[h14]

Tinkering work is complete. Mechanicals and painting are pending. On the hunt for a decent TATA box...

[anjan_c2007]

h14 nice thread- actually its a Manmohan Desai lost and found thriller in real life. Wish you all the best for restoring the car to its original glory.The car has been wantonly modded by the previous owner.But with an Ambassador spares are not so tough to find.Our fellow teambhpian jeepster09 is doing a wonderful restoration work on his 1970 Amby.
And since you are amidst so many HM made cars, this Amby should also look like a part of your original fleet.

[h14]

Originally Posted by anjan_c2007

h14 nice thread- actually its a Manmohan Desai lost and found thriller in real life. Wish you all the best for restoring the car to its original glory.The car has been wantonly modded by the previous owner.But with an Ambassador spares are not so tough to find.Our fellow teambhpian jeepster09 is doing a wonderful restoration work on his 1970 Amby.
And since you are amidst so many HM made cars, this Amby should also look like a part of your original fleet.

Thanks anjan! But just to remind you, I'm planning to have a complete car rather than an original one. I'm rebuilding it for everyday use and hence the diesel engine will be on...

[nevertouchme]

Anand... Congrats on buying the car back...
Where is it right now? Who is working on the car? Is it the olive green color in 1988? Btw: the rim's - are they they original? I like them Or was it from Nova?

Cheers,
Jai

[Stanher]

Originally Posted by nevertouchme

Anand... Congrats on buying the car back...
Where is it right now? Who is working on the car? Is it the olive green color in 1988? Btw: the rim's - are they they original? I like them Or was it from Nova?

Those are the latest Amby rims, (previous) owner-fitted- the mk2 came with the older style rims.

[h14]

Originally Posted by nevertouchme

Anand... Congrats on buying the car back...
Where is it right now? Who is working on the car? Is it the olive green color in 1988? Btw: the rim's - are they they original? I like them Or was it from Nova?

Cheers,
Jai

Hi Jai, the car is presently in Pollachi undergoing the body works. Its making slow progress, but it is shaping up pretty well. The rims are indeed from the Ambassador Nova.

Originally Posted by Stanher

Those are the latest Amby rims, (previous) owner-fitted- the mk2 came with the older style rims.

Hi Stanher, the rims are indeed not original, its from the Nova. We changed the rims during the engine change. The previous owner changed just the hub caps.

[h14]

Hi All

I have been trying very hard to update this thread periodically, but I am unable to do so. Will try and keep up from now onwards.

As I have already mentioned, tinkering was complete long back and even the base coat was completed shortly after that and the car was sent over to the mechanic for the gearbox and other mechanicals before starting on the final paint job.

Then one fine day the mechanic calls me up and says that the under chassis components are all in very bad and worn out condition. He said that almost every component except the crown are worn out. I then asked him to go ahead with the repairs. So this then caused further delay in completion and of course a deeper hole in my pocket.

The following are the spares list that I got for this job:

Suspension Bush kit
Link 4
Distance tube 2
Spacer 4
Lower arm high bolt 2
Torrison bar pin 2
Lower arm pin
Lower arm bush nova type
Upper link bush nova type
Wheel oil seal 4
Wheel bearing two sets

Brake Drum - 4
Brake mass cyl 4
Brake hose 3
Brake lining 2 sets
Wheel cylinder 4

Grease .5 kg
Gel grease .5kg
Brake oil
U clamp
Spring pad
Spring pin
Rear axle bearing

Shock absorber 4

Joint star - 3
Joint bed bearing

Steering box
Rack pinion
Ball joint
Tie rod end kit
Damper pad kit
Ball joint boot

The above set me back by approx 16k. That's not the end, there are some more which I will be getting by this month end:

Timing belt
Timing bearing 3
Fan belt and bearing

Castrol 20-40 Diesel Engine oil
Oil filter
Diesel filter
Air filter
Gearbox oil
Crown oil

and clutch related parts. Will know them only when the clutch is removed. I have decieded to bring up the car in perfect condition without any compromises and so the delay and cost are eventually evident.

[edsuede]

Hi h14
Just come across this thread and was really struck by your story - really happy for you that the car that means so much to you and your family is back where it belongs Best of luck with the work - it'll be worth all the time and expense!

Very much looking forward to seeing your progress with the Amby.

Regards
Ed

[av8er]

Awesome Story, its like long lost lovers together again.

I just saw your steering wheel is not the original one. Any chance you are trying to get the original one? If you are or if you do please let me know where you got it from.

I have an 1988 Amby Deluxe (I think this was the model between the mark 4 and the Nova for a short period) cos it does not have the Square shaped grill but it did not carry the nova tag either. Besides it came with the Steering wheel with a smaller chromed ring for horn and not the ones that came on the nova with the buttons on the sides.

Coming to the point, I have given the car for some repairs in a soo called reputed garage and they changed the steering wheel to the Nova's and he was soo proud about it. ... I would like to change it to the original and Would like to know where I can get the original from.
So please if you find out let me know about it too.

Thanks

[kishorelal]

Originally Posted by av8er

Awesome Story, its like long lost lovers together again.

I just saw your steering wheel is not the original one. Any chance you are trying to get the original one? If you are or if you do please let me know where you got it from.

I have an 1988 Amby Deluxe (I think this was the model between the mark 4 and the Nova for a short period) cos it does not have the Square shaped grill but it did not carry the nova tag either. Besides it came with the Steering wheel with a smaller chromed ring for horn and not the ones that came on the nova with the buttons on the sides.

Coming to the point, I have given the car for some repairs in a soo called reputed garage and they changed the steering wheel to the Nova's and he was soo proud about it. ... I would like to change it to the original and Would like to know where I can get the original from.
So please if you find out let me know about it too.

Thanks

sir,
It is not difficult to source. It may be available in chennai itself

[IndrojitSircar]

Amby's are really very common in Calcutta. Parts are also not that difficult to source.

[thedreamcatcher]

Awesome. Some times even i get this feeling of what i would do if i ever came across the cars I had sold in the past. Never know, i may just go with a counter offer

I always had this facination for an Amby.

What colour are you planning. I guess a Black would look really stunning

[h14]

Originally Posted by edsuede

Hi h14
Just come across this thread and was really struck by your story - really happy for you that the car that means so much to you and your family is back where it belongs Best of luck with the work - it'll be worth all the time and expense!

Very much looking forward to seeing your progress with the Amby.

Regards
Ed

Thanks a lot Ed. Will surely update the thread more frequently.

Originally Posted by av8er

Awesome Story, its like long lost lovers together again.

I just saw your steering wheel is not the original one. Any chance you are trying to get the original one? If you are or if you do please let me know where you got it from.

I have an 1988 Amby Deluxe (I think this was the model between the mark 4 and the Nova for a short period) cos it does not have the Square shaped grill but it did not carry the nova tag either. Besides it came with the Steering wheel with a smaller chromed ring for horn and not the ones that came on the nova with the buttons on the sides.

Coming to the point, I have given the car for some repairs in a soo called reputed garage and they changed the steering wheel to the Nova's and he was soo proud about it. ... I would like to change it to the original and Would like to know where I can get the original from.
So please if you find out let me know about it too.

Thanks

HI av8er, I'm planning to continue with this steering wheel. I strongly believe that the original steering wheel will look good only if the dash board is also original. Currently my amby does not have any original component on the inside! Will definitely let you know if I get hold of an original one.

Originally Posted by thedreamcatcher

Awesome. Some times even i get this feeling of what i would do if i ever came across the cars I had sold in the past. Never know, i may just go with a counter offer

I always had this facination for an Amby.

What colour are you planning. I guess a Black would look really stunning

Hi thedreamcatcher, thanks a lot! I'm going to stick to the original green, the color with which the car rolled out of the plant. No plans on changing the color. The color will be like the second picture in post #4 of this thread.

[h14]

I know it has been very long since I have posted an update, but then there was not much to say since the mechanic took a very long time to finish up all the work. Finally, the car was started after almost a year and made its way back to the painter last week.

Painted four different shades of green, one shade per door and finally zeroed in on one shade. The painter has started off with the job. Will update more details in due course. Few pictures of the selected color:

The finalized shade is on the FR door:







This was done just to decide on the shade. The plan now is to have one complete coat of similar shade from Duco and follow it up with two coats of DuPont.

[kasli]

Nice shade ! is this a standard or developed shade.

Regards