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What have you done to your Elgrand today?

Lpgc said:
Yesterday one of the things I did was wash and claybar the Elgrand. Today I machine polished it. Then thought I'd wax it... but turned out the only wax I had in stock was a bit of turtle wax circa 1993 and very thickened lol... I had enough of this old wax to do the bonnet. @Karl does wax go off? Seems to have worked on the bonnet!
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Iv still got some old school wax from before I was born in 1989 and it still dose the job normal polish tends to curdle though normally but a 5 liter drum a year and that dose my truck and cars buy any more and I have some left over and it looks bad so bin it
 
Kenzie said:
Iv still got some old school wax from before I was born in 1989 and it still dose the job normal polish tends to curdle though normally but a 5 liter drum a year and that dose my truck and cars buy any more and I have some left over and it looks bad so bin it
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"1989, before you were born" bloody hell I feel old😟
 
Put a bit of tint spray on the shiny chrome indicator lenses on the wing mirrors that have been doing my head in. Not gone mad as I’ve got a couple of plans for these in mind for later in the year. A tinted and original for comparison and one back on the van. 6E9F5FBF-BAB9-436E-A6F7-46F10C99CFA0.jpeg19979F21-1BDE-479F-B4C3-4773ADED227A.jpeg
 
Thanks @Highway Dave, done off of the back of your suggestion the other day mate 👍
Thanks to @MrGimlet for his how to on mirror removal also. Saved a lot of masking and meant I didnt break anything in the process.
 
Ste said:
Put a bit of tint spray on the shiny chrome indicator lenses on the wing mirrors that have been doing my head in. Not gone mad as I’ve got a couple of plans for these in mind for later in the year. A tinted and original for comparison and one back on the van. View attachment 32584View attachment 32585
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Great effort! I’m too lazy to disassemble this much so might cut a hole in a bin liner and bandit it instead!
 
  • Haha
Reactions: Ste
Ste said:
Put a bit of tint spray on the shiny chrome indicator lenses on the wing mirrors that have been doing my head in. Not gone mad as I’ve got a couple of plans for these in mind for later in the year. A tinted and original for comparison and one back on the van. View attachment 32584View attachment 32585
Click to expand...
That's a big improvement.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Ste
Ste said:
Put a bit of tint spray on the shiny chrome indicator lenses on the wing mirrors that have been doing my head in. Not gone mad as I’ve got a couple of plans for these in mind for later in the year. A tinted and original for comparison and one back on the van. View attachment 32584View attachment 32585
Click to expand...
They look real smart:cool:
 
Took the van to get the towbar put on and then an hr later they phoned and said they weren't comfortable with doing it as required rear seat removal etc.
They pointed me to another installer in Newcastle which will cost me $400+.

Anyway thought I would look around here and found the Tow Trust, which by the looks after drilling 2 holes would be straight forward but mine is a little different appears to bolt up through the chassis rails, there is existing holes but looks like I need to remove the carpet, not seats etc and drill in the top of the chassis rail.

Any pics of the rear or how to for removing this area I figure fold up seats, remove spare wheel for easy of access, then remove the shroud around the drivers side storage pocket then should be able to lift the carpet....but don't know if I then have another layer to remove etc

They also mentioned an ECU for stopping surges but everyone else on here has just spliced them in it seems is this correct?

Ryan
And no it didn't come with instructions.

PS just spoke with supplier who has walked me through it so I might have a crack my self. No instructions as people have copied the bars.
 
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RYAN said:
Took the van to get the towbar put on and then an hr later they phoned and said they weren't comfortable with doing it as required rear seat removal etc.
They pointed me to another installer in Newcastle which will cost me $400+.

Anyway thought I would look around here and found the Tow Trust, which by the looks after drilling 2 holes would be straight forward but mine is a little different appears to bolt up through the chassis rails, there is existing holes but looks like I need to remove the carpet, not seats etc and drill in the top of the chassis rail.

Any pics of the rear or how to for removing this area I figure fold up seats, remove spare wheel for easy of access, then remove the shroud around the drivers side storage pocket then should be able to lift the carpet....but don't know if I then have another layer to remove etc

They also mentioned an ECU for stopping surges but everyone else on here has just spliced them in it seems is this correct?

Ryan
And no it didn't come with instructions.

PS just spoke with supplier who has walked me through it so I might have a crack my self. No instructions as people have copied the bars.
Click to expand...

I don't know if rules and regs regards towbars are different in Aus...

Seen maybe 5 different types of towbars on E51's (including Jap fitted ones). I fitted a Towtrust on mine.

UK made ones all seem to make use of existing towing eye bracket bolt holes on the drivers side, on the passenger side some (like the Towtrust) need holes crossed drilled through the chassis, some need holes up through the chassis, a few smaller bolts holds the towbar rear crossmember to the vehicle rear crossmember (existing bolt holes).

Towbars I've seen that were fitted in Japan have different bolting arrangements but the main difference is they have a piece going forward to the vehicle crossmember that runs across the top of the spare wheel... This type of towbar prevents the spare wheel (or an LPG tank) being mounted in the usual place.

No need to remove carpet to fit the Towtrust type but will have to lift the rear part of carpet to wire in the towbar electrics. Obviously any type that needs bolting up through the chassis will mean lifting more of the carpet.

To get access to the rear floor area - Slide middle and rear seats forward, remove the rear plastic slam panel trim, remove the 2 plastic carpet clips, remove the plastic trims at the rear of the seat slider rails (pull up to unclip the trims then remove the trims by removing the 2 securing plugs on each one), pull the 4 seat slide gators backward off the seat slide rails and out of the car, remove the luggage tie clip from passenger side rear trim. Now you can pull up the rear carpet (just untuck it from under the interior side trim and lift it up). Under the rear carpet there's underfloor heater ducting but the ducting is in sections and you'll only need to remove the rear section. To remove rear section of ducting remove the cubby hole to reveal a bolt under cubby hole lip, there's also a bolt on the passenger side. Unclip passenger side rear interior trim... you don't have to remove trim but unclipping it allows the section of rear ducting that connects to the heater box to clear the trim to allow removing rear ducting. Now you can see all the rear floor as far forward as the back axle.

You shouldn't need an 'ECU box' for towbar electrics on an Elgrand (or any sort of 'coding' / 'chipping') because Elgrands use old skool electronics for lighting etc, so you can just tie into existing lights wiring... But it's still regular practice in the UK to fit a very simple electronics box that just beeps when indicators flash when a lighting board is connected. You can make most of the wiring connections behind the drivers or passengers side rear light cluster but will need to run at least one wire from the opposite side rear light cluster to tap into it's indicator feed. UK towbar electrics have a separate lighting board feed for driver and passenger side rear sidelights (so that's at least 2 wires across the width of the car under carpet, indicator and sidelight). It can be a pain to access wiring working through the bulb access door so it's probably easier to remove interior trim (at least on the side you're making most connections at) to access wiring to bulbs.
 
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