Erg Machine

Delicate Souls Abstain

December 2, 2010 Leave a comment

Welcome to the new Erg Machine blog on WordPress! We hope it will be easier to navigate the archive and find posts on a variety of topics ranging from preparation and maintenance to travel logs describing our trip. To start things off before launching into a description of our recent Tunisia trip, here is the very latest news about our new Tatra 815.

We drove the Erg Machine 2 to Kopřivnice just over a week ago for servicing at the Tatra factory. The work has started, and the staff sent us some impressive pictures.

As you can see, they’ve removed the engine!! It’s a V12 that weights approximately 1.2 tons!

Removal of the engine makes it easier to perform a complete inspection of the engine bay and carry out some maintenance that was already identified: The hoses that make up the lubrification and cooling system will be changed. The two starter motors were removed and will be checked to identify and repair an intermittent failure. The engine valve covers have been removed to perform an adjustment and check of the injection nozzles.

The drum brakes were also removed for rectification, which will eliminate all the irregularities induced by wear from the brake pads.

More work is planned in addition to that described here. We’ll post updates and provide more details as it progresses.

Filed under Blog Notes, Maintenance, Tatra 815

Good Things On The Way

November 26, 2010 Leave a comment

After a long hiatus, work has resumed on the blog! With luck, we’ll be back up and running again by next week with photos from Tunisia, a description of the trip and some long overdue information on the gearbox monitoring device. We’ll have more news ready in a few days.

We’ve also started a new project: Erg Machine 2.

It’s a Tatra 815 4×4 that participated in the Paris-Dakar several times. It is homologated FIA T4, which is the competition category, but the truck was primarily used for rapid assistance. It is currently at the Tatra factory in Kopřivnice where it is undergoing specialized maintenance.

We’ll be writing more about that too once the blog is up and running again.

Originally published on Tumblr

Filed under Blog Notes, Tatra 815

Blog Notes

September 23, 2010 Leave a comment

It’s been just over a week since we returned from Tunisia. What a fantastic trip it was!

A few people expressed disappointment that we weren’t able to update the Tumblr during the trip. To be honest, it was ambitious to even hope for that. Surprisingly we had mobile data access in most cities and camps, including the oasis paradise of Ksar Ghilane, but in between the only link with the outside world would have been by communication satellites. Even so, there simply wasn’t time to do more than send a few Twitter updates while on the ground.

We arrived home on Monday, having spent a few extra days vacation elsewhere in Europe, and started transferring photos to the computer on Tuesday. There are going to be some changes, but the blog should resume next week, with news from the trip, as well as a description of the gear box LED monitoring device that was discussed on the Terrangbil forum after someone found our as yet undocumented YouTube video.

As usual, for up to the minute news, follow us on Twitter.

Originally published on Tumblr

Filed under Blog Notes, Scania SBA 111, Travel Log

Fixing the cooling system leak

August 28, 2010 Leave a comment

The fix of the cooling system leak in the fuel pre-heater was completed today at the Scania workshop in Echandens with the replacement of the leaky stopcock.

Although replacement of the part itself was not difficult, we decided to have Scania do it, because its location between the exhaust manifold and the injection pump made it difficult to access. Moreover, the stopcock was tightly mounted, and we did not want to damage anything by trying to remove it without the proper tools.

The leakage seems to have stopped, but we’ll check on it closely over the next few days to be sure.

Originally published on Tumblr

Filed under Maintenance, Scania SBA 111

Road Test

August 26, 2010 1 Comment

When the main preparations were finished, it was time for a serious test drive to take the truck in hand and make sure everything was in order. Two weeks ago, we set out on a 3-day road test, the interesting part of which took us through the Gorges of the Tarn, the Mont Aigoual, and the Gorges of the Ardèche.

We covered over 1000 km, on steep, winding roads to put the engine and gear box through their paces. We also tested out the sleeping arrangements, camping near Yssingeaux, Sainte-Enimie and Vallon-Pont-d’Arc.

Rear axle

August 20, 2010 Leave a comment

You’re never fully dressed without a smile.

Originally published on Tumblr

Filed under Scania SBA 111

Auxiliary Fuel Tank

August 19, 2010 Leave a comment

We mounted a 630 liter auxiliary fuel tank in the truck bed to have sufficient autonomy for several days of driving in the dunes. Since we don’t know yet how much the engine will consume in those conditions, we can only estimate how many kilometers we’ll be able to travel before we need to find a gas station. With the main and auxiliary tanks both full, we may be able to drive up to 1,600 km before needing to fill up the tanks.

Originally published on Tumblr

Filed under Preparation, Scania SBA 111

Sleeping Arrangements

August 18, 2010 Leave a comment

A sleeping and storage area was created in the personnel cabin. We removed the bench seats on both sides and attached slats to the metal support arms to create a structure that reinforces the panels on which the mattress lies. The area under the bed serves as storage for clothing, cooking and camp supplies. Use of three hinged panels allows them to be raised for better access to the stowed items.

Originally published on Tumblr

Filed under Preparation, Scania SBA 111

Paint Design

August 17, 2010 Leave a comment

Just for fun, we added a splash of color. The design is reminiscent of the original Swedish army camouflage patterns, but by using bright colors and minimizing the patterns, the allusion remains subtle and the dominant impression is more harlequin than military.