The Lost World - Mercedes ML (W163) Montana project

Showcase your Jurassic Park vehicle, or build progress.
BoZ-ML
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The Lost World - Mercedes ML (W163) Montana project

Post by BoZ-ML » January 3rd, 2022, 7:08 am

Hi all! As promised in the "Introductions" part of the forum I would open a Build topic for my Mercedes ML 'Montana' project.

A few years ago, when the video-tape was still a hot item, I watched the Jurassic Park movies. Ever since I saw those movies I wanted one of those SUV's (and the Lost World RV off course!).

Mercedes ML:
As a Jeep Wrangler and Ford Explorer are quite rare here in Europe (and especially the car-hating country of the Netherlands, who charge 125.000 euro's for a simple hybrid Chrysler Pacifica), the ML seems to be the one to do. I like the looks of the ML's in the movie and I see there are not a lot of them out there.

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Picked her up just 30 minutes from home.

Completely coincidental (not because I wanted to have my own JP car, but because I needed a towing vehicle to finish our garden off course :D ) I stumbled upon this 2000 Mercedes ML320 with around 155.000 miles (250.000 km) on the clock. Not maintained for a long time and leaking all kinds of oil from everywhere. Sometimes that is a 'good' thing, because I got her cheap.

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Kaboom

After the needed TLC (all fluids and filters), a 'new' transfer case and a bunch of new seals I drove her around for about 5000 km's and really finished the garden. This is the perfect basis for the build.

The plan:
If I'm correct, there are 3 versions of the ML:
- Santana, the pick-up truck,
- Fontana, the one with the boxes on the side rear windows and
- Montana, the one with the window bars all around the sides and back.

In the first part of the movie you see all three versions next to the RV in the warehouse. When they are transported to Isla Sorna you see only two of the ML's came along. The story goes that because of the lack of a extra driver the third ML doesn't go.

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Montana

Anyhow! That third ML seems to be the most practical of the three. I don't like a few details of the car (the black bumpers on the doors and the strange looking box on the hood for example). A few details on the other ML's I like which Montana doesn't have. So, we (yes, "we", because my brother-in-law is helping out) will use Montana as an inspiration instead of creating a exact replica.

Sourcing parts and materials:
Tires:
First thing we did is search for tires. I searched for the original Dunlop Mud Rovers in 16 inch. Those tires are discontinued, so that wasn't an option anymore. Funny fact is that while searching for Mud tires I found out that these alloy wheels are available in 16 and 17 inch. My ML came with the 17 inch wheels, which made it way easier to find a descent looking tire. Eventually we settled on the Toyo Open Country Mud Terrains because of the looks.

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Montana's new shoes

Window Bars:
Next up are the window bars (work in progress). We needed something around 20-25mm according to our professional, scientific calculations (done on a few pictures). We settled on 22mm, because that is what a friend had laying around in his garage (heating pipes).

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Setting up where those bars need to be, again the pictures and our calculations helped

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Removing the C-pilar caps, cutting the strips which hold the bars, drilling holes in the car, installing rivet nuts

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Bending the entire pipe to wrap around the car

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Cutting, grinding, welding

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Looks from the rear

We still have to do the driver- and all passenger side windows, but the rears are definitely the hardest.

Steel bumpers and winch:
We ran out of welding gas in the middle of the weekend, so instead we already created a template for the bumpers. Again, using a lot of photo measurements and information I got from a fellow ML-builder. We started with the front bumper as those are the hardest.

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We created the templates out of cart board, so they can be easily cut out of steel. The big box is a reference for the winch

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For reference

The winch is officially a Warn M5000 if I'm correct. They are very, very hard to find. Let alone find one in Europe. It can't be done. So instead we've opted for a look-a-like from a generic brand. I don't think we will use it that much (if ever), but I want to be able to use it if we want. On the movie car the winch is mounted on steel base plates which are welded/bolted to the crash structure of the chassis. I found out that we need special bolts if we bolt it on (which is the smartest thing to do, because I don't know if we are allowed to have it exposed here in the Netherlands).

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The winch.

That's it so far. We're still making a lot of progress during the weekends. I will keep you guys (and girls) updated if you like.
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Jurassic Vic
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Re: The Lost World - Mercedes ML (W163) Montana project

Post by Jurassic Vic » January 7th, 2022, 9:34 pm

beautiful progress!
A new era. join the Jurassic Auto Group facebook page
https://www.facebook.com/groups/jurassicautogroup

FOLLOW THE VLOG AND PODCAST
https://linktr.ee/jurassic_vic

Jurassic Park Jeep commissions message me!

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Re: The Lost World - Mercedes ML (W163) Montana project

Post by DrewSmith007 » January 8th, 2022, 11:25 am

Those tires look great! Can't wait to see more.

Are you planning for any of the window bars to be easily removed? I know some European regulations are picky about things like that.

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Re: The Lost World - Mercedes ML (W163) Montana project

Post by BoZ-ML » January 8th, 2022, 4:25 pm

DrewSmith007 wrote:
January 8th, 2022, 11:25 am
Are you planning for any of the window bars to be easily removed? I know some European regulations are picky about things like that.
Yes, they can be removed easily. The rears aren't an issue. The fronts however depend on how much of you sight is blocked. I'll try to get it through the checks, but if it is an issue I'll remove them and reinstall them an hour later.

Update for today:
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Right side is nearly done
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Re: The Lost World - Mercedes ML (W163) Montana project

Post by BoZ-ML » January 23rd, 2022, 8:40 am

After finishing the window bars on the other side of the car we have to wait untill we can powder coat them (next weekend). So we continued creating cart board templates for the rear bumper and side skirts. Both are done, so we can order the steel this week :D .

Also some news regarding the regulations here in the Netherlands (and the bigger part of Europe) regarding the window bars:
BoZ-ML wrote:
January 8th, 2022, 4:25 pm
DrewSmith007 wrote:
January 8th, 2022, 11:25 am
Are you planning for any of the window bars to be easily removed? I know some European regulations are picky about things like that.
Yes, they can be removed easily. The rears aren't an issue. The fronts however depend on how much of you sight is blocked. I'll try to get it through the checks, but if it is an issue I'll remove them and reinstall them an hour later.
The father of a colleague (working 40 years as traffic officer) checked the car out. He says it is no problem. There are no sharp parts and the visibility isn't affected by the bars.

Safety wise it maybe isn't a wise thing. If you have an accident or enter the water in this car you could be 'locked' inside the car. But there is no regulation for this. So from a legal stand point we're good. We now want to figure out how to make is safer in the event of an emergency.

Update for the rear bumper:
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Template for the rear bumper. The bumper is visible through the holes. But when the car is painted (the paint scheme says the bumpers are black) that isn't a problem.
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We even considered the tow hook and electrical connections, so we can keep towing the trailer.

Update for the side skirts:
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The front is closed. The visible parts of the car through the holes will be painted black. Off course the rust on the doors will be removed when we paint the car.
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The back side is also closed.
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Template for the side skirts. We choose to close the bottom of the skirts so there is no light visible through the holes. We will drill holes in the bottom to get rid of any water in there. Everything inside will get a black paint job. When the car is done we will give the bottom of the car some TLC.
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Dwight
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Re: The Lost World - Mercedes ML (W163) Montana project

Post by Dwight » January 27th, 2022, 10:58 am

This thing is looking sweet!!

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Re: The Lost World - Mercedes ML (W163) Montana project

Post by kokopelli » February 2nd, 2022, 5:48 pm

Outstanding!!

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Chase65
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Re: The Lost World - Mercedes ML (W163) Montana project

Post by Chase65 » March 9th, 2022, 12:00 am

Any updates?
1993 YJ Sahara
1994 Explorer Limited
2004 Mercedes ML350

BoZ-ML
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Re: The Lost World - Mercedes ML (W163) Montana project

Post by BoZ-ML » March 15th, 2022, 10:59 am

Chase65 wrote:
March 9th, 2022, 12:00 am
Any updates?
Off course!

So last month we were busy with powder coating the window bars, raising the body, some TLC, preparing the bumpers, creating the winch plate and side plates and installing all winch parts.

Powder coating, raising the body, spacers and TLC:

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Powder Coating at the local DIY coater.

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Unfortunately the wrong color, so we have to do it again.

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The front of the W163 Mercedes ML can be raised by simply tightening the torsion bars. The rear can be done a number of ways. I found these Spaccer parts. This looked to be the easiest way to raise the rear of the car.

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Because the car is higher of the ground the wheels came in. To counter this effect we fitted some 20mm spacers to widen the track. Looks perfect now! While we were there we replaced some joints.

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Height difference. Truck is lifted about 5 cm front & back

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Off course it now had to be re-aligned

Winch plate, winch, side plates, front bumpers and lighting
The bumpers turn out to be harder to create than we thought. Before you can actually do anything you need to figure out how to mount the steel bumpers, lights and winch to the car. In our country we have to be able to take a winch of for example (not that anybody does this, but it's a rule), so everything needs to be able to bolt on/off.

According to our very professional calculations the winch plate used on the movie car wouldn't be sufficient when you bolt it on (instead of welt it). We want to be able to use the winch, so it needs to be solid. The winch plate therefore needed to be a bit wider to even the load on the crash-bar of the ML.

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Here you can see the winch plate is wider than the movie cars' It bolts into the crash bar on the top and front.

When the winch plate is fitted you need to install the plastic bumper. Nothing to hard there, just cut away what is in the way (we used a second bumper). Then you need to install the Side Plates of the winch which have the steel bumpers welded to them (the movie car has brackets, so that differs). Before we can welt the steel bumpers on the side plates you first need to have the steel bumpers...

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Before we cut the side plates to size we tested them while checking the bumper template, LED lights and wiring for the lighting.

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The side plates are cut to size and installed. They bolt onto the winch plate inside the plastic bumper.

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We mounted the control box for the winch on the chassis. Located directly behind the face of the car.

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And off course a kill switch for the winch. Mounted to the side of the battery tray.

Next step:
The next step is to cut the holes in the steel. These holes need to be flair-ed to get the rounded edges. You normally do this with a 'dimple/flair die'.

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An example of a normal 'dimple die'.

The only problem is that the size we need doesn't exist. And if you can find one that comes close they are not only very expensive, they also don't create the rounded edges we're searching for... Luckily this is where a network comes into play. A friend of a friend will create a custom 'dimple/flair die' for us.

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A drawing of the flair die idea. Picture where the friend of a friend is cutting the first part.

I hope this will work. Can't wait to get it. Probably takes a few weeks for the next update. Brother-in-law (with who I do this) had surgery, so he is recovering. We also didn't receive the 'dimple/flair die' yet.
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Dwight
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Re: The Lost World - Mercedes ML (W163) Montana project

Post by Dwight » March 15th, 2022, 7:39 pm

This thing is looking so cool!

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