedo noise test or engineering for the rear axle gvm upgrade Wow so folks so much time so much money's been put in this truck if it fails we are going to be way behind schedule and it's gonna cost us a lot more money to try and fix up problems that an engineer may not like so I'm slightly concerned at this stage because I don't have the time to hold the hand of this car for the next couple of weeks we've got to get it on the road so we can get it out in the bush and start playing with it the day of engineering arrives in the town of Anglesey on the Victorian coastline wet and it's blowing a gale not ideal for the bitumen testing have a jacked up 4x4 on mud terrain tires the testing involves covering the Amarok in sensors to assess things like body roll and brake temperatures and there's a laptop in the cabin recording the results live to simulate a load 1.2 tons of shot bags will load it into the tub and strap down all testing would be done with the vehicle loaded up what's the aim - to test out there today mate so today will initially focus on testing the brakes so we're looking for a lot more load carrying capacity so we need to be satisfied that the brakes will come up to scratch at that heavier load compared to a standard Emmerich okay so brake testing is go what about swerve testing and noise testing today we're testing could be a little bit interesting with the the amount of precipitation I would rather keep it shiny side up so we'll see once we get a bit of dry track doing those tests okay good stuff well that's what's getting I guess first up was the brake testing kasaya was nervous is an understatement [Music] but time after time she pulled up straight and true she first has passed then the handbrake was tested on various degree in clients again the e-zpass we had delayed the all-important swerve testing hoping the weather would clear it didn't the track was soaking wet but with confidence gained from the other tests Tom was happy to give this word tester crack this could be a make-or-break moment for the Amarok Tom started off slow and progressively ramped up the speeds to over 100 km/h every time the rock sailed through with minimal body roll but let's put this in perspective we've got a vehicle here with a five and a half inch left mud terrains raised on a wet track and a 1.2 ton load in the back get it sailed through these tests just easily hose blown away Oh Tom that look good mate but how did it feel from your seat yeah look surprisingly or maybe unsurprisingly really good for a car on big tires with a quite long wheelbase just drove straight through awesome I'm a happy camper folks we've nailed the brake tests fully laden and fully laden we've also now the lane change test so it's looking good for the v6 with the Amarok passing it's engineering tests with flying colors it was now back to net 4x4 to throw the car on the trailer before heading up to Queensland has the m/s been going well what you've been working on the tribe yeah not bad few red bulls here and there tick me over the line the fatigues are big factor with EMS it just sort of kicks in and it just sort of drags you down just keep motoring long so we can do yeah yeah whinging about it yeah for me I've got no choice I've got to get up every morning goes on the primary carer for the bills so for me that's a drive to get up in the morning it's a reason to get up and mate all the while where you've you've been primary carer and and having massive challenges you've been pushing it till like two o'clock in the morning often nights on this thing but I feel bad what you're through except for the fact that I know you kind of enjoy it I don't mind it I actually you know like a challenge I know like interesting projects and there's certain anything that and that you have made the hard stuff happened so yeah look really messy thanks mate it's as I'm absolutely thrilled my pleasure mate my pleasure yep this way and so began an hour-long drive out of Melbourne and up the Newell highway into Queensland a little sad really to think that my old v6 just might be towing its replacement for the TV show I was headed to crest made to sit down with the team at Camp King industries going to build my dream canopy at the helm of Camp King industries a husband and wife team Sarah and Lucas starting out small they explained what they had to do to get ahead we're both very sort of vision focused and hungry people we've both got a really strong work ethic a lot of people turn stuff away we're like no we'll have a go at that we'll do it because we want to succeed at it we're always able to still deliver the quality the fabricator a lot to build things and you like drawing new things and we ought to do that kind of stuff and as well surround yourself with staff who do as well Lucas and Sarah love nothing more than taking the family camping and they love to get outdoors which gave them an idea so we thought we'd just combine our love of what we do with the manufacturing and our love of camping and being outdoors and enjoying products good Australian made products and we thought well we'll just merge that together and camp King was born it seems 2016 they've gone from strength to strength with their rooftop tents being featured on builds at SEMA in Las Vegas and now they're exporting their gear right around the world I've been keeping an eye on what Camp King were building and when I first called them about doing our crew car canopy they didn't believe it was actually me I first got the message who got a message off that Collins called you know what stop talking I'm Sarah there's like he's for real oh that's not yeah I like you Jack and I yeah so I said well I'll get his number and if it is him I'll ring him back tomorrow no pulling back tomorrow lo and behold I call Pat back the next day it was part which was which was probably the most shocking part of that phone call because I thought it was he'd give it Lucas to give me a dodgy number we had a great conversation and and Pat was aware of what we'd been doing he had been following what we were doing talked about some upcoming projects he had and asked us if we'd like to be involved in that and we said yeah we're in now it was time for me to throw Lucas some of my crazy ideas for the canopy bills this is the first incarnation before I decided to go silly and extend it to 650 mm yeah this is your 350 mm extended one obviously now that it was seen the vehicle we can change that so maybe this is full draftsman design for a canopy on the back of the year yeah yeah customer obviously gets an idea of what it's like like you know I mean rather than going on can you build me a canopy or triangle year mate and then cross their fingers and and hope they're gonna get what they yeah what they want and I suppose the more I think about these things the more I think we're kind of building a tiny house that we pretty much water tank so we're talking electrics coffee machines and beer taps and all sorts of stuff so it's not that dissimilar working with these guys it's just a dream therefore all drivers that campers so they just get it okay so now that you know that the extent of the damage made time was what do you reckon where we're looking at here we'd push for a month you know reckon Tommy got it you know maybe there's a lot of there there's a lot of details that I don't even really realize until I was sitting down here looking forward to this one I'm glad you are mate because you could look at it two ways you go if you know if I didn't enjoy doing it I would be like here we go again but you know all you honestly or honestly enjoy it it's realise you're in an a blight you you're laughs my next stop with the ultimate Amarok is to get some custom-made exhausts manufactured now one of the joys of this project has been learning the stories of these not so small Aussie companies that help make our vehicular dreams come true I caught up with Brian from bodas exhaust to learn a little bit more about their story 37 years ago I started I I started the exhaust shop in 1982 ten years later I met a hell of a noise Dutch guy by the name of Hank then Daniel and I wanted to buy a mandrel bending machine and he set me up on and on it went and we've moved forward and we've got eight machines we can bend nearly anything we want scanning machines we can scan anything we want if you want something made no problem to us we can do it and here are my gorgeous exhausts made from four four one stainless steel it seems a shame that they're under the car the reason the boat is it exhaust boys use 441 stainless is because it will retain that polished look over time that and it's less prone to fractures over rough our back roads I can expect an additional four or five kilowatts in power out of this setup and it will work particularly well with what I've got planned under the bonnet later on from Beau desert its back on the trailer and up over the range 2 to 1 ba this is the home of diesel care for drivers love power but long distance desert tours like me we love safe power I've been using the stein Bower modules for around a decade and what I like about them is they don't push it too far sure they give you more power but they gradually whine back power to standard if you're at full throttle for an extended period so no silly exhaust gas temperatures that could get you into trouble what sort of power are we going to be looking about getting additionally when we install the stand our storm bear operate on our 20% performance gain and get it most times and there's some vehicles we squeeze a little more but 20% what we're happy with that's a nice safe increase in output how long are we talking about for the installation this car it's probably going to be about an hour trying after fit the unfortunate thing about this vehicle is that it's not going to fit on that dyno because you've gone ahead and put this much in the chassis which is outside the wheelbase that we can work with so we're just going to do a straight installation on this one okay well I guess we'd better plug this bad boy still in Queensland I headed to direction plus to have a few more gadgets fitted under the bonnet first was a pre lined diesel filter to keep the water and gunk out of my v6 it's even got an alarm that sounds in the cabin if it senses water in my diesel after that Jeremy from Direction + bolted in prevent oil separator to keep the engine free of oil and sub contamination so that all stop your engine for being clogged up with the for drive version or cholesterol removing that oil additive blow by gases fantastic mate well it's one thing to get your 4x4 to go but it's another getting it to stop I'll be adding a fair bit of weight to my Amarok so I ducked over to rugged brakes R&D headquarters see if I could buy myself some more stopping power with a heritage of motorsport behind them the rugged team no performance but they also know life in the pits if they make something it has to be easy to service with the ability to break like a slot car just fish your eyes on all of this aluminium goodness not only is it lighter than the factory brakes it's six Pistons self-cleaning design means that this Amarok will stop on a dime not just on the bitumen but in the mud too so we've managed to be able to get the 2/3 float up with a six piston caliper in your vehicle that's ignite and I noticed this fancy Big Z patent across the back here what's what's that for it's not just marketing the hydraulic pressure than in your braking system and a hard braking application can get up to two thousand four hundred psi so that holds it all makes a lot more rigid firm the pedal on the brake make great work on the design here I'd better get out of your way and let you get into it [Music] this is where I get to play with the toys and test them out so we've got the trade plates on and I am going to see how this vehicle stops Wow that was quick and confident first impressions fantastic so with the engine exhaust brakes and under bonnet upgrades sorted it was time to take the Amarok back to Camp King on breezy south side and I was in for a little surprise oh is this just a ride yeah hello well this is the box literally just arrived in the driveway guys and Wow they've done an awesome job I had to leave the Amarok for a month or so while I traipsed across the deserts filming so when I got back I was came to see how she was going on my way to Camp King to see the new custom canopy for the very first time a dead set feel like a five-year-old on Christmas Eve at the moment I pumped with anticipation as to what I'm gonna see when I Drive through those gates at Camp King that have you ride the buggers for the roller shut us down [Music] [Music] how I go I say sorry I don't spend much just say you could just say wow wow that is beautiful no way she's that looks tough doesn't it when I saw that vehicle in the flesh and when the guys opened up those canopy doors my jaw just dropped oh my god how good is that man I gotta pinch myself this is my truck this is beyond my wildest dreams I've done it's gonna be hard to get me out of this bed each morning they all in some which way shape or form helped or put the thoughts or opinions in and just all come together yesterday and it was just amazing bringing guys on TV that is so good yeah man I can't believe that this is my vehicle it just Brides drives so so well now it's some it's incredible [Music] now that the real guts of the project had been done it was time to bring it back to Sydney and put a little bit of icing on the cake the IRB more bank and Narellan teams hooked right in wiring up the intensity driving lights the armax snorkel was also mounted up which proved a little challenging over the top of the oversized Bushwhacker flares the guys also made use of the camp King toolboxes to mount an ARB twin compressor to control that compress our there's a nifty little ARB link system in the cabin and inside the boys plumbed in a uniden UHF CB radio the bushranger Revo winch was also wired up at ARB it's a really sweet 10,000 pound unit and with its synthetic winch road we save a few kilos over the wire rope and to literally cap it all off a rhino tradesman roof rack was bolted upstairs with a red arc solar panel some tread Pro recovery boards and of course the obligatory ARB light bars this desert trekker is somewhat of a camel thanks to - thumping big new tanks underneath built at the back of Newcastle by long Ranger I'll give me over 1,300 kilometres between fills I just could not believe just how well this project panned out I know that I've got my ultimate touring 4x4 [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] I'm back in the Blue Mountains now but we are just about ready to take this vehicle on it's christening run across to Perth but so much has happened in the last couple of weeks that I am dying to show you one of the big things is our electrical system on this vehicle it is powered by four revolution lithium batteries these are a 60 amp hour reach and they are designed for really quick discharge so you can put all sorts of things attached up to this and you can draw the power out real fast and then pump it straight back in just as fast so it is really a pretty serious system but what they are connected up to is pretty amazing the brains of the unit is a radar battery management system with red vision for diagnostics and monitoring this allows me to remotely monitor things like power usage lights even monitor fridge temps from my smartphone but here's where it gets interesting I've installed a 3000 watt inverter which allows me to run incredible appliances so I'm dispensing with the gas and I'm running an induction cooker and a household coffee machine I can even run a pressure cooker keep on coming and I'll show you some of the rest of this vehicle so you'll appreciate we've got the tent up top nice and comfy but you might be wondering what this little contraption is here in the back now this is my diesel heater folks this up here is the little diesel engine here and this is the fuel tank and basically it pumps hot air up there and underneath the vehicle is a tiny little exhaust pipe that pops out so you don't have to suck in any fumes or anything but the beauty of these units are that they will heat up all the air inside really really quickly so it is super comfortable there's a little thermostat dial that allows you to set the temperature that you want upstairs in terms of how much fuel they consume how much power they consume it is incredibly minimal the capacity of this tank will run over 100 hours of diesel heating and the 12-volt power they didn't use is absolutely minimal so my batteries went down by 1% overnight so in terms of being efficient they are amazing now this is a what batsto unit you can get cheaper units out of China and stuff but when it comes to a unit that is running while I'm literally asleep I want to trust it and well batsto it's obviously one of the biggest brands in this space let me show you some of the goodies I've installed on the other side I mentioned before about some of the accessories that I have installed being kind of like your house and this is one of them folks this is a ceramic cooktop the sort that you would find in your house and this draws two thousand nine hundred watts when both of these burners firing the reason I love it is because well firstly it is actually quite cheap that thing itself cost me like 200 bucks off ebay but what this allows me to do is to not take gas around with me so it really is cool to know that those lithium batteries have essentially replaced the gas so now I'm not carrying gas bottles I'm not having to worry about filling them up and it's also so much easier to keep clean so when the spagbol does the big vomit over the top it is really easy to clean up speaking of cleaning up we have a nice little storage compartment in here this is where I store our little chopping board but we've also got a sink that can also be thrown in there as well that's a fold up scene have a look at this this is my pull out pantry so if I simply undo a few things here fold this out hang that up there and there my friends is the pantry now you might have noticed there is a coffee machine staring at me that coffee machine and it chews around about 1600 watts of power but a 3000 watt inverter so I can run that and this is literally the ones where they grind the beans and everything but it makes an amazing coffee over this project we had done many many different things we have installed many rather amazing accessories but I don't know if too many are as amazing as this one and I'm so happy with it it involves this little thing here this is my beer tap but it's what's behind the beer tap is what is really cool have a look at this folks behind the coffee machine sits a rather large keg that is 50 litres of ice-cold beer that you're looking at well it's not exactly ice-cold but I'll tell you how the ice-cold actually happens the beer starts its journey at room temperature in the 50 litre keg before the carbon dioxide pushes it through the beer lines and into the chiller plate sitting at the base of the fridge the chiller plate is made up of 15 meters of cold alloy tubes so the beer arrives warm and exits ice cold out through the beer tap that I've installed in the front of the fridge but let me show you how it all works it works like this folks and I don't know how many people that will be happier than me right now that [Music] is cold but the icing on the cake of this system as if it couldn't get any better it does my friends at Wheelock have wired up a flow meter now that means that through my red vision system and my red vision app on my phone I can tell how much beer I've got in my keg at any time is that my flurry I think that's glorious so you know if I'm coming into Birdsville I'm running low I simply whipped the keg out and replenish it at the pub and keep on going when it comes to beverages I can use my water I can make a great coffee and I can pour a beer and that to me folks makes me one of the happiest for all drivers in the developed world there is one last little accessory that I am dying to show you that happens to be up in my tent check this out folks we have a projector screen that I've mounted on the top of my camp King canopy it is such a good angle and I just got it designed up and basically velcroed to the roof to make it look like it is an old ranked arena TV we've got a mini projector there that costs around about $400 and runs off USB power and really this allows me to watch whatever I like pretty much wherever I like so if I download movies onto my phone I can pop them up onto the big screen in my own tent now it was time for the royal christening a run across the continent on our way to the perth 4x4 show and via some of the coolest spots this to me is just such a nice way to christen this vehicle Fowler's Bay off the coast of South Australia what a magnificent slice of Aussie coastline the view from up in that tent was just superb and what a view to wake up to and if the view wasn't awesome enough a freshly brewed coffee made it even better [Music] with a belly full of caffeine it was time to explore the June's but not before we had the tires down with the fancy tire spider system [Music] [Music] I just couldn't believe just just how well this vehicle wheat you know whether it's driving sleeping out of it pulling a beer out of this vehicle is dead-set my ultimate during 4x4 I'm as happy as a broker in Virgil [Music] when you're so close to a magic place like esperance you would be mad not to stop in and admire the view and test out the new dart chief 270 morning wave rock is on the way to where the surfs always up how is a surf man [Music] and we had made it to Perth and the project really has come full circle the Perth 4x4 show where I dreamt up this idea of the ultimate full by four and now I was able to show it off you know the end of all this we call it the ultimate 4x4 tourer and for me I've actually achieved it I found that out when I was traveling across the Nullarbor with Bill and when I wake up in the morning and I have the coffee and it was just stunningly beautiful or I be can't be upstairs overnight of get a bit chilly so put the diesel heater on or I'd be loafing across this corrugated road and the vehicle is riding and steering and handling and stopping just beautifully the way that everything's come together on this project has just blown me away I'm so thankful of all the people who have put their heart and soul and blood sweat and tears essentially into the project I'm so glad that they did it because they've helped me build my ultimate touring 4x4 [Music] that's the final episode of season 12 to stay up to date on all things 4x4 be sure to sign up to our free newsletter at mr. 4x4 comm a you I'm Pat Kellerman and until next time keep this shiny side up [Music] you

Channel: Pat Callinan's 4X4 Adventures

Views: 247,031

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Id: jdn70HQ_U2Y

Length: 41min 46sec (2506 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 09 2020