The primary reason i bought a gypsy was to use it on my frequent trips to the wild outdoors. but now it has become more of a long distance tourer: often standing in as a replacement for my trusted bullet when wanderlust takes over. On some long tours I have actually started sleeping inside the gypsy, parking beside a waterhole deep inside the forest and curling up inside a sleeping bag and saving a lot of money in the process!
Since I am not growing any younger and some creature comforts are shifting into the "necessary" box from the "optional" box, a modification build has been long overdue. And now, when I am between product cycles and have the permission of my gora-kutta partners to take a month off, is certainly a good time to implement this long delayed build!
The build seeks to add some essential features that would turn this otherwise spartan "light 4WD" into a truck camper- a long haul tourer with some creature comforts that can double up as an overnight camper when required with a full size bed suitable for 2 adults. It should also have reasonable ICE for those long trips: both in the day during the drive and at night during/after the night-cap and before the zzzzz and the rrrrr.....!
I would want to avoid anything "stand-outish" - because I intend to use this car as atleast my gym-car if not my city car and wouldnt want anything to stand out to say: this is a frilly boy, look at me! So it should look as regular as any other gypsy from the outside.
Planned Checkpoints in Build
1)
Improved Front Seat comfort: The existing front seats are a beeatch on a long drive with pathetic comfort on a longer haul. Those Innova seats are a wonderful option, however that would preclude the option of access to the rear seats from the front doors. Hence an upgrade of the current seats seems like the only option.
Budget: ~2k.
2)
Electrical Mods: The biggest complaint i have had so far with the Gypsy is its precocious electricals. Pisses me off! But then the spaghetti of wires around the battery terminal is a reminder that I have been a little too careless during my accessory installs. Time for a cleanup! 2 new sealed/watertight fuseboxes, sourced from a Indica/Sumo: one inside the cabin mounted above the b-pillar for all the in-cabin accessories, and another beside the air-filter under the bonnet for all the "down-south" accesories like HL, Hella's, horns etc.
Budget: ~3k.
3)
Air-conditioner : Earlier I was one of those who believed that AC was something for sissies. but 3 hour drives to Baramati every weekend for 3 months has chastened me quite a bit!
Enough for moving an AC to the "must have" list!
Budget: ~30k.
4)
FW Hubs: with AC i am going to take a hit on the FE. But I am hoping fitting in the FWH would help balance things out. Plus it would perhaps get rid of that irritating hum that has been getting on my nerves! No matter WHAT the dealer says at delivery: you cannot get used to it!
Budget: ~2.5k.
5)
Rear "bed" seats: Front facing seats that fold down into a bed for 2 at night when camping out.
Budget: ~4k.
6)
vent Fans: The one negative about camping out in the Gypsy, is that it gets somewhat claustrophobic after some time: especially with 2 adults sleeping. Some amount of active as opposed to passive exhaust venting is required.
Budget: ~1k.
7)
Sound and thermal insulation: Effective damping for sound and thermal insulation both while driving and in camper mode.
Budget: ~2k.
8)
Tyres:. Replace the standard F78's even if they have just 24k kms on them.
Budget: ~22k.
9)
Rear CFLs: Should improve ride comfort.
Budget: ~10k.
10)
Carputer: An advanced carputer has potential in use within a camper especially with custom developed plugins for Centrafuse. However after some thought, this has slipped to last spot as far as build essentials go. Maybe this might come in as part of Phase II.
Budget: ~35k.
Over the next 5 weeks, i hope to finish off atleast 8 of the 10 items while I shuttle between Bangalore and Pune on work!
I will be posting updates on this thread as well as more informal updates on my personal blog
Here
Your suggestions/criticisms would be most helpful.
P.S: I would like to thank all those t-bhpians who have been helping me out with planning my build. Thankz you buddies!