Travelling in a rusty Kia Pregio in South Africa always reminds me previous experiences. This one had the exhaust replaced after the manifold with beer cans tied together, front passenger door fell after a bump in a pothole because its hinge was totally worn out, crash marks all around, scratches, dents in the wheel wells, electrical failures, but the old J2 engine still runs like a champ.

Riding in a 2004 Ford Ranger (petrol) still fitted from factory with a carburettor gives me quite an odd feeling. Things that we only see in South Africa...

Petrol engines are not my favorite ones, but I like some 2-stroke outboard motors for small boats. The absence of valves makes it simpler and lighter. Testing fish liver oil as lube in one that was going to be scrapped anyways, so at least it's gonna worth something as a guinea pig for research.

It was about time for an oven-roasted fillet of fish with potatoes and steamed corn. Fish has the best organic matter to protein ratio among animal protein sources. Fish liver oil can also be used to make biodiesel, but it's better to be used in blends, not pure.

All I could get by cold-pressing some livers from fish captured yesterday were 10 litre of oil. Well, better than nothing, and already mixed in the fuel tank. That livers were chopped to be used as bait. Hmmm let's wait to see if I'm going to get lucky enought to catch a shark...

Going to board a small Yanmar-powered fishing boat soon. Taking a few days on the sea is a good part of the job.

The access to the engine bay in a Mercedes-Benz MB100 van (and its rebadged Korean versions Ssangyong Istana) is not that bad as some people complain, altough the engine position takes less space for another front seat. Anyway it's very good for a front-wheel driven van.

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.