Thread Starter
#1
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
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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