Harrop 2300 supercharger to Optimiser 6500

[PeeBee]

180 Deg Awning installed, mounts stiffened. Took 3 guys to handle the beast. Installed double line of mount bolts each end and an extra centre mount. Super stiff assy now, should take the corrugations ok. Awning Closed.jpgStiffener Bracket Awning.jpgStiffener Bracket view 2.jpg AWning up.jpgHere is the 2.5m wide x 3m long roll out awning on the drivers side.Awning 3.jpg

[PeeBee]

Pictures or better yet, a video! Or, you know, it didn't happen!



I also want to put a airhorn someday.

Here you go. Been a bit busy getting the beast back on the road for tomorrows short camping break. I would have preferred to mount it under the bonnets, however there isn't a lot of room left! Its essentially blended from front view - until you are right on top of it - very load - honest loud. Unsure how submersible it is either so happy to get it a bit higher off the ground.Horn 1.jpgHorn 2.jpg

[PeeBee]

OK, trip went well, ended up at O'Tooles Campsite, between Aberfeldy and Walhalla in Vic, not a spot I would have picked however its a NPS sit and crisp and clean, drop dunny's and no litter anywhere, and we had the place to ourselves for 3 days.

No problems for the day, but the annoying squeal from front right brakes drove me to jack the car up and found the wheel brg a little loose, so off came the hub and found some oily soft gritty material in the small amount of grease on outside of the wheel bearing assy, stripped the assy apart, washed out and regreased, assembled then found I didn't have the wheel brg socket, so did the 'by hand method' and put it back together.

Headed home on Thursday morning, easy tracks out, car was running a little hotter than normal, and the interchiller setup not that flash. DRove home without incident until I got to my 'Intersection of Doom' about 500m from the house and took off at the lights to a squealing set of belts and water temps thru the roof. I nursed it to the final traffic light and of course had to wait the full cycle to get around, rolled into the driveway and the radiator dropped its guts, pissing out. Over temp and low water alarms screaming. Poked my head under the car and a solid jet coming out near the bottom hose/waterpump - FARK. Anyway, let it stop, cool down, emptied the fridge and drove it into the garage for a 2 day sulk.

Had a look Sat morning and a ruptured radiator hose. Hole about 30mm long near the clamp. The hoses were supplied 'new' and would have 20,000klm on them. Ragged tear and outer skin blown apart.

Pulled everything apart to get to the clamps and off it came, reached for the spare supplied by Brunswick at additional cost - NUP, different hole sizes. Supplied 50x 50 and needed to be 57x50. Began the chase around the 7 local spares jonts, no luck, two quoted me $496 each - so did the search on line and picked up two hoses for delivery by Wed this week, $60 each, same brand.

Had a wider look at the interchiller setup and the penny dropped about the heat. I had removed the foam hose insulation to get at the diesel return lines that was the earlier debacle and was unable to re-use them. The under bonnet of the chev is a highheat soak zone and I think the issue was un-insulated hoses - will re-insulate and test the theory. The A/C was definitely working.

Last on the list was the interference of the canopy door with the new Rugger Canopy. Canopy needs to be raised by circa 75mm to allow the canopy door to fully open and give clearance on the fridge - PIA task, have to undo the 20 bolts with Nulocs etc, takes 3 people, will be another 30 mins I reckon of grunting, but at least its better than cutting the arms - just need to check the garage door interface.Burst hose.jpgLeaking image.jpg

[PeeBee]

Think I got to the bottom of the amp meter failure. Another instance of failing to pay attention. The indications from previous instruments had the amp meter sitting at circa 120amps max, just after start up which then moderated to circa 65amps due to the water pumps I am running. What I noticed recently were readings in the 180 amp band - cant recall why, might have been running the direct feed off the alternator to the lithium bank during period of running the coffee machine??? Anyway, upon examination of the meter once it faulted to an output of 8, the scale was +/- 150amp, its a digital meter with a shunt. Another meter I have over-scaled. I have now replaced it with a different style unit that is rated to a 500amp span with a 500 amp shunt. I also found a 300amp unit with matching shunt, so should be ok now.

Going to sort out the blown hose tomorrow as well as the ammeter provided the outside temps are not in single digits. New hoses arrived, soluble oil coolant here together with an anti leak agent I am using for a leak I cant track down, only type that will effectively work with soluble oil - K-Seal from Supercheap, expensive, $35 per 200mls, but it works.

If enthused I might look at the extending of the new awning brackets to lift it 75mm. I could use the existing brckets but would mean less rows of mounting bolts and I am wary with the 35kg weight reacting thru 2 lines of bolts instead of 4 bolts - this will be another 6 hour struggle no doubt. Will be a welcome break from work I guess.

[mudnut]

Be very careful about what you put in your cooling system. Phil. I ran my Corolla for near on eight years with the occasional small dose of silver seal to plug a cracked copper brass radiator. That stuff never seemed to block any of the smaller water galleries in the engine. I've seen and heard of other people get overheating issue after using other stop leak products.

[Brissieboy]

If enthused I might look at the extending of the new awning brackets to lift it 75mm. I could use the existing brckets but would mean less rows of mounting bolts and I am wary with the 35kg weight reacting thru 2 lines of bolts instead of 4 bolts - this will be another 6 hour struggle no doubt. Will be a welcome break from work I guess.

I was not very happy with the supplied awning brackets for either of the awnings I have had so I made my own, for several reasons:
1. the brackets only secured to a single rail on the rack (Rhino-rack Pioneer) and I wanted it to spread over at least 2 - particularly for the 'free-standing' 270 degree awning
2. I needed it at a different height than the supplied ones would provide
3. not at all happy with the idea of a hex head bolt in the tiny channel on the awning so I made my own version using suitable stock cut to fit neatly into the channel with 1 or 2 bolts threaded and welded into it to spread the load over a much greater area
4. brackets did not look all that strong, maybe fit-for-purpose but I prefer a little more security with all those corrugations
Mine may be over-kill, but I've never had an issue with these.
This one is for my 30 Second 270 degree awning to show what I mean.bracket.JPG

[PeeBee]

Be very careful about what you put in your cooling system. Phil. I ran my Corolla for near on eight years with the occasional small dose of silver seal to plug a cracked copper brass radiator. That stuff never seemed to block any of the smaller water galleries in the engine. I've seen and heard of other people get overheating issue after using other stop leak products.

Thanks Craig, yes I am pretty picky but this stuff is the only gear compatible with the coolant I run and I have elected to not dose it today to see if the intermittent leaks were fixed with a revealing of a low level plug and also the hose. One negative with the soluble oil coolant is that some rubber compounds don't like it, and one hose developed a weeping sin so I contacted he manufacturer and they sent me a modified version. Perhaps the hose that let go was affected, nurse but point accepted.

[PeeBee]

I was not very happy with the supplied awning brackets for either of the awnings I have had so I made my own, for several reasons:
1. the brackets only secured to a single rail on the rack (Rhino-rack Pioneer) and I wanted it to spread over at least 2 - particularly for the 'free-standing' 270 degree awning
2. I needed it at a different height than the supplied ones would provide
3. not at all happy with the idea of a hex head bolt in the tiny channel on the awning so I made my own version using suitable stock cut to fit neatly into the channel with 1 or 2 bolts threaded and welded into it to spread the load over a much greater area
4. brackets did not look all that strong, maybe fit-for-purpose but I prefer a little more security with all those corrugations
Mine may be over-kill, but I've never had an issue with these.
This one is for my 30 Second 270 degree awning to show what I mean.bracket.JPG

I love your work and improvement. My brackets are rigid but you can see I also elected to tie them back to the top rail on the roof rack. I am not satisfied just yet the solution is complete, looking at additional bracing after I raise the awning to clear the canopy door, thanks for the details and pics and agree the hex bolt head n an aluminium track is a bit under-done, I might end up adopting your idea regards the wider track piece

[PeeBee]

Ok I swapped out the new hose, took all of 10 minutes, then 2 hrs to burp it, it will need more for sure. Attacked the ammeter and short story, all 3 in the bin, the two replacements both faulty, starting to look at something else. Have developed a weird fault with reverse lights and will do a seperate post Nader electrical, chewed up another day, insulated the cooling hoses again under the bonnet, makes a massive different to the cooling circuit