The Premier 118 NE thread

[wierd_san]

Originally Posted by ilangop

Hi, There are people who have swapped the complete gypsy powertrain into 118 & Padminis.
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All the best.

Cool man Thanks for the info

I got my heart set, even a track only car is cool with me, all I want is for it to hold up for ten years at the least, hence looking for the most sensible options

[ilangop]

Originally Posted by wierd_san

Cool man Thanks for the info

I got my heart set, even a track only car is cool with me, all I want is for it to hold up for ten years at the least, hence looking for the most sensible options

Well, but be warned. We haven't heard of the success stories and long term reviews. Might require playing (cutting, welding & tampering) the cross member, firewall etc. which all would affect the mechanical reliability. Think again. You could rather upgrade your Nissan engine itself with twin weber carbs, racing or drag specs cams, Electronic ignition and so on for the money and time you would spend on swapping a Gypsy engine into it.
Which year was your 118NE made? Post a few pictures.

[wierd_san]

Hmm sounds like some good advice. Was only wondering about the hassle of sourcing parts. even with duty structures in place the whole idea always keeps me wondering because I have no contact with any reliable sources and so it will involve some late night web searching, was hoping to avoid some of that.

But now that you mention it fabrication issues may cause me even more sleepless nights.

I have an early 90's model NE its been under wraps in the shed for quite a while now. completely neglected, sorry havent taken any photos.

So the thought of a project went through my head instead of it just rotting.

[Roomy]

Originally Posted by wierd_san

Gypsy was the only petrol rear wheel drive transmission I could think of, any suggestions for options.

The 1.8L Isuzu that powered the fastest production car in India at one point of time? Takers anyone?

[wierd_san]

Originally Posted by Roomy

The 1.8L Isuzu that powered the fastest production car in India at one point of time? Takers anyone?

how heavy is the engine and do you think it will fit
i was looking for a lightweight unit.

[KkVaidya]

Originally Posted by Roomy

The 1.8L Isuzu that powered the fastest production car in India at one point of time? Takers anyone?

Are you referring the Isuzu 4ZB1 engine that came in the Contessa Classic and later on in the Ambassador 1800ISZ?
I guess that would be too big for the 118NE engine bay!

[RenuKumar]

Dear all, due to some uncontrollable incidents of late, I had to lose all my cars. Now met with an accident and doctor is advising me to only drive and avoid bike. As I'm not in a condition (financially) and my business requires a sedan, I'm considering to pick an NE118 as I'm able to find a good car at 75k. Please help me with the fuel efficiency info, maintenance, parts availability etc...

Also the car that I've seen has run more than a lakh KMS but the owner seems to be a passionate person.

Looking forward for your sincere info

[KkVaidya]

Originally Posted by RenuKumar

Dear all, due to some uncontrollable incidents of late, I had to lose all my cars. Now met with an accident and doctor is advising me to only drive and avoid bike. As I'm not in a condition (financially) and my business requires a sedan, I'm considering to pick an NE118 as I'm able to find a good car at 75k. Please help me with the fuel efficiency info, maintenance, parts availability etc...

Also the car that I've seen has run more than a lakh KMS but the owner seems to be a passionate person.

Looking forward for your sincere info

Difficult to use the 118NE as a daily use car esp. for your business. It will require maintenance and spares are hard to find. I would suggest you go for any modern car. Look for Maruti 1000/Esteem instead

[RenuKumar]

Thank you so much sir. I do not use it everyday... Is it a good car if we use it once in a week?

[KkVaidya]

Originally Posted by RenuKumar

Thank you so much sir. I do not use it everyday... Is it a good car if we use it once in a week?

It is a fantastic car, a different experience, from the modern cars.
But buy it only if you are passionate about a "118NE" and are willing to spare your time and money on it. Just do not buy because it is selling cheap - It will cost you more lately.

[ilangop]

Had a tough time with the poor quality EMA rubber bushes for suspending the 118 muffler & the straps for side supports. The new ones would give away during fitment itself is spite of carefully selecting crack-free rubber parts from the shop. Wanted to bring this to an end once and for all.

Pulled out the support rods for suspending the silencer system from a scrapped Maruti Esteem. Welded them onto my 118 muffler / lower side of the trunk and underside of the rear seat. Got 3 silencer bushes of Maruti 800 and slid them in place. Shared some pictures here. Might go for Indica bushes soon as the Maruti ones seems to be stretched too much in the current setup. The distance between the mounting holes are little more in the Indica rubber bushes.

[KkVaidya]

I removed both the rubber side suspenders. I also plan to remove the vertical suspender after the muffler and add a non-flexible hook or something like that

[DHABHAR.BEHRAM]

Dear Ilangop and Vaidyaji - two people going by the names Ashok and Vijay are going to get very angry on both of you. In 1985, when a junior-most junior engineer going by the name Behram Dhabhar had told them and analytically proved why the straps are coming off and breaking in the Pave test car MZM7247, they had got very angry at me also. It went all the way upto the top level for which I was called inside the hallowed corridors of the office and I got right royally "jhapped" (fired). This was "only" 20 years ago. Got it? Good!

Anyways, interchange the positions of the lower LH and RH radius arms, rotate them by 180 degrees and fit and take the handbrake cable above the arms. Use small metallic clamps of equal height in place of the unequal ones used now, then this problem will not come, otherwise this problem will not go away. .

ENJOY! .

Best regards,

Behram Dhabhar

[KkVaidya]

Originally Posted by DHABHAR.BEHRAM

Anyways, interchange the positions of the lower LH and RH radius arms, rotate them by 180 degrees and fit and take the handbrake cable above the arms. Use small metallic clamps of equal height in place of the unequal ones used now, then this problem will not come, otherwise this problem will not go away. .

Behrambhai: I have an offer for you. Can you take my 118NE for sometime and return back converted to the MZM7247? I remember reading somewhere that this brown 'super' car was your pilot vehicle and you did not let anyone touch it? It used to go like a rocket up and down those ghats.
The only difference should be that mine will be Swan White and will need and air conditioner to be fitted.
BTW, I also want another MH01V521 convert after this is done

[DHABHAR.BEHRAM]

Originally Posted by KkVaidya

Behrambhai: I have an offer for you. Can you take my 118NE for sometime and return back converted to the MZM7247? I remember reading somewhere that this brown 'super' car was your pilot vehicle and you did not let anyone touch it? It used to go like a rocket up and down those ghats. The only difference should be that mine will be Swan White and will need and air conditioner to be fitted. BTW, I also want another MH01V521 convert after this is done.

Dear Vaidyaji - kya yaar! Read the history (copied and pasted from my database). and also .

The brown colored "super-118NE" was not MZM7247, it was MGQ8174 (brown - Himalayan Rally support car), which was one of the 5 cars capitalized in January 1987 for conducting ARAI fuel efficiency test in lieu of impending emission norms of 1991, 1996 and then BS1 in 2000. The norm was 17 kmpl at a constant speed of 50 kmph with 375 kg payload with 5.60*13 size bias ply tires and 22/28 psi tire pressure, this reading being the arithmetic mean of 10 readings taken out of 13 readings recorded in DOWN direction and 13 readings recorded in UP direction on the high speed track at VRDE Ahmednagar with wind velocity <3m/s, minor gusts allowed upto 8m/s, statistically within 2% (whew!). Today we have reached BS4. The other cars were MGQ8171 (red - sent to Nippondenso Japan for AC development), MGQ8173 (white - R&D performance evaluation car), MGQ8175 (white - sent to the Chairman's office as all his car registration numbers ended in "75") and MGQ8176 (white - R&D vendor parts evaluation car).

MZM7247 was one out of the first three prototypes which were manufactured in the Kalyan plant in late 1984. The other two cars were MZM7250 (medium severity endurance run car for 252 cycles as per NISSAN requirement) and MZM7256 (RWUP - real world usage pattern car as per NISSAN requirement). MZM7247 started life as a grey car, it was painted red in January 1985 for display in the India Engineering Trade Fair in Delhi, it went on the Pave track, everything got destroyed so the body was changed so it became a black car. MZM7250 was a light orange car, it ran the medium severity endurance and somehow completed 252 cycles. MZM7256 started life as a "popat green" (yes it was actually very gaudy popat green in color) car, its body was changed two times and it ran RWUP, the last I knew, it had covered 2.5 lakh kms. What is most creditable is that absolutely nothing happened to the NISSAN engine and transmission. Everything else fell apart. NISSAN acceptance criteria was 3.5 lakh kms which is considered as the life of the car under RWUP.

However, the very first prototypes were MMY4975 which was the lash-up combination of the Fiat 124 body with the NISSAN engine. MMY5219 was the combination of the Fiat 124 body with the Mazda engine, there was a yellow colored unregistered car which was the combination of the Fiat 124 body with the Fiat 131 engine and then there was MMY7212, which was a combination of the Fiat 124 body with the Padmini engine. Then there was also MMY6433, a yellow Fiat 124 LHD "Especial", with a twin overhead cam 1600cc Fiat engine and original Made in Italy Pirelli tires, my all time favorite, an absolute bomb! Finally, NISSAN was chosen.

Nobody knows, everybody criticizes, but a lot of work was done in those days. There was no CAD at that time!

Best regards,

Behram Dhabhar