“The Blue Elephant” My Safari 4x4 Review & Mods

[bhvm]

Spent the Sunday Putting some wax on the Beasts.
How many people know, The Paint on XUV is actually Pearl?
First few images are of Raw wax and thereafter the results.

 

[bhvm]

The elephant after some Wash & Wax. (Close up shots)

 

[bhvm]

ODO 85.5 Kms.

The Blue Elephant Made about 1000KM round trip to Bombay & Gujarat.
Most of the roads where NH3, NH8 7 NH211. Pretty terrible roads for the most part.

1. On the way Back suffered a massive Blowout in Driver rear tyre. What I assume a Small sharp stone hit the tyre before I could swerve. Both Front & Rear tyres went over it. Rear one went with a bang. i must give it to Safari for not Flinching an inch. The Heavy SUV continued at about 70~75 KMPH as if nothing happened. Only symptoms was Loud bang followed by Increased tyre noise. I slowly dropped speed and found a nice Lay-by to park the vehicle safely. The Puncture actually happened on smooth roads and not the bad ones.

2. Learnt after sweating 1.5 Hours That Changing Safari tyre is not child's play. Thankfully two bikers stopped (Nice people of Gujarat) and helped me place the jack as well as swap the tyre.

3. Open Returning home and getting the tyre checked,was surprised to find this massive bolt inside the tyre. The tyre is yet to be mended.

 

[bhvm]

A few recent updates-
1. The puncture has been mended.There is a large patch inside while the top has been faced with solid rubber. Quite a solid job I could say.

2. I should thank Tata (or should I say pre-cost cutting era?) for providing really high quality speakers in the Safari. Yes these are OEM speakers, They don't boast to be harman or anything but they are decent quality like any aftermarket speakers you can buy (JBL, Pioneer etc).
The fronts are proper component set. Rear are Coaxials.

They are fiber cone speakers with rubber surrounds. Quite unlike paper trash provided on XUV500 and also on Storme.

The dia is about 6 inch.

3. The navigator door handle does not open door from outside. It can be opened from inside. Anyone knows what needs to be set?

4. Meanwhile many small & Big projects have happened. Here are a few teasers.

 

[mayankdixit]

3. The navigator door handle does not open door from outside. It can be opened from inside. Anyone knows what needs to be set?

I think the connecting rods/link bars starting from the door handle is not making contact(or slipping ) with the final latch assembly.Do check that every link bar is moving + connected to the next rod, as expected,while operating the door handle from outside.
You can always open the driver side door pad for checking and comparison.

 

[bhvm]

The rods are moving, but maybe not far enough to do the trick. With the internal lever, rods move far enough to pop the door open.

 

[mayankdixit]

That is what I intended to say.The rods are sticking somewhere/not moving properly.

 

[bhvm]

There seem to be adjusting vertical barrels (whith threads, you can see in upper parts of image). Which I will try tightening.

 

[THE_DRIFTER]

Now as you have done soooo many miss on the hot beast, I think you are going to keep it for at least 4-5 years??
And one question, when you'll sell it, will you remove all these mods such as puddle lamps and all?

 

[bhvm]

1. Yes the beast is in for the long haul.
2. If I do have to give away the beast, I will not bother undoing any mods. Although my mods are reversible & no holes have been drilled.

 

[harishankar]

I really loved reading about your blue elephant. Great thread so far.

 

[bhvm]

ODO 86k Kms.
The Blue Elephant Made about 1000KM round trip to Gujarat.
Most of the roads where NH8 & NH211. Pretty terrible roads for the most part. Maharashtra roads are worst, Aptly called "Dhule Surat deathway" due to hazards, Unmarked dangers and overall decadent condition of the road. There was an area Near Navapur-Gujrat border where Truck fell over due to uneven terrain. Some buses hit their fronts (Approach angles) when trying to navigate Craters. A poor Indica lost her front bumpers. Terrible. Horrible Roads.
I am really blessed to be in a 4x4 so I could swerve around and avoid the roadblock which was caused by above mishaps.

1. The beast still Managed FE of 13.4 KMPL despite little traffic idling, Mixed use and Broken/ Non-existant Highway!

2. Terrible Amount of Pollution at Vapi-Daman Area. I wonder what these diesel bans and bans on older vehicles are of any use. The pollution from single factory is comparable to or exceeds 1000s of Vehicles. The Visiblity was hardly 500 Meters after everything dissapeared in a wash of white SMOG. I wonder how mobile camera AI actually went up and Cleaned / Enhanced images so the reality is worse than what it looks in the pics.

3. Enjoyed the comfortable ride quality on Broken roads. Smaller Potholes actually disappeared and surprised my Family. Larger ones also mellowed down and felt softer.

4. Whats a 4x4 if one does not do this?

Near Sakri found an Unknown, less famous lake. Wife decided we needed a break so I just turned my Steering. And just like that we were at this beautiful place. The place was about 1km (offroad) from the highway. Some of the more beautiful things in life are just unplanned small excursions. How many of you agree?

Presenting Panoramas of Above Location-

Which Of the images did you like?

 

[mayankdixit]

These pics have come out really good, and for the first time (for me ) in these surroundings and backdrop (of sky and lake and the loneliness all around),the blue colour of the SAFARI is standing out and its looking beautiful.The 2nd pics with the closeup of headlamp and the lake is wonderful.
Keep it up!!

 

[THE_DRIFTER]

I assume you are enjoying all your trips in the beast very much. My favourite is the 2nd last one where we could see safaris back .

 

[Nanofreak]

Loved the panoramic pictures, sunset, lake and the Blue E, very nice