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There is a thread in Lost and Found when I found this bus here, viewtopic.php?f=10&t=9611 and a few in Trips with Splits here, viewtopic.php?f=8&t=15038 and here, viewtopic.php?f=8&t=19225 when we have been on hoiliday however I haven't kept up a running commenatry in one place so here goes...

After the trip to Dalhousie Springs in May last year Cat in the Hat was rolled into the shed and left there. She had developed an oil leak very early on in the trip and by the time I had got home the clutch plate wasn't gripping so it was all put in the too hard basket. With RATeX looming next month it was time to get busy and find out what was causing the oil leak and get her up and running again. I also wanted to know what size engine it was - I had bought off a guy for a few hundred dollars after it had been sitting in his shed for years and he coudln't remember, just that it was bigger than a 1600

I have a mate who is an ex VW mecahnic who agreed to help me pull it down and put it back together as this was to be my first attempt at an engine rebuild.

There were quite a few theories on what was causing the oil leak however once it was pulled down the case looked okay although a little rough but there was lots of sealant around the cam welsh plug and it seemed as if it were put in backwards?? This also lined up with where the oil was pooling.

On pulling it down we worked out it was a 1641, (I was hoping it would be a 1776) there was movement in the rivets on the cam/cam gear so that would need replacing and the carby was a Solex Pict 30/31 which I felt was under capacity.

I did a lot of reading/talking to people and decided to get the case align bored, new stock grind Eagle camshaft, new lifters, get all the moving parts balanced, heads machined, new exhaust valves, upgrade to a Solex Pict 34 and replace my rusty extractors with a better second hand set. Tony, who is helping me (alright, let's face it he is the brains of the operation!) is also going to give the oil pump and distributor a 'birthday.'

I now have all the bits and the machining will be finished on Monday so it should be ready to start putting back together next week - will try to get more pics as it should be a cleaner operation than pulling down.

The carby has been overhauled by Joe at Adelaide Carburettor Services and he also braised up and machined two of the liknages he wasn't that happy with so very pleased how this now looks compared to the grotty thing I dropped off to him. I read up on jetting and it nearly did my head in. I have gone for a 132.5 main jet, 60 idle jet and 100 air correction jet - would be interested in anyones thoughts or comments on that selection in a bus.

Haven't posted on this ride for a while but this bus does a lot of heavy lifting in that it is asked to go through some pretty extreme countryside a couple of times a year and does clock up the miles on these trips.

Since last posting it has been to Birdsville in 2015 and then Maralinga in 2016. Well on the way home from Birdsville it would occasionally jump out of fourth gear, however this became much mor regular on the Maralinga trip and on the last day heading home it must have jumped out of gear at least 50 times. I was then near home and went to change down going around a corner, couldn't get any gears and eventually managed to get it home with only fourth gear working!

I knew this would need some serious attention before our next trip in April which is through a lot of privately held land in the Flinders and Gammon Ranges so the engine and gearbox were removed and the box has just been re-built.

Who did the rebuild Morts?

Andrew Champness in Nhill

Might have been on the bench when I dropped in just before Christmas!

Morts why cat in the hat? i thought it was iron horse or something? Mitch

Cam Biscuit wrote:Might have been on the bench when I dropped in just before Christmas!

Not quite, Andrew came to town and picked it up between Christmas and New Year.

bulliboy wrote:Morts why cat in the hat? i thought it was iron horse or something? Mitch

Iron Horse

Cat in the Hat

Okay so after a two year hiatus on this thread I am updating in time lapse style with the major events in the life and times of Cat in the Hat...

RATeX 2015 - viewtopic.php?f=8&t=23332

RATeX 2016 - Maralinga http://www.dsk.com.au/forum/v ... =8&t=24303

RATeX 2017 - Flinders Ranges (the back country) The best thing about this trip for me was that our 17 year old daughter took her Type 3 Fastback with one of her friends! No write up so just some pics...

Day 1 - Crafers to Tulkilkey Station. Yep, a broken valve on Day 1 in a bay window kombi so stripped down that night and back together by about 1.00am and ready to continue!

Day 2 - Tulkilkey Station to Wirealpa Station

Day 3 - Wirealpa Station to Arkaroola.

Day 4 - Arkaroola to Mount Freeling Station. A great day - it took us about 7 hours to cover 90 odd kilometres with building roads and rescues and then there was the running repairs! The two Type 3's both broke shocker mounts so the Station Manager was up most of the night welding these up and the dual cab could only get 1st or second gear!

Great effort. Epic actually.

Nice pics Morts, cheers