Summer has finally began to sink in. As we progressed through the month of May we finally began to see our lawns actually turn a larger percentage of green than yellow. We have had a few moose frequenting our yard; one older and mellow and one being an angry young male. Guess which one we appreciate? 😂 Here is a few pictures as a hint.
On one of our cruise arounds we came across this beautiful Sunrader. It’s on a Nissan truck, but it is still really sweet!
Meanwhile- the dashboard of our Ohana was still laying in pieces. So we should jump back on that project, eh?
Our LED lights for the dash had come in!
With that, I got to putting them in.
For better or worse I went ahead and replaced and put lights in the empty spaces that had been in the dash board. It would be interesting to find out how many lights we hadn’t even knew we were missing!
We even upgraded the little bulb that illuminates the heater controls.
With the bulbs in place it was time to plug the dash cluster back in and make sure it worked!
During this time Laura cleaned up and installed new grip tape on the camper entry way threshold.
It turned out great- check out the difference!
When we glanced under the hood we noticed the battery (especially the negative terminal) was suffering from some heavy corrosion!
We couldn’t have that going on- so out came the baking soda and water mix. We scrubbed it down, added terminal pads, and anti-corrosion gel to the posts. So much better!
Also since our last post we had our replacement Gorilla tape come in. With what we needed to finish the project we could get our LED light strip finally installed the rest of way.
By the end we had beautiful shining lights all around the camper!
We didn’t expect the added bonus of the lights reflecting off the metal ceiling we had put in; what a Super Shiny extra!
In preparation for putting the dash back together, I began straitening up all the dangling wires under the dash and zip tying them into place.
Then the day the new speakers I had ordered arrived!
So it was time to go pick them up and put them in. It would definitely be an appreciated upgrade from the one blown speaker we had up in the cab before. Then something happened while I was driving across town…
… and it was something good for once!
The speedometer was working! It turns out it just wasn’t firmly connected to the back of the dash cluster. So when assembled it back together I must have put it back in correctly!!!
With that we had another box checked off our to do list!
Not even an hour later I had the new speakers in…
…and was enjoying testing them out. 😎🎶 It was nice to finally have the dashboard all back together!
That night we decided that while we were going through the dashboard, we wanted to put in a new stereo receiver.
Instead of needing cords and adaptors to connect our phone to the stereo for tunes- we decided to get a receiver that had Bluetooth built into it. Since we liked to use O’Reillys Autoparts when we were traveling; we decided to buy this one through them.
It costed a bit more- but we wanted to show our support. Now when I show you these pictures- it may seem quick, but installing the stereo took me about 3 hours over 2 days. 🙄
So I had the pleasure of taking the whole dash board back apart… 😬
Oh! Getting the stereo wired in and working took me about an hour of that. It was then getting it to fit into the dash.
SO… once again out came the multi-tool with the cutting blade.
And a very careful while later…
It worked!!! Our new stereo!
Also, with my sticky driver’s side window, I finally decided to break down and order metal window cranks.
They arrived right at this time and they turned out beautiful, solid, and strong!
Excited to finally re-assemble the dashboard I happily put it back together for the last time.
Next we would just need to go through the whole thing to touch it and clean it up. Oh- what an optimistic fool I was! 🤣
We had been talking about another purchase for quite awhile and finally had decided to order it…
Trust us, nothing is as intimidating as the 1989 4Runner stock horn “meep meeping” at you when you decided to cut us off in traffic. So after many of these moments, we decided it was time for The Ohana’s voice to be heard. 📯
And it wasn’t long until I was taking the dash board back apart… 😭
Me, not being savvy in reading electrical diagrams, did the best I could to wire up everything as I understood it should go.
It took me awhile to get it all together. I had to drill out the base of the compressor to fit a bolt that would thread into a currently existing thread point.
And after it was all together it was time to give it a test!
In which I immediately blew a fuse. This is were I get to give a big ‘ol shout out to my dear old dad.
He helped my trace through the system, and after reviewing the diagrams I had read incorrectly we verified how badly I has screwed it up.
But that’s okay! It was all learning. Shortly after I had a list of modifications I needed to make and I was back at it.
Not much later we were ready to test it again…
…to be happily greeted by the blare of the air horn! With our mission successful all that was left was to mount the horn and relay into place and zip tie the wires into their final locations.
After the horn install was complete I, with great satisfaction, re-assembled the dash board again; hopefully for the last time for a long time!😆
That weekend we had a trip up to Soldotna and Kenai planned. I figured it was a perfect opportunity to take The Ohana and give all of the new work a good test drive.
Here is a little sample of everything in action. 😁🤩
We had a wonderful drive and the day was absolutely beautiful.
All of the new upgrades handled perfectly! Well- there was still one thing that needed attention…
…But we’ll save that for next time. 😉
For now- just enjoy the beautiful view from out drive as much as Our Ohana did:
Geoff Murphy 5/28/2021