THROUGH HELL AND HIGH WATER -- part tree (the HELL) My Amphib index
To have a road legal Amphib one needs more than just a license plate! It is only an Amphib when it "CAN" drive and swim. I'm working for 4 months to get to that point. IT "CAN" drive now!  But with a MAXIMUM legal load of 175 kg!
It has a working suspension system I can get in and out the vehicle and sit in a normal position behind the wheel I can change a fuse without taking the chairs out I modified the wiring a "little" bit, next winter when I make a new dash, then I will change it ALL. I modified the cooling system added exta fans to get more air to the front of the car. I can drive 80 km/h at 10 degree outside temperature, any faster and the oil over heats.
The noise level inside was a bit HIGH! 20% of it being a cooling pipe banging to the lower engine and into the cooling fan house. and 20 % the high/low box that was in direct contact with the hull and in direct contact with the cover that goes over the box. To ad to the noise there was a big gab in fire wall, very nice for engine noise and the smell of diesel. and there was more that I did not know then.
Two of the tree bilge pumps not working on automatic. WHY? That was easy to find out. The level switches worked with a metal ball that moved a micro switch. Only in this car with out suspension the metal balls had taken out just a little bit of the inside of the switchs.	The 3 switches and the pumps are mounted with bolts in holes drilled through the hull. Changing the switchs in the passenger an engine compartment was very hard because of the lack of room to stick my hands in.
New bilge pups switch fits between the wall and the pump the screw on the right is there to close a hole in the hull. My back still hurts when I thing about this switch. Really there is no space to make a decent photo.	The front bilge switch is a differed story. The depth of the hull is more than my arm is long and because of the size of the room in front of the radiator only one arm and therefore one hand goes into the gap. To add to the fun the pump and switch are located under the radiator and behind a metal bar ( for towing the vehicle. It took over 20 real hours. I have done this job in bits of 15 to 20 minutes over a few weeks. 5 hours to find a way to take the old one out and 15 hour to place a new switch
It is not possible to show this in it original mounting position but in the photo on the left the wall is between the lens and the nut in the middle Now the lenses and the fittings have separate bolts.	When I changed the fog and the backup light position I found out that the rear lights give a hard time replacing a bulb. The perplex cover that is glued over the light and number plate makes it impossible to get to the bolts head. So when you try to unscrew the nut on the left to get to a bulb the bold also tuns.
Driver seat 20 cm to the rear 7 cm up and 5 cm to the left Passenger seat  5 cm to the rear 7 cm up 2 cm to the right Now the seats can go in to sleeping position. It is nice to know that it can be done. ;-) But at 52 I like to do it in a large or small bed. ;-) I changed the mounting position of the driver seat on the floor. Changed the rails a bit, see  photo above left. I raised the seats with stainless Unistrut profile.	No human of normal size could fit in a normal way behind the wheel of this vehicle. So I changed the seat position a bit. What was the most rear position is now the most forward position. The seats are now almost level with the bottom of the doors, making it almost easy to get in and out. The steering wheel got in the way, therefore I mounted an a-symmetrical steering wheel. I hope to raise the wheel next winter or in the future. But for that bit you have to read on. This story is long from over. ;-)
Rudder cable rusted stuck and broken from the steering system. In the original form the ruder moved with the steering wheel by a steel  wire inside a flex tube running from the front wheels to the rear. The cable was snapped at the front axle. I shorted the cable a bit and made a handle on the side of the driver seat to steer.	I'm not happy with the solution but it will do for the time. First I want to take it into the water Just to see how she sails and steers.
Air intake has a leak just after the filter. I fixed it with a bit of foam ( for now )	Not happy again with this solution But I what to take this Amphib for a test drive on the water
Then we took her to the water! The vibration of the impeller was a surprise. The vibration of the 2 stainless fuel tanks left and right from the water jet gave a deafening noise. At one time the dog clutch was engaged but there was no water propulsion, later inspection learned that ONE of the blades of the impeller hits the wall of the jet drive. The axle tuns but the impeller stands still. When there was water propulsion it looked like the rear view mirror was coming of the sealing. In third gear the max engine revs are 2500. Above that number the DIESEL engine is dead on the throttle. The least noise/vibration is in 5the gear with the engine running at 800 revs, but no response on the throttle at all. Very bad for the engine and gear box to run that way.
The hole on the left is 1.5 cm above the black lining on the photo on the right and that is very low on the water line. I did not know that at the time. The brown moment came at home when I looked at this pictures.	Direct  below the hole is the rear of the front wheel that throws up water strait through this hole when driving in the rain. If only that was all that is wrong! It has a 1900 diesel in the front and not a 1300 petrol. Therefore the nose is a bit lower in the water than that of her little sisters.
While in the water there was when I used the engine tork on the MAX something was banging into the steering system. I did notice some thing odd before. But to spot the origin of a problem that is a differed mater. Specially when it a design failure of this magnitude.	The exhaust system is banging into the steering system. Can't take a good photo I can't see it through a mirror I can only feel it. What I can see in the mirror is the quality of the welding. ;-) There is less than 4 mm between the exhaust and the steering system. The under floor temperature runs up to 70 degrees + so there is no need for an internal heater when driving in the Arctic. Exhaust leaking under the hood The air pressure under the hood pushes exhaust fumes into the interior
	Good news is: The engine bay temperature gage did work after all. Down side is that it shows the fire wall temperature and NOT the engine bay temperature
Hose of the oil cooler came off. A bilge full of oil was free of charge
TO DO LIST
I have to look at ALL the clamps and there are many clamps
Power steering oil leaking in three places Many rubber hoses are of the wrong type to hard rubber and the wrong size hoses power steering, interior heating, etc. etc main gearbox leaking oil High/low box leaking oil engine oil over heats when driving faster then 80 km/h about 50% of the HP is used then water temperature is fine therefore I have to improve the oil cooling system The under floor temperature must come down relocate The engine bay temperature sensor Redesign the exhaust system to stop the banging and most of all prevent the sinking of the Amphib. redesign the water propulsion system find lift in the front or lose lift in the back to get the noise out of the water first I move the battery all the way to the rear find more weight to move from the front to the rear if that does not help cut bits of the rear end to get the rear lower in the water and therefore lift the nose To improve front suspension even more The extra blades do help but they are old blades. It was 2.5 cm and now it has 5 cm travel and in the future 10 cm Many thanks for the advice I got from Glen Doberson of www.dobersons.au Next winter. Redesigning the dash board to get room for the fuses boxes the switches a radio AND MOST OF ALL to get the wiring in order and the steering higher There is a 3 amp current running with the contact is OFF and the ignition key removed. I'm sure I can cure the problem. a trailer hitch a higher top speed ( oil cooling ) I do have plans to kill somebody but I'm very sure that those feelings will fade away. ;-)
My Amphib index