cameron110

We are running the latter, which is the finest 300w 50 in. light bar that $45 will get you off craigslist in LA. We considered something nice, it would have been smaller and lower draw for similar or better lumens but this race is a points race run at reasonable speeds and if we stay on track we won't be doing much night driving.

There is a huge amount of info out there about the options. This is a video we found useful when weighing our options that can be watched on mute at 2x speed to get a good visual of the light output differences.

https://bit.ly/2RuptW8

That link will re-direct to youtube. I couldn't figure out how to post the youtube url without the forum just embedding the video which I did not want to do


I've installed baja designs and rigid industries stuff on motorcycles ad both are awesome. Baja Designs is the best there is if you ask me. The other top shelf brand that I don't have personal experience with but would look at closely if I wanted something tidy for a Cayenne would be the Putco Luminix line

cameron110

One of the things we have spend a bunch of time on that won't show much in photos is navigation planning. If we want to be competitive we'll need a variety of equipment. We've decided on the following to get a good range of data with the hardware we already had.

Dash mounted:
Garmin Zumo 550 loaded with Open Street Maps data set and the Waypoints and POIs provided by the race organizers

Dash mounted and hand held by front passenger:
iPad mini with Gia app for navigation and Garmin Earthmate App to interface with the Garmin InReach Explorer+ mounted elsewhere

Rear passenger hand held:
Lenovo Thinkpad, touchscreen and stylus capable hybrid laptop/tablet loaded with the full satellite image set for the Baja peninsula.

Rearmost right window:
Garmin InReach Explorer+ this will upload our location every couple minutes to a website for family and friends, send and receives SMS via satellite. SOS function that will initiate rescue and evac (a resource necessary for domestic tranquility)


Sorry about the ADVrider salute, this pic was taken for a buddy. We popped out the rear tweeters to get a wiring access hole so that we can run un-switched power from the back of the rear cargo area 12v sockets in a way that can't get hung up or snagged as we are loading or unloading in a fatigue blurred rush.

Rearmost left window:
The GPS data logger from the race organizers. Each night in the bivouac we'll park near the organizers rig briefly and our days data will be transferred via wifi for scoring.

nodoors

You guys are doing it right. Should have guessed you are also an advrider! Great choices all the way around. Make sure to periodically take a good look at the collar around the top of the airsprings. Most of the bad failures we see are when those crack and then it pops the bag.

J'sWorld

I just realized you have an "S" with air suspension. How rare is that- I have NEVER seen that combo before.

tats

My previous S had air - not uncommon in Australia

J'sWorld

Heavy walled mild steel turbo manifolds are everywhere in Australia as well. Everyone here wants to use 304 SS which is probably the worst choice of stainless from a metalurgy standpoint. Maybe ya'll are onto something

RS-America

-
Tom, we looked for aux lighting for 'Otis' and decided against light bars. Simple reason is that the ~1/4 inch LED does not project far and are very easy to overdrive.
Went with Cyclops whose primary market is for motorcycles, industrial, and marine. They include excellent optics to project and filters to shape the pattern.
VisionX also has very good lighting options.
Let us know if you would like to see ours & especially if you would like to take a local day trip or something longer.

cameron110

Once we had the rack fully built and the full size tires it was time for a bit more field testing. My brother from LA needed one more flight for the year to make the next status level with his work travel so he popped up for the weeked. A friend from work had just taken delivery of a new to him 2014 Ford Raptor and had literally never driven off road. That was all the excuses I needed to head back out to Prairie City OHV park. This time it was a bit wet in places.








I think that is the first pic in this thread that I've been in. You've seen Jake and my brother Marshall.

The new raptor owner had also never really been taught to drive in the snow so he had no idea what I meant the first time he started to slide and I tried to tell him to steer into slide and keep on the throttle just enough to keep it loose. so we took that as an excuse to play a bit, purely for learning purposes of course. Never mind the ear to ear grins...

In the following videos the black Raptor is my friend's.

https://api.smugmug.com/services/emb...lbumKey=QHSMjk

https://api.smugmug.com/services/emb...lbumKey=QHSMjk


The white one is some random guy who was out there driving it like he stole it. He chucked it into a slide one time and caught a tire track hard enough to come up about 30 degrees on two wheels. I also saw him jump it a few times and charge through the water crossing with WAY too big a bow wave. I can attest that our Cayenne can hold it's own with a raptor being flogged on the smoother speed course, banked corners and all, I was caning it pretty hard and the cayenne took it all in stride. Importantly the rack held up well.

This video shows off the traction control well. This is without the center dif lock and not in low range, just normal automatic street mode for the transmission. The suspension is in the highest setting to help with the breakover clearance. My brother is at the wheel, a nice steady foot on the throttle and some confidence in the traction control is all it took.

https://api.smugmug.com/services/emb...lbumKey=QHSMjk

Petza914

I'm loving this thread. It's cool to see how the traction control just figures it out if given enough time. Did you run the same hill with the Diff locked to see the difference?

cameron110

Yup, we tried it both up and down in all the modes. Dif locked and low range made the decent much less scary. It did it just fine without but you had to resist the urge to jump on the brakes when you came diving off the crest. In low range manual with dif locked you could just put it in M1 point it down the hill and it took care of the rest.

cameron110

I also failed to note that the sliding was all with PSM off. With it on once the slide started the computer just chopped the power until it had traction which in that mud was way way down.

cameron110

After several hours of washing mud out from under the truck (it was still worth it) and realizing all off-road cars should have double door seals it's time time do something about a skid plate.







A bit of Project Binky style CAD (cardboard aided design) to get things started and then on to the metal






Check out all that mud still up in there, super sticky with a bunch of clay.

Once it was cut and the mounting tabs folded it was time to sort out some bracing. We are opting for thinner 1/16" plate and strategic bracing rather than a big thick heavy 1/8' plate.







My family and I recently moved back from a year in Malawi and almost all my tools are still on the east coast. I've been working with mostly borrowed tools from friends and neighbors. That cordless nibbler is definitely on my christmas list, what and awesome tool. However, I had to make do on the welding with a flux core wire mig machine running on pretty dirty 110v (1940's rental house wiring, screw in fuses and all). Suffice it to say I miss my Sycrowave 200amp tig machine and I won't be showing off these welds. They are plenty sturdy but not pretty.

cameron110

Here are a couple more little projects I knocked out in prep.

I wanted to be able to use the OEM radius cone washer from the lug bolts on longer bolts for the rear tire mount but they are captive on the lug bolts.



a bit of surgical drilling on the broach points and they slipped off with a couple gentle taps.



Next up were some flood lights for each corner of the rack to be used for slow offroading at night or as work lights to set up camp.



We want to be able to switch each corner light on and off individually so I picked up these waterproof push button switches to mount on the rack near each light which we'll be able to reach out the windows.





Just like the light bar this set of lights is getting a weatherpac connector so we can remove the rack with the lights still mounted to the rack without having to mess with the wiring.





The ones on the rear of the truck are mounted so that the can be turned to face either the side or be rear facing. We plan to keep them rear facing when we are moving so that if we end up in thick dust where we are worried about being hit by another car we can turn just that back set on.

cameron110

Here is the dual USB charger which has a built in volt meter that will power the Garmin InReach



The built in volt meter will be handy since we are required to keep the race provided data logger running 24/7

Lastly I pulled the center console apart a bit and uninstalled the cup holder so we can reach down and unplug the airbag control module when we want.

Surfndav

I'm enjoying this thread. I owned a 2003 Cayenne S bought in 2004 with 6500 miles, sold in 2008 with 60,000 miles. I had zero mechanical issues with that car. I took it off road a few times just to see it's capability, it seemed to have a lot of potentials, it impressed me and I loved that car. My wife now dailies a 2012 Cayenne S, it's an even better car. Thanks for sharing.