[vroom666]

Good job Amar. Will be good to see your kit up and running soon. And it was great talking to you earlier today.

I had the Calmini Shackle Reverse kit fitted today with the 5" Calmini shocks. Holding onto the body lift for now. Will see your pics and then take a call. I do not intend to fit anything larger than 235's so the only reason I might get the body lift is for more shock travel and avoiding the tyre hit the fender edges.

We too faced issues with a couple of bolts on the SR kit as they were of shorter length so had to get longer ones from the market. Plus my vehicle body is a 410W & the SR Kit is meant for a Samurai/413W so had to make some adjustments here and there. My rear brake hose was too stretched and tight so had to replace that as well with a slightly longer one.

And pleasantly all the creaks and squeaks are gone! All thanks to the PU bushes which came with the kit and replaced the stock rubber bushes. Makes hell of a difference !!

Did not carry my camera so unfortunately had to click using my Blackberry. Will upload the pics soon.

Will fit the Snorkel, Axel truss & Diff guards from Viji by this weekend hopefully. Lockers will be fitted after the Bangalore event on 26th as I will need to leave the vehicle with Viji/Lambda for a week.

Plus another headache I faced over the weekend was that my 4x4 gearcase got stuck in neutral when I was offroad on a small trail with another friend in his Gypsy and mine. Had to remove the cover and pull out the 4x4 gear knob and fix again after adjustments. This happened twice so will need to get the gear lever properly checked for any minor wear and tear which might be causing the problem. Hope to get this fixed by this weekend else I might not be able to make the Bangalore event next weekend.

[vroom666]

Pardon me for the bad quality as I forgot to carry my camera and had to make do with the pathetic Blackberry camera.

Gypsy up in the air for the fitments


Existing Bone Shackles can be seen


The Calmini Shackle Reverse box kit


More pics with the contents out




Front view with the Shackle Reverse in place




Comparo of the Calmini rear Shackle & the existing rear bone shackle

[vroom666]

Bone shackle removed from the front & the PU bush in place


The place where we had to cut a groove to fit the SR. This is because of the difference in the MG410W body & the Samurai body.


Cutting in progress


Rear Shackle removed


Another view where the rear shackle was fitted


Rear Calmini Shackle in place

[vroom666]

So overall there are 6 points where the Shackles are fitted ... the "2 Fangs" in the front, 2 in the middle and 2 at the rear.



The Front Calmini shocks. The stickers are loose and not stuck yet.


The Old Monroe ones




Calmini Shocks in place



The tight break hose. This was too close for comfort so we fitted a slightly longer one as I didnt want to take any chances.

Break Line removed


Apologies as some other pics came out too bad so not uploading them. Plus by the time we finished the work it was 8.30 pm and I had to rush home, so didn't take any more.

I need to get the vehicle underbody cleaned and greased and then will take some more clearer pics. Plus the Calmini stickers are yet to be stuck on the shocks.

One more thing I noticed -- see this pic closely. The fuel pipe seems to be very vulnerable here. It seems like a smaller version of the normal water pipes we use in gardens to water plants Is that normal? I havent seen the underbody of too many Gypsies so cannot recall. Do we get a better quality one with more thick protection?

[vroom666]

Rode the Gypsy back home from the workshop which is about 20 kms away. Extremely pleasing & comfortable ride and I could immediately make the difference. The PU bushes are amazing. All the squeaks and creaky sounds from the underbody are gone now. Some door rattle still exists which I will take care of later with some damping material.

My initial thought was to get the OME or Ironman suspension kit and I had budgeted for it as well. But after researching this seemed to be a better idea as I guess I will get more travel than the other ones. Now I plan to add one more leaf at the bottom to the existing leaf springs to get a bit of more height underneath. I am being told the Omni Cargo vehicle ones are good.

What remains from my list of upgrades is this

1. Snorkel
2. Diff guards
3. Axle strengthening
4. Lambda Lockers
5. MT tyres - 235 size only
6. Winch
7. Shorten the body at the rear
8. Roll Cage

Except for the last 3 all others will be complete by next month. The others need some more cash collection & savings so a couple of more months needed And some minor running cosmetic changes & mechanical upkeep will keep on happening parallelly.

At a later stage I also plan to get a Toyo Power Steering fixed & a Crawler gearset installed.

Now waiting for Amar to update us on his 3" body lift kit installation.

[amardeepmd]

Originally Posted by vroom666

Now waiting for Amar to update us on his 3" body lift kit installation.

CONGRATS, Chetan !!!! Glad you got the mods done and the Zuk looks great. Looking forward to catching up and swapping some notes. After hearing your story, I just called Nithin and ordered a PU bush kit .

Plus another headache I faced over the weekend was that my 4x4 gearcase got stuck in neutral when I was offroad on a small trail with another friend in his Gypsy and mine. Had to remove the cover and pull out the 4x4 gear knob and fix again after adjustments. This happened twice so will need to get the gear lever properly checked for any minor wear and tear which might be causing the problem. Hope to get this fixed by this weekend else I might not be able to make the Bangalore event next weekend.[/quote]

Hi Chetan, one of the Gypsy's bad habits is that it gets into false neutral every now and then. Once, I actually drove 500 metres in reverse, stopped and re-engaged 4WD and it worked - no idea why. Do get the gearbox looked at and the transfer case as well. Once more unnerving habit the Gypsy has is that if you slam down on a rock hard (and that happens a lot ) while crawling, it gets knocked out of 4WD. That becomes a big problem if you are on an incline because you cannot engage 4WD on an incline - you need a level surface. One workaround is to hold the small lever firmly in place when negotiating bumpy stretches.

Mod Note: Please use the EDIT or MULTI-QUOTE buttons instead of typing one post after another on the SAME THREAD!

To know how to multi-quote, click here.

[nithinnarayanan]

Amar the PU Kit is ready for Dispatch Tomorrow.

Chetan the TC issue can be looked into next week

[vivekjayasheel]

Get a better fuel pipe of the same or bigger diameter, and get some kind of protection for it. On one my Leh trips, this was the first thing to get ripped. I only discovered it because of the petrol smell and the rapidly descending fuel-gauge needle. And always carry a spare with circlips and all.

[Jaggu]

Originally Posted by vroom666

One more thing I noticed -- see this pic closely. The fuel pipe seems to be very vulnerable here. It seems like a smaller version of the normal water pipes we use in gardens to water plants Is that normal? I havent seen the underbody of too many Gypsies so cannot recall. Do we get a better quality one with more thick protection?
Attachment 1153348

It is not normal, original fuel lines/pipes are tightly held in place on the chassis and has better/thicker hoses at the ends. Get the OE lines and fit the same, this kind of tubes are a real pain.

Originally Posted by vroom666

Now I plan to add one more leaf at the bottom to the existing leaf springs to get a bit of more height underneath. I am being told the Omni Cargo vehicle ones are good.

You mean to get body clearance/lift? I would suggest you against this, since it will negate the comfortable ride of kalmini by making it more stiff.

On the contrary, i would recommend you to get a complete set of OE leaf kit and install the same. Then only you will get to know the real benefit of having such a system.

[amardeepmd]

You mean to get body clearance/lift? I would suggest you against this, since it will negate the comfortable ride of kalmini by making it more stiff.

Won't the fact that his new shocks are 5" travel negate any adverse effect of the extra leaf? I have been using an extra leaf setup in my 413 with stock Bolero shocks and A/T tyres for a while now. No adverse effect on on-road performance and major plus points when I am off-road. I would be keen to understand the potential minuses. Thanks, Jaggu.

[Jaggu]

Originally Posted by amardeepmd

Won't the fact that his new shocks are 5" travel negate any adverse effect of the extra leaf? I have been using an extra leaf setup in my 413 with stock Bolero shocks and A/T tyres for a while now. No adverse effect on on-road performance and major plus points when I am off-road. I would be keen to understand the potential minuses. Thanks, Jaggu.

Extra leaf will make the spring/suspension stiffer, shock absorber travel will not matter in that. Yes extra leaf will give you some more tolerance to abuse (less chance of spring breakage), but stock springs do just fine if you use the vehicle within limit. This is the only positive i see in adding another leaf.

Negatives, well apart from stiffer/choppier ride, spring articulation also will change. Especially at back of a gyspy where already it is limited. Since the springs are now stronger, the stress is carried to the axle tubes which can get bent under heavy stress. IMHO unless one is not into major competition and stuff, all this mod's are not needed.

[vroom666]

Originally Posted by Jaggu

... get a complete set of OE leaf kit and install the same ...

Jaggu - by this you mean a new OEM leaf set that comes with a new Gypsy or did you mean matching OE Calmini leafs?

@Amar - maybe we can compare rides when we meet and see the difference first hand of what the extra leaf does or does not.

[Jaggu]

Originally Posted by vroom666

Jaggu - by this you mean a new OEM leaf set that comes with a new Gypsy or did you mean matching OE Calmini leafs?

Nothing like calmini leafs but how will you match? So next best option is to use the OEM leaf set. 2k for one set if i remember correct.

EDIT: can you post a picture of current springs when vehicle is on ground?

[vroom666]

Originally Posted by Jaggu

Nothing like calmini leafs but how will you match? So next best option is to use the OEM leaf set. 2k for one set if i remember correct.

EDIT: can you post a picture of current springs when vehicle is on ground?

I meant matching Calmini leafs to the Calmini shocks. My bad - didnt phrase the sentence properly. Will try to get the pic later today.

2K/new set seems a good deal when compared to the prices of OME / Ironman or Calmini

[amardeepmd]

Negatives, well apart from stiffer/choppier ride, spring articulation also will change. Especially at back of a gyspy where already it is limited. Since the springs are now stronger, the stress is carried to the axle tubes which can get bent under heavy stress. IMHO unless one is not into major competition and stuff, all this mod's are not needed.

Thanks, Jaggu. Most of my off-roading is fairly intense with at least 2 extreme competitions per year. So, I do need the mods.