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Seven Bridges - Day 2 ROCKY'S RESCUE

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pre & Bridges trip

Day 1 - TROUBLE

Day 2 - ROCKY'S
RESCUE

Online English dictionary:
rain - noun {U} = drops of water from clouds:
example: We got caught in pouring/torrential (= a lot of) rain that can potentially be more trouble.

The plan was to meet early and get into the trail before the rains came.  

The rescue convoy of six cars, all equipped with Centipede Extreme (off course)..

Ah Chan (driving Ah Gu's car) testing the lockers before hitting the trail.

After getting all the spares, oils, extra diesel, the rescue convoy made it into the trailhead at 1200 hrs. 1300 top of hill, 1320 1^st bridge, 1345 arrive recovery scene. This was a little slower than the day before. Weather report says ‘HEAVY RAINS COMING, BUT NOT YET’ – funny how we heard that the day before. 

It was heavy going up Bukit Sekoras, Joe's LC MkII performed flawlessly.

In the rescue convoy were the following cars:1. Ah Shin and Ah Soong, 2. Lau and Serwan, 3. Vincent and Ah Yen, (who had been on the trip the day before) 4. Joseph in his long wheel based giant Toyota MkII with Ah Foo and brother Ah Kiong, transporting Voon and Ah Ted, 5. Ah Chan and Ah Min in Ah Gu’s Suzuki’s Hybrid and 6. Chung and the boys from Serian. 

Scene at the first 'bridge'.. taking turns for winching..

Upon arriving the trouble site, the water was so much lower to the extent that one could hop across the stream. There was Rocky sitting with half of its cabin above water line. The front two windows were down and Ah Shin dived into the car to retrieve floating bags including the two video cameras which by now we well and truly in cam heaven.
Compare the water level and intensity the night before...

The "committee" started with planning before commencing rescue operations

The rescue committee discussed several scenarios for retrieving the stranded vehicle and agreed that the easiest was to have one car winch Rocky out and perhaps another to stabilised it.  

The plan quickly went into operation in efficient Chinese workshop fashion and soon the Rocky was on its way out of the water. It hit a snag on the drop off (that was responsible to send the car in the pool the previous day) and hung with the driver side down.  

Rocky emerges from the dreaded pool...

The rescuers had to reposition the winching vehicles. Ah Shin moved his car closer to give the winch a lifting action and Ah Chan provided side lift to take Rocky out of the hole.

Rocky in the drop off that caused it to drift into the pool the night before..

After much rocking and repositioning including retreating Rocky backwards into the pool again, Ah Kiong, stripped down and got into the driver’s seat to steer the car while the two cars winched it back up again.  

Once on level ground over the stream, the group set about to revive the engine. With the pop of the bonnet the expert mechanics went about their business. Ah Shin pointed out that the engine was switch off before it entered the water and was not ‘drowned’. This makes it much easier to revive.   

Reviving the engine, only took 40 minutes... expert mechanics at hand!

The steps to revive the engine start with removing the heater plugs. The fuel tank was drained until diesel started to flow out of the tank (oil floats on water and the water is dispelled from the bottom of the fuel tank). What ever little motor oil that is left in the block is drained and fresh new oil is added. A new diesel fuel filter is attached and diesel is pumped to the cylinders while the whole turbo air inlet is taken off the engine. 

Jumper cables are connected and the engine is given a few cranks to rid the cylinders of water. First to exit the cylinders was actually motor oil and water, then water and finally the diesel spray came.  

The heater plugs are reattached and the air cleaner is dried. All the other bits are reattached back to the engine including the turbo unit and air filter.  

The final test came and Ah Shin gave the engine a few more cranks and it spurted to life, white smoke and water and carbon emitting from the exhaust pipe initially and then it cleared down to normal exhaust smoke. It took the skilled mechanics about forty minutes to revive the engine. The big black clouds made their appearance and sounded their warnings. 

It was not all over as Rocky had to get out from this precarious position..

Rocky was turned facing home and had to be winched because for some unknown reasons, the front prop shaft came undone. As it made its way to the top of the bank, it slid sideways into a precarious position. Any more side movement would see that there would be another major recovery. 

The rescue vehicles (all three of them) repositioned themselves and began winching Rocky out of trouble. This whole operation took another forty minutes. It also then that the heavens once again opened and rain began to fall. Rocky was part winched and part driven to flatter ground and the floor mats were dropped over the muddy ground for some kind soul to reattach the front prop shaft back.  

That's how a car looks like on the inside after spending a night in water...

Seeing the weather turned for the worst, Lau, Vincent, Ah Chan and the Serian boys headed back out. Lau and Vincent were at that point quite exhausted from the previous night’s operations.  

The drive out was very hard as the track had been run over by the Centipede Extreme several times in addition to the heavy mountain rain that was falling in droves. It took this group an hour and a half to drive out to the trail head. 

Voon oversees Vincent's recovery on the way to rescue. Mud, mud and lots of mud...

For the second group of Voon, Ah Shin and Joe, it was not that easy. The resurrected Rocky had spent the night underwater and it’s entire electrical system was shot beyond a Lucas blackout. It made the going hard and slow. Being the last on a trail that had been passed by extreme competitive was altogether hell. This group reached the trail head at 10.30pm. They headed to Tundong for a much deserved supper and headed home. Rocky was parked at Soon Soon Motor where it will undergo further repair – Rocky lives for a borneo4x4 adventure another day…..

Report by Malcolm Jitam