NAS LR3 build with an overseas twist
- Thread starter Ray_G
- Start date
Ray_G
Explorer
Registration renewal
For the sake of posterity and since this thread describes the build of the truck overseas, figured it would be amusing to at least document the past week's fun and games. Registration over here is akin to the U.S., UK, etc-i.e. there is an inspection and then you pay the man and get your little decal. Since the truck was going to be here through the rest of the tour I was dreading the need to do this but couldn't escape it. In short the truck had to have the winch bumper off->stock bumper on, and anything else that would flag her, taken care of. The upside is labor is cheap, and it is nice to be able to go to my local shop manager and hand him the keys and say 'call me when this is done please' so the truck went in, where not only did they have to take off the bumper, but the hood blackout had to go (really?)
This eventually resulted in the key paperwork
Which then prompted the opportunity to return to a local shop for a new hood blackout.
For the sake of showing local flora and fauna, here's a couple of other shots of late of the sights around AD, these series trucks were near my garage-am thinking about trying to find the owner of the 88. A long heritage of Rovers here, but they are increasingly rare to see.
This is far more the norm:
The global reality, Dii's overheat...
For the sake of posterity and since this thread describes the build of the truck overseas, figured it would be amusing to at least document the past week's fun and games. Registration over here is akin to the U.S., UK, etc-i.e. there is an inspection and then you pay the man and get your little decal. Since the truck was going to be here through the rest of the tour I was dreading the need to do this but couldn't escape it. In short the truck had to have the winch bumper off->stock bumper on, and anything else that would flag her, taken care of. The upside is labor is cheap, and it is nice to be able to go to my local shop manager and hand him the keys and say 'call me when this is done please' so the truck went in, where not only did they have to take off the bumper, but the hood blackout had to go (really?)
This eventually resulted in the key paperwork
Which then prompted the opportunity to return to a local shop for a new hood blackout.
For the sake of showing local flora and fauna, here's a couple of other shots of late of the sights around AD, these series trucks were near my garage-am thinking about trying to find the owner of the 88. A long heritage of Rovers here, but they are increasingly rare to see.
This is far more the norm:
The global reality, Dii's overheat...
Ray_G
Explorer
OJ
Had to put this into the thread, Jerry (Jerdog53) pinged me a few weeks back and asked if that was us in OJ-since the mail moves slower I couldn't confirm but was pretty sure that the convo I'd had with Chris awhile back resulted in inclusion in the magazine. Mail call finally came and thus this, appropriate since Oman is on the menu for the very near term again.
Had to put this into the thread, Jerry (Jerdog53) pinged me a few weeks back and asked if that was us in OJ-since the mail moves slower I couldn't confirm but was pretty sure that the convo I'd had with Chris awhile back resulted in inclusion in the magazine. Mail call finally came and thus this, appropriate since Oman is on the menu for the very near term again.
Ray_G
Explorer
Oman cont'd
Back from doing the trip to/from Muscat, with the temps finally starting to be somewhat tolerable it included the opportunity to hit a nearby attraction called Wadi Shab Wadi Shab-Lonely Planet which was a fantastic hike and swim in some amazing terrain. It also got the gratifying commentary from the Brother-in-law who rode in the D3 and remarked on the comfort as well as utility of the platform given that we had cold drinks in the fridge and ample space for what little gear was needed.
Overall reflections:
-Already in a separate thread asking about the Traxide dual battery setup; essentially running the fridge for the past 5 days non-stop with some protracted sitting while I was doing the work portion of the trip + the high temps taxed the single battery enough that it is time to invest.
-The rear seat covers to complement the front Wet Okles...now on order, should have just done it when I ordered the fronts. The seat covers did really well, the rear seats need to be cleaned after the mud, and thus need like protection given the usage of the truck.
-Fridge is worth its weight in gold, but I think most who have one know that.
-Hundreds of miles driven now on coils and I asked for the impression from the most important judge, the wife. Her perspective is no substantive change to the ride, certainly not at the level of the often maligned commentary from the internet. It may well be a little stiffer and slighting bouncier but both of us felt like the airbag side wallowed so this is a somewhat welcome change. I do think it performs better loaded, i.e. two people with gear is good, 4 people and stuff is better, etc. This may be a facet of the HD kit, springs in particular.
Now for the pics.
Stopping on the way into Muscat coming down one of the mountain roads
A good overhead shot from that same overlook showing the frontrunner rack, hood blackout, etc. Some may note the LED light bar is gone. It was acting up, the wife hated it, and in giving in to her desires to remove it I also noticed wind noise has gone down so I don't see it going back on.
A quick pull off the highway and just a few meters off the shoulder gets you to glamour shots like this
Several of the pictures in the prelim post, and this one, were taken near Wadi Shab where we decided to go check the beach out pretty much by just pulling off the side road and going cross country (following previous tracks).
Pulling up to Wadi Shab...food truck in the distance!
Vehicle being used as intended
Omani overlanding rig; form following function for a car that may well do more offroading than most vehicles-i.e. this thing clearly works for a living.
Back from doing the trip to/from Muscat, with the temps finally starting to be somewhat tolerable it included the opportunity to hit a nearby attraction called Wadi Shab Wadi Shab-Lonely Planet which was a fantastic hike and swim in some amazing terrain. It also got the gratifying commentary from the Brother-in-law who rode in the D3 and remarked on the comfort as well as utility of the platform given that we had cold drinks in the fridge and ample space for what little gear was needed.
Overall reflections:
-Already in a separate thread asking about the Traxide dual battery setup; essentially running the fridge for the past 5 days non-stop with some protracted sitting while I was doing the work portion of the trip + the high temps taxed the single battery enough that it is time to invest.
-The rear seat covers to complement the front Wet Okles...now on order, should have just done it when I ordered the fronts. The seat covers did really well, the rear seats need to be cleaned after the mud, and thus need like protection given the usage of the truck.
-Fridge is worth its weight in gold, but I think most who have one know that.
-Hundreds of miles driven now on coils and I asked for the impression from the most important judge, the wife. Her perspective is no substantive change to the ride, certainly not at the level of the often maligned commentary from the internet. It may well be a little stiffer and slighting bouncier but both of us felt like the airbag side wallowed so this is a somewhat welcome change. I do think it performs better loaded, i.e. two people with gear is good, 4 people and stuff is better, etc. This may be a facet of the HD kit, springs in particular.
Now for the pics.
Stopping on the way into Muscat coming down one of the mountain roads
A good overhead shot from that same overlook showing the frontrunner rack, hood blackout, etc. Some may note the LED light bar is gone. It was acting up, the wife hated it, and in giving in to her desires to remove it I also noticed wind noise has gone down so I don't see it going back on.
A quick pull off the highway and just a few meters off the shoulder gets you to glamour shots like this
Several of the pictures in the prelim post, and this one, were taken near Wadi Shab where we decided to go check the beach out pretty much by just pulling off the side road and going cross country (following previous tracks).
Pulling up to Wadi Shab...food truck in the distance!
Vehicle being used as intended
Omani overlanding rig; form following function for a car that may well do more offroading than most vehicles-i.e. this thing clearly works for a living.
Ray_G
Explorer
Oman cont'd; Wadi Shab
To throw some pseudo travel blog in here, and to give some testimonial to just how fantastic Oman is, figured it was worth tossing in some pictures of the wadi itself.
At the parking lot you can pay for a quick boat ride across the water to where the trail head starts. You could probably swim it too (or wade it) but since it was part of the experience why not. You can also see just above the parking lot where the D3 is parked the small tower; Oman is very neat in the sense that all over the country there are historical defensive locations that have castles and the like, I could spend hours just checking out different fortifications but the wife would veto that in a heartbeat.
The wadi starts out wide, with lush plants all around as you trek deeper into it.
As it narrows you end up along a cliff that gets fairly narrow at times.
Eventually you reach a series of deep pools which meant ditching the packs and swimming, not without some jumping in from the rocks of course.
Eventually the swimming leads you to a keyhole that you can swim through to get to a cave.
Inside the cave there's a waterfall, thankfully with a rope to help haul you up-which in turn leads to some more jumping into the pools.
With ambient temps well above 100 during the hike, the swim was definitely refreshing and a lot of fun. Oman is truly an amazing place if you like the outdoors and this kind of stuff barely scratches the surface but its what I have pics of at the moment.
To throw some pseudo travel blog in here, and to give some testimonial to just how fantastic Oman is, figured it was worth tossing in some pictures of the wadi itself.
At the parking lot you can pay for a quick boat ride across the water to where the trail head starts. You could probably swim it too (or wade it) but since it was part of the experience why not. You can also see just above the parking lot where the D3 is parked the small tower; Oman is very neat in the sense that all over the country there are historical defensive locations that have castles and the like, I could spend hours just checking out different fortifications but the wife would veto that in a heartbeat.
The wadi starts out wide, with lush plants all around as you trek deeper into it.
As it narrows you end up along a cliff that gets fairly narrow at times.
Eventually you reach a series of deep pools which meant ditching the packs and swimming, not without some jumping in from the rocks of course.
Eventually the swimming leads you to a keyhole that you can swim through to get to a cave.
Inside the cave there's a waterfall, thankfully with a rope to help haul you up-which in turn leads to some more jumping into the pools.
With ambient temps well above 100 during the hike, the swim was definitely refreshing and a lot of fun. Oman is truly an amazing place if you like the outdoors and this kind of stuff barely scratches the surface but its what I have pics of at the moment.
Ray_G
Explorer
Oman cont'd; wrap up
Figured I'd finish up the Oman trip with a few more shots, mostly from Muscat or the drive back.
The Grand Hyatt is rather nice, and the valet's putting the LR3 up front was nice.
View from the room wasn't half bad
This was slowly deteriorating outside one of the hotel's bars but I can only imagine it led a hard life and at least now looks cool.
This mosque, in Nizwa, was rather stunning. The picture doesn't do it justice since the color of its construction and its smoothness almost makes it look like a sand castle-a massive sand castle.
Back to the UAE, its worth noting that crossing the border between the UAE and Oman is likely less troublesome than going between the U.S. and Canada. We decided to go through Hafeet vice Buraimi this time since it was a more direct driving route and both sides were quick, courteous, and professional.
Figured I'd finish up the Oman trip with a few more shots, mostly from Muscat or the drive back.
The Grand Hyatt is rather nice, and the valet's putting the LR3 up front was nice.
View from the room wasn't half bad
This was slowly deteriorating outside one of the hotel's bars but I can only imagine it led a hard life and at least now looks cool.
This mosque, in Nizwa, was rather stunning. The picture doesn't do it justice since the color of its construction and its smoothness almost makes it look like a sand castle-a massive sand castle.
Back to the UAE, its worth noting that crossing the border between the UAE and Oman is likely less troublesome than going between the U.S. and Canada. We decided to go through Hafeet vice Buraimi this time since it was a more direct driving route and both sides were quick, courteous, and professional.
Ray_G
Explorer
De-tango'd headlights and an eBay side vent
Catching up on some mods that were done before Oman but never captured here. Using the summer to mull projects large and small resulted in some minor aesthetic alterations being on the list of projects. Like the black badging none were critical to function to the vehicle but were fun, small, cheap projects to set the truck apart in its own way.
One of which was changing out the side vent on the truck for one off eBay with the cheesy but smile rendering 'DISCOVERY' I used it as a chance to test out the dark gray spray paint that would be used on the headlights as well as incorporate some satin black into the mesh as well as the lettering. Before and after:
Over labor day the wife was back in the U.S. presenting a paper so I was left to my own devices for a protracted period of downtime. It was still absurdly hot preventing too much from being done in the truck but I did have unfettered access to her hair dryer so I decided it was time to remove the big slab of orange from the LR3 headlights. Well documented over on D3.uk, the de-tango mod serves no real purpose beyond changing the looks of the headlights (unless you went full on and put in LED DRL's or something, which I didn't want to do). I didn't feel like using the oven method having done that a million years ago with a pair of 300ZX taillights, so I decided the hair dryer method would be optimal. Overall following this guide got it done: D3.uk de-tango thread
Tools of the trade
Progress, also illustrates that the massive orange piece is two pieces, a large hunk and a small reflector. The reflector is an NAS requirement (from what I heard) so I retained that.
Side by side. I opted to paint the bezels and such in dark gray with the intent of merging it with the truck's overall trend of Tonga/Black/Gray, in retrospect it may have been better to do it in black and eventually drift to an all green/black scheme but the gray is growing on me.
Initial shots from re-install
and a final shot from in the wild that actual triggered me to remember to circle back on this mod period. I don't mind the yellow hue from the indicator bulb, that + the reflector when meshed with the gray & green all seems to blend well together.
Eventually I may color match the grill Tonga and paint the headlight interior black, but in truth I'm in no rush to pull everything apart again-it was an interesting project and a great way to spend a Sat getting black tar all over the wife's hairdryer but isn't something I'll be doing as a hobby!
Catching up on some mods that were done before Oman but never captured here. Using the summer to mull projects large and small resulted in some minor aesthetic alterations being on the list of projects. Like the black badging none were critical to function to the vehicle but were fun, small, cheap projects to set the truck apart in its own way.
One of which was changing out the side vent on the truck for one off eBay with the cheesy but smile rendering 'DISCOVERY' I used it as a chance to test out the dark gray spray paint that would be used on the headlights as well as incorporate some satin black into the mesh as well as the lettering. Before and after:
Over labor day the wife was back in the U.S. presenting a paper so I was left to my own devices for a protracted period of downtime. It was still absurdly hot preventing too much from being done in the truck but I did have unfettered access to her hair dryer so I decided it was time to remove the big slab of orange from the LR3 headlights. Well documented over on D3.uk, the de-tango mod serves no real purpose beyond changing the looks of the headlights (unless you went full on and put in LED DRL's or something, which I didn't want to do). I didn't feel like using the oven method having done that a million years ago with a pair of 300ZX taillights, so I decided the hair dryer method would be optimal. Overall following this guide got it done: D3.uk de-tango thread
Tools of the trade
Progress, also illustrates that the massive orange piece is two pieces, a large hunk and a small reflector. The reflector is an NAS requirement (from what I heard) so I retained that.
Side by side. I opted to paint the bezels and such in dark gray with the intent of merging it with the truck's overall trend of Tonga/Black/Gray, in retrospect it may have been better to do it in black and eventually drift to an all green/black scheme but the gray is growing on me.
Initial shots from re-install
and a final shot from in the wild that actual triggered me to remember to circle back on this mod period. I don't mind the yellow hue from the indicator bulb, that + the reflector when meshed with the gray & green all seems to blend well together.
Eventually I may color match the grill Tonga and paint the headlight interior black, but in truth I'm in no rush to pull everything apart again-it was an interesting project and a great way to spend a Sat getting black tar all over the wife's hairdryer but isn't something I'll be doing as a hobby!
UK4X4
Expedition Leader
That landrover is outside the Safari bar !
nice upstairs terrace with seafood and BBQ meat.
We spent 2 years in Oman 2008-2009, we 'd go back tommorow given the chance, just for the desert camping and enduro riding in the dunes.
Just off the main road to Muscat on your way from Dubai theres a super little area to explore behind Sawadi, the PDO 4x4 club does training here and at the weekends the smelly bikers take over dodging camels cliffs and drop offs ...
Might make a night camping stop on your way.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGI82-eQKpw
Wadis.....always check the weather reports ! they can become full on tsumais of water on the wrong days !
nice upstairs terrace with seafood and BBQ meat.
We spent 2 years in Oman 2008-2009, we 'd go back tommorow given the chance, just for the desert camping and enduro riding in the dunes.
Just off the main road to Muscat on your way from Dubai theres a super little area to explore behind Sawadi, the PDO 4x4 club does training here and at the weekends the smelly bikers take over dodging camels cliffs and drop offs ...
Might make a night camping stop on your way.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGI82-eQKpw
Wadis.....always check the weather reports ! they can become full on tsumais of water on the wrong days !
Ray_G
Explorer
I enjoyed a Guinness at the Safari Bar! Sadly JBB's was closed the night we had a chance to eat, and its still a bit warm for the rooftop steakhouse but that's ok-we will be back since we've got family teaching over in Muscat right now. I may have to check that campsite out!
The weather report is serious, the weekend before our trip a couple of people died in floods-including one that a colleague watched get swept out to sea in Muttrah at the souq!
r-
Ray
Ray_G
Explorer
LED hazard/indicator fun
Many thanks to all chiming in on the thread, appreciate everyone's comments here, via pm, email and in some of the other threads. ExpO is definitely a huge resource for making this truck progress.
A couple more updates to round out as other things are in motion looking toward the fall. I confess I am a sucker for LEDs and strobes. I don't know why, perhaps it is some latent desire to drive a fire truck, police car, etc but they just make me happy. While wandering around the glory known as Dragon Mart in Dubai you can find a lot of shops selling (cheap) Chinese LEDs ranging from bars to individual bulbs. Quality is intermittent of course but I was drawn to some small strip LEDs that flash away in windows with the desire to increase the amount of rearward light for turn signals/hazards-not necessarily because its critical really but because they were small and I figured I could discreetly mount them and wire them so that they complemented the existing indicator lights in the turn signals. Here's a picture of what I picked up after bargaining with the guy for a bit at a fairly cheap price:
I cut down the pictured L brackets, painted them, and tied each LED into its respective amber indicator on the taillight, the three SAE connectors pictured in my hanging mess of wires connect to either the LED strips or in the case of the middle one, to the upper hatch LEDs described earlier in the thread. It looks messy in this picture but tucks away nicely and can be disconnected quickly if I want to pull the panel for something.
Interior shot of what they look like installed, there is a slight bit of refraction from the window but it is not distracting given that it only comes on during either turn signals or hazards being on. I may shroud them with some plastic at some point to give it a more OE appearance but that's down on the list in terms of projects at the moment.
The view from outside. The rear window's tint does make them not quite as bright as the more powerful bulbs in the taillights but all told the LEDs show up well (better than this poorly executed picture indicates) and the high mount does afford some more attention gathering from folks behind the truck, a plus given the penchant to tailgate over here and the like.
All told a simple and perhaps not crucial project but for a little extra piece of mind when pulled off the side of a highway at night with the hazards on it was worth the effort given the insignificant cost associated. I'll probably do a similar thing with my D1 back in the U.S. too.
Many thanks to all chiming in on the thread, appreciate everyone's comments here, via pm, email and in some of the other threads. ExpO is definitely a huge resource for making this truck progress.
A couple more updates to round out as other things are in motion looking toward the fall. I confess I am a sucker for LEDs and strobes. I don't know why, perhaps it is some latent desire to drive a fire truck, police car, etc but they just make me happy. While wandering around the glory known as Dragon Mart in Dubai you can find a lot of shops selling (cheap) Chinese LEDs ranging from bars to individual bulbs. Quality is intermittent of course but I was drawn to some small strip LEDs that flash away in windows with the desire to increase the amount of rearward light for turn signals/hazards-not necessarily because its critical really but because they were small and I figured I could discreetly mount them and wire them so that they complemented the existing indicator lights in the turn signals. Here's a picture of what I picked up after bargaining with the guy for a bit at a fairly cheap price:
I cut down the pictured L brackets, painted them, and tied each LED into its respective amber indicator on the taillight, the three SAE connectors pictured in my hanging mess of wires connect to either the LED strips or in the case of the middle one, to the upper hatch LEDs described earlier in the thread. It looks messy in this picture but tucks away nicely and can be disconnected quickly if I want to pull the panel for something.
Interior shot of what they look like installed, there is a slight bit of refraction from the window but it is not distracting given that it only comes on during either turn signals or hazards being on. I may shroud them with some plastic at some point to give it a more OE appearance but that's down on the list in terms of projects at the moment.
The view from outside. The rear window's tint does make them not quite as bright as the more powerful bulbs in the taillights but all told the LEDs show up well (better than this poorly executed picture indicates) and the high mount does afford some more attention gathering from folks behind the truck, a plus given the penchant to tailgate over here and the like.
All told a simple and perhaps not crucial project but for a little extra piece of mind when pulled off the side of a highway at night with the hazards on it was worth the effort given the insignificant cost associated. I'll probably do a similar thing with my D1 back in the U.S. too.