Ulysses

Sneaked in a trip to Wales on Sunday. Dave kindly offered to put me up so went down on Saturday night (4hr drive with stops). Nearly ran out of fuel on the motorway. Turns out 145 miles per tank is all it manages

Sunday was up early and away with Dave & Alan to meet the rest of the group for a breakfast and very nice it was too. Brett made an unexpected appearance as well. Sadly Dave & Alan had panhard bracket problems after the second lane of the day and had to retire. The rest of us carried on topgear style :laugh:

A few pics and vids for everyone...

And the videos (apologies if your Welsh and hear me trying to pronounce place names!)

Moelfre 1


Moelfre 2


Moelfre 3


Pant Idda 1


Pant Idda 2


Glan Aled to Mynydd Y Gyrt


Dyffryn Aled


Foel farm


Segrwyd


Nantglyn 1


Nantglyn 2


Nantglyn 3


Nantglyn 4


Bryn Ocyn


Cae-gwyn to Maes Cadarn


Pen-y-maes


Bron Fari


Bryn Isaf farm


Nant


Gwernymynydd

Looks like a nice day for it. 145 miles to the tank, does it have a hole in the bottom?

Might as well have a hole in it Lambert. Some investigating needed as to why its so bad. From the fuel light coming on to it running on fumes was about 20 miles. Most of our group gets about 180ish miles to a tank in their modified machines, so 145 at motorway speeds isnt that bad really.

Cause is probably sticking brake caliper sliders and sheer weight. The cage, bumper and winch probably weigh 150-200 kilos so maybe a diet is in order :laugh:

Soon on the horizon will be the throttle body, ecu and exhaust jobs which might improve things (or at least thats what im telling myself!). And theres some new improved front wheel arch plastics from Keithy coming this week along with some MK1 LWB vitara front calipers & brackets to hopefully allow me to use the vented diesel Jimny discs ive had in the shed for ages. Plenty still to do on a project that was supposed to be done :laugh:

Bah! Yes, looked like a great day... shame I missed most of it

(I limped home after again ripping the front panhard to chassis mount off again)

Should not the additional performance of your extra 500 cc be compensating for the extra weight? Our gv is a minimum of half a tonne heavier than Dreadnaught but even with the 2.4 it's getting high 30s mpg on a run. I know it's not a direct comparison but having the big motor definitely helps hide the additional weight.

Riccy that looks like an awesome day out. I've just relocated to South Wales (from Newcastle) so I'll be getting to grips with the area (North Wales looks like a good day out!)

Lambert; Not sure there then. I need to do some more digging into the high fuel problem. Putting my money on brake related problems currently.

Reason2doubt; You should try and get on one of Brett & Dave's outings. Be prepared for extremely scratchy stuff a lot of the time. Theres so many lanes in North Wales. Have a look on Trailwise2 and its staggering how many there are so close together. Its a close one, but I am 50/50 on which I prefer ~ the lakes or north wales. Both have epic views and lanes

A couple of easy jobs for this afternoon...

Osram nightbreaker laser bulbs in and working. Cant tell from the pic but the osram is in the passenger side and normal still in drivers...



Then onto the new front wheel arches courtesy of Keithy. The ones on it were early model rejects I got from James Priestly, however they didnt fit well at the front end:



So I badgered Keith into making and posting me a pair of the newer ones to fit on:


Which look perfect now

I added some plastic trim to the inside because I was finding a lot of mud getting stuck inside the wheel arch and door hinge area:





So the question 'do i need arch liners' for more standard Jimnys is YES you do. The amount of mud pulled out filled a bucket per side. That lot is extra weight and rust potential a Jimny just doesnt need!

Finally, I couldn't remember if I had mentioned about sorting out a better mount for the Fox shock remote reservoir, but I found that an exhaust clamp was the perfect thing to bolt it to the side of the spring mount:



The Fox shocks are excellent. very happy with the ride and control they give now. Comfy on the bumpy stuff too. The Terrafirma bump stops are working well, but the adjuster collar has started to corrode pretty badly already. A complaint email will be heading their way. I don't expect them to look that shabby after only a month

Looks better.....surprised you still talk to me with those fancy shocks on

Time off work so plenty to get on with

Started making a box for behind the seats for the much loved subwoofer and some storage.

Made up sections of plywood and router'd grooves for it to join together with much test fitting in & out...

















Managed to get a start on the carpet as well. Should provide some useful space for odds and ends, as well as the sub. Undecided if the cutout spaces need a door or not and wondering about trying to integrate an arm rest to extend between the front seats for comfort reasons.

More tomorrow probably...

Built in sub back massager for them long trips
I like it.......I would have considered a 12v fridge in the centre