[Tejas@perioimpl]

Most people know me as an offroader and are familiar with my custom blue jeep.

What many people don't know is that i've always had an interest in overlanding.

What is overlanding:

Overlanding describes self-reliant adventure travel to remote destinations where the journey is the primary goal.

Definition Source: http://www.overlandjournal.com/overl...s_overlanding/

I'm not exactly into extremely long distance over landing, but yes, i love to travel offbeat paths to a location inaccessible to 2WDs and relax. For that the jeep is rudimentary (definitely not a touring vehicle) and lacks space for essentials.

Thus, the search for a reliable rugged SUV.

Budget too was a constraint and i didn't want to spend more than 10Lakhs INR since i knew that upgrades would be expensive (i wanted to build the vehicle to my taste).

The search started a few years ago and at that time i was looking for Fortuners but all good examples were quoting upwards of 18Lakh INR.

Pajero was never in my books at that time due to a couple of reasons:
- Horror stories of stolen pajeros and mostly due to lack of immobiliser
- Lack of good service stations in Mumbai

However, i knew that the Pajero was an extremely capable vehicle. Yes, it was old school, it could not go as fast as the Fortuner and love to cruise at 120kmph. Any faster and the engine whined.

Still friends all around me were picking up pajeros and were loving it.

A friend Byram, has a yellow Pajero, one that got stolen within a couple of weeks of buying it new and recovered too.

Here's the thread:

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian...recovered.html

He loves the Pajero and has done numerous expeditions.

Another friend, and one of my Offroad Junkie partner, Amol has a superbly maintained GLX which has now crossed 2 Lakh kms and is as good as new.

They convinced me to keep an eye for a good Pajero as well and said they will help me with service issues. Byram also suggested anti theft features.

They kept raving about the reliability & comfort of their vehicle.

Honestly, i reluctantly said ok since i wasn't getting any good Fortuner at my price.

One day Amol calls me and says there is an extremely good Pajero for sale with a company. The multinational company had bought the car for use of its executives for factory visits and was showroom maintained and never offroaded.

We both went to see the vehicle. Here are pics from the company basement:











Car felt good but i needed one more opinion and got Allan to see the car as well.

Price was decent, all cheque payment and tyres were a year old (recently changed). I was finally sold and picked up the vehicle in January 2015.

It was a Dec 2010 model done 80,000 kms on the clock.

Had this mirror lying at home and immediately fitted it to the vehicle. Easy snap on fitment:





She's finally parked at home with the mandatory puja done buy the family members. A tight fit in the garage:



Spent the next few days reading the manual back to back:

[Tejas@perioimpl]

This is the regular parking were she will be parked:



Didn't like the luggage carrier and removed it. The rusting was dangerous!





Issues with the vehicle:

When i bought the vehicle, the company policy was that the test drive could not be too long. So could get a good feel of the vehicle.

When i took delivery, it was a long highway run from Thane to South Mumbai and she drove well.

There is one drawback on the Pajero. The gap between the 2nd and 3rd gears. It's annoying. Second is short and third is long.

One has to raise the car more in second and if you shift to third quickly, the engine knocks.

But, in my car there was additional vibration / judder and very pronounced.

Byram gets his Pajero maintained at Swadi Automobiles. They have a good reputation though are a bit pricey.

Byram introduces me to the service advisor and i take my car there.

He tells me it's a body and gear box mount issue and they need to be changed to solve the problem.

I also wanted to get full service done and replace all oils, get hubs greased, new belts and hoses, etc.

Here's the car at Swadi getting everything done.

The estimate for the whole job is a whooping 75 grand.

Amol keeps telling me to get the car to pune to the official service centre where he knows the SA very well. Going by Byram's experience, i overrule him.

The car at Swadi:








The car is delivered after a week.

And i'm not happy.

The issue of judder is not solved.

The electrical service for which i was charged thousand bucks wasn't even proper. The high mounted tail light fused bulbs were not checked.

They broke the lockable spare tyre bolt and charged me for replacement.

The mounts that came off the car didn't look shot. Diagnosis was faulty.

Had a word with the old man and told him the issues and walked out.

[Tejas@perioimpl]

The aussie and brit forums are the best bet for pajero issues. I become a member and start asking questions.

I get answers from all over telling me it's a body mount issue, prop shaft vibration, etc.

A few people also mentioned clutch.

After a few days another problem popped up. The release bearing of the clutch gave way. Rattle on neutral!

So decided clutch it is to be changed.

After spending so much money, i was reluctant to spend more so i went to my local guy for a clutch replacement.

Bought the clutch (everything) from a reputed store myself and got it changed.

Immediately the judder from 2-3rd went away and she drove superbly. But the rattle did not go away even after changing the release bearing and gearbox oil.

Finally took amols advice and went to pune.

In my mind it was decided. Last chance or i sell the car and cut my losses.

SA is a guy called Sachin. Brilliant guy. Heard my problem and story. Told me how much did the clutch cost. I said 12k for the assembly. Said this is the problem. Original is for 30k.

Gave me a guarantee that fixing it will solve all problems. Some people told me it was a gearbox problem. But he insisted GB is fine.

Final estimate was 45k.

Told him go ahead.

Next day car is ready and she was perfect. Drove like a dream in all gears and no sound. Touchwood.

Sachin told me the fan belts from Swadi were all fake and he replaced them and told me Pajero is like a temperamental lady and get all major work done at his place only cause lots of spurious parts in the market. Do not shift oil grades etc.

Picked up a couple of diesel and oil filters from him to keep in stock for general service as well.

[Tejas@perioimpl]

Now that the car was in ship shape, it was time to attend to minor stuff.

Got magnetic sun shaded installed. Bought from eBay India (product & seller link):







Got 3D kagu mats put. eBay India again:





The rear tool box that's integrated in the tail gate was broken and lying on the floor. Replacement new ones are extensive. So did a DIY fix on that.

The original comes with a torch which mine was missing. Original, pic from google search on net:




The broken kit:



The tail gate:



The fix, using Gorilla glue and wire:



Attached to the tail gate (need to drill extra screws):

[Tejas@perioimpl]

The vehicle was slowly being kitted up with useful stuff.

Bluetooth hardwired - bought from Snapdeal:





iOttie One touch mobile holder (relative carried it down from US) - thanks to Viddy for recommending it:



Aliexpress has brought in a revolution for many of us. Good cheap products but long shipping times.

Everytime a parcel comes home, you wonder, what would be in it because you've forgotten by now:



So from there i order a cargo net for the rear:









Also order a sunglass holder. Pajero is notorious for having extremely limited interior storage space.

Here's the assembly:



Sunglasses fites well:



It's ideally supposed to be attached to the grab handle:



But i prefer this spot:



It was a hard decision to use the roof liner. What if it gets spoilt? But took the risk and fitted it and it works well till today:



Springs make it retract nicely:



Other knick-knacks installed include:

- Dash cam (hard wired)
- Tissue holder for visor
- Car perfume for visor

[Tejas@perioimpl]

Got a gear lock installed as a theft deterrent:





The original Kenwood deck that comes with the Pajero is quite useless and the USB doesn't work with iPhone. Amol had a spare double din with him which i got installed. USB at the back so routed wires to the front. Subsequently ordered a USB/Aux attachment from aliexpress and mounted it:









A steering remote was also ordered off eBay India:

[Tejas@perioimpl]

March 2015, we did a small SUV drive. The Pajero performed flawlessly.

Read the details of the drive here:

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/4x4-ex...-lonavala.html

Some pics from that thread:



Excuse the photographer's enthusiasm in this following pic





That's me:

[Tejas@perioimpl]

Took the car again to Pune as well. I was the jury member for the Evo offroad awards.

Realised that tyres need to be upgraded.



After Pune and the SUV drive a quick wash and service:










The vehicle was requiring a long crank while starting and realised the battery is dying. Went to my battery fellow who confirmed it. Thankfully the Exide battery still had 10 days to go before warrantee was to be voided (from when the previous company had changed it). By battery guy exchanged it free of cost. Finally somewhere i didn't spend money

In the month of April 2015, we went camping to the Konkan cost. A friend and tbhp (ravinayar) runs a five start camping company called Offbeat Drives. Had a great time. The yellow Pajero is Byram's and the Fortuner is tbhpian Gogi's (V16). Ravi drives the Volvo XC60 (he's just bought the new Endy too). Some pics:

[Tejas@perioimpl]

Needed good rain visors for the vehicle.

Local ones are quiet thin and i wanted the thick bulky types.

Searched online and found them in Malaysia.









Ordered them and used my shopnship Aramex account to get it shipped to India.

The package arrives in a week:



The visor:




I realise that one piece has broken in transit:





Attaches with 3M tape at the back:



Stuck it using Feviquik but a line could be seen and thus had to add a reflective white tape to incorporate a design element:







After spending so much money on the visors (shipping and duty was as much as cost of visors), i didn't want to risk it falling off. So i ordered visor clips from eBay UK:

[Tejas@perioimpl]

Finally in December 2015, after nearly a year, i decided to change the tyres and rims.

After a lot of research, shortlisted the continental cross content AT. Would have loved to have the OWL (Outside White Lettering) but these aren't available here:

The tyres:









Mounted:



Balancing:





Note, the sticker type weight interferes with the rear disk callipers and have to use the clip on weights.

Night shot after mounting:



Tyres bought from Pal Tyres at Lamington road and rims from Pavan Anand of Jeep tyres India. Fitting at Pal.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/mumbai...ad-mumbai.html

Pal's alignement machine wasn't working and went to Mahim to Premji's

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/mumbai...im-mumbai.html







Parked at the usual spot:



Now, she was slowly getting transformed visibly atleast.

[Tejas@perioimpl]

Before buying the tyres in December, there was an aliexpress annual sale in oct/nov from where i picked up a Tyre Pressure Monitoring System:

From their site:













The parcel, again guessing game what it could be



It was resealed by customs and handled poorly:



Installed the sensors on the vehicle:



At that time, there was no option to buy a sensor for the spare wheel even though it could be added to the system. Last week i saw it on aliexpress and bought the spare wheel sensor. Now to wait for a month to arrive.

Update on the system:

It's been working very well and is accurate and prevents loss of pressure from the tyre as well. In july both front sensors battery failed.

On opening both sensors, there was a bit of rust and the seal rings disintegrated. Thankfully they had supplied four extra seals. Changed the battery and sprayed wd40 & left to dry overnight - open. Installed it and it's working back again.

I periodically check the air readings with my handheld air pressure gauge. Readings tally.

[Tejas@perioimpl]

Friends' kids wanted to experience soft roading and camping so took them to Lonavala:

[Tejas@perioimpl]

Next up was bumper installation.

Procured this from the Baroda Pajero Dealer, Amin Sons.

Fitting at Allan's garage.

The New Bumper:



Allan inspecting and giving his seal of approval:



Removing the OE bumper:





Front skid plate removed. Will be reattached again:





New bumper positioned:



Interior pic of the bumper:



Checking electrical connections:



Installing:



Installed:



A black and white pic:



Back at it's parking spot:

[Tejas@perioimpl]

Up next was a CB radio antenna.

I didn't want those whip type flexible antennas that flap around and become a danger to others on the road.

The best in the business is made by GME from Australia. A friend carried it down for me:



Close up:



I asked for a heavy duty spring which doesn't flap around on bad roads. If you travel through a lot of bush then you need to call for a medium spring:



It comes with a cover so you can remove the antenna top (fibre glass) when not in use and protect the internals:



A special bullbar holder to mount the antenna:



Painted it black to match the bull bar:



Fixed:





On the car: Also changed the stock number plate. Was waiting for the bumper to be mounted before changing it. Never been so patient before

[Tejas@perioimpl]

Next items on the list were a good roof rack and rock sliders.

However, we were doing a lot of offroad junkie events from April this year and i desperately needed an awning and ordered a 2m x 2m one.

The older luggage rack that i had removed had the rails rusted but the legs (gutter mounts) were in good shape.

So i quickly cleaned them, scrapped, primed and painted black and fashioned rails from aluminium and attached the awning to it. Temporary measure. Attach before an event and take it down after.

Yes, i know it looks too crude but does the job.

The "contraption"



Tight fit in the garage:



Parked at it's usual spot: