[magnat]

I am looking for Any 5 door Grand Vitara's or XL-7's that have been modded for Touring.

I am in the process of removing the Rear most seats in the XL-7 and I am looking for Idea's for onboard water storage and Dual Battery set ups.
I am also looking for inspiration in making a shelf system with enough room for a 42l Fridge ..
So Yes... I am turning a 7 seater into a 5 seater.. but the warmer months are upon us and since I have a Kayak I am heading to some remote rivers and lakes for some kayaking and camping.


Already have the Lift, Snorkel and Bash plates so now its just the camping side of things I need to sort out..

[Chop]

I fitted a fridge slide in my gv, I've opted for no shelves or drawers because IMO you lose to much space. You can pack way more in around a fridge that way and it's easy to remove the fridge and still have a reasonably flat area if needed. Battery up front under bonnet aswell!

[magnat]

Where did you fit the battery under the bonnet ?
What did you fit the fridge sliders to ?

[fordem]

Chop wrote:

I fitted a fridge slide in my gv, I've opted for no shelves or drawers because IMO you lose to much space. You can pack way more in around a fridge that way and it's easy to remove the fridge and still have a reasonably flat area if needed. Battery up front under bonnet aswell!

You do loose space to a drawer system - but - you have the distinct advantage of not having to unpack everything to get at the one item you need. I also don't see why you can't have a shelf system with a flat top and removable fridge slides.

[murcod]

If you haven't got cruise control there's space for a battery under the bonnet - I've seen it done before.

[magnat]

Any Ideas as to How to build the tray and secure it in place ?..
I will need somewhere for onboard water to connect a shower to..
An inverter to run the lap top.
The Dual battery as I have said will be to run a fridge and lighting.

[GeckoXL7]

The spare battery tray goes on where Radiator overfill and washer water bottle goes from what i have seen, and the bottles are relocated. http://www.piranhaoffroad.com.au/product/battery-tray/battery-tray/make/suzuki

The rear seat is very easy to take out just unclips, the backs unbolt and there is proably enough room where the bottom seat cusion was to put in a water tank? There are quite thin flat ones available. BCF have some starting from around $60 then there are molded Polly tanks found on the net.
I have a wire going from the battery / Isolator under along top of chassy rail and up where aircon unit is to spare battery in back pluss power soccket and anderson plug on bumper.

Also have taken out rear tool compartment and put wood down. Thinking of putting shelfs in for the fridge but have needed the rear seats to much.

I have removed middle seats before and had kids in the back, with the radio on i couldnt hear them

[magnat]

Gecko have you got Pics of your Back cargo area ?

[GeckoXL7]

Nothing at moment, pretty much everything has been removed recently. The battery pack is just a the Cheaper blue top ark power pack that comes with Clips to hold it down. Its my plans though to cut out some Ply and make it dead flat with marine carpet. Remove drivers side panel bellow the window and have that as plywood and fit a few sealed batteries and maybe a compressor in there. Simply thoughts in my head that i that i want to do. once you remove the rear seat there is quite a fair bit of space you can work with. If only money can extend to purchase a Lithium Deep Cycle battery (Light & Small)

The rear seat was actually designed to unclip and fit behind middle seat then all seats lay flat and level.

[davico]

Hi,

I have a 2004 XL-7 setup for 4WD touring with the rear seats removed.
After removing the seats I bolted down a plywood board into which I installed a bunch or tie-down anchors.
On top of that there is a rubber matt.

I can't figure out how to attach pics (was that disabled?), so I have some here:

https://plus.google.com/photos/112056067719431417927/albums/6064808188181804353?authkey=CNm84tKVv-nLWA

The second pic is shown without the parts tied down, but you can kinda see from the first how it works. (Eveything gets tied down!). There's also a few pics of the rear-door table.

I dont use a second battery as we don't tend to stay in one spot for more than a few days. Instead I replaced the starter battery with the biggest hybrid I could fit (SuperCharge allrounder 105AH). This should power the engel easily for about 3 days, any more than that and you might have to go for a drive.

I have a possitive wire going from the battery via a thermal breaker through the firewall to a small fusebox in the passengers-side footwell. From here I have a possitive wire going up the left-hand side of the interior (tucked under the trim) to an anderson plug in the left-hand side of the board (you can see the cutout for it under the rubber in the pics) to power the fridge. Decent ground connections are easy to find.

Water is just a 15L container from woolies with a garden dripper installed in the top which gets tied down in that spot. I should be able to stack two of those, but I'm havent actually tried, it may foul the fridge handle a bit.
The shelves you can see are "PortaDrawers" which work pretty well (can clatter on bad corrigations), though for more storage you can fit two 50L storage boxes stacked in the same spot.

This setup has worked out well. In July I crossed the Simpson in that car

Dave

[GeckoXL7]

Looks great thought looked like back of mine for a second with the fire extinguisher and the two seats.

Have to do that rear shelf, mates got one great for making coffee etc.

I think if want draws you could get away with 150 to 200mm deep ones with out loosing to much space in rear after seats are removed. Good for organising tools, recovery gear, spoons cups etc that are always available even when fully loaded.

[magnat]

Dave.. That flat floor is exactly what I am after..
So.. Next question is....

How did you secure it in place and how did you deal with the fact that the front drops away meaning any board that you use needs something underneath it to support it ?

You don't happen to remember the dimensions of your flat board by any chance ?

[murcod]

davico wrote:

After removing the seats I bolted down a plywood board into which I installed a bunch or tie-down anchors.
On top of that there is a rubber matt.

You're making me feel guilty - me making the dog get in the back with the uneven floor from the seats being removed.... I need to do the same thing!

Nice work.

PS: Have you added an additional child restraint anchor onto the rear of the middle row LHS seat back rest?

[GeckoXL7]

There is actually a bolt hole on the rear passangers site seat for a anchor, i just put a slit and put the anchor in. Roughly same spot.

[magnat]

Not sure if I am getting what you mean ?
What sort of anchor ?

[GeckoXL7]

Hi the anchor i have is, usually come with the child seats.

http://www.supercheapauto.com.au/online-store/products/Child-Restraint-Vehicle-Anchor-Kit.aspx?pid=3181#Cross

I just felt the rear of the seat felt a hole pealed back the cover and it was a threaded bolt hole which the anchor bolt happened to fit perfectly so i put a slit and bolted it in.

Sorry i dont have a better image have a seat cover over the seat as sick of chocolate etc staining it I may have a better one floating around. but will give rough idea of position. It is actually a square indent and in middle is the bolt hole.

[davico]

magnat wrote:

Dave.. That flat floor is exactly what I am after..
So.. Next question is....

How did you secure it in place and how did you deal with the fact that the front drops away meaning any board that you use needs something underneath it to support it ?

You don't happen to remember the dimensions of your flat board by any chance ?

The board is 109cm wide x 92cm deep, though you can go a bit deeper, I used 92cm just because I already had a piece of ply that size.

As for the mounting, there are large bolts either side to the rear which go straight into the body. IIRC its where the seatbelts used to go. I think they were M10 fine-pitch bolts. I made some spacers out of several layers of scrap ply and drilled them for the bolt to go through, thats what keeps it all level. I think the spacer at the back was about 6-7cm.

Towards the front, I used a long piece of timber (2x4" i think) and bolted it down using the small holes in the top of the raised metal loops (I think they were part of the seat mounting). That was a very fiddly job getting the nuts in underneath the metal loops. The board then simply screws down to the timber with a bunch of timber screws.

I've added some more pics to the gallery with the rubber matt removed so you can see the details. You will notice that the board is actually two layers of ply, the bottom one is the main one which everything bolts to. The top one has holes cut out for all the tiedowns and makes everything neat and flat when empty, it is simply secured to the first with a bunch of small counter-sunk wood screws.

Dave

[davico]

murcod wrote:

PS: Have you added an additional child restraint anchor onto the rear of the middle row LHS seat back rest?

As others have pointed out, the anchor point (bar) is lurking under the fabric just like the other side, only without the plastic trim. Simply make a small cut in the fabric and clip your seat in. I once tried to get a piece of trim to make it match the other side but the wreckers just wanted to sell me whole seats...

Dave

[davico]

I should also mention that in order to get it level, there is indeed quite a bit of hollow space under the board, particularly at the front, but its an akward shape and pretty inaccessible. You could try and stick a water bladder or something there but it would be a right PITA if you needed to clean it or something. As you might be able to see in the pics, I just filled the space with a "moving blanket" which I thought might be a good noise dampner.

[murcod]

Thanks everyone for the tips regarding the hidden bar/ anchor nut for the child restraint! Suzuki are plain stupid for hiding it....

BTW, there are ISOFix metal loops hidden under the fabric/ leather on that side on the seat base. I discovered them a few years back when we had an ISOFix baby capsule- but I hadn't found the hidden one in the rear of the seat back for the top tether. (The number of people I've seen running the top tether strap sideways across to the centre position has scared me!? I can only imagine how bad that would be in an accident.)

[magnat]

The rear door table has got me inspired.. How is it constructed ?

[zoukshin]

On the topic of dual battery: see my thread - optima on the side under the bonnet, after relocating the overflow bottle. Pirate stuff is shit, overexpensive for a little tray. Me and some others have taken a basic tray (projecta, SCA, whatever) and fab'd some brackets. Not too hard.
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=42902&start=90
I also have a fridge in the back (Engel 40L) , taking up most of my boot space though.
Can't see how I would fit a slide and get the fridge positioned lengthwise, even with the handles removed. But I'd love to be proven wrong

[magnat]

I think I will just settle for an Ark Power box or something similiar.. Dual battery set up looks a little too complicated for me to attempt...
I would probably wire up something and store the 2nd Battery under the rear seat or something as there is not alot of room under the bonnet without alot of custom work..

[GeckoXL7]

Ive been looking at Lithium Deep Cycle batteries, just waiting for them to come down in price. I like them as much smaller and weigh nothing compared to a 4wd or car battery. EG Car batter around 40KG equiv Lithium batter less than 4kg.

I have a marine battery, even thought of having a lithium as the jumper and the Marine as the AUX.

I ran my Techni Ice freezer and fluro lights at night for a week in 40Degrees days on the marine battery in the Arck box and still had charge.

Im thinking of what spares to collect and have in a draw somewhere eg under one of the seats for touring as where i go eg flinders ranges there is no reception or help for miles.

EG
Drive and aircon Belts, Heater hoses, Fuel hose, Oil filter, air filter, Fuel pump, Fuel filter, water pump, Fuses, light globes. Suspension bushes. common nuts and bolts eg for suspension etc. Things that will strand you if fail and can get cheap from places like rockauto. All up prob less than $250 I even have strut mounts spare in the rear as they suck when fail and its happend to me twice. Also have spare struts and shocks that fit behind the middle chair. and coolant.

[atari4x4]

GeckoXL7 wrote:

Drive and aircon Belts, Heater hoses, Fuel hose, Oil filter, air filter, Fuel pump, Fuel filter, water pump, Fuses, light globes. Suspension bushes. common nuts and bolts eg for suspension etc. Things that will strand you if fail and can get cheap from places like rockauto. All up prob less than $250 I even have strut mounts spare in the rear as they suck when fail and its happend to me twice. Also have spare struts and shocks that fit behind the middle chair. and coolant.

not concerned about being over weight?

[murcod]

GeckoXL7 wrote:

Im thinking of what spares to collect and have in a draw somewhere eg under one of the seats for touring as where i go eg flinders ranges there is no reception or help for miles.

EG
Drive and aircon Belts, Heater hoses, Fuel hose, Oil filter, air filter, Fuel pump, Fuel filter, water pump, Fuses, light globes. Suspension bushes. common nuts and bolts eg for suspension etc. Things that will strand you if fail and can get cheap from places like rockauto. All up prob less than $250 I even have strut mounts spare in the rear as they suck when fail and its happend to me twice. Also have spare struts and shocks that fit behind the middle chair. and coolant.

http://www.raa.com.au/membership/road-s ... ls/premium $179/ year .... and your vehicle weight is not doubled carrying spares!

[atari4x4]

murcod wrote:

GeckoXL7 wrote:

Im thinking of what spares to collect and have in a draw somewhere eg under one of the seats for touring as where i go eg flinders ranges there is no reception or help for miles.

EG
Drive and aircon Belts, Heater hoses, Fuel hose, Oil filter, air filter, Fuel pump, Fuel filter, water pump, Fuses, light globes. Suspension bushes. common nuts and bolts eg for suspension etc. Things that will strand you if fail and can get cheap from places like rockauto. All up prob less than $250 I even have strut mounts spare in the rear as they suck when fail and its happend to me twice. Also have spare struts and shocks that fit behind the middle chair. and coolant.

http://www.raa.com.au/membership/road-s ... ls/premium $179/ year .... and your vehicle weight is not doubled carrying half a vehicle in spares!

it's all good, his lift & tyres are still under the maximum size... grossly over weight doesn't play a part in the legality game apparently.

[GeckoXL7]

How will spares contribute to weight? all that will prob be less than 40kg less than someone sitting in the rear seat. If rear seats removed that equive to two adults 160-200kg thats alot of spares! Max load is 565Kg for the XL-7 equiv to 7 80kg adults. When loading the car i try and keep it ballanced eg fridge on opisate side of the spare batt.

I have RAA premium but out in the middle of no where they still only tow 70K 250 country and anything more add's up very fast!

Got towed from Birdwood adelaide hills to home and had to pay a extra 150 and was only 10k over.

Brake downs happen very rarely but since the cars getting old its just good to have spares in the back. In most cases you could replace a fuel pump quicker than waiting for RAA to come out.

Its nice having all that extra space in the back

[atari4x4]

lol a pair of struts & shocks would weigh nearly 40kgs, throw in 10l of coolant (5l wont be enough) there's your 40kgs straight up & not including all the other crap.

i dare you to load you junk up with all your camping gear, camper trailer, quads, missus & squids & take it over a public weigh bridge & post the certified weights... i know i'm either very close or over when fully loaded, but i don't live in denial.

[atari4x4]

nice edit

so you reckon the rear dicky seats weight 160-200kgs, yet you don't think the camper trailer is heavy when loaded & i've seen your missus... no way that's 80kg's.

you should totes get a job in a pit crew if you can you drain your fuel tank, remove it, remove the sender/pump, replace the pump, refit & refill in less than an hour on the side of the road.