Today the Buzz Box atoned for it's sins.

[Tez]

Oh Boy Oh Boy Oh Boy.


I have just had what I would consider to be up there in the top 5 - best ever - drives of my life...

and in a Mighty Boy what's more!

For all the grief,angst and anguish my little car has dished out in the few years I've had it, it made up for ALL of it's sins about three-fold over, today.

I'm talking about my trip back from the Albury Cruise.

Those that were there will know that some cars "developed issues" over the course of the weekend.
(I do hope everyone is getting home safely - but that's stuff for another thread!)

Mine ran sweet as a nut (Touch wood - NOT provoking the Car Gods!!!)

Well, at departure time today, one of our fellow Melbournites was having major grief with his car - thinks he's done a head-gasket in a not-to-subtle way either. So we're outside the caravan park, only about 320 ks to limp the broken MB home... Get some chemiweld, tip that in to do a bodgy to get home... Doesn't help. Car starts to idle better, but under load breaks down again. We got about 1 km toward home and now stuck on the side of the Hume.

So the Cavalry are called, and a car trailer sought in Melbourne by family, who, begin the drive to Wodonga to collect the car. I offer to tow towards Melbourne. "No way - you CAN'T tow me to Melbourne with a 543..." "Yes I can I say, - I'll not do anything stupid - If mine gets hot, I'll pull over"

So we connect the cars up and off we go.

We get to Wangaratta and stop for lunch - Car is doing it well!!! - Temp is staying at normal (New Radiator in under 12 months ago) and we'd been getting along at between 85 & 90 kph all the way.

Finish lunch and decide to continue - cavalry have organised a trailer and are now on their way up the hume to meet us...

Well, we got 165k's down the road with absolutely no bother before we spotted the cavalry in the northbound lane - waved frantically, and they saw us. We pulled into the next truck stop and only waited 5 minutes for the Cavalry to arrive with car-trailer.

At this point I can't really believe what we'd just done.... My little 543 had just towed another Mightyboy half way to Melbourne... And was showing no signs of ill-effect for the effort Woo Hoo!

So I followed the Cavalry down the hume as far as the Seymour turnoff, and parted company...

Note the casual pace at which we proceeded...

Well, anyone who knows the area and knows the back way from the Hume through Yea to Croydon will know there's one point - Castella - where you essentially travel up one side of a mountain range, over the crest and then down the other side - not so much fun in a 543 going up, but they plummet as fast as the next car, so the down bit is always fun!

Well the up-bit has an overtaking lane for the slow-pokes to get out of the way of faster cars... So when I saw two black cars lob into my rear-view mirror at high velocity on the up, I moved over to the 543cc lane to let them pass. The Porsche Cayenne S took advantage of the opportunity to go around me, but the overtaking lane was closing in fast, so the Honda Sporty thing graciously let me back in.

As we crested the hill, the Porsche was gone, so I wound up the rubber band and let it TWANG! and I was off after him!

I shit you not, my little 543 that earlier had been towing another MB was now plummeting down the hill after the Cayenne... I hit Maximum Speedo in some spots - The Honda disappeared out of my rear-view mirror. I'm sure the Cayenne was up to more, but the driver wasn't, so I plummeted down the side of the mountain behind him... AND HAD AN ABSOLUTE BALL DOING SO!!! Most corners advised 80k's and we took 'em at 100.

I was a bit busy with the throttle, the brake pedal (only twice) and the round steery-thingo to bother with photos also, but about a K beyond the bottom of the range we found traffic and so I got a chance to snap him:

Here's the Honda that eventually caught us up...

We pootled along in the traffic for about 10 minutes until we got to the new roundabout outside Yarra Glen where the new "Yarra Glen Bypass" starts.

This roundabout is dual lane and my mate in his Cayenne took the inner lane, and thinking he was going to head into Yarra Glen, I ducked into the outer lane, and being a roundabout, I stomped on it.
I flicked through the roundabout and off down the bypass, when, I look in the side mirror to see Mr. Cayenne deciding to go onto the bypass and looking stunned to see a white Mighty Boy has just jumped in front of him! WOO HOO!!!!

Now I've driven some "nice" cars in my time, and I've has some serious fun doing so... But today was up there with the best of them. I cannot believe what this little car CAN do.

I'm really happy for you guys with your turbos and your big engines - You're welcome to them! - I'm having plenty enough fun with my 543 (for the fact it's a standard 543!) just as it is, thanks.

[supervan]

haha thats a good read tez thanks for sharing...

its just somthing you dont see eveyday a mightyboy towing another mightyboy

[Brayden]

Great story, Tez. Brought a smile to my face. I'm sure most (if not all) MB owners can relate to how surprising their little utes can be sometimes.

[holk]

What about a pic?

and a short vid....

http://youtu.be/UmW_v5zujts

[supervan]

What about a pic?

IMG_4501.JPG

and a short vid....

http://youtu.be/UmW_v5zujts

.......................

[Husky]

Good work Tez,
I know how you feel about the good times and bad with the MB. Its cruises and people like we have here that make it all worthwhile
On another note, When I passed you coming back with Jay with the chemiweld I was driving down the freeway thinking about it. Jay's spark plug looked exactly like mine did when I did my head gasket.
My head gasket went between cylinders 1&2 not to the water gallery. Therefore unfortunatley the chemiweld would have no effect.
I wonder if It's common for mighty boys to blow head gaskets this way when it is not from overheating?
Maybe we should put some sort information re this symptons and what to look for. i.e the engine running rough and won't idle and to look at the spark plugs. A photo of the plug would be great.
Just something to think about

[Tez]

A photo of the plug would be great.

I got two this morning, with my phone... A crap one and one worse...
Here's the crap one (sorry about the abundant lack of focus)

[Husky]

Good one
I also took a photo of mine at the time but with the phone it didnt cut it. Need macro mode.
The best way to describe it, Looks like molten metal stuck to the electrode and it was light coloured. The molten metal appeared to be part of the head gasket. Also of note my engine was making a tapping noise,I'm fairly confident it was No1 cylinder hitting the peice of gasket that was blown sideways into the cylinder. It could also be seen when the plug was removed and the plug hole inspected.
These photos show when I pulled the head of my motor. The gasket has blown over No 1 cylinder and over No 2 cylinder.

[KEVIN]

Hi All - This kind of head gasket failure is generally caused by pre-ignition (over advanced ignition timing) causing the gasket to burn through. The tapping noise is probably one cylinders compression leaking into the next cylinder recompressing and causing severe detonation - Not good

[ferdie]

hey tez, on a side note can you please post some detail pics of your tray hard top, would like any pics you can offer, does it seal well??

im looking to make a similar one...

[Breyten]

Awesome work Tez!

(its a Cayman btw.. Or in TG-talk, cockster)

[arklan]

my boy couldnt even tow my navara out of the driveway :O and its almost flat

[Tez]

hey tez, on a side note can you please post some detail pics of your tray hard top

PM Sent

[mini_kompressor]

You are a bloody legend Tez

[mini_kompressor]

If anyone here in vic needs a tow, Contact Tezs' Towing