[swami.n]

Originally Posted by h14

Thanks swami.n. I believe you are refering to SM auto parts? Will check with them. BTW, I'm in Chennai full time. Will visit Coimbatore once or twice a month

My mistake. I thought you visit chennai occasionally.

I'm not sure of the shop's name, but one shop is right opp to the Jayapradha theater in GP road. The other shop is in the Woods road, off GP road.

[nim_peter]

Good to see a well restored S10, congrats No doubt you will enjoy the Palio. Happy revving!!

[AbelAFC]

You're a really lucky guy, h14. You've got one of the few hot hatches in India. Cherish your S10, man, happy revving!

[karizma_devil]

Originally Posted by h14

Thanks karizma_devil! I believe you missed the first post. The throttle body is brand new Magneti Marelli, alternator has been fully overhauled with new parts.

The fuel pump is fine, but I have to change it as the float is acting funny. We tested the float, the meter is perfect but the float is gone. So I have to get the pump changed.

My Bad !

I see most S10's in the southern part of the country are pampered like hell .
My ex-S10 is getting a complete overhaul some where at Cochin.

Wish would loads of happy & safe miles ahead.

Keep her well.

[Nimish anthony]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zjFY...ature=youtu.be

Enclosing some pictures taken when the car was done. I had a tough time parting with the machine as i had dedicated a lot of time and energy in building the beast but im happy it has found an owner who is worth it.

[h14]

Thx for the pictures Nimish!

Battery Change

Yesterday when I came back to CBE, the S10 refused to start. It seemed to crank but wouldn't start. Seldom did I suspect the battery and so just to make sure it was OK, removed the battery and put it on charge in my home inverter. I seemed to fully charge in about 15-20 mins. Once back to the car it started in first crank.

I started to wonder if it was really the battery causing problem or something else. So today morning took it to the battery wala to check it.

On first crank he said no use but to replace as battery is gone as the volt goes down to 6. He was an exide dealer my usual guy and quoted me Rs. 4800 for DIN 50 on exchange.

I then went to another known amaron dealer and same story, he said it went to 4 while the worst it can go down is 10.

He offered a final price of Rs. 4500 in exchange for DIN 45 in Amaron Flo series.

Opted for the same with 48 months warranty.

Now the s10 cranks instantaneously unlike the earlier long crank and starts without the need for throttle.

Next in line is windshield replacement and tyre change.

[h14]

Update time on the S10!

Finally I got my vacation and as planned got most of the items fixed

Oil change

First, I got the fluids replaced. Changed Engine Oil, Oil filter, Petrol filter and coolant changed. Went in for Mobil 3000 fully synthetic oil and Paraflu coolant.











Key/Lock change

Once the oil service was completed, was checking the central locking as the left door lock was not operating with the key and seemed stuck. That's when my mech said that he has an old set of locks with 2 keys and can give me for Rs.850. I said ok and proceeded with the lock change. I was more inclined to change this since I had only one key. New lock means two keys and that to OE instead of making a duplicate



Windshield change @ WE

Next in line was the windshield replacement. I was planning on the saint gobain corporate offer, but they had some teething issues inregard to serving in Coimbatore and so the default choice was Windshield experts and they provide ASAI. Changed the windshield beading as well.

It was a very professional and neat job by them.









Tyre Change

Next in line was the tyre change. I had zeroed in on Hankook and when I landed in the tyre shop for the change, I was saddened to see that all 4 disks had bends on the inside. The tyre shop "Tyre Care" in coimbatore is where I always go and they suggested I change the wheels and refused to fix new tyres on these wheels. Though there was no air leak from the tubeless tyres, they said its not worth the investment.

So thats when I started researching on other available options. Was checking on new wheels, used Punto wheels etc. But everyother option was pretty expensive which I was not prepared to invest in at this time. So I called up another tyre guy in Coimbatore who deals in used tires, imported cheap tyres etc. He said he has a lot of brand new Nexen tyres and I immideately headed to his shop.

He said the Nexen stockist was shutting down in Coimbatore and the tyres are being disposed at low costs. I called up JayD to get his opinion on the Nexen and he gave the go ahead suggesting they are pretty decent ones and also since the deal I got was a steal

These were brand new 2012 manufactured tyres. I got them for Rs.2600 each! 4 of the old tires where taken back by him for 1k. Will be using these tyres for a while until I get the funds to upgrade to 15". And the Nexen were ISI registered too!









Floor Matting

Dropped in at Sun Combine, coimbatore for the PVC floor mats. Again, the usual place for me for the matting. Was in for a shock when the quoted 3k for the matting. Did for the Linea 2yrs back for 2.6k and considering Palio is a hatch the cost was way too much, but since I've experienced many places doing the same matting, no one is still able to match the quality of these guys as far as I know. So went in with the matting:











I was now happy that everything was completed and was preparing to hit the highway. But then I was still not very happy with the front suspension and it seemed pretty noisy in bad uneven roads. So when the mech came again for some works on the SS, I took him for a drive and he too felt the noise too much.

Came back home and jacked up the car, and found that the strut bush was gone. Rather I'd say there was hardly anything left. As it was already close to midnight and I was to leave to Coorg the next morning, we decided to get this done after my coorg trip.

Back from coorg and the same night the mech came home with the bush. Removed the structs and then we find that the shocks were pretty week. He suggested to change the shocks now itself as it had very little life and almost everthing else in the car was perfect. So we were set for the strut change. We also had to change the shock mounts as the mount bearings were not in the best of shapes.















Though the suspension was an unexpeted expense, I'm happy now as the car is running well

[h14]

Ran out of picture upload limit, hence the back to back posts.

Now with the mechanicals complete, it was time for the stickering. The B-pillars were yet to be blackened so got them done and also blacked the rear door platform to prevent scratches or footmarks during ingress/egress. The front has the S10 door sils and so it was left untouched.





Interior cleaning

Finally it was time for an interior wash. Took the car to Wurth in Brookefields mall in Coimbatore. They charge Rs 900+tax for hatchbacks. The process is as follows:

1. Vaccum the roof and floors
2. Blow the dash boadrd using vaccum cleaner blower
3. Use shampoo for dashboard and plastics.
4. Use shampoo and foam on the roof, doorpads and finally seats.
5. Scrub using brushes and wipe off with cloth followed by vaccum of seats.

They did a pretty good job and was fully satisfied.

Back home and it was time for some OE stickering courtsey Anupam





And finally a drive

All these days the S10 was driven around in city limits and was not able to stretch her on the open road, so after all works got a chance to take her out. Did some spirited driving and it was brilliant! The Nexen's fared pretty well too which was a surprize for me

[h14]

S10 goes to the South India Fiat Meet

And it was time for this years South India Meet and the S10 made it there along with JayD's S10!

We were turning heads wherever we went and it was awesome 3 days in Wayanad. We had around 25 cars this time with close to 60 members.

Some pictures from Wayanad drive:



The S10's napping at my home in Coimbatore



















On the way back to Chennai, we had a showroom openeing to attend FIAT was inaugurating The True Sai Works in Salem and we made our presence felt there too!

The Chennai bound team with Mr. Ravi Bhatia (VP Sales) of FIAT. He was such a wonderful and down to earth person and had a long discussion with us.





The yellow fever was pretty evident in Salem as the public was of the impression that these two S10's were new launches by FIAT. Next day we got a call from the SA of True Sai stating that he already got 3 enquires for the S10!

The craze was so much that the innocent people were of the impression that my S10 with stock wheels, stock seats was the base variant and JayD's S10 with BBS, Sparco seats, FFE and tinted lights was a top end varaint

All in all it was an amazing weekend and we had a rocking time in Wayanad!

[jacs]

Originally Posted by h14

Update time on the S10!

Tyre Change

These were brand new 2012 manufactured tyres. I got them for Rs.2600 each! 4 of the old tires where taken back by him for 1k. Will be using these tyres for a while until I get the funds to upgrade to 15". And the Nexen were ISI registered too!

Floor Matting

2600 for a brand new tyre looks very reasonable. Thread patterns also look good.

Originally Posted by h14

Now with the mechanicals complete, it was time for the stickering. The B-pillars were yet to be blackened so got them done and also blacked the rear door platform to prevent scratches or footmarks during ingress/egress. The front has the S10 door sils and so it was left untouched.

And finally a drive

All these days the S10 was driven around in city limits and was not able to stretch her on the open road, so after all works got a chance to take her out. Did some spirited driving and it was brilliant! The Nexen's fared pretty well too which was a surprize for me

B Pillar blackening brings back the freshness. Good work.

Nice to see the drive pics, you had an amazing Italian party

[h14]

Originally Posted by jacs

2600 for a brand new tyre looks very reasonable. Thread patterns also look good.

Jacs, this was the price since the main stockist was shutting down. Got these tyres with double mind on how they would perform, but this wayanad drive gave me the confidence. The tyres were excellent and never heard any squeak or noise even in hard corners! Very happy with them now

[jatinpatel]

Which brand shock absorbers you installed in your car ?

Do you still get OE Fiat Oil filter for Palio ? I thought only purolator stuff available I would die for an OE filter!

[h14]

Originally Posted by jatinpatel

Which brand shock absorbers you installed in your car ?

Do you still get OE Fiat Oil filter for Palio ? I thought only purolator stuff available I would die for an OE filter!

The shocks that I have installed is Excell-P. And yes the OE oil filter is available in Coimbatore. I'd posted a picture of the filter packing in previous posts.

Time for clutch MC/SC change

Had a minor glitch on the S10 last week. After returning from Wayanad on Sunday night, monday morning took it to office and back and it was fine, but on Tuesday morning, the gears refused to engage after starting, but was able to engage with the engine off.

Was already late to office and so left it at home and took MJD to office.

In the afternoon got hold of Murugan and took it to his garage (SMK Automobiles). As suspected he too told its the SC/MC thats flunked and we decided to change them both. Additionally the clutch pedal nylon bush was also changed and car was ready on Saturday.

Since I was out of town, took the car on Monday evening and its running well since then.

Splitup of Bill

Clutch MC & SC - Rs. 2400 (Lucas TVS)
Brake oil - Rs.100
Labour & Lathe charges for Nylon bushes - Rs.1700

Total - Rs.4200/-

[h14]

I've been having a peculiar coolant leak issue. Not sure if I mentioned this before. When the car is stopped after decent drive, coolant starts flowing through the coolant tank cap. From start the culprit was guessed to be the tank cap. I tried swapping the cap from the MJD, but it did not suit, last weekend I tried swapping with the Linea and bingo it was a perfect fit!

I then did 140 kms drive and the issue did not repeat

When I examined the cap, the inner portion of the old cap was flexible or rather moving when pressed with hand, while it was not the case with the Linea's cap. So what I believe is that when the pressure builds up, the older cap being how it is allowed the pressure to escape and thereby the coolant too started to ooze out through the cap however tight the cap was.

Remember, this was the case even if the coolant level in tank was below the minimum level.

So now with a new cap of the Linea, the same does not happen as the cap is intact and does not allow the pressure to escape. So as of now the problem is resolved and no more coolant leak worries

[extreme_torque]

Lovingly restored! Still remains my fav hatch launched in India ever. Even the GTX name was so evocative. Sad it did not meet the success it deserved.