Bongo Fury

Alright; this is it!
I have a life beyond Bongo's you know!
For the DIY Do-It-Yourself type person, my recent filming of re-installing another new head might inspire you to undertake a similar action if you are up for it. CAUTION, this may be too much for the casual mechanic type. You really should have some prior experience in such things.

See YouTube link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HyCREtQPAFg for starters!

Just for the record...

So I call the supplier last Monday morning Vancouver time. I explain the what happened to our camping trip almost ending in the driveway when BongoBonnie had a heart attack resulting in a bent exhaust valve. The London based supplier was only to pleased to offer support [and some napkins!] but insisted I submit some pics to show the damage. I did better then that and sent video of the head removeal and closeups of the valves. We missed Tuesday's shippment; but Wednesday they packaged another head, bolts, cam belt, dowel & t-pipe kit, FULL gasket set at NO CHARGE, and sent via UPS Express Saver 2 days to Vancouver. The package arrived as guarranted by 6:30AM Friday morning.

But guess what... A random inspection by Canada Customs put a delay in receiving the package until sometime next week possible 1 to 3 business days! I can be a tenacious bulldog when I want to be, and this seemed to be one such ocassion so I pushed beyond UPS and contacted Canada Customs myself directly. I pleaded with them to release the friggin package which they did. It took several hours but in the end, I got it loaded onto my 'other' truck after driving 60kms round trip to Vancouver Airport by 1PM.

What are the odds that 1 in 100,000 packages gets culled randomly and it happens to be me? Do they not know that I am suffering from Bongo withdrawl?

After dealing with a client in the early afternoon Friday [return trip from Airport]; I was finally FREE to initiate the rebuild process by 4:30PM!

By 9PM Friday after sacrificing my weekly Date Night with the Misses; I had prepared and installed the new replacement head and torqued all head bolts.

Starting late at 11AM through 3PM I had Bongo back running! Very quiet a little diesel is she! But another TWO hours farting around with the bleeding process with [you guessed it!] Rodney Kim, my trusted assistent [actually he is my 17 year old son Joel who likes to play a South African/New Zealander accent!].

So, if you are wondering why Rodney has not returned to help with the 2nd video production; he got a bit shloshed on the first one during filming and thus 'In The Can Productions Ltd.' canned him!

Anyway, I got it all back together within 24 hours and we will see how far this BongoBonnie will take me. I have certainly invested another $2,500 CDN in repair parts w/o allowance for my time and time away from work too! Don't ask me for an account of my time; for it is embarrassing to say the least!!!

I am adopting many of the tips learned from this forum. Thank goodness that all of you folks are out there and have offered sound advice and guidance these past few weeks. For example, had Steve not provided me some printable service manual detail, I would be guessing at the more critical torque settings and botch the whole repair.

But I do value ALL of the responding posts I've received and look forward to giving back whatever I can in knowledge and experience as it pertains to these BongoBuggers! I know from my one only visit to England in 1975 [Glostershire/Stroud] that the British take a lot more pride in their vehicles as a whole than here in Canada. As I remember, they tend to keep their vehicles in top shape mechanically, but that is 36 years ago! Is it still the same nowadays??

Well, it is now 3:46AM and I'm done! The reason I came to the UK in '75 was to perform playing my Trombone. Now Sunday, I must perform playin the Trombone in a local Concert Band in a place called Harrison Hot Springs, BC. It's a 90 minute drive in guess what; the Bongo! Do you think it will make it? Or will it leave me stranded on the Trans Canada Highway? Have a little faith I always say! So, pray a little prayer for me tomorrow okay? I really need this BongoBonnie to get me there and back!

Cheers,
Dave
BongoBonnie
Surrey, BC
CAN

Here is #2:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvdWdeK8m_E

Dave

DAVE ....you are an inspiration to us all.... ...so many people have been following your adventure and I for one will not give up on my Bongo out of respect for your perseverence and courage to get Bongobonnie running again.
Bongo owners ARE special people and you have made me proud to be a Bongo owner when I had all but given up...
If you ever come to England again I and many others would love to meet you.
You are my No 1 candidate for Bongonaut of the year for your very valuable contribution to this forum and maybe you have inspired many others to keep Bongoing.

Respect....

Alan

alant54 wrote:DAVE ....you are an inspiration to us all.... ...so many people have been following your adventure and I for one will not give up on my Bongo out of respect for your perseverence and courage to get Bongobonnie running again.
Bongo owners ARE special people and you have made me proud to be a Bongo owner when I had all but given up...
If you ever come to England again I and many others would love to meet you.
You are my No 1 candidate for Bongonaut of the year for your very valuable contribution to this forum and maybe you have inspired many others to keep Bongoing.

Respect....

Alan

Wow! Them is nice words Alan!!!
I do personafy my cars by the way. I think it helps with the bonding process between a car and a human, don't you think?
My Bonnie [all our cars have personal names, usually female and for no specific reason] and I have had a few heart to heart talks of late. Hey, even today, I was patting her dashboard while giving her sweet encouragement to see me through the day w/o any cranky moments. Yes, a delicate hand is all they often need to keep humming.

Or maybe it is the threat of the 'breaker' that keeps them in line, I don't know!

Anyway, my trip to Harrison went simply perfect! No issues after a 220kms ride. Temperature stayed where it should, except I noticed it climb a few times during minor hills. That has me wondering a bit. The system is bled well enough, but maybe the radiator DOES need some service afterall. I'll keep an eye on it this week.

Here are the fuelly numbers:
Distance driven = 228.8kms
Consumption = 25.269 Litres

Price/Litre = 1.319 CDN

Approximately 11 litres per 100kms is what I a getting

Or 27mpg Imperial for 180 statute miles driven [5,280ft./mile].

YouTube Session #2 is:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMVe84ShxAw

Dave

well done that man

Thanks for the time and effort you have put into this. Well woth it from my point of view.

widdowson2008 wrote:Thanks for the time and effort you have put into this. Well woth it from my point of view.

So how is the exchange head project going?

progroup wrote:

widdowson2008 wrote:Thanks for the time and effort you have put into this. Well woth it from my point of view.

So how is the exchange head project going?

New head being ordered today. Not sure how long to deliver though. Getting it from Bongo shop.
Question - do heads from Bongo shop come with camshaft in place? or do you have to swap it over from old head?

just a couple of observations.
in my opinion the jubilee clip you have on the head outlet hose will give you grieff , you may be be better with the constant pressure clips that mazda use.
ive found that the expansion of the metal stub will stretch the fixed band type clips,then leak when cooled,if you keep tightening them they will eventually fail.

it may be the picture angle, but is the glow plug buzz bar very close to the injector pipe link returns,if it is this could cause the 100 amp fuse to pop as it rubs through the plastic insulation, and a burn hole in the metal pipe.

this isnt said to poo-poo your good efforts just trying to be constructive and save you trouble.

Dave what was the actual problem in the end? You don't seem to show it on the video clips. At least I cant find it. Either way to have to go through the whole thing twice really sucks. I hope supplier was suitably humble!!

progroup wrote:

widdowson2008 wrote:Thanks for the time and effort you have put into this. Well woth it from my point of view.

So how is the exchange head project going?

Hi Dave
2 threads - same subject - same job. This one and this one viewtopic.php?f=3&t=49958

Update
Head will (should) arrive sometime tomorrow.

widdowson2008 wrote:

progroup wrote:

widdowson2008 wrote:Thanks for the time and effort you have put into this. Well woth it from my point of view.

So how is the exchange head project going?

New head being ordered today. Not sure how long to deliver though. Getting it from Bongo shop.
Question - do heads from Bongo shop come with camshaft in place? or do you have to swap it over from old head?

Not sure from Bongo Shop; as I ordered my from Peer Parts in London. Peer's package is videod and described on YouTube but generally a built head w/camshaft, head bolts, timing belt, and gasket set for 420GBP [still haven't figured my 'symbols' menu to show the pounds friends!].

Dave

Northern Bongolow wrote:just a couple of observations.
in my opinion the jubilee clip you have on the head outlet hose will give you grieff , you may be be better with the constant pressure clips that mazda use.
ive found that the expansion of the metal stub will stretch the fixed band type clips,then leak when cooled,if you keep tightening them they will eventually fail.

it may be the picture angle, but is the glow plug buzz bar very close to the injector pipe link returns,if it is this could cause the 100 amp fuse to pop as it rubs through the plastic insulation, and a burn hole in the metal pipe.

this isnt said to poo-poo your good efforts just trying to be constructive and save you trouble.

Not at all NB; but I had new jubilees in stock to replace the constant pressure ones I deemed to old. some of the Mazda ones are still in good condition and were reused. There is another type available from Greenline Marine which I like and are stainless steel too!

It may be the angle, because I noted that about the glows aswell. There is lots of clearance for sure!!!

Does anyone have service manual that details the 'bleeding' of the coolant?
There has got to be a better way; perhaps a power assisted method similar to bleeding a braking system.

Can anyone comment on this? Haydn Callow has many optional fixes and coolant alarms [all of which I want!]; but I am now facing a new rad possibly and finances are getting tighter. Remember, I paid $5k and spent another 1k on accessories + another 2k on the head and tools lately.

Dave

widdowson2008 wrote:

progroup wrote:

widdowson2008 wrote:Thanks for the time and effort you have put into this. Well woth it from my point of view.

So how is the exchange head project going?

Hi Dave
2 threads - same subject - same job. This one and this one viewtopic.php?f=3&t=49958

Update
Head will (should) arrive sometime tomorrow.

Your link doesn't work Steve; I assume the http:// etc is missing?