Softening Clutch Pressure

Good things about being member of an msiling list is you can ask questions and someone will answer it based on their knowledge and experience, today we had a discussion about how to soften the clucth... it is started with this questions from Robin_Anang:

Kawans...
Ane mo tanya nih, landy saya seri IIA th 62 B2232DK belon pernah
ganti kopling selama dia disisiku. Advisenya dong tuk dapetin tuh
dekrup kuku macan + pelat kopling serie IIA nyang barangnya dijamin
oke dimana yah? Ditempat Koh Asun atau dimana nich baeknya ? Thanks
buat yang kasih masukan. masukan nyang baek khan jadi ibadah.

And then Mas Rheemar summing up the discussion:

Prens

Ttg topik bikin enteng injekan kopling, sampai sekarang saya sudah mengumpulkan 4 resep dari sharing temen2 sbb:

1. Ganti master atas pakai yg diameternya lebih besar (5/8), bisa pakai Girling 5/8 atau punya Datsun 1550 (Nabco)
2. Ganti master bawah pakai yg diameternya lebih besar (8/8), pakai punya V8
3. Memperpanjang pengungkit di samping gearbox
4. Ganti pake kabel kayak mobil jepun

Jangan2 muncul resep kelima, tambahin booster (kayak rem) :-)

And there is a very good inputs from Greg Utomo salah satu sesepuh Land Rover

Mas Rhemar, master atas diperkecil. aslinya 3/4 (6/8).

Dekrup kalau yang kuku 3 disamping sudah tidak musim, juga keras. Sedangkan sekarang semua pakai matahari. Untuk yang Valeo keras sekali, sedangkan yang Borg & Beck ada kode warna. yamh kodenya hijau lebih ringan.

kalau cara tuas di atas pedal kopling diubah bentuk seperti pedal rem yang model vacuum, banyak dibuat oleh pak BR. itu juga merubah rasio.

Yang saya buat lagi untuk makin ringan yaitu dengan pegas palik. Kayaknya semua mobil sekarang pakai sistim itu, dari Bus kota sampai 300 TDi, Panther, Kijang, Taft, dll pakai cara itu . caranya pegas melawan kaki kita saat pedal masih di atas, ketika pedal sudah diinjak setengah, pegas membantu kaki kita untuk menekan kopling

sekarang saya pakai 3 jurus seklaigus, lumayan. lebih ringan dari Panther dikit, padahal dekrupnya Valeo.

saya pakai Master atas 5/8, slave bawah 8/8, dan pegas balik.

Salam

Greg Utomo

Just to give you idea what are they talking, I compile the picture below:

ini adalah set kopling dan dekrupp. Dekrupnya udah model matahari bukan kuku macan. Yang kuku macan nggak ada gambarnya

Ini adalah master atas dari series 2 dan 2a, bisa diganti dengan yang lebih kecilan (according to Pak Greg)

Yang ini master atas punya series III

yang ini adalah master kopling bawah punya seri S2,S2A

dan yang ini punya series III yang di sotong udah diganti dengan master koplingnya v8 seperti di gambar sebal ini

Ready to have a landy?

Having an old Land Rover is like having a pet, did I tell you that land rover is a living things?? some land rover are just nice and easy... but most, I can tell you... they ask a lot of attention... I mean A LOT....they sometime can be really grumpy or just went berserk.

In my case, Sotong is really like to give me a quiz, after I did everything to cure the shimmy, she give me another puzzle to resolve... it suddenly went dead last weekend when I was going home from Gumati restaurant at Sentul (not the one in Bogor). It was raining hard, and nothing seems to be wrong, no more shimmy and everybody is happy (kecuali yang duduk pas di tempat yang bocor... :) ). when we are at highway to Pondok Indah, whithout any warning, the engine choked like it runs out of gasoline.

It can not be run out of gasoline... I just topping it off today before we go, and my fuel gauge is showing a high level of gasoline in the tank... the engine temperature is also normal, so I think it must be carburettor problem. I took out an umbrella and check the carb... nothing falls off, everything looks normal, probably a dirt is blocking the way. Before I dismantle the Carb... I am checking the gasoline pipe just in case it blocked in there as it is easier to check the gasoline pipe than dismantling carburettor.

Sotong is still use membrane (not yet electric) gasoline pump... So I can pump it manually... no gasoline came out... I ask my better half to start the engine... again not even a drop of gasoline came out (under normal condition the gasoline will come out very strong when the engine started) so something must be blocking the pipe, but I do not know where... is it in the tank, is it in the membrane, or is it in the gasoline filter (the one with a glass bottle under the engine). So no point to dismantle the carb... and laying down under the engine, in the highway, on a heavy rain is not an option, not an option at all... So I give up and call the highway patrol, thanks God Sotong is so understanding that she stops near exit gate.

The highway patrol came and we have a good chat about Sotong, where she come from and how she survive in modern day. With their experience and may be challenged by Sotongs quiz, they try to solve it by blowing in the gasoline pipe. I already said it is no good because it use membrane, not electric pumps, but they try it anyway which of course they failed. So accepting the defeat they call "mobil derek" to carry Sotong which we agree for about US$ 20 to carry Sotong from depok exit gate to the garage of my choosing which is quite far away (around kampung melayu). This probably the most efficient gasoline consumption for Sotong, it moves about 15kms without loosing a drop of its gasoline.

Anyway that is not the whole story, the next day the garage owner can start the engine without doing anything... it just went live... just that... still not believing, I pick her up at 8.00 PM and (it still rains!!!) , this time she happily cruising at least up until in front of Pasar Festival. Just in front of pasar festival, I heard very hard (clanking) noise.. very hard noise indeed... something is broken... is it half shaft? if yes I am a dead man... I thought. Very worried.. I went out with a battery light and see that the front shaft (which connect the transfer case and "gardan") was loose, and just about to drop. I can bring this home very slowly (if I can bear the noise) or just take it off completely. As I think is will be easy to completely take it off (you only need 2 size 14 spanners) I call some one from tukang tambal ban to take it off for US$ 2.5.

Sotong give me hard time twice in only two days, this can happen to you mate... are you really really sure to have land rover as a pet??? Here is the picts when sotong need to be carried.

Shimmy is gone.. yippeee!!!

Few days back I post about shimmy (ind.:semi) or wheel wobble, Sotong has very acute Shimmy, it start wobbling at around 45 kph,
Anyway I tried to fix every possible thing that caused the shimmy one by one...

King pin and/or railco bushing => since I already modified the kingpins / Railco Bushing to be all metal roller bearing just few months ago, it is still very tight and cause no wobble at all

Ball joint => I replaced all the ball joint (seven of them) with the new one.. cost me quite a fortune though.. :(

Spooring => laser wheel alignment cost me US$ 12.5 but the shimmy remain there

I think I have done everything but shimmy seems hesitate to go, I tried to search in few forums about shimmy and got other suggestion to check the steering damper (shock breaker stir) and found the the steering damper is shot... ( ahh I think this may be the cause. Some one from the forum suggest that we can safely remove it completely. I did... and the shimmy become worst. So I replace it with the other damper that I put in bum-bum (my short landy). It actually reduce shimmy to greater extent but not completely eliminating it.

So feeling desperate, I consult to my garage owner, what to do next... He also desperate and suggesting one more steps... if this can not cure the shimmy he also do not know what to do... he suggest Balancing the wheel.. which is quite difficult to balance Land rover wheel as they have bigger hole. Not all garage accept Land Rover wheel balance, only the one who usually balancing wheel truck can do it.

Anyway, I got one garage who accept land rover wheel balance, it cost me US$ 7. and you know what... the Sotong's Shimmy is gone.. completely gone.... even on 85 Kph... Oh joy... Oh joy... Now I can sing and worry no more about wheel wobble.

Please Help to Cure Shimmy...

It has been few months now I am trying to reduce Shimmy (wheel wobble) in my land rover series III (sotong). I am searching trough Internet what caused them and did most of the thing that they suggest, This is what I know and what I did so far, but it does not totally cured sotong's wheel wobble.

Wheel play caused by ball joints => yes it is present, replaced all the ball joints and no more wheel play.

Steering wheel play => Fixed... No more steering wheel play

Spooring => yap... cost me US$12.5 using laser beam to align the wheel -- done!!

But sotong wheel is still wobble when I cruising about 60kph... please help... any inputs pleasssee..

Wheel Alignement

Sotong is an old car... it born in 1979 which ofcourse it need a lot of adjustment... one of them is wheel alignment. Sometime when I hit an uneven ground... the wheel gets wobbly, have replaced all the ball joints (seven of them) which cost me about US$ 70 include installation fee, yes I know there are cheaper ball join only $6 a pair, but I bought a better one which cost about three times of the cheaper version.

As you see in the left picture, the tire seems not balanced.. it need adjustment. The problem is when I bring it to "bengkel" (auto garage) their sophisticated machine could not handle it as they do not have any data for this truck, so they ask me for the standard wheel alignment set up. I could not find it for few days searching on the internet, but a mailing list friend answer it in just few hours

Following is the set up for wheel alignment courtesy of Mr. Hasta Purnama (wesite : http://rizor-maximizer.blogspot.com/2006/12/faq.html)

==================================================

front wheel toe-in: 1.2 mm - 2.4 mm (3/64 inch - 3/32 inch)
no adjustment is provided for castor, camber or swivel pin inclination.

castor angle : 3°
camber angle : 1°3'
swivel pin inclination : 7°

==================================================

Cheers

Switch Starter Saga

I have a bad experience with land rover switch starter, I have changed starter switch on my other land rover twice but it only fail me in few months. Probably it is not a genuine product like the seller claim it. beside I think the switch starter is too small (the coil is also small so the magnet to pull the switch is not very strong). to overcome this, my brother have very-very excellent idea to change it with Kijangs (Toyota) which you can see on the left picture.

Why it is very excellent idea?

* First because it is bigger and have bigger coil too, so the magnet is stronger to make sure it can pull the switch and guarantee the contact.

* Second, it has the special button, so if the coil fail and there is no magnet to pull the switch, you can just push the button to manually start the engine. It really helps me when I have to fix few things in the engine , I can start the engine without going to driver cabin. I place it in a way that I can easily reach it.

I really like this modification, it is simple and very good... as far as I know, I am the first one who do this type of modification... :-) so if you know someone who has this type of modification, he or she probably know it from here... :-). it cost you about $15 (secondhand parts + man hour).

Modification in Sotong

The Sotong has few modifications, there are pro and cons about the modification in a land rover, the purist say that modifying a Land rover will be the same as killing some one and make it into Frankenstein... :) while from the other side of the coin, says that we need to make modification to make it usable in this modern word.

from my point of view, I will make a modification as minimum as possible so we can easily turn it back to the original condition. I am not afraid the purist will call it Frankenstein as long as it is enjoyable to drive, and comfortable to some degree.

The following is what I have modified:

* Air condition : This is a big decision I have to make, as I want it more enjoyable to drive around in Jakarta (a very hot and humid city all day long, 365 days in a year). In this city, Air condition is necessity not a luxury. No way I can survive without Air Condition. Actually I want to have power steering as well, but I think to many part will be replaced and it will be difficult to turn it back to the original one. So I do not add power steering. You will see the AC compressor and it's flexible pipe in the right hand of the picture. The cost.... US$ 250 (second hand parts)

* Alternator : When I bought Sotong, the battery is flat, so I have to jump start it to make it running, however after I change the battery, it run flat again in just few days, it turn out that the alternator (dynamo ampere) is does not work, it can not recharge the battery again... So I changed the alternator with an Mitsubishi colt L300's alternator, which can supply 65 ampere electricity (compare to only 40 ampere the original land rover alternator) cost... US$30 (second hand part)

* Battery: I replaced the 60 ampere battery with 100 ampere battery from Rocket. cost US$ 75

* Wiper : replaced with Morris mini's wiper... fit like a charm... cost US$20

* Water tank for wiper : before it is missing, replaced with Kijang's cost US$ 7

* Coil : replaced with the sport version... brand : "LUCAS" cost : US$25

* Spark plug : splitfire Cost US$ 12

* Spark plug Cable : Hurricane 12 ml cost US$ 50

Meet the Landy... Sotong

Please meet my Land Rover SIII which I just recently acquired, It is also the reason why I make this blog, this will be all things about land rover life in Indonesia, which is very few blog in Indonesia is dedicated to land rover.

Anyway, today I cleaned it as I have no chance to give a good bath to this beast since I bought it about four months ago, and today give it a name "Sotong" a cattle fish. it look like cattle fish with regard to the head and body proportion... :).

I bought Sotong from some one in Kediri, a small town in East Java, it have Government license plate, you can see the red license plate there. it can be good and bad... it is bad because when you need to renew the license is quite difficult, the good things is you only pay Rp. 73 thousand per year, I think it is the cheapest registration fee I can imagine.

Sotong is Station Wagon Land Rover series III, it is in a good condition in terms of chassis and bulk head, but the body seems to be abused when it is still serving the government. not a problem for this type of vehicle.. I can easily fixed it.

I bought it for about 14.650.000 rupiahs... or about US$ 1.500 in a working condition but need to be fixed here and there, which turn out need quite a heavy overhaul.

So if you see a Land rover series III Station Wagon with a red lisence plate from Kediri (AG) and on the body side you can read this:


it definitely me... do not hesitate to say hai...

Cheers