Gaurav

Barry and Treks, you both are ONLY looking from mechanic point of view and taking things really personal by saying no mechanic can rebuild engine at factory specs. Read my post again and off course high class ultra professional mechanic can rebuild any engine but what's a point in spending double the car value unless it's a rally bred car or high performance off-road car. My advise is from end user perspective who spend money from his own pocket and based on my own experience it's better to get accidental engine as they are hardly driven. Just FYI, Habtoor quoted me 18,000 AED for engine rebuild labor only without spare parts cost. I like what barry said, in case you rebuild then diagnose first the cause of failure - highly recommend it.

@Barry what you are saying is worth more than 10k - 15k AED in labor cost only for PROPER engine rebuild and based on my experience rebuilding in above scenario is a trap as you don't what all other piston, rings, valves are damage unless someone do the endoscopic therapy like we did, lol. I been in similar situation once and estimate for 2500 AED for parts shot up to 6500 AED once engine was open and let alone the rebuild cost of 2500 AED from a semi-decent mechanic. And after 9000 AED still that engine busted in first push in offroad application as no spare part and mechanic job can replace what has been provided by the factory unless you do some serious performance mods. Best way is to source a yard engine is from half cut accidental car that still has odometer intact so that you can verify whether it's 50,000 kms done or 500,000 kms done. Search in Sharjah Industrial area behind troy university or behind macro emirates, plenty of Afghani breakers sell the intact engine. Last bet is to scout in Sajja (bit more tedious, though). @AnishCrew don't fall for blind bet from mechanic as he will simply multiply his engine plonking charges by saying how do I know what's inside once engine fails. Better to take some time now and search proper used engine from scrapyard by yourself. It's a tedious job, but one day of scouting can save lot many days time and money.

Definitely fixing another engine from yard is a better idea than fixing this one because: No mechanic workmanship can match the Factory sealed engine. Secondly the labour cost quoted to you for rebuilding is very low (1100 aed) so assuming you are in wrong hands. Thirdly, fixing broken engine is a trap that can start from 2k and end at 10k once you open the can of worms.

Due to some unforeseen situation we like to switch the drive to Maliha area instead of Sweihan. Rest everything as usual. Apologies for last minute change and will definitely do the sweihan route next week IA. Meeting time: 11:30 PM, convoy will move sharp at 11:45 PM Where: Adnoc Petrol Station Maleha Road GPS Coordinate: https://goo.gl/maps/mzb26kxzte72 As promised after my two weeks break, will offer something really exciting for all experienced off-road drivers at Carnity. So what better than Sweihan adventurous night drive in the month of July when we have some well experienced night hawks in the convoy now. Thanks to Rahim bhai teaching in last few drives to break their fear of leading, I think this Sweihan night drive will hone their skills even more with tall rolling step dunes. They are difficult to enter due to their height, and one can only access them through "steps" strategy. Once on top they are fun to drive as all big dunes are inter-connected and offer broad ridge to ride and kick your last drop of adrenaline. P.S. This is real Sweihan area drive and not Nahil area what we did in March. This will be quiet a few notch above Nahil dunes. For newbies, I will post something equally exciting in next week for 13 July 2017. When: 6 July 2017 Meeting time: 11:00 PM Starting time: 11:15 PM (SHARP) Where: First ADNOC service station on E20 (Al Haiyir to Nahil) after turning right from Dubai - Al Ain (after faqa). GPS Coordinate: https://goo.gl/maps/CgheV2mSLp12 Level of drive: Fewbies - Intermediate Type of drive: Adrenaline kicking fun drive with plenty of breaks and food time on top of some awesome dunes Plan: Learn advance night sand off-road driving What to bring along: Food, water, liquids, smiles, stories, enthusiasm and willingness to learn Approximate finish time: 6 AM - 7 July 2017 Safety advice: All vehicles should have proper tow hook in front and back Drive is only open for proper 4x4 vehicles, not for SUV's, AWD, and Sedan's Vehicle should have minimum 10-12 inches of ground clearance Every vehicle should have proper shovel, deflator and tire pressure gauge Two way radio, air compressor, tow rope, Jack and shackle are advisable to carry if you have

Very nice pics shared in gallery by @Asif Hussain

Another awesome drive I am gonna miss. Have fun guys and post lot of pictures with trip report to make me feel I'm there.

Sticking to Japanese is better than Korean brands, if really inclined then stick with Hyundai is better than Kia not only from quality and reliability perspective but from better resale too. Kia's are good and cheap cars, but they doesn't hold their value coz they are only good for first 3-4 years w/o any problems and after that cheaper build start showing it's colors. Knowing 3 Kia owners in my office and seeing their ride and problems occasionally, my suggestion is to pass Sportage unless you are buying brand new and only for the looks and pricing.

Amazing trip report Rahim bhai, you actually made me feel as if I have attended the drive. Too sad to hear another issue with Saleem's RAV4 and this time even more bad to see it going back on top of recovery truck after the drive. Really long learning curve. I fully support Rahim bhai decision as SAFETY is paramount in any of our drives and slight negligence or disobedience can cause major threat to other cars and drivers, let alone the inconvenience and delays. It was so amazing and proud feeling that all of Carnity senior driver's have now graduated to support the drive independently. Big round of applause for Srikumar, Basel and Asif bhai for all the wonderful support and effort - well deserve. It was good to see Malav joining back after long time with two of his friends and also nice to hear that Mr. GMC climbed the faya from front - good achievement.

Individual experience and feedback is always welcome, just that self promotion is not.

Congrats buddy, drive safe

Waqas knowing you spend some time in Saudi, so I dont blame you searching and luring for such crapotastic mod ever. This is complete no-no from first 1 min I watch the video for first few of the reason barry stated already. What @Ren13 mentioned is the very first basic and safest step to enter into mod your stock car. I have done the same and adding K&N drop-in filter and felt the good note and free throttle response. Don't fall for K&N from local market as they all bump price by triple and waste lot of time in searching here and there (I have done same). Go to K&N US site and order exact fit in dirt cheap price with international shipping that delivers within 2-3 days. Second step is to play with exhaust and you have two options there and I have done both. Just for improved noise to sound different - remove the resonator with straight pipe. For sound and performance - Upgrade all pipes to 2.5 inch and add magnaflow low noise catback I done both in my Pajero at different phases of its life and enjoyed more on second option that made some genuinely noticeable difference in performance without adding too much doof - doof so that it get passed on RTA without any problem. I got these exhaust from Al Khwaneej in Shj, known for this exhaust mod since 30 years and referred to me by my close local friend who used them on many of his cars exhaust job done with them. Saleem: if you go with second option without cancelling the resonator and catalytic converter and add low noise catback - any RTA in UAE will pass it. Im running similar setup in my Mustang too and it passes every year without any wasta and I do visit Sharjah multiple times without any issue. One must be stupid to floor the accelerator for no reason in residential area to attract cops attention. If you drive decently then no one will ever bother you.

Looks like full house drive guys, I am gonna miss seeing so many new faces. Please RSVP on the calendar as well.

All the best buddy

I would second with Rahimdad advise than Shadow79, just because you need a specialize masters degree in dealing with those small suspension shops in sharjah, as 99% of the time they will sell you something lemon proving that you are a moron. If you want a proper job, find what fits best on your model of fortuner and change the all 4 sides with proper upgraded version. Check with known brands like: Ranchos, Tough dog, Rough country, Old man EMU, Kings, etc. These proper upgrade might cost you more but be rest assure that you will not topple or get broken suspension in desert when you needed them most. I fixed broken suspension once in desert and spend 4-5 hours in heat and later realize that owner has got one of those used suspension from shj shops and it was misfit as per vehicle weight and that's why it broke in second minor jump.

Also you can check endless options in Deira Naif area opp. old Hyatt (near shindaga tunnel). There is a whole car accessory market specialise in these type of systems.

I'm travelling for two weeks otherwise I wouldn't miss any drive. Be sure to have one exciting drive as soon I'm back. Till then prove your rav4 metal to raise the bar of confidence.

Have a great drive guys, enjoy and be safe. I'll miss you all. Show me some action pics of the drive.

Awesome pictures taken by everyone, still waiting to see Sri pics. Here is the video guys:

Do you have a central diff lock in your Pajero? If yes, then use that while extreme long hill climb and it will help A LOT in those last few meters by crawling all the way up. Read the owners manual about the manual overriding the tiptronic fully, it must have some useful info.

Bring this guy to Dubai and show "NONE" of the car involve in roll-over ever exploded. Wrong perception to defend Richard or Rimac..

This was definitely one of the most amazing drive we had in a very long time. Superb area, great cars, amazing drivers, perfect weather and awesome food. We all met at Bidayer shops and started on time with nice cup of tea to energize all. Entered right behind bidayer to hit the much awaited "Area 53". Initial attempt to drive through the tallest dune at entrance went in vain so, drove little further left and entered again from medium set of dunes. And this time it was perfect warm up for all cars to enter in some amazing rolling tall dunes. We drove for about an 2-3 hours and had nice fun and had couple of pop-outs due to high speed soft sand sloping. Due to few delays we couldn't reach the Iftar bowl by 3 AM, so we found a nice clean open are and spread the Suhoor food setup. Everyone bought amazing cuisines and had good stories to keep all of us entertain until the sunrise. After so much food Asif bhai chai was a life saver to kick start the whole convoy again. As we were quite close to Iftar bowl, so after the suhoor we all decided to head to Iftar bowl and play for a little while before we exit. As we reach Iftar bowl area, 2 cars were unable to climb the whole stretch. And there comes our superman in action to walk all the way down to brought both the cars from back side cheat route in a jiffy. Overall it was a great fun and awesome route with capable cars who can keep up the pace in rolling dunes. For cars with couple of pop-outs please replace your HT tires for such demanding area with proper desert friendly tires like Micheline LTX, Yokohama Geolander ATS, Cooper Discoverer ATR, Nitto dune / tera grappler. Looking forward to see everyone pictures. Here are the pictures from my lens: https://carnity.com/gallery/category/23-area-53-to-iftar-bowl-night-drive-15-june-2017/