Ed's 4Runner

PaddlerEd

So... as I've gate crashed the Bruce thread (again) with mods for the 4Runner, I thought I'd better do a bit of a scribble about it.

For those who only know me as the daft Pom that keeps coming back, I've been around Volvo's in the UK my whole life; both my parents worked for Volvo in the 1970's and Dad worked for them in the UK until 2007 (somewhere over 30 years!) They still have a XC70 D5 and V40 D3 on the driveway. Out of all the cars Dad had over the years the top ones were probably the last of the 965/V90's; we did a couple of long runs from the UK down to the South of France towing a 23' caravan, 4 bikes on the roof and all the crap that was needed for a 3 week holiday with 2 teenagers!

Over the years I've had V40's and V50's as lease cars, and owned a 2000MY V70 for 6 years in the UK.

Here in Aus though a Volvo wasn't always the most sensible option; we had an 850 when were here in 2011/12, which we get from LT. We sold that about 2 days before we left the country in March 2012!

When we were back in the UK we had a BMW E46 320d which was ideal for there, but I wanted another 4x4 after we had a Land Cruiser in 2011/12... I suppose that harks back to my desire as a teenager to own a Land Rover...

Returning to Aus for 2013, we decided from the outset that we wanted a 4x4, and the compromise of size/ability/fuel economy/price left us with a 4Runner as the most logical answer.

So... that's the preamble, here's the 4Runner:

1992 VZN130 Manual

In the inevitable style of a 3VZE there are a number of cooling/HG problems... so the water pump was replaced over a couple of days, and took 2 goes to get the timing marks lined up...

Picked up bits and pieces from various Facebook Buy, Swap and Sell pages, which has resulted in some good bits and pieces:

TJM front bar: $150

Also got a set of 15x8 Dynamic Steel rims, which were in Melbourne, so Bruce Courier got them up to Sydney, where I was able to get some 31x10.5 Nankang Mudstars for them

It gets used for everything from camping:

to 4x4'ing in the local state forest:

So the current purchases have been some bits and pieces for some maintenance and some more upgrades:

a pair of heads to go off for refurbishment (cost $75 + a six pack of Bundy and Coke)

And I've just got a set of nearly new King Spring KTRR-68 springs for it to sort out a saggy bottom (ooh err missus :P) for which I need to sort out some shocks, as there will be a 2" ish lift with those and some new shocks.

Rob

:)>-

egads (she/her)

Ah, facebook, buy swap sell prices ftw!

PaddlerEd

Got a new toy for it yesterday...

Ordered an Arkon Mount for my Nexus 7 which lives in an Aegis case, so it's pretty much 5"x8" and the Arkon holds it perfectly.

Had to do a few bits and pieces to get it sorted properly; ended up at the bolt shop to get a longer 8.8 bolt to replace the original bolt on the RH seat mount that the Arkon is now bolted into (If I bolt something in I want at least the same length thread as was already there).

The mounting bracket has a number of holes in it so that you can mount it at 90* to the bolt slot/floor, even if it's at an angle.

It does limit forward motion of the seat, but it's not the end of the world as we pretty much use the car as 2 seater.

I've not had a chance to take it anywhere at the moment, but it seems pretty soild (and the flexible arm needs a bit of force to flex it) and has a good degree of flexibility in term of gripping the tablet.

Vee_Que

Very nice!

PaddlerEd

Update time... I now have new heads on there since last year (with Jon's help) and a new exhaust... well parts of... and done some trips. Most recently we went up to O'Reillys in QLD:

So it's been getting a bit cool here in the New England North West of NSW; we are on the mailing list for a nice place up on the edge of the Lamington National Park in QLD, so when some specials came up we grabbed them and got a couple of nights up there.

Monday morning was spent loading up the 4Runner, with Delz finishing work at 1.30pm (started at 4.30am!) meant we got off nice and promptly, heading up the New England Highway to just outside Tenterfield/Stanthorpe to stay at one of the QLD National Park's campsites.

Tuesday we headed off out the back of the National park and round to Stanthorpe, before a run to the Condamine River road (14 creek crossings!)

and onto Beaudesert, where we found the beginning of Duck Creek Road, an alternative route upto the top of the hill (as opposed to the bitumen route)

As you climbed Duck Creek road it changed into much more of the rainforest trail that is typical of the area at the plateau:

We were up there until Thursday, chilling out, eating well and doing a bit of walking in the area surrounding the accommodation.

Bit posh; we had a proper roof and stuff instead of the swags!

Pademelon

Some more pademelons:

Water over a waterfall... something we're not used to on the Tablelands of the NENW...

Some of the view points were a fair way up...

But put you right up above the canopy:

Some of the viewpoints were metal rather than in the trees:

Or alternatively you could walk back through the trees...

Our accommodation was over on the RHS of this picture:

We headed off on some of the walks around the plateau; in one day we did about 15km of the walks (and ate a lot of cake)

On the morning of the last day, we did a little tour with a guy who'd been there for over 30 years, so he was able to point out all the bits that we'd never see ourselves... such as the home of spiders:

Headed back on Thursday to Woodenbong, home of the Yowie (we think we met him in the pub that night... laughed so much with the locals that our faces and sides hurt by the end of the night!)

Why I can't build the drawers so the esky is lifted up off the floor:

(although Delz' Christmas in July secret santa present has come in very useful...)

Back to normal accommodation now:

and then down to Grafton to pick up the Old Glen Innes road back to the NE Highway.

Next to the Nymboida river:

For the first time in 2 years, I've missed having my kayak and canoe as we went along this bit of road; all I wanted to do was paddle the river, especially reading about the canoe trail (150km-ish with G2/3(4) rapids on it)

Convict Tunnel on the Old Glen Innes Road:

egads (she/her)

Looks like pretty country!

jonbot

Yep

Possibly a little jellies, some very nice quiet spots there (till I show up :( )

Jamest5r_

Looks superb :)

Ben

Gee, that looks like it's good for the soul.