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Monday
The Calypso caravan Park at Yamba is right on the water and they pack the caravans in so tight if your ears stick out you can’t walk between the vans. There are plenty of coffee shops and I imagine parking would be a nightmare in summer.
Arrived at HAG Engineering early as they were cleaning up. Apparently they don’t take any bookings before lunch on Monday so it is clean up time. I didn’t seem to make any difference as people called in all the time. Bob, the owner, took the front drive shaft off as the dyno is only for two wheel drive. If you do that and put the car into 4WD you can drive it around. On the dyno there was much noise and at times smoke as Matthew did his thing with the computer. He almost fell out of the car when he saw the fuel/air ratios. He then compared the numbers from our chip with a new one. This was all done on a laptop. Made a dozen phone calls and finally came up with a few more numbers, set them and blasted off again. We checked the air filter was not causing a problem by running the car with the filter removed and the air box open. The figures were the same. He ended up with the same power figure but with a far better fuel consumption. He then put the car back together and all this came to $143 which I thought was excellent value. I was very impressed by HAG Engineering in their very professional and helpful approach to a problem and the trouble they went through to solve the problem. Well, I feel they have solved it. To make life interesting Carol worked out the consumption from Moree to Yamba as 11.13 litres per 110km so it will be interesting to check the figures from Yamba to home.
Getting the chip solved was the good part of the day. We fuelled up in Yamba, had a coffee at Brook’s Family Bakery and had the best chicken, mushroom and vegetable pie (maybe this is a trip about pies). The road south from Yamba to just north of Taree was a shocker. It was like driving through Sydney with slow traffic, hold ups and the road goes through every little village. Our average speed on the Canning was faster than this section of the Pacific Highway. About the only thing which was different was the rivers were bigger and had clearer water in them. They also has bridges.
Below Taree the roads were new but mostly 80kph. We stopped at a revolting Parry’s ( I think that is the name ) Rest Area south of Kempsey near Port Macquarie. I have never smelt anything like it. It was a welcome relief to stop at Bulahdelah where it is now pelting down rain.
I have arranged for a new windscreen on Thursday so I will post the whole trip plus a summary for fuel and accommodation and things that worked and didn't plus some more photos on Thursday. Cheers, Trev
The Calypso caravan Park at Yamba is right on the water and they pack the caravans in so tight if your ears stick out you can’t walk between the vans. There are plenty of coffee shops and I imagine parking would be a nightmare in summer.
Arrived at HAG Engineering early as they were cleaning up. Apparently they don’t take any bookings before lunch on Monday so it is clean up time. I didn’t seem to make any difference as people called in all the time. Bob, the owner, took the front drive shaft off as the dyno is only for two wheel drive. If you do that and put the car into 4WD you can drive it around. On the dyno there was much noise and at times smoke as Matthew did his thing with the computer. He almost fell out of the car when he saw the fuel/air ratios. He then compared the numbers from our chip with a new one. This was all done on a laptop. Made a dozen phone calls and finally came up with a few more numbers, set them and blasted off again. We checked the air filter was not causing a problem by running the car with the filter removed and the air box open. The figures were the same. He ended up with the same power figure but with a far better fuel consumption. He then put the car back together and all this came to $143 which I thought was excellent value. I was very impressed by HAG Engineering in their very professional and helpful approach to a problem and the trouble they went through to solve the problem. Well, I feel they have solved it. To make life interesting Carol worked out the consumption from Moree to Yamba as 11.13 litres per 110km so it will be interesting to check the figures from Yamba to home.
Getting the chip solved was the good part of the day. We fuelled up in Yamba, had a coffee at Brook’s Family Bakery and had the best chicken, mushroom and vegetable pie (maybe this is a trip about pies). The road south from Yamba to just north of Taree was a shocker. It was like driving through Sydney with slow traffic, hold ups and the road goes through every little village. Our average speed on the Canning was faster than this section of the Pacific Highway. About the only thing which was different was the rivers were bigger and had clearer water in them. They also has bridges.
Below Taree the roads were new but mostly 80kph. We stopped at a revolting Parry’s ( I think that is the name ) Rest Area south of Kempsey near Port Macquarie. I have never smelt anything like it. It was a welcome relief to stop at Bulahdelah where it is now pelting down rain.
I have arranged for a new windscreen on Thursday so I will post the whole trip plus a summary for fuel and accommodation and things that worked and didn't plus some more photos on Thursday. Cheers, Trev
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