Safari Turbo/Megasquirt Fuel Injection Project

[BugUgly]

That's very tidy. I know squat about wiring, but I like the care, even down to the twisted pairs.

[Clonebug]

Mileage 118,677

The new driving season started early this year. I actually took the buggy to work two days in the middle of March.
I just filled up the second tank the other day and the rains have come back. I've driven almost 190 miles so far and since it was going to rain the rest of this week through the weekend I put the buggy under the knife for a quick upgrade.
After almost 20 years of driving I pulled the windshield off and got the glass replaced. It has always had a couple chips in it since I bought it and the glued on rear mirror broke off a few years ago taking a piece of glass with it. On our last trip to California we got hit by a big rock and it spider webbed the bottom left corner. It never was much of an issue but I had talked to a glass guy a few years ago and he said it would be easy to replace it.
I pulled the windshield off Tuesday night and took it in the the glass shop yesterday morning......by 3:30 he had it all done and ready to pick up. It was $175.00 out the door for non tinted glass exactly like what was in there before.
I thought it was very reasonable and painless.
I'll install it today and be ready to go once the rains quit.

This is the first year I never took the buggy apart in a long, long time....for sure since the turbo was installed.....that would be 13 years now.
It didn't need anything and is running really good. It seems all detonation is taken care of and it is reliable all the way to 25 lbs. of boost.
Coming home from work the other day I loaded it in fourth gear and I saw 25 lbs. boost on my digital dash. I didn't hold it there very long but it seems when the air is cool and dense in early spring I can easily hit the higher boost numbers. Of course, when the inlet air temps are hovering around 55-60* F. it seems to be easy to get high boost numbers and lot's of power.
I haven't really run it hard since it is just enjoyable to get in and drive without a care in the world. My cold start is working good. I can get in and start without any throttle input....it warms up and does not stall. I could probably tweak it a little more but I'm just going to leave it alone for now.

We are heading to the PNW SpringMeet this coming Saturday to check stuff out and maybe hit the swap meet but there is nothing I really need. I am looking for a set of 67 swing axles for spares but I'll have to see if any are good enough to pick up.

So far there are no plans for a long ripe but we are taking a couple days off around July 20th for a Wine and Art festival in Prosser, Wa. If the weather is good we will take the buggy. That will be at least 500 miles of travel and should be fun.

The new travel trailer is going to take our leisure time for this summer and the buggy will be relegated to day trips unless we can't get any camping reservations.

[Chip Birks]

Glad to see you're still hanging around here Art. Sounds like you had a nice relaxing winter. It's nice to put the things away and then pull them back out as soon as the weather gets good and have them ready to go. Enjoy it!

[Clonebug]

Glad to see you're still hanging around here Art. Sounds like you had a nice relaxing winter. It's nice to put the things away and then pull them back out as soon as the weather gets good and have them ready to go. Enjoy it!

Thanks Chip.....

I think my old age is starting to kick in.....either that or I'm satisfied with the way it is. It's always been a great running buggy but it comes to the point that its just ends up being a nice driver instead of a project.
I'd hate to add up what I have in this thing but the way buggy prices are going I feel I can almost get what I have in it back out if I ever thought of selling it.
My nearest guess is around 18,000 dollars that I've sunk into this buggy in the more than 20 years and 84,000 plus miles I've driven it.
I bought the body/pan in 2001.
That is a pretty cheap car payment in the grand scheme of things.
It's been a pleasure to drive and is the longest hobby/obsession I've stuck with in my 64 years of life.

[Ol'fogasaurus]

Good to hear your still around Art. We haven't been north for a while to see how you are doing nor have we been down to the dunes so far this year.

Just heard that the Bus Battery in my blue buggy has died from no use, and only the mini charger to keep the charge up. The wife has some medical things going on so that is one of the reasons for not heading down there with the rest of the crew.

I am working on some more conversions of old chairs into tables but with so much moisture in the air I can't do any protective coating to the table top. The other table, which is not on 5 wheel modified chairs bases but on a brake drum. Because of the hill where I sit and read means (one of the reasons for no wheels) I will have to figure out some kind of pivot adjusting setup (hinge and an angle adjusting screw setup) for the tabletop board due to the various angles in places where I sit away from the "yacking" going on and kids running around.

Lee

[Clonebug]

Mileage, 118,890

I have over 400 miles on for the season. The weather was good for a week or two and then it wasn't so good for a while. The last week was really nice so I took it to work a fair amount.
I have my MS3Pro-EVO set to start logging anytime the MAP goes over 100 kpa so I get a nice 10 minute log every time that happens.
I was heading home from work Friday afternoon and put the pedal to the medal and in fourth gear I had a definite power cut.....turns out I hit my boost protection which is set to 280 kpa.
I downloaded a couple logs and found I had hit the boost safety at 4000 rpm in fourth gear and 96 mph. Boost hit 26.2 lbs for a peak before getting cut and it's hitting 24-25 lbs in third gear and holding through the gear......granted it only takes less than 4 seconds to go through the third gear pull and then it holds 25 lbs in fourth gear until just before 4000 rpm....it then goes to 26 plus and hits the cut point.
It's pulling pretty hard at that point and I don't hold it there very long.
Boosted AIT's are less than 80* F. in the cool spring weather........great for high boost runs with no detonation.
I either have to raise my cut point or drop my Boost Duty down a couple points at 4000 rpm to try to hold it at 25 lbs.
It's running really nice so I'll just drive it on the nice days.

We are planning on heading to Woodburn Raceway next weekend but won't be taking the buggy. We will take our new trailer and camp overnight and watch the VW action and maybe put some stuff into the swap meet with Mario if he has room.
Should be a fun weekend watching all the VW action.

[Bruce.m]

Cheers. I’d vote for adjusting the duty cycle & keeping it at 25#. You have a nice stable platform so better to enjoy it rather than chase the next component failure point.