27th August 2009, 22:37
| #1 |
| BHPian  Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Dubai / Gods Own Country -Kerala
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| GYPSY Unlimited! - by JeepCaptain Getting inspired from all the Jeep and Gypsy stories here and the immense response I received for my Jeep Wrangler YJ Rebuild post, I am sharing my second restoration story.Its about a 1995 MG410W. Hope you all will enjoy it. This is a long story of a gypsy rebuild or restoration. The story started in November 2007 when I heard from one of my Jeeper friend that he has a goverment auctioned Gypsy 1995 MG410W with him but he is not finding time to restore it due to work and other personal reasons. He was more a Jeeper than a Gypsy. So restoring Gypsy was not his first preference. But for me Jeep and Gypsy was like my left hand and right hand. I love both of them. After talking to my Jeeper friend at different occasions I found that his gypsy restoration project is not moving forward even after 3-4 months. Thats when I stepped in and asked whether he is ready to give me his gypsy and I will take care of it. To my surprise he agreed straight away and I accepted the deal. Please note I made this commitment without even seeing the Gypsy.May be I was overconfident or I knew I had the minimum expertise and contacts to restore it which ever condition it may be and it proved right when I saw the Gypsy. BTW - I was already owning another Gypsy at that time which is now with my good friend and fellow bhpian MexXxentric. I will be posting pics of that Gypsy also soon just to show the comparison. It was like a beauty and beast. I was told its a Hardtop Gypsy and there was a hardtop which was removed and kept. But lots of parts were missing from it due to the long storage at government yards before the auctioning.Some of them were. 1) Carburator 2) Air Filter 3 Spare tyre 4) Tool Box 5) Head lamps 6) All other light fittings were damaged or missing 7) Front propellor shaft. 8) Lots of other plastic and small parts. When I saw it for the first time, I said to myself. "man this is gonna take forever to restore" Goodluck Shibu! Please check out how I found the Gypsy and you will know what I am talking about. Gypsy Rusting in a Bush. 1995 MG410W  See the government markings.  The odometer reading 34K plus kilometers  Look at the interior and the the damages due to rain, humidity and dust.  Little bit of denting/patch work was done by previous owner before the restoration halted.  Another view (pathetic) and check out the tyres. Gypsy was having OE factory fitted tyres even after 10 years in service.  Missing headlamp domes, missing spare tyre, missing carburator and the list if missing items were too long.  To be continued... |
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27th August 2009, 22:59
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| Senior - BHPian  | Quote:
Good start.. let the story continue faster, hmmm yeah I also seems to be recognising the place. Is it the same area where madbullram's wanderlust saga started ? | |
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27th August 2009, 23:04
| #3 |
| BHPian  Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Rawalpindi
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28th August 2009, 09:38
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| BHPian  | |
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28th August 2009, 13:24
| #5 |
| Senior - BHPian Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Bangalore
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30th August 2009, 18:55
| #6 | |
| BHPian Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Dubai / Gods Own Country -Kerala
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| Quote:
 This is the same place where madbullrams wanderlust saga also started. | |
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30th August 2009, 18:58
| #7 | ||
| BHPian Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Dubai / Gods Own Country -Kerala
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30th August 2009, 20:15
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| Senior - BHPian  | |
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31st August 2009, 18:17
| #9 | |
| BHPian Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Dubai / Gods Own Country -Kerala
Posts: 864
Thanked: 492 Times
| Quote:
Happy to meet another Gypsy Fan. Good luck with your gypsy hunt. And yes any questions please ask. We have a big group of gypsy experts here to assist. Shibu | |
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31st August 2009, 19:06
| #10 |
| BHPian Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Dubai / Gods Own Country -Kerala
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Thanked: 492 Times
| Restoration Continued.... The restoration story continues. My first task was to bring the gypsy to a garage in Cochin where i was planning to restore. The Gypsy was towed to Cochin with all the parts which were removed lying all over inside the cabin. Before towing the Gypsy, I spoke to the mechanic and described him the situation and he said he can complete the job in 4 weeks.I knew he was too optimistic.Anyway I had given myself 2 months for the restoration including a new paint job. Following were done 1)Mechanic assessed the Gypsy and started making a list of all the missing/faulty parts. 2) Stripped all the parts, wheels, doors, hard top seats and hood. 3) Removed the bumpers, wheel hubs, lights (whatever was present) electrical cabling. 4) Then denters started working on the gypsy - they manage to patch all the holes and replaced the rusted pieces - took a week to complete. 5) Once the denting job was over painters applied the primer on the new sheet metal and the welded joints and applied metal paste ot putty and levelled all the uneven surfaces. 6)Mean while the mechanic had ordered parts which were required immediately for overhauling the brake system, suspension and the fuel system. My mechanic asked me which paint I want to go for. Since I already had a white Gypsy and a red one I decided to paint this a diiferent colour.He suggested a passion yellow and matt black top will look good on this and I said to go for it. After a month the Gypsy was in below condition. Sorry guys I dont have all the WIP pictures in stages of all the parts replaced or repaired. But you will get a fair idea from the pics. Now let the pics speaks Gypsy with everything ripped apart, dented and with first coat of paint.  Tyres, wheels and Hubs are off  Look at the wheels, I found that the wheels were rusted or pitted beyong repair I had to order new set of wheels aswell.  View of the engine room -Carburater and Air Filter was missing with lots of other small components.  Inside view of front cabin - dash board,wiring, steering, gear lever knobs and seats are taken out.  Close up view of the mid section  Brakes needed major overhauling and all wheel bearings had to be replaced.  Hardtop ( 3 pieces) , doors and hood waiting to be painted.  Platform painted with water resistant Hammerton paint.  Close up view of the front  To be continued.. |
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31st August 2009, 19:12
| #11 |
| Senior - BHPian  | Looking good after what it was doing in the bush  Any mechanical mods planned? |
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1st September 2009, 12:29
| #12 |
| BHPian  Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Mumbai
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1st September 2009, 13:44
| #13 |
| Senior - BHPian  Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Garden City
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1st September 2009, 15:00
| #14 |
| BHPian  Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Pune
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2nd September 2009, 09:58
| #15 |
| BHPian  Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Noida
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