Noe, I think it's tike again for an uodate. Readong through the thread, I realized something: I'm lazy and slow working on her when she actually doesn't have any issues. Examples include the break hoses (since 2020!), the carpets (same year)... I could go on...
Well, I took her and my dad for a ahort ten day trip to Tunesia. What a lovely place to visit, especially tue non-touristic places where you are just there with everyone else! To actually go into the desert end of May is too late so, between November and April is much better. Man, 45 degrees is HOT even when it is a dry heat!
Most pictures are on the camera, so I'll post them later. As I mentioned in another thread, she had her usual powerlos issues with hot carbs. Also with the snorkel, which reduced air flow enough to become an issue. How do I know? After 2k km I had the right mind, in the middle of the Sahara, to consider the whole fuel supply situation. Because the fuel was dead, I didn't know why yet, so I thought I have some time at my hand until the recovery truck showed up. That was I promised our local guide the tyres if I burn her down. Oh, almosy forgot, some helpful express over night cross border transport providers handed us a new fuel pump im dead night. Sonce it was a brand new Toyota OEM one, it is now returned to them via our guide.
So, back to the fuel supply situation. I figured that if the pump isn:t getting any current it might be the Jag ignition relay. I also figured it might be a tad difficult chasing one of those down in southern Tunesia. So the plan was to send the guide get a recovery truck while I try to wire the ignition back to stock. Not that I could break it any more as it was already. Not being motivated to start with wires, I finally (again since 2020) replaced the tank overflow/breather hose (the one running up from the tank to the cap). The old one was shot beyon hope and had a tendency to leak. Once that was done (sand is so much more comfortable than pavement, abd the strange angle she was in made things more accessie, also it tells something that I had the right hose in the trunk...), I started to study wiring diagrams. While follwing the diagram for the transistor ignition I found something. The battery holder had moved. It had caught a cable linking the pump through said Jag relay to the ignition. And the cable war almost cut in half, blowing a fuse (not in the diagram but one I installed myself...). So, no need for a tow truck, no need for an elusive relay. Just 10 minutes of cable cutting and crimping, and she worked again. Now with better wiring (slightly, but still) and not leaking fuel anymore. Luckily, our guide was still there. So, out of the desert we go. And I continue to analyse the fuel supply situation, after all the return line had two bents... Back at the campsite, and still short on power, I removed the snorkel. What a difference! Reved up to 6k fpm idle, and held that, when cold! I was exited!
So, of we go, from Douz to Tataouine. 45 ambient and even hotter winds. Almosy conplete powerloss at 2.5 k rpm, 40l per 100 km (as a comparison, the desert trip was a tad above 35)... Landyzone provided a good hint so, evaporating fuel!
Turbs out to be quite likely, the trip today from Rl Jem to Tunis, and yesterday from Tataouine to El Jem, was a charm. She pulled all the way through to 130 km/h (after that I stipped for safety reasons, Tunesians are treating motorways like every othe road, so crossing it by foot and grassing sheet are normal). Man, what an relieve! There I am, enjoying the landscape, taking nice pictures abd thinking about cooling the carbs next time (ventilation in the hood since I have two of those now, passive heat exchangers under the carbs, heat isolation between engine and carbs...) when in Tunis she just dies at a traffic light...
This time, I headed our guide's advice: keep calm, it's gonna be ok. So, I sit there wondering... Not the cable from the battery, that was done almost properly. The relay? Hopefully not. So I take a look at the ignition sitting in the open radio slot next to me (Ilove accesible equipment). A cable worked itself loose. No big deal, ignition of, hand in and eeconnect it. Great, problem solved! For an hour maybe, side road, down hill, same problem, same cable... Turned out that I, the bush mechanic, was so fast putting everything in place that I failed to properly lay the cables next to the steering column. And one cable passed behind the clutch pedal. And it worked itself down... So you change gears, there goes the cable!
Another thing car related, she had, sometimes, a running idle rev. Vacuum leak I thought, so new vaccum lines were added to the list. Well, before we went into the desert I checked the carbs to be sure they weren't running lean. They were, especially the right one (always a bitch to get set up right, and the needle worked itself loose again). What do I see? The diaphragm of the left one wasn't sitting tight. Placed it properly during reassembly, and ever since no running idle anymore! Again a thing I wanted to properly tackle sincr last year...
So here we are, close to a week in Tunesia, with sandstorms, heat, rain, heat people and landscape watong to catch our ferry tomorrow. We had history (the amphitheatre in El Jem, Carthago), culture (a bunch berber houses, villages and ancient warehouses, enjoyong the crazyness if north african towns after sun set) and serious offroading (first time dune driving, with an under powred car!). Only thing left is some beach time tomorrow and finding a fuel station to get all the oils changed. Unfortunately, we won't have time to get the Detroit Truetrac fitted, the partsare in the trunk. So the RRC is getting home im better shape then when we left, she even came out of the desert in better shape! Maybe I should come here more often, after all the body and paint jobs do adecent job and she needs some proper care of here outer values...
Pictures to follow, and thanks again for the fast replies a coyple of days ago!
One final word so, it was only the carbs that ran hot. The engine never went i to the upper half of the temp gauge, not once! And the oil temp alway stayed in the lower third. Seems I'm lucky with the engine after all! If I weren't, I saw a ton of Isuzu truck running the 3.5 l Turbo Disel from the Australian Perentie driving, and sometime slying, around. I think it would have been easy enough to just swap engines in one the garages down here! Which I totally don't consider, first I have to toy arpund woth the trusty V8!
Well, I took her and my dad for a ahort ten day trip to Tunesia. What a lovely place to visit, especially tue non-touristic places where you are just there with everyone else! To actually go into the desert end of May is too late so, between November and April is much better. Man, 45 degrees is HOT even when it is a dry heat!
Most pictures are on the camera, so I'll post them later. As I mentioned in another thread, she had her usual powerlos issues with hot carbs. Also with the snorkel, which reduced air flow enough to become an issue. How do I know? After 2k km I had the right mind, in the middle of the Sahara, to consider the whole fuel supply situation. Because the fuel was dead, I didn't know why yet, so I thought I have some time at my hand until the recovery truck showed up. That was I promised our local guide the tyres if I burn her down. Oh, almosy forgot, some helpful express over night cross border transport providers handed us a new fuel pump im dead night. Sonce it was a brand new Toyota OEM one, it is now returned to them via our guide.
So, back to the fuel supply situation. I figured that if the pump isn:t getting any current it might be the Jag ignition relay. I also figured it might be a tad difficult chasing one of those down in southern Tunesia. So the plan was to send the guide get a recovery truck while I try to wire the ignition back to stock. Not that I could break it any more as it was already. Not being motivated to start with wires, I finally (again since 2020) replaced the tank overflow/breather hose (the one running up from the tank to the cap). The old one was shot beyon hope and had a tendency to leak. Once that was done (sand is so much more comfortable than pavement, abd the strange angle she was in made things more accessie, also it tells something that I had the right hose in the trunk...), I started to study wiring diagrams. While follwing the diagram for the transistor ignition I found something. The battery holder had moved. It had caught a cable linking the pump through said Jag relay to the ignition. And the cable war almost cut in half, blowing a fuse (not in the diagram but one I installed myself...). So, no need for a tow truck, no need for an elusive relay. Just 10 minutes of cable cutting and crimping, and she worked again. Now with better wiring (slightly, but still) and not leaking fuel anymore. Luckily, our guide was still there. So, out of the desert we go. And I continue to analyse the fuel supply situation, after all the return line had two bents... Back at the campsite, and still short on power, I removed the snorkel. What a difference! Reved up to 6k fpm idle, and held that, when cold! I was exited!
So, of we go, from Douz to Tataouine. 45 ambient and even hotter winds. Almosy conplete powerloss at 2.5 k rpm, 40l per 100 km (as a comparison, the desert trip was a tad above 35)... Landyzone provided a good hint so, evaporating fuel!
Turbs out to be quite likely, the trip today from Rl Jem to Tunis, and yesterday from Tataouine to El Jem, was a charm. She pulled all the way through to 130 km/h (after that I stipped for safety reasons, Tunesians are treating motorways like every othe road, so crossing it by foot and grassing sheet are normal). Man, what an relieve! There I am, enjoying the landscape, taking nice pictures abd thinking about cooling the carbs next time (ventilation in the hood since I have two of those now, passive heat exchangers under the carbs, heat isolation between engine and carbs...) when in Tunis she just dies at a traffic light...
This time, I headed our guide's advice: keep calm, it's gonna be ok. So, I sit there wondering... Not the cable from the battery, that was done almost properly. The relay? Hopefully not. So I take a look at the ignition sitting in the open radio slot next to me (Ilove accesible equipment). A cable worked itself loose. No big deal, ignition of, hand in and eeconnect it. Great, problem solved! For an hour maybe, side road, down hill, same problem, same cable... Turned out that I, the bush mechanic, was so fast putting everything in place that I failed to properly lay the cables next to the steering column. And one cable passed behind the clutch pedal. And it worked itself down... So you change gears, there goes the cable!
Another thing car related, she had, sometimes, a running idle rev. Vacuum leak I thought, so new vaccum lines were added to the list. Well, before we went into the desert I checked the carbs to be sure they weren't running lean. They were, especially the right one (always a bitch to get set up right, and the needle worked itself loose again). What do I see? The diaphragm of the left one wasn't sitting tight. Placed it properly during reassembly, and ever since no running idle anymore! Again a thing I wanted to properly tackle sincr last year...
So here we are, close to a week in Tunesia, with sandstorms, heat, rain, heat people and landscape watong to catch our ferry tomorrow. We had history (the amphitheatre in El Jem, Carthago), culture (a bunch berber houses, villages and ancient warehouses, enjoyong the crazyness if north african towns after sun set) and serious offroading (first time dune driving, with an under powred car!). Only thing left is some beach time tomorrow and finding a fuel station to get all the oils changed. Unfortunately, we won't have time to get the Detroit Truetrac fitted, the partsare in the trunk. So the RRC is getting home im better shape then when we left, she even came out of the desert in better shape! Maybe I should come here more often, after all the body and paint jobs do adecent job and she needs some proper care of here outer values...
Pictures to follow, and thanks again for the fast replies a coyple of days ago!
One final word so, it was only the carbs that ran hot. The engine never went i to the upper half of the temp gauge, not once! And the oil temp alway stayed in the lower third. Seems I'm lucky with the engine after all! If I weren't, I saw a ton of Isuzu truck running the 3.5 l Turbo Disel from the Australian Perentie driving, and sometime slying, around. I think it would have been easy enough to just swap engines in one the garages down here! Which I totally don't consider, first I have to toy arpund woth the trusty V8!
