Just purchased my first Jimny

Max Headroom wrote: Good work Adrian.

...And I like the idea of carrying a spare battery just in case. However, make sure it can't fall over and leak acid everywhere!

Thanks.

Back left seat is folded down and my large plastic box of tools and stuff is wedged up against the base of the folded up seat. There is just enough room to wedge the battery between the other end of the plastic box and the rear door of the Jimny. My compressor and small holdall of other tools are to the right of that behind the other back seat which is in the normal position, so the battery is wedged in good and tight.

adrianr wrote: the battery is wedged in good and tight.

Good that is the case.
A long time ago, far away in another life. a friend of mine with a lovely Triumph 2000 was taking a spare battery to the gliding club to use for operating the signal luights on the 'launch control bus'. At some point in the one hour journey the battery tipped over. By the time he got there the carpet was totally ruined and he had a huge clean-up job to do, not to mention neutralising the acid to stop corrosion.

That sounds very messy. Nasty stuff inside batteries. I am always wary of them, and the weight of them if they are not well secured.

Lovely snow...... need to go and play higher up in the hills with Wee Jimmy.

As a farmer, definitely not.

New battery fitted.

Checked the torque of the new suspension bolts etc per the fitting instructions - all good.

Found the rear brake compensator spring has snapped at one end. Fashioned a temp fix with a connector block and a piece of wire coathanger to recreate the missing end of the spring. Not ideal but better than nothing until I locate a replacement. Also popped a new cable tie around the rubber boot on the compensator.

Today's job - light bar switching mods...

The light bar is great, it is like turning the sun on. Really useful the other day when I was still on a lane whilst it was getting dark.

However, the previous owner had it wired into the main beam with no isolator switch. On a clear night that is fine. In the wind and driving rain we had last night having the light bar on with the main beam was not such a good idea. Very distracting and hard on the eyes.

So I set about tidying up the wiring and still have a few things left to sort but it is getting dark and colder. I now have an illuminated isolator on the dash right of the rear fog switch. When I pulled the blanking switch to the right and found a wiring socket sat in there. Not sure what that would be for. Took me a while to hack out the innards of the plate to fit the switch.

I also removed several feet of wiring from the engine bay - the light bar was originally triggered off a scotchlock (hateful things) on the main beam wire on the nearside, and a relay hanging down next to the radiator. Perhaps not the best idea. The bar is now triggered off the offside main beam wire and is soldered and heat shrunk. The relay is with the other relays above the redundant 4wd vacuum manifold.

Engine bay looks better, and I like having the ability to use the light bar as and when required. Much better.

Based on a thread by Lambert I've ordered an Autool X50 plus.