fbekholden.com

Another NSW Club member car makes its way to WA...

Have fun with it...it's a beaut ute

Well, I managed to drive the ute across the country and it's now sitting in my driveway.

I flew over to Sydney on xmas day, wife wasn't too happy about the timing but the ute runs out of NSW rego today so I needed to get it home asap.

I'll try to post a few photos of the trip, by n' large the ute ran like a clock for 4/5ths of the journey at a constant 110km/p/h not only keeping pace with others but in many cases the car wanted to go around others.....

The last 1/5th was another story and I'll go into more details latter, with some of the support I had from forum members prior to the trip I thought I'd let you guys know the ute arrived safe n' sound.

One thing I want to mention.... I recon ppl took at least 100 photo's of the ute along the way.
This bloke asked if he could take a few photos as I was about to pay for my fuel.... I said sure.... when I came out of the gararge he had his girlfriend sitting in the drivers seat as he snapped away.....

More about all this later.....
Here's a few photos

hope the trailer wasnt for you ??? but congratulatings on the purchase and the delivery of the ute

well done! Good to see you made it. Although it does sound like it all wasn't quite plain sailing. Nothing major hopefully. At least you know it'll do daily driver duty easy enough.

Good work

Can't wait to hear the details of the last 1000K's. If the ute has arrived safe and sound, then I hope at least that means you didn't hit anything

Tell all...

Ok, the last 1000 kms Wednesday 28/12/2011

About 20kms west of Balacliva ( it's on the western side of the nullabour WA) the ute overheated...
The ute is fitted with a 3 core radiator (about 3yrs ago) and it has a thermo fan as well as the standard one,
I was supprised as it ran for days @ 110k/p/h without a problem.

So, on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere I thought don't panick, let it cool off, I have water for it, spare hosses etc....
I'd just have to sit n' wait for it to kool off, it was a bloody hot day..... within minutes about 5 cars stoped to see what was wrong ! these were ppl that had seen the ute as we were all crossing the Nullabour.

Anyhoe, I noticed the thermo wasn't fitted correctly and that it wasn't coming on so I fiddled with it and directly wired it to the battery.... problem solved right ?...... ummm no ..... I drove another 20 odd kms before it started to heat up again, I could hear the thermo working so I was stumped... I slowed down to 80 k/p/h and limped into Noresman WA.
I let it cool down for 40 odd min and purchased coolent. Nothing was leaking

Then I took off again with the view to max 100 k/p/h and yes, the temp gauge went up again and I eventually drove the next 250 kms @80 k/p/h all the way to coolgardie, by then it was dark. I let it cool again and fuelled up then took off.

In the end what got me home was the cool night air, I managed to maintain 90 k/p/h and I drove all night.
I didn't know why it decided to overheat, I was just happy to get home.
I've had a look with my son and we did find loads large bugs in the radiator fins, I had spoted this at Port Agusta and I'd hosed em out at a gararge but I must have only got out the "big" bits of bugs... they were about 8cm long!....

I must say though overall it was bloody great, I'd do it again ( with some net wrapped around the grill) and I can't wait for SA nats
hope this hasn't put anyone off .....it was an awsome trip with ppl loving seeing the old girl in the outback
here's a few more pic's

Graeme....

Awesome! The mighty Holden prevailed in the end

Those Cessna sized bugs sound like a bit of a hazard Imagine riding into a swarm (or is it a flock) of them on a motorbike

sounds like you had a nice drive
glad you made it safely

Sounds like a fun trip, would really love to do it one day.
I used to have to drive out to sites between SX and Kalgoorlie. All the locals around there are brilliant and even if I pulled over for a tiny bit of a break people would always slow down to see if you're alright.

Maybe we'll have to organise a big road trip to the nats one year

A little more about the trip....
For those fellas that recall an earlier post regarding fuel consumption of a red 202::::::::::

All that went out out the window,
I filled up and took off from my son's house around 9:30am heading south down the M4. about an hour latter the fuel gauge read "E" so I pulled up and it took 12 litres !! Obviously the gauge was/is out.
I then tried to use the odometre to gest-a-mate when to fill up...
I wrote down how much fuel verse odometre reading at every fuel stop.... I think I must have done this at least a dozen times untill finally I decided to fill the tank (,and the 20lt jerry can ) and then run her dry knowing that most older Holdens will give out a few coughs before the fuel totally runs out. I'm glad I did this because my gest-a-mate was 20kms out.
Once I'd gone through this it was easy to work it out... I did keep the jerry can full though

Oh, and she did give out the traditional telltale cough which gave me enough time to pull over before she ran completly out of fuel.

Incidently,,,
Have any of you guys tried to sleep in the front of your EK...
I'd forgoten how small they really are

MyEKisdriven wrote: Have any of you guys tried to sleep in the front of your EK...
I'd forgoten how small they really are

Yup - did mention that in the thread about fuel consumption

I'm 6'2" and had a couple of freezing cold nights in the front of the EK. I ended up piling up bags and jerry cans in the passenger footwell to make somewhere for my knees to go, but wouldn't have traded those nights in the ute for a bed in the most luxurious hotel in the world

So out of curiosity what was the average fuel consumption with the 5 speed/202 combo?

I had spares that came with the ute in the back... was going to sleep in the back with a foam matress but as these spare panels are the same colour as the ute I wanted to take em with me so that left the cab to sleep in... and I ain't 6ft 2in but it was a tight fit, I wouldn't plan to sleep there again that's for sure.

Fuel consumption worked out to be 8.33 km/litre @ 110k/p/h.
It was much better @90k/p/h giving around 10.33km/litre ..... but not as much fun

That works out at around 12l/100km (at 110kph), which isn't too bad (around 21mpg, for the old farts ). Maybe a little on the high side.

Glad the trip went well

Your right Cal, I agree fuel consumption was a bit high.

While the engine is a 202 and it runs quiet smoothly, it is rather tired and low on tork
The ute's former owner provided loads of reciepts that go back prior to his purchase in 2003 and while he has maintained the engine very well he did mention it's the one area he hasn't replaced.
He was honest about this and he explained it all prior to my purchase.

After driving the ute I'm not planning on replacing the engine for some time, at least not for the next few months.
It's not at all smokey, on the trip I topped up the oil twice. I think it used around 2/3rds of a litre and as I've mentioned it does run quiet smoothly.

It's funny how events change your mind, long before I met my shoo-p-io-b blue ute my plan was to find an EK ute and install VS running gear... but now that the old girl and I have become close I'm happy with the way she is and I think I'll install a fresh red/blue/black engine and leave it at that.