Soarer: O-Rings Busted In Coolant Bypass Pipe

I think Ive found the source of my loss of engine coolant and overheating problems on my 1JZ-GTE Soarer. It seems that there is a vertical pipe about 2" long above the water pump housing.

Coolant Bypass Pipe - Half-hidden Behind Bolt Head in Center

To get access to this pipe I first had to remove the Battery. Then remove the engine fan shroud attached to the radiator. From here, I could undo the four bolts attaching the engine fan to the water pump pulley. After that I removed the fan belt.

I went on to remove the timing belt cover. I could now see the 2 bolts holding the upper part of the water pump housing a little better. However, to get a spanner or socket onto these 2 bolts, I found I would need to remove the front section of intercooler piping aswell as various pipes attached to the front turbo.

Finally I undid the 2 bolts holding the upper housing to the head. Then I was able to twist and turn the housing free from the bottom housing, as the o-rings were pretty much, mush.

Just got to find 2 new o-rings tomorrow and then hopefully that will solve the leak!

View Lubuntu Laptop from Asus Transformer

I finally got remote desktop to work from my TFP to my Lubuntu Laptop over the Internet. Using the splashtop client within the mycloud app on the tablet I was able to connect to laptop which had the windows version of splashtop streamer installed and running through wine (windows emulator).
Working well so far, but very limited due to not yet having my keyboard/dock for tablet or a bluetooth mouse handy. Hopefully my dock will arrive tomorrow.

You can download splashtop steamer here.

Effectbooth for Android

Playing around with Effect Booth android app on my Asus TFP today.
It's very similar to iOS' Photobooth, but has quite a few more effects.

Grab it here

Shadowgun for Android

Just had a quick go at Shadowgun on my Asus TFP. Graphics are really well done. It's a great first person shooter by Madfinger Games. Even though i only got the non-thd version, it still looks great.

Get it here
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.madfingergames.shadowgun

My ASUS Transformer Prime

Where to start!
I ordered an Asus Transformer Prime from Amazon.com some time ago. After doing plenty of research on tablets, this was my first choice. The spec sheet alone was enough to convince me! Quad-core CPU, 1gb of ram, a massive HD display, what's not to love?

Well it finally arrived yesterday while I was at work. Needless to say I raced home on my dinner break (currently on arvo shift 1330-2300) to pick it up and put in straight on charge at work.

It was still running Honeycomb 3.2 and naturally when I tethered it to my phones wifi hot spot, it started downloading the Ice Cream Sandwich update straight away.

I was up until 2am this morning playing with my new tablet. Organizing my home screens, getting a feel for the keyboard, watching HD YouTube videos etc.

I even downloaded a few games and was quite impressed with the download speed over Wi-Fi. I played a little bit of Soulcraft too. I am VERY impressed with the graphics quality thus far.

I wrote this complete post using my TFP. First I tried the blogger app from Google Play but you have a lot less control of formatting, layout etc. So I used the browser and went to my blog as if using a PC. It seemed to work OK to start with, until I added a few pictures, then I couldn't get the cursor to move where I wanted it. I'm only using the onscreen keyboard at the moment until I get my dock, so I think this issue will be solved by using the dock keyboard. After this, I went back to the blogger app, so I apologise for the poor formatting of this post!

P.S. The standard android keyboard seems to work much better than the Asus keyboard for posts like this.

Reverse Camera Install Toyota Corrolla

Yesterday I installed a reverse camera in Sharls' Toyota Corrolla. She purchased a 7" GPS/Bluetooth/Media "Tablet" style portable GPS from eBay. It came with a wireless reverse camera and a suction-cap windscreen mount.


The reverse camera part was quite straight-forward. I screwed the small camera to the trim running along the boot lid between the number-plate lights. I ran the power lead in to the back of the boot lid then followed the other looms down the left hinge to the reverse lights. I then tapped into the left-hand reverse light power and earth. The lead had an in-line transmitter that powers up when reverse is engaged. This transmits the video signal to the receiver. 


We mounted the 7" tablet to the upper right-hand corner of the front windscreen. The receiver plugs into the tablet, but must also be plugged into 5volt USB power to work properly. This meant I had to run a micro-USB cable down the a-pillar to an ignition/accessories power source. 

Mini-USB running down the A-pillar.

Hid it well!

The device came with a cigarette lighter to mini-usb car charger, so i decided to hard-wire it in. I cut the bulky charger end off and ran the wire down the a-pillar, under the dash and across to the center console.

Cigarette lighter, center console.

After realising that the cigarette lighter obviously supplied 12 volts and the mini-usb was only 5volts, I decided to pull the bulky part of the car charger apart. I got rid of the contacts and bits I didnt need, basically ending up with a step-down transformer in a shell. I then lengthened the wires of both input and output, then spliced it in-line of my run to the cigarette lighter power, under the dash.

Step-down transformer in-line, instead of using lighter socket in center console.

I gave it a quick test before I hid this transformer up under the dash.

Yay! Green light!

Now when the tablet is mounted up on the windscreen, all you do is grab the mini-usb lead and plug it in and away you go!


This is when I showed sharls after I was done.

V8 Supercars Info App 1000+ Downloads!

Today I'm celebrating 1000+ downloads of my V8 Supercars Info app on the Android Market (now Google Play). I would just like to thank everyone for your support and feedback! 

V8 Supercars Info Total Downloads

If you haven't already,
Check out "V8 Supercars Info"
Enjoy! And thanks again!

Tamworth Airport Terminal Renovations Underway!

Approximately 1 month ago, the local shire council began the 'long-time coming' renovation of the Tamworth Regional Airport Terminal. The renovation will include moving the tarmac facing glass wall out further towards the tarmac. A security check-in will be used with a fully secure departure lounge.

Tamworth Regional Airport Terminal Floor Plan. Before Renovation.

Proposed Terminal Floor Plan. After Renovation.

Computer Generated View of Completed Project.

So far, the builders have blocked off the north-west (tarmac) facing wall from the inside to continue building it out further towards the tarmac. They have also completely pulled up the the concrete driveway between the terminal and the old control tower on the eastern side.

Inside Terminal Facing East From Kiosk.

Inside Terminal Facing Gate 1 Lounge.

Kiosk Area. Western Side.

Temporary Check-In Area.

Gate 2 Lounge Area.

Eastern Side of Terminal.

Between Terminal & Old Control Tower.

Hopefully the renovation wont last too long & we will have a fresh new terminal when they're done!

Stay tuned!

More info http://www.tamworth.nsw.gov.au/Council/Major-Projects/Major-Projects/default.aspx

Citation Charter to Moree

Today I had the opportunity to fly to Moree to fix an Avionics Defect on a grounded DHC-8 200 (Dash8) 32-seat aircraft. An Avionics Licensed Aircraft Maintenance Engineer (LAME) & myself were flown direct from Tamworth to Moree on a private charter jet.

The jet was a Citation flown by only 1 pilot. It had a very nice interior including 6 leather seats, mahogany woodgrain trimming, with fold-out tables and drink holders etc.

This is a video I took straight after take-off out of Tamworth.

It only took 20 minutes to get to Moree from Tamworth! We spent a couple of hours in Moree fixing the defect before heading back home on the Citation. It was quite overcast and rainy on the way back which made it quite interesting.

Landing in Tamworth

All in all, a good day. A bit of overtime always helps bolster the next paycheck ;-) . Love it!

New Soarer Blog

Just started a new blog to pretty much share the life of my Toyota Soarer. You can follow it here:

http://www.toysoarer.blogspot.com.au

Enjoy!