VR Ute

[brindo]

We've been looking after a friends place 30 kms out of town. So was a good opportunity to get some hours up. Only about 10kms is dirt.
This way on the way home only a few kms out of town. Veered off the bitumen and there was a huge shoulder with a pothole on the edge. Hit that at 90 km/hr. Inside edge of the rim is badly dinted.
If nothing else twas a lesson in how to change a tyre.

[vlad01]

Yeah that could have ended badly, I know what these cars are like on loose dirt/gravel, and shoulders are one of the worst areas for this loose crap, the back end of the car wants to lead the front at the drop of a hat. Like driving on a field of marbles! It's actually far easier and predicable to drive on black ice in these cars than on gravel/unsealed roads, I think it's because they are so light for their footprint.

[brindo]

Just had a better look in the light of day. Back wheel is damaged as well. Put some air in it and instantly started leaking.

One thing I hopefully have drummed into her is that not to use the cruise control in the rain or on the dirt. Being a ute that is light in the rear end, its all too easy to loose control.

[brindo]

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The back wheel is a bit better, and while the tyre looks ok it doesn’t hold air.
I was in a world of hurt trying to source another set of rims. When you’re not looking for them they seem to be everywhere. When you need them, there seems to be nothing out there so just parked the ute up. The date for the driving test is fast approaching and this ute is the only manual we own. Thankfully a cousin of mine answered the distress call and she has sourced a set of VR SS wheels for us. So yes these are a 15” wheel, but given the lesson we have just learnt with low profile tyres and the roads out here it’s a better choice for a learner driver than the 17” Senator wheels were. Tyres are reasonable but only 205s. No centre caps, and they seem hard to procure.

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I also managed to get hold a set of 2nd hand LS injectors. Whacked them in as they were but 2 were stuck. So ran them through the sonocleaner and they cleaned up fine. As the sonoclean is too big, I just fill it with water, then sit the injectors in a glass beaker full of brakleen in the middle and it still seems to work fine. Fitted the injectors back in and it’s a different car. As the clips no longer fit, and I was worried about the injectors popping out of the rail, I ran some sump gasket washers against the manifold to space up the injectors and keep them in position. Its back on to batch fire and the tuning seems to make a lot more sense.

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