Land rover series III 109 – Page 3

Carburetor SU HS6 Set up for Land rover series Part 1.

In search for the best replacement of original Zenith carb, I found few alternatives, again Internet is helping me a lot. In the spirit of sharing, I would like to share my carburetor set up. I have written: possibly the best carburetor for land rover series few days ago, so I will not cover why I choose SU (skinner union) carb. Here I will explain about the set up, lets start…

Installation is the most complicated one

It requires you to fabricate the manifold / bracket to attach SU carb to your inlet manifold
It needs us to alter the current linkage (to pedal) set up
SU HS6 comes with many type: Left fuel bowl, right fuel bowl, 90* (up right position) and 30* (slightly tilted like in V8 rover)

Those three combination of complexity need us to think, the best placement for the carb. Is it facing to engine, is facing the bulk head or is it facing the radiator fan etc.. Undeterred by this complexity, I go ahead and by second hand SU HS6 and hell broke loose.. :)

Installation: The relatively easy part is buying… I am lucky to get New Old Stock SU HS6 quite cheaply, so that is good..

Now lets make the manifold / bracket or anything you called to attach the carb to inlet manifold. The easiest way is go to a garage that have access on lathe and ask them to set it up for you. for my case I have to go to two different special garage, one is to make the base (two bases as you can see here: one goes to carb and one goes to manifold) the the other garage (exhaust specialist) to make the connection pipe and set it up in the landy. Here is the manifold ready to be installed.

And finally here is the installed carb… Picture explain better than word.. :)

With this set up I still retain part on the throttle linkage, just in case if I want to change it to zenith again, I still have the parts in there… Hence it installed away from bulkhead and closer to radiator fan. The oil bath filter is still there, although currently it is redundant… but yes you can use the oil bath filter again if you will cross Sahara desert… :)

So that’s all folks… if you have question please ask down below… stay tuned for part two I will talk about setting up the needle, jetting and spring and how it different with Zenith… see you later..

Killing few bugs in one strike – land rover series III – Starter motor upgrade

Few days ago I have to manually crank the engine of land rover series III, due to malfunction of the starter system… as I said earlier there are a lot things can go wrong, it is expected from vehicle with more than 30 years old. So I need to investigate few things:

Key ignition works OK,
Starter motor, So and So but it works
Battery need to replace with newer one (but still have some power to crank the engine)
Starter solenoid is not good
Cables and negative ground is loose and rusted in few places

Few things failed at the same time will be very difficult to fix in short time or on the road, just to give illustration how the starter system in land rover

Actually it is very straight forward… but it need big cables everywhere, because the current is quite big, cables from battery to soleniod to starter (big red cables) has to be able to handle 250 amps… . Can you imagine if the contact is loose, the cable will not deliver enough current to turn the starter motor, and the cables become hot (in fact I saw the rubber/ insulation get burned) especially near contact point.

This set up is using old technology, now I want to upgrade it to newer technology where the it will more efficient, simpler, less wear and tear and easier to maintain…. this following video is explaining what is the advantage and dis advantage of the three starter motor types… (6 minutes video), which I strongly sagest you to watch it before continue reading this article…

Of course I want the latest technology hence I opt for Hi Torque gear reduction type… and here is the set up:

From the above diagram, seems that it involved more cables than the original set up, however there are few benefits using this set up:

The current to ignition key is much smaller only 0.5 amps hence less likely to burn the cable inside the cabin (saver)
There are additional relay which will handle higher current (30 amps instead of 250 amps), if the relay fail, it is very easy to replace. only less than 1 minute job (easier to maintain)
Solenoid is still there but become one with the starter motor (simpler)
If you watch the video, you will understand that the new starter motor will draw less amps and because it “pre engage” it will less likely damaging the flywheel
I am also change the old cables on the ignition system with bigger and better cables

The actual comparing side to side with the old starter motor as as below

So… that is the upgrade, and I am pretty please with it… Now starting the engine is very pleasant is much smoother and easier… it works first time, any time and every time . Gives me smile when I turn the engine on. I may be will not need the manual crank handle anytime soon, but I keep it ready in its place just in case…

Is it the end of the story..? NO.. far from it, one thing that I remember from the school back then is… we need to know what is the route cause… and certainly this upgrade is not addressing the route cause on why the Landy suddenly stop in the middle of the road… without addressing the real problem, this upgrade will become useless.

So stay tune.. more on this later

Cost of upgrade : US$ 350

Failed to start land rover series… what to do..?

Happened to me… I was cruising on a road with not so heavy traffic and Landy suddenly stops… “No problem… I can just re-start the engine” I said… but alas… this time landy refused to start the engine…trying many time turning the ignition key, but I can only heard… “nguk..” long pause… and that’s it…

There are a lot of things can go wrong…

The ignition key may be faulty
The battery may be flat, not enough juice to turn the engine
The solenoid may be died
The starter dynamo is not working properly
The negative ground is not good

Lot of things to check, but so little time… Fortunately the land rover engineer is so thoughtful, they know it going to happen sooner or later to series owner, hence they provide us with a tool for hand cranking. Here is how it looks like

handcrank land rover — Pict from: http://www.aulro.com/afvb/101-forward-controls-variations/83268-starter-hand-cranking-2.html

Then off I go to start hand cranking… many of the car are slowing down (some actually stop) just want to know if I will be able to hand crank it… and yes… I can hand crank it on the first try… and the show is over… :)

Hand cranking land rover series is actually relatively easy, we do not need to turn the handle 360 degree… 45 degree is enough… here is examples on how to manually crank land rover series : the dangerous way, wrong way and the correct way…

The dangerous way but works

It dangerous because, if the engine kicks back, he will break few bones… it called hand crank BTW …. but it works nonetheles, only for a seasoned land rover users

The wrong way

no need to turn it 360 deg all the way… you need 360 deg rotation to prime the carb with the ignition off. and then around 90 deg for the actual crank…

Here is the correct one

just to recap, if you have to manually crank it from the cold engine:

Disengage the gear
Turn off the ignition key
Choke the carburetor
Turn the engine using hand crank few times to prime carburetor
Turn the ignition key on
Place the hand crank at 10 – 12 o’clock position if you are left handed or 5-6 o’clock position if you are right handed (slightly before 12 or 6 is perfect)
Hold the crack handle by “cupping” it with your finger (olace your thumb above the handle with the rest of your finger)
Pull the handle as fast as you can to 2 o’clock position if you left handed or to 7 o’clock position if you right handed
hope that you are lucky if not start from number 2 again.. :)

If your engine is warm just start from number 6 (do not forget to disengage the gear first… one thing that you need to remember: ONLY PULL the hand crank NEVER PUSH..!
thats it for now… please excuse me, I have another landy bug to kill… more on this later

Another upgrade of land rover series 109 – Exhaust pipe

I notice something strange in the engine bay, sometime a lot of smoke (fumes) comes from the engine bay, quite scary, especially when I throttle up… I thought something burnt, or some kind of electricity fault, however after further investigation, I notice that the exhaust pipe is leaking… well… “leaking” is understatement… the exhaust pipe is almost fell off due to rust….

Fortunately in Indonesia we have a lot of special garage and one of the special exhaust workshop just around 2 km away… so off I go to the workshop to mend the leaking exhaust. Here is the landy at the exhaust workshop during inspection…

Surely my exhaust pipe is knackered, badly rusted, I do not have a chance to take picture, but it some how looks like this with a lot of patches and few holes

this image is from this website: http://www.landyzone.co.uk/lz/f6/help-please-identify-exhaust-part-replacement-184552.html

The exhaust header is fine though, so I leave it alone, the rest of the exhaust, has to be replaced with new and bigger pipe and here is the new muffler and pipe… I almost upgrade it to stainless steel, but that would be an overkill and expensive, I opt for mild steel instead. Its good for couple decade anyway.. :). Here is the pict of new muffler and exhaust pipe

Cost of replacement US$ 130

Land rover series Upgrade, alloy wheel or Steel

Part I. http://vidinur.com/2013/04/08/introducing-the-new-pet-of-mine-land-rover-109/ (US$ 5000)

What can you do to upgrade your land rover series..? the answer is… a Lot…! I will start with (rim) wheel… We have the option of alloy, carbon, and steel… the stock land rover series comes with steel rim wheel, nothing wrong with it…

It is strong, Easy to repair and cheap to make… if you are in remote area, and your wheel broke, you can easily weld it with acetylene.

On the down side, they are heavier, and can not use tubeless ( yes you can, but one will tell you there are risk using tubeless in tubed rim).

So all in all, I do not think that the upgrade to Alloy wheel is necessary, it is more of nice to have, which fortunately I have spare of Tubeless rim from my old landy. Without hesitation I change the steel wheel with the alloy one, here is the picts

The good thing about this particular alloy wheel is (other than looks good), it can significantly reduce the turn radius. I am not measure it though, but may be equal to short chassis landy, very nice, and shaving few kgs from land rover series is always welcome.

Now, something is not quite right… it seems too low for a land rover, my tire now is around 31 inch diameter, while my steel rim, will have around 32 inch diameter, hence now my Landy is a seems a bit cute.. :)

Which one do you like… the one with stock (steel) rim like this one

or The one with alloy rim below…

Cost of upgrade US$ 600 (for rim only exclude tire)

Cheers for now… :)

Introducing the new pet of mine… Land rover 109

Introducing my Land rover series III. I think I will start to use this blog as the new diary for her, hope it can be useful for the other landy owner out there…

First of all, here is the picture of her, it is BIG, Long, and have turn radius of tug boat, and please don’t ask about fuel consumption.. :)

specification when its out of the factory is as follows:

Engine           4-cylinder 90.47 x 88.9mm 2286cc CR 8:1
                 Zenith Carb. 70 bhp (DIN) at 4000rpm
                 Max. torque 120 lb/ft at 1500rpm
Transmission     Optional 4-wheel or rear wheel drive.
                 Front and rear diferentials
                 High and low range of gears
                 Axle ratios 4.7:1 
                 High range step down ratio 1.148:1 ;
                 Overall gear ratios 5.396, 8.05, 12.00, 19.88 :1
                 Reverse 21.66:1
                 16.5 mph/1000rpm in top gear
                 Low range step down ratio 2.35:1 ; 
                 Overall ratios 11.10, 16.50, 24.60, 40.70 :1
                 Reverse 44.30:1.
                 8 mph/1000rpm in top gear
                 Fully syncromesh gears.
Suspention and brakes
                 Live front axle, half ellipic leaf springs, telescopic dampers,
                 live rear axle, half ellipic leaf springs, telescopic dampers,
                 Recirclating ballnut steering.
                 11 x 2.25in front and rear drum brakes
                 7.5 - 16in tyres
Dimentions       Wheelbase 9ft 1in (109in)
                 Front and rear track 4ft 4.5in
                 Length 14ft 7in
                 Height (Max) 6ft 7in
                 Unladen weight from 3301 lbs
                 Max. allowable vehicle weight 5905 lbs

Few Notes: As stated above, the CR (compression ratio) is 8:1, very-very low in current standard, it is designed to be able to use low quality of fuel, and it need leaded fuel actually… which this type of fuel is no longer available in Indonesia.

Cost of ownership so far: US$ 5.000

So that’s it for now, will be a lot of update in the future

Cheerrs