gday guys and girls well jules and i are unfortunately back in melbs!!! we left just before xmas last year so its taken us almost exactly a year. and what a year it was!!! our trusty little beddy would not have broken down once if it wasnt for the 150km dust storm we drove thru coming back from uluru. so a quick update for those who dont know, we went west, spent 3 months over summer working in margaret river which was great. as it got cold we cruised up north to broome where we worked for 2 months over winter, then moved on up to darwin and kakadu etc. down thru the middle to uluru and alice springs, then back up and across to the east coast. from there we went up north to cape tribulation,went diving air and sea! then made our way down the east coast camping heaps in cool national parks along the way..
now back to reality!!
i must say im very happy with our beddy and how it went. fuel economy was always an issue being on gas and i was always playing with the mixtures to try to get the best, but the best i could get was around 5kms/litre cruisin at just under 100 tuned as lean as possible. thats with a 202 with a trimatic and 3.08 diff. i tried running it with max power but lost about 70kms or so in distance which is substantial but at least i wasnt going backwards up hills! theres nothing worse i think than having a cool van, and having a long line of cars behind you up a hill!!! but i am carrying a fair bit of weight, i checked it today at a tip and it weighs 2160kgs. does anyone know what the dry weight is of a swb?
another drama is that all the coastal living for the van has really brought out all the rust so ive got a lot of work to do soon grinding and rebogging! and my gutter is almost dissintergrating!
im looking to do all the balljoints and tierod ends too so does anyone know whos currently selling the cheapest ones, and with a hq front, how do i find if theyre hq or still beddy?
im also in the market for a rear left door so if anyone in vic has one going that would be cool. doofhard u still selling yours?
well now that im back ill no doubt be making more posts and hope to catch up with any vicco crew that i havent met yet, hopefully we have another get together soon coz i missed the last one, but i should be at the geelong van show anyway.
it was great to meet craig in perth and the guys from brissy and sorry i didnt get to catch up with some of the others.
ill hopefully post some more pics of the trip and get my own gallery going too..
take it easy
luke (and jules)!