[Leoshashi]

Originally Posted by Leoshashi

Actually he bought this XL6 on condition that I'll connect him with my mechanic Arjun for replicating some of the mods. As of now, these are the planned ones, immediately after delivery:

1. Damping and Sound Insulation
2. Horn change to Hella Trumpet
3. Camera unit from Alpha(not MGA)
4. Engine Guard
5. Getting 5th Alloy, and he may swap his tyres to Michelin, subject to availability of fresh tyres.
6. TPMS
7. Dashcam

Brother's AT XL6 gets engine guard.

Before, exposed engine bay:

Work begins, curious mechanics:

Threading the newly made hole:

Extra screws, nuts and bolts:

Super neat install:

View from top:

AT gets extra coolant lines for gearbox's heat management:

AT's oil pan:

A detailed video of the finished product:

https://youtu.be/TsfYEJw2krY

[TorqMaster]

Very nicely done. I got the guard installed at my service center for my XL6 AT. Mine was the first one they had done .

They had to tie the one closest to the driver footwell with a zip tie (to the chassis) since the position of the screws were such that there wasnt any support onto the chassis.

[ankitahuja]

I asked for the same to be installed in my S-cross (D) and the NEXA mechanic heavily advised me against it.
His take was that the XL6 engine and components are lower exposed outside than the S-cross so that car may need it. Also, for proper heat dissipation and for the engine to run optimally, I shouldn't do this. Lastly, if my driving is mostly in city, highways, and places with 'roads' then I shouldn't bother anyway.

[reinhardt93]

This looks great. Do you have an idea as to what kind of material the underbody protection is made of?

[lemedico]

any idea if this would fit on the current Ciaz?
or on how to get one specifically for the Ciaz?
thanks in advance!

[Leoshashi]

Originally Posted by TorqMaster

They had to tie the one closest to the driver footwell with a zip tie (to the chassis) since the position of the screws were such that there wasnt any support onto the chassis.

Don't know what went wrong for you, as you can see in the pics and videos, holes were available at all points for XL6, except front where we drilled holes on the lower member(it's a bolt on member and can be changed in few minutes if needed).

Rear most holes take fender lining clips, middle holes take screws, while the front holes take fender lining clips plus bolts(the hole which we made).

Originally Posted by ankitahuja

I asked for the same to be installed in my S-cross (D) and the NEXA mechanic heavily advised me against it.
His take was that the XL6 engine and components are lower exposed outside than the S-cross so that car may need it. Also, for proper heat dissipation and for the engine to run optimally, I shouldn't do this. Lastly, if my driving is mostly in city, highways, and places with 'roads' then I shouldn't bother anyway.

Lol, the lazy ones will find excuses to do anything extra. This post is about my brother's AT but my XL6 MT has this engine guard for almost 1.5 years now. No issue of overheating or the nonsense people scare you for. Another benefit for me is that engine bay remains very clean, and detailing once a year is enough for me to keep it in top shape.

Here is the post when I first got the guard installed: Link (My first car: 2020 Maruti Suzuki XL6 Alpha MT Review).

Heat dissipation isn't an issue because firstly hot air rises up, secondly, the engine guard doesn't seal the engine from bottom as there are tiny holes for drainage and thirdly, atleast for the cars based on Heartect Platform, the rear and sides of engines have huge empty areas, so there is enough ventilation available. Back then, I had also checked engine temperature behavior with SDT plugged in, there was no difference.

Originally Posted by reinhardt93

This looks great. Do you have an idea as to what kind of material the underbody protection is made of?

Thick plastic lined with felt like material.

Originally Posted by lemedico

any idea if this would fit on the current Ciaz?
or on how to get one specifically for the Ciaz?
thanks in advance!

Ciaz is actually based on the old Swift platform, thus this engine guard won't directly fit it.Try something in aftermarket or get one fabricated if it helps you.

Regards,
Shashi

[DrCar]

Just curious to know how would one notice minimal oil or coolant leakages if we install this underbody protection?
Instrument cluster will definitely show up the warning signals, but the warnings may come too late when critical level is breached.

Asking this because my wife drives a WagonR AMT and such protection would be helpful to protect the crucial gearbox components from major damage.

[anand.shankar]

Originally Posted by ankitahuja

I asked for the same to be installed in my S-cross (D) and the NEXA mechanic heavily advised me against it.
His take was that the XL6 engine and components are lower exposed outside than the S-cross so that car may need it. Also, for proper heat dissipation and for the engine to run optimally, I shouldn't do this. Lastly, if my driving is mostly in city, highways, and places with 'roads' then I shouldn't bother anyway.

Does the scross have an option ? Or were you asking to install the same Dualjet engine cover ?

[ankitahuja]

Originally Posted by Leoshashi

Lol, the lazy ones will find excuses to do anything extra. This post is about my brother's AT but my XL6 MT has this engine guard for almost 1.5 years now. No issue of overheating or the nonsense people scare you for. Another benefit for me is that engine bay remains very clean, and detailing once a year is enough for me to keep it in top shape.

Here is the post when I first got the guard installed: Link (My first car: 2020 Maruti Suzuki XL6 Alpha MT Review).

Heat dissipation isn't an issue because firstly hot air rises up, secondly, the engine guard doesn't seal the engine from bottom as there are tiny holes for drainage and thirdly, atleast for the cars based on Heartect Platform, the rear and sides of engines have huge empty areas, so there is enough ventilation available. Back then, I had also checked engine temperature behavior with SDT plugged in, there was no difference.

I am not sure if the reason was laziness, but the guy is quite competent and ready to take on any task I put forth. Anyway, I will explore the option again and read some more on the link you shared.

P.S. The S-cross is based on the Global TECT platform as compared to the XL6 which is on HEARTECT (as you said), so it there a space constraint?

Originally Posted by anand.shankar

Does the scross have an option ? Or were you asking to install the same Dualjet engine cover ?

I understand that this one can be retrofitted onto the S-cross as well.

[fhdowntheline]

I think it is just cost cutting by some OEMs. If I recall, Honda City earned a bad rap because of its low ground clearance and unprotected engine bay. But they made amends from the 4th edition onwards I think- ateast mine had it. I see no reason why such a feature cannot be part of basic design of the vehicle especially in Indian conditions.

[anand.shankar]

Originally Posted by ankitahuja

I am not sure if the reason was laziness, but the guy is quite competent and ready to take on any task I put forth. Anyway, I will explore the option again and read some more on the link you shared.

P.S. The S-cross is based on the Global TECT platform as compared to the XL6 which is on HEARTECT (as you said), so it there a space constraint?



I understand that this one can be retrofitted onto the S-cross as well.

Thanks, I'm planning to order one and check as well.

Has anyone here tried it in their Scross or Brezza yet ?

[jalex77]

Hi Leoshashi,
Got the engine cover fixed on my car from the nearby MASS today. I followed all your inputs and the mechanics did it in some 15 minutes. I had shown them the photos you posted here along with part numbers so it was real easy and fast.
Thank you so much. So happy and pleased with this mod. 😊

[Leoshashi]

Originally Posted by jalex77

Hi Leoshashi,
Got the engine cover fixed on my car from the nearby MASS today. I followed all your inputs and the mechanics did it in some 15 minutes. I had shown them the photos you posted here along with part numbers so it was real easy and fast.
Thank you so much. So happy and pleased with this mod. 😊

Congratulations, neatly done. One word of caution though. Those large washers and screws on plastic panel will hold only till the time you don't unscrew it. Services like 20k or 40k PMS will need you to remove the engine cover for draining coolant. For the same reason, I had tweaked the front holding points a bit, hope you had seen that: Link (My first car: 2020 Maruti Suzuki XL6 Alpha MT Review)

If you look at the pics of Engine guard installation on this page on my brother's XL6, you will see we went with the drill method. In my opinion, that option is entirely safe because that member is on bolts and NOT welded to the body. So anytime you wish, the car can be reverted back to stock with no issue at all. Secondly, I've lived with the mod since the longest time hence I can confirm, the drill part is as good as OE holes and has seen zero rusting(not even surface rust) in the past 1.5 years of usage.

Regards,
Shashi

[jalex77]

Originally Posted by Leoshashi

Congratulations, neatly done. One word of caution though. Those large washers and screws on plastic panel will hold only till the time you don't unscrew it. Services like 20k or 40k PMS will need you to remove the engine cover for draining coolant. For the same reason, I had tweaked the front holding points a bit, hope you had seen that: Link (My first car: 2020 Maruti Suzuki XL6 Alpha MT Review)

If you look at the pics of Engine guard installation on this page on my brother's XL6, you will see we went with the drill method. In my opinion, that option is entirely safe because that member is on bolts and NOT welded to the body. So anytime you wish, the car can be reverted back to stock with no issue at all. Secondly, I've lived with the mod since the longest time hence I can confirm, the drill part is as good as OE holes and has seen zero rusting(not even surface rust) in the past 1.5 years of usage.

Regards,
Shashi

Thank you, they had told me it was better to drill holes and fasten it more securely. I insisted to do it this way since I wanted everything to stay stock if the cover is taken off one day.
I also hadn't seen your post whose link you have shared here. I'll go through it carefully and tell the mechanics to do it the same way as you have done when the car goes in for a major service. Right now the car has only done a shade under 3500kms.

[ultimatechamp]

Originally Posted by Leoshashi

Indeed it was funny to reject a car because of vendor of headlamps.

I had the luxury because of the huge stock my dealer had. They are one of the largest dealers in Eastern India, and you can guess their dominance by the fact that they have some 8-9 huge yards, with close to 3000 cars in stock. Compared to the other dealer who barely had 60-70 in stock.

I had too many options to choose from, hence touched all of them. I try to avoid Lumax as their quality is shoddy mostly. We also have a thread running on the same topic:

Link (LUMAX on Scorpio:Shoddy, Poor Quality OE Headlamp and Fog Lamps On My New Scorpio!)

Lumax these days is relying on Made in China units and components, have a look(pic from my Friend's car):

Attachment 2048550

Regards,
Shashi

I probably am asking a silly question, but is there a way to know what lighting system a car from Nexa is coming up with while it is arriving from the factory to dealership stockyard ? Or better still, during PDI, if we find that the car comes with Lumax lighting system, should we reject the car, and can we demand we want IJL . Won't the delaership say that even we do not have a way of knowing it.
Just asking because of your vast and thorough knowledge regarding all this.

Thanks and a belated congrats on your lovely car, as I stumbled upon your thread just today evening