[wbd8779]

Hi,

Posting pics of the Gypsy in which we have officiated/scrutinised in the pat 3 Desert Storms.

Note to Mod - The owner is a close friend and has no issues in the disclosure of license plates.

Modifications-

Cosmetic
Custom half cabin
Rally spec seats
Custom built spare wheel holder (designed and commissioned after last years DS after i repeatedly complained that we had no space to keep our bags !)

Mechanical
Imported Oil cooler
Air Conditioning
Tachometer
Axillary Lights
Performance Piper Cross air filter
Engine Start button on centre console with separate switch for fuel pump.
Rally spec header/free flow exhaust

The best part is that we have done 3 Desert Storms in this car without a single breakdown or puncture tilll date, and mind you we do not pussyfoot around the stages

[wbd8779]

Posting a pic of the rear mounted Air Con condenser and a few others.

[Godfather]

Thats a real sweet Gypsy there, however it is surprising that you have had not a single flat in 3 desert storm rally.. that too with a Geolandar ATS. are these not supposed to have the weakest sidewall?

[wbd8779]

Originally Posted by Godfather

Thats a real sweet Gypsy there, however it is surprising that you have had not a single flat in 3 desert storm rally.. that too with a Geolandar ATS. are these not supposed to have the weakest sidewall?

The 2010 was done on Apollo Hawkz 2011 on BF goodrich and 2012 on Geolanders
Adding Engine bay pics.

[GTO]

Very tastefully done up Gypsy. The fact that it's reliably served duty as part of the organising team in 3 Desert Storms makes it look better. Trust me, you wouldn't see that in a Mahindra.

Interesting placement of the air-con condensor. How long has it been holding up? Any trial & error, or has life been easy with it?

[invincible7]

Good Looking Gypsy, is the engine in stock form with just the aftermarket filter or any other mods on it, please share .

And yeah where was it built.

[svsantosh]

1) Neatly doneup gypsy, without stickers it would pass of as a normal daily drive!

2) Very interesting condensor position, how come rally use hasnt punctured it? Or has it?

[dhanushs]

Thats one nice looking Gypsy!

Originally Posted by wbd8779

Posting a pic of the rear mounted Air Con condenser and a few others.

The condenser is one of the weakest link in an AC system. I'm surprised its placed in one of the most vulnerable places! Any leaks/failures?

Originally Posted by wbd8779

Adding Engine bay pics.

Whats that color on the head, just above the exhaust manifold?

[codelust]

Nicely done up Gypsy. Was it at Motocraft for the service or do you get it rally prepped there itself?

3-sets of tyres in 3-years, one of those being the rally favourite BFGs - how come?

Did you keep the Piper Cross filter during DS? What my rallying buddy has told me was that most of the guys revert to the stock filter during DS.

Too many questions, I know, but I'm collecting data (yes, anecdotal), for my upgrades!

[speedmiester]

Good looking Gypsy. Strange to see AC in a Rally Gypsy. Do you use the AC during the events?

The spare wheel holder is different from other Rally Gypsies. Do you not find it difficult and consume more time to change a flat because of it's design.

Originally Posted by dhanushs

Whats that color on the head, just above the exhaust manifold?

All engines are marked with paint during scrutiny before events.

[wbd8779]

GTO - Thanks , Yes you are correct about the reliability of the Gypsy versus the Mahindra , The thar that you can see in one of this years pics , broke its Turbo on day 3 and eventually the engine siezed .

Invincible - Yes the engine is completely stock except the Header and free flow exhaust , however the header was custom built on order by a renowned Banglore Tuner and it sounds amazing ,with a very controlled deep growl.


Santosh - It is a Daily drive

Codelust - Stormy is owned by the person who heads service for Motorcraft (Ghaziabad ) and he built it himself at the above location , Rahul is intensely passionate about gypsy"s and is a treasure trove of information about the car , in fact all the official maruti suzuki cars that participate in the Desert , Raid and the Dakshin Dare are prepared by him , also the engine of the 2011 Desert Storm winning XL7 of Sunny was rebuilt by him after it siezed during the first stage of DS12

Tyres are an intresting story , we got Apollo after the Nat Geo Apollo series for the first year , i made him change it to BF Goodrich as personally i am no fan of Apollo"s.
With the so called rally favourite we did DS11 , however the very hard sidewall and compound made the ride very uncomfortable so this year when Yoko gave us Geolanders , the switch was made

On the BFG"s bieng rally favourites i kind of disagree , i have myself done and finished the Raid De himalaya in extreme class with a 1.6 engined gypsy in 2010 on Yoko Geolanders with just one puncture and that was not bcoz of the percieved weak sidewall of the geolander

The pipercross is used throughout the event , there is no need to revert to the stock filter if u run in the unrestricted extreme category.
A few competitors however remove the hose that connects the filter with the throttle body assembly to gain a bit more power (it is illegal and not allowed and if you are caught you may be disqualified )

Speedmiseter - The AC is used during the event , as officals we have spend a long time in the stage , and during the day the tempratures go up dramatically in the Rann of kutch, and then we also have to do transport sections.

The spare wheel design is deliberate as we have to carry a lot of gear for setting up the stages , and since we are not competitiors we can take those extra few minutes to change a flat.

And finally the AC condenser position - I was expecting diverse reactions to the position , however let me tell you that there has been no incident whatsoever with the condenser till date , i have a file pic of the condensor bieng installed in 2010 , you can come and check it out in person , it is the same still and without a scratch.

Would be happy to answer any other questions

[Jaggu]

Originally Posted by GTO

Interesting placement of the air-con condensor. How long has it been holding up? Any trial & error, or has life been easy with it?

This is a very common option, since bigger compressor in stock engine leads to over heating. My installer also offered the same fitting, to which i said thank you not

Originally Posted by speedmiester

All engines are marked with paint during scrutiny before events.

This is an official vehicle right? Does it also goes through scrutiny.
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Very good preparation, if its ok, can you share more details of the oil cooler mod that you have mentioned. Where it is tapped etc??

[wbd8779]

Originally Posted by Jaggu

This is a very common option, since bigger compressor in stock engine leads to over heating. My installer also offered the same fitting, to which i said thank you not



This is an official vehicle right? Does it also goes through scrutiny.
-----------------
Very good preparation, if its ok, can you share more details of the oil cooler mod that you have mentioned. Where it is tapped etc??

No , It does not go through scrutiny , i was doing some time pass with the paint cans that we use to mark engines during scrutiny , and was giving my car the "scrutiny ok" sticker

I had bought the oil cooler from the US , cost was i guess around $150, it is as very simple fitment and has an adapter which gets bolted on to the Oil filter outlet there are 2 hoses running to the front mounted oil cooler radiator . There is absoluely no other modification done for fitment , it is bolt on, you just have to make the mounting point for the small radiator and route the plumbing properly.

I will post detailed pics of the installation by the weekend

[Jaggu]

Originally Posted by wbd8779

I had bought the oil cooler from the US , cost was i guess around $150, it is as very simple fitment and has an adapter which gets bolted on to the Oil filter outlet there are 2 hoses running to the front mounted oil cooler radiator .
================
I will post detailed pics of the installation by the weekend

Thank you so much. How about the performance of this mod, how much would you think its helping? Assuming its helping a lot, considering the heat and terrain the vehicle would have to pass through.

Awaiting the details of the install and parts.

[wbd8779]

Originally Posted by Jaggu

Thank you so much. How about the performance of this mod, how much would you think its helping? Assuming its helping a lot, considering the heat and terrain the vehicle would have to pass through.

Awaiting the details of the install and parts.

Yes , It does help quite a lot , though it is quite difficult to quantify the improvement , Rahul wants to keep this gypsy forever , and wanted to have a nice healthy engine. During last years event he felt that at sustained high speed the engine starts to sound a bit rough and strained , he narrowed it down to high oil tempratures , and so the idea of ftting an oil cooler was born ,and this year i am happy to report that he was much happier and smoother like his engine. He is a pretty meticioulous individual and any discomfort / sounds / noises in his beloved gypsy have a direct effect on his health.

Will certainly post more details of the cooler by this weekend.