Jump to content

9000km Australian road trip on Megasquirt


lrcounty

Recommended Posts

Hi all,

I just got back this morning from a 9411km trip from Perth to Tasmania and back over the last 3.5 weeks. We left on December 26th and visited family in the Huon Valley (Tasmania), Melbourne (Victoria) and the Eyre Peninsula (South Australia).

I ran mainly on LPG, but did some small runs on Petrol.

The vehicle is a 1985 110 with 3.9 V8. Passengers were my wife and I, our 17 year old son and 15 year old daughter. Gear carried included individual clothes bags with enough clothes for 7 days for each of us, two 2-second tents, self inflating mattresses and sleeping bags for each of us, 40L of water, 40L Engel full of food etc (strategically placed between the kids), cooking gear and dry food, spares and tools. It was literally packed to the roof, but we got away with not needing the roofrack, so it was left off for this trip.

The hottest leg was across the Nullarbor, heading East to West, in 45.5 Degree celcius temps for 4 hours straight yesterday at 110km/h to reach cooler weather as fast as possible.

The Megasquirt handled the lot without a hiccup.

Big thanks to Nige for a quality kit, and post sale support for spares etc while planning the trip.

If you are interested in my setup, you can see it here:


Cheers

Andre

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What radiator hoses did you use on that? I'm fitting a serp engine to mine and haven't found a standard pipe yet to fit the bottom rad hose.

Hi mikec,

I actually cut the original hose to use the part that clamps to the radiator, and then used part number PCH000060 (Serp hose) to connect to the water pump. I cut the Serp hose so that the thin hose to the disco reservoir is discarded. I used a galvanised hose joiner and clamps to combine the two. I also cut the heater circuit return hose shorter, used another hose joiner, and a hose I found at the local parts store, to connect my 110's heater return pipe that goes under the inlet manifold.

Cheers

Andre

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Don't forget it's also a great advert for Andre's installation work! Even the best kit can be installed badly.

Top marks Andre :)

Just what I was thinking. Nice job Andre.

Your little trip also proves that there is no need to have a correctly set up V8 overheating in UK climates :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

For anyone interested, here are a couple of snaps from the trip...

Sunset near Eucla on our first day travelling....the kangaroos were out in force 5 minutes after this.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/pciz7tjs7yweybo/Sunset%20D1.jpg

Breakfast on the Great Australia Bight

https://www.dropbox.com/s/vrqtm4jwiawe0ph/Breakfast%20D2.jpg

https://www.dropbox.com/s/n4wzq3pj6llz292/Bight%20D2.jpg

While in Tasmania, the state had it's hottest day on record and experienced some massive fires.

One of the fires seen from Mount Wellington near Hobart.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/qdtbsey96r2psim/Fires.jpg

The car was packed to the roof

https://www.dropbox.com/s/legpmbub2mw0vjd/Full%20-%20back.jpg

https://www.dropbox.com/s/51p4abift8z2247/Fridge%20-%20Side.jpg

https://www.dropbox.com/s/kd9igcgfc40epr9/Full%20-%20Front.jpg

The Nullarbor

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ph3bvu71qv6yvek/Nullarbor%20D33.jpg

Good roads though

https://www.dropbox.com/s/6w0e0asbplwnjmy/Road%20D33.jpg

Nullarbor road house.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/netu67ays4hipbm/Nullarbor%20Roadhouse%20D33.jpg

Hot in the car when it's 45.5 Celcius outside and the aircon has failed. The footwells at the front were the worst.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ua2p8jaqkdgf2gw/Warm%20Car%20D33.jpg

https://www.dropbox.com/s/yxjt1jvowj8x0g1/Warm%20Feet%20D33.jpg

Sunrise on the last day of travel

https://www.dropbox.com/s/xgomrpujd324mt5/Sunrise%20D33.jpg

Cheers

Andre

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Very nice.

Did you turn the plenum round yourself?

I bought the truck with the plenum already turned around. The previous owner replaced the carb 3.5 V8 with a 3.9 V8, and got a Wolf 3D EMS installed to control injection and timing, with the original distributor being modified to suit. The plenum had to be turned around because it wont easily work the normal way with the huge heater/evaporator/fan box on the passenger side preventing easy routing of intake air.

It wasn't running too well when I bought it. I fixed the majority of weird running issues by reinstalling the factory PCV setup, and running a pressure reference hose from intake to the back of the gas converter.

I also removed the original timing cover and ancillaries and installed the serpentine front end, after rebuilding the motor with Turner Engineering top hat liners.

The Wolf 3D computer never performed perfectly, and doesn't have the logging and tuning flexibility of MS........The Megasquirt kit has been a fantastic investment.

I bumped into the previous owner yesterday, and showed him the changes I have made to the vehicle. He reckons the fine print of the sale said I had to sell it back to him on Feb 9th this year....his birthday :-)

Cheers

Andre

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We use cookies to ensure you get the best experience. By using our website you agree to our Cookie Policy