William's 150 GXL D4D

[Melbo Member Find all posts View Profile Close Melbo]

I love the sound the turbo makes now - much more prevalent than it was before. A minor downside that I've picked up with the Safari is the wind noise on the driver's side has picked up a little (but bearable). I'm not sure if it's the Safari causing the noise or my driver's side whether shield that is now getting air passing over it from a different angle. Will investigate further...

Hi William,
Looking good. I thought the same regarding the diff breathers(probably we should bought the set and done it ourselves and finished with one set :-) ). Regarding the noise, it's the safari causing the noise as i have immediatly noticed the sound difference after the snorkel went in ( i do not have the weather shields), and yes initially i thought there was something wrong with the turbo as i could hear more of that one too :-)

Cheers,
Melbo

[William Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close William]

Did you get the bracket? Because I didn't! I may have gotten the leftover hose from your kit.

Thanks for confirming the noise. I was going to fit some genuine Toyota weather shields... Guess I wont need to go down that road.

I was expecting the extra turbo noise as the boys on Mondays PP chat informed me

Thought I'd send some thank you out there for their help on the last couple of mods:
1. Hookedon4wding (Sam), Melbo and zerosecta (Gavin - now on myswag) for taking photos of their snorkels for me. Helped a lot with the decision making and especially for reference on removing the D4D badge as it was in the way of where the snorkel was going. Could have been a disaster if the workshop took it off.

2. The fellas from PP chat (seenthelight and others - you know who you are) on helping me pick out the most suitable winch.

3. Again Sam for that awesome walkthrough for diff breathers on his build up thread. Didn't follow through myself but it helped with verifying the workshops work

4. Matty&Loz for his bonnet protector painting excerpt from his buildup!

Appreciate your efforts and thank you for your input.

Cheers

[William Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close William]

Did a few things today...
1. Rewired the winch to the main battery (there was PLENTY of slack as Dan mentioned)
2. Changed the engine oil..
3. Installed the bonnet protector
4. Took photos of the drawer mod

Pics:

[William Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close William]

Bloody picture per post limit.

[D4D Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close D4D]

Good work on the winch wiring. Take the winch hook strap off or it will go for a walk without you.

[William Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close William]

Thanks mate. Are you serious? People actually steal them? They can't be all that expensive...

[Madkore Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close Madkore]

My old man had a tradie doing some work at his house steal his double pluggers (they were at that point where they were well worn in too!) from his very own back door. In other words, people will steal anything...

[William Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close William]

Bloody mongrels. Well I'll take it off and find a home for it. Thank you for the heads up.

Next up, fridge and solar... Looked at a 40lt engel over the weekend and prefer their solid build and interior. It's weird because the 40lt engel looks bigger inside than the cf40 waeco - I think it's due to the "dairy" section that the engel doesn't have. I reckon it even looks comparable to the cf60 waeco. I rather like the all metal construction too... Problem is there aren't many people selling cheaper than retail engels on ebay like they do waecos. This would mean waiting for an Anaconda sale or breaking a deal with them at the 4x4 show (thats if they show).

Also looking for a solar system to supplement the battery for the fridge. Seenthelight has referred me to a good source and I'm also looking into some of the 120w eBay kits. Anybody got suggestions?

More research to be done on both before a decision is made...

Cheers

[Rogerthatv2 Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close Rogerthatv2]

Mate have a good look at the Projecta kits, there are some keen prices around and the quality is great. I use a 80watt twin panel kit and has served us well now for almost 5 years.

[William Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close William]

Thanks Dan, just the kind if information I'm after

[Rogerthatv2 Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close Rogerthatv2]

Also I cannot give our 50L Waeco a bigger rap, would of loved an Engel but I could not justify the price... Now almost 3 years old goes great, good power consumption and keeps the Singha's cold! Singha = my favourite beer... Off to install a GPS now!

Caravan and Camping show on this weekend here in Qld, last year a 50L got down to around $900.00 with bag, kitchen sink and a free car. I will post up some deals for you guys as this year is the first year I get to walk it instead of work it! Cannot wait to give the guys some crap!

[William Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close William]

I was sold on a waeco too, but after comparing it side by side with an engel in the flesh... I'd have to say I prefer the engel! Price may determine which I get... Interested in what you can haggle them down to.

Cheers

[foxclan Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close foxclan]

I was sold on a waeco too, but after comparing it side by side with an engel in the flesh... I'd have to say I prefer the engel! Price may determine which I get... Interested in what you can haggle them down to.

Cheers

Hi William
Not sure how the ARB 47ltr fridges are priced currently, but have heard some good feed back from happy owners/users.
Cheers Troy

[William Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close William]

Hi Troy,
Thanks for you comment. I've heard that the ARB fridges are rebranded (and slightly modified) waecos. I don't think there will be much to be had in terms of savings by purchasing an ARB fridge either as they pretty much have the 1 outlet... where as waeco and engel have resellers on ebay etc who sell it for a lot less than retail.

Cheers

[William Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close William]

Just back from a relaxing trip on the Murray. I guess I'll comment on the new mods I got to test out.

Thinking a 3m tree trunk protector wasn't big enough, I thought I'd better go one bigger and bought a 6m one before heading out. So I got to camp and found a nice big tree with a straight path that I could use to wind the winch cable up under load... only to find the 6m TTP was too short and couldn't wrap around the tree!!! Gosh it really put a figure on the size of these trees. Anyway I found another tree that was suitable and winched off that. Comments on the Magnum is that it's slow, really slow... Thats in comparison to my mates superwinch x9 on a 70 series. I just hope it doesn't fail or stall on me when I need it.

Another thing I realized is that I need a snatch block and drag chain. They are both multi purpose equipments but i need it for the tracks I go on. They are mud guttered (guaranteed bog if you fall into either side) with trees on either side of the tracks. I've seen demonstrations where people use a chain and block to winch straight on a track rather than off to either side of the gutters. Also, while I was amazed at the amount of cable that can be wound up on the drum, I reckon a winch extension strap is a necessity.

I'll post a couple of pics from the trip tomorrow. Sadly I forgot to delegate a cameraman while loading up the winch cable.

Cheers