billybunters - from a bmw z4 to a mx5 se

[billybunter]

near cobra -more goats

[billybunter]

back through nyngan nsw and the river is still in flood. caravan park is underwater too

[billybunter]

plenty of action going on at the cotton gin

[billybunter]

Closer to narromine the canola crops were in full bloom. a month earlier these were just lush green paddocks

[billybunter]

wellington caves

[billybunter]

wild bit of art at the turn off entrance to the caves

[billybunter]

end of the trip!

8000 klm later and back home. oil and filter change. after all there was a notice in alice springs -no oil changes in the caravan park so that ruined that and I had to wait it out.

I plan to give a more detailed summary of the trip with a bit of interesting info to follow shortly

[billybunter]

end of the trip!

8000 klm later and back home. oil and filter change. after all there was a notice in alice springs -no oil changes in the caravan park so that ruined that and I had to wait it out.

I plan to give a more detailed summary of the trip with a bit of interesting info to follow shortly

[billybunter]

SUMMARY OF THE TRIP


THE TRIP
well it actually almost never happened. part one started off alright and off we went but I ended up in a motel for two days in charleville qld with a severe migraine headache. things didn't look like improving so I aborted the trip 1000 klm into it and by the time I returned home -that was 2,000 klm gone. about 4 or 5 days later I felt better so had another crack at it and all went well and the rest is history

THE CAR

apart from the work originally carried out on the motor I really didn't do anything to it prior to the trip. oil and filter change and that was about it.

SPARE PARTS

I carried the old fan belts as extra spares plus petrol filter spark plugs couple engine sensors which I knew would be hard to get in the back country plus oil filter and tools. never used any except the wheel brace to check the wheel nuts prior to the open limit runs.

INTERESTING BITS

taxi style bead seat covers. yeah some would remember these in the cabs and almost a laugh. bough them at super cheap for $20ea no joke they worked extremely well and comfortably when in the seat 6 hours daily so 5 stars

delrin door blocks purchased from ebay $75 best investment ever and hold the doors rock steady. anyone who says they don't work -try one over a cattle grid at 200 kph they work 5 stars

head up display took a little while to get used to but for the $50 outlay pretty good. only real problem a 3 second delay in reading when acceleration in the car. much better with my suunto gps watch as only a second delay. once you get used to it -its the future for sure. I rarely looked at the speedometer

THE POWER UPGRADE AND THE 300 HORSES

I was on what was classed as a safe tune for the trip so wasn't really running what it is probably capable of. main reason for that is fuel and the quality of the fuel. only 600 klm into the trip at wilcannia I struck the first hurdle when the petrol station only had 91 unleaded. lucky a local mentioned a back yard type bowser station down a dirt road and I got 95 there.
that happened several times on the run . lucky I was carrying a few spare bottles of octane booster to get me through the droughts. even at barrow creek nt I pulled up at the 95 pump and did a top up and then the owner told the wife it doesn't matter which bowser you pick it arrives in the same tanker. ...that's $1.92 litre

PROBLEMS

I never really had any major car problems at all. I incurred one and one only. I came out of the open limit speed section and I had been moving it pretty bloody quick and I do mean quick and I dropped to the 130 zone and it felt slow a few klm later I felt a miss from the motor. the fuel gauge was low and it had done 350 in the open section so I dropped to a 90 klm cruise.
about 15 klm later i filled it with petrol at Wycliffe wells and on start up it stumbled a bit erratically and the idle rose to 1500 rpm and that was it.
from then on it started from cold as normal but once hot it idled at 1500 from then on. never effected the car or performance and has run like it for 3000 klm or better now. apart from the high idle issue no drama. still not sure if it was a combo of speed and hot weather at 20 plus degrees which set it off.

COPS

I think it would be pretty foolish thinking if you took off inland you'd see no cops they were always about and best bet is not to speed. if its zoned 110 I did 110 or 130 I did 130 and if its open limit and drive to conditions I observe that too.
I saw stationary camera near dubbo and narromine. motorists being booked at bourke and a highway patrol unit 100 klm out of charleville booking a landcruiser. funny thing about that one I was getting petrol prior to coming home from trip one when he passed by the service station.
I was about 5 minutes behind him so I knew he was ahead of me. at around the 70 klm mark I said to the wife I wonder if that patrol car just went straight to cunnamulla but 20 minutes later he was on the return side doing his work.
same again at broken hill. here we were 100 klm from broken hill in the paddock photographing wildflower when this highway patrol came down the road and passes the car. then a minute or so later cruises slowly past looking about and see us in the paddock and pisses off. I certainly put my clothes back on quick another surprise in south aust some of the very small towns we ventured through I saw paddy wagons running radar

NEAR MISSES

coober pedy would be the most dangerous place to drive anywhere. the miners don't give a stuff about road rules. their cars are un roadworthy and I wouldn't be surprised if most are unregistered or most likely uninsured. on out first entry into the town I saw this idiot coming pretty quick to the t intersection so I slowed right down. no indicator he just cut the corner and if I had not been looking - front of the mazda gone for sure. he just kept driving and couldn't care less
same again when leaving the town at 110kph and the idiot pull out in front of you and drive at 70klm for 300 metres then with no indicators he shoot off again into the opal fields. same again on the return home. sitting on 110kph and this idiot decides he will pull out of the fields with trailer in tow certainly was glad to get out of that place

OPEN SPEED LIMIT SECTION

not as easy place to drive as one would think. sure you can drive quick say under 160 kph and you can do that easy and anywhere along it. its when you decide you want to up the pace it get more difficult and that's when the drive to conditions comes into play.
it's busy out there or both times I've been there it's been busy. grey nomads and hundreds of them and sitting in their 4wd towing their caravans or motorhomes in the open limit and all in indian file. plus all saving a bit of petrol. yep all cruising along in the open 4 or 5 at a time sitting on 70 or 80 kph. plus the odd one at 60 kph too doesn't that give you the shits! I would really like to carry a broom and shove it
worst of all you'll catch them on a hill - yes there are hills out there too. plus they don't believe in spacing their vehicles so it's difficult to get past them for some -well not all and once over the hill and all is clear and one engages the 300 neddies you get rid of them all pretty darn quick and like rabbits in a plague they are up around the next corner -there back
although I have dríven the car 8,000klm in total and 750 klm in this open speed section it might surprise you all but I have never hit the rev limiter even once!

CAREFUL IN THE OUTBACK

I think it would be pretty foolish to get out here and carry on silly and rev the guts out of a car or worse. if you did any damage it appears there are very few workshops capable of fixing anything. once you cross into the northern territory the first petrol station inside the border sells petrol and food and that's it-same with the next then nothing to alice springs. so that's a 300klm tow.
alice springs side you have ti-tree and its more a gas station then Wycliffe wells again a gas station and then tenant creek and there your mechanic. so alice to tenant 550 klm
I bet either place would sting you heavily and none of the smaller places could fix your car properly anyway. I remember last year and that $250 gearbox oil change at alice springs
so I think it's not the place to get out and do a 0 to 100 kph or better or burn out a clutch etc or it could end up pretty expensive. I didn't even see any place that did tyre repairs so its about petrol food accommodation and move on

LOOKING AHEAD

not sure exactly what I will do with the car yet. first off sort out the idle issue I suppose. after that I might just park it for a while. I think from last years trip to this years upgrade work it only did a couple of hundred klm -so its used to being parked besides I've had enough of driving for a while. there's not many factory se's running that power in aust so that's something for me to think about. selling it is one thing and if I want to replace it again I know its a pretty big bucket of cash
I may seriously think about doing this trip again next year too but not with the mazda. I think I need a challenge and if I do I will take the z3 that will give me all the challenge I need. it still has a pretty good top end speed so not slow and looks the part so I will see what happens.
upon my return home my birds looked good and only a few died so I think within 2 or 3 months I will cash some of the young a buy a new motorbike and that will keep me occupied during the summer period and work out how much prep it would take to get that z3 to hit the nt in 2017

[KevGoat]

Epic trip! Great write up. Pretty good only the idle issue considering. Pretty sure Dann will sort that easy, and maybe gain those extra few hp now you're back around decent fuel

I had similar issues with tourists (at lower speeds obviously) down the Great Ocean Road earlier this year not just clogging the road but some of the crazy dangerous stuff was mind boggling. Japanese or Chinese pulling up in the middle of the road to take photos of cows in a field! Others driving about 20/30kph while sticking their cameras out the window videoing as they drove along! We saw three people driving on wrong side of the road, one pulled out of a side parking area and came straight at us!!! I use to love driving that road, hated it this time, couldn't get away from it quick enough and won't be back.

So is the Z3 changing colour prior to the trip as well ...

[billybunter]

kevgoat asked

So is the Z3 changing colour prior to the trip as well

I will think it over while on my coffee break!

[Daffy]

Epic trip mate and a great experience by the sounds of it!!! I did a similar run in the mid 90's in a 77 combi camper (sorry, I was one of them pains in the asses doing 90 in a no speed limit zone..... That was post built v8 days when I thought I was over fast cars- HA!!!!). Your experience whets the appitite for a seroius road trip soon on my part buddy

[KevGoat]

I did a similar run in the mid 90's in a 77 combi camper (sorry, I was one of them pains in the asses doing 90 in a no speed limit zone.....

We had one of the earlier '71 1.6L combi campers in the early eighties and can't recall managing to even get it to 90 down hill with a tail wind

[Daffy]

We had one of the earlier '71 1.6L combi campers in the early eighties and can't recall managing to even get it to 90 down hill with a tail wind [/quote]

Kevgoat, It belongs to a mate who still has it after all these years, and is in the process of the 100 year re build! Hes left it to me in his will.........Im working the psych edge to get him to fit it up with a Porsche 3.5 turbo, just in case we hit the NT open roads with it again....... Im not wanting to piss off billybunter should I happen to catch him hooning up behind in the dub's rear view mirror

[KevGoat]

Ah wow! Ours was pretty rusty when we sold it. One of those vehicles with so much character and so many stories we've always missed it. The sliding door fell off first time we went camping in it



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