[Guderian]

Originally Posted by aveoman19

I'll soon book the new 'chromosomed' black fortuner in two months...

As soon as I get my hands on the new black kid...

Hi aveoman,
May I have the privilege of congratulating you in advance ?!! That would be one grand vehicle ! I simply love the Fortuner in black - as long as one can maintain it well. Mumbai and places like it - is a sheer murder on the colour.
And yes awaiting your hands to get a grab of the new black behemoth.
And yeah - we could organise a meet somewhere !

[Guderian]

And the Day After...

Meant that I had a lot of cleaning to be carried out and resetting Admiral to the state of my liking after a service as usual. And it took quite some time.
And the pouring rain didn't exactly help matters.


And... Curses ! Make that double curses !
Yesterday on return from the ASC, after the VII service, while parking into the stamp sized bay, Admiral lightly brushed against a dock wall. The first ever time. And I just couldn't stop cursing my momentary lapse of attention while backing up. Leading to a scrape (or make that in plural !) on the rear left wheel well bumper area.


The Wall.


Close up of the area of action.

But nothing that the repair paraphernalia can't set right or restore of course. And naturally one didn't waste time getting down to action.

Meanwhile a little wasp buzzing in a nearby bay kept distracting me.



And finally the patch appeared to be done. Will keep it this way for a week and final touch up and polishing next week.


And Admiral in his bay awaits action, resplendent once again.



Which was not very long in coming. A long drive to a leafy suburb of Mumbai.


Admiral feels smooth as silk. And very peppy to boot.
Thanks to the new air filter and sparkling clean oil now being pumped in his arteries. Even the vast amounts of new grease in his prop shafts too seems to be helping the smooth feel I guess.
Feels very tight all around - not sure whether it's psychological or because of the tightening of all the U/C nuts and bolts especially of the suspension links.

Incidentally have increased the air pressure in all tyres to 34 from 32 PSI as per my digital inflator's indicator - just on a whim. Felt good today.

Aloha.

[F150]

It is often physiological.
Increasing tyre pressure to 34 psi would also add to the overall difference in the feel.
I usually maintain the tyre pressure slightly low in the rainy season to avoid skidding in slippery conditions.
This logic may not apply to admiral due to its mammoth tyre width. Mine are 185 profile, admiral's is 265 ?

[nilanjanray]

What did you use HG? I have similar scrapes from an encounter with an auto (the guy was late in braking and brushed against me from the rear right).

[Guderian]

Originally Posted by nilanjanray

What did you use HG? I have similar scrapes from an encounter with an auto (the guy was late in braking and brushed against me from the rear right).

Hi Nilanjan,
I generally use the F-1 ScratchOut liquid, Duplicolor touch up pen(with the right shade match) & F-1 Polish - the snaps of which abound in the thread.
First the ScratchOut - a good rub over the effected area. Takes care of most of the small scratches. Then the touch up with the Duplicolor pen and finally the polish - good buffing after the initial application. The final outcome most of the times is very, very presentable !

Originally Posted by F150

Mine are 185 profile, admiral's is 265 ?
It is often physiological.

Hi F150,
Yes Admiral is shod with 265/65/R17s.
Physiological eh ? Yeah, I guess having a good set of Gluteus maximus muscles helps a lot !

[aveoman19]

Sir. You could've avoided those scrapes with the fender mirror. Although you won't be able to see the side in totality, you get a good idea of the position of the vehicle with respect to the area not visible, that is below your line of sight. There are areas where the rear view mirror alone can't highlight and that may be because, we are generally lazy or in a hurry to adjust the left mirror to show the kerb and then re-adjust it back to normal driving position. Fender mirrors are a blessing for huge vehicles like the Fortuner. I have experienced the importance of the same on many of my friends' fortuners and my dad's friend's Lanc Cruiser Prado 150 VX.L. Please fix the fender mirror sir. It is disheartening to see Admiral getting scraped by someone as loving and caring as you!

[AlphaKilo]

Originally Posted by Guderian

And... Curses ! Make that double curses !
Yesterday on return from the ASC, after the VII service, while parking into the stamp sized bay, Admiral lightly brushed against a dock wall. The first ever time. And I just couldn't stop cursing my momentary lapse of attention while backing up. Leading to a scrape (or make that in plural !) on the rear left wheel well bumper area.
Attachment 968660

Hail General,

Its that momentary lapse that every Home returning War vehicle has - joy of dry docking/seeing home(land) makes us loose concentration. Even the mighty Admiral didn't escape this fauji syndrome. Anyways such things are part of these vehicles and they are made to bear those abuses and much more.

I don't think if a fender mirror would help rather parking sensors would be of more help but they will beep you to deafness, seeing the way how close the tail of the Admiral is to the walls. How about having a navigator, for that just in case moment? Even we use ground Marshallers to guide us while parking.
Something like this:

marshalling in the dark - YouTube

[Guderian]

Originally Posted by aveoman19

Sir. You could've avoided those scrapes with the fender mirror...

Hi aveoman,
Promise to be very careful in future.
And believe me when I tell you this that I agonised quite a bit, when buying Admiral, about whether or not to fix the fender RVM. Finally decided against it because it altered the profile of the vehicle quite a bit and I would loose about 2" of space while maneuvering around. And also believe me further when I tell you that the scrape couldn't have been avoided with the FRVM - because it was due to sheer idiocy (aka stupidity) of not paying attention to a maneuver done a million times before and taking things for granted.
Thanks for the concern shown - appreciate it ! Siiigh - Admiral has far more admirers than...

Originally Posted by AlphaKilo

Hail General,

Its that momentary lapse that every Home returning War vehicle has - joy of dry docking/seeing home(land) makes us loose concentration. Even the mighty Admiral didn't escape this fauji syndrome...

Ha ha AK !
Well the ol' chap has rear parking sensors which raise quite a bit of racket when something offending comes close. But then sometimes - yeah, stupidity strikes.
That Marshaller bit looks great and should make for a great sight in the colony on return from a long patrol !

[AlphaKilo]

Originally Posted by Guderian

Ha ha AK !
Well the ol' chap has rear parking sensors which raise quite a bit of racket when something offending comes close. But then sometimes - yeah, stupidity strikes.
That Marshaller bit looks great and should make for a great sight in the colony on return from a long patrol !

Hail General,

Well it has reverse parking sensors, but there are none on the sides! Thats where mostly we end up scraping. one solution is to use sponge taping onto the wall(only the lower portion untill where the bumper might meet the wall) like what you had done to your rear end wall.(I guess I remember correctly that you had a rubber beeding fixed on your wall.)

If you thought marshalling a 747 Jumbo is great sight, look at how "Luftwaffe" Pilots are trained to park their tornado's. Watch from 0:47

How Germans learn to park a Tornado - YouTube

[aveoman19]

Dear AlphaKilo sir, The fender mirror part was mentioned by me for just that. Lack of parking sensors on the sides. It does help, but I am convinced with the owner of the famous ketchup company's reasons for not fixing the same on admiral.

[AlphaKilo]

Originally Posted by aveoman19

Dear AlphaKilo sir, The fender mirror part was mentioned by me for just that. Lack of parking sensors on the sides. It does help, but I am convinced with the owner of the famous ketchup company's reasons for not fixing the same on admiral.

Mate! You are hitting on the General "Heinz" Guderian and comparing him with a Ketchup company! Asking for trouble I say! You might end up having to face a "Blitzkrieg" and a full fledged naval attack.

P.S:
1. for all those who didnt understand that ketup company part - read - Heinz ketchup/jams - a famous German brand!
2. feel free to call me AlphaKilo, no "sir" please - I am not that old.

Hail General,

can you please update on the scratch removal? You wanted to do some more work on it! Waiting for the pictures. Ya and what about the underbody cleaning? You greased it but I still see the underbody being dirty and so Admiral like!

[aveoman19]

I think the general hasn't seen it yet. The entire Wehrmacht (German forces) must be hunting me and the admiral must be planning to attack me via the Bay of Bengal and at my residence in Chennai!

[Guderian]

Extract from Ship's Log Book:

Date: Aug 23, 2012.
Time: 1415 Hrs/ 2.15 PM.
Location: JVL Road near IIT
Event: Fleet Admiral Togo Heihachiro recorded 30,000KMs/16198.7 Nautical Miles on its odometer.

Days to 30K Clicks: 544 : Date of Delivery - Feb 27, 2011.
Average Run Per Day: 55.14 KMs

Total Fuel Consumed: 2448.20 Lts
Overall FE: 12.26 KMPL
Best Recorded FE Figure till date: 16.2 KMPL (By MID)

No of Services/Inspections : 7.
Total Service Expenses: Rs. 15364 - Inclusive of wheel alignment work (1) & washing (1) carried out by non ASC dry docks.
Cost per Service: Rs 2194.86

Niggles: Nil. No rattles, no squeaks, no nothing. Feels fresh, tight and perky - as on the first day.

End of Extract.

Originally Posted by AlphaKilo

can you please update on the scratch removal? You wanted to do some more work on it! Waiting for the pictures.

Hi AK,
Yet to be done. Would possibly be carried out this weekend. Even without the second round of work the area looks nice and spiffy.
About the underbody - I left it in the same condition - no washing done. Probably get it done after a long drive coming up round the corner.

Originally Posted by aveoman19

I think the general hasn't seen it yet.

Hmmm...so what's the latest on your Fortuner purchase aveoman19 ?

[Guderian]

And with this milestone (30K KMs) crossed (shouldn't it be a Kilometer stone ???) - would request the Mods to shift this thread to the Long Term Ownership Reports (LTOR) Section !
Thank you.

[sagarpadaki]

Originally Posted by AlphaKilo

Hail General,

Well it has reverse parking sensors, but there are none on the sides! Thats where mostly we end up scraping. one solution is to use sponge taping onto the wall(only the lower portion untill where the bumper might meet the wall) like what you had done to your rear end wall.(I guess I remember correctly that you had a rubber beeding fixed on your wall.)

If you thought marshalling a 747 Jumbo is great sight, look at how "Luftwaffe" Pilots are trained to park their tornado's. Watch from 0:47

How Germans learn to park a Tornado - YouTube

Nice video!

BTW are you a pilot? Your location has the ICAO codes of Madras-Bremen-Munich . Do you commander in this circuit?