[Tejas@perioimpl]

In use during one of our events:

Worth every penny!





Some TLC too:

[Samurai]

Awesome thread Tejas! I was actually getting jealous about your overland vehicle as I was reading. Then I realised I already have a vehicle that can be turned into an Overland vehicle someday.

No theft protection required either considering it is petrol.

And thanks for all the details on the accessories, I might order some myself.

[v12]

Awesome thread Tejas and very well detailed. Congrats on your Pajero - the effort you have taken to very patiently modify it is commendable and worth every bit of it. Could you also update us on the maintenance details of the Pajero please.

Thanks

[SmartCat]

Is this equivalent to buying a semi-furnished house and then leisurely decking it with all the stuff that you need?

[GTO]

Heartiest congratulations Tejas! Am sure this workhorse is going to reliably serve you for years to come.

Must say, you have impeccable taste when it comes to mods. The front end treatment, bumper, rims & tyres....down to even that perfectly done up number plate - she looks fantastic. Surely among the best looking Pajeros roaming on Indian roads.

After all your Jeeps, this is going to be like offroading in luxury .

Wish you many fun drives & lots of memories with her.

[Tejas@perioimpl]

Originally Posted by Samurai

Awesome thread Tejas!

Thank you.

Originally Posted by v12

Awesome thread Tejas and very well detailed. Congrats on your Pajero - the effort you have taken to very patiently modify it is commendable and worth every bit of it. Could you also update us on the maintenance details of the Pajero please.

Thanks

Maintenance is honestly very cheap. Let's look past the initial niggles that got solved. After that it's routine service at my local pump. She uses regular mineral oil that costs me hards 2-2.5k, the service and wash Rs. 1200 and i get the regional filters from Mitsubishi Pune and stock them. All in all a routine service which i do every 5000kms is hardly Rs. 4000. Change oil every 5k kms. I've already clocked 15000kms since buying her. Not much by expedition standards

I'm planning major services at the Pune workshop - those may be slightly expensive. The one lakh km service is due in 6500 kms

Originally Posted by smartcat

Is this equivalent to buying a semi-furnished house and then leisurely decking it with all the stuff that you need?

Haha. Good one

Originally Posted by GTO

Heartiest congratulations Tejas! Am sure this workhorse is going to reliably serve you for years to come.

Must say, you have impeccable taste when it comes to mods. The front end treatment, bumper, rims & tyres....down to even that perfectly done up number plate - she looks fantastic. Surely among the best looking Pajeros roaming on Indian roads.

After all your Jeeps, this is going to be like offroading in luxury .

Wish you many fun drives & lots of memories with her.

Thank you very much. Still loads of stuff to add here plus a long list of all the camping / recovery etc stuff and a wish list of mods still to be put in this thread.

A few more pics from some drives / excursions:





























We once had a coffee meet with Mumbai Pajero owners as well:

[amoghchaphalkar]

Have been drooling over the pics of this Pajero on your Facebook and Instagram profiles. Now I see the effort it took to make the vehicle what it is. Superb stuff!

Congratulations and wish you plenty of happy excursions!

P.S: The www.offroadjunkie.com sticker on the rear is darn neat! Looks brilliant

[swiftnfurious]

A very nice report! The problem with pre-owned vehicles (most of the time) is the initial set of niggles to deal with, about an unknown car. Sometimes, that creates such sour experience that you can't trust the car much. But once past that, it's a good experience and we slowly start building the trust, just like a new pet.

You have managed a good Pajero. What I loved among your mods is the bumper; gels so well with the car and provides a bit of an extra macho look to what it already holds.

Could you post a bit more about the "drive / handling / comfort" part of the vehicle please? If you can give some comparisons with other SUVs, that would be an icing on the cake.

[ashwin1224]

This is a wonderful thread!

My family owned a 2011 pajero sfx in the same color as yours(still with a close business associate). I would love to convert it into something like yours when my motorcycling era comes to a dawn

For anyone wondering, the pajero is a beast on broken roads. Sure it is not as refined or fast on smooth tarmac like a fortuner or an Endy, but you just dont have to slow down on broken roads. The car feels like its just gliding over it. Now, I dont know how much of its rally pedigree is carried over to the production version, but it definitely feels rally inside it, atleast over broken roads. As an example, my family has since moved on to a 2013 Mercedes GL350. There is a patch of road which we have to frequent due to work and it is completely dilapidated. In the merc the max you can take it without feeling scared that the air suspension will pop is about 60kmph. While in the pajero I often flew over that road at 80-90kmph. Yes, inside the merc its a 5 star hotel lobby, while inside the pajero its a brawl outside a roadside shack but the point is the Pajero is built to take all that and still come out unscathed. On the same road the fortuner feels just too bumpy and unnerving at anything over 60kmph.

[shibujp]

Great makeover and very functional modifications. Makes me want to a 4X4 of my own and go offroading!

The rims and the front bumper completely transform the look of the car. I just love steel wheels on SUVs. Do you guys primary use the CB radio during events or are there other uses as well?

Drive on,
Shibu.

[Tejas@perioimpl]

Originally Posted by swiftnfurious

Could you post a bit more about the "drive / handling / comfort" part of the vehicle please? If you can give some comparisons with other SUVs, that would be an icing on the cake.

Thanks.

Honestly, the Pajero is a love it or hate it vehicle.

In city traffic she is a pain due to poor gearing, especially from 2nd to 3rd. Needs constant changing. But as a tourer she's great.

I'm past that stage where speed thrills. Cruising at 100 is good for me and she does it without breaking a sweat. Plus one has to understand that to stop a 2 ton vehicle from three digit speeds is not easy. As the mods increase and the roof rack, etc get fitted, the GVW increases and so will stopping distance.

Rough road comfort and behaviour there is no comparison to other ladder on frame SUVs in this price bracket. The LCs and Patrols are a different league altogether.

Originally Posted by amoghchaphalkar

Have been drooling over the pics of this Pajero on your Facebook and Instagram profiles. Now I see the effort it took to make the vehicle what it is. Superb stuff!

Congratulations and wish you plenty of happy excursions!

P.S: The www.offroadjunkie.com sticker on the rear is darn neat! Looks brilliant

Thank you

Originally Posted by ashwin1224

This is a wonderful thread!

My family owned a 2011 pajero sfx in the same color as yours(still with a close business associate). I would love to convert it into something like yours when my motorcycling era comes to a dawn

Originally Posted by shibujp

Do you guys primary use the CB radio during events or are there other uses as well?

Just for events and drives currently.


Back to my modifications...

I had superb KC Hilites 130W driving lights mounted on my Jeep.



However, these were rarely used as i didn't do much night driving in the jeep. Thus, decided to remove them and fit them on the Pajero. Would have loved to have the LightForce but didn't want to spend so much. Not that these KC's are cheap.

So took them off, cleaned them with toothpaste and they were as good as new:



Installed them on the Pajero. The bumper had holes pre drilled. The wiring still needs to be done. Have ordered rocker switches from aliexpress and a panel. Will wait till it arrives to connect it all.

[Tejas@perioimpl]

Flippy Key.

The Pajero comes with a regular type of key:



The small key is for the spare tyre cover lock. After the tyre upsize, the cover doesn't fit.

I've always wanted a nice floppy key for the Pajero but some how the thought of spending a lot of money on the key put me off. Finally last Sunday, decided to splurge.

Went to a guy close by named Ashar Key Hub

http://www.asharkeyhub.com/

He's also got good reviews on teambhp in the flippy keys thread:

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/modifi...py-keys-2.html

He is a bit expensive but quality of the keys are superb.

His shop is at Dadar Kabutarkhana: one of the most congested areas of central Mumbai.

I had called ahead and he first asked me to Whatsapp the current key fob to him so he could see if it could be done. He replied yes, it's possible and quoted his price.

At Rs. 3500 it's expensive but i decided to get it done since it's always on my head. In retrospect, the quality of the key is superb and worth the splurge.

Told him i'll be reaching in half an hour and he somehow managed to clear a parking spot for me in between hawkers and what not.

His shop is extremely small and he shares the space with his father who sells ready-made small home temples.

I reached his shop. He first showed me the flippy key shell and said he will first try and mate it with the car's existing system. If it works and i'm satisfied, only then will he cut the key and i'll have to pay.

The Pajero's Nippin system according to him is a bit archaic.

It's a single button for the Lock and Unlock.

The key that he had has separate buttons for lock, unlock and boot release.

He said he'll try to program the key to separate buttons but is skeptical.

He tried to program it:

Unfortunately it doesn't happen and the lock button works for lock and unlock and the boot release and unlock button are useless. He asks me what do i want to do. Since i've already made up my mind that i want a flippy key, i tell him to go ahead and cut the key:

The original keys are untouched and you land up with a full spare set.

The Pajero doesn't have an immobiliser chip so there is no transplant required.

Here's the comparo:



I needed to now somehow blank out the boot release and unlock buttons otherwise at all vallets i would have to instruct them to use the lock button for both.

First i tried using acetone (wife's nail polish remover) to remove the unlock sign from the button.

DISASTER:

The rubber coating came off and the key turned greyish!

Palpitations!

Thought i'd spray paint it black and went down to my garage for the spray can.

In the garage i found a small strip of matt black wrap (i had wrapped my chrome merc grill matt black).

Tried using that strip and the results were superb!



Went ahead and stickered both buttons.

Now lets see how long it lasts.

I'm extremely pleased with the end result though!





I'll get a nice carbon fibre replica piece of wrap for when this need replacing.

The rear of the key has an ugly KEYDIY dome sticker.



Quickly ordered a set of mitsubishi emblems from aliexpress for Rs. 250~ for the key. Exact size dome sticker - 14mm.

Now to wait for a month till it arrives.

[Tejas@perioimpl]

So till date, over a period of nearly 21 months, this is the journey of the vehicle (external visible mods):













Now working on the rock sliders design for the vehicle, snorkel to be fit anytime this week (hopefully) and then roof rack is on the cards.

Next, i'll be detailing all the small internal stuff and list of camping equipment, etc.

[SubramoniamAB]

Superb thread and very well detailed. I wish I could do all these mods in my THAR to be an overland vehicle.

Appreciate any help in this

[cool_dube]

Awesome thread, Tejas! Thanks for sharing the meticulously put down details. Pajero has been one of my dream cars for as long as I can remember - some factors that have deterred me from owning one till date are issues with availability of spares and maintenance costs, not to mention the wafer-thin dealer network and lackluster attitude of Mitsubishi motors towards the Indian market. But then, maybe one day...

Anyways, nice to see a purpose-built vehicle taking form, built off of a solid platform. All the very best!!