Taking Car for Test Dive - North Queensland Floods

[silverz]

Hi,

This is long, I hope you don't find it too boring.

I have been doing quite a bit of work on my car with the idea of getting it ready to drive to Albury/Wodonga when I move in early January.

We pulled the inlet manifold off and fitted new welsh plugs in it after cleaning all the gunge out so water can flow through. Boy has this made a difference, the car warms up and becomes driveable heaps quicker.

 

We also made a new breather hose for the fuel tank, the old one was kinked and leaking. No smells of fuel now and I can fill the tank all the way up. Painted the fuel tank while I was at it.

 

Also fitted a new gear stick boot and clutch lever boot.

 

Tried to fit a new handbrake cable but unfortunately the replacement one I had was the wrong cable for my car so back on with the old one - a lot of trouble for no result unfortunately.

 

Did some other basic stuff like replacing the fan belt and several hose clamps & some heater hose etc.

 

After all this I decided I needed to test drive the car on a far distance run.  I also needed to go to Cairns to look at a rental property we have and  meet my sister & brother in law and their three boys that had flown down from Darwin to spend Christmas in Townsville with us. Checked the weather, rain expected, however didn't look that bad when we set off and although I hate driving the car in the rain, figured I would probably be driving through some rain on my way to Victoria anyway so i needed to get used to it.

 

Wed 22 Dec set off with my 15 year old son to Cairns with the Z loaded up. Got to Ingham and the rain started, luckily I had put Rainex on the windscreen and used Rainex anti fog on the inside. It belted down between Ingham and Cardwell then eased off a little though as usual it was raining at Tully. Car went beautifully, widows wound up, fan on full, no fogging up etc though we quickly found out the windscreen was leaking (new windscreen approx one month ago and the seal is only 18 months old if that) Made note to go back to windscreen fitter and get him to sort this out, hopefully he will be back at work before I head off to Victoria.

I did have a couple of exciting moments with the car aquaplaning over deep puddles however - tyres are Godyear Ducaro's 14 inch  215R65 approx half worn if that.

 

Got to Cairns with no major dramas, drove around saw the house etc and went for a bit of a run towards Port Douglas on the Cook Hwy. Filled the car up 49.5 litres after 304 miles. Very happy with this as probably 90 -100 miles were in the city (I had done 65 miles in Townsville on this tank before setting off. Did some quick calculations I reckon this is close to 10 litres per 100km and I hadn't been driving for economy so obviously I have the car running reasonably well.

 

Stayed at Lake Placid Tourist Park (where my sister and her family were staying). It rained all night. Next morning checked car (oil fine, coolant level seemed unchanged etc) Set off a bit after 9 with brother in law following in their hired Camry - after they filled the back of the Z up with presents and stuff they couldn't fit in the Camry. One of my nephews had to ride with me as he loves the car and it was good as he could talk the leg of an iron pot which is okay when you only have the original AM radio to liten to. It was a slow trip as sister and brother in law wanted to keep stopping and look at stuff and it rained off and on. When we got to Tully the water levels were noticeably less in the creeks than they were on the way up the day before.

 

After Tully heard on the radio that the Hwy was cut just south of Ingham due to flooding. pressed on anyway hoping it would be down quickly and we would get through. Dodged massive pot holes on the way to Ingham and drove through one small flooded section just before Ingham.

 

Got to Ingham at aprox 1.30, checked with Cops road still closed but may open soon to Trucks followed by 4WD then passenger cars as water levels dropped. Queued up until dinner time then went had some dinner and thought we had better pepare to spend the night, by now no accom available. went through the Z and pulled out all possible sleeping gear - 1 x blanket, two sleeping bags, 2 x pillows, some towels and a car cover-  not much for seven people. Started to prepare to sleep the night on the verandah of the Tyto Wetlands Info Centre as this was the best and what we assessed as the safest shelter. We could also watch the road from here and would know by the traffic when the road opened. After a while the Trucks started moving as the road opened to them. Then a Shire Rep came along and told us we couldn't sleep the night where we were and we should go get in the queue as cars would soon be allowed through. We queued up on the seemingly endless line of cars until about 1030 with no information being provided by anyone, then the Cops turned us away and told us no cars would be allowed through that night. Back to Tyto Wetlands Centre, opened out and spread out sleeping bags and blanket all layed on top - seven people in a row with the Z car cover over us all as a blanket. After an uncomfortable night with rain, gusty wind and an electrical storm we got up on Christmas Eve stiff, sore and damp. 

 

After breakfast at Maccas we queued up on the road again. By 9.30 we were told that Trucks only would be allowed through and the road would not be reassessed for 4 hours. By now the road North was also cut and we all realised we could be there for days and the kids in particular were getting a bit anxious. Luckilly a lovely local couple (John & Lyn)  took us to their house for coffee etc, they also offered us a roof for the night if need be. After a while we went back into town and bought some food while it was still available. Checked with the Cops after lunch and were told that there was still 500mm of water over the road and we could be stuck for days. By now we were very concerned just then my sister got a call from John & Lyn saying that they had word the road would be reopening soon so go queue up. Quewed up for a couple of hours watching 4 WD s and Trucks go although they would let North bound and Southbound go one group at a time as it was a single lane proposition only. We also watched all the other selfish people push in on the queue, tempers flaring etc, by now many cars had also given up and pulled out of the queue to return to Ingham. Eventually we got the word they were going to do a trial run of cars through the flood and Southbound was going first, slowly we edged forward most people said there was no way they would let my car go through as it was too small. As I got to the Cop that was controlling the cars going in the first group she walked towards me and I thought this is it after 27 hours of waiting she is going to stop me at the last minute she turned away, so I took my place in the test group. My brother in law reckons the car is so small she didn't see it!

From there we set off slow and steady through the flood waters I reckon it was only about 300mm deep at the deepest but it flowed quite fast and the flooded section was at least 600m long. I would not have liked to do it at night and I really cringed driving a 37 year old car through flood waters but everyone assured me it was fresh water only and unfortunately it had to be done. To it's credit the car never missed a beat. Unfortunately my brother in law was now three cars behind me and could not take photos of me going through.

When we got to the other side the Northbound vehicles were queued up for probably 8km or so as we went past people were pointing at the Z, waving and cheering etc. I guess they thought if he can get through we all can.

More wild weather the rest of the way to Townsville, then spent the remainder Christmas Eve stripping all carpet etc out of the car and washing the car underneath etc.

 

Not an experience I ever want to repeat, now I will be carefully selecting my route to Victoria.

 

Very impressed with the car though.

 

Regards

Peter

 

[Zedman240®]

A good read; I was wondering if any members on here would've been affected by the floods we are seeing on the news down here. Reminds me when I had to drive my zed through a flooded street for only about 50 or so meters but the water was about 3-400mm deep; water started to come through the grommets (didn't have carpet then!) and start seeping in from under the doors...felt like I was piloting a boat! got through as the water really started to pool up. You hope the rain eases for a while now..

[PZG302]

Well done on getting the car through.

 

Listening to the cricket on radio, and the flood updates, it looks like most of the state is unedrwater.

 

I was supposed to be doing road surveys from Toowoomba, through to Chinchilla, Miles, Eidsvold, Biloela and up to Gladstone, as soon as I got back to work on the 4th. Looking at the weather I won't be out until the end of January at the earliest

[silverz]

I was going to go a fairly direct route as I have been the coastal route a few times and I wanted to avoid the big cities. I was going to go west to Charters Towers then down the Gregory Development Road through Clermont, Emerald, Roma, St George and then through inland NSW. However with this weather it will now be safety first - major coastal highways. Even if flood waters have receded the potholes will be horrific.

 

Regards

Peter

[Zeddophile]

LMAO at the typo in the heading - perhaps a Freudian slip?  Good to hear the car survived the drive (dive?)...

[silverz]

Yep laughed myself when I saw it, it is a silly mistake however with the amount of water we went through quite accurate. I can vouch for the fact a 240z makes a good diving bell.

 

regards

Peter

[pauly_adams]

congrats peter you done well, also when you do get to albury/wodonga drop me a pm as i would love to catch up as im all alone here in albury and it would be good to see another z here.

 

cheers pauly

[silverz]

Hey Pauly thanks I am going to Albury/Wodonga by myself.  My family are remaining in Townsville and I will be more than happy to meet up with other members of team Z particularly as I will have plenty of time on my hands.

regards

Peter

[pauly_adams]

thats a bit of a shame about the family, there are not alot of z cars down here though just a couple of 300zx and 2 280zx i have the only 260z 2+2 and i know of 1 240z and a 260 2 seater so you comeing down will boost numbers by 20% lol.

 

cheers pauly

[RB30X]

You're very lucky Peter. Sounds like we only got bits and pieces of this rain. Down south they are evacuating whole towns from the rain caused by one little low at the start of the wet season???

 

Wait till it actually starts. 

 

Glad the Zed ran well, is it a comfy car over that distance?

[silverz]

Yes we were lucky, thought we were having Christmas on the side of the road for a while.

For a 37 year old car it was surprisingly comfortable. The seats are  a bit flat for my liking and after a while I stuck a pillow under my thighs but this was also to assist to support my left leg which causes me pain since I injured it. Better seals on the doors would help reduce the noise and leaks and a decent stereo would be nice.

I also have to admit before we fixed the diff I could not have driven that distance without hearing protection!

 

One nice surprise was due to the rain I was driving a lot with the windows up and I had no noticeable fuming problems - which has been an issue in the past. The new gear stick boot might be the difference? if this is the case I am quite happy because I couldn't get one from AllZparts so made one out of what was left of my boot with one from my mates shed (we think it is from a Datsun 720 Pick Up) packed down on top. ALLZParts tell me they are getting more boots so this will only be a temporary measure but it is working. I also think restoring the water heating to the inlet manifolds has helped as the car has run heaps better (fuel atomising and burning better?) since we fixed that issue.

 

Regards

Peter