[R2D2]

Originally Posted by Leoshashi

" Never realised she looked so divine,
Never realised she had grown younger with time. Never did she reveal her age, with slightest slack, I love her, and she loves me back."

BHPian and good friend Sumit loved these lines so much that he used it for his 800 too in another forum.

6th Std? Man! You're a better poet than I was even in my teens and early 20s.

Count me in along with Sumit as a fan of your poem. The difference is I'll use em words in a Valentine's Day card for my wife. She'll probably roll her eyes and look at me strangely for acting in such an out of character fashion.

PS - I am falling short on family points..hence thanks for helping me out.

[josejoseph]

This is a very interesting thread. My first car was also a 5 speed Maruti 800 in same color as yours and every time I read this thread it reminds me of that car.

Since you have vast knowledge about parts and accessories, I want to ask you one thing that always wanted in the 800. At any time (including the export models), did the 800 come up with convex ORVM?

[Leoshashi]

Originally Posted by josejoseph

.At any time (including the export models), did the 800 come up with convex ORVM?

Yes! And I thank you for pointing that. All export models, and some sold in India during 2003 or 2004, got mirrors which said "Objects in the mirror are closer than they appear" and they are a bit expensive than the standard mirror. Costs around Rs. 300 IIRC. I have it on my car, but never posted about it as the project is still incomplete. Reason being, the LHS ORVM supply by MSIL has stopped for the export market. Hence my car is now on convex mirror on the RHS side, and stock simple mirror on the LHS side.

I'll post some better pics later, but this is the pic I managed at the moment:

Attachment 1849222



I am still looking for the LHS convex mirror assembly. Glad you pointed it out, and now I know what my next target is.

Regards,
Shashi

PS: I very well remember your California Gold M800, another one being BHPian Shibujp's IIRC. I used to follow your posts about your 800 back then as a guest user.

[josejoseph]

Originally Posted by Leoshashi

Yes! And I thank you for pointing that. All export models, and some sold in India during 2003 or 2004, got mirrors which said "Objects in the mirror are closer than they appear" and they are a bit expensive than the standard mirror. Costs around Rs. 300 IIRC.

Well, that's news to me. Thank you for sharing this info.

I stuck small fish eye mirrors on the ORVMs and those were life savers. Not only in traffic but also while parking they helped a lot. I also got a convex IRVM from one of the car accessories shop and that thing helped in cutting headlight glare during night driving.

[Leoshashi]

Originally Posted by Leoshashi

Update: Ever since I had upgraded to Philips LEDs for Tailights, one issue was on my radar. The bulbs in the HMSL were Halogen Type, whereas the TL became full LEDs. This caused a minor lag between the operation of HMSL and TL.


The lag is now gone. Will upload a video shot at night.

As promised, here is the night time video:

https://youtu.be/8g1m1BEeWwI

Regards,
Shashi

[Leoshashi]

TVS Apache branded brakes are the best I have used till date

I was using TVS Girling brake pads from MGP, while they were good, better brakes never hurt. A friend was mighty impressed by the TVS Apache branded brakes on his Swift, and I wanted to check if the material used was the same. It indeed appeared same.

Pros:

• Costs lesser than OEM brake pads
• Superb bite
• No noise. MGP pads usually start producing squealing noises and needs cleaning every few hundred kms if you expect a silent braking.

Cons:

• A bit more brake dust compared to MGP
• Finding them is a nightmare, people will give you Apache Bike brake pads

I should also make a list of the brake pads I have tried till date, which will help in establishing a base of comparison.

1. MGP, KBX Make
2. MGP, TVS Girling make(2nd best IMO)
3. Bosch
4. Delphi(Crappiest of the lot)
5. Uno Minda(Cheapest, but works decently)





Regards,
Shashi

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by Leoshashi

[i]TVS Apache

people will give you Apache Bike brake pads

Was my first reaction too - what were you doing with TVS Apache (bike) brake pads on an M800.

By the way, are the brakes hydraulics assisted? Mine was not, and braking was defenitely one of its weaker points IIRC.

[Leoshashi]

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

By the way, are the brakes hydraulics assisted? Mine was not, and braking was defenitely one of its weaker points IIRC.

Yes the Brakes are vacuum assisted on my car, while there were some 5 speeds of the first batch which didn't get the booster brakes initially. Eventually, Maruti made the boosters standard on all 5 Speed models after 2001. The 4 speed models(MPFI or Carb) never got boosters from factory.

My car had boosters since day 1, but they were removed in 2005 when the intake manifold developed a crack. The dealer installed manifold without vacuum output, and we had no clue about the parts availability. So from 2005 to 2016, my car was without any assistance.

Eventually, I got hold of proper part numbers of the manifold, boosters and other requisite spares, and reinstalled it in November 2016. Link here: https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/long-...ml#post4107602 (The love of my life - A 2000 Maruti 800 DX 5-Speed. EDIT: Gets export model features on Pg 27)

Without boosters, the brakes are horrible to say the least. Boosters can be installed on any M800, Procure the booster assembly, Alto's vacuum hose pipe(since they are cheaper and longer), one metal pipe which goes from booster to RH wheel. I prefer to tap from the intake manifold directly for maximum vacuum, other methods include using "Y" adapters to share vacuum with other parts like PCV.

A link where we had installed boosters on a friend's 4 Speed MPFI 800: https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/modif...ml#post4330832 (The Maruti 800 Mod Thread)

Regards,
Shashi

PS: Sorry for the long post.

[dailydriver]

Originally Posted by Leoshashi

TVS Apache branded brakes are the best I have used till date

Its time for me to ask "Et tu, Shashi?"

Costs lesser than OEM brake pads, Superb bite, No noise. MGP pads usually start producing squealing noises and needs cleaning every few hundred kms if you expect a silent braking

I do agree with the cost and the bite part. But noise is something that will creep in after a few hundred kilometres. Over the last one year, I have heard it squeal, squeak, groan and grind. Two things that these pads detest are moisture and heat. Park it outside in cold or rain, they will protest. Go for a long drive and towards the end of the journey, they will start murmuring. This could of course be car specific; but having got used to the habit of getting the brakes checked and cleaned every 6-7k and bleeding them once in two years, I could discount any defects in the brake mechanism, per se.

Like you, I too had a very good initial impression about their performance.

The ones I used were painted some shade of pale red while yours are black. Could that mean they are different in quality, is something that we must wait and see.

For the uninitiated, the background of this discussion lies in post # 619, 621 and 892 of the (Maruti Genuine Parts (MGP) Catalog: Post your queries here (model list on Pg 1)) MGP thread.

[Leoshashi]

Originally Posted by dailydriver

I do agree with the cost and the bite part. But noise is something that will creep in after a few hundred kilometres. Over the last one year, I have heard it squeal, squeak, groan and grind. Two things that these pads detest are moisture and heat. Park it outside in cold or rain, they will protest. Go for a long drive and towards the end of the journey, they will start murmuring. This could of course be car specific; but having got used to the habit of getting the brakes checked and cleaned every 6-7k and bleeding them once in two years, I could discount any defects in the brake mechanism, per se.

Like you, I too had a very good initial impression about their performance.

I have driven close to 500kms on these brake pads, and they have been performing flawlessly till date. I hope this experience continues. My friend who used it on his Swift, has run more than 2000 kms, and he is extremely satisfied with them.

Regards,
Shashi

[Dr.Naren]

Originally Posted by Leoshashi

TVS Apache branded brakes are the best I have used till date

Nice. These pads are very VFM and offer better braking than OE Maruti pads. I am using the same in my Baleno, but the entry level "Dura" type. I see that you have got the mid version "Super". Do check if "Hi-Per" is available.

[Captain Slow]

Originally Posted by Leoshashi

TVS Apache branded brakes are the best I have used till date

1. MGP, KBX Make
2. MGP, TVS Girling make(2nd best IMO)
3. Bosch
4. Delphi(Crappiest of the lot)
5. Uno Minda(Cheapest, but works decently)


Regards,
Shashi

I agree Delphi is the worst brake pads ever made period! Our very own J.K. Automobiles in Bangalore conned me into buying this crap for one of the cars. Wost braking, horrible dust and these stupid pads ended up eating my rotors! And yes As usual JK charged me a bomb for these pads.

[Leoshashi]

Originally Posted by Dr.Naren

Do check if "Hi-Per" is available.

Wow, I wasn't aware of this, thanks for letting me know. No wonder you are the resident brake pad expert. Will ask the store manager about Hi-Per Brake pads.

Originally Posted by Captain Slow

Worst braking, horrible dust and these stupid pads ended up eating my rotors!

Thankfully in my case the rotors didn't get damaged as I removed them within a week of installation.

**************************

A cheap and simple fix for illuminated Charging USB ports.

I had purchased this MI Charger port from Amazon. Build quality feels robust, and it feels like a large bullet. I later realized that it has a superb illumination when it's plugged in.







Even the USB ports illuminate, somehow the Phone Cam got overwhelmed by the illuminated ring



Signing off with two recent clicks of GG on a lovely day:





Regards,
Shashi

[Leoshashi]

Alloy wheels perfected!: I was not happy with the crude looking Open type nuts for my alloys.



Good friend and fellow 800 enthusiast Varun had recommended Closed type lug nuts from Alto/Zen. 800 gets open type nuts as stock. I purchased a pack of those nuts, but this is what happened when I torqued them to 55Nm torque(as recommended in Service manual):





The stud pierced through the nut cap.



For MGA Maruti 800 Alloys, Maruti used to sell a different nut which had a more extended and rounded edge. It was discontinued, but I came to know that similar nuts under the same family of part number came with cars like the Vitara Brezza. Compare the two nuts:



Happy to report that these nuts complement the alloys perfectly and there was no issue of stud piercing the nut.



Regards,
Shashi

PS: Kindly pardon the dirty wheels, it's been raining here intermittently.

[tacho9000]

Originally Posted by Leoshashi

Mission Alloy Wheels:

Originally Posted by Leoshashi

Installed!

Originally Posted by Leoshashi

There you go:

Now that my friend is the best upgrade in my opinion you could bestow GG with at this point of time. Everything else has been perfected. Only the rims were off putting. Now that too has been rectified. Hats off to your perseverance and resourcefulness brother. And YES!!! they transformed the look of GG entirely. If only I could source four pieces of those yum looking alloys.

Originally Posted by Leoshashi

Alloy wheels perfected!: I was not happy with the crude looking Open type nuts for my alloys.

The final piece of the puzzle is now completed. And the transformation has been nothing less than fantastic and a beauty and treat to behold be it whilst stationary be it whilst in motion. Once again a big congratulations to you for this transformation of GG.

Regards,
Subhra