Soon to be Starcraft 17.58.3 owner

[MickL]

Yep I think I will need the drop shank as I have the MCC rear jack bar as well so the hitch is pretty high now! They told me it should settle 10-15mm on its own over time though.

Went camping with some mates Saturday and the only thing now is I can't reach or see into my fridge easily through the canopy window so will need to start carrying a single aluminum step to stand on. Height is not something I have a lot of.....

I was quite surprised when I first saw the car but the more I think about it I shouldn't be as I have canopy, drawers and battery all on the back so its a fair bit of weight when you add it up. I'm thinking snorkel next on the car and then its going in for an Ecutek tune to get some more power out of it.....

 

[bloke]

The Ecuteck sounds good. I have been considering that and an exhaust for a while now. Generally I am very happy with the power of the triton, but would like a bit more down low when towing. It would be nice to get it going harder sooner to avoid the lag, especially when taking off from a stop up a hill with the van on.

What is the Ecutek tune worth?

 

[MickL]

Generally it seems to be around the $1500 mark. I've done a fair bit of research and increases seem to average 20-30% increase in KW and torque. It seems that the low down response is heaps better as well but cannot be totally eradicated due to the mechanical set up of the 2.5 Triton engine. Most people that have a tune done are blown away by the results so that a mod I am looking forward to getting.

As far as exhaust goes though there is a chance that you will get issues with over boosting so I was advised not to bother as the difference in tune results is very low and not worth the extra money. I'm planning on getting an EGT bung welded onto my standard exhaust and leave it as is. You could add a muffler delete pipe if you wanted a bit more noise.

One thing you would want to get done if you haven't prior to a tune is get your intake manifold removed and cleaned and then when you get tuned you can get the EGR switched off. Only other thing the tuner recommended was a larger intercooler for towing etc but I'm not going to bother with that.

 

[MickL]

Ok. Been a long time since my last post so I thought it was well past due for an update!

As per my last post I ended up going with a Unichip and a tune after fitting a 3 inch exhaust and Dawes valve set up to negate any over boost issues. Power increase is huge and definitely makes it a better car to drive. Having said that the power still comes on later than I would like for towing but I thing thats a constraint of the engine so will have to do until I can upgrade... Had it done at Willall who were really good to deal with a really know there stuff.



After having that done and the suspension done (2 inch ultimate lift) the car was definitely better set up for towing. Just had to get a drop shank for the HR which I have now and it was all good to go.

 

[MickL]

Next while that was all being done I was continuing on with the yard getting it ready for the new van. Did the fencing with a couple of good mates over a weekend after getting a few fairly large quotes and really happy with how it turned out. Ended up saving a few grand I think and learnt how to do something I haven't done before! My mate welded up the gates for me and that's saved me a ton of money.

Also managed to get the carport for the van installed during a few days of no rain so that was a milestone after all the rain and constant delays. Once all up I completed all the ground works for driveway etc, did storm water (never again) and got it ready for concrete.



Once done concrete was booked and all went well. As a result we now have the space for the van and access to it and shed all sorted. I will say that backing the van in for the first time it was all worth it. Was a piece of cake with miles of room either side.



Once complete we had to wait a few weeks for the concrete to cure, then we booked in to collect the van and bring it home.

 

[MickL]

We picked up the van in November sometime I think and all went reasonably well. I had already done hand over and had them storing the van so it was just a case of picking up the van from the dealers storage shed and fitting up the H/R drop shank etc. Suspension seemed to do the trick as car only dropped less than 10mm in the rear with van hooked up so HR went on and towed really well behind the Triton. Got it home no issues at all and was a dream to put away in the new car port.



Over the next few weeks I installed a 12v fan on the end cupboard above the main bed, Installed some basic mods such as the CM alarm. Also made a few mounts for the maxtrax on the roof cage and did some basic plug mods in the rear of the canopy. Nothing major just adding some plugs to make things easier to use etc. We then packed everything and weighed everything as we packed and generally made sure we were ready for our first trip end of December.

Couple of things I found when sorting things was the 12 pin plug was installed terribly. It broke the mounts as it was put on my rear bar in a space really only suitable for a 7 pin. Rather than take it back though I ended up just pulling it all apart replacing the plug and re doing it myself in a suitable place. Glad I did now as its much neater and shouldn't give me any grief down the track. Also found my ESC wasn't working either and after a few hours with a multi meter found that it was a dodgey 12 volt connection under the bonnet done by the same mob who did the tow plug...Shouldn't have been surprised but was a bit annoyed. Anyway fixed it myself and now its all good and working as it should.

On a positive note as a result of the tow plug issues I was able to back my car into the shed over the pit and use it for the first time. What a difference that, was able to stand normally and work away without any issues....



Some of you may notice my top quality rear roof rack designed and installed by me....Looks ghetto but works a treat...

 

[MickL]

Christmas came and went and it was time for our first trip. Was a false start as the night before we were supposed to leave we got smashed with some crazy storms and lost power. Trees were down and our back yard flooded were I'm yet to pave. I was out in the van at 3am changing the fridge to gas as it was fully packed when we lost power. Needless to say I didn't get much sleep and the house was a mess from the storm so we delayed leaving by a day so we could clean up and get the house sorted.

Left the following day to much better weather and the trip up was easy and uneventful.



Spent 2 weeks at Point Turton caravan park. We love this park and keep going back as its such a great place. After two weeks didn't want to come home so made a few calls to work etc and ended up extending the trip for another 5 days although we had to move sites for the extra time. Van towed well, A/C was good and everything generally worked as expected so overall pretty happy with the van.







Finally came to an end so had to pack up and return to normal life until next trip!



Vans now booked in for 3 month service with a small list of minor issues. Main one was one external speaker wasn't working and we also found the bottom of the shower cubicle on the external wall has bowed in a bit so not sure what that will take to fix....Main issue I found with the van that effected its use was the water pressure on mains and the drainage plumbing. Its rubbish and will need to be sorted but i was expecting both issues so wasn't a big deal.....

 

[17triton]

Great updates there Mick and its great to have it stored undercover and easy to get away in at the drop of a hat. Well done mate!

 

[MickL]

So picked up the van today from Jayco after the first service and I have to say I was really happy with the service and work that was done to the van. When it went in I gave them a list of about 14 things to fix under warranty, mostly what I would consider minor except 1 or 2 and they fixed all of them without any issue what so ever...

Decided whilst hooked up I would head to the weigh bridge and take some weights just to see where we were at.

Filled up the cars diesel tank to full and also had both water tanks full when doing weights to simulate weights similar to when we go away with the maximum weight we would take. Only thing I need to add to car would be my wife and daughter and fridge and the van would have food added as the rest is packed. Pretty happy with everything except the ball weight which I thought was too low @ 130 kgs. Van plate says 148 so packing and water adding etc seems to have lowered that a bit but I still have to add tool box, webber in box and annexe walls etc so that should get that back a bit when added but will eat into my van pay load left.

Just done all the sums after confusing myself for the last 2 hours and looks like I have 200kgs payload left on the van for toolbox, webber Q, clothes and food. Car has 350kgs left of payload but will need to allow for wife, daughter, fridge and drinks and that's about all we take in the car...

Pretty happy with the figures and should be able to stay well under our limits, especially if I tow with empty water tanks which I will do unless we are free camping.

Main surprise was how much all the extras on the car add up too.