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

[bhvm]

Its far better. When cruising lazily at 90, the engine note is barely audible. The wind howling at 100 is largely gone. However when accelerating, the booming engine note for safari 2.2 is still present. I just call it swag now.

It cannot be compared with xuv. Esp when comparing beyond 100kmph, Xuv design is very aerodynamic while safari is a large & Square elephant.

Currently my Xuv has ATs and xuv is noisier than safari under 90, which has HTs.

 

[bhvm]

Brought These for my Elephant.
Further update after Fixing & Testing.Brought

 

[mayankdixit]

Now that will be some really good update/as well as upgrade for your safari. Since the start of this thread wanted you to do something along these lines .
Waiting for further pics.

 

[bhvm]

Yesterday, I made a 200KM trip with my dad. The roads were worse than bad. Totally dug up due to Road works. Diversions had become mud pits due to recent rains. I could feel rear end sliding a couple of times as we entered mud but the elephant made road in 2wd on stock HT tyres without much drama.

On the way back dad commented that Engine seems very silent and refined than before. And I have to agree, There is practically no engine noise when cruising at 90 in 5th.
So I have gotten my double blind confirmation that all my hard work has paid off. It seems like a combination of Door pad insulation as well as STP diesel oil treatment that I added recently post service.

 

[bhvm]

26.07.19.
What better way to spend B'day other than go on a trip with the beast and explore. So here we go.
Found another Unknown lake, this time Near Aurangabad. Started exploring in my typical fashion.

As Luck might have it or we Might've been foolish, we just went too far,

Then THIS happened.
The beast got promptly stuck in some soft mud. Floor mats were put to the use to provide some traction but the mud was so soft that it swallowed those mats for breakfast. Reverse-Forward. Not going anywhere.

This is the most important pic of the series. Can you make out what is actually happening?

Thankfully, Help wasn't far. I introduced myself to the locals and soon enough, 10+ Healthy men came along to push the beast out of the predicament. A few came with shovels. Some shoved in dirt. Others brought in rocks and packed them under tyres. Other dug the paths a little better. Rest just used muscle power. Soon we were out.

The Ruts where we were stuck. How many Floor mats can you find?

Freedom salutes given. Started exploring further-

Further-

This is beauty mud. Can it help the tyres?

More exploring-

Moved on to next destination. Gautala Ghat-

We were lucky enough to witness bright sun, Fog, Rain all within 1 hour.

Dramatic weather-

Next time Lets bring a bike? Shall we?

View from the top-

A temple enroute-

Cakes were awaiting when we reached home at night-

The Elephant sheds roughly 10 Kg mud next day-

 

[mayankdixit]

Proper MT tyres would have helped surely.Differential lock would have worked here.
Even AT tyres would have helped. Anyway ,all is well if it ended safely.
Getting stuck even after 4x4 with low range transfer case happens occasionally. Its just an experience. Thats all.
Belated happy birthday.

 

[Nanofreak]

Happy birthday @bhvm beautiful place and lovely pictures.

 

[Driveright]

26.07.19.
What better way to spend B'day other than go on a trip with the beast and explore. So here we go.
Found another Unknown lake, this time Near Aurangabad. Started exploring in my typical fashion.
View attachment 262744 View attachment 262745
As Luck might have it or we Might've been foolish, we just went too far,
View attachment 262746

Then THIS happened.
The beast got promptly stuck in some soft mud. Floor mats were put to the use to provide some traction but the mud was so soft that it swallowed those mats for breakfast. Reverse-Forward. Not going anywhere.
View attachment 262747

This is the most important pic of the series. Can you make out what is actually happening?
View attachment 262748

Thankfully, Help wasn't far. I introduced myself to the locals and soon enough, 10+ Healthy men came along to push the beast out of the predicament. A few came with shovels. Some shoved in dirt. Others brought in rocks and packed them under tyres. Other dug the paths a little better. Rest just used muscle power. Soon we were out.
View attachment 262749

The Ruts where we were stuck. How many Floor mats can you find?
View attachment 262750 View attachment 262751 View attachment 262752

Freedom salutes given. Started exploring further-
View attachment 262753

Further-
View attachment 262754

This is beauty mud. Can it help the tyres?
View attachment 262755 View attachment 262756 View attachment 262757 View attachment 262758

More exploring-

View attachment 262759 View attachment 262760 View attachment 262761 View attachment 262762

Moved on to next destination. Gautala Ghat-

View attachment 262763 View attachment 262764 View attachment 262765

We were lucky enough to witness bright sun, Fog, Rain all within 1 hour. View attachment 262766 View attachment 262767

Dramatic weather-

View attachment 262768 View attachment 262769

Next time Lets bring a bike? Shall we?

View attachment 262770 View attachment 262771 View attachment 262772 View attachment 262773


View from the top-

View attachment 262774 View attachment 262775 View attachment 262776 View attachment 262777 View attachment 262778

A temple enroute-

View attachment 262779

Cakes were awaiting when we reached home at night-
View attachment 262780 View attachment 262781

The Elephant sheds roughly 10 Kg mud next day-

View attachment 262782 View attachment 262783

belated birthday wishes ! mud bath for the blue elephant and yummy cake for you :]

 

[bhvm]

Thanks guys.
Still awaiting for more guesses as what actually happened.

 

[mayankdixit]

All 4 tyres spinning away to glory in 4WD mode.LSD not working as expected.Power getting transferred to free/wrong wheel.
Safari beached! What else?

 

[Driveright]

Agree with the doc .seems like the safari bellied out!

 

[bhvm]

Guys The clutch pedal of my DICOR is returning partially. It can be lifted using foot. Since I was on a trip I decided to take a halt and attend things on priority.

I topped up clutch fluid which was low. But the pedal feel did not improve.
Reached a nearby TASC, initial diagnosis is that master cylinder is bad. It's interesting that master cylinder has leaked internally, without trace of oil on floor mats.

Unfortunately parts aren't available and They're trying to courier it from another city.

My beast has aluminium part, whereas all new variants are coming with plastic part.They're saying aluminium rusts and all. Maybe they don't have aluminium so forcing this.
I'm not confident plastic one will work got clutch as hard As a truck..

Edit- Got an update.
Master cylinder will be received by tomorrow noon by courier.

Estd cost is 3k

They aren't sure what's aluminium & what's plastic. The SA just said it will come As per your chasis number & system part policy. Whatever comes cannot be changed for aluminium or plastic or anything.

So I cannot request an aluminium cylinder to be fixed. Design was changed in 2008.
3.0L and early 2.2 had aluminium part.

Later ones moved to plastic. My car being 2008 can be either of them.

They usually retrofit plastics ones after using some clamps/rods etc from Old aluminium part as lengths are different.
3k including tax *could* be an aluminium one as it's listed for 1800 bucks online.

Plastic one is 4.2K.
Will keep you updated on further details.

 

[Driveright]

was it because you did try getting unstuck during the muddy fest?definitely there would have been stress on it trying to get unstuck .Anyways wear and tear does occur eventually and the part has to go for replacement

 

[bhvm]

No, mudding was about a month ago. This issue happened yesterday.

 

[bhvm]

Update-
Day 2.
Got the beast back at 4pm today.
Costs 3.5k including courier and all.

Got the aluminium part. Clutch has also become slightly softer.

Only change I noticed that getting in & out of 4L is taking more time.