[Reinhard]

Progressing slowly towards a DIY DRL installation. Waiting for delivery from AliExpress to arrive.
After searching for genuine, affordable and well designed Philips / Hella DRLs around possible sources in Pune (which has a real shortage of these people!) found these on the other side of the disputed border on North-east -

EONSTIME 12V DRL with controller

Got it for INR 900.00 including GATI shipping in ~8 days. Which is less than peanuts compared to the Hella/Philips deals - none of which are available online on any reputed or their own brand stores. Not the right way to expand business in today's market I'd say. If they were available online even for 5k, I'd buy them instead.

My contribution to the wrong side of the border in the current diplomatic and military stand-off between India and China in Sikkim-Bhutan area...

The kit comes with a controller as well & so is truly plug and play. No fiddling with any wiring required. Just zip tagging and maybe extending the wires of the DRLs in case they come out to be too short for a Vista's engine bay.

Since its a DIY activity anyway - I don't mind if they conk off too soon compared to their claimed 50k hours life. I can then invest higher amounts in the better quality lights if required once I'm well versed with the process of installing them.

[Reinhard]

So the package from AliExpress has been delivered yesterday & I must say the quality of the product is better than what I had expected. As of now, its justifying the 900.00 INR spent.

1. Build quality is average. Certainly will not stand up to Hella / Philips. Its ABS plastic all round. Seems sufficiently sturdy. I hope it is water proof as claimed. No way that it can stand up to pebbles and rocks larger than half an inch getting thrown at it. It will crack for sure.
2. No aluminium heat-sinks etc but I tested it for 10 minutes & there was no thermal output at all.
3. Wiring length seems just about there. Considering the Vista's large engine bay, I might have to extend them a bit - with proper connectors & not tape.
4. The combined current pull is 6mA. So should be quite easy on the wiring's health. LEDs are god-sent!

Attaching a few pictures here. Apologies for a shoddy job, did the test way late into the night after returning from office, so didn't care much about aesthetics.

The product -
The wiring already includes a proper fuse which is a pleasant surprise. I had otherwise decided to put an inline fuse in the wiring before installing it.
The package also includes 2 powder coated steel brackets, screws for installation. Each DRL is about 18cms in length.


Testing - Medium exposure. The light is much brighter in reality than this also.
Note - the Intex Powerbank is not included in the package.


Testing - Very low exposure.


All that remains now is finding about 2 hours of time on a weekend to wash-up the car & find ACC point to tap into & install the DRLs as a DIY. Planning to use Araldite dipping for the screws + double sided tapes to fix the brackets firm. Zip tags obviously to secure the wiring.

Will certainly post pictures of the activity & result once done.

[ajay_satpute]

Hey, loooong time !

How are you doing? The last time we communicated was when you had an accident near Hinjewadi. How are things?

Awaiting completion of your DIY DRL job.

[Reinhard]

Originally Posted by ajay_satpute

Hey, loooong time !

How are you doing? The last time we communicated was when you had an accident near Hinjewadi. How are things?

Awaiting completion of your DIY DRL job.

Hey AJ! Yeah long time indeed. Was away on job for some time. Things nice! So you sold your Safire then. I love the SCross, congratulations on it!

Mostly the DIY job will have to wait till next weekend . Totally loaded next 2 days.

[Reinhard]

So, visited Mumbai yesterday to get XP Micro Bi-Xenons installed in place of the stock fog lamps. And such a heartbreak.

1. The Vista AURA has a large windshield washer tank between the FR wheel and the FR fog lamp housing. I suspect it is larger in the AURA (Or VX afterwards) because these have a rear wipe/wash also and store more water + have 2 motors. While there is space between this tank and the stock fog lamp, it is about 3 inches less than what is required to install the XP Micro! There is absolutely NO room for any movement or replacement jugaad on this tank thanks to how the other components & monocoque frame structure is packaged in the engine bay around this area.

2. There also seems to be some sort of a thermostat/switch for the AC propping out from one of the radiator coils. This is leaving hardly any space to install the same FR XP light.

3. The LHS installation seemed pretty straight forward with only 2/3 mounting brackets ("patti")having to be made which was expected anyway.

Had gone to Mumbai after a very good conversation over last few days with Karan from XP; with very high hopes of finally having a lighting solution that ensured safety in my daily night drives through not so good rural roads.

All I can now hope is that the front cross member can be welded with basic custom L mounts. These will have to be propped out with cuts in the front bumper & then mounted with Neolite 1010 with 55W lights to begin with. If that doesn't help then upgrade the bulbs to 100W. Don't want to melt the oncoming traffic really.
Any pointers to a good place in Pune where this can be done reliably without damaging anything on the car will be very helpful. The Nana-Peth guys generally push for a bull-bar + lamp installation which is easy. But that would really be the last thing I opt for; for obvious reasons we all know.

The DRL installation also seems to have trouble now as while the bumper was already removed yesterday, I checked and there are hardly any good places to properly fix it. The possibility of even basic customization is so pathetic on the Vista that it justifies the low sales figures this car achieved.

Came back really really disheartened last night from Mumbai. But then the car always has something up her sleeve to bring the smile back. The journey was through all of Mumbai's traffic areas and bad traffic during return in the ghat on Sunday evening. However, tank full to tank full showed a nice 20.5kmpl. This time with standard HP diesel from COCO station on the Eway. Couldn't ask for more!

[Reinhard]

So this crossed this milestone yesterday -



Close to 7 years of companionship suggests very low running. But put in perspective that out of the 7, the car ran less than 300kms in 3.5 years when I was away. And the 55k running is done in only 3 years 3 months.

About the points in the image
The higher idling needle
It idles very well below 900rpm. I accidentally dabbed the accelerator peddle when the photo was taken. Hence the higher reading.

Check Engine light
Like Penny says in The Big Bang Theory, "Oh its always ON!".
Its actually caused by a dead glow plug that I mentioned in an earlier post. On the "To-Do" list but way down in it. Will fix it soon though.

Visiting Nana-Peth and a couple of accessory stores tomorrow and Sunday to try and complete installation of Neolite1010s with 55W halogens.

[Reinhard]

Okay, so some acquisitions over the weekend for the impending mods.

1. A 1/2" drive ratchet spanner set - STANLEY. From amazon for 2k. Wanted it since ages & found a good deal. Should serve almost all purposes now on.


2. The usual NEOLITE 1010 SuperSport aux lamps with stock 55w H3 halogens.
The box.

Side profile.

With a tester for scale.


There were a couple of more Taiwanese made lamps of similar dimensions with much better finish also available. Their lenses were clearer (glass), and water proofing gasket seemed built to last the distance. The gasket on the NEOLITE seems quite rudimentary & I won't be surprised if there is some rainwater harvesting.

The Taiwanese lamps were for 2200 INR /pair. Got the Neolites for 950 INR/pair. Sourced from Maalik Auto, Rasta Peth, Pune.

Thanks to the horrible lack of any good auto modification places, it will now all be a DIY.

1. Will get measurements & hopefully remove the cross-member from behind the bumper & get 2 mounting brackets custom made & welded on it. The design I have in mind as of now will have 2 mounting points each. One above the other with about a foot of vertical distance between the 2 points on each bracket. One will support the aux lamp while the other will host the DRL. I hope it can materialize.

2. Will make holes / cuts in the bumper to get these points out.

3. Afterwards the wiring, relay setup & installation of a basic switch somewhere in the invisible parts of the dash under the steering wheel should be quite an easy task for DIY.

Fingers crossed & waiting for a dry spell on a weekend. God do I miss a covered parking spot at home...

[rakesh_r]

Originally Posted by Reinhard

Fingers crossed & waiting for a dry spell on a weekend. God do I miss a covered parking spot at home...

Hello Reinhard, were you able to Install the lights? How are they performing, planning to Install these on my Scross.

[Reinhard]

Originally Posted by rakesh_r

Hello Reinhard, were you able to Install the lights? How are they performing, planning to Install these on my Scross.

Hellow! Well have been away from the forum for a LONG while due to crazy work status. Finally starting to get some time to be back where I like to be.

So as it stands - the Neolites still sit idle in the darkness of my storage cupboard at home. Didn't find any good quality fabricator who could provide me with mounts that didn't feel too dangerous or were too rudimentary. Without a good fabricator who doesn't damage anything and gives me the flush finish, I can't install these. Thats one thing where Bengaluru and Delhi are light years ahead of Pune really. If anyone knows any place where I can get these installed properly and not directly on the bumper itself, please let me know... Please...

Anyway, so the car is in wonderful shape, shining as new. So much so, that after a routine service visit at Bafna motors, they took a family pic placing a ribbon on the car for their own use, as if its a new car delivery. The executive specifically told me that they were taking it as they never get to see such a well maintained and cared Vista thats more than 8 years old.

A lot of changes have happened meanwhile with the Vista.

1. Upgrade & up-size of wheels
   The car now rides on wonderful new shoes and its like riding a different car altogether!
   Here's the basic setup -
   • 15" original TATA Zest steel rims, black
   • 185/60R15 Continental ContiComfortContact CC5
   • After-market Suzuki Ertiga spec wheel-covers
     
     The grip is remarkably good, ride is obviously slightly stiffer (and I wanted it that way) but steering is far more precise than previous.
     Against my expectations - the steering is actually now LIGHTER compared to the previous 175/65R14s (GoodYear DB)
     
     The tyres are very good for a balanced drive with good grip, good handling and yet comfortable & non-bumpy ride.
     I have already been in a couple of large pot-holes at speed by mistake & the tyres have held well. No bubbles anywhere.
     
     There has been no drop in mileage either. Details about that - later.
2. Upgraded the ICE head unit
   Replaced the OEM Blaupunkt HU with a SONY AX-5000 with CarPlay & Android Auto.
   Set me back by about 20k for the unit, installation & wiring. It has a capacitive touch, 2 USB inputs.
   It works like a charm really. Audio quality is good, the pre-outs now make better use of my JBL Amp+Subwoofer setup compared to previous make-do arrangement with stereo input cloned for woofer.
   
   Touch is good, video playback is good and most importantly Android Auto makes a world of difference. Precise navigation with Google maps suddenly brings the car in tune with the times and makes any travel planning so much hassle-free now.
   
   
   I have kept the original HU with me of course. Can be put back if needed any time.
   
   
3. Goa Drive after 4 years
   Me, wife & our 3.5 year old son, my childhood friend, his wife & 3 year old daughter, luggage for all for 5 days (obviously the woofer had to sit back at home while we had fun).
   
   The roads are pristine (Pune-Kolhapur-Kagal-Nipani-Tavandi-Gadhinglaj-Amboli-Savantwadi-Goa) & we met only about 5 kms of a rough (yet 50+ kph) patch & absolutely not a single pothole all the way otherwise. Where there was the rough patch - road work was already well underway. Another important point is - no traffic jam even with road work. How? 1 man with a 2way radio at each end, releasing 1 direction at a time for 1 minute. Simple as that.
   Finally we are seeing things as they should be & I have no reservations in thanking the MSRDC, NHAI & state & central ministries for these. Been driving to Goa for 10 years or more now, and never had such superb roads.
   
   With all the load, continuous AC (as it was May!) and pure tankful to tankful method, the car returned a whopping 20.5 kmpl. We calculated it 4 times to be sure & it is correct. She has returned these numbers without a single complaint now for 8.5 years. I cannot ask for more really. God bless Tata & Fiat for the Vista and the 1.3 MJD.
   
   But then the 8.5 year old baby had a little ace up the sleeve. Just after Katraj on the way to Goa (pretty much within Pune!) when the passenger was rolling the window for some wind, its bottom support gave up & the window just rolled down permanently...It was 1st of May and absolutely everything was closed shut. So no chance of fixing it.
   We traveled like that by boarding it up with the sun-shades & makeshift plastic film to Goa. The AC worked fine & we had no discomfort thankfully. Reached by 2PM.
   
   Then did this the next day by finding waste boxes & basic wrapping tape -
   
   
   Hehehe.
   (You can also get a glimpse of the CC5 & the Ertiga wheel cap here.)
   
   Decided not to spend time going to the TASC in Goa to get it fixed. Left the car in the hotel - the best part about Goa. Things are safe anywhere.
   The boarding-up job worked absolutely fine with proper air-seal. We returned 5 days later with absolutely no wind noise, wind leak or AC air leak. We managed to really seal it shut tight.
   Got it fixed afterwards at Bafna motors in a single visit. The winding arm was replaced (motor is fine) in 1 hour & car was given back. It set me back by about 1.5k all inclusive which is okay.
   
   I used this as a motivation to finally get my hands on a THAR which I have been wanting to do since ages now. Rented on at 2400 INR per day for just a day to roam around Panaji, Calangute, Dona paula etc. Did quite a bit of excursion & off-roading on the way to Fort Aguada. And boy is it an awesome experience. The Jeep in 4x4 L really is a conqueror without match (per say).
   Always had the itch to buy a THAR. But then the on-road manners and unbelievably bouncy ride on roads convinced me that it will really never happen. Alas. A parting shot of the THAR I drove a lot.
   

On a funny note - after driving the THAR for a couple of days, when I started the Vista again to start the return journey - i stalled it twice immediately after start in the parking & told my friend with confidence that the clutch had failed. I simply couldn't work the ultra light clutch of the Vista after the Thar & wasn't able to find the bite at all for 5 minutes! Thats what a THAR really does to you in minutes!! Crazy!!!


Off-late I was not using the car daily since the office cab service was good enough for daily travel to the eastern part of the town, especially with Metro work all over the place enroute.
That meant I lost a bit of a connect with the baby & started having thoughts about the Nexon. Currently wonderful offers, surety of price hikes for the Diesels from next year with BS6, now being the right time to change the car since its approaching 9 years now etc...etc.

The Goa trip, the new HU have categorically closed that topic & I really see no reason to part with the Vista yet. With the same X1 platform, I don't see a reason to retain the Vista and buy the Nexon (which in my opinion is the best sub4M SUV out there) additionally either.

In fact, I'm suspecting the non functional window winder was a protest by the car against my thought of replacing him!!

There are now prospects of driving daily to office & looking forward to that!

So we continue into the BS6 era with the good old stallion with its trademark soot blow under heavy acceleration...

[rakesh_r]

Originally Posted by Reinhard

Hellow! Well have been away from the forum for a LONG while due to crazy work status. Finally starting to get some time to be back where I like to be.
So as it stands - the Neolites still sit idle in the darkness of my storage cupboard at home. Didn't find any good quality fabricator who could provide me with mounts that didn't feel too dangerous or were too rudimentary. Without a good fabricator who doesn't damage anything and gives me the flush finish, I can't install these. Thats one thing where Bengaluru and Delhi are light years ahead of Pune really. If anyone knows any place where I can get these installed properly and not directly on the bumper itself, please let me know... Please...

Well I got the aux lights installed without any fuss, completely clean Installation. Purchased the lights from Bhandari and got the clamps made from them (I myself went to the fabricator). Initially, they suggested me to weld the clamps which I was seriously dead against. Got the clamps bolted on to the cross member. The wiring was done by a professional whom I knew since many years (He makes custom wiring harness using good quality wires). I normally don't get the wiring done from accessory shops since I am a bit wary on the quality of stuff used. The current wiring can easily take 100W and above rating bulbs without any issues.

[Reinhard]

Originally Posted by rakesh_r

Well I got the aux lights installed without any fuss, completely clean Installation. Purchased the lights from Bhandari and got the clamps made from them (I myself went to the fabricator). Initially, they suggested me to weld the clamps which I was seriously dead against. Got the clamps bolted on to the cross member. The wiring was done by a professional whom I knew since many years (He makes custom wiring harness using good quality wires). I normally don't get the wiring done from accessory shops since I am a bit wary on the quality of stuff used. The current wiring can easily take 100W and above rating bulbs without any issues.

That's exactly what I want. Would you mind telling more about this place? Where is it, any contact details (PM me for that please if you can). Would it be possible to provide some images / link to already posted images of the job done?

Thanks a ton Rakesh, already. I want these things to be installed before the rainy season if possible.

[rakesh_r]

Originally Posted by Reinhard

That's exactly what I want. Would you mind telling more about this place? Where is it, any contact details (PM me for that please if you can). Would it be possible to provide some images / link to already posted images of the job done?

Thanks a ton Rakesh, already. I want these things to be installed before the rainy season if possible.

Attaching some images of the aux lights.
I got the job done from Sharad car electricals
https://goo.gl/maps/q9A4M9xSZ9vu9mPD9

[Reinhard]

Originally Posted by rakesh_r

Attaching some images of the aux lights.
I got the job done from Sharad car electricals
https://goo.gl/maps/q9A4M9xSZ9vu9mPD9

I owe you one (at least!). Used the maps link you gave, Google provided the phone number as well. Spoke with the kind gentleman & he understood exactly what I am looking for. So I have made a plan to visit his store on Saturday. Now fingers crossed!

Thanks a lot Rakesh, appreciate it.

[rakesh_r]

Originally Posted by Reinhard

I owe you one (at least!). Used the maps link you gave, Google provided the phone number as well. Spoke with the kind gentleman & he understood exactly what I am looking for. So I have made a plan to visit his store on Saturday. Now fingers crossed!

Thanks a lot Rakesh, appreciate it.

Hello Reinhard, did you get the job done?

[Reinhard]

Originally Posted by rakesh_r

Hello Reinhard, did you get the job done?

Quite unfortunate actully. I had scheduled an appointment for yesterday and went as planned to find the shutter closed. For once I went without calling again.

Called the gentleman and it was closed because his father passed away on Friday. Just so sad to hear it and feeling guilty that I called him to check about the shop being closed. :(