by Matt Fossey

The kind folks at Austral Volkswagen at Newstead put on a sausage sizzle for members to have a look and test drive the new V6 Amarok. We’d like to give a huge thanks to Trent, Tahla and Simon for taking everyone for a drive and the five lucky door prizes – won by Dutchie, Ron, Des, Josh and I.

We have included a couple of happy snaps and comments from members after they drove the new V6 Highline.

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by Oli Pearl

Well another well organised ACQ event where it managed to rain for most of the day to ensure the ACQ record remains intact for extreme weather conditions at our events.

Stevo and Craig from Coolum Motors were good enough to give up there Sunday to give our Club the chance to see a bit of the unknown with Roks – how a tune is performed on the Rok, how a timing belt is changed and how a full service should be performed.

Whilst we were these, just about all of our Roks got a check over and found a couple of things to be aware of, the difference on the dreaded timing belt cover and also a couple of rear main seals leaking. Enough talking here are some photos

In typical ACQ fashion, the day started as wet as a shag

Car park started to fill up, it was an early start with the increased work load we had on for the day.

Straight into Fordy’s timing belt, Des you would of been proud how clean his Rok was.

A mechanics nightmare, heaps of people watching and a lifted car with a bullbar to work on.

Obligatory BBQ and beverages.

And then finishing the day off – huge thanks to Stevo and Craig

By Oli Pearl

As some of you know I have a removable canopy which when I first got the Amarok I left on all the time. Now this canopy does weigh a fair bit so made the suspension I had work for its money. After 6 months the suspension had sagged so much with this weight on the back, I hardly put the canopy on as it infuriated me. Over the last few trips people have asked me where the canopy was and after paying so much for it I thought ‘stuff this I’m upgrading my suspension’. Now I already have aftermarket suspension in so I was not going to make the same mistake twice and just buy what the Internet told me, I was going to talk to a few of our members. After a few options being thrown around the majority had ‘Outback Armour’ installed and highly recommended it, not only the product but the service.

So after asking if we could bring the club and any chance we could do it on a Sunday we set a date. The street started to fill up with Roks. Due to the fact we were in a workshop we made this a non-kid event, so no kids showed up and the beautiful wives stayed home to look after them. Coincidently this event everyone was on time, weird. So our hosts and technical experts for the day were Richard and Pete from Outback Armour. They took the Rok for drive and came back a bit seasick. Due to the weight on the back and the springs not handling it the weight transfers back and forth, so hit the brakes and watch it bounce. Pete found this extremely amusing.

So in with the saggy Rok to take measurements all round.

With all the weight still on the spring Richard and Pete got a measurement of how compressed the spring is to later tell how much weight it is subjected too.

Now it must be noted Pete’s smile had started to fade due to the build up of mud, I am still unaware of where this mud came from, I suspect the test ride from him just earlier.

So up it goes.

Off with the front first. A few keen eyed members did start pointing out the mud, also were wondering what the advantage of non-ventilated discs are. No one did offer to clean it though.

No airbox removal, hammers or even zip ties to compress springs, safety eh. Those that have done this job at this point were all saying well that beats spring compressors.

So with the front replaced with new struts and lifted springs (no spacers) time for the rear to come out. This spring is removed and placed into the press. It is then compressed down to the measurement that was took prior. This was up there, really up there. After putting their new springs under the same load it was determined the heavy duty pack was needed.

In with the new.

So once all installed and a few remaining bolts tightened (some bolts should only be tightened once ute is back on the ground to prevent damage to rubber) it was obvious the difference. Sitting level and the stance looking as good as the rest it was time for a test drive. Wow what a difference. The rear came up 40mm from where it was and the front also lifted 10mm. It now sits dead level and rides as if there was no weight in it.

The guys kindly offered up a recovery hitch as a lucky door prize which Chris won, plus they had just received a box of their Brand new recovery gloves from the factory and offered one for giveaway which Des was very reluctant of letting anyone see, especially Fordy. That plus a fair few Stubbies holders, stickers and winch grab straps, I was worried they’d go broke.

Two bbq’s, a few beers, great mates, brilliant hospitality and a very happy Rok owner later we had a great day. Thanks a million to Richard and Pete for throwing away their Sunday.