My 04 Grande Build-up!

[jhiace Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close jhiace]

[jhiace Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close jhiace]

Today I started my new work light extendable bar and made great progress on it! Will have it all finished up tomorrow and a few pics to put up of it too.

[jhiace Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close jhiace]

Got the new extendable light pole all done, works really well and doesn't look out of place... A heap of pics and instructions will be up tomorrow.

[jhiace Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close jhiace]

Well over the last couple of days i decided to redesign my rear work light mount/bracket to make it extendable and rotatable for more practicality.

I bought an extendable painters pole from bunnings which is made of fibreglass and an aluminium telescopic pole (about $30), two stainless steel hose clamps that are about 60mm, two stainless steel bolts and nuts, flexi cord which is just a cigarette socket on an extension from autobarn to use inside the pole, four 3" high tensile bolts to mount it all up and four 10mm thick nuts to space the bracket off the car and the wheel holder from the bracket (this also means bigger tyres will fit easily).

First thing i did was chop up my existing bracket and weld a new up and down support bar, this was to provide support for the extension pole when fastened with the hose clamps.


You'll notice the cutout in the side of the pole, this is where the end cap goes in to help keep the water out and once in the side is completely flat.

The next step was to file down the top of the aluminium pole to fit inside the 25mm square bar i am using which has also now become the T on top holding the lights still. At this point i also filed out the top of the adjustable housing to remove the locators which stop the pole from turning and then drilled some extra holes in the round sides of the pole meaning i can turn it 4 different ways and lock it in if needs be.


The aluminiumbar fits in the bottom of the T bar and is fixed with the two aluminium bolts and lots of loctite!

[jhiace Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close jhiace]

Then everything was sent out the back for a coat of paint, whilst waiting for this to dry i started feeding the flexi cord through the inner pole but noticed an issue with the bottom stoppers which stop the pole from being pulled right out when extending out as the stoppers went about 5mm inside this pole either side stopping the flexi cord from moving as it needs to. So i removed those and with some good quality tape i tightly wound it around the pole to create the stopper without any of it interfering with the flexi cord.



Then once all the paint was dry it was just a matter of assembling it all back together and mounting it up. First thing i did was insert the aluminium pole into the fibreglass one and assemble the rubber bottom back on it, this will help to keep the majority of muck out but it provided a good spot for the wiring to run in through and i have drilled a small hole in the bottom to allow water to drain out.


Notice here the end plug is in completely leveling the mount side off

[jhiace Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close jhiace]

I then cut some strips of thin high density foam which i lined the hose clamps and the side of the bracket with to help keep the extension pole securely mounted whilst providing some anti vibration to prevent stress fractures

[jhiace Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close jhiace]

It was then just a matter of clamping the pole to the bracket and rejoining the wiring and this is the end result.

[jhiace Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close jhiace]

Then it was just a matter of attaching the wheel holder back on and putting it all back together, it has spaced the wheel out a bit but it just means wider tyres will fit easier!

[jhiace Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close jhiace]

All up it works really well and i am very happy with how good it looks. I am going to lift the whole thing up about 1.5" just to give a little more clearance over the door when opened and there is a little bit of movement in it but nothing too major when driving but this is to be expected when you have a flat sided pole that you want to make go right around!

[berniebgf Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close berniebgf]

Nice Jhiace

Really good Job, can you show how you routed the power for the lights into the rear?

Also, where is the switch for the lights?

Good effort!

Bernie

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Good work, Josh! Like!

[jhiace Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close jhiace]

Thanks Bernie, I drilled a hole just below and slightly to the right of the top left bracket bolt. This seemed to provide the easiest route through the three door skins. I then inserted a snug fitting rubber grommet which I pushed the wire through keeping it water tight.

I have put the switch in the centre console, theres a few pictures of the switches a page or two back..

Andrew, thanks. I hope it helps you along with your project too.

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With the tape you used on the inner tube, I was thinking of a few layers of heatshrink. I'll also experiment with wrapping the heatshrink over the end of the inner tube to protect the curly cord.

[jhiace Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close jhiace]

Yeah I guess heat shrink will work but it is going to give the same result.

The bottom wasn't very sharp and the curly cord goes in an out quite well but I did put plenty of silicone spray in there which always helps.

[jhiace Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close jhiace]

Well ive been busy... Interior is fully finished (for now at least) which means seats are all done, and i have also covered ALL the hideous wood grain with carbon fibre look vinyl and it looks much better. Had the 2" lift and Andrews bag spacers fitted so just have to trick those pesky auto level sensors tomorrow and that will be all done. Finally received all the interior LED lights and reverse LED's, Just waiting on the tail light and blinker LED's now.. Very close to buying a new pair of headlights and HID's for them aswell as a 20" LED lightbar to mount in the front bar.

Getting there!