Alterations concerning the Pathfinder
To make the Pathfinder Africa proof, we have altered the following:
- Heavy Duty suspension, bash plate and mud tires
- Except three seats all the interior parts removed
- Aluminium box system to organise our stuff
- Custom made roof rack for extra storage space
- Stickers on the exterior
- To prepare ourselves we followed an Off road training
Because we were heavily packed and the roads would be bad, we have made a few alterations to the suspension of the car, all supervised by Nissan. In the workshop of mr. Tijsterman they fitted four Old Man Emu shock absorbers and heavier springs for the suspension on the Pathfinder. This gave us the confidence nothing would break down, especially because the Pathfinder already had been on a trip to Singapore before. An extra advantage was an improved ground clearance with about 10 centimetres. Unfortunately was this almost all compensated by our high weight.
Mr. Tijsterman – being a Dakar veteran himself – also fitted the car with five brand new rough terrain tires, to minimise the risk of getting stuck in the mud. A bash plate was already mounted before its trip to Singapore. We also favoured an extra fuel tank, but because of a lack of time this was cancelled. Besides the car already had an action radius of more than 700 kilometres, which should be enough.
Because we would use the car as our house, we have removed everything we didn’t need, like three chairs and the interior in the back, to save space and weight. With mostly wooden panels and aluminium profiles a system was made which could carry six 90 litres aluminium boxes (40 x 40 x 80 cm). The space behind the driver could be used to put six spare tires for the motors and our other equipment. Everything could be tied down to reduce vibrations and sounds.
On the roof we made a custom-made roof rack from wooden panels, fortified with aluminium profiles on the edges. Fixed to the roof rails with six thick bolts on each side this created a durable construction, with the benefit of a lower centre of gravity, because the rack was directly fixed onto the roof. On this roof rack, an additional four aluminium boxes of 90 litres could be placed, a shovel, sand plates and three chairs. On top of the roof rack we fitted six solar panels to fulfil our need for electricity.
To finalise the car and give our sponsors the exposure they want, Mafa
Design in Delft, fitted the entire exterior with stickers. Because
of the delay with the shipping of the car we only had one day for the
stickers to be put on, which resulted in a somewhat altered design, with
less stickers on the back, but we were very pleased with the result.
The original design
Besides these alterations we fitted the Pathfinder with the following equipment.
- 3 towing cables, three big harps and an extra pulling ring on the front
- Airjack, a jack which works on exhaust gasses
- Lightforce torches
- 80 Ah gel battery with a 1000 W / 220 V transformer
- 3 twenty litres jerry cans for extra fuel for the motor bikes
- Electrical air pump to inflate the tires
- Sand plates and shovel
- Intercom to communicate with the motor bikes
- Ceramic water purifier
To prepare ourselves for rough terrain, Erik Noort has given us a one day off road training on the Maasvlakte near Rotterdam. This resulted in the following images.
Finally we would like to thank Erik van Oeveren for the use of his facilities and his two week full time dedication to get everything ready on time. We could not have done it without him.