Unimog U1300L 435 1986 - Restore to former glory & add custom camper

LocoCoyote

World Citizen
On a U1300, weight is your biggest enemy. It’s way too easy to make her too heavy and thereby losing much of your off-road capabilities.
Have a look at the folks over at Atlas 4x4 to see how to do it right.

Atlas4x4.de
 

Simon dix

Active member
Thanks again. I want to get FEA analysis done in frame so that I can get ADR engineer in Aus to sign off for passengers in rear portion. Will probably also do GVM upgrade. First need to complete design and assess weight accurately to see where I am at
 

Iain_U1250

Explorer
I did a lot of calculations on thermal efficiency for my camper, but I can't find them. In building a camper there are two problems, one is keeping heat in, one in keeping heat out. Then there is thermal mass - as regardless of how efficient your insulation, during the day , it will heat up and you don't want to have hot walls in the the camper overnight if you want to sleep comfortably.

My camper has an aluminium skin over steel. The aluminium is stuck with a 3mm Sikaflex 252 layer. The aluminium is insulated with a 10mm foil/bubble wrap insulation, then 50mm of a Higgins insulation rockwool/composite that was developed for the Queensland Bus fleet. It has sound and heat insulation properties. It also meets all the safety requirements, no toxic smoke, self extinguishing etc. Do a simple test for any material you are considering, set it on fire with a blowtorch and breathe in the smoke, if you feel sick and it doesn't go out by itself, walk away from it - do a search for Grenfell and see what effect choosing the wrong insulation can have. I would stay clear of any Polystyrene in any form, it emits poisonous fumes and once alight, does not go out.

My entire camper is lined with a composite of 1.8mm marine ply, 6mm aerogel foam and 0.8mm white Laminex. it is stuck to the steel frame with minimum of 3mm Sikaflex. I set a bit on fire with a blowtorch, the Laminex would not catch fire, the plywood did after a while an it went out when I stopped applying the flame, which is good, and the smoke was not bad to breathe in , although you would not like doing it for long, but didn't make me feel sick, crude test I know but works for me.

The floor is also a composite, with an outer 2mm aluminium skin, 10mm of aerogel foam and then 6mm of marine ply. Then the is another 4mm Jarrah wood veneer on the visible parts, part under the drawers have a 5mm marine play +0.8mm Laminex outer layer. This insulates the floor as well.

I have only the Dometic double glazed windows, I would rather have something more substantial, but they were not available in the sizes I wanted. Most European design campers have very little in the way of windows, and I find them quite claustrophobic, especially the ones with high cupboards around the roof.

I also have a Websto Thermo 90ST 9kW diesel heater and two Kalori 5kW heat exchangers. This is more than adequate for heating our camper down to -20C if I remember my calculations. Here, we seldom have it on for more than 30 min before it gets over 25C in the camper. I have a thermostat for the fans on the heat exchangers which shut off and then just convection keep the camper warm. The windows on the cab of the truck also gets insulated, to minimse heat loss there as well.

Hope this helps Simon.
 

Simon dix

Active member
Hi Iain, you definitely spent some time and thought in your awesome build. Thanks very much. Today I received quotes for rockwool and aerogel. I’ll punch out some simplistic figures on a spreadsheet and see where it takes me. This build is taking much longer than I anticipated but I am happy with that. I am even considering going to a 32mm box section at 2.3mm thick instead of 50mm 1.6mm thick.
I have noticed that a lot of the European campers have tiny but few windows.......not for me especially in Aus where I won’t be too worried about the cold as it is in Europe.
I was toying with the idea of the integrated webasto but have not made that decision. I have way too many pending decisions ??. Half the fun and half the irritation.
P.s love the way you test for material toxicity (must have learnt that in Africa when the SDS was non existent ??).
Changing the topic I am going to sell the massive heavy Werner A.50 winch (the wax liner is still on the cable). KThis will free up a bit of weight and make space for me to put something else heavy there keeping CoG Low.
 

Sitec

Adventurer
Hi Si.

Ours is also 50 x 50 SHS (BOX), and will be skinned with 2mm alli bonded on the outside also with Sikaflex 252. We are using Kingspan Kooltherm 10 which is a fire retardant and won't take on water (UK product sourced here in Australia). It's a solid type foam with foil one side and a breathable surface on the other. This will be stuck to the outer alli skin with contact adhesive, putting it flush with the inside face of the 50 x 50 SHS. I then plan to overlay another layer of 10mm of foil backed roof insulation between the frame and the ply board, hopefully lessening any thermal bridge points... I'm still open to discussion on the final layers, as I have the insulation but it's not time to fit it yet! Having followed a few builds with spray on foam, the idea is great until you have to get at any wires, or repair a panel from the outside...

Cheers for now!
 

Simon dix

Active member
Thanks Simon, always good to hear how others are doing and what products are being used. I have been hopeless at following people builds lately. Seem to have got myself busy with resuming works during this C19...........We started back officially today which is great. I have also been trying to finalise my drawings etc prior to manufacturing, fabrication commences. I have also wasted a bit of time on fun stuff like getting to grips with the right products to integrate for my quick tyre inflation system.
As you know also been looking at insulation and also how I will layer. Was just looking at Cryogel Z, k-value at -5 to 45 degC is in the range of 0.0162 – 0.0173 W/m-°K. I will update once I have a better idea of what product and how I will execute.
After removing the A.50 rear mounted 65m wire rope hydraulic Winch I will get the Mog weighed and then I have a reference point to work from for every item added or removed thereafter. Reckon I’ll add a Sherpa stallion winch front and Sherpa steed rear (45m).
I will be using some contacts obtained from Upwork.com (it’s really cheap or really expensive - you hire so your choice) to redraw what I produce for manufacturing/fabrication and analysis purposes.

Finally got the coloured acrylic sheet fitted to the cut out of Mogone to mitigate dust and moisture penetration. Been waiting for 5 months as could not get access to Mogone before that. The frame was made from left over angle and then I bought some 3M door panel seal. This Frame will obviously become redundant once the camper walk through is done.
I am babbling on a bit so shall put the phone down. Until next time ?
 

Attachments

  • 46C704A5-836F-41A5-8A30-A4B81C3BF91E.jpeg
    46C704A5-836F-41A5-8A30-A4B81C3BF91E.jpeg
    150.1 KB · Views: 28
  • 7106FBDD-B47F-4860-916F-440792F35F2B.jpeg
    7106FBDD-B47F-4860-916F-440792F35F2B.jpeg
    131 KB · Views: 27

Simon dix

Active member
A few closer up pics. Has dual seals so should do as a temporary measure
 

Attachments

  • BF92AD77-5A5F-4AE0-9B61-3D8697CE38E1.jpeg
    BF92AD77-5A5F-4AE0-9B61-3D8697CE38E1.jpeg
    149 KB · Views: 32
  • EB408D26-963A-43DF-BA97-C69C2F386F3C.jpeg
    EB408D26-963A-43DF-BA97-C69C2F386F3C.jpeg
    107.4 KB · Views: 34
  • E719A4F4-4585-4304-89F9-5C52D61F1B90.jpeg
    E719A4F4-4585-4304-89F9-5C52D61F1B90.jpeg
    245.4 KB · Views: 34
  • 335FD402-15A9-47D5-9B2C-EEF60F651B34.jpeg
    335FD402-15A9-47D5-9B2C-EEF60F651B34.jpeg
    116.3 KB · Views: 30

Simon dix

Active member
Removed the heavy hydraulic winch (65m of cable that barely ever rolled out a few cm’s). A bit of rust knocking was required on the tray using a pneumatic needle scaler. Some patch work, paint and the tray is back onto Mogone. Tray is now in a fine state to have a frame welded to it. I now have 2 hydraulic winches for sale. They are in an excellent state. They will come with the 2 main hydraulic lines as well as the rollers etc. Down side is the winches need to be freighted
 

Attachments

  • 2E8B610F-347C-4AC8-8941-8A37233168C5.jpeg
    2E8B610F-347C-4AC8-8941-8A37233168C5.jpeg
    273.3 KB · Views: 51
  • 7326784B-95E5-4D42-A6CA-0C859AC8743B.jpeg
    7326784B-95E5-4D42-A6CA-0C859AC8743B.jpeg
    200 KB · Views: 53
  • 31D53F71-C7FE-4A2D-BA7B-8B816B93AB2C.jpeg
    31D53F71-C7FE-4A2D-BA7B-8B816B93AB2C.jpeg
    188.5 KB · Views: 51
  • 2BF2AF7B-BBCC-4B54-8338-A84EEC5BDE20.jpeg
    2BF2AF7B-BBCC-4B54-8338-A84EEC5BDE20.jpeg
    1.7 MB · Views: 41
  • 251C3680-B501-4E6C-942C-47C06E553857.jpeg
    251C3680-B501-4E6C-942C-47C06E553857.jpeg
    1.9 MB · Views: 39
  • DD4D0563-8666-49DF-A820-A586CBC28147.jpeg
    DD4D0563-8666-49DF-A820-A586CBC28147.jpeg
    2.4 MB · Views: 39

Sitec

Adventurer
Removed the heavy hydraulic winch (65m of cable that barely ever rolled out a few cm’s). A bit of rust knocking was required on the tray using a pneumatic needle scaler. Some patch work, paint and the tray is back onto Mogone. Tray is now in a fine state to have a frame welded to it. I now have 2 hydraulic winches for sale. They are in an excellent state. They will come with the 2 main hydraulic lines as well as the rollers etc. Down side is the winches need to be freighted

I'm curious now... What's under the green shaded out areas behind the Mog..? ;)

Are you planning to build your body onto the tray, and then have it demountable? (you might have answered this earlier in the thread).. It'd be a great feeling having the cab all painted and back on. That's lots of work just doing that alone!
 

Simon dix

Active member
I'm curious now... What's under the green shaded out areas behind the Mog..? ;)

Are you planning to build your body onto the tray, and then have it demountable? (you might have answered this earlier in the thread).. It'd be a great feeling having the cab all painted and back on. That's lots of work just doing that alone!
Hi Simon, not sure what is behind the green......I just work on a site where I cannot show, hence the curiosity ?.
Definitely awesome to see the cab on and operational. Stripped the clutch cylinder which is in an atrocious state so cleaned up and put back. Will get a new one soon. Quite a few other things need changing that you can’t see.
Frame will be welded directly to the OEM tray. I have nearly finalised the design but will send for an FEA before starting the frame build. Maybe overkill but for a few hundred bux it’s nothing in the grand scheme. Went to see some seats today for the rear passenger area located in the camper box. The seats are perfect and the build quality excellent. They have Come out of a commercial minivan from here so high standard to meet ADR’s and luckily a brilliant price ?.
Just to clear things up.......I cannot take all the credit for all the work as I am chasing my tail half the time at work ??.
Your build is coming on nicely.
 

Sitec

Adventurer
Hi Simon, not sure what is behind the green......I just work on a site where I cannot show, hence the curiosity ?.
Definitely awesome to see the cab on and operational. Stripped the clutch cylinder which is in an atrocious state so cleaned up and put back. Will get a new one soon. Quite a few other things need changing that you can’t see.
Frame will be welded directly to the OEM tray. I have nearly finalised the design but will send for an FEA before starting the frame build. Maybe overkill but for a few hundred bux it’s nothing in the grand scheme. Went to see some seats today for the rear passenger area located in the camper box. The seats are perfect and the build quality excellent. They have Come out of a commercial minivan from here so high standard to meet ADR’s and luckily a brilliant price ?.
Just to clear things up.......I cannot take all the credit for all the work as I am chasing my tail half the time at work ??.
Your build is coming on nicely.


When do you plan to get it back here to OZ?
 

Forum statistics

Threads
185,538
Messages
2,875,653
Members
224,922
Latest member
Randy Towles
Top