[manishalive]

Originally Posted by Stanher

For a clearer idea, here's a pic. of the '55 drums I'd referred to....you can see the "grooves" running on the side. 'had a couple more pics. of these, cant find them now!

Attachment 884069

And here's a pair of the 'finned' type drums wasif was probably referring to, which came later, on the select-superselect.

Attachment 884070

I was not aware of this fact. Thanks for the info. I once saw the early type drums in Bangalore Scrapyard, however cared less not knowing they were from Fiat.

[PAVAN KADAM]

Originally Posted by manishalive

I was not aware of this fact. Thanks for the info. I once saw the early type drums in Bangalore Scrapyard, however cared less not knowing they were from Fiat.

imagine my plight, i am getting accustomed to the Fiats and Premier Padmini now, i care less for so many useful parts at the scrapyard.

Getting back to the topic, my painter is spending too much time on the engine room, he might just finish the engine room painting in a days time.

Still no luck with the Paint booth.

[manishalive]

Originally Posted by PAVAN KADAM

imagine my plight, i am getting accustomed to the Fiats and Premier Padmini now, i care less for so many useful parts at the scrapyard.

Getting back to the topic, my painter is spending too much time on the engine room, he might just finish the engine room painting in a days time.

Still no luck with the Paint booth.

What about Krishna garage, I have been behind him for my car, but always same story .

[PAVAN KADAM]

Originally Posted by manishalive

What about Krishna garage, I have been behind him for my car, but always same story .

Manish Anna...

I have no intention to change the team. My Painter and the Team are THE BEST to finish any job, I am ONLY looking at Hiring a Professional paint booth set-up for 2 days to finish the Millecento.

Prashanth has been very particular about finishing the car in the Paint booth so i have been waiting for one Maruti-A.S.C (SATHANUR) in Yelahanka (Close to my locality) But they have been having their own back-logs to clear and are un-willing to rent-out the booth. This has been happening since the last 2 months

I have another option at Peenya. Our T-BHP Member Monish (memo45_m) has a very nice Paint booth, shall call him tomorrow. The only concern being the Distance.

[DHABHAR.BEHRAM]

Originally Posted by DHABHAR.BEHRAM

Dear Pavan - in the first picture of post no 2, I can see the APEX make free flow exhaust manifold. It worked in its day but is cumbersome to maintain in case anything happens to it because it has four half washers in two sizes to attach it to the cylinder head due to which it gets prone to leakage at the slightest misalignment. As soon as this happens, you will lose power or the car will stop completely and it will be very difficult to find the root cause. Therefore, I use the original S1 exhaust manifold with the twin pipe as it was used in production S1 cars in the interest of performance and complete reliability. These are engineered components, the APEX is a prototype manufactured part. During those days, S1 was not there, there was nothing else but APEX. I have the greatest regard for Mr.Govindji Shah who owned APEX but a prototype part cannot replace an engineered aggregate. You know that I was the project engineer for S1. I only did this work way back in 1988/90 with AVL. Best regards, Behram Dhabhar

Dear Pavan - sorry for delayed response due to work pressure. I am clarifying because there seems to be some confusion in understanding. The "cobra type pipes" you see sticking into the engine compartment is the "APEX" manifold. It is not original. It was made by Mr.Govindji Shah and his engineer Mr.Lewis in their factory in Worli, Mumbai. We all used to buy from APEX only because in those days nothing else was available. Then S1 project was done in 1989 / 1990. Essentially, S1 was a driveline optimization package on the Padmini to meet the 1996 emission norms. One of the improvements suggested was to drop the axle ratio from 4.3:1 to 3.9:1. In order to maintain the drivability, engine power was increased. This called for many major changes inside the engine as well as in the car. One of these was reduction of exhaust back pressure to compliment the increased swirl rate of the new cylinder head (the head looks same but it is a different animal). Therefore, as recommended by AVL and under packaging requirements, we designed and developed a cast iron exhaust manifold alongwith twin exhaust pipes, leading to a 44.45 mm (1.75 inch) tail pipe with a differentially derived muffler design, all optimized on the engine / chassis dynamometers to meet the 1996 emission norms.

I am requesting you to fit this cast manifold and twin pipes. They will fit the cylinder head perfectly because even if Prashanth has said that the head is changed, its mounting dimensions are common from the original design of 1953. These parts will give you reliability which APEX can never hope to match. By the way, when your technician removed the engine, I hope he has preserved the four half washers without which you will not be able to assemble the APEX manifold again. Many people do not know this, the washers fall off, people try to fit some other nonsense and then untold misery starts.

By the way, where is the original battery tray? You must weld it to the body. You must also weld close all unwanted holes in the firewall. I hope you will remove the steering system when you paint the underbonnet area. When the bonnet is opened, people must say WOW only and nothing else.

Best regards,

Behram Dhabhar

[PAVAN KADAM]

Originally Posted by DHABHAR.BEHRAM

Dear Pavan - sorry for delayed response due to work pressure. I am clarifying because there seems to be some confusion in understanding. The "cobra type pipes" you see sticking into the engine compartment is the "APEX" manifold. It is not original. It was made by Mr.Govindji Shah and his engineer Mr.Lewis in their factory in Worli, Mumbai. We all used to buy from APEX only because in those days nothing else was available. Then S1 project was done in 1989 / 1990. Essentially, S1 was a driveline optimization package on the Padmini to meet the 1996 emission norms. One of the improvements suggested was to drop the axle ratio from 4.3:1 to 3.9:1. In order to maintain the drivability, engine power was increased. This called for many major changes inside the engine as well as in the car. One of these was reduction of exhaust back pressure to compliment the increased swirl rate of the new cylinder head (the head looks same but it is a different animal). Therefore, as recommended by AVL and under packaging requirements, we designed and developed a cast iron exhaust manifold alongwith twin exhaust pipes, leading to a 44.45 mm (1.75 inch) tail pipe with a differentially derived muffler design, all optimized on the engine / chassis dynamometers to meet the 1996 emission norms.

I am requesting you to fit this cast manifold and twin pipes. They will fit the cylinder head perfectly because even if Prashanth has said that the head is changed, its mounting dimensions are common from the original design of 1953. These parts will give you reliability which APEX can never hope to match. By the way, when your technician removed the engine, I hope he has preserved the four half washers without which you will not be able to assemble the APEX manifold again. Many people do not know this, the washers fall off, people try to fit some other nonsense and then untold misery starts.

By the way, where is the original battery tray? You must weld it to the body. You must also weld close all unwanted holes in the firewall. I hope you will remove the steering system when you paint the underbonnet area. When the bonnet is opened, people must say WOW only and nothing else.

Best regards,

Behram Dhabhar

Agreed sir, surely

The engine room is indeed prepped up for such a finish

The front fascia had some problem, earlier someone had screwed up the indicator positions and the whole area was pressed IN. Tapping it out to get the exact shape.

[PAVAN KADAM]

Spray, Sand down, Spray , Sand down , Spray , Sand down , Yet again, Spray and Sand down & for the one last time Sand down and Spray.

In total we have sprayed 2 coats of Kapci (Grey) surfacer, and 2 coats of Dupont (Base Coat - White ) surfacer. While we were waiting for the paint booth guys to give me a permission to use their booths to spray the final coats of paint on the car. The painter felt, the car needs Just One more coat of surfacer to Seal it

Sorry guys Pics not uploading, T-BHP uploader is not accepting pictures ...

[PAVAN KADAM]

Finally the uploader is working

Some pics of Work In Progress.

Off it goes tomorrow to the Paint Booth.

[samsag12]

Thats one hell of a sanding & respraying job your painter did, body prep in such number is hard to come by. Hope its painted in a couple of days. Lines are just purrfect. Great work.
BTW why haven't you removed the steering box and rods when each and every thing is out of the engine bay? The steering box rubber gasket on the firewall is very tough to get, do get it covered if it isn't removed.

[PAVAN KADAM]

Originally Posted by samsag12

Thats one hell of a sanding & respraying job your painter did, body prep in such number is hard to come by. Hope its painted in a couple of days. Lines are just purrfect. Great work.
BTW why haven't you removed the steering box and rods when each and every thing is out of the engine bay? The steering box rubber gasket on the firewall is very tough to get, do get it covered if it isn't removed.

Thanks Sagar,

I too want to complete the car ASAP, but Prashanth and me are still not arrived at a conclusion regarding the Upholstery and the Electrical fittings, So just need to see if i will be able to complete the project the way i wanted.

The final Paint for the car will be completed by Tomorrow evening

[PAVAN KADAM]

The D-Day arrived and off the car goes to the pint booth for its final make-over

I must be grateful to memo_45 (Monish - T-BHP / GT Tuners ) for allowing me to rent out his Technically Perfect paint booth for my restorations.

Two-Tone finish made things difficult, but my painter is more than obliging when it comes to Classics / Vintages.

[samsag12]

thats a concours finish Pavan ji, what an outcome. The patience did got paid. Superb gloss and fantastic coating. Thanks for sharing the pics although would love to see some more especially the unmasked ones

[rajchetan]

Originally Posted by PAVAN KADAM

Two-Tone finish made things difficult, but my painter is more than obliging when it comes to Classics / Vintages.

Super finish sir, Sorry anna have been away so not followed for a long time. finish Tumba chanagidda.. How about the interiors will they also be getting one final quote?

[PAVAN KADAM]

Originally Posted by samsag12

thats a concours finish Pavan ji, what an outcome. The patience did got paid. Superb gloss and fantastic coating. Thanks for sharing the pics although would love to see some more especially the unmasked ones

Originally Posted by rajchetan

Super finish sir, Sorry anna have been away so not followed for a long time. finish Tumba chanagidda.. How about the interiors will they also be getting one final quote?

So here i present the 1954 Millecento in its NEW AVTAAR

[samsag12]

I am at a loss of words Pavan ji , its turned out wonderful. The color combo looks really nice,thanks for sharing.