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Re: Land Rover defender 90

To: Philip Searle <searle@indigo.ucdavis.edu>
Subject: Re: Land Rover defender 90
From: "W. Ray Gibbons" <gibbons@northpole.med.uvm.edu>
Date: Mon, 24 Jan 1994 09:53:16 -0500 (EST)
On Fri, 21 Jan 1994, Philip Searle wrote:

> road test of the Land Rover Defender 90. Looks great. > > The following
sentence from the article puzzled me: > > "If you somehow manage to stall
the engine, you can engage the starter in > gear -even on a steep slope -
and avoid a critical clutch engagement in a > precarious position." > > Is
there something clever (mechanically) here, or am I missing something? > 

I believe there will be a switch that overrides such foolishness as the
requirement to have the clutch fully in to operate the starter, so that
one can put the vehicle in super low gear, clutch engaged (pedal out), hit
the starter and go when the engine catches, without having to juggle
parking brake, clutch, and throttle.  You can try this with your lbc which
has no interlocks, but because of different gearing you should try it on
level ground:  turn off (warm) engine.  Select low, foot off clutch.  Turn
starter and as engine catches feed gas gradually and go.  It is handy if
you have a car with a clutch cable.  When the cable snaps, as it will, you
can get home by careful clutchless shifting.  You use the above method to
start after an unavoidable stop. 

Ray Gibbons, who used to own a Goliath (who remembers those?) that broke its
clutch cable every year or so.  




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