The Great Smaug

[campfire]

We then stopped at a real beach before trucking out toward the end of the peninsula.




More trees, more streams, and more DUST!




Adam broke off from the group to try a harder path that climbed up a hill. After a few minutes it became clear that he wasn't on the path that looped right back to the trail. And he dropped out of radio contact. I was bringing up the rear, so I lingered for a while before driving back to the fork. After a few more minutes I decided to follow him up the hill to see what had happened. It was a nice climb. Parts of it were narrower, steeper, and lumpier than anything prior. We did eventually find him and managed to get turned around and rejoin the group. Here's the wide spot where we turned around. I promise it was tighter than it looks.

 

[campfire]

Base camp #4, where the land meets the water.




Superior is always amazing.






Gull Rock Lighthouse.




I wound up turning around and picking a different spot slightly inland. This allowed for some rooftop shots.










We wound down the night around the campfire. Another awesome day in the books!

 

[campfire]

Next morning:






Our group had splintered several different ways by this point. So we decided to meet up with some folks in town, while bidding farewell to others.



It was kindof smokey this morning. Not sure why.

 

[campfire]

Where to next? Who knows?

Tune in next week for the exciting conclusion of Campy's Camping Camp!

 

[GWeakland620]

Speaking of road trip, this trip report isn't even halfway done yet. I can't believe nobody asked for more pictures.

Lots of business going on, but have been thinking of your Burb a lot. How about some more updates?

 

[noJeepshere]

I'm quietly enjoying the updates.

 

[campfire]

Lots of business going on, but have been thinking of your Burb a lot. How about some more updates?

I just gave you dozens of pictures, eh?

No actual truck updates. I've been driving the Blazer, so this one is back to holding down the grass. I installed the other 2 new headlights, but I haven't put it out on the road to get them aimed properly.

 

[campfire]

We hit the trail and headed for Copper Harbor, where the group would switch up again. At some point in the previous day our camera glitched and stopped saving the pictures that we were taking. Sigh. Thankfully my brother's camera was still working. So all is not lost, though you won't see as much from my perspective.






While the others went to Copper Harbor for supplies, we hit up one of my favorite waterfalls.



Manganese Falls sits down in this gorge and is seasonal. There was a small trickle this time, feeding into a very peaceful stream. It's not like that during spring meltoff.




Such a pretty gorge. I didn't get pictures, but it gets better as you climb further up.



And a nice roadside shot at the top of the falls.



Next up...climbing Brockway Mountain!

 

[campfire]

Pictures from Brockway. It was a lot clearer this year.





Looking down on the world instills a healthy sense of personal smallness.







Buried in that background fog is the world's largest collection of fresh water.




And then we headed back down into the forest.

 

[campfire]

This was a kinda neat washout.






Here's a good example of what not to do. George needed some momentum to get through this one, slipped the tires, and wound up chucking a rock right at Wifey's head. She turned back and was hit on the side of the neck. We got lucky this time, but it came close to causing a serious injury. Be careful out there, folks!







Up. And more up!



At the top of the hill the camera wound up on top of Luke's roof rack. I was bringing up the rear and missed exactly how this happened.




The motion shots are blurry but neat. It might be time to invest in a Gopro or two. There are SO MANY interesting things that just don't get caught on film, for various reasons. So many good shots get missed.

 

[GWeakland620]

Great shots! You have no idea how much I like this build.

 

[imiceman44]

Hey campy
I was working on my suburban today replacing the engine and I was taking my ATS turbo off and they didn't have any exhaust gaskets.
Did you use gaskets or not?
Also the intake is the dual plane, and after I took things apart, I didn't see any advantage to the single plane.
Now was there anything you still needed from the old engine?
Here are a couple of pics.
I probably will start a build thread tomorrow, not sure how far I am going with this, just trying to get as many of my vehicles in running condition and selling anything I can sell.

 

[imiceman44]

Also the engine I am putting in has the second fuel filter in the valley but it conflicts with the turbo intake, should I ditch it or relocate it?
The burb has the rectangular filter and I am replacing it with a spin on filter.

 

[campfire]

I was working on my suburban today replacing the engine and I was taking my ATS turbo off and they didn't have any exhaust gaskets.
Did you use gaskets or not?

I used the stock gasket between the exhaust manifold and the block, and I sealed up the turbocharger flanges with flexible, non-curing Curil-T gasket goo. I misplaced the large O-ring that seals up the intake manifold, so I wound up throwing RTV on that O-ring groove.

 

[campfire]

Also the engine I am putting in has the second fuel filter in the valley but it conflicts with the turbo intake, should I ditch it or relocate it?
The burb has the rectangular filter and I am replacing it with a spin on filter.

Is your intake modified? I'm 90% sure my setup has room for the stock secondary filter. Everything below the fancy turbocharger plenum is 100% stock.

As to whether you need the extra filtration, I had no qualms about ditching my secondary filter years back. GM was reacting (overreacting?) to a rash of fuel quality problems on the 5.7 diesel, and they dropped the secondary filter after just 2 years of production (82 and 83). So nearly all of the 6.2 and 6.5 trucks out there were made with just one fuel filter. I sent three of those housings to scrap a few weeks ago.

 

[campfire]

Now was there anything you still needed from the old engine?

Maybe. I have a box of parts arriving in a few days. I might have all my bases covered now. I'll get back to you soon.

 

[imiceman44]

Yeah I have the

Is your intake modified? I'm 90% sure my setup has room for the stock secondary filter. Everything below the fancy turbocharger plenum is 100% stock.

As to whether you need the extra filtration, I had no qualms about ditching my secondary filter years back. GM was reacting (overreacting?) to a rash of fuel quality problems on the 5.7 diesel, and they dropped the secondary filter after just 2 years of production (82 and 83). So nearly all of the 6.2 and 6.5 trucks out there were made with just one fuel filter. I sent three of those housings to scrap a few weeks ago.

83 engine now.

 

[78K30]

Thank you for the continuation of the trip report Ethan, we’ll be looking forward to the rest of it!

 

[campfire]

Yeah I have the

83 engine now.

What specifically is blocking access to the filter mount behind the intake? Is something hanging down from above?

 

[imiceman44]

What specifically is blocking access to the filter mount behind the intake? Is something hanging down from above?

No.
The intake was modified for the turbo connection and it doesn't have the provision for the second filter.
I could spend an hour to modify it to take the filter in the stock location by drilling and tapping the holes and still end up with a very hard to access filter or modify the existing intake to work with the turbo, same end result.
I could ditch it, or relocate it to the firewall or some other place.