munkybizness

Thanks Ale! Much appreciated. As mentioned by @varunmehndiratta, will be happy to vacate if another first drive needs the spot.

Hi Ale, please waitlist me as a second drive.

Still playing back what I could have done better up that climb but nonetheless, it helps that I've been able to rewrite the last memory I have of Iftar Bowl from 10 years ago. This time the lag will be shorter @Niki thank you for the very flattering, and not so flattering photos 🤣 You see the small specks of your beasts and realize how big this hill really is: @Gaurav + @Niki @Naveen Raj + @Tareck

Congratulations @Humayun Ghias!

Congratulations @Tareck! What a great way to jump to Fewbie Plus after that full send up Iftar Bowl 😎🤩

Congratulations @Hilal Sharafudeen! And welcome to the Fewbie level. You're going to love - as @Brette puts it - how "interesting" it gets from here See you on the drives!

Adding a new upgrade item to the list - All Terrain Tires/Tyres So far I've narrowed it down to these choices: Arroyo - TamaRock AT Yokohama - Geolandar AT G015 BF Goodrich - All Terrain T/O KO2 Cooper - Discoverer AT3 4S As far as sizes go, my current stocks are 265/70/R16. So i'm thinking that I should keep the same size unless the recommendation is to go up to 275s but the general consensus I've read in the forum thread by @Frederic& @Gauravis that wider tyres don't really help out too much. Rims Furthermore, when it comes to rims, are beadlocks really that much better? I see lots of rides rocking them. Granted some of them just have "bead-looks" and don't really offer much benefit in that space.

With two drives in one day - both with @Gaurav - on two ends of town, this trip report needed some sleep before it could be hashed out. @Gaurav - from riding the Iftar Bowl in the AM to sidesloping long dunes in Qudra, thank you for a fun weekend. The pace in last night's drive was excellent. With a total drive time of 3.5 hours with just 50minutes of stoppages dealing with minor stucks, we had lovely pace and rhythm which travelled through the length of the convoy. @Ahmed Wagdy - being SL requires so much attention. And at night that becomes even more challenging. From all the radio comms of acknowledgements, you played this role with perfection. @Yousef Alimadadi - this was my first convoy with you and I think I heard you said that you're back after two months. No rust there at all Thank you for always being there at the sight of the refusals & stucks with your input and guidance. Also, I caught all the lights bouncing off your Pajero - that two-tone paint scheme is stunning! @Santoso Marjuki - for your first night drive, this was a great drive. On my first night newbie drive, I was constantly afraid and worried about what was on the other side. You have a beautiful Rubi in what my passenger and I talked about - a shimmering blue. Refusals and stucks are part of the offroading experience. You'll get more comfortable with night driving the more you come out. And we'll see your Rubi make magic on the dunes To the second half of the convoy, thank you for the pace! I had an amazing time following you gents. @Daniel Yang - always a pleasure to see you on a night drive with your Y62. Can't wait to meet the Y61 though!! From how you've described it, It's going to be epic. Great drive@Arshad Roojee! Following you, I had to adjust my line a few times because your "topless" SWB just rides slopes with such ease. Lastly, a great pleasure to finally meet you @Islam Soliman. Having you in sweep giving me all that additional light was a godsend. I hope to be in a drive you lead soon. I didn't catch much of that Denali action in the night Thank you all for a beautiful night drive. And see you all out on the sands - and maybe that "yoga center" soon 😛

If you mean that Daler would play second fiddle to Gaurav, then yes 😎

I take the same approach to getting people crunked. Fortunately, we'll never put it into action on Carnity drives 🤣

Thanks @Niki - you were the critical catalyst

You lead the way, Daler Mehndi will pump up my cabin, and together ho jayegi balle balle 🤣

The Sony AX8000 is a great choice. Congratulations! And of course, Sony makes excellent sound processors so no doubt yours will sound phenomenal. For me, the challenge is the form factor of the AX8000. It's too big for my needs. I want mine to sit flush within the console so I don't want to break the 7" screen size limit. Thanks for getting an update from the Pioneer HQ here. I was trying to put a timeline down and the best estimate I've heard so far is December but even that could be delayed so I guess I'll just have to take everything I listen to with a pinch of salt

[Update] - Sound Upgrades In the past every time I've used the term "sound upgrade", it's meant putting on an Akrapovic and waking up my neighbourhood for cold start runs 😛 Yesterday, I finally finished the interior sound upgrades on the SS. Here's the setup I've gone for: Front: 2-way Hertz MPK 165.3 Pro Rear: Coaxial Hertz CX 165 Amp: Hertz ML Power 4ch Sub: Rockford Fosgate Punch 10inch First Impressions: The results are stratospheric but that's not saying much. The Clarion stock units on the Y61 are abysmal so anything is an upgrade - including my tone deaf singalongs to amplify the tunes playing. I've done about 3 hours of break-in already and I'm guessing that in 30 more hours of listening, the speakers should finally begin to break into the sound they will live with. What works: By adding the dedicated amp, my head unit is finally playing audio at a respectable 7 out of 30 on the volume knob. Three days ago, I had to listen to music at 26 with the "loudness" EQ setting for comparison. Adding the tweeters has also elevated the sound stage so its now at face-level rather than in the footwell. The sub is also finally adding the bass I need for Punjabi music and AC/DC. Yes, @Niki, I'm still a strange listener My first test track was "Ramta Jogi". Since that test, a smile has been plastered on my face permanently... What doesn't work: 1. Source Signal: The source signal is still coming out of a rubbish head-unit so just like an 8K TV, I know the bandwidth but if I feed it SD garbage, I get a very muddy output. Hopefully, the Pioneer head-unit I want will fix that. I decided to not add a dedicated DSP because an upgraded head-unit will do this job and because it will still be in line with a crappy head unit, I can't fix the signal quality out of the head-unit. 2. Subwoofer Placement: After looking at the size of the 12inch sub box, I was reminded of that shot from the first Fast & The Furious. And then the realisation of where all my recovery gear would go struck me. A 10inch box is still quite large and I will have to find a more permanent solution for placement when I do the overlander upgrades to the third row.

I still want "conditioned" air in my cabin 😆🤣 Could put it in the sweep to carry all our gear 😛

Awesome 🔥 - confirmed!

💯 - this is exactly why I'm waiting out to only put round spots on the front bumper!

Please waitlist me, as a second drive.

Android Auto is reporting glitches across multiple devices and on-screen version of it is riddled with issues at the moment. I would recommend seeing if you have anybody with an iPhone to see if CarPlay also suffers the same connection issues. On the stock head unit, my Samsung S8 doesn't even connect. Google is addressing the Android Auto issues with builds into Android 12 next month but if you have a Samsung or any other device that is not a Pixel, it will take forever for those updates to reach your device, and will carry a bloated version with it. On the lights, congratulations! I'll just slot myself between you and @Rizwanm2 in a drive and show me the way Those LP6s are hella bright. Was in front of a Ford Raptor with an array of 5 on the bumper. I felt like I was on the Sun 🤣🤣 Did a drive through Naif yesterday and spoke to a few Pioneer stockists. There are shortages and hopefully will be resolved in the next month so fingers crossed.

Thank you @Wrangeld for another fun run. I will admit I was not quite up to snuff today. Misjudged my throttle control, quite a few lines, and giving myself adequate space leading to refusals, and of course the stuck that brought @Alex Raptor, @Niki & @Christopher Assalout with shovels very early on. Thank you gents for the shovelling and Richard for getting me tugged out. Supremely impressed by @Naveen Rajand his 3.0l Pajero, and Christopher seeing you in the rear view so easily negotiating through the terrain was a constant reminder of what the Patrol can do - when in the right hands 🤩 To the rest of the convoy, thank you for your patience. See you all out on the sands soon!

I'm confirmed too

Awesome! I love the purity of your Y61 🤩

Amazing! Please share photos of the final build. Are you putting the spots on the A-pillar as ditch shooters?

In my SS, they've moved the USB port and placed it directly into the head unit so it's all the way at the top so I need to rewire and change its position. A DAC is a great portable solution and I did consider it because I have a NuForce uDAC5 that I use for my headphones which I tried in the car but getting the power source sorted was a challenge as I had to run it through a cigarette lighter USB port. As phase 1, I am leaning towards getting a 4ch amp + DSP, and upgraded speakers, while rerouting my head-unit's singular USB port and putting a splitter on it - one for a USB drive, and one for my phone to run CarPlay. I have to see if this will introduce latency into the setup or not because I can't find enough credible information about the processing power of the Clarion head-unit in the Y61. If that serves my needs, then I can give up on upgrading my head unit altogether until the tech improves even further. If this connection fails, then I'll hold out for a wireless-connection head-unit or one that has 2+ dedicated USB outs. I also want to try and strap everything down - out of sight - if possible because I'm sure you've seen the lack of storage spaces in the front cabin - those cup holders don't take anything bigger than a small Masafi 😛 Instead, they put all that space in the door bins So if I can get a head-unit to do most of the heavy-lifting with processing, ports & wireless syncs, then it'll help me keep the cabin as spartan as it can be. You're absolutely right. Will definitely keep that advice at back of my mind! And nice to meet another Patrol owner Currently, I'm very keen on trying @Mario Cornejo & @Niki's advice to change the headlamps, and seeing if the Squadron Pro fog lights does the trick. It would be the least invasive way and wouldn't even mess with that glorious 90s fascia 😍