[prabhuav]

Have been wanting to put this thread up for a while, but life events took priority.

Some history.

This was the second car that Dad bought, the first one being an 87 Omni. The omni is one car(van really), that givems me goosebumps everytime that I think about it. Dad met with a serious accident in it in 91, on a hospital bed for 6 months with every bone in his right leg broken. brrr

It took him 4 years to recover , mentally and financially. So one fine day in May 95, that we got her . A dark green 89 Padmini BE with an FFE and bucket seats in some glorious velour. The exhaust note was to die for. It Supposedly had 46k on the odo and ran stong.. What do I know better, coz I cud not drive then.

Within a couple of months of getting her, yours truly was coached in the fine art of driving a 4 wheeler by a neighbour, a professional driver with license that was 65 years old.

Lesson number 5 and I was ready to take on the RTO and believe me passed with flying colours. Still remember the inspector shocked at me able to start from an incline without stalling or stuttering whatsoever. Dad had made me master this art by procuring a parking space at a 30 degree angle with 6 inches space in front and behind the car. All this with the parking brake disconnected

Anyways eversince I got a license, my Dad never drove if I was in the car. Hence I was relegated to all the early morning uncle aunty railway station pickups etc etc. and boy I was not complaining.

I also was the designated one to maintain the car. And boy she was in good shape.

Come 1999 and I was frezing my @$$ off in Omaha Nebraska.. (yeah I see the ones who know this place nodding in agreement) my Dad decided that he was going to DO-UP the car, this without even telling be.

What turned out was ghastly to say the least.

The lovey dark green was sprayed over by a yucky light pista green.
The glorious velour was replaced by a terrible foam like fabric that made you sweat in 5 minutes flat
The headliner now sporten a 3 inch thick decoratory false cieling thingy that caused me to recline the seats so much , else my head was embedded in the headliner..
Worst of all, out went the FFE, replaced by a stock unit that robbed the pleasure of driving it.

I got so turned off by the changes that I literally stopped driving her. I had bought a zen by then.

A couple of years later, we moved to our apartment and I figured out a back route that avoided the dreaded Hosur rd, This was less of a road and more of a string of potholes joined together. Not wanting to subject the zen to this road, out came the padmini.Slap it on 3rd and road or no road she rammed thru at 30-40. Every month I took her to my mech asking , anything broke? Miraculously nothing did.

Come 2005 I am off again to the land of the milk and honey and a decision to sell one of the cars. The padmini or the zen . tough decision then, but decided to keep the padmini.

Fast forward to 2007 , I rush back from Atlanta due to my Dad's illness and the only car we have at home is the Padmini.
A car that barely ran for 2000 kms in 2.5 years started doing 150kms daily. Parts of which was on the NICE road where she happily did 120.

On one such trips , I lost all radiator fluid owing to a cracked water hose , and blew a head gasket. Off she went to the mech.
That very week , our Scorpio came and the setting was perfect to restore the Padmini to her former glory.

I had always wanted to hotrod her, and started with the plans to plonk a 1.8 ISZ contessa engine and transmission in her. That was promptly shot down by the mech. Looked around for baleno/esteem engine with Gypsy king gearboxes and that was proving to be too expensive.

Thought about restoring the padmini engine itself, but we would have to do extensive work on the engine and the 3 bearing engine was not too conducise to plonk an A/C into. Additionally , the car needed to be easy enough for wifey to drive and the plunger type pedals had to go.

Finaly decided on a 118 NE engine and its makkhan transmission. My mech found one with his Gujri (aka scrapyard) contacts with a factory a/c , with less than 50k miles on the odo for 19k and the work started.

The engine and transmission are already plonked in. I will post pics tonight.

Work pending :

1) Front Disc brakes from the 118 NE
2) Electric power steering from an esteem
3) Complete tinkering and painting
4) Baleno bucket seats new upholstery
5) K&N conical air filter
6) Porting and polishing of the head with grooves
7) Headers and FFE
8) I have 165/60R14 tyres with less than 5k kms on them , I might keep then
9) ICE ..

What else?

I need help in the porting and polishing and getting an FFE+ headers.

Cheers
Vijay

[planet_rocker]

Originally Posted by prabhuav

8) I have 165/60R14 tyres with less than 5k kms on them , I might keep then
I need help in the porting and polishing and getting an FFE+ headers.

congrats man!

AFAIK the correct tyre size should be 165-80 R14 on stock rims. i am sure that the bangy boys will be able to help you with the FFE and PnP.

get a loud end can - forget the ICE

do keep us updated with pics. all the best

[kicksperliter]

tats a "PIMP MA RIDE" thing goin on. ...............


plz update us , I LOOOOVE those oldies, man they rock big time....

and why did ur mechanic turn down the 1.8 ISZ, any specific reason?!

[Jaggu]

eagerly looking forward to the update

[Mpower]

Originally Posted by prabhuav

Ha
1) Front Disc brakes from the 118 NE
2) Electric power steering from an esteem

AFAIK, the Esteem is a hydraulic power steering. Its the smaller Altos and Wagon R that are EPS.

[prabhuav]

@ planet_rocker - I will get a loud end can anyway, but have the ICE , will put what I have

@ kicksperliter - It sure as hell is getting pimped, but not with a purple suit. it is rather savile row

@ Jaggu. My tinman has gone to Sabarimala, hence work has stopped for now. will post updates soon

@ Mpower - I believe only the baleno came with hydraulic power steering. The rest all got the electric ones.

[1100D]

Since work has already started, and you say that the engine and the transmission are already in. How about the routing of the fuel lines? Has the front cross member been modified to accomodate the 118NE gearbox.

Why Esteems steering? to have power steering feature? Has the Esteem's steering system been found to be workable in the Fiat.

I read the top part of your story and it was really nice.

[prabhuav]

@1100D - For the subframe, we used the front crossmember from the 137D that alloswed us to move the engine forward by and inch. Because of this we had only half an inch of interference between the steering central linkage and the top of the transmission. This was fixed by choppoing off 3/4 of an inch from the top 2 ribs of the transmission casing and it does not cause any structural issues for the transmission

as far as the steering is concerned, I am trying to get power steering without losing too much power and hence the lookout for the electric version. Plus the electric power steering is more of an assist on top of the manual , and you can actually steer the car without power unlike the hydraulic ones where no power - no steer.

Good you liked the story. I am so comfortable on Teambhp that I end up writing about history

Thanks
Vijay

[prabhuav]

@ kicksperliter - The 1.8 ISZ was discarded as it needs heavy mods to mount and will play havoc with the handling. The Nissan A12 engine from the NE is a very compact unit. As a matter of fact it is lighter and smaller than the fiat engine.

As a matter of fact the mod is completely reversible as we are retaining the stock engine and transmission mounts as is

[prabhuav]

Current state pics uploaded here ..

Picasa Web Albums - Vijayananda - My Premier Pa...

Thanks
Vijay

[DHABHAR.BEHRAM]

Dear Prabhuav - the only reason why I have not yet put a Nissan engine in the Padmini is the interference of the top of the transmission casing with the steering tie rods. The correct way to do this is to move the steering centre pillar mounting cross member backwards by 15 mm. I had designed and developed these parts and released the engineering information. All steering tie rods also undergo change. PAL had made some cars with this change in place. I do not want to be pessimistic but if the top boss of the transmission casing is cut, it's structural rigidity reduces and you will get a bending moment in your powerplant mounting which in turn will lead to clutch related issues / hard shifting / crash shifting of the transmission. Your use may be limited so you may not realise all this. Also, please use the transmission mounting cross member and the propeller shaft of the Padmini adaptation of the Nissan transmission. Do not go for local fabrication as shock loads on this part are high due to high engine speed (5600 rpm). The mechanical fuel pump will come very near to the LH front suspension mounting pillar and you may need to use an electronic fuel pump, in which case fuel return line is desireable. Cooling system will need an upgrade.

For any further queries, please contact me on 09820709513.

Best regards,

Behram Dhabhar

[prabhuav]

Mr Dhabar,

Thanks a ton for the input. Do you know where I can source the cross meber and the propeller shaft? Since the padmini adaptation of the Nissan engine were such small numbers these parts might be extremely hard to find.

Additionally since the top boss of the transmission casing is already cut, will welding a brace on to the boss have enough mass to counter the bending moment?

Thanks
Vijay

[DHABHAR.BEHRAM]

To answer your second question first - the answer is an emphatic NO. Please put another gearbox. At least in Mumbai they sell quite cheap at the scrapwallahs. Rs 1000 should get you one. To answer your first question - Mumbai scrapwallahs to the rescue again.

If you don't want to touch the steering tie rods, then you need to move the engine forwards, so the gearbox mounting cross member will not adapt directly, you will have to work on the chassis and generate mountings. It can be done but it must be done very carefully.

How are you going to do the front engine mounting brackets ? They are different on the LH and RH side. Please use 118NE production resilient mounts.

How are you going to actuate the clutch ? The Nissan transmission clutch actuator comes very close to the RH steering tie rod during articulation. You need to be careful otherwise safety will get compromised.

And do balance the propeller shaft otherwise @ 5600 engine rpm, the whipping action will ruin your NVH levels.

Complete exhaust needs to be routed on the LH side, so the fuel tank needs to be shortened.

I can give you all these details because I worked on this project myself in 1992.

Best regards,

Behram Dhabhar

[prabhuav]

Mr Dhabar,As a matter of fact the cut from the transmission casing boss is pretty smallI will try and take a closer shot of the amount of metal removed . Probably that would clarify.
The engine is indeed setup forward and we replaced the subframe crossmember from that of a 137D to clear the crankshaft pulley comfortably.What we have done for the engine mounts is make assymmetrical adapter brackets and weld them on to the subframe. We did use the 118NE resilient mounts.
The clutch actuator is currently accessed thru an opening cut into the tunnel. Will take additional care to make sure that it clears the RH tie rod.I will also make sure that the propeller shaft is balanced properly.
I intend to make a completely custom FFE routed on the left. The fuel tanl will be replaced by one from a Zen. The zen tank is smaller and comes with a builtin electronic fuel pump. 2 birds with one stone
The cooling system is from the 118, the car that the engine and gearbox came from. That car came with a factory A/C. Do you suggest that I keep the same A/C compressor and blower unit or change it?
I am really lucky to have access to your indepth knowledge and truly appreciate your help on my endeavour.Vijay

[desigNation]

prabhuav-good to know some one is doing up a premier padmini,its a beautiful car to do mod job in a retro kinda way[ in the lines of overhaulin ].do keep posted once u start. good luck dude.