[Cypher0041]

Hello all, new BHPian here. I'm looking for some advice. I currently own a 2004 Maruti Zen LX (MPFI) and it's run around 1.38 lakh kms.The car was my father's old car and it was not maintained very well. I've been having a lot of engine related issues like a squeaky belt,taking a few seconds for the car to start after turning the key and oil all over the engine bay. while I was driving today, the car shut off randomly (I ruled out overheating because I just got the entire radiator and coolant replaced). I was able to pull over and start it up again but it shut off once more after driving for a bit. After starting the car once again, it ran fine till the end of my journey. What could be causing this issue and how much would it cost me to get it fixed?

Alternatively, my dad asked me how much a new engine would cost because we have spent quite a lot on repairing this engine over the years and it's getting tiresome. So, I'd like to know if it's feasible and practical to do an engine swap and if there are any shops in Trivandrum that do this kind of stuff?

I'd be grateful if any of you could recommend some good mechanics in Trivaandrum as well.

[Japspeed99]

Hello,

I was thinking of upgrading the wheels and tires on my 96 Zen MH410.I have got a set of 4 alloy wheels from a totalled Chevy optra.These are 14 inch alloys with a 5.5j configuration.What is the best size of tyres i can go with this alloys for my Zen?.

[Zen2001]

Originally Posted by Japspeed99

Hello,

I was thinking of upgrading the wheels and tires on my 96 Zen MH410.I have got a set of 4 alloy wheels from a totalled Chevy optra.These are 14 inch alloys with a 5.5j configuration.What is the best size of tyres i can go with this alloys for my Zen?.

Pros : Cosmetic appeal. (But the same could be had at 13R)

Cons: Go through any/all of the tyre upsizing threads, including the threads specific to the Zen and you'll find 50 reasons why doing what you plan to do will not turn out to be a good idea - for routine city driving, loading the car with 3-4 people, handling, cornering, braking, suspension issues, fuel efficiency, speedometer error etc. In short, you won't feel like you're driving the Zen, but an agricultural vehicle.

[Japspeed99]

Hello,

I own a 96 Zen MH410. I am planning for a mpfi conversion on it's g10 engine.I got a 2003 Zen VXi from a friend for free. The car had a bad fuel pump which resulted in a blown head gasket and spun rod bearings.I have got all the parts like the ECU, wiring harness etc. for free and the work will be done at my friend's workshop.I am a bit skeptical about the condition of the cylinder head from the 03 Zen.A bad oil pump means the engine was running without any oil circulation and that may have damaged the valves and camshaft of the 03 Zen.The carb Zens were 8v and the MPFI were 16v.

Is it possible to just swap the wiring and the mpfi components on to the 8v engine without changing the cylinder head.Is it advisable to use the 16v cylinder head from the 03 Zen as it was running without oil and chances of excessive wear on the camshaft is evident.Apart from that,The pistons on the carb engine has 2 indentation while the mpfi have 4. Will this affect the swap?

[Zen2001]

Originally Posted by Japspeed99

Hello,
The carb Zens were 8v and the MPFI were 16v.
Is it possible to just swap the wiring and the mpfi components on to the 8v engine without changing the cylinder head.Is it advisable to use the 16v cylinder head from the 03 Zen as it was running without oil and chances of excessive wear on the camshaft is evident.Apart from that,The pistons on the carb engine has 2 indentation while the mpfi have 4. Will this affect the swap?

I'm not sure this would be possible, although I'm no expert. Better go for a complete engine + ECU swap. Another question - with the car now needing renewal of registration, will you not have to first undergo the procedure of getting the engine number changed on the records first?

[Leoshashi]

Originally Posted by Japspeed99

The carb Zens were 8v and the MPFI were 16v.

There was also a 2V MPFI Zen, albeit for a very brief time, somewhere around early 2000s.

Regards,
Shashi

[Rishi Vikram]

Hi guys, so I have, or rather my dad has a 2002 Zen LXi MPFI which I shall be inheriting from him next year for my birthday.

I've got a long list of mods in my head that will pretty much transform the car.

a) Some fender flares to accommodate wider wheels. Does anyone know where this could be done in Bangalore?

b) New wheels and tyres - OZ, Enkei or BBS wheels, 16 inch, 185/195 section tyres. Does anyone know where to source these in Bangalore and how much it may cost?

c) Suspension - A new good set from Koni or Tein so the ride and handling are sorted.

d) Minor mods like a new steering wheel, gearknob etc

e) Maybe some chassis stiffening, again I would love to know where this could be sone in BLR.

f) A good set of strong brakes.

g) finally some engine and power mods when the rest of the car is ready for it. Maybe get it up to 150 hp when it's all done.






The car is in good, stock condition at the moment, but will be a completely different beast when all is done.

Would anyone know how much such an extensive list of could set me back by?

[jono213]

Originally Posted by Rishi Vikram

Hi guys, so I have, or rather my dad has a 2002 Zen LXi MPFI which I shall be inheriting from him next year for my birthday.

I've got a long list of mods in my head that will pretty much transform the car.

a) Some fender flares to accommodate wider wheels. Does anyone know where this could be done in Bangalore?

b) New wheels and tyres - OZ, Enkei or BBS wheels, 16 inch, 185/195 section tyres. Does anyone know where to source these in Bangalore and how much it may cost?

c) Suspension - A new good set from Koni or Tein so the ride and handling are sorted.

d) Minor mods like a new steering wheel, gearknob etc

e) Maybe some chassis stiffening, again I would love to know where this could be sone in BLR.

f) A good set of strong brakes.

g) finally some engine and power mods when the rest of the car is ready for it. Maybe get it up to 150 hp when it's all done.


Attachment 2261142

Attachment 2261143

The car is in good, stock condition at the moment, but will be a completely different beast when all is done.

Would anyone know how much such an extensive list of could set me back by?

Hey Rishi, great to hear from you, now about the BLR specific mechanics, i live in HYD so won't be able to help you with that, however what i can tell you is that upsizing the 12in wheels to something major like 16 inches with a 185/195 section is a horrible idea.

Sure you might get the cosmetic appeal but everything other than that will be awful, go through any of the tyre upsizing threads on teambhp or just scroll up to see BHPian Zen2001's post on a similar query. Also if you're still convinced on the wheels, something like 16in would require tons of cutting of the bodywork for clearance as well as the turning radius for the front.

My suggestion is that you should go for something more realistic like a tasteful 13-14in wheel along with decent rubber, somewhere from 145-155.

As far as the brakes are concerned, the zen is a pretty light car and unless you're going to be track testing the car, i think the stock brakes should serve you just fine, unless of course they're facing issues or are rusted out, which i would then advise you to consider a rebuild or then go for new brakes.

Finally coming to the engine mods, the stock zen came off the factory floor with around 60hp~ from the 1.0 litre mpfi, now to get that 20 year old engine to 150hp would be a herculean task, IMHO you shouldn't even be considering 150hp because of the amount of work and time that will go into it, reboring the engine to increase capacity, axles, ecu upgrades, major component overhauls, turbocharging or even a straight engine swap will be the bare minimum to get this machine to 150hp~

I'm not even really sure of any mechanic shops that would readily be able to undertake this for you, if they do, you're looking at a minimum expense of 2-3 lakhs solely for the engine mods excluding labor.

If you really want advice, restore the interior and exterior, get 13-14in wheels with a good set of rubber, the chassis stiffening and wheel arches should be fine, do the minor mods and if you still really want the engine mods, i'd say stick to stage 1 upgrades only.

This project should set you back by about 50k-1.5L, so be wise and do well.

Happy motoring!!

[Japspeed99]

Originally Posted by Rishi Vikram

Hi guys, so I have, or rather my dad has a 2002 Zen LXi MPFI which I shall be inheriting from him next year for my birthday.

I've got a long list of mods in my head that will pretty much transform the car.

To be frank, The budget will be steep if you are considering a perfomance based upgrade. If you really love the car then I would definitely say don't care about the money aspect. I own a 96 Zen and I have converted it to mpfi and restored the whole car to the condition it came out from the factory.

That engine swap and restomod set me about 1.5 lakhs.

The Zen can easily accommodate 6j 15inch alloys with 185/45/15 rubber. That's the maximum you can go without the tyre scrapping. If you want to keep the cost in check, know that the optra magnum and the cedia came with 15 inchers with a 114 pcd.

If you're looking for better performance. I would suggest a 1.3 swap. Getting hold of a full system especially in Karnataka is expensive compared to other states. As for suspension the zen D ones can be used to accomade the heavier g13 engine.

Chassis stiffening can be done at RR performance banglore. There are a handful of Zens with a g16 swap that was built at RR, they do have chassis stiffening

[Rishi Vikram]

Originally Posted by jono213

Hey Rishi, great to hear from you, now about the BLR specific mechanics, i live in HYD so won't be able to help you with that, however what i can tell you is that upsizing the 12in wheels to something major like 16 inches with a 185/195 section is a horrible idea...

…If you really want advice, restore the interior and exterior, get 13-14in wheels with a good set of rubber, the chassis stiffening and wheel arches should be fine, do the minor mods and if you still really want the engine mods, i'd say stick to stage 1 upgrades only.

This project should set you back by about 50k-1.5L, so be wise and do well.

Happy motoring!!

Hi, thank you for the advice! Yes, I am aware that the list of mods that I have in line are going to be very expensive, my choices are to either do this or a used BMW 525 tds, which may be cheaper to buy but will have a higher maintenance cost.

I think brake upgrades will definitely be necessary if I'm going to make this car any more powerful, because with even 100hp, a 700kg car will really move.

I plan to get this power from the 1.5 City VTEC engine which I'm confident will fit and might be a little expensive but will make good power in stock form alone, which will aid reliability.

Originally Posted by Japspeed99

To be frank, The budget will be steep if you are considering a perfomance based upgrade. If you really love the car then I would definitely say don't care about the money aspect. I own a 96 Zen and I have converted it to mpfi and restored the whole car to the condition it came out from the factory.

That engine swap and restomod set me about 1.5 lakhs.

The Zen can easily accommodate 6j 15inch alloys with 185/45/15 rubber. That's the maximum you can go without the tyre scrapping. If you want to keep the cost in check, know that the optra magnum and the cedia came with 15 inchers with a 114 pcd.

If you're looking for better performance. I would suggest a 1.3 swap. Getting hold of a full system especially in Karnataka is expensive compared to other states. As for suspension the zen D ones can be used to accomade the heavier g13 engine.

Chassis stiffening can be done at RR performance banglore. There are a handful of Zens with a g16 swap that was built at RR, they do have chassis stiffening

Thank you for the advice! Great to know where chassis stiffening can be done. The engine swap will definitely be expensive, but maybe just as expensive as a full blown turbo kit and the like and will be much more reliable.

The Esteem engine is great but I don't know if 25hp is enough to justify an engine swap. Besides, I think the B15 city engine will have more support internationally.

[GreasyCarb55]

Hi there, I'm sorry if this is the wrong thread but I have few questions about the Zen 1.0 MPFI.

I originally set out with a budget of 4 lakh (plus 40k outside the main budget for a modern head unit and subwoofer) to find a good first car and you may have seen that thread. After reading through all the suggestions and discussing with my family I shortlisted 3 cars (Gen 1 facelift Figo Diesel, Gen 1 Petrol Swift and the R18 Civic). After riding a friend's RTR 160 4V I decided to rethink my decision and am thinking about a bike as for 4 lakh I could get bikes like the Interceptor 650, RR310 and Duke 390.

I was thinking of buying a bike now and waiting 9-12 months, do well in my first year of college and somehow convince my parents to spend 1 lakh on a Zen 1.0 MFPI as a project car.

I wanted to know how much I can push the stock 1.0 engine, at what point is it better to just swap in a 1.3 from the Esteem.

Is it possible to swap in a bigger 1.6 from the Baleno sedan or a 1.3 G13B from the first gen Swift?

[vishal21]

Hi all, A small but obvious mod that I recently tried on out Zen. Adding OEM Charging Socket.

I have been wanting to try this for quite some time now, but things didn't materialize until recently when I finally made up my mind. There were a lot of aftermarket Cigarette lighter options available, but I wanted to go the OEM route.

Parts Used
1. BODY, SOCKET
Part No.: 39420M83P00
Link: BODY, SOCKET

2. HARNESS ASSY, SOCKET
Part No.: 39460M63J00
Doner Car: Swift 1st Gen(2007-2011)
Link: HARNESS ASSY, SOCKET

3. COVER, SOCKET
Part No.: 39420M83P00
Link: COVER, SOCKET

How it all started?
Recently I was working on the Stereo when I see this pair of wires hanging round unconnected, but well insulated. Upon checking the fuse box, the wiring was actually for connecting a Cigarette lighter. They also would slot in just right onto an aftermarket cigarette lighter. Until this time I thought this was just a dummy hole with a cap to cover it.

Dummy Cap:


Now, I could have gone ahead with the aftermarket option, but I didn't want to. So, now came the major challenge, finding a donor wiring harness. A quick search online revealed a match, a socket wiring from 1st gen swift.

Coming to the slot itself, it was pretty small for the Socket Cover. Thus, this had to be filed a little.

Filing the slot to fit.:


Fitting in the cover:


Now that this was done, next was to prep the wiring. Soldered the leads together for this.

Donor Wire.:


Replacing the stock wire replaced with the connector:


Test Aparatus:


Final Result:


As a bonus, ordered one of these Bluetooth FM Module from Amazon. Though not that great, it delivers what it promises.

[Cadence]

Hello All,

I got a new Zen (mpfi) alternator as a replacement for my Gypsy. Before fitting it I wanted to make sure if the terminals, since stock alternator connector terminals are mirror image of the Zen alternator.

Basically there are two wires that connects to the alternator: Red-white wire (warning lamp) & black-white wire (ignition).

Could someone help in identifying which wire goes to 1 and which wire goes to 2, as marked in the attached pic.

[Zen2001]

Guys, any idea where I could source a speedo dial (not the entire console/meter) for the Zen? Or perhaps will any other car's substitute of the same dimensions be also an option? Location in Pune. I have tried scouting Nana peth scrap car parts shops, but they insist on buying the entire speedo console (if they can even find one) and the price is not worth it. Thanks in advance.

[Dan0067]

Originally Posted by theodore_ftw

Uploading some photos of my Zen 2002 LXi.

Please check my garage for details of the ICE and Modifications.

Clear Lens Lights are manufactured by Neolite Industries.

Recent Additions -

- Clear Lens Tail Lamps
- Clear Lens Parking Lights
- Clear Lens Indicators + Fog Lights

I checked the website just to find out that they removed all of them from the site. Do you have any idea about where I could source even just the indicator/fog lamp combo if not all of them?
I recently restored my 1999 Zen and was interested in modding it a bit but here in Rajasthan finding modded parts or even OEM parts is very difficult in my experience.

I have attached some pics of the car(finished in pearl white)