August 6th, 2010 - Posted by Travis under News Archive
MX4 Vehicle Announced

The MX4 vehicle has been chosen, and its not what you'd think. Safari Pacific is building our own vehicle from the chassis on up. The idea behind the MX4 is to build a vehicle that utilizes readily available parts. Though the chassis and body will be completely custom, all the inner mechanical parts will be from earlier model vehicles. This will be a very, very long and challenging build. There is no particular trip the MX4 is being built for or any completion schedule. We will simply work on the new vehicle when we are between out various adventures.

Link: vehicles_mx4.php

April 9th, 2010 - Posted by Travis under Blog
Shock Repair

Not many updates lately. I'm still working out all the bugs with what I've modified so far. A few weeks ago during testing I ripped off a rear shock mount and broke a fox shock's remote reservoir line. I'm finding all the weak links one at a time. For the repair . . .

Link: vehicles_mx2.php?x=suspension&page=4

March 2nd, 2010 - Posted by Travis under Blog
Removing the Excess

After recently breaking a shock mount, which surmounted in tearing a shock's remote resevoir line, I decided I needed to have another go through of my gear and shead as much weight as possible. Last night I started with my cameras, tools and clothing bags. Its amazing how much one packs & never uses. Freed up at least 50 lbs. I was able to condense my camera gear, by dictching some unnessesary lenses and addons, to one small case for bodies and lenses and a small bag for batteries, chargers and the like. Tools were the biggest weight area as I had a full tool set loaded on board. After building the truck for over a year and a half now I know exactly what tools I'll need. With that in mind I loaded; full set of 3/8 metric and SAE deep sockes, a couple metric 12 point sockets, metric and SAE wrench sets, couple screw drivers, tire repair kit, spark plug socket, spark plug gap gauge, 3/8 extensions, 3/8 ratchet, cresent wrence, allens, chisle and small hammer. Sounds like quite a lot, yet still reduced my tool bag to 1/3 of what it originaly was. For clothing I removed some of my winter gear since I won't be traveling in too cold of climates. That leaves me with 3 days of clothing, plus one pants and pair of cold weather socks. Using different bags also helped pack the gear tigher which freed up some of the "fluff space." Now I'm off to the shop to have another go through.

February 26th, 2010 - Posted by Travis under Blog
Gear Packing

With gear weight being an issue for fuel range, getting unstuck and generally being a pain. I decided to have a go through with all of my gear to make sure there's nothing I don't need or something I've missed.

Link: vehicles_mx2.php?x=gearstorage&page=3

January 21st, 2010 - Posted by Travis under Blog
Kitchen - MX2

Onto the kitchen gear! I'll start with the most important piece of equipment. The stainless steel National Luna 40 liter fridge/freezer from Equipt Expedition Outfitters.

Link: vehicles_mx2.php?x=kitchen&page=2

December 10th, 2009 - Posted by Travis under Blog
Camper Power - MX2

Onto the camper power and lighting. First I start by unscrewing the interior light fixtures from the wall. With a meter I test the resistance of each wire so I know where each of the two pairs lead. On the rear light fixture I drill two holes, one for a switch and another for wires...

Link: vehicles_mx2.php?x=electrical&page=3

November 30th, 2009 - Posted by Travis under Blog
Beginning Electrical - MX2

Usually on electrical portions of my projects I go a bit overboard. I'll be doing the same on this occasion...

Link: vehicles_mx2.php?x=electrical&page=2

October 26th, 2009 - Posted by Travis under Blog
Finally, a coat of paint - MX2

Then jumping into a tyvek suite I begin to paint. The paint I'm using is a white epoxy for durability.
With epoxy paint I was worried ...

Link: vehicles_mx2.php?x=cab&page=12

October 21st, 2009 - Posted by Travis under Blog
Body Filler - MX2

Finishing the body work on the MX2 before painting.

Link: vehicles_mx2.php?x=cab&page=10

September 9th, 2009 - Posted by Travis under Blog
Brush Guard - MX2

First things first. Adding a brush guard that will follow the existing contour. Starting with measuring the...

Link: vehicles_mx2.php?x=fbumper&page=2