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Old 15th February 2019, 18:42   #1
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An 8-year dream realised! My ex-army Mahindra MM550 NGCS

Yes, you read it right! I have been dreaming of buying/restoring/owning a Jeep since around 2011.

Preface
After joining Team-BHP, errr... actually even before my membership was accepted (about 2 years of reading through our 4x4 threads as a non-member), I used to be simply amazed and excited about 4x4s and M&M Jeeps in particular.

The Jeep bug had had me, and I really wanted one to call my own. Around that time, there was @Sreejeshmp's earlier MM-550 and @Samurai's CL-340 on sale as were numerous other astronomically priced restored MM-550s in the market. As reasonable as Sreejesh's and Samurai's jeeps were priced, I couldn't manage the Vit-M due to a lot of unforeseen incidents in the family and couldn't buy either of them.

An year later, I started to closely follow army auctions and would only re-assure myself that I would gratify myself when it would be the right time to do so. Had multiple chats/calls with @JerryCan and still couldn't find anything within the shoe-string budget that I had.

By this time I had settled down with my Punto-90HP and the Jeep Project was put on the back-burner.

The Last Six Months

The Punto is 7.5 years old now. Has done about 1,45,000km, and still drives like a new car. There is no perceivable loss in pick-up, the engine is still smooth, silent (compared to other diesels) and fuel-efficient and there have been no rattles inside the cabin.

A couple of issues I have faced with the Punto were:
  1. The Blue&Me gave up on me about six months ago and I replaced it with a humble JVC unit (with which the Steering mounted controls don't work). You'll learn what this can do in a minute.
  2. Around 1,40,000Km, when I was on a highway, the turbo suddenly refused to kick-in, no matter what I did. Figured it was a vaccuum cylinder which was the culprit and got it fixed.

Apart from these, it has been one heck of an ownership of the Punto and I am still in love with it.

When the Blue&Me conked off, I got it removed and put in a new HU. A week post that, the car's battery had died down in my parking lot. So much that even the central locking wouldn't work. The car used to show the standard "Air bag failure" message for a weak battery even before the new HU installation. So, I didn't suspect much and called my acquaintance at the A.S.S and asked him to get a new battery. Within an hour there was brand-new battery in the car and I was on my way.

A week later, this happened again. this time I was really furious with my HU installer. Got my car jump started and took it to the service center, by which time the battery had charged up a bit. Asked the electrician to plug in an Ammeter and check the current that was being drawn on a locked and parked car. The current was clearly more than the standard. He then unplugged the main coupler at the supply in the Fuse box near the driver seat and then the current went down. This was clearly indicating that the HU, or atleast something inside the cabin was the culprit. Next day, I took my car to the HU installer and asked him to fix it. He along with another expert electrician took about three hours and could find nothing. For another 2-3 weeks, I was somehow managing with the trick that the electrician at the A.S.S had shown. Used to remove the coupler after parking and would plug it back in before driving away. Another A.S.S visit (this time a different one) fixed the issue once and for all and the I had no problems thereafter.

However, these incidents kind of ignited the "New Car" spark in me.

So I started hunting and shortlisted a few:

Jeep Compass: A natural upgrade for one who has driven the Punto for years. This was however, way out of my budget. A "Limited Plus 4x4" would come upto 29 Lakhs plus (Karnataka) and I didn't want to splurge so much money on a car. But deep inside, I loved the Compass (who wouldn't!!) and head-over-heels for one. The only caveat being, there was no color to my liking.

Suzuki S-Cross: A well built cross-over. Almost Punto like highway manners, peppier than Punto within the City, had more space than Punto and came with all bells and whistles for about INR 14.5 Lakhs. A decent car for another 1,50,000 km, I thought. Until I visited their showroom and the sales guy offered me a paltry discount of INR 10,000/-. I was almost furious at their ridiculousness. No, literally.. Here's your premium car, which ain't selling in numbers by the way; And you don't want to even give a reasonable discount to a prospect customer who's come with the check-book! C'mon, Nexa.

The new Force Gurkha: Except for the interior, everything else was amazing. I was even fine with the under-refined age-old engine. Was okay if ill-informed people would laugh at me for buying, (according to them) a vehicle which is a people mover in the country-side. The interior however was a big let-down and the driver's stance was not all that nice.

Mahindra Thar CRDe: Only the heart works when I think about a Thar! But buying this meant, I had to keep the Punto for the family and parents, and I was quite okay with that. It would have been hard for me to let go of the Punto anywhichways. This checked all boxes for me. A 4x4 which I can (with little mods) use for medium terrain OTRs. Cruising on the highway would be good too. The kiddo would love it! He's 4 and trust me when I say this, his jaw drops whenever he sees a Thar. He shows it to me and says, "Look, there's the Thar, let's buy it".

During the last weekend of Jan '19, I went to a nearby Mahindra showrooom, and within an hour had managed to get a sizeable discount. I was all set and excited! Came back home and started browsing for ideas to modify the Thar once it would be delivered. Off-road bumpers, SA-Roll bar, custom seats, tail-lights, JCB work lights in the front.. there was no end to the list I was making. Just as I was browsing on Youtube, I came across this guy in Bengaluru, who made hard-tops that 80-90% kept the OE soft-top looks. Delved further and found that he also advertised that he restored MM-550s.

That's when an "MM-550" came to my mind. I mean, why not! At 40% of the price of a Thar, if could get an MM-550 which would be reliable, there would be nothing like it. I anyways would keep the Punto so family trips so they would have no issues. With a lesser investment, it wouldn't hurt much if it got scratches on the body during OTRs. Over and above everything, I could start going to OTRs!! This was win-win for everyone and so the hunt started.
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Old 17th February 2019, 22:33   #2
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re: An 8-year dream realised! My ex-army Mahindra MM550 NGCS

The Find and the Decision
07th Feb 2019
So, I casually messaged Joy that I was looking for an MM-550 NGCS, mostly in auction condition, as I would like to restore it to my liking at my own time, pace and money. He was, at that time, going around India in a Thar CRDe for which he had built a hard top. He replied the next day saying he would let me know if/when he finds one.

09th Feb 2019
He had reached Pune and was at a dealer's yard to buy a couple of trailers for his friends. He messaged me saying he had found a piece in good shape and sent me a some pictures. This was around 11:00 AM. We then talked over the phone and also did a video call so I could get a better idea of the condition of the Jeep. There were two Jeeps in the yard, a cream one and a white one (the asking price for both was the same). The white one was what we were looking at. However, the cream one caught my attention but the dealer said someone had already asked for it and would return in the evening to take it. I couldn't make a decision within a couple of hours and asked Joy to continue on his way and told him I would directly speak to the dealer, and come to a decision the next day.

Some pictures that Joy had sent:
An 8-year dream realised! My ex-army Mahindra MM550 NGCS-front.jpg

An 8-year dream realised! My ex-army Mahindra MM550 NGCS-right.jpg

An 8-year dream realised! My ex-army Mahindra MM550 NGCS-rear-right.jpg

An 8-year dream realised! My ex-army Mahindra MM550 NGCS-rear-2.jpg

An 8-year dream realised! My ex-army Mahindra MM550 NGCS-rear.jpg

An 8-year dream realised! My ex-army Mahindra MM550 NGCS-rear-left.jpg

An 8-year dream realised! My ex-army Mahindra MM550 NGCS-engine-bay-2.jpg

An 8-year dream realised! My ex-army Mahindra MM550 NGCS-engine-bay-3.jpg

An 8-year dream realised! My ex-army Mahindra MM550 NGCS-engine-bay-5.jpg

An 8-year dream realised! My ex-army Mahindra MM550 NGCS-engine-bay-6.jpg


10th Feb 2019
At around 11:00 AM, I called the dealer. Spoke for about an hour on the pricing and closed it. I told him I would have loved to get the cream one (although I could paint it in any color I'd like) and he mentioned that the person whom he had said, would return to take it the previous evening had not returned. So whoever pays an advance first would get to choose between the two. I asked him to take more detailed pictures of the Cream one and send them over.

Some pictured of the Cream one:

An 8-year dream realised! My ex-army Mahindra MM550 NGCS-front-left.jpeg
An 8-year dream realised! My ex-army Mahindra MM550 NGCS-rear-right.jpeg
An 8-year dream realised! My ex-army Mahindra MM550 NGCS-tail-gate.jpeg
An 8-year dream realised! My ex-army Mahindra MM550 NGCS-rear.jpeg

I however wanted a second opinion on the vehicles. So, after a quick souple of calls, found out a that friend of my brother-in-law, Mahesh, resides in Pune and has good contacts too. The only caveat was Mahesh couldn't go to the dealer's yard until the next day as he was busy with some of his commitments. I then called the dealer back and said I would pay an advance right away but would need both Jeeps to be blocked for me until Mahesh would go there the next day and take a call. With another condition that the advance would be returned if we didn't like either of them. The dealer was fine with this and I transferred to his account, a token advance. Another couple of calls to finalise on the next day's action plan and couldn't sleep that night due to the excitement

11th Feb 2019

So.. The excitement was so much that I could feel the blood rushing into my brain! Mahesh reached the place and had a close look at the Jeeps. And guess what, the cream one wasn't good . It didn't have the starter motor, a drive-shaft was missing and several other minor things that Mahesh could find out in a couple of hours. He okayed the White one, and we were talking terms and modes of payment!!
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Old 17th February 2019, 23:04   #3
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re: An 8-year dream realised! My ex-army Mahindra MM550 NGCS

The Acquisition:

So 12th Feb 2019 it was, I, Mahesh and everyone in the family was excited. The dealer and I had come to an agreement that I would hold a substantial part of the payment until I see a Registration Certificate and an FC from the Pune RTO and transfer documents to my name. The previous night, I and Mahesh had decided that we'd tow away the vehicle as soon as the payment was made.

The dealer had to travel to Ahmedabad and had asked his father to take care of the delivery once he would confirm payment was received. So, I waited for Mahesh to reach the place, and then transferred the agreed amount. The dealer called up his father and confirmed the receipt by which time we had arranged for a towing vehicle too. The Jeep was towed to Mahesh's place and is there now. The feeling that I had when it was getting towed is simply inexplicable! I should confess that I probably didn't have this feeling even when my brand new Punto was being delivered

Some pictures from the day:

One For Mahesh
An 8-year dream realised! My ex-army Mahindra MM550 NGCS-one-mahesh.jpeg

On its way!
An 8-year dream realised! My ex-army Mahindra MM550 NGCS-towing.jpeg
An 8-year dream realised! My ex-army Mahindra MM550 NGCS-its-way.jpeg

Safely parked
An 8-year dream realised! My ex-army Mahindra MM550 NGCS-parked.jpeg
An 8-year dream realised! My ex-army Mahindra MM550 NGCS-safely-parked.jpeg
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Old 18th February 2019, 18:22   #4
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re: An 8-year dream realised! My ex-army Mahindra MM550 NGCS

I was looking for a transporter who could get the Jeep in a covered truck from Pune to Bengaluru. Most vendors were quoting between INR 10K and INR 12K. But the only caveat was that they wanted the Jeep to be in starting condition. Most of them were saying they will drop it off in Nelamangala and there onwards am on my own to get it to Bengaluru.

Meanwhile, Mahesh arranged for a Jeep Mech who would come and see if the Jeep could be started. The mech brought a service battery and 5L of diesel along with him. And guess what! To all of our surprise, that's all it took the Jeep to fire up!

Jeep getting fired up for the first time post acquisition:

A couple of weeks passed and my hunt for a good mech was on! A quick search on the Team-BHP directory and I had short-listed a few. However, neither did know any of them personally nor through any contact and hence although they were trustworthy, I couldn't make up my mind. Thoughts of getting it done from Coorg/Coimbatore/Kerala crossed my mind but since I wanted to visit it at least once a week during the restoration, I dropped those options.
Meanwhile, we happened to go on a team outing from work and one of my colleagues had come to the outing on his Jeep. The trained eyes that I had (thanks to ogling at pictures on Team-BHP), it didn't take me more than a couple of seconds to recognise that it was an MM-550. Checked out the vehicle and the job looked neat, if not perfect. Talked to him and got details about his mech. A couple of calls to the mech and I had made my decision.

The Jeep was delivered to Dabbaspet (50km from BLR) on in the first week of March. I drove down with a couple of colleagues to get it into the city. Knowing that the Jeep was in a running condition, I picked up a simple kerosene can for 50 bucks and filled it with 5L diesel and we were on our way. Reached the location at around 6:00 pm and I knew we had about 15-20 minutes to sun-down. Not wasting a lot of time, we poured the diesel in and guess what, it wouldn't start. Had asked the mech from Pune to leave the battery in the Jeep which he had, but it had drained down, given it was an unbranded, used battery.

At the yard
An 8-year dream realised! My ex-army Mahindra MM550 NGCS-2.jeep-yard.jpg
An 8-year dream realised! My ex-army Mahindra MM550 NGCS-1.engine-bay.jpg
I was about to call it a day and go back better prepared the next day. That's when I realised, there were so many trucks in the yard and there was a chance that one of them would have a Jump start cable. Asking around, I found that there was a resident Mech/Electrician in the yard itself and he agreed to help. He got a jumbo battery and jump started the vehicle and also put a wire straight from the battery to the Headlights for them to work!

Thanking my luck, we started back to Bengaluru. Seeing the number plate on the Jeep, the toll booths on the NH insisted that they wouldn't take toll even when I told them I was a civilian and the Jeep also had been decommissioned. I had informed my mech that I would come to drop-off the Jeep and he had been waiting for me. It was almost 10 by the time we reached and without making him wait for longer, simply parked the jeep in the garage and went home.

Last edited by Driving_Nomad : 5th December 2019 at 12:06. Reason: updates on restoration
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Old 5th December 2019, 12:17   #5
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re: An 8-year dream realised! My ex-army Mahindra MM550 NGCS

The mech had a couple of vehicles on his plate and I had to wait for a couple of weeks before he could start working on my Jeep. I had no choice but to wait. I would call him every couple of days to remind him. IIRC, somewhere in the middle of April he started to work on my Jeep.

Below are some Work-In-Progress pictures. Apologies for the quality of images. All of them are shot from mobile and some from my mech's mobile


An 8-year dream realised! My ex-army Mahindra MM550 NGCS-3.work-starts.jpg
Work starts

An 8-year dream realised! My ex-army Mahindra MM550 NGCS-4.dismantling.jpg

An 8-year dream realised! My ex-army Mahindra MM550 NGCS-5.body-tub-off.jpg
Although the body tub was in a good condition, I didn't want to take chances and wanted to ensure that the chassis is also in a good condition. Hence asked my mech to take it down.

An 8-year dream realised! My ex-army Mahindra MM550 NGCS-6.body-tub.jpg
The body Tub

An 8-year dream realised! My ex-army Mahindra MM550 NGCS-7.chassis.jpg

An 8-year dream realised! My ex-army Mahindra MM550 NGCS-8.chassis.jpg
The Chassis - No dents/bends/welds

An 8-year dream realised! My ex-army Mahindra MM550 NGCS-10.mount-replaced.jpg
Except for this mount that was rusting; Replaced!

An 8-year dream realised! My ex-army Mahindra MM550 NGCS-9.steering.jpg

An 8-year dream realised! My ex-army Mahindra MM550 NGCS-11.-leafs-shafts.jpg
Leafs and Shafts
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Old 5th December 2019, 12:28   #6
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re: An 8-year dream realised! My ex-army Mahindra MM550 NGCS

I wanted all the under-carriage parts to be sanded (although lightly) and painted again. Some pictures of the process.


An 8-year dream realised! My ex-army Mahindra MM550 NGCS-12.-painting.jpg

An 8-year dream realised! My ex-army Mahindra MM550 NGCS-13.painted.jpg

An 8-year dream realised! My ex-army Mahindra MM550 NGCS-14.painting.jpg

An 8-year dream realised! My ex-army Mahindra MM550 NGCS-15.jpg

An 8-year dream realised! My ex-army Mahindra MM550 NGCS-16.jpg

An 8-year dream realised! My ex-army Mahindra MM550 NGCS-17.-new-rotors.jpg
Got new brake rotors

An 8-year dream realised! My ex-army Mahindra MM550 NGCS-18-new-parts.jpg
Some new parts

An 8-year dream realised! My ex-army Mahindra MM550 NGCS-19.jpeg
This was the only place where that had rust so much that it needed a new panel

An 8-year dream realised! My ex-army Mahindra MM550 NGCS-20.jpeg
The body tub after checking and correcting rust and minor dings/dents

An 8-year dream realised! My ex-army Mahindra MM550 NGCS-21.jpeg

Along with all this, I also got all of the body mounting bushings replaced. IIRC, there are 24 such bushings required for an NGCS to mount on the chassis.

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Old 5th December 2019, 12:36   #7
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re: An 8-year dream realised! My ex-army Mahindra MM550 NGCS

When I got the Jeep, the odo was reading around 42k km but I was skeptical as to whether it was real. That being said, my mech, after examining and driving, told me that there was absolutely no work required on the engine and gearbox at the moment and hence it wouldn't make sense to open them up unnecessarily. Taking his word for it, we moved on to painting the body panels, and here are some self-explanatory pictures:


An 8-year dream realised! My ex-army Mahindra MM550 NGCS-22.jpeg

An 8-year dream realised! My ex-army Mahindra MM550 NGCS-23.jpeg

An 8-year dream realised! My ex-army Mahindra MM550 NGCS-24.jpeg

An 8-year dream realised! My ex-army Mahindra MM550 NGCS-25.jpeg

An 8-year dream realised! My ex-army Mahindra MM550 NGCS-26.jpeg

An 8-year dream realised! My ex-army Mahindra MM550 NGCS-27.jpeg

An 8-year dream realised! My ex-army Mahindra MM550 NGCS-28.jpeg
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Old 5th December 2019, 14:46   #8
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re: An 8-year dream realised! My ex-army Mahindra MM550 NGCS

With most work done, it was time for me to get some function-over-form accessories.

I was looking for:
  1. An pair of wrangler-type LED Tail Lamps
  2. A pair of Spot/work lights for the windshield hinges
  3. A switch panel for the auxilliary lights
  4. Fender flares. OE first gen Thar-crde type
  5. Soft top/canopy which would fit like second skin

I started searching online, and made some calls/messages with various vendors. I then ordered different accessories from different people depending on a. Whether they had exactly what I was looking for b. Pricing



An 8-year dream realised! My ex-army Mahindra MM550 NGCS-29.jpeg
The work/spot lights 5Wx4 each side. Unfortunately, the decal got bent during transit

An 8-year dream realised! My ex-army Mahindra MM550 NGCS-30.jpeg
There are about 8 varieties of wrangler LED tail-lights at prices ranging from Rs.1600 to Rs.7000 and this is what I liked the most

An 8-year dream realised! My ex-army Mahindra MM550 NGCS-31.jpeg
Realised that they weren't a direct fit after they were delivered. I had two options, to cut the body and then fit it or to make a frame to mount it on, and chose the latter.

An 8-year dream realised! My ex-army Mahindra MM550 NGCS-32.jpeg

An 8-year dream realised! My ex-army Mahindra MM550 NGCS-33.jpeg

An 8-year dream realised! My ex-army Mahindra MM550 NGCS-39.switch-panel.jpeg
Comes with a digital voltmeter, 2 2.A USB outputs to charge devices and a standard 12-V Cig-lighter socket, along with, of course, the switches

An 8-year dream realised! My ex-army Mahindra MM550 NGCS-34.jpeg
Again, I couldn't source OE fender flares from anywhere including the dealerships and hence settled down for these 4" fender flares.


An 8-year dream realised! My ex-army Mahindra MM550 NGCS-35.jpeg
Had to drill holes to fit the fender flares. The body painting got delayed by a a good 4-weeks because of this. A week for my search of OE ones, a week to find something I liked and 2 weeks for the god-forsaken courier guys to deliver it from Delhi to Bangalore to Delhi to Bangalore (yeah it got returned and came back with another courier).

An 8-year dream realised! My ex-army Mahindra MM550 NGCS-38-chassis-ready.jpeg
Meanwhile the chassis was ready to meet the body



I always believe that the soft-top is what adds charm to the already gorgeous look of a Jeep. And, I was very adamant on getting it right. Since I wanted to keep the soft-top superstructure in its original shape (read not the new Thar's shape), I went to numerous shops in search for a person who could give me the fit and finish that I wanted, even if it meant that he would charge me a couple of thousands more than the regular price. To my dismay, neither could one promise the fit and finish, nor did they have or even were ready to procure the material used on the Thar. The only option that I was left with was to buy a Thar Crde's soft top from Mahindra spares directly (on-order that is) since no spares dealer stocked it.

I continued my search on-line and off-line and just happened to check with the guy who had give me the switch panel. And behold, he said he had a like-new soft top along with the super structure that were removed from a Thar. Having read several times that the body tub dimensions of an MM-540/550 and Thar are the same, I ordered!


An 8-year dream realised! My ex-army Mahindra MM550 NGCS-36.jpeg
The soft top packed well, got delivered in a week's time. The painting still waiting to happen.

An 8-year dream realised! My ex-army Mahindra MM550 NGCS-37.jpeg

Last edited by Driving_Nomad : 5th December 2019 at 14:49. Reason: formatting
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Old 5th December 2019, 15:27   #9
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re: An 8-year dream realised! My ex-army Mahindra MM550 NGCS

With all basics in place, the work continued and the next big challenge was wiring. Although my mech is not a pro at jeeps, meaning he doesn't axle ratios, gearbox/TC combinations, and several other nitty-gritties of Jeeps on the back of this head, he is still a good mech in the sense that he does his research, consults me and does the job after we have vet it thoroughly. The current wiring was in a very bad shape and I decided that we'll get a brand new wiring. That's when the idea of engineering a wiring harness came to my mind. I sat with the electrician (a Jeep/Amby specialist in his late 60s) and told him my requirements (Specifics about how to make joints, advantage of using heat-shrinks, crimping etc.). And given that I had aux lighting, I wanted that to be built into the wiring loom itself.

This decision backfired. The electrician, took 60% payment in advance, bought all the materials, finished 80% of the job and vanished for 2 weeks! He returned only to take another week to finish the wiring


An 8-year dream realised! My ex-army Mahindra MM550 NGCS-40.jpeg
Wiring loom work-in-progress

An 8-year dream realised! My ex-army Mahindra MM550 NGCS-41.jpeg

An 8-year dream realised! My ex-army Mahindra MM550 NGCS-42.-sof-top-testing.jpeg
All we could do in the meanwhile was test the soft-top fitting

An 8-year dream realised! My ex-army Mahindra MM550 NGCS-43.jpeg
Dash board painted and gauges in place. Surprisingly, all gauges were in perfect working condition!

An 8-year dream realised! My ex-army Mahindra MM550 NGCS-44.jpeg
The switch panel: We improvised a bit here. The dashboard didn't have enough space for the switch panel to be fit as one piece. We hence split it into half and put it in two places. The socket's and voltmeter went under the gauges. The switches came to the right where it's very ergonomic.
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Old 5th December 2019, 15:43   #10
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re: An 8-year dream realised! My ex-army Mahindra MM550 NGCS

Alrighty, a lot of time wasted and the painting stage had arrived. There came the rain gods! It looked like this project was never going to end. At every step, there was a challenge and hence a delay.

Eventually, the rains gave us at least one day's respite every week and we made use of it. In two weeks, we were done with 4 coats of paint. My mech doesn't have a booth to paint. So, the idea was to apply 4 coats of paint and remove 1 by polishing so that it would give us a good finish

And we were this close to achieve it!
An 8-year dream realised! My ex-army Mahindra MM550 NGCS-45.jpeg

An 8-year dream realised! My ex-army Mahindra MM550 NGCS-46.jpeg

An 8-year dream realised! My ex-army Mahindra MM550 NGCS-47.jpeg

An 8-year dream realised! My ex-army Mahindra MM550 NGCS-49.jpeg
Soft top fitted back!

An 8-year dream realised! My ex-army Mahindra MM550 NGCS-50.jpeg
Finally, after about 6 months, she comes home!

An 8-year dream realised! My ex-army Mahindra MM550 NGCS-51.jpeg
She's called "Athena"



Here's a quick video of the entire project I made using the pictures I had.

Last edited by Driving_Nomad : 5th December 2019 at 15:51.
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Old 6th December 2019, 08:19   #11
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re: An 8-year dream realised! My ex-army Mahindra MM550 NGCS

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing!
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Old 6th December 2019, 09:26   #12
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re: An 8-year dream realised! My ex-army Mahindra MM550 NGCS

Congratulations sir, on restoring Athena. She, despite her ever-advancing years has preserved her beauty and your brilliant restoration highlights that. Hope you have a wonderful time with this true-blue Jeep!
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Old 6th December 2019, 10:37   #13
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Re: An 8-year dream realised! My ex-army Mahindra MM550 NGCS

That is a top notch rebuild job.

Even though your Jeep was standing in a yard, for god knows how many years, those radiator rubber hoses look like they are new.

Disc brakes are stock or is that an upgrade?

Out of curiosity, do you know if your Jeep was loaded on a truck and relocated from Pune or was it driven down? Had you made a note of the odometer reading while taking delivery and on arrival in Bangalore?

Enjoy your Jeep.
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Old 6th December 2019, 10:44   #14
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Re: An 8-year dream realised! My ex-army Mahindra MM550 NGCS

Wow! Such a lovely write-up. Congratulations on becoming a jeep rebuild expert. Which armed force would this white Jeep be used for, any idea?
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Old 6th December 2019, 11:08   #15
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Re: An 8-year dream realised! My ex-army Mahindra MM550 NGCS

Salute to those who restore a classic, any classic and especially Jeeps! It looks like the right side fender / Indicator lamp is a bit misaligned (sagging), maybe it's the camera angle but worth checking with a straight pipe of some sort. A CJ bumper should be available with Prestige automobiles JC road, should enhance the looks and it's very strong.
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