Build Woody

[majdomo]

Camp debrief! Rig was all good, literally zero issues the whole trip. Huge win there and lots of great memories made.

Gear needs some tweaking, though. Bought a Scepter 20L water jug to replace the square 4 gal Aquatainer. I've replaced the spigot on the Aquatainer, but it's very hard to turn and makes a mess. Best to go with the good stuff. Also need a small cast iron pan for the kitchen box.

Exped Megamat is.. just ok, which for the price is disappointing. It was better after letting some air out of it, but the swag mattress still beats it hands down for comfort. Egg crate foam search is on, may have to talk into making a cover for it.

This was also the first trip in warm weather sleeping in the back. A Heep in camp had these nice mesh screens to pull over the rear windows, so you can sit inside with the windows open and keep the bugs out. There are generic ones out there, but I may just make them from bulk door screen and magnets. I'm also wanting a rectangular bag, or maybe just a duvet / blanket. I just couldn't get comfortable in my warm-weather mummy bag.

Daughter was happy with the Luggable Loo and privacy tent, USFS vault toilets are .

As I reread, most of what I want I just need to either make or get second-hand. I have been most disappointed in the highest-tech stuff. Maybe that's not so surprising....

 

[timexlost]

I bought a Megamat last year for 60 sleeping and I agree for the price it's disappointing. The thing fits like it was made for the Land Cruiser though. I wish it would deflate a bit smaller, It would be nice to fit it in one of the drawers for quick trips that don't require bringing much stuff.

 

[majdomo]

I bought a Megamat last year for 60 sleeping and I agree for the price it's disappointing. The thing fits like it was made for the Land Cruiser though. I wish it would deflate a bit smaller, It would be nice to fit it in one of the drawers for quick trips that don't require bringing much stuff.

Agree - the fit couldn't be better for the 60/62. It's snug up against the wheel wells and makes loud squeaky noises when you turn over, which I do, a lot. Mitigated this with dirty socks between the mattress and wheel well, lol. And it is fairly huge when it packs down. Just guessing but I think there's a lot light foam inside, which would explain both the lack of compression when packed and lack of support in use, but it does inflate fast.

Spent yesterday gathering, new Lodge 8" cast iron was properly seasoned with about 3/4# of bacon this morning and got some bulk window screen from the hardware store. Rare earth button magnets on the way from Amazon this morning, will cut and test those later today. Also found a very cool vintage Coleman rectangular bag on eBay. Next is that egg crate foam. There's a growing stack of gear in the garage to move down the road, including the $90 6-person CORE tent we used exactly once when camping with the in the 80 5 years ago.

 

[majdomo]

Morning trail.

Not much to report other than the 60 is in a great spot. Oil changes on the 3rd gen T4R and BMW 2002, plus a coolant change, fresh tires, and an alignment on the 2002 ahead of my annual guys' driving trip in a couple of weeks.

 

[majdomo]

Been a little while, haven't had much to report as I'm driving the rig a bit less. $6.50 gas will do that on a rig that gets 11 mpg.

However, I drove it to an offsite on Thursday, started fine when cold but had a really hard time getting it started after it had sat for about 45 minutes and lots of sooty grossness once it did finally start up. My carb fan had been on the blink, though, and it had finally given up coming on after driving about 2 weeks ago. It's been hot in LA again, and I put in some cheaper gas (because $6.50 gas...) which probably had been sitting around a while, so that all added up to an embarrassing cloud of rich smoke and a lot of carby problems starting in front of the consultants from out of town.

Started poking into it yesterday and this literally fell off in my hand, from the carb temp sensor.

I know that grounding that one wire will make it come on regardless of temp, which is fine. But the sensor itself is ok, and the rest of the wiring was fine, so just put a new spade connector on the end and sent it. Works great now and easy starts after sitting heat soaked. Of course, I also then had to troubleshoot the vacuum leak I created by pulling off one of the vacuum hoses to a sensor or another in the process of fixing the wire. It runs nice and smooth now and any vacuum leak like that is easy to spot when idling.

 

[Spike Strip]

Do yourself a favor and replace that length of wire from the Thermosensor to the connector with some high-temp insulated or 'Oven Wire'. You'll never have to replace again.

This is all I could find with a quick search, but you should be able to find a foot or two for less. ebay link I think McMaster and Amz has it too.

Also, there are still some aftermarket motors for the Carb fan, if it's not working, but most of the time taking it apart and either replacing brushes or cleaning will fix it.

 

[majdomo]

Do yourself a favor and replace that length of wire from the Thermosensor to the connector with some high-temp insulated or 'Oven Wire'. You'll never have to replace again.

This is all I could find with a quick search, but you should be able to find a foot or two for less. ebay link I think McMaster and Amz has it too.

Also, there are still some aftermarket motors for the Carb fan, if it's not working, but most of the time taking it apart and either replacing brushes or cleaning will fix it.

Good call. I recognize this stuff from when I replaced the igniter on the oven. In fact I might have the old igniter kicking around in the garage somewhere, I'll have to take a look. IIRC the wire may not be long enough but it might be OK if I take out the other side of the connector and just solder it up permanently, or move the connection closer to the junction with the wiring harness. Worth checking.

I didn't get super deep into it, but I didn't bother taking the sensor out as it looks like the bracket is welded to the EGR pipe, which would have meant trying to get the EGR fitting off the manifold. Possible, but I took the easy way out and then went inside for a nap.

 

[Spike Strip]

There are two bolts holding the bracket to the intake (or should be), and the sensor is screwed into a captured nut on the bracket. It's all removable. Then there's a 8mm nut that holds the spade to the sensor.

 

[majdomo]

There are two bolts holding the bracket to the intake (or should be), and the sensor is screwed into a captured nut on the bracket. It's all removable. Then there's a 8mm nut that holds the spade to the sensor.

View attachment 4231635

Very helpful! That means I can just undo the wire without having to take the sensor off the bracket On mine that bracket is definitely welded to the pipe that goes to the EGR. I removed the two 12mm bolts to the manifold and the bracket stayed put.

Think I threw out the oven igniter, but haven't emptied the shop trash, so I may be self-dumpster diving lol

 

[Spike Strip]

... I may be self-dumpster diving lol

If the FBI can do it, so can you !