[mercedised]

@condor: Yes, this one looks good. More room for air, this will help the car in relaxed gasping of air. I am looking to put this one at the earliest and also waiting for report on this one from you, although I think that improvement is only tobe observed in a car which has clocked some 80K+ kms or so on. Great find anyway.

[synchromesh]

I have been following your LTR of the truck quite keenly, Condor.
Looking forward to hear from you on the air filter.

[condor]

Update on air-fitler: Definitely worth it. The engine seems to revv more easily than before. Pick-up is better.

Reg improvement in FE, it will take sometime for me to give feedback on this since the Sumo is going back to Prerana Motors for a re-check of the alternator. (The alternator was serviced last month, but the symptoms have re-appeared).

While discussing with @Bullitt & others on this filter, I did a rough calculation of the difference in the effective surface of the air-filter element. For each sq cm (or 100 sq mm) of the old filter, only about 63 sq-mm is open, and the rest blocked by the metal sheet. This filter from Bosch has at least 25% more space for passage of air.

Since this is a regular replacement filter, it makes a case for itself to use this atleast when you have to change your air filter. The cost of this will will be close to (not too much more than) the price of the air filter you would get at A.S.S.

Originally Posted by mercedised

More room for air, this will help the car in relaxed gasping of air. .. although I think that improvement is only tobe observed in a car which has clocked some 80K+ kms or so on.

@Mercedised, it should help any engine - why just cars that have crossed 80k ?

@Synchromesh, thanks. If it has been some time since you changed your air filter, I will suggest you get this one even now, instead of waiting till next service. You can replace it at home itself. Just needs a spanner & a screw driver.

[mercedised]

@condor:

I think that in a new car everything is just so nice that it is hard to notice little improvements. That was the logic behind my say, it could be wrong though. BTW, a piece of advice if your car is out of warranty then donot service self or alternator at TASC they tend to be careless, I have serviced 3 times alternator of my Indica in the interval of 1000kms TASC and the problem continued, finally I went outside and got it serviced myself and the problem went away.

[condor]

@Mercedised, I understand the T.A.S.C part you mentioned, but I have been a happy customer and dont have any reason to look outside. Also, will need a reliable place to do it, if I want to do it outside..

Since it has been about a month after the alternator was serviced, I will ask them to repair it F.o.c.

[synchromesh]

Originally Posted by condor

@Synchromesh, thanks. If it has been some time since you changed your air filter, I will suggest you get this one even now, instead of waiting till next service. You can replace it at home itself. Just needs a spanner & a screw driver.

Will definitely do that. As mentioned in your earlier thread, I will visit Siddaiah road one of these weekends for the Bosch filter. Having replaced the stock air filter on my Indica a couple of times, doing so on the Victa should be easy.

BTW, is the 25% additional surface area yielding noticeable difference in pickup and FE?

[condor]

Changing the air filter is a no-brainer, actually.

Originally Posted by synchromesh

BTW, is the 25% additional surface area yielding noticeable difference in pickup and FE?

Did make a quick mid-week trip to Sringeri. The Sumo did feel quieter and a little more responsive.

After all these years, I finally touched the vehicle's top speed of 125kmph, though speedo did read about 130-132kmph. A/c + 4 people + a little luggage.

But do not have any numbers to share since I have not yet topped up after I returned. The road is not great. about 130km of mild to medium twisty ghats. Half of this was on bad surface roads. The remaining 200km from BLR to Hassan is again 50% single roads with quite a bit of bad surface. Only about 100km (max) is double sided, freshly built roads.

I had done this section last month also, but had not touched top speeds then. In case I do get some decipherable stats of the FE, I will share it.

OT:
I am wondering if the Sumo has better NVH than my TDCi Ikon ! While the front row in the Sumo has some amount of engine noise, the mid row & rear section jump seats are actually comfortable with hardly any engine / road noise. Relatively, the common-railed Ikon seems to have more diesel clatter & engine noise than the desi, IDI-engined Sumo.

[mercedised]

@condor: Is your Sumo TCIC or NA? If TCIC then how is its erformance compared to Safari TCIC? (If you have you driven a Safari TCIC?). Does it feel underpowered by any means and what is the kerb weight of the vehicle.

[condor]

Abhishek, it's a TCIC.

I have driven a Safari for only half a km. This was a 8-10 year old TCIC version, and I wanted to test the load of the a/c compressor.

The TCIC Safari is definitely under-powered. It is pulling about 200 kg's more than the Sumo. Kerb weight of my Sumo: 1850 kg. Safari tips the scales at approx 2100 kg. After having driven my Sumo, I would never be able to drive a TCIC Safari.

I have had the same questions, esp the top speed. My Sumo is rated at 125kph. (NA version has a top speed of only 110 kmph). But the TCIC Safari's top speed is 140 kmph. The reason, as I was given to understand after talking to quite a few people is possibly the gear ratio's. But I have not been able to confirm this. But one difference is the FIP. I think all the later TCIC Safari's came with a Bosch FIP, while many of the TCIC Sumo's came with a Lucas FIP. (Some Sumo's do have a Bosch FIP).

Also, the a/c compressor on that particular Safari I tried did not load the vehicle much.

[mercedised]

@condor:

Thanks for the information. My car has a MICO pump (Is Bosch and Mico the same?). I have checked that and the car is a 2004 model (the time when the TCIC Safari was last upgraded before introduction of DICOR).

The top speed of the vehicle is indeed 140kmph. I have tested that twice. Although I normally cruise at 90-100kmph (2.7k-2.8k rpm). Yes the gear ratios must be different since Safari came with 4x4 too. First and second gears are short (which helps in negotiating the 250kgs+ weight factor on hilly regions).

[condor]

@Abhishek, yes : Mico & Bosch are the same. I think they standarised on the Bosch/Mico FIP for the Safari in the later years.

Actually, the TCIC Sumo Victa was also available in 4x4. But I dont have the detailed specs for that model.

[synchromesh]

@ Condor:

I came across K & N filters for Sumo/Safari.
K&N Filters - KN Filter - Tata Sumo, Sierra, Tata Mobile in India | Car Accessories | Spare parts | Vicky.in Shopping

Your thoughts, in case you have explored outside Bosch.

[AVR]

Originally Posted by synchromesh

@ Condor:

I came across K & N filters for Sumo/Safari.
K&N Filters - KN Filter - Tata Sumo, Sierra, Tata Mobile in India | Car Accessories | Spare parts | Vicky.in Shopping

Your thoughts, in case you have explored outside Bosch.

The Safari comes with a cylindrical filter. Going by the image this filter may not work. K&N is rather expensive!

[condor]

Synchromesh, @AVR is correct. The Sumo / Safari / 207 / Sierra use a cylindrical filter. This ad shows a square, panel filter.

Even the round BMC filter I showed in earlier pages will not work for these 4 vehicles. Else I would have got one.

The ad does not even list the model number of the filter.

[synchromesh]

On my IDI Victa TCIC that has run about 58.5k kms, I recently realised that the exhaust levels seem to have got higher in the last few days. The smoke is dense and darkish grey (darker than usual) and is noticed more during 1500-1800 rpm on 2nd gear.

Oil was last changed during routine service at TASS 2.5k kms ago.
Also noticed a dip in FE. Over a full tank of IOC Extramile driven on highway and city, I got only ~11 kmpl.

Can System-D can come to the rescue?
Requesting your suggestions.