[fusionbang]

Updates are being awaited from long time and due to busy schedule was not able to post updates on the recent drives as below,

1. HVK Monsoon Drive '16 - Karnataka
2. Mahindra Owner's Group TORC(Tribe of Royal Cheetah's) Meet

Also updates on a new upgrade has been delayed due to a minor glitch. Will post more about it once everything is in place.

For now, next couple of posts will be on the above 2 drives

1. HVK Monsoon Drive '16 - Karnataka - 31st July

The actual scheduled drive on 30th July could not be done due to Karnataka Bandh and it was rescheduled to 31st July. Initially had planned for the meet with entire family which includes me, wife, 7 month baby and my parents but after certain considerations decided to do the drive alone as it would be a day long drive and was a difficult task with the baby.

So with all agenda set, took off from home at 5.30 AM to reach the Base camp at Hotel Mayura, Bellur Cross. I reached by 6.45AM and met Ravinder(procrj), Suhas(mpksuhas) and Parag(paragsachania). Almost everybody arrived on time and the breakfast was served by our fauji-PoornaPragna sir, before each convoy left at their respective cars.

Ravinder and Suhas were part of the first convoy which Aditya(addyhemige) was leading and did not get to catch them up until the last regroup point. I was part of Parag's convoy and we were just 5 cars and were last of all convoys. It was real fun driving in convoy for the entire day, I have been always keen on the Army convoy trucks and it was a treat to the eyes to see them and this time I was part of such a convoy and it was a beautiful scene ahead with cars in front of you in a straight line.

This thread from Ravinder has the complete itinerary for the drive and very aptly put, hence I will not be writing much about the same.

Some pictures from the drive,



Poorna sir's XUV ar the base camp. Also you can see Suhas's Red xuv in the background


Approaching Shetihalli Backwaters


Arrived














Time to leave


Not missing on a Photo Opp




Lunch time




Beautiful Grasslands in the backdrop


Arriving at Devaramane driving through the mist














Time to go home


I was not able to click pictures after that as it was raining heavily.

Finally the monsoon drive concluded after wishing bye's at the chai point (Banakal) until next time and also got to know many people from the drive & HVK forum, whom I met for the first time.

Returned via Belur and also got a chance to visit Parag's home
Reached home at 11.30PM and retired after a mesmerizing drive through narrow, twisty, nil traffic roads

[fusionbang]

2. Mahindra XUV Owner's Group TORC(Tribe of Royal Cheetah's) Meet

Being part of the Mahindra XUV Owner's group we were planning for a drive from long time and it would never materialize. With 15th being Independence day and a long weekend, we planned for a day's drive(half day to be precise) and get to know fellow XUV owner's. So 14th was the day decided and the destination was Thonnur Lake, Sanaba near Pandavapura.



The Drive

Let me put the entire drive through pics with titles,

Waiting for one of the member to join in after the NICE exit on Tumkur Road





Rendezvous point - Lanco Toll, Nelamangala



Breakfast stop at Swathi Delicacy









Regroup at Bellur Cross turnoff to Nagamangala





Also, we had planned a set of stickers for the group and we decided to put them on at the regroup point







Next stop was the lake bed which we approached after travelling on the state highway for around 45 mins, with a small detour inside to experience the village roads.

Detour Roads



Driveway to the lake bed





Lake Bed

















Contd..

[fusionbang]

As we were planning to have a lineup for the photo shoot couple of cars who tried getting into the spot got stuck in slush and we had pull them out of it. I had an opportunity to use my tow hook for the first time to pull one of the cars and it was fun doing so. Couple of pictures on the same













After the photo opp at the lake bed, we had to move towards the destination which was around 40 mins journey. Again it was a straight forward drive to the lake and even though it is a weekend spot with less people around.

Some pictures,











After this I had to drive down to Shimoga, hence I departed from the Bellur cross turn off after which the group stopped for Lunch and returned home post that.

It was a fun drive with an opportunity to meet XUV Owner's across Bangalore. One thing special about this drive was all the XUV's were First Gen and few people with new gen missed the drive.

Looking forward for the next meet with more number of cars and if possible an over night trip somewhere which should be a midway for both Bangalore and Mumbai team.

Ciao until next update.

PS: Have 2 drives coming up with the team bhp meet group,
a. Day Drive to Kurnool on Sept 11th
b. Double overnighter to Pondicherry on Sept 16,17 & 18th.

[abirnale]

Originally Posted by fusionbang

And on the new thing I am giving some time to have a perfect setup and then I will update here

Someone is very busy

Dude, I need the details on exact "stuff" you bought, sources, approx costs, fitment and your overall comments for me to GO or NO GO.

Awaiting the update

[fusionbang]

PS: Have 2 drives coming up with the team bhp meet group,
a. Day Drive to Kurnool on Sept 11th
b. Double overnighter to Pondicherry on Sept 16,17 & 18th.

The drives mentioned in quote above could not materialize due to below reasons,
1. Kurnool Drive - Got something urgent and could not make it to the meet
2. Overnighter to Pondicherry - Got rescheduled to November to issue between 2 states.

To compromise the cancellation of overnighter, few of us decided to do a drive to Hampi on the same 3 days and man it turned to be a much more fun overnighter till date, with my wife and kid joining this time.

Below are some highlights of this trip,

1. Drive to Hampi with breakfast at Aroma naturals veg, Hiriyur and some scenic places on the way.
2. Visit to Tungabhadra dam on 16th evening and late evening catch up with fellow bhpians
3. Visit to Hampi monuments on 17th with the gang and spending some time with wife and kid
4. Departure from Hampi on 18th morning with a leisurely drive to reach home

Some pics from the drive,







































Cya until next update

[abirnale]

Originally Posted by fusionbang

Cya until next update

Great to see you updating the thread
Next is what?

[fusionbang]

Originally Posted by abirnale

Great to see you updating the thread
Next is what?

Next is the much awaited Audio Upgrade Avinash Today or tomorrow it will be here, no compromise this time

[abirnale]

Awesome. I am particularly interested in your experiment around damp mats, sound deadening if any and the experience after that. I have observed that over the period of time when the door rubber beading gets pressed, the doors tend to be little loose and don't shut well with gentle push. Adding a little weight will improve that as well as provide the sound deadening may be to survive those 40K kms old tyres on highways for few more K Kms.

[fusionbang]

Got a small dent on the rear left fender at a signal, where a Bajaj Chetak guy tried to squeeze between my car and another.

Below picture looks like just a scar, but it is not.



I was planning to visit 3M for a UV treatment and thinking this scar might go off with a rubbing compound. But while discussing with my friend, he told me to use a toothpaste which would help to remove the scar easily and trust me it worked.

This is the result of using toothpaste



While I was thinking it to be just a scratch, I came across this dent which is visible if observed very closely



I utilized this opportunity and cleared off minor scratches on my car with a "TOOTHPASTE"

Some random pics of the cougar,

[fusionbang]

Finally was able to find some time to update my thread with the recent upgrades done to the ICE on my cougar. Firstly I would like to apologize my fellow bhpians who have been waiting for my update on this all this time

From the day I had got this beast home, ICE upgrade was on the list of upgrades and it took more than a year to materialize. Even now the upgrade is not 100% completed, I can say it is 80% complete. Have put my decision to make it 100% on hold for some other reasons.

Let me list out the upgrades gone in the car for now,
1. JBL Component Speakers - 650CSI (Front) - 3300/- (Bought from Snapdeal)


2. JVC Component Speakers (Rear) (1300/- Got it from a friend)
3. Cerwin Wega 4 Channel Amplifier (8500/-)

4. Damping sheets on all 4 doors (4500/- for 6)
5. Amp Wiring kit (2400/-)
6. Hi Lo Converter (2200/-)

Pending:
1. Shallow sub woofer (wiring is ready)

It was a challenge for me to identify a proper installer in Bangalore due to mixed suggestions and reviews about the installer. Initially I had been to JC road and there was no enough confidence in the technicians there to work on a car with so many electronic features. Based on my earlier installation of HID kit with EVO, Indiranagar decided to call Satya and get an appointment for the installation on July 24th(I had sourced the speakers before hand).

July 24th:
I reached EVO in the morning at 11AM and the work was started immediately on my car, as my car was the only one on that day. It took almost 7 hours to complete the install. Below are some pictures of the work done.

OEM Nippon speakers from Mahindra, looks very cheap






Hi Lo Converters



Amp Wiring Kit



Fuse for Amp wiring kit



Door Panels removed





Cross over being connected



Power source was the second row cigarette lighter



Speakers connected and damping in progress



After the installation, there were couple of issues noticed

1. Very prominent Hissing sound as soon as the Ignition is ON
2. Every time car is restarted with start stop functionality, the amp used to restart as the remote switch was connected to the cigarette lighter in 2nd row

Even Satya was not able to resolve this hissing sound and was not ready to remove the front panel to connect the remote switch. It was a nightmare with the hissing sound and it was irritating every time i get into the car. Checked with many of my XUV friends and was informed that mild hissing sound was part of XUV's head unit without RCA output and it was mostly unavoidable. Only option was to reduce the gain on the amplifier which again would result in losing the actual output from the amplifier.

Finally went to Asif - EB Bass, Sheshadripuram recommended by one of my friend who has got a neat setup in his XUV, who instantly told the wiring was not right and the converters used were of low quality. One more day had to take an appointment and get it redone, where the complete wiring was changed with new converter, new amp wiring kit. Also this time the complete panel was removed and the input was taken to converter directly from the head unit which has reduced the hissing sound by almost 95%.

Now the sound clarity is at its best to my ears, but the sub woofer is missing to add that extra bass which completes this install.

Adding Damping sheet has really helped in terms of road noise and the doors feel heavy. I have used 6 sheets for 4 doors and only the driver side has damping inside the panel as well as on the top. In my opinion, at least 8-10 sheets is required to have a perfect damping.

I have put a hold on the sub woofer upgrade due to some constraints and will definitely do it very soon. Also I might change the components to something better as these are basic stuff and vibrates at a high volume.

And I am almost done with all the upgrades, but you never know when and what interests you to add on to your car. Until then will post regular updates on my cougar and its achievements.

[abirnale]

Originally Posted by fusionbang

Finally was able to find some time to update my thread with the recent upgrades done to the ICE on my cougar.

Congratulations for the neat upgrade! I am sure the audiophile in your is super happy with this setup.

I am looking to replace just the speakers and do a neater/ better sound damping. It might help a little to deaden the sound I get due to the age of vehicle too. The doors would become slightly heavy but thats acceptable to me.

Can you point me to the source where you had procured the damping sheets? How easy or difficult it is to do this as DIY work? Any specific care to be taken or better leave this job to professionals?

Last time we met, I missed to check the setup as you were with family. One of the se weekends we should catch up. I have also dropped out of Pondy trip. May be the same week we drive together until Vellore with group and return after breakfast?

In other news from my side, I have now removed the LED aux lamps from my Cheetah. I have already procured a set of Hella 550 FF lights. They will be fitted in next week or so.

Congrats once again for this sweet to ear setup!

[fusionbang]

Originally Posted by abirnale

Congratulations for the neat upgrade! I am sure the audiophile in your is super happy with this setup.

Thank you Avinash. As I have mentioned, I am not super happy about this but happy. Probably once I get a sub installed the super will be prefixed to happy

Originally Posted by abirnale

I am looking to replace just the speakers and do a neater/ better sound damping. It might help a little to deaden the sound I get due to the age of vehicle too. The doors would become slightly heavy but thats acceptable to me.

Yes, actually you can replace front speakers with Components and rear with Co axials ( this was recommended by Asif-EB Bass)

Originally Posted by abirnale

Can you point me to the source where you had procured the damping sheets? How easy or difficult it is to do this as DIY work? Any specific care to be taken or better leave this job to professionals?

I got this from one of my source from JC road, where I have procured most of my car accessories till date. It is pretty easy to do the dampening on our own and I can help you with it, since I have seen how it's done. And one thing is I was informed that it is good to heat it using a hair dryer once damping is applied for good results( which anyways we can do it).

If you want, we can procure and do it at your place one day. Or if you want to change the speakers at the same time, we can get it done at EB Bass. Only thing is he is little expensive, but does a neat job.

Originally Posted by abirnale

Last time we met, I missed to check the setup as you were with family. One of the se weekends we should catch up. I have also dropped out of Pondy trip. May be the same week we drive together until Vellore with group and return after breakfast?

Yes actually last time we couldn't have a chat properly. During Pondy trip I am not available as I have a family function to attend. We can do it this weekend actually.

Originally Posted by abirnale

In other news from my side, I have now removed the LED aux lamps from my Cheetah. I have already procured a set of Hella 550 FF lights. They will be fitted in next week or so.

Wow, I would love to see the setup on your car Avinash. If I like it even I might go ahead with that setup. And are you planning to retain the remote setup for those lights?

[abirnale]

Originally Posted by fusionbang

Are you planning to retain the remote setup for those lights?

Yes. Always - no cutting splicing of things. Operate through remote. Inspired by Nibu's thread. I also asked Major Vikram to source those LED lights from Hyderabad. Which may happen sometime in Xmas. So meanwhile, planning to survive on these Hella FF But if these Hella turns out to be good ones, will stick with them.

[fusionbang]

Originally Posted by abirnale

Yes. Always - no cutting splicing of things. Operate through remote. Inspired by Nibu's thread. I also asked Major Vikram to source those LED lights from Hyderabad. Which may happen sometime in Xmas. So meanwhile, planning to survive on these Hella FF But if these Hella turns out to be good ones, will stick with them.

I thought they were round shaped aux lights. Any specific reason for a rectangle shaped light? Any advantages? IMO round looks good for XUV.

[abirnale]

Originally Posted by fusionbang

I thought they were round shaped aux lights. Any specific reason for a rectangle shaped light? Any advantages? IMO round looks good for XUV.

Yep. The rectangle shape fits nicely on the horizontal bumper part between upper and lower grill. No blocking of any air to radiator and into the tengine compartment.