[geeyoutoo]

The engine hasn't been this dirty for a while, probably won't give the old girl a bath until I get home, nearly 7,000k into my trip (just over half way), all going well so far, have been hoping this heavy rain would produce some large puddles for me to drive through to wash away some of the 'Duke's' sand and salt.

Turned my WM right back to make it last longer, coming in at 19psi and all out at 20psi so it only comes on when pushing, just using demin at the moment, 4L for just over $3 in the Supermarkets, have 10L Methanol mix in the back but want to hang onto that a little longer

The red dust is starting to build up......

 

[geeyoutoo]

Info Relating to Sept/Oct 2017 Western Australia Road Trip

Turning WM back worked a treat, was able to extend Water use greatly, I was only using distilled water I picked up at woolies/iga stores along the way very cheaply in 4L containers. Now have over 20,000k on my pre turbo setup, will get around to putting the endoscope down the inlet pipe shortly when I get enthused.

Picked up a bit of dodgy fuel at Freo, losing 1 psi on the fuel pressure gauge at cruise but it got no worse so I didn't change it (had a spare with me).

Now 3,000k overdue for it's 10,000k service, if it used oil it is hard to pick up on the stick and the oil still doesn't have the acrid smell associated with particle contamination, so with constant high speed driving, going over creates no issue, I'm very happy with the 15w-40 Delo 400LE I've been using for many years.

Keep looking at the Troll but keep saying to myself another Patrol free day will help, the only thing I have done after the unloading of gear is to look at the BMC airfilter after 13,000k with much dirt driving in an alternating lead/follow position, naturally it is filthy and not just in a ring but all the way around so I will put my K&N in now (took it along as a backup but didn't use it) and clean up the BMC, removed the MAF to check it and it is as clean as a whistle, even the very fine micro dust particles that can get past a std filter are hard to detect.

It was Pete who convinced me to go the K&N route years ago and now we both say don't be afraid to try them they work brilliantly, allowing improved airflow around the filter and eventually save you money.

The engine did get dirtier but not internally .

A filthy BMC

A clean MAF from all directions, even ultra fine particles are hard to detect.

I did post something like this up in my trip report but it had other non performance related stuff in it, this relates just to engine and performance.

Total Kilometres: 12,685
Daily K Average: 352.36
Fuel used: 1674.28L
Fuel Cost: $2277.02
Ave L/100: 13.2
Dearest fuel bought: $1.79c/L at Nullarbor RH on return trip
Dearest Seen: $1.84c/L at C0cklebiddy RH on return trip
Average fuel price paid overall: $1.36c/L
Average Engine Temp: 86/87c
Highest Engine Temp: 90c
Average EGT: 280c
Highest EGT: 500c
WM usage after adjusting cut in point to 19psi: 0.75L/100k

Now to start planning next trip .

 

[geeyoutoo]

Did my oil/filter change today and had to go to JayCar for something, first time I've driven it since unloading a couple of hundred Kilo of gear, damn she feels like a Ferrari.

Got to fix a few small things I broke on the trip now and find a rattle in the back, corrugations have loosened something.

 

[geeyoutoo]

Changed the fuel filter and got all my pressure back, so yes there was some crap in the fuel I got at Freo, got 23,000k out of this one, 13,000k on this trip alone. Interestingly I got caught out with a leak from the drain tube, had to remove the filter again and pull it apart, couldn't find anything wrong so I can only assume that when I screwed the small drain bung back in the "O" ring has grabbed on the side and left a small gap, probably my own fault as I usually smear a bit of silicone grease on all the "O" rings before assembly but didn't do that one this time, so worth remembering.

Went out and bought a pistol grip grease gun yesterday, the small damn lever gun I use will often get an air bubble in it meaning I have to get out from under the car and bleed it, when I did the service this happened about 8 times, Grrr and my 71 year old back and knees are cursing me for it today, so new gun with all the goodies.......

 

[geeyoutoo]

Water Meth Pre Turbo New Design update

After the recent 13,000k trip I now have well over 20,000k on the new pre turbo WM setup, so today I put the endoscope down the inlet tube to see how the old compwheel is handling it and the news is bloody great no further erosion on the compwheel blade tips from the old original setup that did the damage years ago, so I'm satisfied that this method is quite suitable for a std DI/CRD VNT turbo and my turbo now has over 343,000k on it. I currently have a Snow #1 fitted to the tube and will be looking for a Snow #2 to move to the next stage.

 

[mikandy]

Looks good Ross.
Did you end up running with the ecu controlled vac sol for the whole trip?
If so, were you happy with it?

Andy

 

[geeyoutoo]

Looks good Ross.
Did you end up running with the ecu controlled vac sol for the whole trip?
If so, were you happy with it?

Andy

Yes Andy I did and no worries at all, but, since coming home I have disconnected the vac tank I was using to build in a delay to the 'boost hiccup' I was getting earlier, yes that hiccup has returned but as said at the time it is only for a second or to so it causes no issues, but I did notice that with the vac tank 'delay' the vehicle cruised 1-2psi higher, anyway I'm going to give it a long go again without the tank and will report back. I reckon it's worth a go but definitely keep the Dawes as max boost control.

 

[geeyoutoo]

Looks good Ross.
Did you end up running with the ecu controlled vac sol for the whole trip?
If so, were you happy with it?

Andy

Just to reiterate and add to my earlier comment, when I refitted the vacuum solenoid I started the engine and the solenoid chattered quite wildly, I removed it and gave it several sprays with WD40, giving it a good shake out between sprays, re installed and all fine, my vac sol had been sealed since I bypassed it (and actually removed many years ago) but obviously some form of contamination had gotten in there, whether that be a bit of rust or not I don't know, anyway it returned to working normal except for that hiccup where the ECU is obviously looking for information relating to EGR operation but not from the EGR itself as that is physically blocked and also taken out in the remap.

 

[mikandy]

Thanks Ross.
Will be looking at hooking mine back up also to trial, but remap is still a couple of months away, as funds are a bit tight at the moment.
That will be something I will be looking out for as it hasn't been used fora while either.

 

[geeyoutoo]

Thanks Ross.
Will be looking at hooking mine back up also to trial, but remap is still a couple of months away, as funds are a bit tight at the moment.
That will be something I will be looking out for as it hasn't been used fora while either.

I wouldn't hook it back up until the remap is done and the egr taken out of the equation, you would need to monitor boost very closely.

 

[geeyoutoo]

Small Barn Door, Won't Stay Open Fix.

While on my WA trip we had some serious windy days and my small barn door decided to wack me in the back every time I tried to get something out of the back, damn door would not stay open. I remembered threads about fitting struts but didn't want to drill holes in the truck and I remembered someone talking about repairing the original mechanism so decided to remove and pull apart for a look when I got home, so yesterday I pulled out the mechanism and found the fix to be a piece of cake, easy peasy and as solid as a rock.

So, once internal door trim is removed and the plastic folded back you can start by removing the two 10mm set screws that hold it in place and also the 10mm setscrew that secures it to the door body. The stop mechanism was as loose as buggery, it slopped back and forth in the groove section that is supposed to hold the door.

Securing the arm lightly in a vice you can open the 4 crimps to get inside.

Once open you can see the upper and lower plastic slides and the upper and lower rubber compression blocks, the problem is the compression blocks have compressed beyond a grip point, so to fix this we need to use small spacing pads.

I have some 1.5mm Insertion Rubber so I cut 2 rectangles, you could use a bit of milk bottle folded until it came to 1.5mm because once it's in there it ain't going nowhere, 1.5m on each side is more than enough.

Fits in very neatly.

Once cleaned up and reassembled it is tighter than brand new.

Gave the unit a spray with White Lithium grease before reinstalling

While your at it file out the hole in the mount to to body as far as you can take it, it does help with the door opening and it's free while you have it out.

 

[Softy]

I might have to do that one.. My door got me a beauty on Sunday night!

 

[geeyoutoo]

I might have to do that one.. My door got me a beauty on Sunday night!

Very easy but don't go anymore than 1.5mm each side or it will be to hard to move and may wear quicker.

 

[skegbudley]

My strut is still working fine after all these years. (I introduced it to the forum )
I did take the time to paint all the holes prior to fitting so there have been no issues.
There is a diy somewhere with your rubber spacer mod. It works great too. Just doesn't open the door for you.

ZD30 rules the road.

 

[geeyoutoo]

My strut is still working fine after all these years. (I introduced it to the forum )
I did take the time to paint all the holes prior to fitting so there have been no issues.
There is a diy somewhere with your rubber spacer mod. It works great too. Just doesn't open the door for you.

ZD30 rules the road.

I don't need anything to open the door for me, at 71 I've had a lot of practice .

Yes I did mention I remembered seeing something about a fix (other than the strut and I didn't wish to do it that way) but couldn't find it so came up with my own version.

 

[simcoe]

i vote strut.my old work wagon had them on both doors and the kamar tyre swing. lol

havnt got to worry about trivial crap like that any more.

 

[geeyoutoo]

i vote strut.my old work wagon had them on both doors and the kamar tyre swing. lol

havnt got to worry about trivial crap like that any more.

I quite like my reworked std unit, that is the most important thing to me, now 'I' don't need to worry about it anymore , if I'd wanted a strut I would have installed a strut . I suppose the main thing is I quite like the challenge of making something work that has ceased to work and at no cost.

 

[simcoe]

I reckon you couldn’t decide on what fixing to use for the mounting of the strut
Soo many options! Lol

I think I actually used big mutha rivots.

And they were the heaviest strut for the size, you had to be careful or they would take ya head off...! Haha

But no doubt you wouldn’t be in and out of your truck anywhere near the amount I was.

 

[geeyoutoo]

I reckon you couldn’t decide on what fixing to use for the mounting of the strut
Soo many options! Lol

I think I actually used big mutha rivots.

And they were the heaviest strut for the size, you had to be careful or they would take ya head off...! Haha

But no doubt you wouldn’t be in and out of your truck anywhere near the amount I was.

You would be wrong, I had looked at it carefully and said no, actually you have no idea how many times I'm in and out of my truck on a daily basis you might be surprised, but above all I like the way I did it, simple as that, what makes me happy in doing a project is the most thing.

 

[simcoe]

You do like a project lol

Oh the feeling to have spare time, spare and time isn’t even close to being in the same sentence lately..