Meet my 90, and share the adventure.

Made an Aarken-Faarken
It has been a few months in the making, but I've finally made an aarken-faarken! Refer to AULRO thread HERE, if you are not familiar with this!

I was given some truck drums, and was going to make a 3-drum 'pot belly' design with air vents, a flue, and a hotplate on top (even sourced a bit of 20mm plate for this very purpose!), but ended up going for an easier, bolt-together fire pit style.

Turned out OK!

Specs:
2x truck drums, inch-thick cast steel, approx 40kg ea, approx 450mm dia. Used 2 styles for aesthetics. 1 is ribbed for her pleasure.
4x 7/8"x2" bolts and nuts to suit.
3x strategic cuts with the plasma at 100A to make 3 legs (for stability on uneven ground)
1x 405mm dia circle of 5mm expanded mesh (sits in line with the lowest rib of the combustion chamber).
Might be painted. Might not. Stay tuned!



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Pics of the finished rocket stove. Added the trivet this afternoon- 40 x 3mm flat bar with some strategic cuts (grinder surgery) to ger the job done.
The combustion chamber is one was 75x75 SHS in a 2mm wall. Was gal coated, but I ground it off the outside, and the roaring inferno inside should deal with the rest :firedevil:


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Legs and trivet stow neatly in the intake port.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...017/12/601.jpg

Noice!

Very noice!
Are you marketing these?

Burn baby burn.:firedevil:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by DiscoMick

Very noice!
Are you marketing these?

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Not at this stage mick. I might make multiples of mk2 and sell one or two off if there is demand.

Well... how time flies. Another 4 months down the... uh... drain... and this is what has happened.
I’ll throw a few posts together to outline the comings and goings of land rover ownership, and land rover related activities:



December 2017

Did some wheeling with brother bear around Xmas.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...018/04/338.jpg


Had some good fun... until this happened.
Love me some high-end English engineering!
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...018/04/339.jpg


Went on a boat. Great weather for some boating.
(No comments Billy! I’m a rookie boat person, AKA land lubber. I was almost sea sick!
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...018/04/340.jpg


Rocket stove works real well. Now lives in the back of the 130 DC above...
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...018/04/341.jpg

I’m still to make my mythical MKII version. I think I’ll go some heavier wall steel, not the gal coated stuff- It’ll weight 3x more, but will hopefully be an improvement on heat flow up the chimney. A downside is it’ll also have 3x more thermal mass... and cool much slower. We’ll see how it goes, and I’ll keep the punters here informed.



Jan 2018
Put a door on the ‘shed’. It’s still full of crap, and I’m still waiting for the shed fairy to drop a big 4-bay job with mezzanine floor and hoist in the back yard.
I’ll keep praying to zombie Jeebus until it happens.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...018/04/342.jpg


Wire brushed the Aarken Faarken, and gave it a few coats of old engine oil. Works OK. I tried to cook it in:
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...018/04/343.jpg

The coating persists, but does wash off after excessive rain / garden sprinkler, leaving a mild surface tarnish. Not bad for a free coating.


My new hobby is to drink white Russians and watch the Big Lebowski.
Not your idea of a good night in? Well shut the heck up, Donny.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...018/04/344.jpg

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I also killed the work car (Temporarily)
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...018/04/346.jpg

Dumped its coolant thru a burst metal sika’d flange joint near the thermostat. It lived to drive another day.



Feb 2018

I herd U liek Dags?!
I came to look at a caravan, left with a dag.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...018/04/347.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...018/04/348.jpg

Staffy X jack Russell. A love child, a pretty cool little doggo. Vaccinations are all good come late march, so definitely some 4x4 doggo action coming to an AULRO post near you soon!


We also sold our boat- a little NS14 skiff, after not having sailed it for 3 years. Keep your eyes out for Mind Games at TASC on Lake Macquarie, if you are into that kinda stuff.

Spent the majority of Feb still catching up on the odd bit of house painting and boring garden stuff.

The landy has been getting a workout on the bunnings runs getting timber, potting mix, paint etc.

Part deux.

March 2018
Recently, I’ve been doing a bit of travel for work. It can be great fun, but can also be a bit of a chore some days.
In my travels, I spotted a very rare sight at Novotel Parramatta- A Rangie offroad!!!
Much flex, very wow!
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...018/04/349.jpg


Booze Revooze!
I can recommend these suckers. Not a bad drop. 9%, 500ml, bourbon, cola. What could go wrong?!
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...018/04/350.jpg

I’m also waging war on the local feral cats which have infested the rail corridor near home.
Please be a responsible pet owner and keep your animals locked up. There are many people out this way that would just use a bullet to keep the numbers down... Rekt.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...018/04/351.jpg

Spoiler alert. It works. 1 down (and to the pound) about 5 to go.



April 2018

Zedfest 2018
Took the mighty 300zx to Armidale for a Z car event over easter.
My planning for Melrose was lax, and the cooma event seemed to have sold out before I’d given it any serious thought. Maybe next time, eh?
Took a cruise from Armidale to Ebor along the waterfall way. Lots of nice roads out there. Much fun.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...018/04/352.jpg


Also took a trip to Nundle for the annual Nundle ‘go for gold’ chinese easter festival, which celebrates the Chinese influence on the town over the Gold rush years post 1892.
Got to see some very cool dragon dancing. I’m getting cultured!

I was later informed that I’m highly disrespectful and bring dishonour to my family, as it’s a dancing lion, and the group presenting it was the Yau Kung Mun association, not the shaolin kung foo monks as I first postulated. Live and learn I guess!

https://youtu.be/zt5CSFg1sIA

https://youtu.be/rJ_9wUFID8w

While we were in the neighbourhood, took doggo for a visit to her mum / siblings.
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Rounded out April with some DIY action- landy hauled lumber and potting mix (sadly not goat poo as defender legend has it), and built a garden bed thingo.
I’m trying to grow stuff.... for you know... reasons.

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Also dabbled in some witchcraft, AKA 2-stroke engines.

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Bought a whipper snipper for the new patch of dirt I am custodian of.

...and got a victa silver streak mower for free off one of the facebook local classified pages. I was told ‘the spark plug threads are buggered’ and I was super keen to crack out the helicoils and have a shot at it on a low-dollar project before I’m forced to try it on something more valuable one day ...

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Anyway, turned out it was a few issues, and I gave the old girl a birthday:
1) Ran a carbie rebuild kit thru it- the carbie front seal was ****ing fuel out.
2) New spark plug - because for a few bucks, why not
3) Pulled the engine and inspected the piston compression (ghetto hands over ports and turned by hand)
4) Pulled the head- no play in the crank big/small bearings or rubber bands or whatever holds those darn contraptions together.
5) Jigged with the throttle a bit, and tapped out the air filter, which was in decent nick
6) New fuel
7) Soon to add new blades
8) Will need to do something with the cam-lock bolts which actuate the folding handles... or a M6x40mm bolt and nut may work...


Does anyone remember the thread called “****ing cyclists”?
Well I added to the anger on 08.04.2018, helping out with the pedal the peel cycling challenge around the Tamworth region.
Had approx 230 riders take one of 4 courses up to 100km in length thru the Tamworth and surrounding localities, all raising money for local charities.
I swagged at the event the night before on security detail, and up at sparrow's fart the next day to see al the MAMIL's (and some not too bad sheilas) take to the roadways.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...018/04/358.jpg

The Landy was commandeered for escort duties, a job at which its slowness, boxy-ness, and low gearing was great for.
The mule, piloted by the other half, diligently plodded along behind the recreational group doing a 15km ride.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...018/04/359.jpg


So yes, not a very 4wd intensive 4mths, but nevertheless, the landy has been earning its keep.

Such folly.[bighmmm]
But at least you attend to your thread, unlike some unmentionable layabouts.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by cuppabillytea

Such folly.[bighmmm]
But at least you attend to your thread, unlike some unmentionable layabouts.

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Did I even start a thread on our humble steeds?