Project Pajero
21 August 2009
 Three weeks is a long time in the dress up the Pajero Project. With Tony getting ever anxious about collecting his Pajero, I could tell from his daily calls to me, I had to really put some pressure on a few people to make sure it all came together. It seems Tony thought it would be nice to have his new 4WD for at least 2 weeks before he headed off on his hot lap. His departure date was scheduled for 26 August!
Anyway, we still needed, tyres, I had to get a UHF radio and most of the gear promised in the last update still had to be fitted.
Bridgestone had offered Overlander Magazine a set of tyres for testing, so after talking with the Editor, we managed to put the Bridgestone Dueller AT D694LT tyres on the Pajero. Timing being what it is, just getting the Pajero to the tyres or the tyres to the Pajero became an issue. I have to say a huge thanks once again to Artarmon Automotive who did a lot of the running around with the Paj! www.bridgestone.com.au
 GME came to the party with one of their brand new TX3100 UHF radios and super aerials, all I had to do was get over to Gladesville to pick it up, no problem, what were long lunch hours made for anyway?
We desperately needed a car fridge and the latest fridge on the market is the new ARB unit. So a call was made to them and they were able to loan us one of their fantastic looking new fridges. This unit is certainly going to get a work out in the hot Kimberley sun when Tony & Carol travel through there during October, it is already topping 37 degrees in Kununurra on our Kimberley tour and its only August. Anyway, we will be able to give you a full report on the ARB fridge as the Pajero makes its way around Australia. www.arb.com.au
 I then had the great pleasure of meeting Graham Jones and Jamie at Off Road Systems. These guys were providing one of their excellent storage systems for the rear of the Pajero. Graham also arranged an Ausguard cargo barrier. I delivered the Pajero out to ORS at Narellan at 8am on Friday morning and watched as the team , led by “Tabs” assembled the drawer system and fitted the cargo barrier.
During this visit I realised that the storage system in the rear of my ‘Cruiser was in fact an ORS unit, the original owner of my Cruiser, Ric Rothpletz, who sadly passed away only months  after setting up the Cruiser, had the drawer system installed by ORS way back in 2002. As you know I have now driven the Cruiser all over Australia over some of the worst roads imaginable and I can attest to the quality of the ORS drawer system, despite carrying ALL of my very heavy recovery gear, the drawer system has never missed a beat.
ORS have off the shelf designs or you can have them custom build a storage system to suit your own personal needs, Make sure you contact them on www.offroadsystems.com.au
 The boys finished fitting the drawer system fridge slide and cargo barrier by 12.30pm, so I set off to Rhino Rack to pick up some more of their excellent goodies. Tony wanted a gas holder for the Rhino Roof Rack and whilst there I decided that one of their roof bags would be a good idea also. The quality of these roof bags is excellent and they come in half and full size, we selected the half size as the roof rack was already carrying an extra spare Bridgestone tyre, the fantastic OZTENT, a couple of Jerry Can holders and the one item that I think Tony will grow to love, the Foxwing awning.
 Then I shot over to Artarmon Automotive, I felt sorry for Eddy, he had the flu all week and had been working flat out on the wiring on the second battery, the extra 12 volt outlets, an extra cargo light and the fitting of the tow bar, UHF radio, sound system, bull bar, driving lights and a myriad other little items. We had 3 hours to go, and Eddy and Nathan worked all Friday afternoon to finalise the power outlets for the fridge, one under the bonnet for camp lighting and the inverter to help keep Satellite phones, cameras and mobile phones charged up.
 Saturday 15 August dawned and finally the Pajero was sitting in my driveway, Tony was on a plane flying down from Coffs and all I had to do was show him how everything worked and apply a few sponsor stickers.
I washed the Pajero so it looked its best and during this I noticed what an incredible job Andrew from OZICOZI (now known as Surface Tech) had done with the paint protection material. He had expertly applied the protection to every panel except the roof and the rear door. It made the Pajero literally gleam! The Pajero looked a million dollars, I had to remind myself we had purchased it for just $10,500! No one should own a 4WD unless it has had the  surface Tech treatment, honestly, not only does it protect the paint work from stone chips and scratches from overhanging branches, but it makes the finish on the vehicle look a thousand times better. Contact Andrew on www.surfacetech.com.au or Ph 02 8084 6879 or 0425 299 977 they are located at 3/2 Waltham St, Artarmon.
Tony arrived at 9am and he normally doesn’t show a lot of emotion but I could see a slight smile on his dial as he walked up to the Pajero. We spent the rest of the day going over all of the gear, unpacking the recovery gear supplied by Bushranger including their Max air compressor, plugga tyre repair kit and winch. This fitted neatly into the two drawers of the ORS drawer system. www.bushranger.com.au
 The ARB fridge was working perfectly, keeping everything at a cool 2 degrees. Then I convinced Tony to have a go at erecting the Foxwing awning. It did look a little ungainly hanging off the side of the Rhino Roof Rack and I could sense that Tony was thinking more about the aesthetics and wind drag than the benefits of having instant shade on a hot sunny day. Saturday 15 August was thankfully a warm sunny day in Sydney and in a matter of seconds Tony had swung the arms out and around to the back of the Pajero and secured the Foxwing to the Rhino Rack. Instant shade, he did it again and again and you could see his disbelief in how easy it was to operate. Wayne and Jenny then dropped in and we all stood in the cool shade provided by the Foxwing and marvelled at its excellent design, I could see  Jenny working out how to fit a Foxwing to their Troopie. For just $990 this awning has to be one of the best on the market. Tony was sold, he loved his Foxwing. www.rhinorack.com.au
I said, “Wait, there’s more, lets go put the OZTENT up in the back yard”. Now we have all seen the OZTENT’s being displayed at the various 4WD shows. Well I can attest to the fact that they do go up in 30 seconds, Tony had the RV3 fully assembled in a matter of seconds, he was pretty happy with it too. And it fitted back in its carry bag! www.oztent.com.au
Whilst driving the Pajero home on Friday night I had a short opportunity to use the Lightforce driving lights, the units supplied were the Striker 170 range with 350,000 candle power with 100w exnophot bulbs. This made for a very white light that illuminated the road ahead like daylight. I’ve used Lightforce lights for many years now and never had one fail, this is definitely the best value for money driving light on the market! www.lightforce.net.au
 Whilst we had the Pajero still nice and clean and on a hard surface (read my drive way) we slipped under the old girl to have a look at the Tough Dog Suspension from 4Way Suspension. The Pajero was now riding on 4 Tough Dog foam celled shockies, stiffer rear coil springs and a 4Way suspension torsion bar. This had given the Pajero an aggressive stance and plenty of ground clearance, it had even sharpened up its ride and steering. Polyair Springs had added a set of its air bags to the rear coils and Eddy did a great job of feeding the air lines to the rear bumper where the two valves were located for easy inflation. Now Tony can adjust the height of the Pajero depending on whether he has the caravan on the back or not. www.4waysuspension.com.au and www.polyair.com.au
 Anyway, back to the Pajero, after getting everything into it and onto it and acquainting Tony with all the goodies, it was time to look at doing the sponsor sticker thing! I guess it was a little hard to think that we were now going to cover up that beautiful paint job and Surface Tech treatment with a bunch of stickers, but people don’t just give their gear away, they want something in return. Beside the numerous stories on Project Pajero in Overlander Magazine (BTW the first story is now appearing in the October issue) we were also obliged to sticker up the Paj!
 We had numerous small window stickers from ORS, Bushranger, Surface Tech, Polyair, GME, GPSOZ and Lightforce. Bridgestone wanted some real bang for their buck with a few huge stickers, in the end we couldn’t fit them all, they were just too big and Artarmon Auto had some stickers specially made and given the many hours that Eddy, Chris & Nathan had put into the vehicle I felt obliged to use a few of them. But the ones we liked the most were the Tough Dog suspension stickers, a series of dog’s paws, which we had walking up the flanks of the Pajero certainly caught the eye.
I had a spare wheel cover advertising Great Divide Tours for my efforts in pulling the whole project together not to mention the itinerary I had written for Tony and Carol plus the Satellite phone and camp light supplied out of my shop.
 But we needed to tell people why this immaculate Pajero was dressed up, we needed to ensure that the general public seeing the Pajero on its hot lap around OZ would click on www.4wd.net.au and read all about it, and watch it via the SPOT tracking device. What I needed was a custom sticker that said all this! Easy, John Cole from Appro Signs does all my car signage for me, all I had to do was get him to knock up a couple of custom stickers. Only problem was, John was on a trail bike in the Watagans at the time, it was after all Saturday. BUT, John got my message that I needed his help and on returning from dirt biking through the lantana at 5.30pm on Saturday, he called me and said “come on up”. Fortunately John lives just up the road and we were there in minutes. In a little less than an hour John designed a fantastic sticker (see the photos) which told the story and pointed everyone to www.4wd.net.au. Tony looked on in bewilderment, it was after all his Pajero I had just taken over! Many thanks to Appro Signs 02 9970 5535
So, Sunday 16 August dawned and Tony was finally driving out of my driveway to take his Pajero home to Coffs Harbour where he had just 10 days to finishing packing it, make a few more adjustments to suit his caravan and then head off for 3 months on the Hot Lap of OZ.
Don’t forget you can follow his adventure with live updates via the SPOT Tracking device, just go to www.4wd.net.au and click on Project Pajero for the link to where he is right now! In fact here is the link
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