Procrastination FTW

I should be concentrating on visas and shipping because they need attention, but it’s so much easier to just play with the car. I did receive my ‘Letter of Invitation’ or Visa Support document which is cool, but I’m becoming increasingly confident we won’t get the multi-entry business visa. I’ve pretty much resigned to the fact that we’ll have to apply for our second Russian visa whilst we’re on the road. No idea how to do that, but it’ll have to happen or we’ll miss out on Kazakhstan.

Fuel Economy:
So a whilst Cassie was at Russian lessons, I drove to Cooma and back which worked out to be a perfect 200KM round trip. I got 12.8L/100 which is fine considering it’s got the gear on the roof, bulbar/winch and bigger wheels… oh and done nearly 250,000KM in it’s life.
Also, the road isn’t perfectly level and still. It should give us 1450KM of range in ideal conditions – or 1200KM to play it safe.

Water leak:
For a while now (perhaps since I’ve owned it) there has been a leak somewhere that allows water onto the passenger foot well after rains. Small inconvenience sure (especially since it has vinyl floors), but what it represents isn’t cool.

It will eventually cause rust which isn’t cool. It looks like it’s been happening for a long time. Whenever the HVAC is on recirculate, it smells fowl - like a wet dog. I suspect I will remove it and give it a good clean and replace filters.
I tracked down the leak to one of the rubber grommets. Where cables have been pushed through, it’s torn only slightly but seems to be the leak. Without removing the batteries and cradle it’s impossible to get a good go at fixing it.
My new friend Sikaflex-227 got a work out and hopefully has fixed the problem. Although I can’t get a real good look at it without removing the batteries, hopefully it’s big enough to divert the water around the hole at least.

It’s virtually impossible to get at it from inside the car. It’s really high up behind the glove box. Then again, if I have to take out the air conditioner, it may get close enough. I also made a makeshift grommet that was mysteriously missing from the car using a plastic container lid and some more Sikaflex-227. I think we have a new addition to my toolbox. If it can’t be fixed with WD40, Sikaflex-227, 100 mile an hour tape, cable ties or radiator repair putty… it ain’t worth fixing!

This other picture is where I have adjusted the rear door to stop it sagging by putting two washers behind the bolts on the bottom hinge. I adjusted it up without the spare wheel on so that it was too high. Then with the weight of the spare tyre, it was perfect.

The final picture is the new headlights. They are semi-sealed but even without adjusting the result is much better. The OEM globe was fairly good but the non-genuine one is rubbish. I went to fail repco to replace it… only to find they only sell the same rubbish one I was replacing. I trusted their advice that this one would be better, but with a no returns policy on electrical I got screwed!

I’m tossing up wether or not we even take one of the spare globes – what’s the likelihood of a globe/light failure being a show stopper? Every place should have a H4 globe! Especially as we will be avoiding driving at night.