[ByDesign]

Originally Posted by Schoudhury

Man you are getting some seriously good mileage from the MJD , which i think is only possible for me atleast during highway runs and you are getting them in the city conditions.

Could you please let us know if there is any thing in particular which you are following to get these numbers .

Im sure this will help a lot people .

The best i got in blore was around 15.
The last tank to tank reading that i had was

Fuel volume - 40.024 Lts
Trip distance - 565 kms
Which comes around 14.11 kmpl

Cheers

Well, let me describe my driving habits. I can't say for certain if this contributes for certain towards better FE, but its what I do. I don't put in special effort to do this.

1. I shift at 2k RPM, no matter which gear, i.e. shifting up. I don't look at the speedo when I'm shifting.
2. I don't push above 3k RPM, even when I'm overtaking. I usually ensure I'm in the optimum RPM range for that particular gear if I want to accelerate.
3. I never push in 1st gear. I use 1st gear just to get the car moving from zero.
4. Unless i'm on a very steep incline going up, I only use the clutch to start moving. There's such good torque in these babies, there's really no need to push the accelerator to get moving from a standstill.
5. If it gets bitingly cold inside the cabin (as it does sometimes with the Palio Stile's ferrocious AC) I turn off the AC till the temp gets ambient again. You can call this manual climate control But in summer, it's always on.
6. If I'm rolling down hill, I face two of these roads on my daily commute, I usually don't accelerate. I roll with the momentum.
7. There's no need to rev when you don't need to rev.

That's about it!
My FE figures are going to be very bad this time. The car's visited the workshop twice and I've done some dirty driving!

[ByDesign]

***UPDATE***

Front cracked windshield replaced! Got a nice shiny front windshield. Insurance was smooth without any hiccups whatsoever. Hat's off to Mr. Vikram Vohra (manager, body shop) of Elegant Motors, Patparganj.

Paid only Rs 1,200 for the entire job. Went on Thursday morning, filled in the papers and took photos of the car within the hour (Poor Mr. Vohra was handling about 3 accident cases together), got an sms a few minutes after I left the place about my claim confirmation (service!). By evening the job was done, but they wanted it untouched for the beading and sealant to dry. Picked her up, quite satisfied with the entire job. The bill break up was proper, with me having to pay only for the beading and labor.

***TANK FILL***

Fuel volume - 41.06 L
Trip distance - 670 kms

FE in city = 16.3 kmpl

Nice lil drop in FE there. The car's been through two visits to the service station. Plus this tank full, she's gone through some pretty aggressive runs in the city. Went 4,000 RPM and above in a couple too. A/C throughout more or less. Should be interesting to see how she figures in mid summer.

***SOME DIY STUFF***

Spent some nice time doing some intricate cleaning inside the car and some damping for the ICE HU, which was vibrating and clattering during drives, especially at about 1.5k RPM.

Managed to remove the AC vents with a screw driver for all four (two center and one at eat each, i.e. driver and co-passenger), washed them with soap, cleaned the insides of the ducts out with a nice wet cloth. Got quite a bit of dust out. Result? The A/C's blowing cleaner, cooler, fresher air, a lot cooler.

For the ICE HU, I removed the collar/rim of the HU (the little black frame, and lined the insides at points with a very thing string of blue tack. No vibrations or clatter now. Did some wet cloth cleaning between the seat upper and lower portions!

[drpullockaran]

Originally Posted by ByDesign

A point to note here is after a longish drive, when I turn off the car I can hear the AC pipes still hissing gently inside the cabin. It's exactly the same sort of sound when you turn off your window AC after a nights sleep. A soft hiss, that takes about 30 seconds to fade out completely. What is this?

Pressure equalization of the compressed gas flowing through the extremely tiny orifices of the expansion valve.

[ByDesign]

Originally Posted by drpullockaran

Pressure equalization of the compressed gas flowing through the extremely tiny orifices of the expansion valve.

Thank you

***UPDATE***

Crossed 8100 kms successfully.

***TANK FILL***

Fuel volume - 39.75 L
Trip distance - 717 kms

FE in city = 18.03 kmpl

Points to note - AC usage is more or less back to 100%. Yesterday however, we were blessed by some wonderful thundershowers that have brought the temperature down by quite a bit. Drove home from office with the window down! Just wonderful stuff. Also, I do remember racing this pretty woman in a Honda City who was obviously trying to stunt and overtake me. Didn't really affect my overall FE much. 18's pretty darn decent in the city. I've also idled with the AC on for about 15 minutes per stop. It's a bad habit, but I was being polite to people sitting in my car.

PS: I've just discovered, when I drive home from work sometimes, and it's pretty hot outside, I like to keep the window down and sweat it out on the drive back. I'm not sure why this appeals to me, but it makes me feel better. Back gets pretty sweaty, so do my arms etc. but it just feels right. I put the AC on when there's traffic though.

PS2: In one run during this tank full, I managed to almost touch 100 kmph in 3rd gear. Saw the tacho shoot past 4,000 RPM touching 5, which I'm told is pretty high for a diesel engine. She sounded so good screaming like that

PS3: Getting underbody LED, interior floor LED, and front daylight running LED's soon. Spoken to a few people, in the process of narrowing down. Fixed 22nd May to get it all done. Pics for sure thereafter.

[architect]

Originally Posted by ByDesign

PS: I've just discovered, when I drive home from work sometimes, and it's pretty hot outside, I like to keep the window down and sweat it out on the drive back. I'm not sure why this appeals to me, but it makes me feel better.

Besides the physiological effect of sweating it out, it is always advisable to leave the windows of your car open for a while (5-10 minutes, maybe) whenever you start, so that the fumes and vapours emitted by the chemical coatings on the interior plastics, metal, seats, upholstery etc that build up when the car remains locked are removed.

[ByDesign]

Originally Posted by architect

Besides the physiological effect of sweating it out, it is always advisable to leave the windows of your car open for a while (5-10 minutes, maybe) whenever you start, so that the fumes and vapours emitted by the chemical coatings on the interior plastics, metal, seats, upholstery etc that build up when the car remains locked are removed.

I read about that in an email forward once. Automatically deleted it as I do with all email forwards. Are you sure about this? It kind of makes sense, but kind of's where I draw the line

[architect]

It makes sense to me, from my little knowledge of the subject.

[ByDesign]

***UPDATE***

Went to the fabricator today. Just past the GT Karnal bypass. Absolute hell driving there. Pretty much put the car through her paces, flooded village roads, bricks, thick sludge, pretty deep mush, got through in the end looking like nat geo defender.

So the old Sardarji's been in the business of making custom/stock bumpers, skirts, side body panels, all that. From the completed works and photos and customer testimonials, he does a fantastic job. 25 years in the business he's been through. So I guess you can't expect any less than awesome.

Saw several skirts designs, front, side and back. Finalized, advance paid, work underway. Will be ready in 2 days, but since I have office for the week, I've finalized Saturday as the final installing day.

I can't wait to put these new skirts on my baby! Fiber glass fabricated, very good paint and finish, no gaps, solid stuff. I'm leaving some decent ground clearance even after the setup, so that should be ok.

After this skirting package is done, I'm getting carbon fiber film done, possibly the roof, or the hood, or both, I'll have to give it a thought. If anyone could give me a heads up on what price to look for, I'd appreciate it. Also, underbody lighting is more or less finalized. I'm getting a 7 color, 15 variations in total remote controlled underbody lighting package. Looks pretty pimp.

More as work progresses.

Vroooooom!!!

[ByDesign]

***UPDATE***

My car's skirted! To summarize, I've never seen so much rubbing, sanding, and putty in my life! 6 guys works for almost 8 hours straight on my car. This was right from scratch mind you, the dyes were set, the skirts were made to my liking and finished to perfection. The following pictures are during the day.

The story began here: http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/modifi...age-price.html

Reached the garage at 12:30 pm, finished at 8 pm!!!! The heat almost killed me, but here I am, resizing the pictures, whitening out the number plate, typing out my post. The sad thing is, by the time the job was fully done, it was dark, and there wasn't enough light to take good pics. My phone camera just isn't that good! So here we go!

The venue







Before







Work underway

[ByDesign]

She's beginning to look pretty agressive now! Look at the stance in pic 3!









Oh yeah, before I proceed, my dealextreme.com white parking LED bulbs had arrived, so I got those fitted too.

Here's the bulb (its the little thing below the main headlight bulb)



And here it is turned on



Really sparkling white and bright! I love em! Got em for 3.5 USD!! And free shipping!

Now moving back to the skirting project. Those good men were slaving away through the hot day, and finally managed to spray the final coat of clear coat on the skirts at about 8 pm. I think they did a very commendable job. Big respect to those guys. It really is a pity I couldn't attach daylight pics of the final job, but tomorrows Sunday, and I promise to get the pics up and loaded by lunch time!

Here she is!

[Turbanator]

nice job , but will these adhesives hold good in practical conditions ? Did they tried to use some plastic heat gun or have used puttey only ?

[naveen.raju]

Nice work dude. Are these fixed using adhesives only and not bolted/riveted? Waiting to see daylight pics.

[funkykar]

Wow! 8100kms. I am close to catch up with you on this. Excellent FE you seem to be getting, simply superb considering the price difference of diesel and petrol. I also agree on the getting sweaty some times. I too feel it good many a times.

Super work with the skirting. Cannot wait to see the day light pictures of your car. Man, these mods drive me crazy. May be some day I too will do something on these lines.

I want to see your car for real. When are you driving down south? Or do you want me to drive down north? May be this September, we catch up at Delhi and drive in our cars all the way till Leh! Are you game dude?

EDIT: After all the mods, I am sure you will be embarrassed by many asking if your car is a 1.6 petrol Stile.

[planet_rocker]

wow ByDesign - the car now has a lot more character.

This is just my view (don't take it otherwise):
1. the front skirt looks good
2. the rear skirt could have been a bit subtle especially at the corners - may be the rear diffuser could have been extended
3. side skirts pics are not visible properly.

overall, the car looks much better take care and drive safe.

[ByDesign]

Originally Posted by naveen.raju

Nice work dude. Are these fixed using adhesives only and not bolted/riveted? Waiting to see daylight pics.

There are bolts and rivets all around! The putty was just to cover up gaps.

Originally Posted by funkykar

Wow! 8100kms. I am close to catch up with you on this. Excellent FE you seem to be getting, simply superb considering the price difference of diesel and petrol. I also agree on the getting sweaty some times. I too feel it good many a times.

Super work with the skirting. Cannot wait to see the day light pictures of your car. Man, these mods drive me crazy. May be some day I too will do something on these lines.

I want to see your car for real. When are you driving down south? Or do you want me to drive down north? May be this September, we catch up at Delhi and drive in our cars all the way till Leh! Are you game dude?

EDIT: After all the mods, I am sure you will be embarrassed by many asking if your car is a 1.6 petrol Stile.

hehe, sounds good man, we'll discuss this in detail soon. Daylight pics now!

Originally Posted by planet_rocker

wow ByDesign - the car now has a lot more character.

This is just my view (don't take it otherwise):
1. the front skirt looks good
2. the rear skirt could have been a bit subtle especially at the corners - may be the rear diffuser could have been extended
3. side skirts pics are not visible properly.

overall, the car looks much better take care and drive safe.

1. Thank you
2. I like the rear skirt, diffuser like looks! Thanks for your suggestion though
3. They will be now! Here's some Canon D90 pics, all in daylight!