[Guderian]

And a quick update before all of us get busy ringing in the new year !

Since the last bunkering (for those who came in late here - meaning fuelling) and after a few relaxed, lazy drives within the city during no/low rush periods, with the driver too in no great rush...




...Admiral seems to be returning his best ever FE figures:


No doubt helped by the cold weather (relatively in Mumbai - nothing compared to, say, Delhi ?), engine lazily spinning at 1.45K-1.5K RPM, ACC running, 70-80 KMPH, 5th gear etc.

Whatever, but not too bad eh ? For a 2.0 Tonne leviathan ?



2012 !
And on that note here's wishing all you wonderful folks (aka TBHP Members !) and your families (vehicles included) a fabulous 2012 !
May you have 'plentiful', safe and delighful miles in the coming year.
God Bless and Good Luck !

[amitwlele]

Originally Posted by Guderian

And a quick update before all of us get busy ringing in the new year !

General - I thought TOGO channel would do a wrap up of the events that happened in the year 2011 as is the norm with most of the broadcasters at this time of the year

By the way i hear from sources in Mumbai that the bridge at the Suman Nagar junction is operational now and there are no more traffic jams at the junction. What does Admiral have to say about it?

And before i forget wishing you, your family and all the BHPians a wonderful year ahead.

[Behemoth]

Originally Posted by Guderian

And a quick update before all of us get busy ringing in the new year !

2012 !
And on that note here's wishing all you wonderful folks (aka TBHP Members !) and your families (vehicles included) a fabulous 2012 !
May you have 'plentiful', safe and delighful miles in the coming year.
God Bless and Good Luck !

Thanks for your best wishes General! Wish you and your family a very Happy new Year ahead.
Hope that you and the Admiral will be taking long voyages to the North once your health permits to explore the Mountainous terrain.
(I am also planning for our Leh trip sometime in Jun / Sep 2012)
Anytime that you are planning to come down to Gurgaon, do let us Northerners know and we will be more than happy to welcome you!


Regards,
Behemoth

[Guderian]

Originally Posted by amitwlele

General - I thought TOGO channel would do a wrap up of the events that happened in the year 2011 as is the norm with most of the broadcasters at this time of the year

By the way i hear from sources in Mumbai that the bridge at the Suman Nagar junction is operational now and there are no more traffic jams at the junction. What does Admiral have to say about it?

Hi Amit,
Many thanks for the wishes !

With every channel doing the same thing - we at Togo Channel need to be different by doing nothing and celebrating the new year in advance !

About the Suman Nagar/Chembur Naka junction jam. The first few days/weeks was a nightmare as - to turn to the the right (to go to Chembur) you have/had to first touch left and take the bridge & the Thane chaps have/had to travel straight ahead. So you can imagine the chaos. Right most lane to left most, left most lane to right most etc - holy mayhem. Things slowly seem to be settling down but yet at peak time/s there is treacly thick traffic jams !

And what does Admiral say ? I guess - What me worry ?!!
Admiral sails/wades on - parting traffic like Moses & the Red Sea !

Originally Posted by Behemoth

Hope that you and the Admiral will be taking long voyages to the North once your health permits to explore the Mountainous terrain.
(I am also planning for our Leh trip sometime in Jun / Sep 2012)
Anytime that you are planning to come down to Gurgaon, do let us Northerners know and we will be more than happy to welcome you!

Hi Behemoth,
Thanks for the 'warm' welcome in advance (reason for emphasis - know what our Delhites/Gurgaonkars/Northern bretheren are going through these days and the temperatures there and that currently warmth of any sort is at a premium rate !) .
Yes, the back is holding out (touchwood !) and should plan a long sortie soon. And Leh too by Sept 2012. We'll tic tac on that soon enough and get things going.

Meanwhile slowly getting Admiral also ready for long journeys again - what with a service round the corner and general ship shape conversion actions to be undertaken.

Aloha.

[Reinhard]

Hey Panzer-Fuhrer! Not bad? That FE is I think one of the best possible for that Yamato class battleship you sail. Nice numbers really. I pray you continue to get that forever. Wishing you, your family & the Admiral a safe & happy new year!

[charthom]

Hi Guderian,

Thanks for the wishes.Here are wishes of an action packed 2012 for Togo channel.

Admiral is still in great inner and outer shape,I can see. Great FE there.

Have a great New Year!!

charthom.

PS-leaving for Tuzla Bay in Turkey today.This is the last post- while the internet is still on.

[AlphaKilo]

Heil General! Aa-Ka meldet sich bei Ihnen!(Hail General, AK reporting in),

Gute Rutsch ins Neujahr. (Good jump in the newyear) Advanced new year wishes to you and your family and our family(TBHP). Wishes and Salute to Admiral too. Waiting for your long distance trip updates. I hope your back is ready for further sailing. Takecare.
Congrats on the new Panzer
Over n out.

[Guderian]

Originally Posted by Reinhard

Hey Panzer-Fuhrer! Not bad? That FE is I think one of the best possible for that Yamato class battleship you sail. Nice numbers really. I pray you continue to get that forever. Wishing you, your family & the Admiral a safe & happy new year!

Hi Reinhard,
Many thanks for the good wishes.
But that FE figure will drop for sure - thanks to traffic and the return of the warm weather.! But even then a respectable figure would be reached of course - touch wood.

Originally Posted by charthom

Hi Guderian,

Thanks for the wishes.Here are wishes of an action packed 2012 for Togo channel.

Admiral is still in great inner and outer shape,I can see. Great FE there.

Have a great New Year!!

charthom.

PS-leaving for Tuzla Bay in Turkey today.This is the last post- while the internet is still on.

Hi Charthom,
Thanks.
Good luck on your journeys to exotic lands mariner. From Togo - Godspeed and bon voyage !

Originally Posted by AlphaKilo

Heil General! Aa-Ka meldet sich bei Ihnen!(Hail General, AK reporting in),

Gute Rutsch ins Neujahr. (Good jump in the newyear) Advanced new year wishes to you and your family and our family(TBHP). Wishes and Salute to Admiral too. Waiting for your long distance trip updates. I hope your back is ready for further sailing. Takecare.
Congrats on the new Panzer
Over n out.

Hi AK...Come in !
Thanks for the kind words and likewise to you.
Back ever ready. Long trips under planning yet.
And the new Panzer. Got the Tiger (Tee-guh) Serial Number 300, logo - Charging Knight(1943) from the Russian front.
Glad that you noticed !

And folks - as the last rays of the sun of the final day of 2011 hit me - sharing a few snaps I hadn't put up here earlier with a few inevitable quips !

On the day Admiral met Fraulein. Don't miss Noopster, his now famous vermillion shirt and his attempt to snap Admiral's posterior !


Admiral gets serviced. In the coming year this is one point that is going to be critical and would need all attention ! Proper servicing. Toyota is going to be hit hard by the numbers(Etios/Liva et al) returning for servicing.


We (you) care ? We (customers) careful !!!


2011 saw Admiral make great number of new friends and as a consequence your truly too. Thank you - All you good folks.


May Admiral always look like this...


...in his perpetual quest for exotic locales at the end of long, long drives.



Tally ho then chaps.
2012 here we come !

[Guderian]

2012 AD.

" For Chrissake it is the New Years day." - muttered the LoH. As she heard me pottering around packing up the tools and tackles.
"Great news - it's also a Sunday." - went yours truly.
" You mean no respite for the Admiral." - LoH.
" Actually the GDW is not coming today." - YT.
"He's a sensible chap." - LoH.

Well, as someone famously mentioned, the problem with a repartee is that it occurs to you after you turn a departee.
I couldn't come up with a response to that and by then I was already down with Admiral at his docking berth.

And it was an electromechanical day.
And so it began with the battery.


And that reminded me of a point raised on one of the threads here (think from Nilanjan) quipping as to why is it called 'Maintenance Free' battery when so much of care is still required. To my mind it is that it is 'Maintenance Free' between services. Meaning the MF (not an expletive please - refer previous sentence !) feature is at the owner's end between services and it has to be maintained only by the ASCs - as opposed to the earlier days when the owner had a weekly/monthly responsiblity vis a vis the battery. But unfortunately at the ASCs the battery is the last thing they look at, unless specifically asked to, even after that it could be a hit or miss as you as an owner have no way of verifying the task done unless you stand there on their heads. So it's safer to...you know !

Hey - what's that jug doing there ?
No, no not a huge jug despite what the photo suggests due to the snap angle. It is just a cute 3" toy carafe which helps me take the distilled water from the can below and easily pour it into the vents.


Thank God I explained that before someone insinuates that I carried forward the 'spirit' of the New Year eve celebrations into the engine bay.

Was also time for -



Yes lowering the stepney, checking the release mechanism and air pressure etc.


Just for a lark and out of annoyance with the cumbersome system - took the measurements of the tyre with a tape and under the floor, inside the storage are etc and came to a conclusion that it would be near impossible to have an alternate system suggested to Toyota - meaning to have a floor recess within the luggage area to hold the spare tyre for easy access etc as it would foul the suspension system below. Also realised that heaving out the humungously heavy tyre out of the luggage area recess would mean that the poor chap doing it would need a minimum build of Hercules - though even with that build, I suspect you'll need a 'Chokra' around.
But yes, I would suggest a much simpler release and securing system from inside the cabin like the Scorpio one.
Please Uncle Toyota - could you do that for the future owners of the Fortuner ? Would came as a big, big favour.

Quite happy with the rear storage space - holds quite a bit of paraphernalia:



And then it was time for me to renew my ties with the underworld Dadas. Yup, for the quaterly 'Mech-Check' down under.

All well here:


The rear wheels and suspensions seem fine:



Fuel intake hose and brake oil lines - check:


The rear tow hook (Damn ! Clunked my head on it.):


The gearbox and rear prop shaft & diff - fine.



Front prop shaft & diff - theek hai:


Gearbox mounts - look fresh and still supple to the pinch. (The only thing I pinch at the bottom !)


The 4X4 TC. The splotches here and elsewhere underneath are from the excess grease splattered around from the prop shaft.


And the front shaft & f'd diff. Just above, at 11 O' clock in the pic, attached to the aluminium clutch bell one can see the clutch slave cylinder and the actuator bellows - within which is the one end of the clutch fork jutting out. Looks fine - no tears in the bellows, to my eye.


Front wheels and suspensions look fine:



All the underworld 'Dons' look fine I think - though a little bedraggled with all the mud and muck ! But it adds to their character.

On return the good LoH took one look at my grime crusted face and clothes and asked as to whether I had tended to Admiral or had a fight with him. Even then a repartee escaped me. But then that loss for words helped maintain the peace and tranquility of a Sunday.

You can't win them all, can you - despite a fine start to 2012 ?

[F150]

OMG, I never check all this stuff on my swift. Very useful post. I just fill diesel and every 5000Kms I give it for service.

General,
Please invite me for the next such inspection. I would love to learn few things from you.

[Monaro CV8]

Hail Generale,

Heartfelt wishes for the new year!

And yes, splendid snaps of the underbody those.
I can image those difficult postures you must have taken while snuggling under that behemoth of a car.
Kudos to your effort HG!

While on the subject, wanted to inquire about the function of the actuator bellows (the fins above the clutch slave cylinder).

[Guderian]

Originally Posted by F150

OMG, I never check all this stuff on my swift. Very useful post. I just fill diesel and every 5000Kms I give it for service.

General,
Please invite me for the next such inspection. I would love to learn few things from you.

Hi F150,
You are doing the right thing with the Swift. I don't think the Swift requires too much of mid-service inspections ! Simply because not too many mechanical challenges or moving parts - no rear wheel drive, transverse engine etc etc. And most important - very hard to squeeze under the car !

No issues coming down here for a Sunday tamasha. But let me warn you that two pairs of feet sticking out from under the Admiral, on a Sunday morning, will not be taken too kindly by the conservative, middle class colony where I stay...!

Originally Posted by Monaro CV8

While on the subject, wanted to inquire about the function of the actuator bellows (the fins above the clutch slave cylinder).

Hey Monaro,
Thanks.
What you see there are the parts of the clutch system.
When you press your clutch pedal a column of clutch oil is pushed from the master cylinder to the slave cylinder through a metal tube. At the slave cylinder the hydraulic pressure pushes an actuator, or simply put a plunger rod, into the bellows where there is the unitary end of the clutch fork present. The fork when pushed, pushes forward the clutch release bearing which disengages the clutch plate from the flywheel. Release the pedal and the reverse action happens thanks to the clutch pressure plate and springs.
So the bellows are to give the actuator/plunger mechanism and fork end the flexibility to move yet cover and protect it from dust and grime.
Experts may please chip in...

[Guderian]

Of this and that...

Just when I think the old boy has shown me everything in his repertory he throws up something more. Like couple of weeks earlier I thought he had shown me his best FE figures. And on Sunday he threw up this:


It certainly does beat this :

A pamphlet given by Toyota along with the vehicle's papers.

Nothing shocking, though delightful really, as I have been having some real placid drives in the past week - 10 days. Most of the time at 70 KMPH/5th G/1450 RPM. Few dawn patrols, late night raids, very few city skirmishes and runs to a side of the extended metro which isn't very crowded of course.

City lights of course do attract him:


When we of course stop and smell these:


A sharp gradient, in the hills nearby (off GB Road), where I go once in a way to check the clutch condition. First gear, no accelerator/throttle and feel it clamber up like a mountain goat despite its bulk. Keep a ear out of strange noises and missed beats:


At the top:



On one of the chukkers to a nearby place ran into a worthy competitor:

A 2011/118 BHP Pajero.


And got into a long conversation with the driver of the venerated beast while the LoH was busy elsewhere.
Now this belongs to a local politician who has a Fortuner, has booked the 2012 Fortuner and has a few other 'kissamka' SUVs. The number of vehicles the chap has - no that's not the point to make, but that the vehicle and driver do a humongous number of KMs every month and the driver too was pretty well versed with the vehicles and the 4X4 systems.


And when I asked him to compare the Pajero and the Fortuner he gave me a very unbiased feedback. Some snippets of the comparison:

- "Fortuner ka engine ekdum mast hai. Pajero theek hai magar highway pe dhoka de deta hai." (T - The engine of the Fortuner is superb and that of the Pajero is about OK but on the highway it can let you down.)
- "Fortuner ka suspension ekdum bekaar hai. Bahut patak-patak ke phekta hai." (T- The Fortuner's suspension is absolutely useless. Just lifts and throws you around.)

Listen - the translation bit is getting too much to handle for me - so I am just going to write what was mentioned in the good ol' Queen's lingo.

- The suspension of the Pajero is unbelievably good as they go quite a bit into the dehat and where no roads exist. (Of course yes, the politician chap has to canvas for votes in the deep interiors ! The only time he goes there ?)

- Gives an average of 12 KMPL of driving on H/W & elsewhere.

- Pajero is a delight on the twisty roads with its suspension. And the suspension can take a lot of punishment.

- Very comfortable interiors of the Pajero.

50-50 on the interiors.

- Reliability ? Their Pajero has a few minor engine/electrical related issues - excess oil consumption/AC etc. The Fortuner - nil.

- His dream vehicle ? A Fortuner with Pajero's suspension or a Pajero with Fortuner's engine. ( Now how the blazes do we cross them ?!!)

- His preferred vehicle - in the mountains the Pajero and on the highway the Fortuner.

-But if he had no choice and he had to select one ? He cast an eye furtively on Admiral and my face and said - "Jo gaadi ready hai ya boss ka mood hai wo lelete hain". Suddenly I remembered the chap was a politician's driver and there would be some rub off, of the master's forked tongue on him as well !
But I could sense that he preferred the Pajero.


So a quick shootout there then.

Couple of shots inspired by Nilanjan !



And a few long shots of the old boy to wrap up !



Until the next time then....!

[nilanjanray]

15.2! Not fair - we are not supposed to drive the Fortuner like old grannies!

Yup, a cross between the Pajero and Fortuner would be very interesting and give the best of both worlds. Anyone for a Forjero?

(personally, given that I like doing fast highway driving, I am willing to live with bumpy ride and average braking than with straining engine on highways or having to plan out every overtake in advance. The Fortuner can go where the Pajero goes but leaves the occupants more shaken and stirred)

[dot]

I have this mentioned this before, but will write again. Pajero's interiors is a big put off for a vehicle that has a 2 mil+ bill. Maybe it is an off-roader first, then an SUV.