Looks like I might be moving to Oahu soon and wanted to see if you guys still have a club going or not.

Xterra Club Hawaii membership as a whole has been suffering from a bad case of Polynesian Paralysis. Due to my own serious health problems, I have not been able or willing to devote the energy required to kick start the club. I would be willing to hand over the presidential reins to to another more capable and enthusiastic individual.

Bob Hooper (Lopaka)
President, XTCHI

Thanks for the reply, Bob.

Randall (xterrian) had told me to get a hold of you and see what was going on with the club. Like I said before, I'll be moving over there in about a month and would love to help jumpstart something again. Coming from Southern California and SCCX, I'd love to find some people to wheel/get together with on occasion. The only problem is I need to learn my way around the island first a little and get settled in.

Sorry to hear about your health situation - I hope you're doing better. Maybe we can meet up for a beer or something when I get over there. My new office is in the highrise at 1001 Bishop. I see you're in Chinatown, so I know you're close!

- Christian

I am on one the island called Kauai. I would pay the 100 bucks to ship my truck to Oahu and run the trails with you guys. Just fill me in about a month or two in advance so I can take some time off fromt he military.

I hear the islands are setting up a drive-aboard ferry service sometime in the coming year. It should make it easier and cheaper for residents to bounce around a bit. Stay in touch and we'll get some runs going after I get settled in.

Hey Christian, i just moved back to Jersey from Oahu. Sorry to say there have been no Xterra activities there for over a year. That's because 99% of the X's out there are 4x2. It's a shame because it seems 1 out of every 5 cars you see are an Xterra. There is just not enough interest nor enough land to go off roading. Kaiena Point, which is illegal to offroad on, is often used by the locals, but no serious 4x4'ing there. It's always fun to rip across the pineapple fields, but again that is illegal and if you get caught it will be hefty fine. You can get a permit for Peacock Flats, i've never been but i hear it gets real crowded.

It's actually kinda funny, i've lived across the country and never have I seen so many trucks set up for serious 4x4'ing with no place to go. Seems every truck is jacked up at least a foot sitting on top of swampers. Even all the beaches are illegal to drive up on. On the positive side, you'll have tons of fun in hawaii. Hope that helps some....

Thanks for the heads up on the wheeling scene over there. I know I don't have nearly as much to look forward to over there trail-wise as I've had here in Southern California, but maybe I'll find a spot or two. I surf too, so I guess it'll be a tradeoff for bigger and better waves. I had a good laugh too at all the lifted and heavily modded trucks I saw over there recently. I guess the 4 Wheel Parts store in Honolulu stays pretty busy!

Guys,

I just bought my X earlier this month and am trying to figure out where to start my mods. I'd really like to see some of the stuff that you guys have done and maybe get some suggestions.

Tires (like BFG ATs) and Bilstein shocks are a really good place to start. I'll be on Oahu in a couple of weeks (moving right now). We'll talk more when I get over there.

Right now I have an airraid intake(go with another brand preferably volant), 40 series flowmaster, 5% window tint(illegal in hawaii-any percentage in the back-but 35 or higher in the front), was going with the xterra neoprene seat covers but are going with the realtree neoprene from cabelas. Window visors and tires are next for me.

How are the Flowmasters? I've heard mixed reviews about them, but never specifics. I was leaning towards getting a Magnaflow. I should be getting my Volant intake pretty soon.

Tires (like BFG ATs) and Bilstein shocks are a really good place to start. I'll be on Oahu in a couple of weeks (moving right now). We'll talk more when I get over there.[/QB][/QUOTE]
I'm not much into the off-road scene since my Xterra isn't four wheel drive. Right now I'm more interested in looks and street performance.

I wish I would have gotten a volant...maybe will in the future.
The flowmaster is a good sound at idle and awesome IMO when rompped on. The magnaflow is slightly different sound I hear from friends but not by much. The performance would be the same though...the main reason why I got the flow was because I got a good deal. magnaflow has a sound bite muffler out that i listened to on their website and it sound more muscle car like. check out the websites for sound clips.

Yeah, I saw that clip before. It's kinda hard to get a realistic idea of what it sounds like when your listening to it on computer speakers. I'm more leaning towards Magnaflow just because everybody and their brother has Flowmasters.

Eh, there's plenty wheelin' space over here on the Big. Who'd expect wheelin' space in LA, errr, on Oahu?

PS: You may want to consider buying any heavy rig gear before ya get here. The freight shipping adds cost and hassle to gear.

ciao,
-mT

Will someone take Krisjon on a run soon, we hear in socal fear he may wander into a filed and get stuck in the mud.

Funny enough, I was up just north of Makaha last weekend scouting some surf spots that you can only get to off-road. I came on a couple of locals doing the same thing in a 2WD Chevy S-10 and had gotten stuck in the mud. I ended up pulling them out and got my first, "you're pretty cool for a haole" comments.

Makaha...Are you on Kauai?

No, there's a Makaha here on Oahu, too. It's on the Northwest Waianae coast. I've just been exploring the island a bit lately and made it up that direction towards Kaena Point (the northwestern most tip of the island) looking for surf and fishing spots. There's only one way out to the point from there and it's a narrow and very muddy (as of lately with all the rain) dirt road. That's where I was. It was funny, because the Waianae coast is not exactly a tourist-friendly area and there were two car fulls of them behind me - obviously lost. As soon as they saw the 'end of county maintained road' sign and all the mud, the look on their faces from my rearview mirror as I kicked it into 4x was priceless.

Aloha Krisjon,

Welcome to Oahu! As you are finding out, there are far fewer accessible off-roading possibilities on Oahu as compared to the other Hawaiian islands. However, if off-roading is your passion, I suggest getting in touch with Jamie through:

http://hawaiianhardbody.com

He and his friends in the Hawaiian Trail Riders Club will be able introduce you whatever off-roading is available on Oahu.

http://p209.ezboard.com/bhawaiianhardbody

I'm just looking for someone on Oahu to go off roading with. I joined xterra club hawaii but then everything just kinda fell through the cracks. If the club is up and running again can someone let me know? Thanks.

Aloha, Bob...

Thanks for the heads up on the Hawaiian Hardbody guys - I'll definitely look them up. I haven't been disappointed with the wheeling around here so far because even the little dirt roads are surrounded by some really breathtaking scenery! Sure, it's different from what I'm used to in So Cal, especially all the mud, but it's a welcome change. I know you had mentioned that XTCHI has sort of fallen by the wayside with your health problems (I hope you're doing better!) and the ever present 'polynesian paralysis' of some of the members, but I really hope to get things going again soon - even if it's just getting together every month or so for a little BBQ or something. Please let me know if there's anything I can do to help this along. I look forward to meeting you soon!

- Christian

Drop me a PM on here and we'll catch up soon. Maybe we'll be the first two members of the revived XTCHI. Coming recently from a big X club in Southern California, I'm ready to get something going again over here.

"you're pretty cool for a haole" comments.[/qb][/QUOTE]I'm confused why would they call you an Ahole for pulling them out?

Haha, Jaime....the locals call white people/mainlanders 'haoles' (pronounced how-ly). I didn't mistype and mean a-hole! It can have a derogatory connotation depending on how it's said (like the n-word with blacks), but it can also just be in fun like, "you silly haole, you should know they don't do that in Hawaii." Trust me, I would have left them bumper deep in the mud if they had called me anything bad.

And here I thought it was a typo. It didn't make sense to me, Even though its been more than 20 years since I've been to Hawaii I remember the locals being very considerate and polite. I now know that haole doesn't equal ahole.