All work and no play?

With Katie finally back on the road and attempting to earn her keep, we decided it was high time she had a bit of play and a leg-stretch.

So on Sunday we took her off on a mini-road-trip to Rooiels before winter closes in right and proper. Other than signs that the hole in the exhaust is opening up again (one of the "and many other things" fixed...), she went pretty well. She has a decent amount of power and cruised the coast like she should. 

On the road again

It's been months. And MONTHS. It's taken a lot of time, effort, and unfortunately about R3K in unbudgeted-for parts and labour, but Katie is finally back on the road today.

She has new HT leads, new dizzy cap and points, new accelorator cable, new coil (the RIGHT one this time), new spacer between carb and inlet manifold, carb's been redone and tuned, and the list goes on and on. Basically, she was not particularly a well truck - we've fixed what we can under the circumstances. If she was mine there would have been a lot of other stuff done.

There's still a lot wrong with her. The battery is too small for the engine and so far away from it that there's a voltage drop by the time power gets where it needs to go - either way. The carb is too small for the engine. The K&N filter is too small too. There were quite a few "make-do" things being held together with cable ties, modified items and half-stretched springs, some of which have been fixed. And she goes very well as a result. She did what she was supposed to do with proper power and no kak today.

I'm just not entirely sure I would have agreed to babysit her if I'd known it would be more an expensive fix-it than keeping her ticking over. The only option now is to get some sort of retun on investment, so she's going to be well used in weeks to come.

Stand in the place where you were...

Katie's been standing quite still for over a month.

I decided to take the man out for a quick pre-Valentine's coffee/cake and watch-the-sun-set on the 13th of Feb. Well once the sun had set, I turned Katie's key - and got nothing. Stuck at the beach wiht no spark getting through! Eish.

Many hours and calls and a neighbour later, we towed her to overnight in a safe place nearby, then towed her home next day - and there she has sat ever since. I've tried to find the problem but come up short. It could be anything from the battery being so far from the engine (which makes starting difficult to begin with), to the distributor cap connectors being worn, to the HT leads being of many and varied types/ages, to and earthing issue, to... well it could be anything.

She started once since then, but no spark when I switched her off and tried again. I suspect something's worn down or gotten old.

I'm not very good at electrics, so am having to call in an expert on this one - and it may get expensive. Eish again.

What a jerk!

Katie spent a good deal of today running around town on a large number of errands. Although it was hot and muggy, she did pretty well. Except...

She's developed a jerk. It's probably timing, but it's not good - especially in town driving traffic at low revvs. I need to call in expert help to sort it out, as timing is one thing I'm not very good at setting.

She's got a full day of driving up tomorrow. Let's hope it's going to be a bit smoother than today. And a little more fuel efficient or I'll be pushing the beast home.

Being Neighbourly

Katie did some community service today!

We had booked an e-waste collection just down the road, but it fell through at the last minute, leaving my schedule in disarray. Instead we went to go help our neighbour move a bed from nearby storage to his home.

While hooking up the trailer, Katie gave me a bit of a fright. Our yard has a small slope to it, I'd reversed her up this nearer the trailer and had just finished hooking it up when I saw her start to move forward.... without me in the driver's seat! I don't think I've ever run around a trailer and squeezed through the gate gap so fast. I had visions of her popping in across the road for a cuppa, but fortunately she didn't. It was a mere small movement forward, just enough to truly wake me up and make sure I was paying attention.

The rest of the day was uneventful by comparison. We did a trip to the beach area, a trip to the town area, and then battled through the ongoing road construction, up a steepish hill behind a brick-loaded truck in first gear and home again. No overheating, no kak (not even an attempt to throw me out, as she did last Friday when the driver's door opened suddenly as we were speeding down the highway!) and no drama.

Well.. except for one thing. Her friend Olivia is coming back home tomorrow without her heart transplant (replacement engine is a dud) - and Katie's probably going to have to provide the forward motion to get her here.

Sleep well Katie - tomorrow's another big day.

Back to the grindstone

E went out to start Katie this morning, ahead of towing her friend Olivia in for an engine swap. He came back saying "I don't know what you've done to that truck but it wouldn't tow anything in its current state!" I looked at him in surprise - Katie was doing just fine when I last drove her!

The Disco2 got to do the job instead though and Katie will be parking closer to the front door until Olivia's back from the hospital.

Then it was my turn to have a word with Katie. Started her (pump pump pump...), put my foot down, threw another R100 petrol down her throat and she was fine. I guess she's just not a morning Landy, especially after being a parking-lot-potato for two days. And what truck doesn't need breakfast?

Today she saw a bit more of the Cape. I had a collection to sort out in Stellenbosch, so off we went - via the plastic recycling people in the opposite direction. The trailer is a lot more stable behind her than either Olivia or the Disco2 - I barely notice it.

After last week's hill episode, I was interested to see what she'd do on the R44 out of town toward Stellenbosch. We'd had a word with the guy who drives a Series with the same engine over the weekend and figured out the carb gets starved of fuel at a certain angle (cuts out), and steep hills are not her friend. Yup, going uphill the temp rose a bit, came down again on the other side. Not steep enough to cut out but I can see the pattern here. We'll be looking at timing as soon as we can manage. The radiator also seems a bit overfull even when cold - I want to check for any blockages and make sure the thermostat is doing what it's supposed to.

She drove well the rest of the day - back to Somerset West, down to the noisy and dusty scrapyard, and a trip or two into town.

Tomorrow she'll be visiting a local school - I'm sure the kids will love her.

One more work day

Today I had an unplanned trip required into Cape Town. A company had 60 computers and the equivalent monitors needing recycling, and I made arrangements to do so. We hitched up the trailer (after J figured out how to remove the "condom" from the hitch), poured more petrol into her gullet and off we went.

She was feeling hot by the time we got there, and as we pulled up we got a surprise. Someone else had pitched and claimed the load, and was piling it into a Kia bakkie. In a bit of a huff I had a word with the guy in charge, who said he'd sommer told a whole lot of people to come collect, as no-one ever did. So poor Katie didn't even get a chance to cool down before we had to drive again.

I had another collection lined up, so off we went to do that one, and it turned out not to be too big. We were loading on a lawn - when it came time to pull off, poor Katie seems to have had a bit of a shock, she simply didn't want to go! Had a brief word in her ear, tried again and she gave in.

She made it back very well with the small load. Bit of a taste of things to come.. :-)

And, being Friday, it was time to park her up for the weekend to rest. I think the poor old girl needed it after being thrown so thoroughly back into being a daily driver.