Glort

In 30 Min you could just put a metal bucket over a good campfire and probably have hotter water by the time you circulated when you came back and it would definitely be cheaper on fuel. The heat output from the running engine is not going to be a lot so I can't see increasing the revs doing much. The circulation should be sufficient at idle. For those looking at installing a shower, you would be far better off just buying a common 30 Plate FPHE and using that as the heat exchanger. With the engine up to temp you would definitely get a hot shower in one pass. I would suggest being careful as it's likely to be far too hot till you take some of the heat out of the engine and it warms up again. WIth FPHE efficiency being well into the 90's, you are only going to see a few degrees less in the shower temp than the engine coolant you are pumping through the hot side at the same rate. I'm taking an educated guess but I would be surprised if a wet coil HE in this application would be lucky to do 30% efficiency.

I have put a Grandfather clock size Pressure gauge on the thing to measure Boost and It's showing 7 psi. I saw a label on the wastegate actuator the other day that says 7.5 PSI so it gels pretty well. ​I'm in 2 minds about turning up the boost and if there will be any benefit. What I really want is low end boost as it makes the 7 PSI at about 2250 rpm. I usually find that changing gear around 2000 around town is fine in the traffic. I took the thing up the county the other day and was really pleased with it. I got on the freeway and put it in 5th and didn't change gears again till I got to the other end. It had no trouble on any of the hills through the central coast or anywhere else and the biggest problem was keeping one eye on the speedo so as to not creep over the limit. For me, thats a totally new experience from any other diesel I have owned. I would like a taller diff in the thing though to drop it to about 2500 rpm rather than the 3000 it sits on at 120. Just seems to be revving needlessly for that speed. Wasn't as economical as I hoped for either and I'm sure dropping the revs would help that too. I noticed that I'm getting about 1.5-2 PSI boost at 100-120 on the flat. From there it will go straight to full boost as soon as you touch the throttle. I'm not really chasing the top end power which is why I'm not sure if putting on a boost controller and tweaking it up to 10 PSI will do me any good. The fuel at the bottom end is already to rich and without the IP having a compensator, turning the fuel down as I need to is going to take the top end out of the thing as well. I guess when I'm doing the highway runs I could turn the fuel up again but it's a bit of a pain on the patrols unlike the ease of access on the wifes car. A mate of Mine had a truck that he turned the Boost up on and swore he got better performance without touching the fuel and the thing ran very clean before hand. I'm of the opinion that turning up boost without turning up fuel will be detrimental if anything but I guess it's something I'll have to test myself. Is there a consensus of opinion on changing the boost? Would I be better to put on an adjustable boost controller that modifies the signal pressure to the actuator or just get the pressure actuator I want given that it will be conservative anyway?

I think the high pressure pumps for WI are a complete and utter crock to make more money from people that believe the Hype. Water will break up very effectively in an airstream all on it's own. I have poured water down the Inlet of my cars Dozens of times to clean them out and you can plainly see how the water breaks up from a smooth stream into a spray as soon as it goes in the throat of the inlet manifold. I reckon you couldn't get water to enter a cylinder in a steam unless you put a lot of effort into it. The super fine spray is also a creation of the Petrol performance guys imagination. They want the water to be vaporised by the time it hits the Cylinders mainly for detonation control. For De coking in a diesel, what you need is droplets going into the cylinder so they change state in the energetic " explosion" that will greatly aid in the removal of any buildup. I have read research where they concluded that this " Cavitation" was sufficient to remove carbon deposits but not energetic enough to erode Pistons or metal in the cylinders. I am just going to shoot the water down the intake elbow through a bit of flattened copper pipe to fan it out a bit and let the heat, flow and pressure break it up from there. A mate has had this sort of injector for a few years now and his system works perfectly. Normally on my NA's I use a plastic garden spray nozzle but it won't be practical to mount on the turbo system. I am not going to do it pre turbo because that will vaporise the water before it gets to the Cylinders which is not what I want. If I did want pre- turbo, I'd just use a garden nozzle pre air cleaner which has been tested to provide pure water vapor as it evaporates off. the reports I have read and the tests I have done myself show there is no degradation of the paper element. I tested mine and then left the element in the weather for weeks. It was good as new. In any case, you can get the Sureflow type pumps on ebay that do 160PSI pretty cheap. The one I have is 70 PSI rated at 3.8 gal per min but the flow is nothing like that even at 0 pressure. No matter, I only want 300 Ml min. I was happy for a 35 PSI model but this one came up cheap so I grabbed it. More than what I'll need. I'm going to trigger the WI with a pressure switch at 4 psi which is as low as I can get it. I'd prefer it to come on at 2 PSI so I'll keep a look out for a suitable switch I can substitute. IF I find something to trigger the water at that pressure, I'll back the flow off to around 100Ml/ min and compensate with the extra time the system will be spraying.

" Some airbag inflators were manufactured out of specification, which can create excessive pressure within the inflator during air bag deployment and result in abnormal deployment. " Translation: "They put too much shotgun powder in the things and if they do go off, they will probably take your head with them. " ​Don't you just love Politically correct mixed in with Sales and damage control talk??? I guess these things save people but I have to admit, having an airbag go off in a car i'm in isn't a comforting thought. I have heard a lot of bad things about people being injured by them and just setting them off in the old man's wrecking yard for shits and giggles is enough to sober you right up at the thought of being in front of one. That said, I have seen quite a few cars now where there is hair and scalp embedded in the smashed windscreen and the engine is now next to, instead of in front of the driver, but the airbag or one airbag hasn't gone off at all. It all depends where the impact is and where the sensors are located on that vehicle. The other thing that seems to make a difference is as simple as Bumper bar re enforcement. Foam, steel, aluminium and plastic all respond differently. On some cars this re enforcement changes mid model run and it's not hard to see the effects that has even when the sensors are located in the same place on the same chassis rails. It's interesting to see where on some models the slightest thing sets them off so the makers have repositioned them and then on the subsequent model, anything short of a direct head on with a freight train won't deploy them. One other thing that's interesting is where common damage is on Vehicles. On All Wheel Drive models it's far more common to have side damage and bent supports on the wheels than on front and rear wheel drive cars. Obviously the AWD's hang on a lot better but when they do go, they slide off into gutters and ditches sideways. That isn't going to set off the airbags on a lot of vehicles nearly as readily as a frontal impact but in fact you noggin has less room to move before it hits something real hard.... like a tree or telegraph pole thats now hard up against the bodywork. One thing I really wonder about with airbags, especially cars with multiple ones, is if they can cause hearing damage when they go off? They go off with a hell of a bang even when you are standing well away from the things and set them off in open space. Several going off inside a closed space must be enough to peg any DB meter. On some cars I have seen where the bags have deployed, I'm pretty sure the worst thing for me would be the bags themselves going off because there sure as hell wasn't much threat or damage from the accident itself. At very least I'm sure the airbags would be putting me in need of a new pair of Britches and Bonds undies. There are a lot of cars that would otherwise be easy repairs being written off these days simply because of the cost of replacing the airbags. That is a $2K + exercise on any vehicle and easy tips the already biased scales in favour of scrapping cars that need very little to get them back on the road good as new. OVer pressurised airbags could give some Patrols a whole new closer relationship to the term " Grenade" !

I get rid of the Original housing and it's overpriced filters and Fit a CAV as soon as I get a Vehicle. They unfortunately don't have the non return valves. I was stripping a Subaru last week and spotted what I thought was a couple of non returns near the filter but they turned out to just be some sort of Dampeners so weren't' much use. Electric pumps make the priming easy and also eliminate problems with air leaks. I have been amazed over the years to find airleaks that will allow air into the system won't leak fuel when pressurised. A leak is a heck of a lot easier to spot with dripping fuel than with air being sucked in.

I think the term air CON in this instance is a very valid term. Re doing the whole thing in flexible hose would have been no biggie at all for any fair dinkum Fridgie. Like Hydraulics you could get the ends crimped on the hose and just fit it up. It's not that expensive and if the hose and crimps will hold up to the Vibrations, pressures and heat of Hydraulics there sure as heck wouldn't be much problem with a bit of gas running through it at 100 PSI. The connections between the Compressor and the hard lines are always flexible hose anyway. For the price of the new Nissan Piping, it would want to have a 100 yr Warranty. Probably more like 100 Meters from the stealer ship. Have you thought about what you are going to do to stop the replacement pipe suffering the same fate? Extra brackets, rubber insulation? If the pipe is so thin, stress fractures would be a concern as well. what are these places going to charge to re gas the system?

You sure know a lot about these things! The Patrol Oracle!

What is the tallest ( lowest Reving) ratio on a Gq and how do you know what is in a vehicle without pulling the centres out? Is there a code on the compliance plates?

Don't want to start any wars but for all the faults of the 4.2, they have to be less of a concern than the 3Ls at least of that vintage. I couldn't own a vehicle I was constantly worried about letting go. I ran my last 4.2 for 3 years on Rubbish Literally and the only thing I ended up changing was swapping the fuel filter to a CAV. The new Turbo 4.2 has plenty of power for my liking and i'm not sure of any other advantages the 3L has over them. I also hate Buying and selling cars. ​You see people advertising things for Ridiculous money and then if you offer them a realistic price they get all shitty and act like you are some sort of crook trying to rip them off. Who cares if you put a new clutch in the thing 4 years ago or it was just serviced or it has a bunch of accessories or Modifications YOU wanted? Why do you expect the next buyer to refund the price of the crap you piled on the thing I have no interest in what so ever? That seems to be the case more than finding stock used vehicles, especially 4wd's. What I really wonder about is how many people those that want unrealistic prices blow off and how long it takes before they get it in their thick heads what the thing is really worth? Most of them must come to reality at some point! I wonder how they consul themselves that all those other people were right afterall and the price they were asking was stupid?? I see it with all manner of things not just vehicles. I think the concerns about a 4WD that's never been off road could be a little biased by those with a big interest in it. Around here I'll guarantee 80% of the 4wd's have never seen a dirt driveway let alone a dirt track and a lot don't have let alone use a towbar. Certain ethnic groups round here love land cruisers despite a demonstrated ability to actually be able to maneuver the things in any car park and I know they don't have them for 4WDing or towing anything. It's just to pack the 8 kids in. After that they buy a tarago. My own new chariot will not ever see any real 4Wding either. It'll be lucky to get a run up a dirt road or along a few mile of beach if we go away somewhere. I have sold my big trailer due to a shift in the business so the 3-4 times a year a box trailer gets behind the thing won't mean much. I like the space inside the things, I love the visibility the reliability and ability of the 4.2 to run on rubbish for fuel and significantly, the fact I can work on the thing and have half a chance of getting it home if it should stop for some reason. I know a lot of the 4wd enthusiasts don't like people having them if the owners are not going to take them off road but the thing is these vehicles offer a lot regular sedans and wagons don't and that is why they are so popular. I think there will be a lot of " hardcore" 4WD's as well as the " softroaders" that will be around that have never been off road or towed a boat because they do make good family cars as well. I have a strategy I find works well for buying and selling. It's inoffensive and seems effective. When I'm buying something, unless I am prepared to pay the asking price, I simply tell the seller I wouldn't be prepared to pay what they are asking but I'll leave them my card and if they don't have any luck selling the thing and are prepared to negotiate, give me a call and if i'm still in the market we'll see if we can come to an arrangement. 99% of the time the seller will ask what I'm prepared to offer which automatically puts you in control and a better position. Even if they reject the offer, it will play on their mind and I have frequently had them ring soon after with a counter off or a "OK, bring cash" When selling, people will always try to beat you down. The longer they hang around telling you what's wrong with something, the more interested you know they are. I recently had someone come to look at a vehicle I had for sale and of course they started with the stupid low ball offers and complaints as soon as they asked what I wanted for the thing. I said no worries, I have had a few calls so if you want to leave me your name and number and I don't do any good, I'll give you a ring and if you are still interested we can see what agreement we can come to. Again I was told what was wrong with the thing ( same as I stated in the ad) and again I asked them to leave their name and number if they wanted and if I didn't sell it at the price I was asking, I'd get back to them. Then the offer went up and I countered again with the leave your number thing and at this stage started walking away. They followed so I knew I had them. After a few more too'ing and fro'ing,and still getting the same answer, leave your number, they agreed to the price I wanted which I knew was a good one anyway. I wanted the thing gone but I wasn't going to give it away or be played for an idiot. The thing is to seem unconcerned and relaxed. I don't get into price arguments at all when selling. I set the price realistically and stick to it. As long as you are asking a fair price, someone will buy what you have. The only way you can win the game is be prepared to loose it. If you are prepared to walk away from the sale either way, you stand a much better chance of winning.

I have been looking for a sub tank for the GQ but they seem to be far and few between and over priced when they do come up. I was wondering if anyone has been able to fit a tank from another vehicle or use something like a 60L drum or have something made up? Will the GU sub tank fit in the GQ? It looks like some different Jap ute tanks might fit but not really sure. Anyone found a Viable alternative?

Yes. The owner said he had the Turbo put on 6 months after he got the ( Then new) truck. It's not just smoking on spool up, it's smoking under load as well. I'll keep a look out for a compensated pump as these really do work best for tuning. The wifes car has on on it and the thing is great to tune. It's not really the smoke per se that concerns me. I want to put this one on Veg as well and smoke means unburnt fuel which with veg will lead to gumming up the rings. I need a pretty clean burn to make sure that doesn't happen. I'm going to fit a water injection system and run 5% ULP which will help offset any gumming issues but best to make sure the root problem is addresed and not just worry about the band aids. I might try tuning the fuel screw this afternoon if I get a chance and see what happens.

Had a look at the IP, it's the standard non Compensated type same as on my other GQ. I'll turn the fuel down and see how I go. Out is less, in is more right?

Bought a new beast on the weekend that is smoking quite a bit under almost any load. At Idle it's clear as but once you start to feed in some power it's very black. The previous (one) owner said it needed The injectors doing and when questioned said they were last done 3 and a half years ago. That seems a short life to me and I don't think the thing has been driven a million miles in that time. He said he hadn't touched the fuel or the turbo as he was a non mechanical person but I'm wondering if the injectors are the likely cause of the plentiful smoke or maybe it's just a fuelling issue? ​The thing starts at the first look of the key even without the GP's when cold and idles and runs beautifully. This is a 4.2 with an after market Schwitzer turbo. Would there be any difference in the way the injectors are set up with my NA 4.2? It seems like an over fuelling issue to me but if it is the injectors, I could swap them over with the ones in the old beast which as far as I can tell are fine. What's the best path of Diagnosis? Swap injectors or try turning the fuelling down first?

Thanks for that. Next is to get some gauges to see where the thing is going. I'm keen to see how the water injection works with EGT's. I have read very conflicting reports so I'm keen to see what I find. One thing I do know is that when I was towing my trailer with my NA Diesel and I had the water running nearly full time, the engine temps were a LOT lower than without the water. Could just be due to cooler intake air temps which I tend to think is the likely case but I'll do some checking and see!

Geez, I'm that predictable 'eh? Thanks for the link, Very informative. I have also read that on a lot of Diesels the factory IC works more as a heat sink than a constant cooler. There isn't enough time for the IC to cool the boost to the outside air, the thermal mass of the IC sinks the heat for the boost event. When on boost a long time such as climbing up a hill, then obviously the IC effectiveness falls off markedly. I also read about Water sprays on the coolers which are effective but WI is more effective still. It seems to be quite a science with a lot of trade offs in space and weight and application as to what you want to do as far as vehicle use. What are the generally accepted Numbers for this engine as far as max ( safe) boost and EGT? Would 15 PSi and 600oC be right?

I just bought another Gq oiler that comes complete with a snail. ​It's not inter cooled and I was wondering if this makes any difference to the output you can wring out of them or has any other benefits besides the obvious. I'm not sure about fitting an IC but I will be fitting Water injection which probably has a better cooling effect on the intake charge. Being a turbo I can easily rig the WI to a pressure switch and trigger it that way. I'll also be looking for a possible location for a substantial water tank. If I do go the IC route, does anyone know what the best size is and what sort of thickness or specification is needed? I'm thinking and IC, air con condenser and the radiator is a lot of coolers to be putting at the front. On boost up a hill, the radiator may be getting warmed up rather than cooled off! I don't know what actual turbo the thing has, but is there a general safe boot pressure and EGT for the things? I'm not after max output but I would like to have it healthy and safe. I'm hoping even a conservative level of tune should be a big Improvement on the old NA Girl. Any general advise and insight would be appreciated.

I'm setting up a water injection for my lister engine. It will be uber simple, just a drip of water onto the Commodore paper air filter element I'm using. I have set it up so when , as I inevitably will, forget to turn off the water, the excess will just dribble out the bottom and NOT into the engine. I tested it the other week by saturating the filter with water and then starting the engine. Ran fine and of course dried out the element quick and with no damage to the element. ​The main worry with that is under loading it and on Veg oil I have been squirting water into the intake with a spray bottle and I can't pump fast enough to make the thing notice. Amazing how much water Diesels can Happily take. I think I might have gummed the rings on the old Girl. I did have as I suspected for a while a blocked return line and that was causing massive over fuelling of the engine. That's a bad thing with Veg because the excess " Fuel" carbonises and forms a tarlike crap that sticks up the rings. So far the water doesn't seem to be doing a lot of good in shifting it. I think I let it go too long to be helpful. I'm thinking of installing a manual switch and running the water nearly full time and seeing if that helps. I'm in 2 minds as to whether it will or not but I'll give it a go. Not really worth rebuilding the engine but I don't want to loose the old girl either. Even a re-ring and bearing Job will probably be the better part of $2500 so seems I have some decisions to make. :0(

Haven' t had time for mine mainly apart from the fact the inclination isn't there atm either. ​Hot enough of late, Playing with mega burners is definitely a winter sport rather than a summer one. What spare time I have had I have been setting up and playing with my Vintage lister type Diesel engine. Tha'ts been pretty fun setting up a couple of car alternators running through inverters and I'm now setting it up with a 3 Phase motor I'm using as a generator. I'll go back to the Burners when It's cooler outside and I want something to keep me warm. I did put up another burner with a decent blower heating up a drum of veg oil at my mates place for Bio making. We were able to boil about 180L of oil in 17 Minutes.

Water. But the addition of meth seems to speed up the process.

Today I saw an example of this phone distraction at it's very worst that absolutely stunned me. Old faithful seems to have spat it's starter motor so I took my son's little Subaru to the job I was doing. At lunchtime my sales Girl and I went into Parramatta. I don't know the place that well so was taking my time going up one of the always busy streets there. as we were going along looking for the shopping centre entrance, As we went up one of the streets at about 30 K, a woman with a child about 3-4 years old walked out from the foot path diagonally along the road with her head buried in her phone obviously Texting or face wasting right in front of us. I stopped and she kept coming still not looking up till she was right in front of the car across the centre of the 2nd lane from the footpath. She didn't even look up till she heard me going off my nut out the windows. I'm sure had I been in the truck shed have heard me coming and it's likely in the scooby doo she didn't, but that's a Farking long way from any sort of excuse for not looking up and checking..... and she only had to look one way because it's all one way streets round there. As I was doing my best to insult her lack of parenting skills, beyond belief, she merely turned around, still holding the phone in one hand and the kid in the other, walked back to the footpath without looking up to see what was coming up the near lane and walked back along the foot path still with her head buried in the phone. To say I was stunned is an understatement . As there were no cars behind me on the block, I reversed back, went into the nearside lane and told the stupid cow that she ought to put the goddam phone away because she'd live longer and more importantly, so would her daughter whom ought to be taken off her. Without looking up from the phone, she mouthed something and kept walking. I often make light of this phone obsession people have but I have NEVER seen anything like that before. My sales girl was freaking for the kid and said that they were lucky this time but clearly the mother didn't give a Fluck and would it be a matter of time before she got them hurt or killed in the future? I told her If I ever saw her do anything half as stupid I'd pulverise her phone and tell her Dad why so he could kick her backside when she got home for good measure. I also said I was glad she was with me because I'm not sure people would believe how ignorant and irresponsible a mother could be and believe what we saw. I keep meaning to get myself one of those dash mounted camera things and If I had one, I'd have put this on boob tube and let the media know so this moron mother could be as embarrassed as possible. You just don't do things like that with a kid on your hand. And I'm not talking about some obvious crack head here, the cow and the little girl looked nicely enough dressed and presented, but the level of couldn't care less had to be seen to be believed. I don't mind admitting It threw me for a couple of hours afterwards. I had have been doing the normal traffic speed up that road with other cars around me, The outcome would not have been good. We are working at a place photographing 1000 kids this week and these centres are hyper sensitive about having working with children checks and what you can and can't say to the kids and all sorts of crap to do with the welfare and protection of the kids. Then you see a mother do something as moronic and put their kid in so much danger it's unbelievable. I told my girl if she saw the woman turn up at the centre, to start packing up our stuff and be ready to leave because I would rip her a new one full knowing we'd get chucked out of the place and asked never to return for upsetting the clients but I wouldn't care. Perhaps this isn't so much about phones as personal stupidity and ignorance but I just can't get my head around how a parent could do that. I'm a parent that used to let his son do things people thought was over the top for his age so I'm not a bleeding heart that wraps their kids in cotton wool but that was one of the most dangerous things I have ever seen a parent do with their kid. Maybe that's why seeing this and the attitude just freaked me out so much.

I think as long as the iron is not ridiculously hot so as to burn off the flux in an instant, It's more of a time Vs Heat type deal. If the iron is hot then the application time is shorter, less heat goes to the component. Some components are hard to cook anyway and other sensitive ones you get round by soldering in a socket first and put the component in that. Worth the money I think. I have also built a number of those kits and find the components to be rather robust. I have a friend who has brought a couple to me to be fixed and the soldering on those needs to be seen to be believed how wrong someone can get a simple skill. Still, When the diode has be turned the right way, The dry joints re soldered and that chunk of solder bridging the 2 copper tracks removed, They all tend to work despite the wrecking ball like precision applied in construction. Anyway, your concerns are enough to more than justify the Purchase of a nice new scope iron with digi temp readout and instant heating etc. That said, Many years ago my electronics iron crapped itself and I was wanting to do a quick job before sitting down to work out what new flash Iron I wanted. I happened to be in one of those $2 type shops and spotted a small iron for $5. Good enough for one job I thought. I have lost count how many jobs I have done with that iron not to mention how many times I have left the thing on for days at a time without realising and just what unbelievable value that cheap POS iron has given me. It's a bit slow to heat up but once it does, the temp is good, it holds the heat well and makes good joints. I massaged the tip to what I wanted and it works great. Every time I use the thing I'm always reminded how cheap the thing was and how it has outlasted many other irons I had costing magnitudes more.

Yeah, I think so too. Also probably more abrasion and impact damage resistant as well. I'd be wrapping it in rubber or something similar and tying it up well out the way and tight. My mate was careful to jacket the pipe on my sons car in a couple of places and put little grommeted plastic supports in so the pipe he put in wouldn't rub on the support panel and where it went close to the radiator. He said out of all the times people to ask him to look at their car, it's mainly either a stone fracturing the condenser or a rubbed pipe.

I have an 18 yo girl working for me ATM. Put her on in desperation last year as I needed help and hoped shed get me through the week She turned out to be a bloody legend, able to think on her feet, solve problems and is a really good worker. She puts on what must be an act she's a scatterbrain but proves the opposite to be true. I have been trying to get hold of her all weekend. Gave up calling and tried texting. NO reply. I knew then she was avoiding me. My kids checked her facewaste and by evidence of up to the minute posts, she was still alive. I know her phone is with her about the same as her arms and legs so therefore she had seen I was trying to get hold of her. Also given the only time I do contact her is for work and I know she has been out partying a lot lately, I know why she was avoiding me. So I go to plan B and ring my best mate, her Dad and ask if he can get her to give me a ring. He's unimpressed because shes' been hounding him for money as we haven't had anything on over school holidays and also agrees shes " Playing dead" so she can keep sleeping in till 2PM. So she gets back to me, Via text and I try ringing her. No response. I text her back which takes me 20 min to frig around phone typing what I could say in 2 sec, or less. Still wont answer the fking phone but will reply to texts in 7 sec flat. I can see in time that humans will evolve without a mouth but grow and extra thumb on each hand with a pointy claw for pin point accuracy on those tiny text phone keyboards. They will stil have ears though to support those little things that go into them and the other end of which attaches to their Iphones so they can never hear a ruddy thing you say to them when they are within earshot. Probably want you to text them then too! Has anyone else noticed that they are putting heart/ lung machines in phones these days? It's true! Pry your kids phone out of their sticky unwashed fingers ( a crow or 6ft Pry bar is a useful tool to overcome the death grip they will have on the thing) and see what happens. ​They will fall to the ground, arms and legs flailing uncontrollably, make shrieking sounds as their life force is drained from them and they will start turning different alternating shades of red and blue, which I am sure is a sign of oxygen deficiency. Hand their Iphoney back and the convulsions and death wails stop, Their normal pasty Vitamin D lacking colour returns to their spotty faces and they go back into their transfixed state of bliss. Miracle! How the heck did they ever pack a heart/ lung machine into such a tiny package that sends and receives texts, you can update your facewaste status on and even makes phone calls..... If you have any " credit" left. I have to admit, it's not just kids whom are phone possessed. . I watch parents waiting for their kids half of my working day and they all sit there, thumbs flapping furiously, eyes in a fixed stare at their tiny screens, returned messages and face waste alerts beeping with the same importance as a heart monitor in an ICU while their world shrinks to the size of an Iphone display. I'm working with their kids, about 4-6 feet in front of them and every single day the things they ask about that happened that close right in front of their eyes is staggering. If It wouldn't cause such an uproar, I'd like to walk their kids outside and sit them on the grass and see how damn long it took them to notice they were gone. I guarantee it would be at least an hour and for most of them it would be however long it took for their battery percentage to run too low. I could splash a gallon of cows blood around for effect and they would never notice me doing it but geez when the spotted the blood and no kids it would make for a combination of worlds best and Candid camera footage to end all! No word of a lie, I saw a mother let the baby she was breast feeding slip and almost fall off her lap this morning because she was balancing the kid in one arm and typing with the other. I think it was a case of holding the kid with the wrong arm for that breast so as to be able to use the hand needed for typing on the phone. She gathered up the kid, looked around to see if anyone noticed, made lingering Guilty eye contact with me realising I had and 5 min later I saw her doing the exact same thing again. There's a new form of modern child neglect for you. Probably a salt of the earth woman just too damn distracted on a very important job. I know, I'm a Dinosaur. Funny enough I can do things with computers and camera's that people tell me can't be done. I can take a picture, have the camera transmit it hundreds of meters to a server and make it pop up on a screen or spit out a printer with no one on the other end. I muck around with electronics, can wire up home entertainment systems with no problem, and the other day got a car engine sitting on a stand to run perfectly after getting a wiring loom, plugging in the computer and hooking it all up. NO TROUBLE. All this phone stuff leaves me cold though. And apologies to those many reading this that will be the modern phone obsessed I refer to.

My son had a minor altercation with a turn sign some months back and took out an Ac Pipe. My aircon mate just cut the damaged section out and flared the end of the existing pipe and did the same to a section of copper to replace the mangled bit. They only use flare fittings in domestic and commercial AC so not like it's dodgy or not up to the job. The thing certainly hasn't shown any signs of leaking in the last few months anyway.

Is that the aircon pipes at the back/ Top of the tank? If so, Looks like it might have rubbed through a line. You are right, It will be expensive to fix. I was talking to some fridgy mates just after Christmas and they were saying how the price of gas had gone up so much due to all this carbon tax Horse Chit that it wasn't worth fixing a simple leak in a domestic system any more. A couple of them got on to some old gas supplies which was " only" $100/ Kg. Apparently it's well north of that now and there are more " Environmental" tax increases slated to be phased in. Apparently gas was like $10/ kg a couple of years back before our enlightened gubbermint wanted to Australia to lead the way down the gurgler or whatever their ridiculous agenda is. I'd Guess a system that size will hold close to a couple of kg of gas, so that will be $200 in material costs for however fixes the thing before they do anything else. AS my mates were talking about with a domestic unit, by the time they go out, find the leak, fix it, test the system, and put the gold dust gas in, They are 3/4 of the way to the price of a new split system that will come with 3 years warranty and be cheaper to run. All well and good except if you take into account that same otherwise perfectly functioning system would have been at least $4-500 cheaper to fix a couple of years ago and now you are Throwing away something that could have given years more service and are expending far more resources on buying a new system. Yup, They sure think this stuff through very carefully to make sure it achieves the aims they want. But look on the bright side, You will be saving the planet shelling out $200 for what should be a $20 or less expense so you can be grateful that we have this save the world tax to do that for you. Oh, and while you are getting that reamed out feeling in your backside as you pay through the nose, Please conveniently forget the fact that all aircon gas in cars was changed over 10 years ago for the specific purpose of it being more environmentally friendly, the same as the current crop gas used in Domestic/ Commercial systems. Of course if you really look into it as I did, You will find something over 86% is being paid back to businesses and families to offset the cost of the tax in the first place ( Yeah, Don't ask me how the Fluck that works??) And the rest goes to these save the planet projects, none of which are actually identifiable by the gubbermint if you want so know what they are or how the money is being spent. They must be administering this fiasco for free because in the Gubbermint budget, they make no allowance for all this money collection, shuffling and payback. And another bright side for you is that they not only charge you for this gas, they charge you to get rid of it. My father owns a wrecking yard and they are all being hassled and threatened that they have to account for where the gas goes in the cars they Wreck and if they don't reclaim and have receipts from Authorised collection facilities who charge a fortune to take and dispose of the gas, then they face all sorts of fines and no more hassle. Of course the minor Detail is, aside from the cost of Buying a reclaim unit and a Cylinder, only licensed Fridgys are allowed to legally use the things or return the gas to the places who take and dispose of it. Their are very heavy fines for unauthorised people using the very simple to operate gear. Seems now every wrecking yard is supposed to have a licensed Fridgy on staff just to collect the gas from the vehicles they wreck. Not like there has been a shortage of techs in that game for like 10 years or that you'd be a while getting rush of guys racing over to drain the systems for you.... for another couple of hundred at least. Of Course it makes you wonder where all the gas is going from old scrapped Domestic and commercial units. I'm told by those in the industry that those have infallibly leaked and this is ALWAYS and without exception the cause of failure Which is nice because it then saves them the hassel of reclaim and cost of gas disposal. Fortunately my Fridgy mate was able to supply me with a piece of equipment to give the old man which does not require a licence to use and allows him to recover the gas not illegally through a loophole in the stupid idiotic laws. If they come calling on him now with a please explain, they are going to tie themselves up in knots trying to prove he's done anything wrong. So I'm afraid yes, This simple repair won't be a cheap exercise but the poor bugger doing the job isn't going to be the one bending you over on the cost. You can thank Mrs. Dullard and her band of merry green washed for that.