[shankar.balan]

Slow progress owing to slightly uncertain weather and general parts availability.

Gypsy's offending rusty bits all tinkered and primed now...

The requisite parts have also been procured.

The vehicle will now probably be ready Thursday eve before the Vishu and Tamil New Year and Good Friday festivals this Friday 14th.

[shankar.balan]

Slowly slowly catchee monkey
Here it is slowly slowly catchee gypsy

A great deal of work done yesterday and today.

The front tinkering and painting work is done. That unsightly gap in the front between the windscreen bottom and the bonnet area is gone. The vents have been sealed off. Hopefully no more dust clouding in, leaves falling in and water leakages.

The wiper linkages and motor and arms and blades are all changed.

The dashboard is remounted and looks much better because it is now flush with the windscreen which it wasnt before.

The hard top has finally been bolted on thoroughly and the sealant is being allowed to dry now. It looks far better and fits far better than the old one for sure but even this one, being second hand, does need a good thorough touch up job and a rub and polish. It is a very light beige/ biscuity shade and the Gypsy no longer looks pristine white. It is marginally two toned now but looks good in its own way. The main thing is that the hard top is in great condition and even all the inner bits covering all those open gaps etc were available so they have also been fitted up.
I have even carefully installed rubber beadings all along the door lip and on the inside of the door itself near the lock area to seal it off.
The black back plate which fits behind the spare wheel bracket on the inside of the hard top has also been fitted in.

I have installed nice hand grips at both driver side and passenger side. Nice to hang on to when driving.

Brand new self retracting type seatbelts from Auto Friend, installed and work perfectly. They are not of the same level as the OEM ones but they are certainly good enough overall as seat restraints. The self retracting bit is of great help. The seat belts were a real pain otherwise, always falling out and clattering on the door step etc.


The engine tappets are readjusted to make it smoother.

Need some work to be done ref coolant leakage inside the engine block- minor but time consuming.

The front bumper has to get reset and there are several smaller jobs that need to get done thoroughly.

The seats are dirty and need to be cleaned and re fitted.

I shall be taking it tomorrow from the garage and using it for a day or two and then sending it back again for the remaining stuff.

There is still some amount of body work to be done. Some rusty bits beneath the battery area and beneath the seats and in the front floor boards. Need to be scraped thoroughly and rustproofed and painted up.

Another big job is to get the left side door done so that the glass side channel rattling ceases.

Else the Gypsy has come a long long way from where it was when it first came to me.

Another month or so should see it almost as good as brand new- I intend doing all the rest of the stuff over the next three weeks or so since I am travelling a bit and can do without the Gypsy for a time.

Lets see.

Will put pics tomorrow. Didnt bother taking pics during todays fitment work - was too lazy to do so.

[drbones]

Shankar balan , i think its high time you get yourself a brand new Gypsy . Looking at your passion for gypsy , you deserve a brand new one before maruti stops its production . You will enjoy 15-20 yrs of hassel free fun with a new gypsy for sure .

[shankar.balan]

Originally Posted by drbones

Shankar balan , i think its high time you get yourself a brand new Gypsy . Looking at your passion for gypsy , you deserve a brand new one before maruti stops its production . You will enjoy 15-20 yrs of hassel free fun with a new gypsy for sure .

Tell you the truth, I am enjoying this journey of rebuilding and restoration.
And as yet I have spent only around 1/3'rd the price of a brand new Gypsy.

[drbones]

Shankar balan Great going sir .

Final confirmation of an end to gypsy production is delisting of farm worker 4x4 ( akka gypsy ) from suzuki newzealand website . so who are going to be the luck owners of the last gypsies .

Waiting to see the Last Samurais of india .

May be if my heart rules my mind very strongly i may be one of the lucky people .

[shankar.balan]

So here is the Gypsy after all this major work got done.

Picked it up from Nagaraj's garage and then went and got it nicely washed and cleaned thoroughly inside and outside.

My previous posts detail the remaining work to be done which I will do like they say. 'Slowly by Slowly'...

I ll be taking it to Dinesh of Trend Auto for the remaining rust removal and other small left over body work and rubbing, polishing etc.

Whenever we are able to source a good left side door, we will do that work also.

For now, the Gypsy is driving well and there are no untoward vibrations and ugly noises from the hardtop and other bits and pieces...

[shankar.balan]

Well. There is one issue. On the bad roads of Bangalore the rear door lock seems to spring open suddenly.
Need to check and fix this.

When I give it for its floorboard work next week, I will do it.

[shankar.balan]

Originally Posted by drbones

Shankar balan Great going sir .



Final confirmation of an end to gypsy production is delisting of farm worker 4x4 ( akka gypsy ) from suzuki newzealand website . so who are going to be the luck owners of the last gypsies .



Waiting to see the Last Samurais of india .



May be if my heart rules my mind very strongly i may be one of the lucky people .

Dr. You still have your Gypsy right?

[shankar.balan]

So the old bus has been dropped off at Trend.

Work to be done includes floorboard rust removal,tinkering and painting

some tinkering required under the battery area inside the engine bay

some tinkering and paint required under the two front seats

some body filler to be placed in the cargo bay and plug some small gaps and holes that were drilled there by the previous owner to mount his spare wheel etc.

rear tailgate lock re setting.

minor paint touch ups to be done at various places on the Gypsy

a complete full body and hardtop rub and polish job



This whole thing is not going to be too expensive, but will take at least a week's time. Good that Im travelling this week, so Ive given it in for these jobs.

After this the only pending thing will be that left side front door which needs replacement because the door window channel inside is gone and can't be welded - it is an integral part of the door itself and therefore the door itself needs replacing.



Other than this, I need to give it back to Nagaraj for the engine coolant leakage issue which right now is minor because the dummies inside the engine block are rusted and need to be replaced, applied with araldite or similar and left to set.

Once that is done, the vehicle will be quite ready for many more miles.



I think all in all, it is worth spending time effort and money getting everything just right.

Its a great car.

Needs a bit of TLC but whatever said and done, all this comes at merely a fraction of the cost of buying a brand new one. Less than a 3rd of the cost of brand new in fact!



More later as things keep developing on the TLC front!
Attachment 1630380

[shankar.balan]

The Gypsy is back!
All the pending body work has been done now including the tinkering, rust proofing and painting of the floorboards and under the seats and in the engine bay under tge battery tray and all the rest of the stuff as per the list in my earlier post(s).
The rubbing and polishing of the whole bodywork has taken away a lot of the blemishes but there are still some here and there. However, these can be lived with for now.
An excellent job done by Dinesh and his team at Trend Automobiles. Im really grateful for his personal attention on this labour of love - the restoration of my lovely Gypsy!
Am happy with the way it is now overall - only that left side door needs changing and that issue of the 'dummy' inside the engine bay needs to be fixed.
The vehicle looks clean and nice and runs smoothly too.
We shall see how many of these fixes last through the monsoon now. And we shall also get to see whether all this hard work has made the Gypsy leak proof too.
All else is fine!
Here are some pics.

[Dry Ice]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

The Gypsy is back!

Excellent! It looks brand "spanking" new!

PS: Why don't you start a dedicated thread for the Gypsy? Instead of updates scattered all across the Gypsy threads, we would be able to read them at a single place. Just a suggestion.

[shankar.balan]

Originally Posted by Dry Ice

Excellent! It looks brand "spanking" new!



PS: Why don't you start a dedicated thread for the Gypsy? Instead of updates scattered all across the Gypsy threads, we would be able to read them at a single place. Just a suggestion.

I ve been lazy
I started a thread that got chucked back into assembly line
Now I ve just been updating various threads with my Gypsy story

Will re write it all one day in a dedicated thread...

[drbones]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

Dr. You still have your Gypsy right?

Yes , my gypsy still owns me and it will own me till it moves .
Recently did a 6000kms drive to Spiti valley with out any issues , my confidence on my gypsy is now even more stronger .

[shankar.balan]

Originally Posted by Dry Ice

Excellent! It looks brand "spanking" new!



PS: Why don't you start a dedicated thread for the Gypsy? Instead of updates scattered all across the Gypsy threads, we would be able to read them at a single place. Just a suggestion.

I have just put a nice graphic sticker which says Petrol and looks like a bottle cap next to the fuel tank cover.
Just so that no one goes and fills up diesel because there are relatively few Petrol Jeeps / Gypsys hanging around and the pump attendants' natural tendency is to fill in Diesel.
This is a high quality sticker which I rather liked and got from Amazon.

[DrANTO]

Dear friends,

took Delivery of my Brand new Gypsy King Hardtop last week.
Booking done on first week of November by paying 10000 rupees and delivery was on 24.11.2017 (after 3 weeks)
On road price: 7,45,000/-


can anybody suggest some good external rear view mirrors for gypsy. My car has only right side mirror and it is pathetic. Many people said Maruthi Omni or Bolero mirror will fit. Any other options worth considering?