The Mahindra Roxor has been out playing in fields and on trails for years now. We've all seen the old styled-Jeep looking vehicle and wondered what's going on here? Well, like all other diesel markets, the Roxor aftermarket is growing in volumes. You're diesel enthusiasts, these Roxor owners are just like you. Once they realized these machines have much more potential when modifying, well you know the drill. To the Garage they go.

To all those new to the Roxor game or those looking for information on how to get more out of your diesel vehicle let's run down quite a few of the options available:

Tuning:

This is where all diesel vehicles should begin. Why? It's the quickest, easiest, and cheapest way to gain power to your vehicle. This is the starting point for all diesel engines, so that means nothing is different for the Roxor. With the factory equipped Roxor putting just 52 horsepower to the tires you’ll see the most benefit from tuning the engine.  Switchable tuning, like that from Calibrated Power, allows you to move in intervals from the factory power level up to about 120RWHP. Tuning requires that your ECM be removed and mailed in, it's a little different than what you see available with programmers available for trucks. The ECM is tuned in-house and sent back with the switch and installation instructions the same day. This is a very simple process and worth the extra double and then-some horsepower gain. 



Boost Increase Valve:

The next step we suggest is installing a boost increase valve on your Mahindra Roxor. What's the benefit? Well, the answer lies in the name. This part takes the factory boost limit from 9psi to about 16psi. It's an easy install and gives a lot for so little. Without the boost increase valve, the stock turbo is only able to support about 80RWHP.  Once this part has been installed on the stock turbo, you can make 120rwhp with a tune. If you upgrade to an aftermarket turbo (yes they are available), this part isn't necessary. If you plan on simply tuning the ECM, then you definitely need this part.

Grid Heater Support/Replacement Boot/Strap:

The factory grid heater on the Roxor is secured with Elmers glue and fishing line. Crazy, right? Yeah, just kidding. It might as well be with what we've seen under the hood of these UTVs. This is a problem that will only intensify taking your Roxor from stock power levels to more than double the horsepower.  The rubber boot sealing the grid heater to the intake manifold quickly loses it’s ability to seal when the grid heater tilts on the intake.  When this happens you lose power, engine response, and risk blowing up the factory turbo. It's a serious issue that can be addressed for a nominal cost. 

Luckily On-The-Rox makes a strap to reinforce the grid heater in place using the top of the high pressure fuel pump. It works okay and is cheap. If you’re going to go this route, do it early before your stuff gets all tweaked. 

The most effective cheap option is to replace the grid heater with a 4 ply boot and T-bolt clamps. This will eliminate boost leaks but without the grid heater in place the truck will smoke on cold starts and may not want to start at all below 20*F. Make sure to tape your grid heater hot wire away from any ground source to avoid death.

Calibrated Power's intercooler kit includes a billet adapter and bracket components to securely lock your grid heater in place at boost levels approaching 30psi. It's a great product that will help cool the engine allowing for more power.



Clutch: 

The factory clutch is more-or-less up the task at ~120rwhp. If you have stock tires and don’t beat the vehicle every chance you get you’ll probably be fine. If, on the other hand you have big tires, stock gears, and poor impulse control you should probably plan on replacing it. If you want to take your Roxor past the 120RWHP number, you're going to have to upgrade the clutch. It's a mandatory upgrade at that point. 

Turbo: 

Now this is where the fun really starts. We usually recommend upgrading the turbo and intercooler at the same time, but they can be done independently as well. The RX41 is a drop-in replacement turbo that will dramatically improve how efficiently the engine moves air at high load without sacrificing low end spool-up. Not to mention, It sounds cool too. The turbo upgrade moves the airflow potential of the engine from ~120HP up to about 200rwhp. It’s important to remember that you’ll need extra fueling to reach those big numbers. With tuning, the RX41 will make about 130rwhp and it’ll do it with 200*F lower exhaust temps than the stock turbo (compared to a stock turbo at 120HP). Long story short, your engine will be much less fatigued and less prone to long term reliability issues with the cool air and efficiency provided by the larger turbo.

Intercooler:

It's been quite awhile, 1989 to be precise, that an automotive manufacturer last tried to convince the public it would be fine to run their diesel truck without an intercooler (Ram 12v Cummins). The fact is that making power and torque in a turbo diesel engine requires high boost pressure which result in heat. The more we go down this road. The more heat we see, the less efficient the engines operation becomes. Our intercooler kit dramatically lowers intake temperatures and allows the engine to run happily at higher boost without danger of overheat or failure. Adding the intercooler to a Roxor running our ‘120HP tune’ along with the RX41 lowered the EGT’s by 250*F and gained about 15HP. On our test truck running 150HP on the RX41, simply adding the intercooler was worth over 40HP.

Methanol Injection:

The factory fuel system limits the Roxor to about 135rwhp. No matter how many of the previous parts we mentioned the pump simply does not have the capacity to supply any more fuel without losing pressure. We’ve experimented with large pumps and made up to 200rwhp in the process but with that option comes considerable expense ($2500+ at the time of this writing). Methanol injection is a less expensive way to add fuel without dramatically inflating cost. It’s a simple kit that mounts a 2.5 gallon tank on the rear inside fender of the Roxor and runs a pump and controller to target the desired power
level. The kit sprays a fine mist of -30F washer fluid (methanol) directly into the intake when the controller sees boost. It does this seamlessly using a ramp program so power is predictable and linear with the throttle. 2.5 gallons of washer fluid can easily last a few fill-ups of diesel depending on how often the
truck see high boost. The addition of this kit will take a 135rwhp Roxor to 165rwhp. Duramaxtuner's Intercooler Kit has pipe plug NPT provisions for easily adding the kit, but it can be added to a non intercooled Roxor as well.

Are you ready to UPGRADE YOUR ADVENTURE?