Nissan Patrol 4x4 (Africa)

With lock down underway I started on building a canopy. Before everybody tells me I should've used aluminium...I know it's lighter...I know it doesn't rust....I know etc. etc. But I can't weld aluminium, and I wanted to do this myself. I built a canopy for my previous Isuzu with a steel frame and aluminium skinning, but I always had issues with sealing. Maybe I didn't use enough sika, maybe I used the wrong kind of rivets...who knows. But my decision this time round was to do the whole thing out of steel. I had bought a limited supply before going to Jan, hopefully enough to build a frame big enough to carry more on.

I started by cutting some short lengths of square tubing, and drilling holes through one side so I could bolt them to the chassis.

Some rubber insertion between the steel and the chassis.

From that point I started to weld up the base frame.


My plan is to have water tanks up front, and a drawer down the middle that pulls out the back. I reused the frame for the tanks that were built into the Isuzu.

Next were the bases to support the water tanks in front of the wheels.

At this point it became apparent that I had made a slight miscalculation in terms of clearance. My original plan had been to have the tanks dropped lower, in front of the wheels, with a raised section for an arch. But to clear the secondary tank I had to move it back a little, and to give space around the tanks the base had to be wider as well. In the end I had to lift the entire structure :( Thus a second set of square tubing with holes was attached.
Had I not messed this up, the design and manufacture would have been a lot simpler....and straighter. But here we are.

Very cool build

thank you for sharing Leon!

Thanks guys, appreciate the feedback!

Round about now we were in the the thick of lock down and I ran out of steel. Once restrictions eased and I could buy more steel, I set about building a work bench. Working on the ground was killing my back, and not being able to clamp work pieces down was giving me some bad warping.

Things went slowly for a while, but a friend of mine wanted to swap his tyres and offered me 4 Cooper ST Maxx 285/75R16s for an absolute bargain.

Before :
After :

Looking better! But there was some rubbing on the front mud guard when turning. I removed the guards for now and will make a plan at a later stage.