Electronic controls can provide some good performance with fuel-efficiency, but when something goes wrong it can get really expensive. I was even inquired about the viability of a 4JB1 repower into a Chrysler Town&Country originally powered by that Italian VM 428 DOHC. Seems doable, altough the gearbox settings are what can make it too expensive to justify.

If I would ever have a W115 Chedeng, even one fitted with the 55hp OM615 would be OK for me. Meanwhile in South Africa, seems like the W114 6-cylinder petrol variants were always the most sucessful ones, it's almost impossible to spot a 4-cylinder old Chedeng locally. Finding one repowered with the OM601 out of a Sprinter was quite a surprise.

During the Apartheid years South Africa had several economic sanctions imposed by the UN, but it didn't prevent local initiatives such as the now-defunct Atlantis Diesel Engines (ADE) which produced diesel-fired engines under license from Mercedes-Benz. Today I had the chance to see a 6-cylinder one in a bullnose Mercedes.

Feelings were kinda WTF when I saw that Volkswagen truck assembled from a Brazilian CKD kit. I already knew that model, but seeing one running on a 4BC2 is not something I was waiting for. It had originally that MWM engine and a Clark/Eaton gearbox.

Only in South Africa we can see an Isuzu TF bakkie with a Ford 302W V8 operated as a tow-truck. Anywhere else in the world it would probably have been converted to LPG. Actually a 4JB1 would be still the best answer to the job...

Another time, a petrol engine is gonna be the job. Old-school 5-cylinder Audi engine used in the Southern African versions of the iconic Volkswagen Bus van, rebored at least twice, now it's time to get the block resleeved. The owner of the van told me that he once considered to replace the entire engine using an old Isuzu 4LE2 out of a Thermo King semi-trailer refrigerator as the replacement, but this plan got on hold for awhile, not discarded at all...

Angola is an interesting place, has many natural beautiful spots but also still has a lot of povertry brought by the Soviet-oriented civil war after the decolonization. I considered a bit odd to see some Brazilian-assembled Mitsubishi pickups here, recognised by their distinctive round headlights. What caught my attention the most was a fiberglass replica of the Jeep Wrangler, known as Troller and fitted with the engine from a South-American version of the Ford Ranger.

After the ship got unloaded I'll get a meal before I go to Africa one more time. Today's menu has some breaded fillets of random small fish caught by me in the middle of the Atlantic, a cup of cassava flour seasoned with onion, parsley, pepper and then pan-fried with a bit of oil (that's a Brazilian side dish, they call it farofa there), a slice of fresh pineapple, 3 deep-fried sliced bananas, 2 cups of rice and a cup of corn, with orange juice. All the waste cooking vegetable oil and animal-sourced baking greases from the ship will be turned into biofuels.

On a sidenote, I had the chance to collect a good amount of orange skin oil, which has a good performance as a natural ignition improver to the usage of ethanol into compression-ignition engines.

Getting in with used cars and machinery, and out with refrigerated containers full of tropical fruits.

Petrol engines are definitely not my favourites, but I have been overhauling a handful of them since arrived in Suriname about 2 days ago. To the Opel C24 still available in the Isuzu D-Max we can use parts from Brazil where the engine is still made and available in their version of the Chevrolet Colorado, badged S10 instead for market reasons. What I really didn't expect to spot was a Toyota HiAce with the 2.7 VVT-i engine, a JDM second-hand import, not really so great to work as a diesel.