Hobbies – One Developers Guide to Sanity

Installing a new Frontrunner auxiliary fuel tank

6th December 20232nd March 2024Michael Grove

Installing a 50l auxiliary diesel fuel tank above the spare wheel, between the chassis legs, of my 2012 Toyota Fortuner 4X4 SUV.

This post is an overview of my experience and the issues and difficulties in the installation process. This may help others in deciding whether to perform a similar DIY installation on their own 4X4 or to purchase a professional installation. This post has taken me over two years to complete, so some of the issues I experienced have been excluded.

Purchased Item

Front Runner Vehicle Outfitters – South Africa – 50l Auxiliary Fuel Tank for Toyota Fortuner (2005 – current) – Screen grabbed 07 September 2021

Front Runner recently discontinued their 42l auxiliary fuel tank that fitted the 2005 – 2015 Toyota Fortuner and replaced it with the above pictured 50l auxiliary fuel tank that fits the older models and the current model Toyota Fortuner.

An update to the Front Runner website now shows that the new fuel tank is manufactured by Gerber 4X4:

Alternatives

Exel Long Range fuel tanks – Manufactured by Northern Offroad and supplied to all 4X4 Megaworld and Safari Centre stores in South Africa

Installation

The kit comes with installation instructions – but these are rather basic and appear to miss steps (or sufficient images) to understand how to perform parts of the install.

Issues experienced

Towbar

The towbar that was fitted to my vehicle was incompatible with the auxiliary fuel tank – there was insufficient clearance between the towbar square tubing behind the bumper and the tank. Luckily, I was able to source a different style of towbar that also fitted my vehicle – tolerances were very close, but the shape and round tubing of the new towbar allowed the fitment to continue after some minor persuasion with a large hammer.

Tube style towbar – only just clears the new fuel tank.

Brake lines

There does not appear to be any tolerance or space between the new tank and the rear brake line pipe. A spacer is required to keep the two parts from rubbing.

The arrow indicates where the brake line touches the tank

Spare wheel lock

Although a large space is placed in the tank to allow the spare wheel chain to still function and carry the spare wheel – the space is insufficient to utilize most under vehicle spare wheel lock systems. I had to permanently remove my spare wheel lock to fit the new fuel tank.

Exhaust Pipe

There is no space between the exhaust pipe and the fuel tank. When you turn on the vehicle the exhaust vibrates loudly against the new tank. a visit to an exhaust specialist was required to re-route the last 1m section of exhaust pipe after the muffler away from the tank.

Provided instructions

The instructions and images provided are limited – with assumptions and guesses needing to be made on where to cut or remove existing fuel hoses (both for the filling line to the fuel tanks and for joining the new tank with the existing tank)

Insufficient fuel hose

Maybe this is related to the instructions issue above, but I was supplied with around two meters to little fuel hose length than I required to connect all the components as per the instructions.

Conclusion

I regret not completing this post during the installation processes or shortly after as I would have a more complete overview of all the issues and concerns I had with performing this installation as a DIY task.

Although I have listed many issues with the DIY installation above, the install was still successful, and it has now been in use for over three years without issue.

Would I purchase the same auxiliaryfuel tank again?

Yes.

Would I perform the installation myself again?

Even with my knowledge on the process, I would not – I would budget the extra amount required and have it installed by the professionals.

DIY Welding – My fun metalwork projects around the home

13th September 20212nd March 2024Michael Grove

A while ago (over 9 years now!) I attended a short introduction course to arc welding (stick welding). During the last few years I have used the techniques gained on the course to in some DIY projects around the house.

Here are the items I have welded and fabricated over that time:

Braai (Weber BBQ) table

I was very pleased with the curve I managed to get in the steel rod using a hammer, a round steel block and some brute force (Project done in July 2012):

Front gate extension

With Siberian Huskies you need to make sure that there is never a gate open that they can run out into the street. To prevent this, we have a double gate ‘air-lock’ system when entering our property. The gate closer to the house was always a low gate – which was perfect for our pack of dogs.
This was a perfect system until we got a new rescue ‘pup’ that liked to jump low fences.

This project was to add an extension onto the existing low gate (Project done in March 2015) :

Two side pillars extended and brick pillar built on the right to prevent a dog going around the side.

New front gate

A new property with a long driveway required a new gate at one end to make it husky proof. I built the side pillars and the entire swing gate set from a pair of prefabricated fence sections (Completed September 2019):

Work from home desk

Bring on the year 2020; the COVID 19 Pandemic; working from home. The existing flat-pack desk was just not cutting it for two people, two laptops, two large secondary screens and all the accompanying notebooks and work documents.

This was a combined metal and woodworking project that I really enjoyed making (Project completed January 2021):

Other projects

Carport roof extension

Just adding an extra covered bay to an existing carport

Small outdoor storage shed

Small steel and sheet metal storage shed

Alaskan Chainsaw Mill attachment

An attempt at a chainsaw attachment for my 18″ (50cm) petrol chainsaw

Portable Generator Storage

Brick and steel shed to protect my portable generator from the elements

My Simple Lemon Meringue Pie

30th November 20202nd March 2024Michael Grove

Ingredients

200g packet Bakers Tennis Biscuits (crushed in their own packet) *
385g tin condensed milk
4 to 5 large eggs (yolk and whites seperated)
125ml lemon juice (+/- 5 fresh lemons cut in half and squeezed is best)
150g butter (melted slightly)
100g castor sugar

Method

Preheat oven to 140°C

Mix the crushed biscuits and melted butter in a bowl (do not worry if slightly dry – too much butter and the base may be difficult to remove when serving). Once mixed through press into the base of a small pre-greased pie dish. Place in fridge while preparing the rest of the recipe.

Place the condensed milk and egg yolks into a mixing bowl and stir together until well blended. Add the lemon juice and fold in until completely incorporated and thickened. Pour over the biscuit crust and return to the fridge.

Combine the egg whites and the castor sugar and beat until firm and stiff (around 15 min with an electric mixer) – Using a spatula (or piping bag) and your own creativity – cover the lemon curd with your meringue.

Place in over on middle to top rack of oven for 30 to 35 min. Once time is reached, turn off oven and leave the pie in the oven with door slightly ajar to cool slowly (from 2 hours to overnight).

Place cooled pie in fridge until ready to serve.

* Replace Tennis biscuits with gluten free ginger biscuits if required

Welding – A new hobby

7th August 20122nd March 2024Michael Grove

Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/serenitbee/6812020407/

A few months ago I needed perform some minor repairs to a metal railing which in turn required the use of the welding machine that I had acquired from my dads’ dusty store room.

I managed to fix the metal railing but the result was not very neat or very strong (the repair fortunately does not need to take load)

A couple of weeks after the railing repair a colleague at work was discussing general home renovations and he suggested we both try to improve our dismal welding skills by going on a welding course that he had spotted online.

The course offered was a half day introduction to stick welding; Starting with a short introduction to the theory of welding, types of welding, welding equipment and welding safety.

Once all the theory was covered the training moved out to a little workshop where the students could try our hands at actual welding first on an angle iron to get the feel of how to weld (with the instructor on hand to inform us on what we were doing wrong with our technique), then on to two pieces of metal to work on our joining techniques.

After we all had a go and most of us were comfortable with the equipment we moved on to the project of the day welding together a beer can chicken holder.

From Wikipedia:

…beer can chicken, beer butt chicken, dancing chicken or chicken on a throne) is made by standing a prepared chicken upright on a partially filled can of beer and cooking it slowly in a barbecue or oven. The can goes into the opening of the chicken so that the beer evaporates and permeates the cooking chicken…

The result of my effort; a functional and relatively neat beer can chicken holder is below (it is amazing what a little bit of grinding, sand paper, elbow grease and a lick of paint can do to finish off a job nicely)

P.S. I have used my holder twice since I made it to great success on my Weber Grill.