Matt Wright
Well-Known Member
Hi guys
First up, apologies for the silence! Been a whirlwind of things to do after moving back to Cape Town almost 6 months ago!
Time flies when you're living on holiday". Some news and a question from me for this post. Wasn't quite sure where to put it but here goes.
A few weeks ago I was cruising along to visit a friend out in the countryside ie no lights and a B type road. Long story short, I took my silver cruiser down a rather steep cliff, rolled 3 times, through a river and came to a halt on the far side of the bank This = a bad bad accident I am simply lucky to be alive after let alone being able to unbuckle my seat belt, put on my shoes, collect my belongings, do multiple inspections of the vehicle, still ponder why I couldn't get her started and drive out of the gorge I ended up in 
To confirm, Lorien (wife) and new puppy were not in the car, just me, we're all fine (altho I got quite a blast for writing off the silver truck which is Lorien's!)
That's making light of the subject though and it must be said in big bold letters that the Landcruiser and in particular, the 80, must be one of if not the strongest vehicles ever produced. See pictures below and it'll make sense quickly. How did I get in to the mess though!? I was sober as a judge, just had an afternoon nap and was doing a mild 40mph down a slight decline. Light drizzle and some light braking caused the rear to slip out and before I knew it, I was tumbling down the side. No yellow line / space and pitch pitch darkness + who knows what else contributed to it all happening. I'm very happy to be here and experienced all the "things people see during a big crash"!
So, on to the pictures and questions.. Poor, dearly departed Nala, queen of the road. Safely delivered us from London all the way to Cape Town. She is THE BEST TRUCK EVER BUILT and we are very sad to see her go. Big thanks to her for saving my life..
I have been systematically cutting her up (more heartache!) and saving all the good bits. The body was bashed on the roof but she was a lot worse off from the actual recovery by the tow trucks as they're not too picky about how they get the cars out it seems. I took the body to the scrapyard yesterday so 350kg's is gone. I'm left with a badly bent chassis, the axles and engine/gearbox/autobox.
My questions is : How does one start the engine to test that it is in good working order?
I am pretty sure it is given that the engine bay was near perfect - I recovered the aircon grille and radiator!
I have clearly identified both + and - battery points but I am told that I need to find the fuel pump something and then?
Ideally I'd like an idiot's guide to starting her up to test for 30seconds?
I assume something like :
- Disconnect both prop shafts
- The fuel tank is already disconnected but there is diesel in the pipes and the diesel filter so I think enough to start
- Connect both batteries / or will something happen when the second is connected?
- I think though I'd need some kind of ignition function?
---- How do I stop the engine after it starts (important!)
Open to ideas and I really appreciate your help. (Karl, Paul - I believe you know all about this?)
** One major bummer is that the part that attaches the top radiator hose to the radiator broke but it looks like it bolts on to the engine. (better than having the top or bottom end broken) Any thoughts on this? See pics..
Here are the pics. Do not be alarmed. I am ok, just one scratch on my hand and a sore lower back )plus slashes all over my legs from having to climb up a vertical rock face over a story high one handed in the pitch darkness THROUGH THORN TREES. Yes I looked around but there were thorn trees everywhere Talk about adding insult to injury!!!)
Ping me any questions both technical and non as I have now stripped an entire vehicle from the start to finish and have learnt a lot! DO not try this at home though!!!
If you look carefully you can see the river I went through - on the roof..
For some bizarre reason my pics keep posting upside down?! Maybe it's because I'm in the Southern hemisphere..
Click this link and then open each individually. apologies. Took me ages trying to fix it.
http://www.capetowndivers.co.za/LC/Nala/
See you all at Lincomb sometime. So cool to be able to say that! Matt..
First up, apologies for the silence! Been a whirlwind of things to do after moving back to Cape Town almost 6 months ago!
Time flies when you're living on holiday". Some news and a question from me for this post. Wasn't quite sure where to put it but here goes.A few weeks ago I was cruising along to visit a friend out in the countryside ie no lights and a B type road. Long story short, I took my silver cruiser down a rather steep cliff, rolled 3 times, through a river and came to a halt on the far side of the bank
This = a bad bad accident I am simply lucky to be alive after let alone being able to unbuckle my seat belt, put on my shoes, collect my belongings, do multiple inspections of the vehicle, still ponder why I couldn't get her started and drive out of the gorge I ended up in To confirm, Lorien (wife) and new puppy were not in the car, just me, we're all fine (altho I got quite a blast for writing off the silver truck which is Lorien's!)That's making light of the subject though and it must be said in big bold letters that the Landcruiser and in particular, the 80, must be one of if not the strongest vehicles ever produced. See pictures below and it'll make sense quickly. How did I get in to the mess though!? I was sober as a judge, just had an afternoon nap and was doing a mild 40mph down a slight decline. Light drizzle and some light braking caused the rear to slip out and before I knew it, I was tumbling down the side. No yellow line / space and pitch pitch darkness + who knows what else contributed to it all happening. I'm very happy to be here and experienced all the "things people see during a big crash"!
So, on to the pictures and questions.. Poor, dearly departed Nala, queen of the road. Safely delivered us from London all the way to Cape Town. She is THE BEST TRUCK EVER BUILT and we are very sad to see her go. Big thanks to her for saving my life..
I have been systematically cutting her up (more heartache!) and saving all the good bits. The body was bashed on the roof but she was a lot worse off from the actual recovery by the tow trucks as they're not too picky about how they get the cars out it seems. I took the body to the scrapyard yesterday so 350kg's is gone. I'm left with a badly bent chassis, the axles and engine/gearbox/autobox.
My questions is : How does one start the engine to test that it is in good working order?
I am pretty sure it is given that the engine bay was near perfect - I recovered the aircon grille and radiator!
I have clearly identified both + and - battery points but I am told that I need to find the fuel pump something and then?
Ideally I'd like an idiot's guide to starting her up to test for 30seconds?
I assume something like :
- Disconnect both prop shafts
- The fuel tank is already disconnected but there is diesel in the pipes and the diesel filter so I think enough to start
- Connect both batteries / or will something happen when the second is connected?
- I think though I'd need some kind of ignition function?
---- How do I stop the engine after it starts (important!)
Open to ideas and I really appreciate your help. (Karl, Paul - I believe you know all about this?)
** One major bummer is that the part that attaches the top radiator hose to the radiator broke but it looks like it bolts on to the engine. (better than having the top or bottom end broken) Any thoughts on this? See pics..
Here are the pics. Do not be alarmed. I am ok, just one scratch on my hand and a sore lower back )plus slashes all over my legs from having to climb up a vertical rock face over a story high one handed in the pitch darkness THROUGH THORN TREES. Yes I looked around but there were thorn trees everywhere
Talk about adding insult to injury!!!)Ping me any questions both technical and non as I have now stripped an entire vehicle from the start to finish and have learnt a lot! DO not try this at home though!!!
If you look carefully you can see the river I went through - on the roof..
For some bizarre reason my pics keep posting upside down?! Maybe it's because I'm in the Southern hemisphere..
Click this link and then open each individually. apologies. Took me ages trying to fix it.
http://www.capetowndivers.co.za/LC/Nala/
See you all at Lincomb sometime. So cool to be able to say that! Matt..
I'll have a bash tomorrow (just been very nervous about it lurching forward which won't work well for the garage it's in!)
how did you get out of that alive? you lucky b*stard, can you predict the lottery numbers for me. 
I'm so glad you are OK, even if it's an 80, at the end of the day it's just a car, your life is more important than any piece of metal.
