FWC Project M Project

DIY lithium! My friend is really into electric car conversions so he knows how to build lithium packs. The BMS he picked out is a big beefy board, which will be great since I am a battery noob and will probably not be gentle to it.

9 volt for scale.

 

That’s a nice BMS. In the future I’d probably build my own as well. Although it is getting hard to find decent cells in a timely manner now. Make sure your friend installs the low temp sensor. Don’t want to wreck the cells by charging them under about 28F.

 

Ah noted! That's a good tip. I will be snow camping in Tahoe so my idea is to try and put the electronics close together to warm them all up. Oh, that reminds me! I've been doing homework on my own diesel heater setup and I think I know how to fix your soot problem. Soot builds up when the heater isn't ran on a high enough heat setting because the mixture is too rich and the its not hot enough to burn off, which leads to buildup. Found a guy on youtube who mentioned if, when you are done using your diesel heater for the day, run it on full blast for 15 minutes. That should burn off all your soot.

 

We camp near Tahoe a bunch and have spent time at Lassen Nat Park in the winter as well. Having a heater is awesome.

I have the diesel heater dialed in. Been meaning to do a write up. Been working perfect for over a year now. This fall I installed a 2 gal diesel tank under the drivers side between body and truck bed right behind the storage box. I had to get rid of the box. Tank is mounted to an aluminum plate where the box was.

I have a spreadsheet I got off a Facebook diesel heater group that gives your settings based on altitude for both high and low. (Attached at bottom of thread). Every time we go up or down about 1000ft, I adjust the min/max hrz. The fan speed stays the same. 1800 low 4500 high. Short answer is the running on high for 15 min as you mentioned is not necessary as long as the low setting mixture is set right. I run mine on low about a third of the time. Using the setting provided by the spreadsheet has been working great. I remounted the heater this fall when I installed the new tank. While it was out I pulled it apart to check and it was completely clean on the inside.

I also upgraded my CO monitor. I still have the fire alarm/CO that came with the truck but I also run this one.

Carbon Monoxide Meter by... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07MNVQ28B?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

0 CO from the heater inside the truck. I have set it off when running the jetboil. Got to remember to turn on the vent fan.

 

If you will be in the snow, you also want a way to get snow off the roof. I posted about the snow joe roof rack. I modified mine, shorted and bent the end a bit. This has been good. Getting the roof down with a bunch of snow on it is not fun. Getting the roof up isn’t either. When we where at Lassen a few weeks ago about 1/4” of ice built up on the roof before it snowed. Even after getting most of the snow off, the ice made for a heavy roof. Also covered the solar panel. Took a day for the ice to come off the roof once we got home.

 

Excellent design! Where did you find that diesel tank? It looks like a good size to fit beside the bed.

 

https://www.usplastic.com/catalog/item.aspx?itemid=104080&catid=578

Price has gone up almost $20 since I ordered my tank. They also make a non CARB tank that appears to be similar for less. Fits perfect for the location.

 

AverageGuy did you get these end cap bolts on the 8020 website? Looks like you have a ton on your build and they stick out way less than normal bolts.

 

They are furniture bolts. I can’t remember where I sourced them. I believe eBay. A quick search and I found them on Amazon.
Hard-to-Find Fastener 014973445713 Joint Connector Bolts, 1/4-20 x 1.18, Piece-10,Black

$11 Hard-to-Find Fastener 014973445713 Joint Connector Bolts, 1/4-20 x 1.18, Piece-10,Black

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00KM4OVT0?_encoding=UTF8

They look great but are a bit of a pain. They are not coated so the will rust if exposed to water. I ended up painting the ones near the tailgate. Also the lengths I could find them didn’t quite work so I had to cut them down. Getting the length just right was a huge pain.

 

Great I'll definitely get some of those. What about the inevitable failure of the strap on the inside of the door? I can already tell those screws are going to pull out of that plastic eventually since they don't have a nut or anything on the backside. Rivnuts seem to be too large for the area.

 

Yeah, handle is useless. It did pull out. I tried a couple things. Originally I ended up putting a pull strap on each side latch. I used a piece of nylon webbing mounted underneath the latch using the screws for the latch to hold it. So you would pull right at the latch. This worked well until I installed the cabinet on the driver side. Then I couldn’t reach the pull on that side anymore. Currently I have a long piece of webbing going from the latch to the window using the original pull handle screw hole. The passenger side still has the pull at the latch. I also lubricated the latches really well. If you give a quick slam from the driver side it usually will latch both sides. At the very least it will do the driver side and then you can pull the passenger side closed.

You could use rivnuts. They are a little big. The kit I have only goes down to 1/4-20. They do make smaller rivnuts, I have just never invested in the tool. If the latch screws ever fail, I will probably use rivnuts. A couple of the screws are getting loose. It’s a stupid design. Basically your whole latching system is being fastened to soft plastic with machine screws. There is nothing of real substance for the screws to grab hold of. There should be some metal behind for the screws to go into. Rivnuts would help.

I ended up using rivnuts on the lifter mounts for the side door. It worked fine. Same issue over there. Just plastic to screw into.

i don’t have any pictures. If this doesn’t make sense, I can take a couple pictures for you.

 

I wonder if an actual rivet would be the answer to the strap problem - since they can be much smaller and still provide the metal sandwich.

 

Looks like a great setup. I'd been considering the AluCab Canopy Camper but determined with OK4WD it takes some work/modding to install in a 1st gen.
Just emailed FWC to see if the Project M would work or be made to work with a 1st gen (6ft bed) I like the open plan and the weight is great. Like you were I'm running an ARE with windoors and roof rack, looking for more interior space.

 

AFAIK the 2nd gen is the oldest Tacoma 4WC will build the Project M for :/

I think OVRLND campers out of Arizona would build a topper for the gen 1 and it had similar specs to the PM. I think you would have to insulate it yourself though.

 

Yeah that's what I was afraid of. But, the Ovrlnd looks solid as well.
The wait times for everything are a bit high, I hadn't really looked into it previously, pretty nuts.

 

Anyone know what the measurement is from the bottom of the cabover portion to the top? From the FWC website from bedrails to the top is 41", I guess with the fan it is an extra 3-4"?

Trying to guess based on your Truck, it looks like from the ground to the top (including fan) this is about 8 feet high give or take? Just trying to see if it will fit inside a 8 foot garage. Let me know if you/others have had a chance to measure or even had a hard time fitting in a 8 foot garage.

The 70.6" is for a stock tacoma FYI, so with your lift and tires it will be additional, this was just to get a baseline.

Thanks!

 

I’d suspect a rivet would eventually pullout considering how soft the material is.

Here’s a couple picks of how mine is set up.

 

Measurement you are looking for is ~11inches.

My fancy iPhone says 7’8” for total height with the vent open. That seems about right. I have about a 1.5” lift in the back.

 

Sorry for the late reply. The height of my access cab w/ total chaos expedition kit and 1200# deaver springs is 7ft9in to the top of the fan. I have an 8ft garage and curious to see if it fits. I live in AK and the truck is still down in the lower 48 for the next couple months but I will let you know if it fits.

 

Thanks. This really helps. Esp for people with 8 foot garages this is promising.