Niki

@Luca Palanca Falsini what a super drive!  
 

Awesome to have you back @Lorenzo Candelpergher!  

Super convoy today and kudos to all you that got to the top and attempted at the Super Bowl!

 @Shehab Alawadhi great CF role played in what was a tricky first time route for us all! 
 

@imranaasghar81 your first FB+... doing the SL role the final part of drive and making it to the top!  Awesome drive and glad you put the camera on after the first climb!  
 

see all on the dunes soon. 

33 minutes ago, Lorenzo Candelpergher said:

@Niki Patel, the car mentioned by @Luca Palanca Falsini is correct.

My Y62 will be out of the game for some time due to some repairs with parts that have very, very, very long lead time (ie several months) from Nissan in Japan.

Meanwhile, I couldn't stay grounded forever, so I got myself a new drive on the dark side.

When the Y62 is back, I'll have to face the dilemma about which car to drive, even though my wife is claiming the Y62 as the family car. 

See you tomorrow. 

Beautiful car @Lorenzo Candelpergher congrats on this new addition to your family!  When your backup car is a Rubicon you know life is good!! 🥂 ... see you tomorrow and I do not envy your choice (battle) when the Patrol returns  ... 

12 minutes ago, Luca Palanca Falsini said:

Good morning

@Niki Patel @Joe Biju Joseph @imranaasghar81 @Mario Cornejo @N@ved @Rob Harper @Javier Lucero @Danish Mohammad @Abdul Rahman Abdul Kader @Lorenzo Candelpergher

Here the convoy list:

We are going to use Carnity Channel 3 (44605625).

A Warm Welcome back  to @Lorenzo Candelpergher!

Can't wait to see you all on the sand!!!!

@Luca Palanca Falsini is this an April Fools joke to have @Lorenzo Candelpergher labeled with a Jeep 😊 or have you Lorenzo gone to the dark side and become a Jeeper 😂 (I love them by the way so no offense intended) ... either way welcome back indeed @Lorenzo Candelpergher 

4 hours ago, Foxtrot Oscar said:

Buy it from Amazon or wherever and get them to install it. Although they sell all the popular ones so perhaps could give advice on the best set up for you 

@ARAGON my tip is pls AVOID the cheap Chinese brand head units and stick with either recommended or established brands.  

The Chinese head units are very tempting as offer huge screens but suffer from poor quality mics, audio/processing and amp performance.

Many congrats @Shehab Alawadhi!! I am certain we were on the same absolute newbie together and awesome to hit this landmark also on the same day! 🤜🏽🤛🏽 See you Friday!  

@Ale Vallecchi

@Gaurav

@Rahimdad

@Wrangeld

@Jeepie

@Pancho

@Lorenzo Candelpergher

I have had the joy of being part of the convoys you have led since joining this community and feel privileged to have learnt so much following your lead and that of the seniors that accompany all our rides.  Thank you all for this education and entertainment! 

Knowing each of you takes time out of your personal lives to build and lead our weekly trips for nothing more than a thank you and to pass on skills and experiences to better us as drivers - makes me even more grateful!  What a wonderful community this is and paying it forward is hopefully something I can do! 

Am looking forward to joining the many other great Marshall’s and leads I have not had a chance to drive with and also seeing the many friends made on the dunes very soon! 

thank you all for the well wishes 🙏🏽

Just now, Ale Vallecchi said:

Dear @Watteau, @Niki Patel, @Thomas Varghese, @kolinrrj, @Sreejith Sreenivasan, @stavros papachristos, if you are interested in confirming the Mystery drive this Saturday, I'll be happy to open it up again, and double the convoy, with the assistance of @Wrangeld, who will lead the second group.

Please confirm here if you are still willing to join, and I'll add you now.

Thanks a lot.

Hi @Ale Vallecchi ... yes I would confirm  

it would be my second drive of the weekend so let me know if the Wednesday rule applies else take me as a +1 

thank you @Wrangeld for leading a second convoy 

Hi @Ale Vallecchi pls add me to the waitlist as a 2nd drive.  Thanks 🙏🏽

This was a ride exactly as advertised!  The landscape, vegetation, wildlife, farms, tracks and wavy dunes requires absolute control and concentration!  

What a super drive... I would encourage every fewbie to experience this as it’s a 3 hour master class on momentum!  

I left the drive grateful to @Ale Vallecchi for such a great experience/education and to @MUHAMMAD Kashif RAZZAQ @Nabil Bishara for all the support and getting the full convoy through safely on what must have been such a difficult set of tracks to follow as you got further back!  Kudos to all In the convoy especially the 2nd half (I didn’t envy your challenge) ... shovels out only twice and no ropes needed! 🙌🏽

9 hours ago, Abdul Rahman Abdul Kader said:

Both our professional photographers @Niki Patel and @Mikhail Lukichev on this drive are not coming... this is sad.. we will miss you both and your beautiful photography for sure. 👍

Sad to miss this drive and meeting up again @Abdul Rahman Abdul Kader ... have a great trip all and hopefully see you next weekend! 

Hi @Tbone unfortunately I cannot join tomorrow’s drive.  Sorry for the notice and am hopeful someone from the waitlist can join in time. 

8 minutes ago, Frederic said:

That was 144 Decibels of pure addiction.  Nothing compared to my friend who had 6 12” Subs built into a tiny Peugeot 205 and crossed the 150db regularly and won quite some prices. All driven by one Lanzar Mono black amplifier that went down to 1ohm (6 Subs all connected in parallel). 
Imagine standing at a stadium concert in front of one of the speakers, that’s the closest explanation I could give. We drove around with 3M headphones on 😅

That is xxxxtreme !! And I lol about the 3m headphones!!! 

these pics makes me nostalgic about the 90’s and hot hatches ... I loved my Peugeot 306 (even though it was a diesel 🤣🤣) ... those were simpler days being a kid in Europe...

😱🤯 if I start going down this path please stop me before it’s too late and I spend my kids school fees on this!! That’s one incredible setup and addiction!  Would have loved to have experienced that! 

2 minutes ago, Frederic said:

 

I cannot wait to try this in the car tomorrow!! In the family car it has an awesome Meridian system and will test it out with this! 

11 minutes ago, Frederic said:

Well done @Niki Patel !

The rear speakers will have their limitations in terms of low end. They are made to play anything above 80Hz, so if you want to feel your bones rattle while playing your favorite Hiphop tunes 😁 you’ll be needing a subwoofer that can do its magic in the 25-80Hz range. A ported enclosure with a 10 or 12 inch sub does wonders, but all this stuff takes up some space of course (and money).

https://www.ground-zero-audio.com/en/produkt/gzub-1000xactii/

😂 what are you doing @Frederic ... a link to the sub is like dangling a chocolate covered carrot!!!  😳

Lol @Frederic ... I have a worrying feeling the sub is going to arrive as my bass obsession seems obvious  (at least you called out hip hop and not 80’s power ballads as my listening preference) 

I was just hoping a little more from the 8” in the front via the amp however I had some horrible eq setting without the amp so need to re-educate my ears to a well tuned set up.  
 

thanks again for the guidance here... 100% the right choice to add the amp! 

Stage 2 of my install complete! 🎉

I decided to stay with one family of product and have added a ground zero amp (and also changed the rear speakers at the same time)

Amp: 4 way Ground Zero https://www.ground-zero-audio.com/en/produkt/gzta-4125x-b/

Rear : 2 way 4” Ground Zero (plus sound deadening) https://www.ground-zero-audio.com/en/produkt/gzrf-4-0sq/

The Amp is Being calibrated and sitting at a low gain whilst wearing in for 20-40 hours

So far the addition of a decent rear 2 way has really filled the car.  The amp has definitely brought an immediate improvement being able to power the speakers easily at lower volumes (thank you @Frederic for the encouragement)

The low end is still disappointing however I suspect some further tuning and wearing in will help.  The store is still adamant that my headunit is the limiting factor here! 

Doing incremental improvements has really made me appreciate every enhancement (similar to how you are advising we approach Offroad upgrades)!  

They attempted to replace the Mic however the 12.3” Chinese headunit has a proprietary mic harness vs a simple 3.5mm so I am currently stuck with the poor mic performance.  

Massive thanks to all that provided their guidance on this thread!  I am looking forward to paying this forward! 

13 hours ago, MUHAMMAD Kashif RAZZAQ said:

 

@Niki Patel, It was nice seeing you again, been a long time since the RAK drive. I will be visiting Fewbie drives more often to meet up 😂

@MUHAMMAD Kashif RAZZAQ I really look forward to that and make sure not to wait 3 months to join us fewbies again  ... I wish your son success in his exams and look forward to him joining you again on these drives... you both are father-son goals as I cannot wait to bring my boy when he gets a bit older!  

Hi all,

Though initially a little sad to see, i have now considered this a badge of honor and maybe my first war-wound from offroading.  The bonnet on my car came out of the weekend drive with 2 small stone chips that removed the black paint.  I also have a tiny crack on the plastic bumper (less of a concern).

My ask for advice centers on -

1. Do I need to get the stone damage that chipped away the paint repaired? (i suspect that's an easy YES)
2. Does it need to be done asap?  (I park the car indoors, its not the daily driver)
3. DO you recommend just doing a DIY/Home touch up vs taking it anywhere special.  

I am not concerned by the visuals (I bought the car to offroad so am proud this happened on the sabkhas and not the malls  ) - its more to ensure i do not risk greater damage over time from a tiny chip. 

Thanks in advance!

Car: Toyota FJ Cruiser (Black) 

8 hours ago, varunmehndiratta said:

 

@Niki Patel Hope the LWB Wrangler didn't create too much havoc for you to follow. 

Was a pleasure @varunmehndiratta! Made it a fun challenge!  

@Ale Vallecchi another special drive - many thanks for what was a fast, long and a fewbie +++ experience 😃

@Rizwanm2 @Mehmet Volga @MUHAMMAD Kashif RAZZAQ. Appreciate all the support throughout as seniors!  Thank you all for the help with digging and guidance! 

@Yusuf Esaf I truly appreciate your support shoveling my crest in the smallest dune of the drive!!  I was ready to return the favor however you didn’t get stuck even slightly!  

@MUHAMMAD Kashif RAZZAQ I have decided I no longer want to be a ‘forever-fewbie’ .... after this awesome drive I am now applying for the ‘forever-fewbie-plus’ position!

Again @Ale Vallecchi massive thanks for today especially the bonus extension into Faqa!  

7 minutes ago, Javier Lucero said:

Looking forward to it ✊🏼 That said, just a heads up for the ride back. Got this notification from my residence. Not sure if it’ll impact but worth noting. See you in the AM. 

I think @Ale Vallecchi should take this as an invitation to extend the drive ‘slightly’ to save us being parked on qudra road  ... 

I found this idea online that I thought was a very smart way to secure a large box whilst still allowing easy access to our gear by securing the box NOT the lid! 
<<edit this is not my car (pic taken from FB, so I feel guilty taking credit or praise for being this tidy>> 

@Frederic - i can no longer classify my rig as 'old'!  not having OBD2 interface is like my kids not comprehending a time before internet!... i am in awe of you 'old rig' owners!

thanks for sharing this setup - i love how you have DIY'd this - Frederic you remind me of one of my fav youtube channels

Let me know if you have any recommended OBD2 Bluetooth setups as Amazon is flooded with items and difficult to make my way through that.  no worries if not as i now have a topic to research in my spare time!

@Gaurav you may have caused an avalanche of messages to @Frederic for a similar set up as there is many of us in love with our old rigs (mine is just ‘new’ in price as inside it feels I have stepped back in time). 
 

Thanks for sharing and @Frederic we may need a new analog to digital thread to learn experiences setting up these gauges and how best to use/program .. will reach out for guidance when I take the step. 
 

59 minutes ago, Gaurav said:

Well done @Nivin for sharing this, reading at 20 times pressing knob, I highly doubt if most Xterra owners know this little secret.

I seriously wish such digital temp monitoring tool comes stock in most 4x4 as needle gauge has immense dead spot and will not move from 70-105 degrees and by the time it moves, its already too late.

 

@Gaurav have you any experience with https://www.scangauge.com/products/scangauge-ii/ 

it seems a relatively affordable and comprehensive way to bring digital readouts to our old school rigs.  its deliverable to Dxb via Amazon

Now! i have no idea what to do with the information i am looking at so a needle that moves from 'good' to 'bad' matches my level of knowledge however i suspect i will want to (and need to) learn more specifics especially as the car ages.  if you/others have any recommendations for digital gauges that would be great discussion topic. 

thanks