Post COVID-19 Lockdown Trips

[campbeam]

What I really appreciate of a road trip is when you have the open road/highway very much to yourself after a breakfast at sunrise.

You can just relax and cruise at a comfortable pace.

Recently got a reminder of how peaceful and relaxing it is for me with deserted suburban roads and that was an early Sunday morning before 6AM.

[Tony Prodigy]

13 hours ago, TommyM said:

Horse Float ?, yeah there's no horse in it, yet they're driving slower than the flinstones. Move your fat f**king ***** out of the right lane or f off

 

"Keep left unless overtaking" 

🤣🤣🤣 The sense of entitlement horse lovers seem to have is astounding. Why don't they move their animals very early in the morning or night so they don't selfishly inconvenience anyone else ???

Oh and don't get me started on the "Keep Left Unless Overtaking". Man oh Man ! The arrogance and ignorance is infuriating. They should place huge flashing signs on the freeways with huge block letters with horns, bells and a huge moving hand with finger pointing left and hope and pray the morons understand what it means to keep left. Lala land for some.

[Tony Prodigy]

10 hours ago, campbeam said:

What I really appreciate of a road trip is when you have the open road/highway very much to yourself after a breakfast at sunrise.

You can just relax and cruise at a comfortable pace.

Recently got a reminder of how peaceful and relaxing it is for me with deserted suburban roads and that was an early Sunday morning before 6AM.

I totally get that Ash. That's why I leave so early to go to work. Granted I only live around 15 minutes away, but I love the peace and tranquility of the very early mornings. No traffic, maybe a couple cars here and there but nothing to get the blood pressure up and I arrive in a calm state and enjoy a nice coffee in my office and do all my correspondence and research in peace and quiet before the troops arrive. Life is good. I've always been an early bird since I was a little tike.

[Tony Prodigy]

On 9/19/2021 at 4:51 PM, Squalled said:

I've been dying to go back to the royal national park for some time now.

I used to practically live at that place many years ago when we were on the bikes. You're talking about RNP at Audley right ? Sutherland Shire. A beautiful part of the world. We used to hoon through there, carve up Nasho, as we would call it 😄

I haven't been there in years though. The 90s and early 2000's were the heady days I must say.

[Tony Prodigy]

On 9/23/2021 at 2:32 PM, TommyM said:

HAHAHA !

C'mon, give yourself credit. What are you up to today ?

It's all good man, i could really quite easily look on our system for the recommendations anyway if you give me the deets.

Reg or make/model/year. Shouldn't be difficult.

I'll P.M you Tommy. Thanks mate 

[Tony Prodigy]

On 9/23/2021 at 3:00 PM, Hiro said:

I started going back in to the office 2-3 days a week back in March

Fortunately for me, my job requires me to attend site as it's not possible to fix HVAC equipment from home 😁😜

On 9/23/2021 at 3:00 PM, Hiro said:

On the social side of things I'm not too fussed about deliveries/click-and-collect etc, already had heaps of stuff home-delivered before lockdown anyway.  Once the fully-vax'ed social bubbles open back up after Freedom Day and we can leave our LGAs things will basically be back to normal for me.

Me too. I always have deliveies coming from my endless online purchases, much to the dismay of wifey hahaha. Well, a man needs tools and other....stufff..... lol...

We're also locked in a 5klm radius and it's very frustrating not being able to get to my Parents place to be able to work on my other vehicles and service the ride on mowers for Dad. We have one down as I was waiting for spares to arrive and now I have the parts I can't fit them because I can't get there.
 In the meantime, Dad had an incident with the other mower and the deck belt became dislodged after running over some rope obscured in tall grass and completely mangled it. Now both are out of action and grass waits for no man. So It's been loaded onto the back of the truck and he's going to bring to my house so I can fix it. The replacement deck belt arrived yesterday, much to everyone's relief. 

I'm at work today, so it will be done tomorrow and he can go about his merry way and finish mowing the grass. There are several acres to mow in case you were wondering and it's no mean feat when it gets tall and thick. You really need to do it regularly in the growing season so it doesn't destroy the machine.

Edited September 24, 2021 by Tony Prodigy

[Hiro]

3 hours ago, Tony Prodigy said:

We're also locked in a 5klm radius and it's very frustrating not being able to get to my Parents place to be able to work on my other vehicles and service the ride on mowers for Dad.

I'm not in Greater Sydney so the 5km radius thing only ever applied if I was leaving my LGA.  Same situation with my parents though, my mum lives home alone (my dad died back in 2018) and for the last ~12 months she's been undertaking ~150k worth of landscaping, I was going around weekly/fortnightly taking progress photos but haven't been able to get there since the last lockdown started (she lives in another LGA even though she's only ~30 minutes away)

[Tony Prodigy]

22 minutes ago, Hiro said:

I'm not in Greater Sydney so the 5km radius thing only ever applied if I was leaving my LGA.  Same situation with my parents though, my mum lives home alone (my dad died back in 2018) and for the last ~12 months she's been undertaking ~150k worth of landscaping, I was going around weekly/fortnightly taking progress photos but haven't been able to get there since the last lockdown started (she lives in another LGA even though she's only ~30 minutes away)

It's definitely been frustrating for all concerned. 

Sorry to hear about your Dad too. Hope he's in a better place. 

[TommyM]

9 hours ago, Tony Prodigy said:

🤣🤣🤣 The sense of entitlement horse lovers seem to have is astounding. Why don't they move their animals very early in the morning or night so they don't selfishly inconvenience anyone else ???

Oh and don't get me started on the "Keep Left Unless Overtaking". Man oh Man ! The arrogance and ignorance is infuriating. They should place huge flashing signs on the freeways with huge block letters with horns, bells and a huge moving hand with finger pointing left and hope and pray the morons understand what it means to keep left. Lala land for some.

Oh jeez i'm dying at the moment 😂😂😂😂

[TommyM]

9 hours ago, Tony Prodigy said:

I'll P.M you Tommy. Thanks mate 

Oil filter:

 

Mann-Hummel: HU 926/4X (or mahle equiv)

 

Air: Mann-Hummel: C25 114 (or mahle equiv)

 

Cabin: Mann-Hummel: CU 2835 (they seem to fit better than Ryco & Wesfil when it comes to german cars)

 

AGM are simply beefier stop/start approved batteries which have higher cca, reserve current (rc), etc. I'd use Century/Yuasa or Varta, i've got a supercharge in my G6E at the moment. No issues what so ever.

 

Battery Options: 

TechChg - Our brand (made by federal batteries): DIN65LH-TS

(680cca)

Varta - E44

(780cca)

Supercharge: MF66 

(720cca)

 

Just to rub it in....

Oxy sensor for cyl 1 - 3: EGO-199 (bosch)

Cyl 4 - 6: EGO-199 (bosch) PAT Premium is literally branded products in different boxes.

 

Coolant fan switch: 

CFS-076 (black connector)

CFS-035 (white connector)

 

Alternator belt: 6PK1510 or 6PK1560

A/C: 5PK1120

Thermostat: TT405-174P

Thermostat Housing Seal: TTG33

Waterpump: (GMB) WP9810

Very high quality pumps too.

 

Front Pads: DB1131-Euro+

Front Rotors: DBA 984E or 984S (Slotted)

Rear Pads: DB1132-Euro+

Rear Rotors:

Pagid: 50266PRO (Left)

Pagid: 50267PRO (Right)

Wear Sensor Front: BWS1052 or Pagid P8081

Wear Sensor Rear: BWS1005 or Pagid P8013

 

Coils: IGC-053 (bosch)

Plugs: NGK PKR7A, wouldn't use bosch plugs nowerdays haha !.

 

Future reference.

 

[TommyM]

21 hours ago, campbeam said:

What I really appreciate of a road trip is when you have the open road/highway very much to yourself after a breakfast at sunrise.

You can just relax and cruise at a comfortable pace.

Recently got a reminder of how peaceful and relaxing it is for me with deserted suburban roads and that was an early Sunday morning before 6AM.

Exactly !

That's why if i wana go cruising i'll take the Avalon, it's a slower pace in which you take time in, sunroof open, music playing, etc.

I mean, it's not underpowered in anymeans, it gets me out of trouble willingly. Not M3 fast, but still faster than some cars on the road, so it'll keep up with traffic. I'm looking forward to really putting it through it's paces. Since the new shocks, tyres, etc. Only thing i'll do when they get knocky is full bushes swap over to superpro. Combined with a slightly better sway bar & stronger sway bar links. As it is, it wants to hug the turn & just go hahaha. Where as if i want to be spirited. I'll take my G6E or mothers Calais which is firmer again lol.

I'm insured to drive all 3 haha !

[TommyM]

7 hours ago, Hiro said:

I'm not in Greater Sydney so the 5km radius thing only ever applied if I was leaving my LGA.  Same situation with my parents though, my mum lives home alone (my dad died back in 2018) and for the last ~12 months she's been undertaking ~150k worth of landscaping, I was going around weekly/fortnightly taking progress photos but haven't been able to get there since the last lockdown started (she lives in another LGA even though she's only ~30 minutes away)

My condolences man, jesus that's rough. But what a way to honour your father. She's a legend !

I lost mine back in 2016, so i feel you man. 

I'm sure the end result of the garden will be simply astounding !

[Tony Prodigy]

53 minutes ago, TommyM said:

I'm sure the end result of the garden will be simply astounding !

Pretty sure it will look like Paradise !

[Squalled]

On 9/25/2021 at 5:58 AM, Tony Prodigy said:

I used to practically live at that place many years ago when we were on the bikes. You're talking about RNP at Audley right ? Sutherland Shire. A beautiful part of the world. We used to hoon through there, carve up Nasho, as we would call it 😄

I haven't been there in years though. The 90s and early 2000's were the heady days I must say.

Yeap that's the one. I've gone there basically ever since I had my license, albeit I heard a lot of horror stories about it well before ever driving it myself. Once I drove there myself I have learned a fair bit about steering technique and control and I honestly never over do it but they're recently resurfaced a lot of it making it quite a nice place to drive these days. My mates and I would usually make a Friday and/or Saturday night out of going there. 

[Tony Prodigy]

14 hours ago, Squalled said:

Yeap that's the one. I've gone there basically ever since I had my license, albeit I heard a lot of horror stories about it well before ever driving it myself. Once I drove there myself I have learned a fair bit about steering technique and control and I honestly never over do it but they're recently resurfaced a lot of it making it quite a nice place to drive these days. My mates and I would usually make a Friday and/or Saturday night out of going there. 

It can be a dangerous place if you go in too cocky and not knowing the roads too well. When I was on the bikes, I'd go in for an "inspection" lap first to suss out any changes in road surfaces or conditions, especially the parts where the sun don't shine, there tends to be moss over the road and especially after it's been raining, there wold be a lot of run off over the road in certain parts. A car is much more forgiving but you still need to be careful regardless.

It certainly pays to have a good knowledge of the place and memorising the corners does help. If you get it wrong, hard rocky walls and steep gullies await you, so be careful.

[Squalled]

3 hours ago, Tony Prodigy said:

It can be a dangerous place if you go in too cocky and not knowing the roads too well. When I was on the bikes, I'd go in for an "inspection" lap first to suss out any changes in road surfaces or conditions, especially the parts where the sun don't shine, there tends to be moss over the road and especially after it's been raining, there wold be a lot of run off over the road in certain parts. A car is much more forgiving but you still need to be careful regardless.

It certainly pays to have a good knowledge of the place and memorising the corners does help. If you get it wrong, hard rocky walls and steep gullies await you, so be careful.

Yeah I used to go while it was raining and I did push it a bit too hard once and understeered a bit and it was the last time I went that hard. I usually go in via the Waterfall entrance since the road is a lot nicer from there to Stanwell. I can't imagine going their on a bike, I've seen plenty go through there and they make me look like I'm stopped 😂 I've seen some crazy things happen in there over the years. First time I went there someone crashed their V6 Eunos and basically wrote if off which turned me off driving in there.

Craziest thing I saw was once at Stanwell after going through we hear this loud induction noise coming from miles away. We were all guessing and were proved wrong when a basically bog standard looking N15 hatch flew through and came into the car park and stopped in a cloud of smoke from the brake and tyres while being chased by the police. The police came through and literally drove right past him before leaving and going further on. The guy came out pretty scared and nervous and ended up taking off before the police came back. I don't think I've ever seen anyone drive a car that hard there ever since.