See A 1987 Toyota Land Cruiser Transformed To Electrical Drive 4 Miles Underwater

A staff of engineers, industrial divers, and lovers managed to efficiently drive a transformed electrical Toyota Land Cruiser underwater for over 4 miles (7 kilometers), navigating the almost 100 ft (30 meters) depths of Darwin Harbour in Northern Australia.

The stunt has its roots in a 40-year-old try that noticed an identical Land Cruiser take a look at its swimming abilities, solely to hit a rock lower than 2 miles (3 km) from the beginning and fail. Nevertheless, for the individuals residing within the close by city of Darwin, the experiment grew to become an city legend, and now, a courageous group of individuals coming from all kinds of backgrounds have efficiently recreated the drive utilizing electrical energy.

The second-hand 1987 Toyota used for the run was lovingly named “Mudcrab,” with one of many staff members explaining the selection with easy phrases: “as a result of it’s orange and crawls alongside the underside of the Darwin Harbor.”

To make it suitable with water, the usual gasoline engine was yanked in and out its place, an 88-kilowatt NetGain HyPer9 electrical motor was put in and hooked as much as the unique transmission. For waterproofing, the staff employed “modern engineering methods.” Explaining what these are, Luke Purdy, an Australian TV persona that’s behind the Aussie Salvage Squad TV present, mentioned: “We principally put a rubbish tin excessive of it and saturated it with silicone oil.”

All the things else stayed roughly the identical, although, with Purdy including that “the transmission and diffs can deal with water,” all whereas filling a bunch of drive parts with food-grade grease to lubricate them and hold out seawater.

Moreover, the 37-inch tires have been full of water to maintain the automobile from rising from the seabed, whereas inflatable buoys chained to the automobile have been used to raise it out of the mud when it slowed down.

A staff of about 30 industrial divers took turns in driving the transformed Japanese off-roader, every taking the wheel for about quarter-hour at a time.

The journey began at 9 am and was speculated to take about 7 hours, however the mud, silt, and sand of the Darwin Harbor’s seabed, plus a pipe crossing, made the journey rather more troublesome than anticipated. In complete, the staff wanted virtually 12 hours to drag it off, rising from the water earlier than a cheering crowd round 9 pm on the opposite facet of the harbor and claiming two new world data.

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