The Grey Skid – Chevy Beat TCDi LS (December 2012)


Thread Starter #258

deville_56

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February 2020

Sitting jobless like every other off day, thought of cleaning the radiator and intercooler.

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First, get rid of the bumper. Two clips in fender liner and a screw behind it.

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2 + 2 clips over the grille and a couple of bolts under the bumper.

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Gently pull from the fender

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and it's out. Disconnect fog lamp as well.

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Damaged intercooler.

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and its shroud. Asked the idiot to replace it while changing the bumper, but he didn't. (Ordered recently, which got stuck up in Corona lockdown).

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Block the air filter.

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Spray some degreaser (Read mom's Vim liquid)

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Use pressure washer gently over the radiator and intercooler.

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Don't spray too close or at an angle, so that the fins don't get damaged (like mine [frustration])

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Thread Starter #259

deville_56

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Swapped the Denso horns installed before with Mico fanfare horns (aka Bosch Symphony aka Roots Windtone), which was removed from FZ due to loudness. Just had to buy extra clamps. Wiring was already done for the Denso Compact Fullpower Tone. Denso was chosen over fanfares then because of the lady driver factor, so as to not annoy honking others [cheers]

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Bought new horn clamps to extend. Plastic part got burnt when tried to clean with Three-Bond brake cleaner [frustration]

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Thread Starter #260

deville_56

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Ruined foglamp wiring. Always loose contact. Have to squeeze hands through fender lining to make it work.

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New clips.

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Crimped and sleeved.

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Fits perfect.

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What to do when you don't have the right size connector.

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Re-grounded and re-routed. Routed through cross member. Didn't have the sleeve in stock and couldn't find last-minute on holiday.

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All sorts of junk screws and bolts he could find in his trash, installed on the brand-new bumper.

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Replaced with brand-new bolts and spring nuts.

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Check whether everything is in working order before reinstall.

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The spare wheel was flat. Chance to test my new Windek inflator. Tyre was not seated properly, air was still leaking.

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Thread Starter #261

deville_56

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February 2020 - Incidental findings

Car comes prewired for stock fog lamps. Connectors on both sides.

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Just add missing fuse and relay

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and the LT's combination switch.

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Not even an extra wire needed, corrects directly to 27W2 bulb.

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Turbo is TEL make.

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Many parts are imported. Made in Korea cross member.

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Thread Starter #262

deville_56

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March 2020

Monthly (wash) meetup with the replacement.

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Condition of tyres.

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HU/clock resetting automatically when parked.

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Removed battery. Tray completely rusty.

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It was simply loose terminal, but the condition of connectors were too bad, due to overtightening by the idiots.

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Even the washer wasn't spared.

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Crimped new terminals.

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Added a washer under the terminals as well.

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On the run.

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Thread Starter #265

deville_56

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March 2020: The alloy story

The itch for the alloy really began when I saw this one parked near office on a lazy Sunday shift break. The calculating the costs and the worthiness of investment on an anyway-to-be-scrapped in 15-year car. It would sum up to almost or more than on-third of the worth of the car. So made up my mind to live stock and change the tyre when the current set is worn out.

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Then saw this one, my all-time favorite design, when I lost all control and started searching OLX and Facebook Marketplace.

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The simple short story.

Highly inflated price and no room for (read lack of skill for) negotiation again put things on hold. It was my wifey, who motivated, why not buy one if you love to and my friend Harish, who would dig up something daily from Olx. Each time I would ask opinion with my brother, @vishnu vichu and @varunkumar2910. Like that many awesome designs and deals slipped between cup and lip, Enkei, Vossen, Lenso. We would message them on Olx and wait and after many days the reply would be "SOLD" Fed up with this, I lost my mind and again made up my mind, let's be stock. If I can find a decent set with tyres before my current set wears out, I would buy one. Budget was 25k max and was open to 14 and 15 inchers.

Then one day Harish, WhatsApp'd an FB link of this Lenso replica. Everyone was okay with it except the gold color. Negotiated the price, we got a deal. It was the weekend just before lockdown. We had to go to Kottarakkara anyway to pickup mask from a wholesaler. This was on the route. He said to come by Monday, when his new set of wheels will arrive. In Kerala, there was a mock-up lockdown announced 2 days before GOI's whole country lock down. So, I smelt it's now or not anytime soon. He agreed to meet, but no guarantee on the sale. The place was 60 km away.

Reaching there and upon talking, he agreed to give us the wheels, but lend our wheels till he gets his wheels. Agreed and the wheels were mine.

He had this oversize wheels on his Eon. Checking his FB profile, he swaps wheels like every six months.

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He made arrangements for swap at his friend's garage. Else we had to sweat at the roadside.

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Trial install. Look and fit was good. Gold color wasn't as bad in real, but anyway will repaint.

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All wheels on. Pays him. Leaves for the destination and picks the consignment and to home.

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Had a blinding downpour, which washed the car real clean.

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and finally home. 175 km total for the wheels.

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One nut was stuck and had to be broken off to install the wheel. Drove with 3 nuts and it was constantly getting loose on the way back. Had to tighten it multiple times. Somehow reached home. Don't worry about the sick-looking red bolts. He gave it since stock nuts were not fitting properly with the alloy. It had Gladiator's like spades, which luckily lost from him. Would return the nuts when collecting my stock wheels back.

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Thread Starter #266

deville_56

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Wheels are Lenso Samurai SC-01 replicas or bland rip-offs. PP Wheels Starley SC-001 [lol]
All were making fun of this Pee Pee Wheels.

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The whole stance has changed.

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True fat ass. Wishlist - Rear wash 'n' wipe + OE spoiler + debadge.

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Front tyres were kind of new. 195/45R15

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Some Sonar brand, Sonar Ultra Sport SX-1 EVO. Was skeptical about the brand and wanted to change ASAP. Went to the tyre guy and he said it is Nankang's sub-brand and not that bad and looked better than Nankang NS-2. Wanted to upgrade to 195/50R15 or maybe 195/55R15. He offered to, but the lockdown began the next day and whole plan got screwed up. No new tyre anytime soon. Obvious, there will be vitamin M deficiency post lockdown.

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Rear ones were kinda touching the wear indicators, but manageable for some more miles. These were used in the front, so edge more worn adding to under inflation.

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These were Nankang Ultra Sport NS-2

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Thread Starter #267

deville_56

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Broken Stud Replaced - Got the wheel studs replaced the next day itself. Gave it to the FNG, AM Motors. Asked him to replace all 4 studs, but he changed only 2 since it was around ₹ 250.00 each and rest of them were fine. Total damage ₹ 1,000.00 including his labor and lathe charges. He delivered car to home.

When dropping him back, bought a set of lug nuts as well. Got for ₹ 800.00 from Nayana Tyres. Bought the same one for Fiesta for ₹ 1200.00.


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Finally the red ones are gone for good. Packed and kept for returning. No one would believe, it's light as paper, feels lighter than plastic. Shocked the first time I took it. Other users saying, then need frequent tightening and won't last long.

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Proper side view.

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Thread Starter #269

deville_56

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March 2020: The day before Lockdown - worst day to go wrong.

Kili poya kili (Bird that's gone mad).

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It was a Sunday and thought why not paint the alloys. Started off with rear wheel, then noticed it was of a different brand and slightly different design in the hole area.

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15 x 6.5 J

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Condition of rear wheel.

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Confused with the color. Thought gunmetal won't go well with Grey color car. Searched the Bosny shade card at Santha Paint House and picked up Nickel Alloy shade thinking it would look like normal alloy color.

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Trialed on an old paint can and it turned out to be more goldish.

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Change in plan. Picked my usual primer + metallic black + flat clear.

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Masked, prepped,primed,

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painted and screwed. Old paint wrinkled.

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Spent the rest of the day peeling the paint. There was 7 different colors in there, multiple shades of gold, silver, grey, white and even pink.

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Used everything I could find at home, including the paint remover. And to make matter worse, ran out of cotton/banyan waste [frustration]

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Managed to paint it gloss black

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with milder Asian Paint Apcolite. Actually I threw it away as it was very mild and light. That came to rescue.

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Applied Rust-oleum Satin Clear, which was also lying around for some time, which was never used due to its thick orange-peelish effect.

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Final not so bad. Highly imperfect job, but black color and the satin clear saved it.

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Modiji declared lock down the same night. Now totally screwed up with 1 black and 3 gold wheels and ran out of resources.
 

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