On-road repairs. . .

On the way from Sydney to Perth in April, 1975. As evening falls I pitch the tent, retighten the exhaust manifold bolts and tune the updraught carburettor to get through another few hundred miles.

The most persistent problem has been interruption to fuel feed caused by apparent airlocks in the long line between fuel pump and carburettor. The original vacuum pump was replaced in the 1940s by an AC-type electric pump mounted on the firewall. This is not an adequate solution for long running. One day, I intend to replace it with a better pump located closer to the petrol tank, eg, under the front passenger's seat, to equalise the pull-push demands. In the meantime, the under-bonnet copper piping is lagged against the engine heat with a crepe bandage and aluminium foil. When the pump stops ticking, it is reactivated by a thump of the driver's left boot against the firewall!

 

Near Tailem Bend, after crossing the Murray River into South Australia

 

Near the Old Telegraph Station at Eucla, where we spent a night after crossing the border into Western Australia. The journey from Ceduna, SA, took three days over horrendous unsealed roads, shared with many road trains, but from here it was bitumen all the way to Perth. A year or two later (1977) the road was fully sealed.

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