[Kabeer]

I SIGNED OVER EVERYTHING TO MY CREDITORS SAVE FOR THE 550

I'm on my last pair of jeans which i desperately hope will last me through the weekend, the others have grease so far ingrained into the denim there's no use washing them, plus i'd rather not ;-)

ANYWAY, here's the story so far:

After dreaming about a jeep every day for a whole week (save for one day when i dreamt about a Contessa and a 1960s Merc) and obsessively reading just about everything i could lay my hands on...i spoke to Harjeev paaji one Monday morning, saw and rejected an MM540 in Karole Bagh and headed straight to the place where Shaktiman trucks are turned into heaps of nuts and bolts in hours - Mayapuri. Anyway, a 1996 4WD 540 that i took an instant liking to had just been sold to some rather affable jats who were taking it to Haryana to pull a trailer for their piggery! Anyway, a little digging and another 540 was unearthed - this time a 1997 2WD and instantly booked and thats when the fun started.

You see Harjeev Paaji was heading to Mayapuri and yours truly tagged along spent the next two days sleeping precious little abandoned the 540...and wasted the best 2000 rs advance to date. And there's only paaji to thank for that

To cut a long story short and since my knowledge about jeeps is well, pedestrian so i'd just tell you that the 550 is a 2001 army disposal - the engine needed knew piston rings, brakes needed extensive overhauling and the gears needed some goading (all of which has been wrapped up). And the only thing stopping me from pulling myself into the driver's seat is the fact that she dont have one yet.

Anyway, here's some pictures not even five percent as detailed as his, but here anyway


And though i would likely to profusely apologise both for the quality of the pics (just threw away the iPaq) and my seemingly tardy effort - have had a fun but really really long day...but everything else said THIS NEW YEAR KICKS LAST YEARS A**...Plus i have an ulterior motive, still clueless about the paint suggestions

[maddy42]

Great to hear you didnt go ahead with the 2wd. You would seriously be missing something

[digitalrider]

How many jeeps does Mayapuri have!!! And i always thought it was scrapyard for thrown away engines!

Kabeer, Congrats on the purchase! She looks beautiful! Are you planning to do it up straight away or wait for some moolah?

[Parm]

congrats on becoming a JEEPER, kabeer.

keep the current colour of the jeep as it suits the jeep best. spend your hard earned moollah on the mechanicals rather than on paint work!

cheers:

[DirtyDan]

A jeep without engine, gearbox, brakes and seats will definately be much lighter and should effect a dramatically favorable fuel average. Is that the plan?

Seriously, welcome to the site and I will be following this thread. If you can, will you please post who is doing your restoration work and where they are located? One of my problems with restorations is that where I am I have yet to find a trustworthy competent shop. Delhi is a bit far for me but not out of the question. -DD

[vinayrathore]

Welcome to the club Kabeer!

Congratulations for the new find!

Looks promising enough to give you enough jitters all the way through the restoration!! But trust me mate, this is fever is something not every automobile maniac can understand.

Best of luck and do keep posting the updates with pics.

BTW, is this a 2000 or a 2001 model? The picture says its 2000.

Anyways, have a great time restoring.

Vinay Rathore

[Kabeer]

Originally Posted by maddy42

Great to hear you didnt go ahead with the 2wd. You would seriously be missing something

Amen to that sir and its so much fun to play with the 4WD over the last week...i can barely wait for one of you to invite me to an OTR event and give me some lessons

Originally Posted by digitalrider

How many jeeps does Mayapuri have!!! And i always thought it was scrapyard for thrown away engines!

Kabeer, Congrats on the purchase! She looks beautiful! Are you planning to do it up straight away or wait for some moolah?

Hahaha, no, there's no more moolah left to go around, we ran in the engine for a while today and damn was it sweet, so much so, at least two other mechanics and a car modifier agreed :-)

Originally Posted by Parm

congrats on becoming a JEEPER, kabeer.

keep the current colour of the jeep as it suits the jeep best. spend your hard earned moollah on the mechanicals rather than on paint work!

cheers:

Thanks P,
I agree the colour suits it the best, but military guys are getting a tad too posessive about it these days, plus 'the girl' rather strongly suggested a dark metallic gray and in my misplaced sense of guilt of having barely seen her for the last 15 days and not seeing her all of last week, i'd rather keep my head to stick it out of the windshield than argue about colour ;-)

I'm proud to report that all the mechanicals have been done, save for the hub locks. The brakes are almost all new, the engine has been overhauled and the gears have been convinced to behave. As far as cosmetics go, i'm proud to report and there have been only three changes done and its going to stay that way.

1. The colour is now a dark gray - every single nut, bolt screw (went a little nutters, but will probably change it later)
2. I've committed the blasphemous act of installing a power steering (apologies but i got her to not use her sparingly and i'd rather not draw on your good graces every time i need to park, which brings me to the third change
3. The 2001 had the blackout lights on the bumper and they have been moved from behind the bumper to the front (though i was crestfallen when the electrician told me there was no way to get them active). I'm now hoping to convert them into fog lights as i just can't bear the thought of her without it.

Originally Posted by DirtyDan

A jeep without engine, gearbox, brakes and seats will definately be much lighter and should effect a dramatically favorable fuel average. Is that the plan?

Seriously, welcome to the site and I will be following this thread. If you can, will you please post who is doing your restoration work and where they are located? One of my problems with restorations is that where I am I have yet to find a trustworthy competent shop. Delhi is a bit far for me but not out of the question. -DD

Damn! I know. Drove her for a bit today without even a seat, sitting on a peice of flattened cardboard and damn did it feel good and damn did it hurt.

Thanks for the warm welcome, and i know most on the forum will shoot me for saying this or at least scowl...but all the work was done near Mayapuri while i stood on their heads. I know Mayapuri has a bad reputation for doing kaam chalao work but have stood there every day while the work was done. All spare parts used were original (i bought them myself) and I'm really happy with the results plus it was lightening quick. I stumbled onto a mechanic who was known to my late grandfather (a little expensive but damn is he good!). It took less than 2 hours for my engine to be taken off, dismantled and me being showen the piston heads :-).
This guy though a little expensive is really efficient (he's the first one who fixed a power steering on a jeep, i was told) and swapping engine and gears for him is a day's job. I'd love to take you to him, do look me up next time you're down. His name is Hukum Singh and he just finished putting a 3 lt engine on a modified army disposal.

Originally Posted by vinayrathore

Welcome to the club Kabeer!

Congratulations for the new find!

Looks promising enough to give you enough jitters all the way through the restoration!! But trust me mate, this is fever is something not every automobile maniac can understand.

Best of luck and do keep posting the updates with pics.

BTW, is this a 2000 or a 2001 model? The picture says its 2000.

Anyways, have a great time restoring.

Vinay Rathore

Thanks Vinay,
Its love at every sight. Its a 2000 model that was inducted into the army in Jan 2001

[Parm]

do some justice to us.....brother post some photos of the finished product!

cheers:

[fk7]

Originally Posted by Kabeer

3. The 2001 had the blackout lights on the bumper and they have been moved from behind the bumper to the front (though i was crestfallen when the electrician told me there was no way to get them active). I'm now hoping to convert them into fog lights as i just can't bear the thought of her without it.

hi Kabeer,

Congrats on your new possession and hope to see some pictures soon of the finished product. by the way, the blackout lights can be bought new from mayapuri itself. A guy named Pandit has a spare parts shop which sells them. I think the shop number is something in the range of W-18 to W-23.

Keep those pictures coming in.

FK

[Steeroid]

Welcome! Thats one more (soon to be) Yum Yum 550 on the forum!

[Kandisa]

Originally Posted by digitalrider

How many jeeps does Mayapuri have!!! And i always thought it was scrapyard for thrown away engines!..

Good question! It definitely is a scrapyard for thrown away automobile parts, but it does have a huge reservoir of army disposals - jeeps and gypsies! With 'Harjeev connection' I guess we should be prepared to see some more coming up very soon. Man Mayapuri was always there, but you really made the place famous all throughout India.
Kabeer, congrats for getting hit by the bug and on a nice purchase.
DD, poor you, sorry to know that you haven't got hold of a reliable workshop as of now. I guess, coming to Delhi will be the most viable option. With the kind of jeep fever going on, I am sure you will get some good guy to get you a jeep of your desire.
-Best regards,

[harjeev]

Originally Posted by Kabeer

I SIGNED OVER EVERYTHING TO MY CREDITORS SAVE FOR THE 550

I'm on my last pair of jeans which i desperately hope will last me through the weekend, the others have grease so far ingrained into the denim there's no use washing them, plus i'd rather not ;-)

Congrats Kabeer a really nice find!!!
That’s a really good one. Even Ive done that. A new pair of denims I wore them the day I bought my 1st jeep. Got a little dirty and I thought that Ill wear them next day to the workshop. A Big mistake. They have got so dirty that I have marked them officially ‘working jeans’
Please don’t be surprised if you see me changing clothes in the workshop like the other mechanics as I don’t want to waste another pair with the second one(CJ3B) is complete

Originally Posted by Kabeer

You see Harjeev Paaji was heading to Mayapuri and yours truly tagged along spent the next two days sleeping precious little abandoned the 540...and wasted the best 2000 rs advance to date. And there's only paaji to thank for that

To cut a long story short and since my knowledge about jeeps is well, pedestrian so i'd just tell you that the 550 is a 2001 army disposal - the engine needed knew piston rings, brakes needed extensive overhauling and the gears needed some goading (all of which has been wrapped up). And the only thing stopping me from pulling myself into the driver's seat is the fact that she dont have one yet.

Thanks a lot and I am glad that I could be of any assistance. But that is a nice find. Its really good that you wasted that 2000 deposit.
I think that this 550 has cost you roughly the same amount the 540 was costing but the extra stuff that you have got is as follows
A newer 2001 model MM550 XD compared to 1997 MM540 DP, LSD’s in rear, Full floating axles in front, Hub Locks, power discs brakes in front with a power booster and drums at rear, working 4x4, bigger alternator and bigger and more powerful engine with heater, bigger radiator. These are some of the things that I can think about, but lets say that you could even buy all this but putting them together, making sure everything works perfectly and time and effort spent doing all that, in my opinion is not worth it. Its always better to buy a complete package.


One thing that I wanted to ask you is that as your jeep was in a running condition why did you get it opened up??? If you wanted to get it opened than you should have gone for a cheaper version. Just a thought though!!!
What are you doing to get it registered??? In HP is it??

Also if it is ok with you I would love to see it getting restored!! Is it still in mayapuri?? DO let me know when you will be there maybe today evening and I could drop in and share ideas what is it costing you etc etc. Waiting for you call or PM ??

Also try to make it to the next OTR, Its this Saturday

Harjeev

[Kabeer]

GOT IT!!!

I drive therefore i am...apologies for the really long delay but problems cropped up (thankfully none with the jeep) and then about four big problems and then 6 tiny problems and about 12 micro problems...but in the middle of it all (not one with the 550)...I got her home where she sits pretty every evening waiting for me to come back from work and wax a bit more every day ;-)

As a lot of the jeepers suggested, i neither had the money nor did i bother with a good paint job (waiting for it to come by in the next couple of salaries) but sit inside and by George she drives like a dream.

I have a new clutch on the jeep, something that's made it softer than the scorpio and only a shade above Bittoo's (the Esteem) - PLS PM for address

The front drive shaft has been connected, the kamani has been fixed, the power steering works fine, the brakes are precise and the engine sounds sweet. Angry but sweet.

Harjeev Paaji says there's an off-road near Delhi next Sunday so, i'm super excited and hope to get my registration done till then, but more than that, just a little scared too dont know how willing a conservative driver who avoids pot holes would be to drive into them

[jeepster]

hi
Kabeer

wish you happy jeeping.

post some more pictures

[vinayrathore]

Originally Posted by Kabeer

Harjeev Paaji says there's an off-road near Delhi next Sunday so, i'm super excited and hope to get my registration done till then, but more than that, just a little scared too dont know how willing a conservative driver who avoids pot holes would be to drive into them

Hey Kabeer!

Welcome again dude! See you at the OTR.

Cheers!

PS: some more pics please!