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weeds
26th September 2005, 08:31 PM
Hey

A short overview, I will do a detailed trip report in the SA section soon, before anybody askes no pics yet as I'm still a 35mm user.

Got into brisbane late yesterday afternoon from doing the Simpson Desert, Oodnadatta and Strzeleki Tracks.

Unfortunlatly my wife Megs could not make the trip due to docotors orders so I my dad came along meaning we only had a short time frame '16 days'. My two year old stayed home with mum however my five year old came along as the back seat driver.

16 days
6830km
789L diesel

Fuel consumption
-Trip Average 8.6km/L or 11.6L/100km
-Best 9.3km/L or 10.7L/100km
-Worst 7.5km/L or 13.3L/100km
-Highest fuel price $1.75/L Mt Dare

Land Rovers Spotted along the way
Defenders 17
Discoveries 36
Rangies 8

Mechanical Hic-ups
Day 6 Clutch Master (had kit on board 'thanks MR Automotive for talking me into taking one' rebuilt at Mt Dare).
Day 11 heater box leaking (by-passed heater)
Rear tyres copped a lot of damage, tried differant trye pressures, maybe I should have travelled the high speed trackes in 4wd.

Simpson Crossing
I had a nervous night sleep in birdsville after having just had the fuel pump modded and two days of poor fuel consumption 7.5 and 7.6km/L along with watching a heap of other 4wd entering the caravan park with a heap of jerries on there roof racks. Although I was carrying 165L of diesel the fuel usage figures for day 2 and 3 was playing on my mind. After checking the distance and taking into account my fuel usage would increase on the sand I settled for buying another jerry in the morning. Thank god the fuel station didn't open till 8am as we drove past a 7am couldn't wait as a 12 vehical tag along was leaving at 8am amd I didn't want to be caught behind them, in the end I could have chance a double crossing with the fuel on board. We were driving into a hell of a head wind on day 2 and 3 cannot believe it knock the fuel economy around so much. I was starting to think my solar panel as a wind break was a dud.
Birdsville - QAA - French - Knolls - Rig- Mt Dare
648km
78L Diesel
8.3km/L

oops, a bit longer than i intended

hiline
26th September 2005, 08:39 PM
all went fairly smooth then style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/laugh.gif style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/laugh.gif style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/laugh.gif

always good news

welcome back :wink:

Grizzly_Adams
26th September 2005, 08:40 PM
Brilliant - well done :-)

Great info too, can't wait for the pics 8)

Captain_Rightfoot
27th September 2005, 11:38 AM
Great to hear you made it back alive. Can't wait for the photos too. Did you pick up your confluence along the way?

VladTepes
27th September 2005, 11:47 AM
Welcome back ya bast.....

No really - glad to hear you had a great time.

Can't wait for full report and photos - but I will anyway. style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif

Redback
27th September 2005, 11:52 AM
Good stuff, a great place the desert eh, can't wait for the pics either.

Those roads are a killer on tyres though, what pressures did you settle on, i found 24psi the best on our Disco.

Disco300Tdi
27th September 2005, 12:34 PM
Welcome home Weeds

Not bad out there eh..

weeds
27th September 2005, 04:38 PM
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE</div><div class='quotemain'>Not bad out there eh..[/b][/quote]
Yep enjoyed it heaps, would love to get back out there, it will have to wait til i cover other parts of Aus. If i do other parts of SA or NT I would do the simpson again on the way.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE</div><div class='quotemain'>what pressures did you settle on, i found 24psi the best on our Disco.[/b][/quote]
I crossed the simpson on 25psi and after a few days mucking around with tyre pressures I went with 30psi all round, I though 25 was a little low for doing 90km/h on the trackes

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE</div><div class='quotemain'>Did you pick up your confluence along the way?[/b][/quote]
Yep visited 26 135, after sneeking onto a property and driving 6km across as I pulled up there were a fresh set of tyre marks so I will have to wait and see. I was going to visit 26 136 even though another guy indicated he was visiting it on the web, I still had a heap off fuel on board and drove off the rig track south for about 2km just to see how tough it was making your own track. Now I know what you guys went through. I ended up skipping it as I did my clutch master cylinder in the morning and the fact of going off the main track with no other cars in support.

George130
27th September 2005, 07:11 PM
Sound like you had fun. Makes the national gathering next year more appealing.

gruntfuttock
27th September 2005, 07:18 PM
Good to see you had a good time.

Great to see you back onboard. Look forward to seeing your write up, WITH pics 8)

Hope the wife is better.

DiscoTDI
28th September 2005, 04:29 PM
welcome back, cant wait for the pics style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif

Ace
28th September 2005, 07:16 PM
Welcome back weeds, glad to hear you had a good trip, if you want to, do up a trip report with some photos and i will put the trip on land rover ace. Matt

weeds
29th September 2005, 03:12 PM
Hey Ace

When I finish the trip report will be happy to have it posted on your site as well.

Kelvin

seqfisho
29th September 2005, 03:32 PM
Welcome back Kelvin


Sounds like you had a great trip and the turbo adjustments went well.

weeds
29th September 2005, 03:59 PM
Hey Segfisho

Fuel pump adjustment, when I dropped all the spare parts back to MR Automotive on turesday I let them know my fuel usage and commented on the amount of black smokes she blow when under load, they were not happy with the outcome so I have booked her back in for a minor adjustment at no cost, they will do it while i wait so I'm not sure what they are going to do??? Hopefully less smoke.

Ace
29th September 2005, 05:34 PM
Originally posted by weeds
Hey Ace

When I finish the trip report will be happy to have it posted on your site as well.

Kelvin

style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif Good stuff.

What did you have done to your fuel pump etc? Matt

weeds
30th September 2005, 10:02 PM
MR Automotive reckon the 300tdi at set a little retarded from factory, they retime the pump, clean the injectots and adjust the tappets. its much more fun to drive now. They are not happy with the outcome as I didn't get a chance to put many miles on her before the simpson so I think they are just going to adjust back the fuel a bit, must be simple as I can wait for them to do it. I don't think there is an exact setting a bit of trial and error. Best $300 I have spent, it was really helpful crossing the sand dunes.