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


Thread Starter #138

bhvm

Honoured Member
Joined
Oct 15, 2011
Messages
5,289
Likes
4,818
Location
Some Village
ODO 85.5 Kms.

P_20190225_224903.jpg
P_20190225_224912.jpg


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.
P_20190225_162436.jpg
P_20190225_162439.jpg


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.
WhatsApp Image 2019-02-25 at 11.34.50.jpeg
WhatsApp Image 2019-02-25 at 13.04.17.jpeg
WhatsApp Image 2019-02-25 at 13.04.47.jpeg

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.
P_20190226_183459.jpg
P_20190226_183512.jpg
P_20190226_183618.jpg
P_20190226_183643.jpg
 
Thread Starter #139

bhvm

Honoured Member
Joined
Oct 15, 2011
Messages
5,289
Likes
4,818
Location
Some Village
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.
P_20190307_111411.jpg
P_20190307_111328_HDR.jpg
P_20190307_111319_HDR.jpg

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.
P_20190303_191228_HDR.jpg
P_20190310_124752_HDR.jpg

They are fiber cone speakers with rubber surrounds. Quite unlike paper trash provided on XUV500 and also on Storme.
P_20190310_124905_HDR.jpg
P_20190310_124947.jpg

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?
P_20190311_201158.jpg
P_20190311_201207.jpg
P_20190311_201218.jpg
P_20190311_201218.jpg
P_20190311_201300.jpg
P_20190311_201337_LL.jpg

4. Meanwhile many small & Big projects have happened. Here are a few teasers.
P_20190303_110043.jpg
P_20190303_184154.jpg
P_20190311_193423_HDR.jpg
P_20190311_193451_HDR.jpg
 

mayankdixit

Honoured Member
Joined
May 16, 2014
Messages
1,885
Likes
3,360
Location
kanpur
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.
 
Joined
Sep 25, 2017
Messages
345
Likes
288
Location
PB 65
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? [evil][think]
 
Thread Starter #147

bhvm

Honoured Member
Joined
Oct 15, 2011
Messages
5,289
Likes
4,818
Location
Some Village
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!
P_20190320_111906.jpg

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.
IMG-20190226-WA0033.jpg
IMG-20190226-WA0035.jpg
IMG-20190226-WA0039.jpg
IMG-20190226-WA0042.jpg

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?
V_20190320_100908.mp4_snapshot_02.06_[2019.03.21_18.06.28].jpg

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?

IMG-20190320-WA0008.jpg
IMG-20190320-WA0009.jpg
IMG-20190320-WA0021.jpg
IMG-20190320-WA0022.jpg
IMG-20190320-WA0026.jpg
IMG-20190320-WA0027.jpg
IMG-20190321-WA0000.jpg
IMG-20190321-WA0001.jpg
IMG-20190321-WA0002.jpg
IMG-20190321-WA0007.jpg
IMG-20190321-WA0016.jpg
IMG-20190321-WA0018.jpg
IMG-20190321-WA0013.jpg


Presenting Panoramas of Above Location-

P_20190320_102904_PN.jpg
P_20190320_102938_PN.jpg
P_20190320_103024_PN.jpg
P_20190320_103056_PN.jpg


Which Of the images did you like?
 

Attachments

Last edited:

mayankdixit

Honoured Member
Joined
May 16, 2014
Messages
1,885
Likes
3,360
Location
kanpur
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!!
 
Last edited:

Top Bottom