Capella_Ben's 80

[Dave]

That's unfortunate Ben, i.e. also having a non-Toyota bolt in the car. How did you get home? I assume without the pulley, things like the water pump, etc didn't work either.

[Capella_Ben]

All back together now.

They were actually able to repair the radiator so that saved me $400.



As you can see I lost only 3 tubes, so it should be almost as efficient as before.

Will need to do some testing for a while to make sure that it is all OK.

[Capella_Ben]

That's unfortunate Ben, i.e. also having a non-Toyota bolt in the car. How did you get home? I assume without the pulley, things like the water pump, etc didn't work either.

Unfortunately I had to get towed home as I lost all the water in the radiator.

The belts on the cruiser are pretty simple, there are a pair (for redundancy) for the water pump and alternator and one for the AC. The alternator/water pump ones were fine.

[Capella_Ben]

After a few design changes, I have re-engineered the air con idler.



Basically I have changed the spacing. It was a 30mm spacer from the arm to the pulley with a bolt holding it on. That was the bolt that broke. So I have shortened that bolt so it only now needs a 15 mm space. I added an extra spacer between the arm and the engine mount. Both bolts are new and high tensile.

I did a test run with the engine at 2600 RPM. At that speed with the bonnet up and me looking around, the engine is deafening. Anyway I noticed that the bearing shot out a heap of its grease. So it's not a very good quality bearing, so I'll have to keep an eye on it and possibly replace the bearing soon. Maybe the old bearing heated up too much and weakened the bolt.

[Capella_Ben]

I found out why the cruiser was running so cold on the weekend:



Luckily I did have a genuine spare sitting there waiting to go in, so I swapped it out. All fixed now.

While I had it apart I looked in the catch can on the air filter box.



It's interesting how much stuff gets sucked through the snorkel. Also interesting how much dust gets trapped in there and not in the filter itself. That's a very well designed airbox!

[Capella_Ben]

While doing my monthly handbrake adjustment I noticed that the rubber bungs were missing.

Not to worry, I just designed and printed out some new ones.



The first layer extrusion width is not too flash, but it's not bad for a half hours work.

[Dave]

Ben,
Did you see the forecast for 3D printers?
The military could be looking to print drones mid flight to suit specific a purpose during the mission.
http://www.skynews.com.au/news/tech/201 ... ealed.html

I was hoping we could print a 4x4 vehicle one day. Think of the fun we could have with the designs.

[Capella_Ben]

The new Android stereo is now in. It only took about 3 hours.



There was a little mucking around with the wiring harness, but it wasn't too bad.

This one actually controls the radio antenna properly, so when the unit is on and the radio is not, the antenna is down (like it is supposed to be). Less likely to knock the areal off on a tree now.

As you can see Orux is installed so now the software side of things come in...

[Dave]

Hi Ben,

Looks really good. Interesting to hear it pulls the radio antenna down when the radio is not selected.

The problem I have with the unit and a GPS tracking application is that, when we stop somewhere and jump out of the car to look at a track, I usually grab the keys. This means the unit loses power.
Ideally you would have a switch that gives the unit power straight from the battery, i.e. keeps the unit powered up even when the keys are removed.

BTW .... are the side panels/spacers "printed"?

[Capella_Ben]

I had a go at my own "plastic panel beating" today. Just a temporary fix until I can find a suitable rear bar.

Before:




After: