[tantragna]

Originally Posted by anarchist

Hi everybody,

I am desperately on the lookout for an aircon for my 1984 SS80, any suggestions on where I can find one, or what alternatives do I have and how much it would cost me?

Thank you very much in advance for your help

I bet u have few rounds around the local automotive scrapyard often if possible (shivajinagar gujuri), which is the best place to hunt for an used kit.

If you are looking for new kit, the present M800's kit except for the blower unit should fit in. But you may have to resort to an aftermarket blower unit, as the new 800's is different & wouldn't fit easily in the dashboard of the SS80.

This is from my personal experience, as I got a full aircon kit from a wrecked SS80 for 2.5K with some extra items. I can say it the aircon kit was charged for 1.8k, but don't expect such easy rate/price from their mouth. This was only possible from my friend's talent in hard bargaining , which the gurjuriwala was quoting around 4.5k for the entire 2.5k stuff. But you should be lucky enough to hit the place at the right time. The place I sourced out was the second/third right turn once you enter the gujuri road from Russel market end, you should be able to find a small mosque. You can enquire for a outlet who deals with SS80's (they call it purana or old 800). Try it out if you like, best of luck! Sorry but I lost his contact detail as my fone recently crashed & lost all the data. Will PM or update if I find the b-card i had taken from him or from my friend who must be having his contact detail.

[Cartman]

Here are the long overdue pics from my side. It isn't mine. It is parked outside my friends building. Sad to see it gathering dust...

[tantragna]

Hi All, The link of my restoration project of my friend's SS80. It is nearing completion on the painting part. Well I am having a better feeling for its completion after a spending tremendous amounts of time, effort & money.

Picasa Web Albums - tantragna - Project-1759
Picasa Web Albums - tantragna - Project-1759 ...

Few photos attached.

The last photo is actually first on the list, I edited & reloaded so it has gone last. If you can see the date/time stamp, this project is on for nearly 2yrs after a year of silence in between. It was a major overhaul of the monocoque which had severe rusting issues. In this tenure I quit my job to complete this project. I knew painting job pretty well, so started it as a weekend project to restore the beauty. As the stripping went, we discovered several critical issues with the monocoque. Then we thought of gettting the tinkering job too on our own. This was the difficult job of the whole, as I was a novice in welding works. Actually spent a wholesome of 8-10k on the welding part. This included in acquiring the Oxy-Fuel regulators, Flashback arrestor (safety device), hosepipe, welding torch & the costliest of the gas cylinders (DA - Dissolved Acetylene). Anyways now I could be easily ranked as an intermediate gas welder . Getting the sheet metal shaped was a task which I had some good knowledge & some working knowledge, so was not a difficult task. So is dismantling & assembling mechanicals, & electricals, which I love & enjoy doing it.

Finally here I am doing the very delicate painting preparation job & finally a coat of paint is scheduled for either tomorrow or day after (this totally is dependant on the weather & availability of electricity, as I am doing this on the rural part of the namma bengaluru). The up-down commuting from my home to the work place, itself has crossed 8k as of now as it is divided by 28kms apart. More details (like do's & don'ts, tools & tackles used, etc) will be published if asked & moreover the link to the picasa albums above should provide enough photographic guidance. Let me stop boring you out so, enjoy the photos for now.

[ajay99]

Originally Posted by tantragna

Hi All, The link of my restoration project of my friend's SS80. It is nearing completion on the painting part. Well I am having a better feeling for its completion after a spending tremendous amounts of time, effort & money.

Picasa Web Albums - tantragna - Project-1759
Picasa Web Albums - tantragna - Project-1759 ...

Few photos attached.

The last photo is actually first on the list, I edited & reloaded so it has gone last. If you can see the date/time stamp, this project is on for nearly 2yrs after a year of silence in between. It was a major overhaul of the monocoque which had severe rusting issues. In this tenure I quit my job to complete this project. I knew painting job pretty well, so started it as a weekend project to restore the beauty. As the stripping went, we discovered several critical issues with the monocoque. Then we thought of gettting the tinkering job too on our own. This was the difficult job of the whole, as I was a novice in welding works. Actually spent a wholesome of 8-10k on the welding part. This included in acquiring the Oxy-Fuel regulators, Flashback arrestor (safety device), hosepipe, welding torch & the costliest of the gas cylinders (DA - Dissolved Acetylene). Anyways now I could be easily ranked as an intermediate gas welder . Getting the sheet metal shaped was a task which I had some good knowledge & some working knowledge, so was not a difficult task. So is dismantling & assembling mechanicals, & electricals, which I love & enjoy doing it.

Finally here I am doing the very delicate painting preparation job & finally a coat of paint is scheduled for either tomorrow or day after (this totally is dependant on the weather & availability of electricity, as I am doing this on the rural part of the namma bengaluru). The up-down commuting from my home to the work place, itself has crossed 8k as of now as it is divided by 28kms apart. More details (like do's & don'ts, tools & tackles used, etc) will be published if asked & moreover the link to the picasa albums above should provide enough photographic guidance. Let me stop boring you out so, enjoy the photos for now.

Let me appreciate the effort ,time and money you are spending on restoring what majority of car guys(including classic enthusiasts) will call a "non collectible'' japanese car...
Keep the good work ,you have already done for an ss80 what usually people do to a 1940's car...

[tantragna]

Thanks ajay99!

Here are some of the photos of the beauty got her first coat of paint today evening.

[PAVAN KADAM]

Originally Posted by tantragna

Thanks ajay99!

Here are some of the photos of the beauty got her first coat of paint today evening.

This is just amazing.

Good going buddy. One of the Best detailed restoration process that i'am noticing.

Would love to see the final outcome. Best of Luck.

[rsquared]

Hello Everyone,

This is my first post in Team-BHP. But I was a regular spectator of all the events and happenings in the forum for a long time.

Now this is regarding an important decision that I made a few months ago. I am a big fan of old cars, though I haven’t got any real world experience in them. In my dream garage, I would definitely have space for a ‘85 BMW 3 series (85 because it’s the year that I was born, and BMW because they make the ultimate driving machines). Also I love the old shape of those Bimmers. So when someone offered me a ’85 Maruti 800 SS80, I closed my eyes and bought it from him. I paid more than double of the market price of the car then. I sometimes secretly regret the decision (not of buying it, but thinking I could have got it a lot cheaper). Now I have made my peace with the fact that I lost close to 15thousand rupees as ‘My Foolishness Charges’. But what I don’t regret is that I bought this vehicle. And I truly began to love this beauty ever since.

But my happiness was short lived. Several problems cropped into the vehicle. There was a tyre issue. As in the tyres have run out of their life long ago, and so it was getting frequently punctured. Also there were some problems in the initial days and I had a couple of breakdowns. Now having trouble with old vehicles is not so rare a thing, and if I was in company of people who thought buying a battered SS80 for 33000 is better than buying a 1997 M800 for 40000, I wouldn’t have had any problem. But that was not the case. My line of work requires me to sit in front of my computer for 9hours a day and write PL/SQL procedures and packages. This is not to generalize but people involved with IT generally don’t approve of old vehicles. Soon I became a laughing stock in my friend circles. They constantly made fun of me and ‘my sibling’. So much so that I almost decided to sell her off. But my heart held on and so she is still with me.

Now after an extended game of going back and forth, my heart has come victorious. I have finally put my foot down, and I am going to restore her into all her grandeur. Mechanically she is 90% perfect. Engine is great, gear box is good, break pads recently changed, front axle replaced recently. The main issue is in the clutch is a bit too hard. My mechanic says the plate might need replacement. But the most pressing issue now is the gear lever connecting rod or something. I am not sure of the name of the part. But I have made a small pictorial depiction in the first picture.

The gear lever had a lot of play initially, and then my mechanic replaced this part with a new one. Play stopped for a few days and then it came back, only this time it broke off. And I had a rod of the car touching the road. The gear lever was disconnected from the shaft. He replaced that part too, this time I noticed that it was made of fiber. I wanted to know if it was originally fiber or not. If not from where can I get the proper replacement in Hyderabad?

The next major issue is the denting and paintwork. There are several dents in the body, and also there is a lot of underbody rust. I request you to let me know if there is any good workshop\mechanic who does restoration\painting and denting works in and around Hi Tech city and JNTU. I live in Malaysian Township near KPBH, JNTU. I have searched a couple of places in and around my house here in Hi Tech city. The quotes given to me by various workshops range from 20000 to 12000. The person who gave 12k is a reputed person and has won best mechanic award from Gem\Varun Motors. Now he runs his own workshop near Malaysian Township near Hi Tech station. It’s called Vaishnavi Motors. He initially quoted 20k by looking at me, but then I bargained with him and finally agreed on 12k. The paint he is going to use is 2K. I have no prior experience with him, but was suggested to me by a person from Gem Motors. Does anyone know about him? If yes please share the information. Also I wanted to know if the quote mentioned by him is proper.



Thanks in advance everyone.
rsquared

[Stanher]

'happened to find this old photo among a bunch I was sorting through at home. This was an SS80 bought brand new at the time, as can be made out, photographed at our old house. The owner was a friend of my dad's brother in Vizag who'd come to Hyd. just for buying the car as they didnt have a showroom in Vizag as yet then. On my uncle's request, my dad had helped the gentleman by arranging for the car to be driven down to Vizag by his office driver. The car was parked for a day or 2 in our garage during which time our car (a Standard Gazel) was parked in our lawn for that period. I was told that I had been very upset about it then!
That's me, my sis and the owner on the left. Photo taken by my dad.
I think this car was a Deluxe, not just going by the badge but can also make out the beige leather seat covers.

[ajay99]

good find shyam,that indeed is a DX, you can even see the antenna on the A-pillar.

[Stanher]

Originally Posted by ajay99

good find shyam,that indeed is a DX, you can even see the antenna on the A-pillar.

Thanks! Wow, I didnt notice the antenna! You sure have eagle eyes when it comes to SS80s!

@rsquared, welcome aboard! Nice to find another hyderabadi SS80 fan! Man, from reading your post, I find we have so much to relate to! I have felt as emotional as you have when it came to old cars!
And you really are a die-hard SS80 fan! 'wish you all the best for your resto, and we in hyd. would be glad to be help where we can.
BTW, I live on the other side of Hyderabad from yourself, in a township whose name is taken from that of Malaysia's neighbouring country!

[tantragna]

Originally Posted by PAVAN KADAM

This is just amazing.

Good going buddy. One of the Best detailed restoration process that i'am noticing.

Would love to see the final outcome. Best of Luck.

Thanks Pavan!

Here is the update of the day!

[Stanher]

Originally Posted by tantragna

Here is the update of the day!

Nice to see your car coming out good! A very comprehensive restoration. Do you still get the rubber seals/beadings btw? I'm told the stainless steel strips on the window sills are no longer available. Incidentally, I need just one for my car, outer one on right rear door. The one on it is dented/scraped in one spot!

BTW, if I might ask, what has been applied on the underbody? Is it some anti-rust coating or just white paint? seems to have a good finish.

[samsag12]

It seems some dual tone paint job is on its way. BTW i have never seen any restoration work of this level being carried out in this detail. Truly a 0% rust car for the years to come.

[tantragna]

Originally Posted by Stanher

Nice to see your car coming out good! A very comprehensive restoration. Do you still get the rubber seals/beadings btw? I'm told the stainless steel strips on the window sills are no longer available. Incidentally, I need just one for my car, outer one on right rear door. The one on it is dented/scraped in one spot!

BTW, if I might ask, what has been applied on the underbody? Is it some anti-rust coating or just white paint? seems to have a good finish.

Many thanks @Stanher!
Unfortunately we have get satisfied with whatever alternatives available in the market, since body spares/parts are not continued by maruti for SS80. You could get it repaired with good hands with the existing ones or hunt in the scrapyard. In either ways you got to be extremely lucky!

Underbody had a coat of zinc primer mixed with NC primer & NC thinner in the ration 1:5:6, for the first hand metal protection. (I had not taken out the original coating, but just scraped off the rusted areas only). Then an coat of 3M's Underseal (in typical words, pitch coating) thinned down with petrol by half its original viscosity of the spray mixture, since I used the same paint spray gun to do the job. On top of this an over coat of white paint to protect the pitch from solvents like petrol diesel & also to provide better visibility to other road users under extreme situations (read making the car lie on its doors in the center of the road, accidentally or incidentally either way ) I am really stupid, because I used oil/enamel based white paint to do the over coat of the underbody which tooks atleast 4-6 days to dryout. But I think it has more gloss (than ordinary NC paints) so can provide better washable characteristics. But have not idea on the heat & dirt battering resistivity in real world conditions. Have just tried it out, hope it works!

[tantragna]

Originally Posted by samsag12

It seems some dual tone paint job is on its way. BTW i have never seen any restoration work of this level being carried out in this detail. Truly a 0% rust car for the years to come.

Surely it is @samsag12, & I think it should last for another 10-15yrs without any major corrosion issues. Here are some updates of the day with white paint job done & red scheduled to complete tomorrow. Hopefully it is a Polio Vaccination drive day tomorrow as I came to know by the SMS received, & that it is arranged by Lions Club. Reason: It will be full electricity day in rural areas too!

Anyways here is the pics update of the day!