Bondho's Land rover

Jenengku Bondho - Kancaku Bethorokolo

Well well well... that the few words that I can conclude about him... This is the first time we met when I went to a painting garage somewhere in pondok cabe. He is a big and tall chap, long hair and talk very enthusiastic when asked about his land rover.

He said, It was all started when my wife want a car, she showed me pictures of land rover when I was having a siesta.(you are very lucky Bondho, I still not forgiven for my first purchase of land rover...: red). At first I really reluctant I thought it must be an old junk as usual, but I give it a shot anyway. So I came to the seller and see it myself. It turns out that the land rover is a military version, it comes with the oil cooler and many other accessories as standard. So without hesitation I give sign to my wife that the landy is worth to purchase.

My wife is a good negotiator and she close the deal at Rp. 5 million rups (US$ 500) from 7.5 mio the seller was asking. Bring it home is another challenge, this landy is in coma may be for a decade already. So in the late night, I went back with a friend bring all possible tool and equipment (battery, coil, cables etc) to wake her up. just in case, we also bring rope to tow her if only she refuse to open her eyes. Fortunately after give her gasoline infuse, replace battery and started it, she said "hello" and smile to me.

Although she is very sweet I know that she is a beast inside, instead of using it for city cruiser, I prep her to be a warrior... I changed the engine to 5 bearings, turned it into pick up, installed the roll bar, header 4:1, and correction front hanger to slightly increase the front aproach about 1 inch. Other than that is nothing really special, she is a capable fighter already.

I play a lot with her, she is now a regular participant of Landy challenge. Land rover is a type of vehicle which can happily life with minimum care, so do not worry too much about it, just change the oil and check the water regularly, she will be happy to take you almost anywhere... I know... because I abuse her all the time and she never give me an hard time... ever.

So folks... if you also a landy challenge participant, expect to get a fierce competition from Bondho and his Bethorokolo. here is the picture :

20th LRCI Birthday...

Happy Birthday to Land Rover Club Indonesia (LRCI), who recently held their birthday party at Buperta Cibubur. Like in the previous year, the party is held in an camping ground for two days 1 night. Since the place very near and easily accessible from Jakarta I decided to come to the party. I am not a formal member of LRCI myself but it is good to hang around with the guys who have the same passions, and it is also good to hear others bragging and showing off their pets and probably I can pick up few ideas for my future project or modification.

Problems... Only Bumbum is vailable at the moment, my Honda is in the garage for fixing few dents... and Bumbum is not yet 100% healthy you know the axle things that is not yet sorted? Finally I decided to bring Bumbum, and test how 4jb1-T engine the current axle set up performing. So off I go and surprisingly Bumbum manage to arrive safely... (more report on the journey in next post).

When I arrived, I saw many land rovers in show, they all showing their best... bright and clean, big tires, extreme kits, all original, muscle engine, body modification etc etc.. and when I saw my land rover, it badly modified defender wannabe, scruffy paint, and have a wrong axle set up. So I hide my land rover in the deep shadow so no one will find it, and go to the main event area.

I have absolutely no one I know, everybody is busy talking (most probably bragging about their land rover) to others, so immediately I felt lonely, and shy because my land rover is not very special ... but hey... this is the place where we all are friends so nothing to worry about... so I take another good look .. there are I saw familiar face... it's Pak Tony... the one that helped me lend his tire when two of my tire burst off in the XIX LRCI birthday ( in Rubicon Trail 4x4 cibakatul Cibadak-Jonggol.). and then I met Tri Nugraha and then I met others, who introduce me to others and to others.. so there... I have a lot of friends now. I did not spend over night there, but I back in the morning just to take more photos...

Here are few pictures, I have more than this... just let me know if you want it... the original size is around 2 megs each.. enjoy...