[sandeepmohan]

Originally Posted by KarthikK

I got a more superior Mobil Delvac1 5w40 oil filled up at a local workshop near my place after running the Selenia for a couple of days. [A

Hmmm....so you've spent twice on oil and the oil Vecto filled is already in the dumps.

Would have been a good idea to carry out the oil change along with oil filter at the local workshop. Unless you were forced to do the oil change at Vecto for the sake of warranty.

[akshay4587]

Originally Posted by sandeepmohan

Hmmm....so you've spent twice on oil and the oil Vecto filled is already in the dumps.

Would have been a good idea to carry out the oil change along with oil filter at the local workshop. Unless you were forced to do the oil change at Vecto for the sake of warranty.

Warranty will be void if an oil change is not carried out during service.
Fiat after sales do not allow use of Delvac1.

[KarthikK]

Originally Posted by sandeepmohan

Hmmm....so you've spent twice on oil and the oil Vecto filled is already in the dumps.

Would have been a good idea to carry out the oil change along with oil filter at the local workshop. Unless you were forced to do the oil change at Vecto for the sake of warranty.

yeah. I did the oil change at Vecto for the sake of warranty.
That oil needs to be billed during service.

[sagarpadaki]

Originally Posted by KarthikK

yeah. I did the oil change at Vecto for the sake of warranty.
That oil needs to be billed during service.

Oh. That's bad. I have been using delvac since the car was 6 months old. Guess I was lucky that Hyundai did not bother me much . BTW how much does the oil cost now for 5lts?

[nkrishnap]

Originally Posted by sagarpadaki

Oh. That's bad. I have been using delvac since the car was 6 months old. Guess I was lucky that Hyundai did not bother me much . BTW how much does the oil cost now for 5lts?

Fiat and Vecto is very particular about the Selenia engine oil going in during the service time for warranty.

The Delvac 1 5W-40 full synthetic oil is around 4200 bucks. Please dial JK automobiles for the latest cost. The prices were supposed to go up by around 300-400 for the 5 litre can.

[nareshov]

Is opting out of wheel alignment not a problem with extended warranty (of suspension etc.)?

[DRIV3R]

Originally Posted by nareshov

Is opting out of wheel alignment not a problem with extended warranty (of suspension etc.)?

No, if you maintain the alignment reports and the invoice as records with you. Fiat is very generous, even people with upsized rims and tyres have availed warranty if deemed necessary.

Why oil becomes a concern is because of the audits, the dealer has to show that he has sold Selenia to the customer. And hence. With wheel alignment and balancing we have no consumable to be used from Fiat per se.

[KarthikK]

There have been way too many enhancements on the outside. Time to focus our attention on the cockpit again .

This past weekend, I got something done on the inside of the cockpit to go with the red and black theme without looking too flashy. This particular mod has been around for donkey's years, but seems to have become very passe of late. I hardly ever see people getting this mod done anymore.

When someone says Neons, the first thing which came to my mind were those tubelight-like glowing stuff under the cars, now popular with Indicabs and Tata Sumos of IT company transport fleets. These underbody neons look distasteful and street racer-boyish to me. Too flashy and NFS-ish for my liking



Sorry, I was referring to interior neons when I said I wanted to deck up my car. Time to resurrect boyhood dreams. Time to resurrect interior footwell neons as an automobile fashion statement, at least for me and for this particular Punto. Well, the ones I got fitted weren't neons in the true sense, just Red LED strips coupled to the dimming roof lamps. The term 'footwell neons' and 'footwell LEDs' are still used interchangeably, nonetheless.

The Red Rocket now sports Interior 'neon' LEDs in the footwell.


I got these fitted at Evo accessories (Satya's store) for 1200 bucks for the full LED set. He had a range of colors, but I chose red as the bet fit for this car. Nothing else will make the cut for me now.

Behavior :

- When doors are unlocked or opened, the red footwell LEDs come on with a dimming effect just like the roof lamps

- When the doors are closed and/or car is locked from outside, the footwell lights shut off with a dimming effect just like the roof lamps.

- If I just switch on the rooflamps manually when in the car, the neons do NOT come on, which is a good thing when on the move and you want to read something in the dark.

- Unless the doors are unlocked and opened, the footwell lights will not come on, so this accessory does not pose any distraction risk when on the move.

- Even if the roof lamp is in permanent OFF position, the 'neons' will come on with a dim-to-bright effect when any of the doors are opened.


All said and done, it is now time to paint the town RED in an all new way. Let the pictures speak for themselves.

Open the door of the Red Rocket in the dark, and this is what welcomes you if the rooflamps are switched off - an Evil red glow that the car means business *lol*





The light intensity is quite subtle and not in-your-face. Of course, the chrome pedals reflect the light directly and make it look like red HOT metal!



With the rooflamps also in the door-open position, this is how it looks in unison. Switching on rooflamps will also tone down the loud Red glow from underneath



The dimming effect gives an eerie, evil look to the cockpit when the LEDs slowly come on, highlighting the foot pedals first in RED. The pedals look red HOT as the LED light intensity slowly turns up in 2 seconds. I love it!!



The passenger footwell area is not spared either



The Red Hot pedals when the LEDs light up. They will change colors to chrome once the key is turned to ON position.



It is possible to have only the footwell LED 'neons' come on and not have the rooflamps turn on. This is how it will look



If I manually switch on the rooflight inside the closed car (say to read a parking ticket or toll ticket), the LEDs will not interfere with or distract your attention.



If the rooflamp is in the door-open position, this is how the cockpit of the Red Rocket looks



A departing picture of the Red cockpit from this report:



More to come this week from the Red Rocket stable. Stay tuned! Thanks for reading.

[puchoo]

Looks fantastic !! and a great color choice as well!

[nipcarlover]

That looks really awesome!

Red suits the 'Red Rocket' really well, and looks really mean.

Did you get the smoked headlights installed finally?

[KarthikK]

Originally Posted by nipcarlover

That looks really awesome!

Red suits the 'Red Rocket' really well, and looks really mean.

Did you get the smoked headlights installed finally?

Thank you Nipcarlover .
Yes, the black headlamps are in place now

[blue_pulsar]

Karthik, true hot hatch there. Loved all your mods. 120bhp from a 1248cc diesel engine is truly awesome! Will be closely following your thread henceforth

Mind sharing the costs for the remap? Also, doesn't look that easy to install as Petes I believe? I'll be in the market for a remap within 6 months to a year. Collecting info on the same. Thanks.

[KarthikK]

Originally Posted by blue_pulsar

Karthik, true hot hatch there. Loved all your mods. 120bhp from a 1248cc diesel engine is truly awesome! Will be closely following your thread henceforth

Thanks a lot blue_pulsar, glad to know you liked the mods.

Mind sharing the costs for the remap?

They charge 28,000 INR for the remap, which is a one-time payment for this car. Any future adjustments in the map will be free of cost for any number of times that they remap it.

Also, doesn't look that easy to install as Petes I believe?

I thought it was the other way round actually. From what I was reading, Pete's folks dont remap the car directly here. They send the codes to UK and take some 2-3 days to get the remapped ECU up and running again. I don't know about Pete's now, probably you could enquire with them some time. TOT did the remap for me on the spot in 2-3 hours flat with their bench flash method.

Actually there is no installation involved with a remap, unlike a tuning box (which is an additional physical item coming into the engine bay). They just remove the ECU and re-write the map file with new values, based on what kind of driving requirements you require from the car. After this, they put back the remapped ECU into the car and that's it!

I'll be in the market for a remap within 6 months to a year. Collecting info on the same. Thanks.

Nice to know that. Good luck with your decision. I was sitting on the fence too, between a remap and a box, and then went with the former since it is a more complete package than a tuning box.

[Auto freak]

Originally Posted by KarthikK

Behavior :

- When doors are unlocked or opened, the red footwell LEDs come on with a dimming effect just like the roof lamps

- When the doors are closed and/or car is locked from outside, the footwell lights shut off with a dimming effect just like the roof lamps.

- If I just switch on the rooflamps manually when in the car, the neons do NOT come on, which is a good thing when on the move and you want to read something in the dark.

- Unless the doors are unlocked and opened, the footwell lights will not come on, so this accessory does not pose any distraction risk when on the move.

- Even if the roof lamp is in permanent OFF position, the 'neons' will come on with a dim-to-bright effect when any of the doors are opened.

That's exactly how it should be done! Perfect Karthik!
Definitely adds that extra touch of sportiness to the cockpit.

Eagerly awaiting the Dual Channel DieselTRONIC vs ToT Remap comparo!

[blue_pulsar]

Originally Posted by KarthikK

They charge 28,000 INR for the remap, which is a one-time payment for this car. Any future adjustments in the map will be free of cost for any number of times that they remap it.

That's awesome. The cost also seems to be reasonable.

Originally Posted by KarthikK

I thought it was the other way round actually. From what I was reading, Pete's folks dont remap the car directly here. They send the codes to UK and take some 2-3 days to get the remapped ECU up and running again. I don't know about Pete's now, probably you could enquire with them some time. TOT did the remap for me on the spot in 2-3 hours flat with their bench flash method.

Actually there is no installation involved with a remap, unlike a tuning box (which is an additional physical item coming into the engine bay). They just remove the ECU and re-write the map file with new values, based on what kind of driving requirements you require from the car. After this, they put back the remapped ECU into the car and that's it!

Oh! they overwrite the original mapping!

My idea was to actually install a Pete's box and remove it while I give my car for service, thereby, maintaining my warranty.

But good information you gave me on Pete's. I didn't know Pete's actually customize remaps. Their website also does not maintain this (unless I missed it). My aim is to get my Swift to 100bhp. They already have a box good for 92 bhp. Hope they add 8 more bhp to it!