Frederic

Removing the Catalytic converter on a "recent" vehicle will give issues in RTA passing, so i would not go that way. It's a bit strange that the catalytic converter broke, as this is normally something that lasts many years. Straight pipes definitely a NO-GO, with Sharjah and Dubai now monitoring closely your decibel levels and serious fines are involved. I would go for a scrapyard catalytic converter.

Bu Tais, located in Abu Dhabi is famous for its 7 Palm trees, and surrounded with massive rolling dunes and treacherous technical areas. Driving through Bu Tais requires your utmost focus, perseverance, patience, and the assurance that your 4x4 vehicle is in top notch condition. Next to your vehicle, your off-road gears should be in good condition too, with fully charged radio with backup battery (or backup radio), a necessity for the long day drive. We will schedule sufficient breaks to enjoy the magnificent scenery, take some rest, grab a bite or a drink. Make sure to carry plenty of water, food and snacks. For Dubai and Sharjah residents, the COVID testing will be required but is really easy and hassle free thanks to the drive through centers. Please find the guidelines posted in below post: This drive is organized in full compliance with the COVID19 guidelines. We expect every member that joins this drive to go through below information and and strictly follow these guidelines in order not to jeopardize someone's health, and to ensure we can keep organizing these drives safely. MUST READ AND TOTALLY AGREE: COVID19 Precautions Drive Details Level: Fewbie + Level and Above (Fewbie with minimum 5 fewbie drives completed) When: 29 Jan 2021, Friday Meeting time: 8:00 AM (SHARP - Without any exceptions) Meeting Point: https://goo.gl/maps/1mNs41y5XuLZv8Fz6 Type of Car: Any proper 4x4 with front and back tow hooks and 8-10 inches of ground clearance. Spare tyre should be in perfect usable condition. What to bring along: 5L of water per person. Snacks for breakfast and lunch. Fully charged radio with spare battery, shovel, offroad flag, pressure gauge and deflator. Your own compressor for tyre inflation. Jerrycan with 20L of extra Petrol (depending on your 4x4 gas mileage). Approximate finish time: 3.30 PM with breaks in-between GROUP CAMPING, BBQ IS NOT PERMITTED AFTER THE DRIVE. LIMITED SPOTS AVAILABLE: Limited to 10 cars only. RSVP will close on 28 January. If the RSVP is full and you wish to join, please mention your name on the drive thread to add on the waiting list. Latecomers will be returned back - without ANY EXCEPTIONS. Members without RSVP will be returned back - without ANY EXCEPTIONS. Please withdraw your RSVP, if you aren't joining, so your spot can be taken by others. Repeated no-show members after RSVP will have their account suspended for a month. PLEASE RSVP ON THE BELOW CALENDAR EVENT

Dear Team, We have a nice signup this week and i just wanted to inform you guys to make sure you have all items onboard for Friday's drive: 1) Offroad flag 2) Shovel 3) Pressure gauge / deflator 4) Compressor (gas station nearby has no compressor) 5) Radio with the Carnity frequencies programmed. Please make sure you are equipped with above items, otherwise we won't be able to allow you on the drive. If you have any questions in particular about where to buy, which model, please have a look at below advice: @Badar Tariq @Matthew Ticehurst @frederic demolder @syed salman raza @Larry Cadden @Dodi Syahdar @rajeshkumar rathod @Carlos Fernandez @Harold Roberts @Alphin Aloor

Faya is a very bumpy climb, and if you hit one or two nasty ones during the climb, your suspension doesn’t have time to recover from that properly. Take into account that the LWB Pajero is also quite heavy so this amplifies the “galloping” effect even more. Scaling tall hill climbs is not its speciality given the average hp to weight ratio. Having said that, with the right skills of taking a good line, wiggling the steering wheel a bit, and optimizing your gear to keep it in its sweet spot, it will take you quite far for a stock 4x4.

Very strange this 2.5 engine, if you google around you'll find ratings of 165 hp up to 190hp. Maybe this depends on the market and emission rules. But if you look at the 0-100kmh of 8.4 seconds that is pretty nippy. Maybe because of the 7 speed gearbox, or lighter weight materials... @Vanessa8580 told me last week that @Jon M took his Montero Sport 3.0 on Faya from the front. Another mystery thing to me, as i don't underestimate these cars at all, but it defies most logic we apply here. Maybe the 8-speed gearbox allows to keep the car at its max torque during the climb...

There’s a lot of tutorials on YouTube about this topic, and this one was pretty straight forward about the subject:

Hahahah 255cm, you can indeed clear any dune 😆. It will indeed be millimeter of course. The 32 degrees approach angle is not that bad. The previous model Xterra had 33 degrees. If it performs like the 2.7 Fortuner in the desert consider yourself very very lucky. These cars, though underpowered, are not to be underestimated at all. 160hp for 1800kg

Well done and deserved @Danish Mohammad !

Well deserved @Abdul Rahman Abdul Kader !!

Get ready for the real stuff @Thomas Varghese Congrats !!

Well deserved buddy !

Congrats !

I also realized that in my case the subject was coming closer to me, so burst mode was not helping me as the camera was set to single focus instead of continuous focus mode.

This one is not bad, but 52lpm is a little bit low. It will take some time to get all 4 tyres back to 35psi, but if speed is not a concern than you'll be happy with this unit i think. Also check if they give 1y warranty or 5y (huge difference). Google on "Mean mother Compressor Dubai" and you'll find the local supplier here. We choose not to advertise here on Carnity so i won't mention any names I heard Mean Mother compressor is giving 5 years warranty so that might be worth the bucks.

Actually the car was approaching a hill at about 25km/h so it was a bit of an action shot that needed burst mode as well.

Thats brilliant @Pranjal Varsani thanks for the tip, i was using Evaluative metering mode so far. Indeed i keep the ISO on Auto as my main focus is to get the aperture and shutter speed right, and leave ISO over to the camera for now. I avoided using Shutter speed priority for now because i wanted to be in control of the depth-of-field. Will do some trials soon.

I think that won't be easy. Most second hand engines that you'll find will need to be tested in your car. I have gone through the process of replacing my engine and my workshop kept saying it was cheaper to find another engine instead of rebuilding it. After trying 3 different engines that all seem to have issues, i just bit the bullet and decided to get the original engine rebuilt. It ended up being more expensive but it gave more more comfort knowing we have seen the internals of the car. Sharjah has lots of places with second hand engines, but unfortunately i don't have any direct leads or contacts there.

Thanks @Thomas Varghese i'd like to avoid using Lightroom too much and get the best possible result when shooting (if possible).

Well done guys !!

Wonderful news @Brette ! We have started our journey together, and I’m delighted and happy for you as you have been supporting so many drives and your calm approach to any situation is truly a blessing. You’ve put in the hard work, and delivered time after time. So happy for you buddy !

Congrats @Ashok chaturvedi !!

@Salarios might be able to help you

Hahaha I was about the say the same thing: is your keypad lock on 😜

DRIVE REPORT These winter mornings are lovely, but rather chilly this morning with the very strong wind that lasted throughout the day. I was blessed with a very strong convoy and hence I was looking to bump up the level a bit and everyone managed themselves very well Did we have shoveling ? Yes ! Did we had stuck and refusals, Yes ! Have we learned something today ? Oh Yes definitely ! With @Mario Cornejo in my second lead who never set a foot wrong in the amazing Super Safari, followed by @Adhir Saxena who was super motivated to spend his morning the desert and drove very well for a first timer. Well done ! @Matthew Ticehurst, @BipinM and @Larry Cadden brought their Wranglers to the game today and except for some minor refusals digested the terrain very well ! The same goes for the Xterra boys @Tareq Ghosheh and @rajeshkumar rathod who came to understand the capabilities of their cars. Good work guys ! @Jasim Khumi brought his wonderful short wheel base Pajero to the drive, and you did great today ! No offroad drive without a Patrol team, and @Pranjal Varsani and @Humayun Ghias both drove their big beasts like they stole it, without restraint and perfect momentum. Very impressive ! @Luca Palanca Falsini was of great help today and we both shoveled and assisted a big deal. Thanks for your help buddy ! Moving forward you all will be joining the Newbie drives and not an Absolute Newbie drive. Drives are announced every Sunday at 11 am, and they go live on Sunday at 7:10 pm. Due to the high demand, these drives get full in about 10 minutes, so please be online at 7 pm to book your spot. If you miss a spot, put your name on the waitlist asap. Generally, by Thursday with dropouts everyone does get a spot if they have waitlisted. For the next drives, please bring along a deflator, pressure gauge, flag and radio as a minimum. Learn to deflate your tires and checking them precisely Learn to fix a flag on your car Learn to program and fully charge your radio Also like I mentioned during the debriefing, join the Carnity Whatsapp Drive Notification to get the latest updates on the drives, so that you can RSVP on time for the next weekend's drive. Please have a look at below topic which describes the tools needed for every level. There is a separate tutorial inside which explains which radio we recommend and how to program them: (Please do not buy the Baofeng 888S spare radio we gave you, as these cannot be programmed without a special cable and software). Please have a look at below grading structure that explains various off-road levels: See you guys soon in the sand again !