International Gipsie

Hi Guys. while since I have shared anything or indeed asked advice. I still live on my MJ. Ex RCT but spend most of my time under the bonnet since de mob. Any how got a mate down in the Dolomites in his MAN KAT. They are new fangled stuff to me we only just got the TM’s wen I left. it’s getting colder -12 and lower. This light is on the dash and we have this corresponding I guess switch. Is this a tank heater? Do we need it, normal petrol station diesel is freezing resistant I believe. thoughts thanks

She roars again, and roars well! The quick spool turbo whistles in at 1100rpm. Rather than the tiny whine at 2200 of the miniature Garret. Mall pipe work done and fine and dandy. The very rare direct drive Turner 5 with over drive was a breeze to fit. 60 mph, no problemo! And what was a 0-50 I. 72 seconds (with trailer on flat) now takes just over 46 seconds! happy dappy miles of smiles

And she lives and breathes again, and sounds sweet! The key here is I did not attempt to start her once she had cooled. So thankfully the crank was in perfect nick once the soft shell Alloy had been emery clothed away 14 hrs. The mains where all good and still showed oil inside. So managed to do the job with crank in sittu. Changed plans a wee bit with the gearbox, I was going to try and fit the ZF box, but at the moment it’s just too much an ask. So just going to slap on a Turner 5 speed with overdrive to keep pace with the engine upgrades

Thanks MatchFuzee, I ended up buying Comma Classic SAE 30, as read on some older posts here that the newer oils with more detergent do more harm than good. As it happens she did zero miles and only ran for 45 mins total before spitting 12.5 litres all back out, so refilled with another load of Comma, before finding she had sized, hence the 2nd cans have not even been turned over. Maybe she just doesn’t like the oil!

Yeah big shame John, it was all looking so good and sounded awesome, 100’s of hours in it and to be foiled by a £3 bit of hose, I could have cried and nearly did pal. The worst bit is I didn’t even get to drive her to see if the improvements worked on hills. Hey ho upwards an onwards. Reckon I can support the back of the engine by making a tackle block and bar over the back of the cab.

That was Friday night, I ran her up again for 20 mins on Saturday morning, let her cool, and then re-tightened everything, for the 3rd and final time I ran her up again, the turbo spools in at 1100 rpm and whistles sweetly, so I wound her up to 2200 rpm, and climbed on the roof to re tighten the 8 hose clamps and two behind the cab. Was probably up there 10 minutes and noticed a change in engine note. On coming down it was immediately obvious she had spat out 12 litres of engine oil. I shut her down the moment I saw. The culprit was the turbo oil feed pipe from the top of the filter. I intended to fit a braided hose and had used good fuel line to bridge the gap tempoararily. I put an 80psi rated hydraulic hose on to replace, cleaned up 12 litres of oil that had sprayed everything and cleaned the yard. Turned the key nothing. Yep fried the crank, all the shells had heated and griped, well one to four are bad 5 not bad and 6 ok. The main crankshaft bearings look and feel ok. So queations, I think it’s possible to drop the gearbox and remove crank in sittue does anyone know if this is do- able? Also could do with the torque settings for mains and shells on crank

The highs and lows of engine modifications, Lets start with the highs, Turbo and intercooler fit look brilliant! All pipes done, stainless exhaust, re fabricated inlet and exhaust manifold. After all the work, including replacing rocker and sump gaskets as well as fuel lines, and many other bits ( one job leads to another, she started first turn of the key, and sounded sweet as a nut.

Guessing I am not internet savvy, spent hours trying to find the oil conversion charts, lots of mention of Clive’s corner and some links but none work!!!! Confused turbo bridge step made, need to clock the turbo reduce waste gate to 25 psi, and pipe up. more horses please

Looking for any suggestions to which engine Oil I now put in, the last oil change I googled OMD 90 or was it 80? Anyhows found the one we used to use, an eqivelant online- wasn’t expensive and seem to think it was a bit crap? What would you suggest. Am going to be running in warm to hot conditions in the main, an odd frost at the worst. Ta

So this weekends activity involved fitting a supper sexy hand crafted curved intercooler, but also stippling and pepping the 330 for the intercooler manifold alterations exhaust removal (got to build new stainless exhaust manifold to support much bigger turbo, may as well go straight through with better shorter system). And a new intake, shit this is a big job! Next weekend pipe work, button up and see if it works

Hi Zuffen, The beer kegs are a 80 litre LPG tank, i fabricated. The tyres are up there for a reason, I hit a tree branch in Rwanda and broke the house box, it leaked forever after that .so the spares act as a bumper, would prefer to use a tyre than a house. The rear deck has a built in top mounted winch for lifting lowering, its a heavy thing with Galve sheet decking and frame anyhow

Thanks Richard, I employ gravity to assist in getting the wheels down, and a much more tiresome worm winch to drag them back up. have also changed the steel split rims at 49kg each to Alloys at 22kg a wheel. Have not travelled far with Mollie yet, only 6000 mile, have a 3000 mile test run planned September I have done 7 years Africa and 5 years India with former trucks bikes thou.

Not actually my first post because I just posted my first one about my ‘Mollie’ Bedford MJ, in the British Trucks bit. But Hello, my name is Gav, have been lurking around the site getting tips from you guys for a while, thought it was time to emerge from the shadows so HI

It’s now time to tackle the ‘Oilly Bits” So far she is mechanically pretty much standard. I added Proper Bedford power steering, was like looking for hens teeth! But finally found it, was a real ass pain of a job to install. She is very well sound proofed, can have a normal conversation in the cabs comfortable RX8 seats. Have disconnected the front prop, high level air intake, that’s it. With being a 50 year old engine design, with the afterthought of a tiny turbo that’s back to front small intake larger exhale. She is asmatic to say the least on hills. This weeks plan, to fit proper turbo, have modified a Holset HX35W turbo, bolt pattern the same just fabricated a off step to allow fitting. Have also designed and built a cracking intercooler, so these two should add some much needed horses. Waste hate turned down to 25psi. Am also going to change the air intake flow and block off the truck compressor re entry feed. Have bought the 6 speed ZF gearbox, just need to fabricate a bell housing and change everything, gulp. OH and wang on an electric cooling fan and disregard the aeroplane propellor will let you know how it goes

She came into my life a little worse for wear. But with a lot of time and effort she is transforming

Hi, This is my Mollie, expedition camper based on a 330 MJ