Part I - Preparation for San Francisco - Inuvik - Puerto Toro - Buenos Aires - Team-BHP

Shreesh · 12th September 2007, 06:03

After a warm welcome (Hello from California) from forum members, I will post the progress on our expedition in this travelogue area.

We are a little more than a month away from our projected departure date of Oct. 15th for our Arctic to Antarctic project. It will be a very hectic month!

Our preparations started more than a year ago when we began our automotive education at the City College of San Francisco and the purchase of a project car to learn on and the expedition vehicle a month later. We bought the project car, a 1997 Mazda Miata with 115k miles on it and the expedition vehicle, a 2007 FJ Cruiser with 6 miles on it.

The poor little Miata has been the target of our experiments - we changed the timing belt, cam seals, crank seal, thermostat, water pump and all coolant hoses. We replaced the suspension with a race suspension and the brakes with Porterfield/Brembo race combination. We did make a couple of horrendous mistakes, but were able to fix them before real problems cropped up.

The current focus has now shifted to the expedition vehicle, the FJ Cruiser. This last weekend we toiled away installing a RAM laptop mount and checking the wiring harness. The car is still filthy from a trip to Burning Man in the Nevada desert.

There are more mods to come, I will report as gear up for this trip!!!

biswajit · 12th September 2007, 16:49

Its very interesting. Do post in details. Gone through "a-long-drive", liked your vehicle mod.

tsk1979 · 12th September 2007, 22:22

Hey Shreesh, best of luck on your trip. I am also in the bay area for a short while, maybe we can get to see the flag off!

Nitin · 13th September 2007, 00:05

Way to go!!
Good luck!God be with you..

Shreesh · 20th September 2007, 11:34

Hello everybody,

The laptop mount is now in. As soon as it was in some real low-IQ thief broke my window, thinking that there would be a laptop in the car. The car alarm, which is hooked up to the air horn, went off and he beat a hasty retreat.

One of the most important steps in preparing for the was taken last Friday - both Neena and I quit our jobs to dedicate ourselves fully to this endeavor!

kchatt · 20th September 2007, 15:45

Hi Shreesh,

You made an excellent choice of vehicle. I just dug details up. Too good. Its a jap avtaar of a hummer. But I have a query, are you putting extended fuel tanks? The original is only 19G as per the specs. What other mods are you planning? Can't wait to hear.

Best of Luck

Kaushik

Shreesh · 20th September 2007, 23:09

Quote:

Originally Posted by kchatt

Hi Shreesh,

You made an excellent choice of vehicle. I just dug details up. Too good. Its a jap avtaar of a hummer. But I have a query, are you putting extended fuel tanks? The original is only 19G as per the specs. What other mods are you planning? Can't wait to hear.

Best of Luck

Kaushik

The most involved and complicated mod was the addition of the aux. tank. Troy Hoeffer of Superior4Wheeldrive in San Jose found a DOT approved fuel cell that fit perfectly under the cargo area and for extra protection he added a skid plate on the bottom. Mine was the first FJ Cruiser to be fitted with an aux. tank.

You can read more and see pictures here.

dadu · 21st September 2007, 11:02

I think this will become one of the most interesting threads in the coming days with an expedition on hand.

Shreesh, can I request to post pictures of both your vehicles in your posts rather than a separate link, its more interesting to read with pictures. Thanks

ramkya1 · 21st September 2007, 16:26

Hai,

Looking forward to the expedition.....

I have a feeling this would turn out to be a mother lode...

Wish you luck & Happy Driving,

--Ramky
============

Shreesh · 26th October 2007, 04:52

Hello everyone,

So with most of the preparations done we started the long drive on October 20th at 10:30pm. The first day we went a paltry 7.2 miles to stay at a friend's house in Mill Valley California. It is a little embarrassing but I am pretty jazzed that we finally got started.

There we finished up mounting the shovel and trying to reorganize the cargo in the truck.

All our worldly belongings are now either in storage or in the car with us. We are now 937.5 miles at Seattle into what we expect will be a 50,000 mile trip.

Tomorrow we head towards our first border crossing, to Canada. Would love to hook up with any BHPians along the way!!

12th September 2007, 06:03	#1 (permalink)
Shreesh Newbie Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: San Francisco, CA Posts: 22	Part I - Preparation for San Francisco - Inuvik - Puerto Toro - Buenos Aires After a warm welcome (Hello from California) from forum members, I will post the progress on our expedition in this travelogue area. We are a little more than a month away from our projected departure date of Oct. 15th for our Arctic to Antarctic project. It will be a very hectic month! Our preparations started more than a year ago when we began our automotive education at the City College of San Francisco and the purchase of a project car to learn on and the expedition vehicle a month later. We bought the project car, a 1997 Mazda Miata with 115k miles on it and the expedition vehicle, a 2007 FJ Cruiser with 6 miles on it. The poor little Miata has been the target of our experiments - we changed the timing belt, cam seals, crank seal, thermostat, water pump and all coolant hoses. We replaced the suspension with a race suspension and the brakes with Porterfield/Brembo race combination. We did make a couple of horrendous mistakes, but were able to fix them before real problems cropped up. The current focus has now shifted to the expedition vehicle, the FJ Cruiser. This last weekend we toiled away installing a RAM laptop mount and checking the wiring harness. The car is still filthy from a trip to Burning Man in the Nevada desert. There are more mods to come, I will report as gear up for this trip!!! __________________ Shreesh Taskar \| alongdrive.com

12th September 2007, 16:49	#2 (permalink)
biswajit Newbie Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Bangalore Posts: 28	Its very interesting. Do post in details. Gone through "a-long-drive", liked your vehicle mod. __________________ ----------------------------------------- 2007 Safari LX Dicor \| 2006 Indica xeta 2001 Bajaj caliber 115

12th September 2007, 22:22	#3 (permalink)
tsk1979 Team-BHP Support Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Noida, New Delhi Posts: 8,793 View My Garage	Hey Shreesh, best of luck on your trip. I am also in the bay area for a short while, maybe we can get to see the flag off! __________________ Reclaiming.....!

20th September 2007, 11:34	#5 (permalink)
Shreesh Newbie Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: San Francisco, CA Posts: 22	Hello everybody, The laptop mount is now in. As soon as it was in some real low-IQ thief broke my window, thinking that there would be a laptop in the car. The car alarm, which is hooked up to the air horn, went off and he beat a hasty retreat. One of the most important steps in preparing for the was taken last Friday - both Neena and I quit our jobs to dedicate ourselves fully to this endeavor! __________________ Shreesh Taskar \| alongdrive.com

21st September 2007, 16:26	#9 (permalink)
ramkya1 BHPian Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Ahmedabad Posts: 611 View My Garage	Looking Forward To Read... Hai, Looking forward to the expedition..... I have a feeling this would turn out to be a mother lode... Wish you luck & Happy Driving, --Ramky ============

13th September 2007, 00:05	#4 (permalink)
Nitin Senior - BHPian Join Date: May 2006 Location: Houston, Texas Posts: 1,813 View My Garage	Way to go!! Good luck!God be with you..

20th September 2007, 15:45	#6 (permalink)
kchatt Newbie Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Hyderabad Posts: 23	Hi Shreesh, You made an excellent choice of vehicle. I just dug details up. Too good. Its a jap avtaar of a hummer. But I have a query, are you putting extended fuel tanks? The original is only 19G as per the specs. What other mods are you planning? Can't wait to hear. Best of Luck Kaushik

21st September 2007, 11:02	#8 (permalink)
dadu Senior - BHPian Join Date: May 2007 Location: Bangalore Posts: 2,255 View My Garage	I think this will become one of the most interesting threads in the coming days with an expedition on hand. Shreesh, can I request to post pictures of both your vehicles in your posts rather than a separate link, its more interesting to read with pictures. Thanks

26th October 2007, 04:52	#10 (permalink)
Shreesh Newbie Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: San Francisco, CA Posts: 22	Hello everyone, So with most of the preparations done we started the long drive on October 20th at 10:30pm. The first day we went a paltry 7.2 miles to stay at a friend's house in Mill Valley California. It is a little embarrassing but I am pretty jazzed that we finally got started. There we finished up mounting the shovel and trying to reorganize the cargo in the truck. All our worldly belongings are now either in storage or in the car with us. We are now 937.5 miles at Seattle into what we expect will be a 50,000 mile trip. Tomorrow we head towards our first border crossing, to Canada. Would love to hook up with any BHPians along the way!! __________________ Shreesh Taskar \| alongdrive.com

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