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- Sarawak Map
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- Map of Southeast Asia
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- Malaysia
- Sarawak
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- latest picture:
August 14, 2017
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- 3rd "Rejuvenation" of our LandCruiser in Miri/Sarawak
in East Malaysia
All good things come in threes! It was in October 2016 in
Gorno-Altaysk in Russia when we decided to offer our already 34 years
old LandCruiser another intensive overhaul. It was clear for us that
it would take place at the same workshop as the previous two in
2006
and
2012 - in
Miri/Sarawak
on the island of
Borneo
in East Malaysia. We knew that there we will be in good hands, that we
will have a fair chance to still find spare parts, that it is
financially feasible and that we can count again on the reliable work
and a relaxed relationship with Mr. Lance Lau, the boss of the Yung
Lee Auto & Painting Workshop. He has our complete trust.
One week after the arrival of our LandCruiser in its 29th container
from Odessa/Ukraine in
the port city of Bintulu, we drove the 125 miles [200km] to Miri to
his workshop. Everything was familiar! We fixed the date for the start
of the overhaul for Monday, February 6th, 2017:
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501
A happy moment at the port of Bintulu
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Sarawak in
East Malaysia: After 56 days at
- sea, our LandCruiser arrived on
January 26th,
- 2017, safely and sound in its 29th container
- from Odessa
in the Ukraine
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502
We make a break on
our 125 miles
- [200km] drive from Bintulu to Miri
at Tusan
- Cliff – about 25 miles [40km] south of Miri.
- Liliana
is enjoying the ocean view
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503 The first encounter with
boss
- Mr. Lance Lau at his workshop
- "Yung Lee" since the
second rejuvenation
- of our LandCruiser in 2012. Emil depicts
- roughly some mechanical
problems
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504
Prior to its rejuvenation our Land-
- Cruiser was blessed with a "Lion Dance"
- – a Chinese New Year's tradition (1/28→
- ±2/15/2017), which is meant to evict bad
- or evil spirits. If this isn't a good omen!
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505
The roof rack is unloaded. It
- is quite an amount of stuff that has
- to be carried up to the workshop attic,
- where we are offered to store it
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506 "Dormitory",
69 in. [175cm]
- long and 61 in. [154cm] wide,
- kitchen and pantry are emptied.
- The stuff is shelved in our apartment
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507
The first step is done: Our Land
- Cruiser is stripped of all the things that
- made it previously look special. At
- first glance rust doesn't seem too bad
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508
Transmission and transfer
- are dismantled. Emil is verifying
- the parts of which some need
- to be replaced due to wear
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509 Amirul,
"our" mechanic (in the
- reddish T-shirt) is reassembling the gear-
- box together with an aide. We hope that
- the "singing" sound will now be eliminated
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510
Before reinstalling the gear box,
- "our" mechanic Amirul is checking
- the flywheel which had to be ground
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511 Even after five years Emil is still
- remembered at Tung Fang – one of
- the two major LandCruiser genuine
- part shops – where he is now
- again a regular customer
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512 2/24/2017: An unusual gift
for Emil's
- "half-a-milestone" 75th birthday: Paul, a
- 4x4 fan from Kuching, found a used car-
- buretor as ours is overheating (bubbles)
- and uses too much gasoline (9-9.4 mpg)
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513
Preventive we let also check
- the front axle. It shows that it is
- still in good condition.
- We only replace the bearings
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514 The rear axles are and will remain our
- ”sore spot“. The last two, donated by the
- ”Land Cruiser Club - Southern Africa“
to-
- gether with the axle case, were installed on
- 2/13/2015 (see ”Repair
in Cape Town“)
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515 Liliana is examining
the new
- radiator placed into the old frame!
- Its cleaning in Osh/Kyrgyzstan in
- June 2016 did not solve the
- overheating problem
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516
The mechanical work is actually
- completed. These are the parts which
- we replaced, partly preventive: Clutch
- disk and pressure plate, carburetor,
- compressor for tire inflating, front and
- rear axles with bearings, seals etc.,
- gearbox and transfer parts.
- Material costs approx. US$1250
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517 During a small 1 mile [2km]
- test drive without windows, signals and
- side mirrors, things seemed to run smoothly
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518 The result of clearing
out our
- belongings: A small collection of gifts
- from people we met along the road,
- surprising us again and again. They
- are from six different countries:
- Saudi-Arabia, Turkmenistan,
Ukraine,
- Russia, Taiwan and
Sri Lanka
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519
The left one of the two broken front
- pillars is the most rusty. Both need a rein-
- forcement. The damage started along the
- Silk Road, first in Turkmenistan and later
- in Tajikistan and peaked in
Russia's Altai
- region where it was welded temporarily
- in Gorno Altaysk. Due to our load and
- its weight on the top it is very fragile
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520 This was the result of an incident on
- a ferry ride in the Cape Verde Islands from
- Praia/Santiago to Tarrafal/São
Nicolau: A
- huge unfixed wooden case smashed into
- our LandCruiser during rough sea. Although
- it was ”fixed“ later at Mindelo/São
Vicente
- at the cost of the shipping company, rust
- started popping up everywhere
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521 ”Our“ panel beater is
at work:
- The rear of the car is nearly done
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522
Puttying is now being done. Our
- LandCruiser gets more and more a
- checkered pattern
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523 While the welder is busy repairing
- the broken pillars, Emil discusses further
- details with Linpang, the administrative
- employee and translater of Mr. Lance Lau,
- boss of Yung Lee workshop
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524 Having watched daily the
progress
- of our LandCruiser's rejuvenation at
- Yung Lee workshop of Mr. Lau, time
- has come to document once our
- presence with a picture
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525
The first layer of grey undercoat
- is going to be sprayed
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526 Two grey eminences: The one soon
- will get blue, the other will remain grey!
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527 Our LandCruiser in the
spray booth.
- It becomes now its last sky-blue paint
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528
It is its fourth
"Sunday's best" on
- our epic journey! The first one was in
- Dubai, after we escaped our
first robbery
- attempt on July 15th, 1996, in Macedonia
- with car damages (second assault was on
- July 31st, 2015, in Malawi).
The second
- and third paint took place
2006 and
2012
- during the "rejuvenations"
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529 The polisher is at work to make
- our LandCruiser even more shiny
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530 Discussion about our
roof rack, what
- and where it needs still to be welded
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531
Second hand headlight as
- replacement and the old original
- from 1982, which lately was
- producing only a dim light
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532 Let's go the whole hog!
- The interior door trims have
- also been replaced
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533 Fixing our country
band showing
- 186 countries since October 18th,
1984.
- It is our third band. The first was made
- in Guadeloupe in the
Caribbean, the
- second in Réunion in the
Indian Ocean
- and the third now here in Miri in
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Sarawak
in East Malaysia
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534
Precious memory: The collection of
- some of our indispensable maps on our more
- than 32 years long journey around the world
- through all the continents. We still need maps
- despite of the nowadays also indispensable
- GPS
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535
Foreign license plates that our Land
- Cruiser received
during our world journey:
- Paraguay (K-107236),
Anguilla (A 9047),
- Trinidad & Tobago
(V 419), Grenada
(V 1)
- (= 1st
visitor), Samoa
(18864), US Virgin
Is.
- (TBX 002) and
Cape Verde
(ST-96-PJ). But
- we had to carry them in 6 more countries,
- which we had to return while leaving:
- Saint Lucia
(D-873), Taiwan (U
41219),
- American Samoa (8889),
Mauritius (VIS 169)
- as well as the Arabic written plates
- in Egypt and Libya
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536
A colored collection of travel
- guides which helped us to explore
- the beauties of our world
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537
Our LandCruiser ends up at an exhaust
repair shop. It gets at the rear a new tube that rusted through on two
spots
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538
The new exhaust pipe is bended
- according to our sample.
- Time: 1 hour. Costs: US$65
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539
The old and the newly
- made exhaust pipe
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540
Not really Emil's favorite job: Reloading
- the roof rack. Positive is that due to our
- rigorous tidying out we gained more space
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541
Two happy faces after completing
- successfully the 3rd rejuvenation of our
- LandCruiser: Mr. Lance Lau, boss of
- Yung Lee Workshop in Miri in
Sarawak/
- East Malaysia and Emil
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542
Farewell picture with the crew of
- Yung Lee Workshop in Miri. The boss,
- Mr. Lance Lau (to the left
of Emil)
- ensured once again qualitative work
- and a relaxed atmosphere
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Continuation
(5/27/2018):
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- 9 months and almost
5'500 miles [10'500km] later we come back
again to Sarawak from
Indonesia. As the compression
decreased relatively
- massive at one piston, we decide to do an
overhaul of the cylinderhead (replacement of valves and its seats),
as its mileage amounts now to more
- than 93'000 miles in 4'900
driving hours since the
1st Rejuvenation
back in mid-2006, what matches about 1 billion movements. That
involved
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time, because some spare parts had to be ordered in
Japan. The spare parts for the overhaul – which ended up eventually
in a complete engine
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reconditioning – cost about US$ 1'766 and the
labor US$ 1'272 (totally ~ US$ 3'038). We contributed
with some spare parts from our "stock",
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which are not included in the aforementioned amount. We hope now to
continue quietly for the
next few years.
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543
For the 5th time back at “our” work-
- shop Yung Lee in Miri! First contact with
- workshop boss Mr. 'Teng' Lance Lau and his
- translator Libang since the 3rd rejuvenation
- of our LandCruiser at the begin of 2017.
- Emil outlines shortly the problems
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544
Our LandCruiser at an exhaust
- repair shop in Miri: This time it also
- the muffler’s turn, while in 2017
- only the tube was replaced
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545
Emil is ordering the required spare
- parts for a cylinder head overhaul at the local
- Toyota dealer, being not anymore available in
- Malaysia. We know from Toyota Switzerland
- that they are still on stock at TMC in Japan
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546
Ready to begin with the planned
- cylinder head overhaul: The hood is removed;
- the mechanic starts with dismantling
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547
The engine is out – for the first time
- since the 1st Rejuvenation back in 2006.
- Nothing suspicious is visible despite the
- 93'103 miles [149'834km] driven
- during 4'908 driving hours
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548
Nothing special can be discovered at
- the valves of combustor #5 (second
from
- right), although the compression
showed
- there only 85 psi [6 Bar]. All parts
received
- from Japan are being replaced (valves/
- seats/springs/accessories)
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549
The search goes on and the engine
- block gets disassembled. “If
we're going
- to do it, we do it right!”
Thus we decide that
- we are not only replacing the piston rings
- but also the crankshaft bearings
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550
Piston 5 shows that its oil scraper
- ring is jammed, which seems to be the
- reason of the decreased compression
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551
The delivered connecting rod
- bearings show small “blisters”,
probably
- a sign of old age or a manufacturing flaw.
- For now we give them back
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552
Emil is standing for the umpteenth
- time in front of the Tung Fang spare parts
- shop in Miri/Sarawak.
The newly delivered
- connecting rod bearings are now OK
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553
The grinding machine is getting
- arranged that the crankshaft can be honed
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554
The crankshaft that by now turned
- during 474'902 miles [764'280km]
- = 21'263 hours about 4 billion times
- without having been touched once
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555
8/24/2018: The cylinder grinding
- factory returns the machined engine block
- together with honed parts like the crankshaft
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556
8/27/2018: After a careful cleaning
- the crankshaft bearing half-shells are set in
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557
8/28/2018: The crankshaft sits
- again at its allocated place
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558
8/29/2018: The pistons are cleaned,
- the rings and connecting rod bearings
- are in place
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559
8/30/2018: The pistons are now back
- where they belong. The cylinder head is
- also ready to be mounted
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560
9/3/2018: The "heart" of our
- 36-years old LandCruiser
- looks pretty neat again!
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561
9/4/2018: But already something new appears
again: The oil pump is damaged.
- On to new spare part search!
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562
9/5/2018: No more oil pump in
- Malaysia for the 2F engine,
- therefore it had to be ground
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563
9/10/2018: After further Malaysian
- holidays the engine can now be
- installed again after 55 days (!) –
- once seen from the other side
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564
9/11/2018: After nearly two months
- the engine is back on its predetermined
- location. Next day it gets started and .....
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..... the manifold is "leaking like a
- sieve", thus taking again out and bring it
- back to the grinding workshop .....
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566
..... that is able to fix the job only
- until 9/19/2018 due to new holidays
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567
The manifold got grinded and welded –
- now it should fit on the engine block
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568
Our LandCruiser is ready for
- the first test drive after 68 days –
- hopefully our patience was worth it!
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569
The "3rd rejuvenation 2017/18" has come
- to a successful end. We bid farewell to boss
- Mr. Lance Lau and his crew of the "Yung
Lee"
- workshop in Miri. Once again Mr. Lau took
- good care for a smooth and relaxed atmosphere
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- More websites from Malaysia and Borneo:
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