Niki

@Mikhail Lukichev @Frederic @Gaurav how would you three like to plan the follow up to the Astro photography drive (original drive was back in Feb and I sadly had to miss it). Moon calendar shows Tuesday-Thursday May 4-6th could be a nice weekday/weekend drive?

This gives you license and freedom to experiment

@Lakshmi Narasimhan if camping you may in the future want a side awning or roof top tent with ladder, etc. If so the side lights may end up becoming redundant or get in the way? maybe an option is to run the light bars side by side on the front (2 light vs 5 light install and wiring work?) Either way, if you can avoid drilling into the body work to do the roof install (install on a roof rack instead) you can then relatively easily play around with the configuration. As per above, roof mounted lighting requires some extra consideration for wiring so maybe less (but bigger) is atleast easier than more and smaller? this comes from a man with zero experience and only YouTube as his council so feel free to scrap my input

@Ahab Shamaa @Ale Vallecchi - you both have very recent suspension upgrades, when ready, please do share your respective experiences. I am hitting that moment where I feel 'limitations' with my stock setup (mainly the front lean/clearance) Thank in advance

@Ale Vallecchi I am sad to leave this drive ... unable to make the timing work and rather not risk arriving late/rushed. Have a super trip all!

@Arman ran some led Christmas lights down the flag pole 🎄! Was a very clever way to add visibility! Do let us know how you power it (assumed a simple battery pack). @Chaitanya D big thanks for this tip ... have ordered the same as your recommendation and getting ready for a future night drive. @Pmaraziti my stock FJC is blessed with Ikea candles as headlamps so I am not very confident driving with stock lights so am trying to find a budget light bar (will invest in more if I enjoy driving at night)

Many congrats @Watteau 🎉 calls for a celebration (justifying adding a tank to your compressor)

Many congrats @amir amiri🎉

Many congrats @Arman 🎉

@Luca Palanca Falsini really appreciate the thought and effort you put into the route for this drive (considering the beautiful trucks that dominated the convoy). It paid off incredibly well with zero stucks in the trickiest of starts and ending with a drive with more self recoveries than assisted!! was a pleasure to play my first time CF /Sweep and owe it to such a great convoy to make it a gentle learning for me! One rope, one winch, one shovel! I have nothing more to add to your great summary/guidance for each on the convoy. One tip @Watteau and I both learnt from Richard ( @Wrangeld) that we can share with @Dodi Syahdar @amir amiri is that rarely on these drives will you ever need to move above 3k rpm. When we both took that lesson on board, it changed our approach to building momentum and tackling these drives! Try being conscious of this and see if it can help prevent the urge/need to hit the gas so hard at times! @amir amiri also when at the garage next ask them to check if the shocks at the rear have faded. During some climbs I noticed a lot of bouncing which is often a sign... and am so impressed you got through so many technical areas with such soft/bouncy rear (I am not at all skilled as a mechanic ... I just watch a lot of YouTube 🤦🏽‍♂️ So a true experts opinion will help). @Arman I really appreciated you warning me throughout of the upcoming bumps and steps ... super drive and superb support to the convoy (especially me). kudos @Ranjan Das for a flawless SL! I wish one day to have a car as kitted out as yours @Watteau ... a no compromise setup!! Was nice to pay it forward knowing how much help you provide on every drive to others! see you all again soon on the dunes

Hi @Ale Vallecchi can you kindly add me to the wait list ... need to check if I can make it after school pick up and free myself from work that afternoon.

@imranaasghar81 I had to look over my shoulder when I read this as I was watching those vids on Instagram!!! ... but don’t do it ... don’t do it.... you’ll turn our FJC into an S-Class (I’m tempted lol). See you soon and post those videos else you’ll be the first carnity member to be relegated.

Congrats @imranaasghar81 🎉

thank you @Frederic that has saved me a lot of time/effort

@Zed okay your app looks awesome! I have downloaded it and will play around tomorrow! Thanks for sharing.

Hey I think you may have created an OBD enthusiast in me!! 👋🏽 I use a Veepeak BLE+ Bluetooth 4.0 dongle (link) ordered from the US (Dubai Amazon had an older version or the WiFi one). I prefer Bluetooth. 100% agree on the phone screens being poor vs iPad... I have a 12.3” screen in the car but it doesn’t allow mirroring as Toyota didn’t install a hdmi port as an input even though the headunit allows .. I may try Android mirroring (though Android auto was a bad experince in the car). I have the perfect screen to display the dashboard but haven’t found a solution to add the app to CarPlay or get mirroring to work so for the moment I look at the readings during breaks in our drives (a quick check on temps). I’ll drop a screen recording of the app for you here once I can reduce file size <10mb ... it has a 37aed option to add 2002 model Toyota’s Incase that may save you all the effort to program PIDs .. The set up seems similar in that is scans many modules.

@Zed awesome thread! I think it may have been you who encouraged me to look at OBD scanner plus apps alongside @Frederic. Am an absolute beginner but have been playing with the bellow setup for a few weeks with main objective being: 1. Transmission temp (I drive in D and my car FJ cruiser doesn’t have this on the display) 2. A method to identify potential sand in engine? (Using the MAF sensor and doing some research) I use an iPhone as found a super easy App with a small payment that had a large number of PIDs pre-programmed including the A/T ... I found the PID values on a US site but loved the idea of an App that had car specific PIDs already setup (at a small cost). The app is called OBD fusion and has a very basic dashboard and is customizable but not the best looking. I track the below PIDs A/T Coolent temp (digital version of the dial) Battery voltage (just to fill the space) MAF to measure aid flow (researching if this is useful or not) intake air temp (baseline Incase I ever add a snorkel to test difference) RPM (to measure idle and also fill space) There is a radial dial dashboard but I am struggling to setup (time) the range limits and make it relevant to metric vs imperial values... once done I will do a follow up and share. Do share which app you use and any tips

@Ale Vallecchi another special drive and my first long range patrol/adventure complete! Please continue to find these routes and drives as I am hooked on these exploration/long range drives and massive thanks for planning such a great trip! I really appreciated the tutor system! My only issues came with refusals and a crest because I followed to close (lost concentration/patience) or didn’t follow the tracks of my tutor! @Archibald Jurdi you didn’t likely realize but you helped me a lot by showing me tracks/momentum to build! Thank you. @Gaurav Soni I was grateful for your support right behind during the stucks, I was being hugged by experience this whole ride sandwiched between you two! Huge appreciation to @MUHAMMAD Kashif RAZZAQ and his awesome son for helping me shovel and rope off that crest near the end! Also I appreciate you encouraging me to go more bold with deflation ... really appreciate all the tips you share and you motivating your son to climb the dunes by foot to dig me out were hilarious (telling him to go into 4L when he tired) @Abu Muhammad I only wish I got to see you drive your beauty ... am in awe of how you got through the route from right at the back with the stunning truck/yacht of yours! Kudos! @Mario Cornejo wow ... super second lead and a role model driver as a fellow green intermediate drive! @Ale Vallecchi again thankyou for an awesome trip and keep these coming pls 🙏🏽 Have added a few pics to the gallery ... I tried to create a 1990’s style car advert as the sunrise created an incredible colour palette! Enjoy the rest of the weekend and see you all soon.

@Lakshmi Narasimhan I must apologize as I miss understood your post and likely added my comments out of context! As Gaurav mentioned ... everything you are keen to experience is coming in fewbie... don’t hesitate to join those as soon as possible... that way you have even more rides to choose from see you out there soon! Enjoy this weekends drives