Fuel tank guard for Manali - Leh highway

vardhan.harsh

The road beyond Manali, as i've read on most of the forums online, seems to be in quite a bad condition. I'm planning a road-trip on the Manali-Leh highway, in mid-august this year, and as is apparent from the forums, fitting an oil sump guard and a fuel tank guard seems a must.

Recently i've taken my car, an esteem, up quite some off-beat tracks such as kalpa, sangla, chitkul, munsiyari.. so hill driving is not an issue that i'm concerned too much about.

But the ground clearance is one thing that worries me, as on the last two trips, i've managed to wreck havoc on my car's muffler, and each time had to get a new one installed. Thank god i was lucky enough not to damage the fuel tank!

Does anyone know of any place in Delhi where it is possible to get a fuel tank guard and an oil sump guard installed?

Yesterday i tried to get hold of some people who could do it, and landed in karol bagh, where a local silencer manufacturer said he could do it for me for around 4,000 rupees. I also contacted performance auto in Noida, and they were charging around 10,000 to get the same work done.

Any ideas or suggestions would be really appreciated.

Thanks in Advance
Harsh

Balvar

U r Spot on it would be ideal to get the same fitted before going. Well no ideas about Delhi. But 4K seemns not a bad Option for the same.
Happy Motoring !!

Penultimate Buddha

hey harsh
can you tell me what is the road clearance of an esteem. i am planning to do the delhi-leh trip on 5th july onwards in my ford ikon. it has a road clearance of 170mm vs a gypsy which is 210. Is 4 cms too much of a difference?
Is the manali-leh road worst off then your off tracks of kalpa, sangla, chitkul and munsiyari?
Also if you have any news on the weather. I belive Himachal Pradesh gets pretty bad in the monsoons.
Any feedback will be much appreciated.
Thanx

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vardhan.harsh

The ground clearance of esteem is 170mm, which is the same as that of an ikon. and yes, a difference of 4 cm is actually quite a lot. As has been advised by many, guards such as that of fuel tank / oil sump is necessary.

Yes, from the feedback i've received (and the photographs i've seen), the road from manali to leh is worse off than what i've been to till now. Although Kalpa, Sangla , Chitkul & Munsiyari were also off-the-track but this would be one notch up.

Yes it's never a great idea to travel in the monsoon in the hills, as the chances of landslides increase, but on the same page, this is the only time when the highway is open for tourists.

Feel free to share/ask more , I've never been on this highway yet, but my plan is for the second week of august. So if you go there before me, feedback from you would be really helpful !

Thanks

Balvar

yeah the 4cms actually holde key in terms of Ground Clearence. although the same can be attempted in a Ikon, one just has to be Doubly careful on certain patches & drive carefully. I have seen Alto's Baleno's all sort of cars having leesr ground clearence then Ikon on the Manali - Leh huighway. Well Post Baralacha on the Highway its doest rain much. U shud go ahead with ur Plan , in case of any Landslie the hold up wont be more than a day or two in any case. Also Kalpa & Chitkul roafds are far better than Manali-Leh Highway.
pagal Nullah before Kyelong is quite tricky in rainy season. Better Attrempt it in Morniing. Also the riad leading to Brandy Nullah & Lachungla is quite Tricky