Maruti 800 DX 1988 Ownership Review


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Thanks everyone for letting me into this forum and maintaining it neatly. I have a passion for automobiles right from my childhood. I never had/bought any toys other than cars and bikes. This is going to be a long post, I am afraid, because its the story of the car which lives with us for the past 20 years. Apologies for that :-)

Ever since I remember, I was always been an helper to my dad, who has his own ways on maintaining his vehicles. He never thought about mods or cosmetic looks, but he wanted his vehicle always, always never be on road due to any reason. He has a huge set of tools, a mini-workshop, though his profession is totally unrelated. He never leaves his vehicles alone anywhere. He will stay in the workshop from morning to late night if something is to be done that way. If the vehicle is given for painting, he will visit the painter at least 5-6 times a day. He felt so insecure when the vehicles are not with him.

As time went on, I was promoted from the role of helper to worker. I used to get angry and annoyed when someone asked me to study while working on non-functional spares of bikes and car, which is really useless and total waste of time.

This thread is all about our cute little car, the Maruti 800 Dx, 1988 model. Varun's thread inspired me to write about our car (http://www.theautomotiveindia.com/forums/ownership-reviews/5044-my-modified-maruti-800-a.html). This car was bought by my dad in early 90 from a dealer. It was clocked around 30,000 KMs. When we got the car it was cosmetically good, but had some rusting and bubbles. The engine was used less, and it was butter smooth. The AC was powerful until it went kaput. It used to give us some decent mileage of about 17-18 KMs We used the car as a daily runner, from short trips as short as 2 KMs to long trips of 200+ KMs. Small issues come and go, rectified those time to time. Under-body coating were done regularly as our area get a lot of rains and dirt. The car never failed on roads. My dad took care of the maintenance in such a way that he always had a stock of spares at home. Couple of starter motors, a full set of brakes, bulbs, CB points, ignition coils and what not. We developed a kind of bond and trust on this small cute car, though the space is an issue often.

Time went on, the car had some lack of power issues, Tried to keep it going by adjusting the valves etc due to our financial constrains. Finally had to do an engine overhauling in 2000. By that time the car had clocked around 100,000 KMs. Mileage went down to 10-12 KMs which later increased to 19+ KMs. In the meantime all the four doors, dicky and bonnet door were replaced due to rusting. Repainting was done partially.

Then comes a major issues. After running about 20,000 KMs after the overhaul, the car developed issues while cold starting, which later escalated in such a way that the car may refuse to start at any time. Once it fires, everything is okay, except power and mileage issues. Thorough checks were done at MASS, my dad's regular mechanics, my dad himself.

Everything was fine but the issue persisted. Finally our regular mechanics found out that there is some issue in the carburetor, the jets are worn, even after changing the jets the problem was not rectified. Days of issues. I am away from home. We do discuss this same issue whenever we spoke over phone. At a point we thought of selling the car, but our relationship with this car was so strong that we couldn't do so. Suggested for carburetor replacement. My dad was thinking, how to solve this issue himself. He didn't want to buy a new one. He procured a broken carburetor from one ASS through his personal contacts and another from a local market for just 400 Rs. He procured all jets. Worked for days. Merged all these and made one with a lot of old and new spares in a big box in his mini workshop. He took the car and carburetor to the workshop, as he has no man power at home to support, me being away for studies/work. The carburetor was replaced with the one he assembled. And even without a single misfire, the car comes into Life!! Thats it. Dad drives back the car home with the transplanted carburetor. All problem solved, the car got better power, better mileage. Fine tuning was done for another 100+ KMs regularly. It started giving about 24+ KMPL!! No major works done after that. The gearbox is never opened even after 150,000 KMs now. The leaf springs broke couple of times, then my dad added extra leaf springs, now the car is running with double leaf springs which gives him extra confidence.

This car is still a daily runner though we have a bigger brother for this car, a Swift ZXi bought in 2009. It was the car used for my wedding, it is the car of first choice when we are on an emergency, because we know this car will never let us down, and we know this car in and out which helps a lot on the roads. Now I am planning for a complete restoration, without touching the engine and gearbox. Planning to add alloy wheels, extra lights etc, but the car will be white only.

Adding some photos of the car.

PS : Mods, I am not sure this post should be in Ownership thread or in Nostalgic era thread. Please move it to the appropriate one if needed. Thanks in advance.

With thanks and regards
 

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Hi,
Its good to see the lots of love towards the First and the old car which you own. All the best for your restoration. But think twice before spending, because we don't know when the 10 year vehicles ban will come to south India as like it happened in Delhi.
 
Thread Starter #4
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The car is undergoing some restoration work now. Its a daily runner. So the works are being done when the car is free. My dad is a kind of person who never likes to leave his cars in any workshop. If that happens, he will visit couple of times a day to check the work progress :-)

There was some rusting and crack due to aging, and was welded yesterday. Thats all the tinkering left in the car. The car will be given for a repaint in a couple of weeks.
Some pics
 

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Thread Starter #5
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The car has been stripped and gone for painting. We are doing it with our trusted neighbor, the paintjob is not going to be very expensive as we plan to keep the same white color and the guy is kind of old school. He will take couple of days extra, but the work will be neat and clean. Sorry that I dont have pics to show as I am not in India. Will post the end product photos soon.
 
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Hello there Glomus123,
Your car is still in better condition than what you'd find most of the time when it comes to old 800s. It sure has some work as I can see in the pictures.
A complete restoration is a good idea. But I would recommend you to get the best quality paint-job done on the car. Don't settle for a lower quality work. Plan on the budget really well. If it is a little tight, the alloys can wait.
Make sure the body work is done really well and use the best quality paint. The car should look like an eye candy. Needless to say, go for MGPs only. Use the stock parts that relate to the model. Like the first pic where the grille isn't of this particular model.

I hope the car is run only on petrol. It is always the best than on gas. The F8B engines last for about 1 lac KMs. I think more if you take good care of it. Go for higher quality engine oils.
For the tires, instead of air, use nitrogen. Steering becomes a lot lighter.
Use Bosch wipers. Its the best when it comes to a rainy day. No smudges and no scratches.
 
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Thanks! We do always use MPG's, best engine oil (Castrol for past 20 years) and good care is given to the car. It has some cosmetic issues but we trust it even for long journeys.
I was somewhat concerned about N2, hearing a lot negative and positive feedback. Wipers are always Bosch. Never used gas as fuel.
 
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Like I said, no wonder it looks much better than others of that year.
I hope you didn't mind me sharing my experience here. Would love to know more from you. :)

For the other 800 in family, a 96 model, we use Shell.
About nitrogen, I heard it is good for the tires, no moisture and reduced weight. So it is good for FE, I'm so not the 'kitna dethi hai' type. Every car has its particular Kmpl or Kmph, anyways that is different topic altogether. Yeah, with reduced weight, I felt the steering free up much more than before. I do feel that difference. Have been running on nitrogen for months.
 
Thread Starter #11
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About nitrogen, I heard it is good for the tires, no moisture and reduced weight. So it is good for FE, I'm so not the 'kitna dethi hai' type. Every car has its particular Kmpl or Kmph, anyways that is different topic altogether. Yeah, with reduced weight, I felt the steering free up much more than before. I do feel that difference. Have been running on nitrogen for months.
Then I must give it a try, though I am getting 22+ KMPL in this car!!
 
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Hi Glomus,
You seem to have a lot affection towards your car, maintained pretty well, neat & cure white bird:-).

You try the below as well:
1) Head Grooves (Singh Grooves): Straight 30% more FE and lot of Low-End Torque, can easily move the car in 3 gear with out down shifting the gear although 4 people on the board and with AC on.
2) Tyres: You can try for 145/80R12 (Turanza ER60) for better Winters too.

with the above 2 I'm sure you'll cross 30KMPL.

Nice to haves:
3) Power Brakes: fit in the KBX kit and enjoy the butter smooth braking.
4) AC: 120 Watts Radiator fan with a 15/20 Amps Fuse is an answer for poor AC (Thanks a lot Varun for giving me the 120 Watts Radiator fan, this will resolve the 80% of the poor AC issues in any Maruti 800).
Fuse went out twice :-) coz it was rewinded with more turns (Varun cautioned me about that very clearly) which is a lil overburden on the old alternator with 100/130W lights :-). Will upgrade alternator Very soon with a Zen one.
5) 3X2X1 steel headers, unable to source a steel one.

Regards,
Sri
 
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NICE restoration work buddy. I can understand the value of a long lasting friend you find in this car. However as astral bliss said first plan on the budget and then if it goes higher there a few mods which can be kept for later. wishing you all the best for the restoration.
 
Thread Starter #15
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Sorry for updating late. Yes the car has gone through almost-complete restoration except the engine. Everyday I end of doing something on this car :-) Its like decorating your lovely kid. To add as latest update, changed the headlights from Eicher Trucks (got this info from Varun's posts) and changed the front seat rails. Everything is going good except the AC gas, which has to be filled. The car is running strong, and getting stronger day by day. Shall add some photos soon.

-Power Brakes: fit in the KBX kit and enjoy the butter smooth braking_
This is something I really lack and trying to add that soon.
Thanks!!
 
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