Not to hijack your thread, but while you're at it, how about any tips for running power and coax and control lines from the engine compartment, into the vehicle interior, then back towards the rear, finally out to a rear-mounted antenna? Anyone use an auxiliary battery in the passenger compartment, kept charged by the main vehicle battery, perhaps with an isolation switch?
I see that you have a pickup, while I have a CR-V, so there will be some differences. I have a 706mkIIg, and was thinking of splitting the front panel from the rest of the rig.
I'd like to be able to operate HF from the car. I have an Icom AH-4 tuner. And I'm thinking of putting an antenna mount at the rear, perhaps with a base spring mounted to a metal plate bolted in to where one end of a towing bar would normally be attached, or perhaps just install a whole towing bar and then affix the antenna mount to the bar. But with a crossover like the CR-V or with a pickup truck, you need to be able to open the rear door or the pickup truck's tailgate without the antenna interfering, so it would have to be offset to the side somehow.