Capella_Ben's 80

[Capella_Ben]

While I was adjusting the handbrake (again) I noticed this.



Should be a tad straighter than that.

I guess that's why they could not adjust the wheel alignment on the rear. Will have to have a chat to them about that...

[Capella_Ben]

Now that's SUPERIOR!







The old one was 3KG and the new one is solid steel (not tube) and is 8KG!

I'm thinking I also need to replace the lower control arms as well. Jane tells me the Superior Engineering showroom is pretty spectacular too!

[Capella_Ben]

I bought some more shiny sparkly things!





The original arms were 4kg and the new are 5.5kg. I was expecting that my rattle gun would not be powerful enough to get the bolts undone, but with a bit of persistence it did a great job. There was a little bit of mucking around moving the shock absorbers out of the way but it was a pretty straight forward job.

[Dave]

"A straight forward job"? What went wrong? That doesn't normally happen, so something can't be right.

Looks nice. You'll have to try them out in the Glasshouse mountains.

[Capella_Ben]

Took the cruiser to a diesel specialist today to see if the injector pump needed to be rebuilt. Basically they tuned it up a little, adjusted the valve clearances and gave it back.

So basically it is perfectly fine just like I have always been saying. I even have the paperwork to prove it.

It must be all in your head.

They did forget to tighten up the clamp on the turbo outlet. Never ever ever trust your mechanic. Always check their work!

They did do a good job though. They checked the turbo for wear and the valve adjustment was really cheap (apparently it's a bugger of a job). The turbo is OK, so I don't have an excuse for a high flow.

[Dave]

So do you still produce small weather formations (clouds) when you push down on the accelerator?

[Capella_Ben]

The mounting for the hand throttle was loose and that meant that the whole thing spun when I tried to lock it in place. There was also broken where the plastic met the brass.



So I designed and printed a couple of parts to fix it.





Works perfectly now!

[Capella_Ben]

I have upgraded my rear storage read for the cape. The central structure is new and made up of a lot of self designed parts. I have also carpeted the top shelf.



It is in for a test over Easter. I have a couple of minor things to change, but it's looking good so far.

[Dave]

Looks very nice Ben.
I like the fridge side, and the aluminium bars make the whole set up look really good.
Will you put a some barrier on the left side of the fridge side so you can stuff things on the other side and still allow the fridge to side out? I have access to some spare white powder coat aluminium security grill. This would be very light weight but still strong.

[Capella_Ben]

A little while ago I received a nice little delivery of goodies.





After a bit of cutting, grinding, fitting, grinding, fitting, cutting, fitting and bolting I have the radiator in and brackets made for the pump and reserve tank.







The "kit" (such that it was) didn't come with a bracket for the pump (it only had a hose clamp). So I made up the following:





More fun tomorrow.