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Re: The 'Off-Road' picture thread

Posted: Fri Mar 24, 2017 12:15 am
by AustHaflinger
Ho John = I see that your propensity for trying to tip over has not changed :D It is great to see you out having a go. Unfortunately my local 4wd club is more interested in long distance cruising and having lattes rather than local trials stuff.

So the Haffie in the second clip is fitted with a VW engine - any other mods as I would not have thought in that type of work the bigger engine would not have been a lot of use. Is the owner on the forum?

Enjoyed both clips - thanks

Garry

Re: The 'Off-Road' picture thread

Posted: Fri Mar 24, 2017 1:23 am
by Czechsix
heinkeljb wrote:So another Trails day happened and I took Lurch along. More interesting than other days - I am hoping for some more video taken by others to appear on social media sites as it was one of the highlights of the day (obviously)!

https://www.facebook.com/emma.cornwell. ... 825802818/

Unfortunately, I managed to hit the red 7 cane (going up the second slope) - so going the rest of the section was only to prove it was possible. Didn't like the side slope coming down that bit of hill which is why I was going faster than I might otherwise have done this section. Hoping to use centrifugal force to hold Lurch against the ground!

Recovered using a strap connected to a, I think a Jeep, after being put more upright by half a dozen people all trying to prevent it falling over further.

Had another scare earlier going over and down a steep slope where I had a couple of lads hanging off the back to stop Lurch from going ass of tit! Hoping there is some video of that.

John

Was also shown this:- https://www.facebook.com/geachy777/vide ... 458048113/
VW1.6 engine
That looked like fun. You almost qualified for half a cow bell, but not quite.

Maybe next time. :lol:

Re: The 'Off-Road' picture thread

Posted: Fri Mar 24, 2017 7:39 am
by heinkeljb
One of the people who comes to the trials, saw the VW engined Haflinger clip on facebook and tagged me. SO other than seeing the clip and a post to confirm what I thought I saw as a VW engine. I know nothing about it.
I very much doubt the owner(s) are members of this forum.

As far as Lurch and my escapade, it was totally unintentional - there were the standard two tyre ruts, one side being deeper than the other and when climbing out, it obviously found a deeper part and followed that.

Right at the beginning there is the organiser following me with a camera, so I am trying to get him to post the clip from that angle.

John

Re: The 'Off-Road' picture thread

Posted: Fri Mar 24, 2017 3:57 pm
by jhon
Glad you and the Haf are OK John! Great to see it in action, I must try and get some video clips when I'm out and about.

I've done the same myself, it's not a nice feeling when it starts to go!

Cheers

Re: The 'Off-Road' picture thread

Posted: Sat Mar 25, 2017 7:19 pm
by heinkeljb
Another bit of video. It actually looked a lot steeper when you are on foot at the top of the drop off and it certainly felt a lot steeper than the video appears to make it.

Different section and I "bottled" it near the end. The tree near where everyone is standing is where I was supposed to turn right and go back down the hill, round a tree at he bottom and come back up again a bit further along the sandstone ridge. The turn wants to make the vehicle tip down towards the tree, but obviously you are now beyond the tree, so even more of a tipping and rolling down the slope type situation....
Waiting my turn:-
Haf in the background.jpg
https://youtu.be/3Eta5onqTAg

John
(and Lurch who has to put up with all of this)!!

Re: The 'Off-Road' picture thread

Posted: Sun Mar 26, 2017 3:29 am
by AustHaflinger
The LWB certainly handle those downhill drop offs better than the SWB - especially with the tubbies on the back. That last bit is definitely tip over territory particularly if the rear diff lock is in.

Garry

Re: The 'Off-Road' picture thread

Posted: Mon Feb 05, 2018 10:19 am
by jhon
At last, following on from the Photobucket fiasco I have opened up another photo account and can store and post photos on-line; this means of course that I can start to restore some of the historical photos in this thread and more importantly post some new ones!

This was the first trial of the year yesterday - sorry about the quality, I didn't realise that my crappy cell phone had deteriorated so much.

My son Ryan joined me in the driving, his Range Rover is still off-road (though not in a good way) with on-going body rot repairs. I was a little anxious how he would take to it, not knowing it's quirks and limits on side-slopes etc, after all I didn't want my baby damaged (the Haf, not so much him - ;) ). He did fine, and I was impressed with his mechanical sympathy and overall approach - I actually sat in with him for the first few sections and assisted him with putting the diff-locks in and out (though the fact that I beat him overall on the day, he suspects that I was disengaging them at the 'wrong' time ;) ).

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Some of the other vehicles..

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My brother-in-law's G-Wagen bogged (not unusual)
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A first time entrant in his 1964 Austin Gypsy (unusual and interesting, but actually not very good off-road. The driver said he had a great time tho' and that he'll be back. Love the front bumper - flotation aid maybe?. :D ).
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There was a lot of deep standing water (up over the wheels) and I was a bit uncertain how the Haf would perform; happy to say that it did fine and apart from a couple of splutters ran faultlessly all day.

Nice to see that it stayed mostly dry and that the days are starting to 'stretch' a bit now - more (maybe) next month, possibly even a video.

Cheers

Re: The 'Off-Road' picture thread

Posted: Mon Feb 05, 2018 10:43 am
by AustHaflinger
As usual - great pics and looks like a lot of fun - as usual.

You should get a Go Pro in a waterproof case and set it up in the engine bay and record just how much water goes in - to me that is the real Achilles heal for the Haf - though I have been in water over 2' deep and it still ran OK.

That Austin Gipsy is a pretty rare vehicle - I have never seen one and wouldn't mind the earlier Champ.

Thanks

garry

Re: The 'Off-Road' picture thread

Posted: Wed Feb 07, 2018 10:35 am
by jhon
Thanks Garry - yes, I agree, I don't like taking the Haf in to deep(ish) water and mud. It's not so much the effect it may have on the distributor/spark, more the wear and tear when it gets in to components like the dynastarter, or past hub-seals, etc.

It certainly got well distributed around the engine compartment, the (first) air-filter was pretty wet and there was muddy spray and debris all around the top of the engine and carb - happy to say that it doesn't seem to have had any ill-effects, though time will tell.

Re: The 'Off-Road' picture thread

Posted: Wed Feb 07, 2018 11:37 am
by AustHaflinger
Yes I agree with you about the mud and dirty water - I had to drive through this 18 months ago - I took the left track and you can see my Haf on the other side after I went through it. It was about two feet deep, with a couple of deeper holes - ice covered in places before I started and very very dirty.
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After this the suspension made weird noises for a couple of months - the front right brake drum still squeaks loudly even though it has been cleaned, drums and shoes roughened. Oils were all Ok but in the engine bay there was dried mud from the dirty water all over the engine and engine bay and mud in as far as the paper air filter - thankfully not on the engine side. The engine continued to run great though.

So I agree mud and water are to be avoided yet some people search it out.

Cheers

Garry

Re: The 'Off-Road' picture thread

Posted: Thu May 03, 2018 2:57 pm
by jhon
Did another trial last weekend - the weather was glorious (for a change!), warm and sunny, not too hot. There wasn't a huge turnout, about 7 vehicles in total - this course is quite rough with lots of hidden rocks in the long grass which led to a few retiring with breakages.
Happily, apart from a few scrapes the Haflinger survived unscathed - it was completely in its element in the soft stuff and the tight turns between the trees.
It definitely is the best off-road vehicle I've ever owned and I can't see me ever getting rid of it.

Here's a wee sequence of it coming over one of the bigger rock steps (again, sorry about the photo quality - this time it's the fault of my brother-in-law!)
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And per usual, here's some random photos of the other entrants..
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Re: The 'Off-Road' picture thread

Posted: Thu May 03, 2018 11:01 pm
by Techmogogy
Love it

Re: The 'Off-Road' picture thread

Posted: Fri May 04, 2018 7:35 am
by heinkeljb
Now that Lurch has another MOT - off to a treffen this weekend, fun drives round in the woods and a road run, then next weekend off to the Dutch treffen, but that will just road runs, but on their equivalent of our green lanes.

Nice to see you Haf being used.

John

Re: The 'Off-Road' picture thread

Posted: Wed Jun 13, 2018 10:58 am
by jhon
Another end of month trial, this time in glorious weather. This trial took place about 40 miles south of Inverness in a quiet area of the hills just off the main carriageway. Not a huge turnout for this one, but with the good weather people often have other activities taking up their weekend time.
The site was very dry, it was nice to get home and not have to wash mud off from underneath and take off and clean out the brake drums.

The conditions certainly suited the Haflinger, for the first time since I have started trialling no points were gained throughout the eight sections. (Of course, it was my superior driving skills that was the main factor. ;) :roll:)

Anyway, on with the photos..

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And some of the other entrants..

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(One of the casualties when his rear spring popped out - soon fixed though)

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(Apologies for the crappy quality; this is my nephew captured wallowing about in the muddy loch when he thought he wouldn't be seen - I don't think his Dad knows he was doing this!)

A big weekend coming up at the end of June - the annual hill challenge over on the West coast - looking forward to it, though it's likely to be very boggy.

Re: The 'Off-Road' picture thread

Posted: Fri Jul 06, 2018 10:52 am
by jhon
What's that old saying - pride comes before a fall? It was the big Gairloch 'Get to the top of the hill, or bust a diff trying' weekend and the Haflinger was in its element, tip-toeing casually around and over the bogs where the bigger boys in their V-8 40'' tyred monsters were floundering in the mire.
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Oh, how I chuckled as I watched them getting covered in peat-bog while getting eaten alive by the notorious biting clegs.
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Then it happened..
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And the smile was wiped off my face..

Yes, even though the hill was a lot drier than usual, it still easily punishes the complacent (and the smug). After getting recovered by a Suzuki (the shame) we proceeded to the top of the hill where we ended with a record number of vehicles managing the ascent (30+).

Here's some other photos of the shenanigans that were going on..
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(my young nephew)

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At the summit!
It was a damned hot day (30 deg C) and the Haflinger didn't like the heat; I started to get some running issues near the top of the hill where it would splutter and go on to one cylinder - it made the last bit of the climb kind of tricky, particularly as the drum brakes on my side were inoperable due to their earlier immersion in the peat bog and water. Despite cleaning out the jets it didn't really clear for the rest of the day. Once home and cooled down it seems to have cleared, so I'm hoping it was only a temporary glitch - we don't see temperatures like that very often here.
Anyway, a great time was had by all and I learned a lesson!

Re: The 'Off-Road' picture thread

Posted: Fri Jul 06, 2018 1:15 pm
by heinkeljb
I have a tip for you! Go and buy a can of compressed air - the sort used to clean computers and other office equipment. That way you can blow the jets clean AND with the plastic tube blow the holes into which the jets screw! I have had times when rubbish has got that far and blowing jets clean did not correct the issue.

Doesn’t anyone complain at the mess you make when you get stuck?

John

Re: The 'Off-Road' picture thread

Posted: Fri Jul 06, 2018 1:21 pm
by AustHaflinger
jhon wrote: It was a damned hot day (30 deg C) and the Haflinger didn't like the heat;
That is not a hot day :lol: - late winter early spring temps. ;)

Here we have a lot higher temps here which don't impact on the basic running of the Haflinger HOWEVER it has that carb heater pipe from the exhaust which may be fine in colder climates but I have found that it is not a good arrangement for hot weather. I believe it heats up the carb too much in hot weather so that fuel vapourises inside causing poor running. In my car it plays up when slow running and in hot weather the engine will not idle but it works fine in winter.

Again more thought was needed in this design - there should have been a means of isolating the carb heater pipes from the exhaust, say with a bimetallic strip controlled valve of some sort. Here if I lived down the coast I would isolate the carb heater pipes with blanking plates but even though it gets over 40 here is summer, winter temps are similar to those in the Uk so mornings can be vary cold so my mechanic advised to not block them. I have put in a thicker insulating plate under the carb but I still have the issue.

Nevertheless it is great you are able to get out and enjoy your vehicle and share your adventures with us.

Cheers

Garry

Re: The 'Off-Road' picture thread

Posted: Fri Jul 06, 2018 2:12 pm
by jhon
heinkeljb wrote: Doesn’t anyone complain at the mess you make when you get stuck?

John
When I get stuck!!! (Rub it in why don't you :cry: ) I'll have you know that that is a once in a lifetime event, almost unique ;) :D .

The hill we're on is part of a private estate comprising many thousands of acres of moorland, we have the permission of the owner and provided there are no visible marks from the roads he's not concerned. Where the vehicles are getting stuck is up on the moor pretty much miles from the nearest house; what we find is that the over the year from when we were there last, the ground heals itself and there is no evidence of where they were.

Good tip on the compressed air, I'll get a can this weekend.

Re: The 'Off-Road' picture thread

Posted: Fri Jul 06, 2018 2:24 pm
by jhon
garrycol wrote:
jhon wrote: It was a damned hot day (30 deg C) and the Haflinger didn't like the heat;
That is not a hot day :lol: - late winter early spring temps. ;)
Hey Garry, it's all relative! - we've had quite unbelievable weather here the last few weeks, temperatures in the mid twenties up to about thirty deg C. Typically in June here in Scotland it would be half that, so for us who are not used to it, it's damned hot. :D

Very pleasant though; good thoughts on the carb manifold pipes, that could certainly have contributed - the engine was that hot that I could smell it. I'm going to give it a good run this weekend and see if the problem reproduces.

Re: The 'Off-Road' picture thread

Posted: Fri Jul 06, 2018 2:58 pm
by AustHaflinger
The reason I think it is what I described rather than John's theory (I know he has had blocked jets but I have never had that issue) is that your problem went away after the car cooled down - to me if it was blocked jets you would still have the problem when the car cooled.

Nevertheless easy to check and clear.

Garry