This thread will be a place to share a few of the modifications that were made to my 99 DII.  I'll try and add pictures and links over time.  Many of the photos will be ones that have been seen in other posts I've made, but I wanted to get them all together in one "post build" thread.

I originally bought my truck used in 2003 to drive to/from work and to for our family to use around town, going hiking, or snowshoeing.  This was the second vehicle that I've owned with the nickname "Snoshoe".  The first was a 94 Nissan 4x4 pickup that we owned when we lived in Maine.  It had the license plate to go with it.  As many of you know, I'm not big on naming my vehicles, but that is the license plate I always intended to pickup again for this truck.  I just never got around to doing it.

I left "Snowshoe" stock until 2005 when we moved back to Washington and I once again found myself doing a fair amount of winter camping and snowshoeing.  The goal of the build was simple, "Make a perfect vehicle for winter camping / snowshoeing".  Since then I've gotten more into offroading, and vehicle dependant primitive camping, but snowshoeing was the original goal.

What makes a vehicle perfect for snowshoeing?

- Good entertainment for my son even on long drives.  The first modification I made to the truck was a carputer that had an MP3 Jukebox, could play DVD movies, and much more.  I've since removed this, but it definately filled the bill and I'd like to put another one in someday.

- Warmth after a day in the cold. - Seat heaters were one of the first upgrades.

- Good visibility in the snow.  No frozen iced over windshield when driving over the pass.

- Ability to haul all my gear and keep it organized

- Clearance to drive in deep snow.  I like to winter camp at hiking trailheads fairly far back into the forest where there is snow.  Camp friday, snowshoe saturday, camp sat night, and drive home on Sunday.  If it dumps snow at night I want to know that I can get home.

- Good traction:  tires, chains, lockers, etc

- Self recovery if necessary

- Ability to call for help and stay in touch with weather forecasts

Completed:

4.6 litre Rover V8 (99 came with a 4.0 litre) - Biggs Eastside Automotive
Custom dual battery tray, dual optimas, and clean wiring.
Land Rover heated seats
Land Rover heated windscreen
Silblade Silicone Wiper Blades (lower freezing temp)
EBC Green Stuff pads and EBC Sport rotors
Ramsey RE12000 winch with Dynaflex synthetic winch rope, winchline.com chaffe guard and safety thimble.
Complete Rovertym 3" lift kit:
- 3" Heavy Duty Springs
- Bilstein 7100 shocks w/ bushings instead of heim joints
- Spring retainers
- ABS extension
- Stainless steel extended brake lines
- Extended radius arms
Rovertym heavy duty drag link and tie rod
Old Man Emu steering dampner
Great Basin Rovers HD rear driveshaft
Great Basin Rovers greasable front driveshaft - (Note:  replaced w/ regular front driveshaft.
AMV solenoid actuated CDL linkage (to lock the center differential - aka 4WD)
Onboard air system designed around a Viair 2.5 gallon tank and VIAIR 85/105 pressure relay
Northwest Parts front bumper with recovery points, brushguard, and custom winch tray (to fit winch)
Rovertym rock sliders
Greg Davis rear bumper w/ Scorpion Racing swivel recovery points
Scorpion racing fuel tank skid plate
Safari Gard diff guards
Hella Micro DE fog lights
Hella 4000 Compact Euro lights
Removable front license plate holder (Easy access to winch)
Pro-comp 16x8" steel wheels (all 5) w/  265/75/R16 BFG Mud Terrains
Brass differential filler plugs
Extended axle breather tubes for increased wading depthARB Freezer Fridge
HAM radio speaker mounted in A-pillar behind Land Rover tweeter grille.
Rudd 4x4 grip chains on all four wheels
Rear locker - ARB. 
Shower - Helton
Remove rear jumpseats and installed storage drawers and fold up wings.
Wiring box in left rear cubby under storage wing.
Always on ARB fridge outle

Upcoming:

Swing Out Tire Carrier - WKOR?
HD rear axles - GBR
HAM radio microphone in cargo area

Mike, just get a 12V receptacle like this: www.amazon.com/Marinco-12VRC-SeaLink-12-Volt-Receptacle/dp/B000NI1BI4 and mount it in the cargo area.  Run a fused wire directly to the battery.  I ran the wire underneath the carpet and through the firewall.  Instead of running a ground wire all the way to the battery, I just attached it to something back in the cargo area.

Also, I've had no issues with running the ARB fridge all night and having it run the battery down.  The fridges draw less than 3 amps, so if your battery is in good shape you'll be fine.  I think Peter did a test where it took 3 days to run a battery down.  Just make sure that you get a insulated bag, so the fridge doesn't have to run as much.

HAM Radio

Installed the HAM radio speaker behind a tweeter grille in the A-pillar.  It used to sit in a plastic housing velcro'd to the dash between the gauge cluster and the A-pillar which was a little to HAM-sexy for my tastes.

I use an Icom 2720H radio.  This radio gets poor reviews on eham.net but they are misguided.  The newer units didn't suffer from any of the problems listed in those reviews.  I picked this radio because it is good quality, looks good in a Land Rover (green LCD and controls seem to blend), is from a solid manufacturer, and is dual-band.  By dual and I mean that it is 2 radios in one.  This allows me to use the main band for talking and the sub-band for APRS.  There are several radios on the market that are dual band, but not all of them can do digital communications silently in the background without disrupting the voice side of things.  I use a UMPC or a carputer so I didn't want a radio that had integrated APRS.  When it isn't being used for APRS, the second band can be used to monitor a repeater, listen to weather radio, or any other activity that is background to the primary voice channel.  It is possible to modify this radio to also communicate on the FRS frequencies but this is illegal.

The second photo is of my HAM radio installation itself.  My truck is filthy from several recent adventures and a white fluffy dog who is going through his spring shedding.  I'll update this photo after I detail the truck.

The HAM radio is under the driver side seat.  After moving the factory Land Rover / Harmon Kardon  amplifier forward about 6" I was able to mount the HAM radio to the same bracket that the amplifier attaches to.  No picture of this (sorry).

The handset plugs in directly to the radio under the drivers seat.  I have the option of attaching it to the faceplate, but this results in a lot of cord coiled up in the center console area.

Dual Battery tray and dual batteries wired in parallel

I installed dual batteries in parallel to provide a lot of amps when starting on cold mornings and to insure that the 12000 lb Ramsey worm drive winch could run for an extended pull even if the motor was dead.

I designed a dual battery tray and had Smiley's fabrication in Mount Vernon, WA fabricate it for me.

I select Optima M34 blue top batteries because they are a deep cycle battery which won't suffer damage if they are run low and recharged numerous times and because I wanted the auxillary posts on the top instead of the side.  The Red top optimas have a higher amperage rating but aren't a deep cycle and aren't warranteed if they are wired in parallel.  With the blue tops running in parallel I have more than enough amperage to run a worm drive winch or start the truck even on a cold day.

To finish up the wiring, I selected Street-wires terminal connectors.  I liked these because they offered a great deal of flexibility when attaching auxillary cables to the main terminals.  The wires can attach from any angle, and each terminal can easily accomodate multiple wires.  It doesn't look all that impressive until you start counting how many wires are coming off the battery terminals

One of the major flaws of the Discovery is that there is no tailgate.  When camping, this leaves no room to make a sandwhich or cook w/o setting up a table first.  Inspired several years ago by the shelf that Marc Olivares made for his Discovery 1 I've been planning to build one for my Discovery II but never got around to it until now.  Marc shared a lot of information with me which really made this job go a lot smoother than it would have otherwise (Thanks Marc!).  I've been working on a shelf on/off again for the past few weeks.  It is currently about 80% complete.  Enough that I should be able to use it this weekend.

- Aluminum sheet for the backsplash (door panel)

- Spring lift and Spring lift brackets from the Marine store

- 3/4" King Starboard (Plastic marine plywood) cut to size from some online marine shop

- Tons of hardware from Hardware Sales (Thanks Brian!):  Piano hinge, rounded cap hex stainless machine screws, nutserts, wood screws, etc.

It stays closed the way it is, but is vulnerable to opening.  I have some Jeep hood style T-handles that I picked up at Hardware Sales, but I think they are overkill.  There is very little pressure to open when it is in the upright position so I just need some sort of small latch or even a hook to hold it in place.  Before drilling for the T-handles as I originally planned I'm going to give it some more thought.

The pictures are a little funny.  The brackets are al lined up at the right angle, even though they look caddy-wampus in the picture.  I still need to finish riv-nutting the 3 open holes.  For now, it is ready for tomorrows camping trip w/ Nate.

Oh... and I need to clean it.  :)

I found a latch at the marine store today that with a little work should work.

Updated my HAM radio post above with better pictures and more detail.

Gave the shelf a go this weekend. LOVE IT!  :)  Thanks Marc!

The 99 Discovery II didn't come stock with true 4x4.  1999 was the year that Land Rover decided that Electronic Traction Control (ETC) was sufficient for most of their consumers.  Ironically, the transfer case in 1999 still had the locking differential and nipple to engage it, they just left off the shifter linkage.  Since I wanted to take my vehicle offroad I decided in November of 2007 to install an AMV solenoid actuated center differential lock (CDL) linkage.  When I push a button on the dash, it engages a windshield wiper motor that rotates the nipple and locks the transfer case.

After using this for about a month, I started hearing odd noises from my transfer case.  I was literally driving to a transfer case shop when BAM, something rifled through the side of the transfer case.  I had it towed the rest of the way in to the shop.  I purchased a used transfer case, again with the CDL nipple, and had it installed.  It has worked fantastic ever since.

 

Greg Davis Bumper required that I trim 7" off the rear quarter panels to accomodate the integrated quarter panel sliders.  I mounted LED lights for turn signals/fog lights and Scorpion Racing swivel recovery points.  I routed my exhaust out the side.  I always planned to route it through the panel so that it would be raised up and protected by the Greg bumper sliders but never got around to it.

The Greg Davis bumper attaches to the trailer hitch mount point on the frame, to the frame horns, and to the inside of the wheel wells.

Because the Greg Davis bumper tucks up so much and has an integrated tow hitch, I removed my facory tow hitch.  This left the fuel tank exposed.  I installed a Scorpion Racing fuel tank guard.  This fuel tank guard replaces the factory Land Rover fuel tank retaining bracket and gives the closest possible fit (and therefore best departure angle) of any fuel tank on the market for the DII.

If I did it again, I'd use Dixon Bates instead of the swivel recovery points.

I had the bumper painted Chawton white to match the rest of the truck.  It hasn't held up very well and I will sand blast it and repaint with black rustoleum this summer.

At one point I had an Old Man Emu 2" (net 1.5" ) lift and 255/70/R16 tires.  I settled on a Rovertym 3" lift with Bilstein 7100 shocks, Rovertym extended radius arms, and 265/75/16.  I will probably go to a 255/85/16 or a 285/75/16 with the next set of tires.

Nobody probably cares, but here are a couple of pics comparing the lifts.  Stock, 2" lift w/ 255/70s, and the 3" lift and 265/75/16s  In my opinion the truck looks overlifted in both pictures.  The 2" lift matches well with a 265/75/16 on a stock rim and the 3" lift matches well with a 285/75/16 on a stock rim.

I now have Pro-comp rims which have less backspacing for additional track width.  I am still running the 265/75s.  Appearances aside, this combination performs very well.  There is enough lift to clear the tires when tucking, the additional track width makes the truck noticably more stable when driving on or offroad, and the 32" tires aren't so big as to cause problems when engine braking or when pulling up a long hill (especially with the 4.6l motor).  The truck performs great now, but I'm itching for something different.

Decided to go with rubber T-handles to hold the shelf in place.  This is what Brian and I originally figured out before I started looking into alternatives.  I installed 2 rubber T-handles, but in hindsight, one would have done the trick and made it a little easier to close (not that it is hard now by any means).  Nice and snug, and quiet.  I'll get updated pictures in the next day or two.

Craig

New toy came in the mail today...  the thought of 9 days on the road w/o a shower seemed like a little much.  I ordered a Helton onboard shower from Cruiser Outfitters.  I'll use it with the Outback Porta-privy that I bought last year.

I picked the Helton after talking with several people about their setups.  Many people had plumbed in marine shower heads, expensive sureflow pumps, built in water tanks, and selected their own heat exchangers.  One of the people that I was solicitng advice from had both the complicated setup in one truck and the Helton in the other.  He said that if he did it again that he would just go with the Helton.

With the Helton there is no water tank to keep clean.  Temperature is easily controlled by cycling the water back through the bucket if it isn't hot enough on the first pass.  The pump won't burn out if the bucket runs dry.  The system is simple enough to make installation and maintenance easy.  I hope my experience is similar.

I'm not sure when I'll have time to install it, but definately before the Steens trip.  :)

Edit:  The kit isn't complete and some hose, quick disconnects, etc have to be purchased to complete the install.  The most difficult item to find was the Pipe Clamps to fasten the heat exchanger to to the firewall.  Kurt (cruiseroutfitters.com) pointed me to these guys for the brackets. 

http://www.waytekwire.com/

Keith Kurt is a good guy.

Edit:  Meant Kurt, who is a good guy.   Accidently said Keith, who is a good guy too, but from RoverTracks...  Thanks Craig!

As promised, final photos of the completed rear door shelf.