your dream expedition spec off roader....
Discussion
Ok a somewhat hypothetical one, but I'm making a return to 4x4 ownership with a view to doing something very different with life next year.
At the minute the design sheet is blank. A vehicle, budget or much else for that matter, hasn't even been decided on. It's a whim sort of thing...
So for now let's muse. Consider if you will...
You've got a big budget for next years adventures, want a new 4x4 to start from, with the intention of ripping it apart, chopping, hacking, welding, and making it something very special. It's got to be able to cut the mustard in the rough stuff in the UK, and more importantly, in the desert dunes. It's also got to be able to take an epic road trip of many thousands of miles in it's stride, and be fundamentally awesome at bombing across sand with nothing more than a change of wheels and tyres. Think baja / rally raid and you're not a million miles off I guess.
Obviously there's a few specialist vehicles out there like the bowler wildcats and desert warriors that you can buy turnkey solutions for, but supposing you didn't want to do that and fancied testing your mettle with building one yourself. Now it's alll too easy to run away and look at FIA specs or whatever, so for now lets keep it unofficial, 'Your dream expedition off roader' is the brief.
What vehicle would you use and why?
Diesel or Petrol? (and why)
What else would you do to it?
Muse away
At the minute the design sheet is blank. A vehicle, budget or much else for that matter, hasn't even been decided on. It's a whim sort of thing...
So for now let's muse. Consider if you will...
You've got a big budget for next years adventures, want a new 4x4 to start from, with the intention of ripping it apart, chopping, hacking, welding, and making it something very special. It's got to be able to cut the mustard in the rough stuff in the UK, and more importantly, in the desert dunes. It's also got to be able to take an epic road trip of many thousands of miles in it's stride, and be fundamentally awesome at bombing across sand with nothing more than a change of wheels and tyres. Think baja / rally raid and you're not a million miles off I guess.
Obviously there's a few specialist vehicles out there like the bowler wildcats and desert warriors that you can buy turnkey solutions for, but supposing you didn't want to do that and fancied testing your mettle with building one yourself. Now it's alll too easy to run away and look at FIA specs or whatever, so for now lets keep it unofficial, 'Your dream expedition off roader' is the brief.
What vehicle would you use and why?
Diesel or Petrol? (and why)
What else would you do to it?
Muse away
You need to see LRO this month - there's a chap that's modified a Disco for glacier driving in Iceland. Very nice, and very high piece of kit. There's a contact number if you want him to build you your own
With the exception of the wider wheels/arches, I'd take most of the mods he made for the ideal expedition vehicle. But I guess it depends where you're going. With very few changes, it would probably be suitable for dunes too.
It will easily cope with anything in the UK. Might be a bit wide for some lanes with the wider wheels on.
For literally a go-anywhere vehicle, you'd need the works if you don't want to worry about getting stuck. Protection, lift (body and suspension), extended prop and brake lines, rad pipes etc - due to the lift, wading gear, MTs/ATs. Winch if going alone. Consider rear winch too, depending on where you're going. Rack for 2 spares, water and petrol cans. Usual recovery gear and comms.
It's got to be comfortable for big miles, so a 110, although easy to mod, might be out of the question. Disco is a compromise, but the D3 possibly harder to modify to that extent without a mega budget.
If you're talking dunes, then a Landcruiser is a possibility too. Well respected abilities in this field.
For me it would have to be petrol. But for range and being able to take varying grades of fuel from around the world, the black stuff is probably preferable.
Good luck with your planned adventure!
With the exception of the wider wheels/arches, I'd take most of the mods he made for the ideal expedition vehicle. But I guess it depends where you're going. With very few changes, it would probably be suitable for dunes too.
It will easily cope with anything in the UK. Might be a bit wide for some lanes with the wider wheels on.
For literally a go-anywhere vehicle, you'd need the works if you don't want to worry about getting stuck. Protection, lift (body and suspension), extended prop and brake lines, rad pipes etc - due to the lift, wading gear, MTs/ATs. Winch if going alone. Consider rear winch too, depending on where you're going. Rack for 2 spares, water and petrol cans. Usual recovery gear and comms.
It's got to be comfortable for big miles, so a 110, although easy to mod, might be out of the question. Disco is a compromise, but the D3 possibly harder to modify to that extent without a mega budget.
If you're talking dunes, then a Landcruiser is a possibility too. Well respected abilities in this field.
For me it would have to be petrol. But for range and being able to take varying grades of fuel from around the world, the black stuff is probably preferable.
Good luck with your planned adventure!
thanks for the reply! Thought this might provoke a bit more interest being hypothetical and all. ho-hum.
Anyway, I've bought a vehicle! So I guess it's less hypothetical now.
It's a little bit of a left field selection, but I can't wait to get it so I can immediately get on with hacking it up and ruining it.
I went for a navara. Reason being, well Ok, it was mega cheap, cheaper than most other brand new cars infact especially once the vat's been reclaimed, but I got it for an amazing deal.
This is an interim vehicle I guess you could say. I did fancy another Patrol, but having seen the navaras in action on the rough stuff they seem great. Unfortunately it's a diesel so it's never going to be a speed machine like it's V6 petrol powered cousins. As much as I'd like a VQ engined petrol it'll do if only because it means not having the PITA of importing, plus as was rightly pointed out the dervs can take pretty much any old turps and not grumble too much.
So the plans, something along these lines but a bit more 'baja' (and far cooler looking in our colour scheme of white black and orange).
Not going to be a hive of creature comforts, so far I've ordered a pair of sparco seats, a pair of harnesses, some cargo nets (vital stuff), some switchgear, steering wheel, and I'm hunting around for some other stuff to get us started, like a snorkel kit and a winch, wheels and tyres and that should pass quite a bit of time. It will have some fun stuff in it though, just to make it a bit more bearable for the long distance stuff.
Whilst I've messed about with 4x4's often enough I haven't got a huge amount of experience with this sort of level of preparation so it's a steep learning curve, for now I'll concentrate on getting the important stuff out of the way and making it safe and a bit more capable.
Anyway, I've bought a vehicle! So I guess it's less hypothetical now.
It's a little bit of a left field selection, but I can't wait to get it so I can immediately get on with hacking it up and ruining it.
I went for a navara. Reason being, well Ok, it was mega cheap, cheaper than most other brand new cars infact especially once the vat's been reclaimed, but I got it for an amazing deal.
This is an interim vehicle I guess you could say. I did fancy another Patrol, but having seen the navaras in action on the rough stuff they seem great. Unfortunately it's a diesel so it's never going to be a speed machine like it's V6 petrol powered cousins. As much as I'd like a VQ engined petrol it'll do if only because it means not having the PITA of importing, plus as was rightly pointed out the dervs can take pretty much any old turps and not grumble too much.
So the plans, something along these lines but a bit more 'baja' (and far cooler looking in our colour scheme of white black and orange).
Not going to be a hive of creature comforts, so far I've ordered a pair of sparco seats, a pair of harnesses, some cargo nets (vital stuff), some switchgear, steering wheel, and I'm hunting around for some other stuff to get us started, like a snorkel kit and a winch, wheels and tyres and that should pass quite a bit of time. It will have some fun stuff in it though, just to make it a bit more bearable for the long distance stuff.
Whilst I've messed about with 4x4's often enough I haven't got a huge amount of experience with this sort of level of preparation so it's a steep learning curve, for now I'll concentrate on getting the important stuff out of the way and making it safe and a bit more capable.
OllieWinchester said:
You bought a new one?
Why?
Well, I wanted something new I'll be honest, partly because I'd know it's history from day one, and partly because I've spent far too many years swearing at rusted bolts and so on to want to go back there. So when I got offered one ludicrously cheap (even compared to 2nd hand stuff), I couldn't say no really. It's going to have a pretty hard life, so I figure why not.Why?
I must admit I've had a perverse wish to chop up a brand new car for quite some years now
Edited by Stu R on Sunday 19th April 10:13
Stu R said:
OllieWinchester said:
You bought a new one?
Why?
Well, I wanted something new I'll be honest, partly because I'd know it's history from day one, and partly because I've spent far too many years swearing at rusted bolts and so on to want to go back there. So when I got offered one ludicrously cheap (even compared to 2nd hand stuff), I couldn't say no really. It's going to have a pretty hard life, so I figure why not.Why?
I must admit I've had a perverse wish to chop up a brand new car for quite some years now
Edited by Stu R on Sunday 19th April 10:13
Personally I'd go for a V8 classic rangey.
Chop the bodywork back to fit bigger tyres without needing a lift. Heavy duty shock turrets, bearmach springs and pro-comp shocks (simply because I've used them before and had no problems), minimal underbody protection to keep the weight down. Manual box because there's less to go wrong, and it's easier to bodge. Remove the rear seats and fit a custom fuel tank. Racking for minimal kit in the back.
Low weight and the weight low.
And the parts are easily available because landies have a huge following.
Most of the desert guides I met in Libya and Tunisia use unmodified petrol landcruisers. Petrol because the rev range helps in sand.
Chop the bodywork back to fit bigger tyres without needing a lift. Heavy duty shock turrets, bearmach springs and pro-comp shocks (simply because I've used them before and had no problems), minimal underbody protection to keep the weight down. Manual box because there's less to go wrong, and it's easier to bodge. Remove the rear seats and fit a custom fuel tank. Racking for minimal kit in the back.
Low weight and the weight low.
And the parts are easily available because landies have a huge following.
Most of the desert guides I met in Libya and Tunisia use unmodified petrol landcruisers. Petrol because the rev range helps in sand.
Actually, at the risk of ruining your dreaming 
if you want a serious expedition spec vehicle i would recommend doing very little to the standard car... Depending on where you are going:
Extensive body alteration and external kit will draw attention to you - if you are traveling through countries poorer than you are, then you are a target. If the vehicle is very much different to normal the attention may work to your advantage, if it looks dead expensive only, it may not.
Wouldn't bother with extensive bolt on armor type stuff, most of it is heavy and fecking useless.
Be wary of carrying too much inside the car in terms of service draws and racks, its all heavy stuff and the more logically you think about it usually the less needed it is. Probably about 90% of all broken things on expeditions are a result from the vehicle being too heavy. The other 10% is from trying to make it do something that is at best ambitious... Pay attention to the GVM of the car and make it a religion to stick to it. I reckon you'll get further than any trick vehicle if you do that!
THink carefully about making sure the vehicle carries you and your occupants safely and has all that it needs to get you home safely, or if you are stuck, to await for help with reasonable comfort.
My tool is a decrepit looking 1985 landcruiser. From the outside it looks like it couldn't make it to the shops, but underneath it's all there and touch wood has never yet missed a beat. With the exception of heavy duty suspension we don't have much else on it (although I will be upgrading it a little bit more for a round the world trip - nearer the time). Unlike some of the magazines that take 4x4s into the aussie bush fully laden with the best of the ARB catalogue, we've never bust any parts and we've driven the same roads.
Kinda boring, but, i've been drooling over LR mags since I was 14 and the more i see and the more i experience, the more i see that actually half the stuff is completely useless for a proper expedition. You are better off making it almost factory spec.
if you want a serious expedition spec vehicle i would recommend doing very little to the standard car... Depending on where you are going:Extensive body alteration and external kit will draw attention to you - if you are traveling through countries poorer than you are, then you are a target. If the vehicle is very much different to normal the attention may work to your advantage, if it looks dead expensive only, it may not.
Wouldn't bother with extensive bolt on armor type stuff, most of it is heavy and fecking useless.
Be wary of carrying too much inside the car in terms of service draws and racks, its all heavy stuff and the more logically you think about it usually the less needed it is. Probably about 90% of all broken things on expeditions are a result from the vehicle being too heavy. The other 10% is from trying to make it do something that is at best ambitious... Pay attention to the GVM of the car and make it a religion to stick to it. I reckon you'll get further than any trick vehicle if you do that!
THink carefully about making sure the vehicle carries you and your occupants safely and has all that it needs to get you home safely, or if you are stuck, to await for help with reasonable comfort.
My tool is a decrepit looking 1985 landcruiser. From the outside it looks like it couldn't make it to the shops, but underneath it's all there and touch wood has never yet missed a beat. With the exception of heavy duty suspension we don't have much else on it (although I will be upgrading it a little bit more for a round the world trip - nearer the time). Unlike some of the magazines that take 4x4s into the aussie bush fully laden with the best of the ARB catalogue, we've never bust any parts and we've driven the same roads.
Kinda boring, but, i've been drooling over LR mags since I was 14 and the more i see and the more i experience, the more i see that actually half the stuff is completely useless for a proper expedition. You are better off making it almost factory spec.
Edited by Buffalo on Sunday 26th April 05:12
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