[saket77]

The story of my Dad's Zen (Mere dad ki Maruti!)

When it all began...



Picture taken in Dec-'02: My friend's new Pulsar giving my Zen a nice company.


And today...




Let me begin by touching the most important aspect of this car. This car is very special to me. Not because it is one of the better cars produced by Maruti Suzuki, not because it was the first hot hatch of India, not because of its silky smooth free-revving engine which can give good run for money to even some modern cars and also not because it was the car by which the enthusiast Indian tasted first blood.

But because it was my dad's car. And I'm more so glad that it was a ZEN!





Old scanned picture of analog camera - yours truly in black.

A small background on purchase:

This wasn't our first car. We have had an Amby and a Fiat 1100D before. But family was considering a more modern car which was reliable and back in 2002, what else but a Maruti. Balancing the aspects of finances, requirement & desire, we had 3 options to choose from - The Maruti 800 DX, the Maruti Alto 1.1, and the Maruti Zen.

Back then, Maruti 800 DX was a big deal, especially for a Tier-II city. It had an MPFI engine, relatively plush interiors and everything a middle class family could ask for at a reasonable price. We had almost finalized on this one. It would have cost us around 2.8L on road in 2002.

Somehow, Maruti Alto, which came in a 1.1 ltr engine avatar (discontinued later) was shockingly not considered after initial screening. Even today if someone would ask me why, I wouldn't be able to answer that why. It was a very nice package even by today's standards. But as said, mysteriously, it wasn't thought off seriously at any point of time during our purchase decision. The regular 800 CC Alto was also not considered. Now again, please don't ask why.

Lastly, the ZEN. Honestly, this car was out of our budget when we first started scouting for cars. The base model- Zen LX was around 3.9L on road and higher models (LXi & VXi) were priced 4.2L & 4.5L on road, if I remember correctly. It was big money for a car comparable to the size of Maruti 800. But like any other 19 year old college goer, this was a dream car back then. Dad knew that I was into auto magazines & journals (as he had to foot the bills for those ), so he spoke to me about it. He told me that we can stretch our budget a bit if we can get a better package. And this was my big chance. I spoke my mind, showed parents a few magazine reviews praising the new MPFI Zen and finally, the ZEN made a dashing entry to the consideration set and made it right to the top. It didn't took long to convince my parents too. My mom was happy because she always found it to be good looking. And I was happy because I knew what was under the hood!

The 1 ltr engine of Zen that could accelerate briskly was a craze in those days and I was extremely happy in anticipation of owning it. We finally got our one of the first shades of the new 'Miami Gold' Zen LX home on 23 December 2002, a couple of days before my 20th birthday and since then, it has been with us through all the thick & thin.


The Zen got wheel caps as the first accessory.Picture taken in early 2003 through a VGA cellphone camera!


And today, time has really flown. It has been 14 years to the above story to go by and now I am a father of a 1 year old little princess. Today if you ask about Zen, I will say that it is still very nimble, decently fast, handles beautifully and is reliable as rock. Driving this car is easy, parking even easier and it has all that takes to be a lovely car except cramped rear passenger space & small boot. It still looks lovely among all the new generation cars around and can beat quite a few of them on the drag strip; much to a shock to many. Yes, it does require better brakes after that drag.

In the meanwhile, the man I admired the most, my role model and the most responsible person I ever knew, my father, I lost him to cancer. For whatever I am today, whatever life I am leading and for all the happiness in our lives, there is only one force - my parents. So, I believe it would be a perfect tribute to my dad to restore his (& our) loving car. Actually a better term would be 'refresh'. Not that the car was in dire need of it, but still, a nice facelift is always welcome. And what better occasion than the 14th birthday of the car itself!

Before I begin with the restoration details, I would like to express my sincere thanks to BHPian & Maruti encyclopedia Leoshashi, who not only encouraged me for the same (as the spares might be hard to come by for the Zen), but tirelessly worked day & night for finding part numbers for smallest of the spares, carrying them from as far as Delhi (for those which were not available with Maruti locally). Also, all the work, which was carried out at MASS was performed under his eagle eye-supervision and he never shied away from getting his own hands dirty in the process too. Thank you so much Shashi! Without you, this project would not have ended with these results.

Points for restoration:

A comprehensive plan was jotted down and the entire task was treated like any other professional project! So much that we overshot timelines and budgets many times!!

The planning started as early as July 2016 via late night whatsapp chats between me & Shashi. (I turned up late everyday at work!) The 2000 model radiator grill (my favorite of all 3 grills that the Zen came with) was ordered through Maruti but due to an error, it was sold to another customer. Shashi was in Delhi and he decided to scout the local Maruti genuine parts stockists and luckily found one which he picked up without any delay. So the grill became the first part to be bought for the facelift project.

We did not hurry into anything during the entire course. In fact, more time was devoted to planning & parts procurement than the actual work. As a result, it was becoming increasingly difficult for me to give shelter to the ever increasing stock of spares arriving every other day at home and after the first couple of lots, rest were stored at MASS only! This helped me lie to my wife that these were all that I will be spending upon!


@Home! Parts sourced for the job. Many other parts were stocked at ASC.


It is very easy to go overboard while going for a refresh or restoration. We were wary of it so we made sure that we don't go too much fancy while giving the car a facelift. So it was decided to keep it as close to factory specs.

Details of work carried below:

1. I longed for the radiator grill of the 2000 (carb) model Zen which looked more premium & classy to me than the honeycomb which the MPFI Zens came with. Since it wasn't easily available at MASS locally and as stated earlier, Shashi decided to pick one from Delhi (MGP) during his visit. Cost Rs. 590/-

2. He was also keen on using fully synthetic engine oil - Liqui-moly 5W-40 for his Maruti 800 (5-speed) and so was I, so we decided to buy 7 ltrs (5+1+1 ltr cans) and split the cost. We ordered the same from Amazon and was delivered to Shashi in Delhi during his visit. He carried both these stuff (along with his carton full of other spares!) from delhi to Ranchi. Cost - Rs. 7,500/- (split by the two of us).

Small review of the oil: Every penny spent on this oil is worth it. It has changed the character of the engine to a great degree. The engine now revs even more freely, with a great sporty note. The smoothness has gone a few notches above and the car pulls effortlessly beyond the three digit mark on the speedo (tested on the expressway & not regular street roads). In short, the engine flows like water. I am all sold to this oil.

Coming back to the restoration job...

3. My car's hatch was carrying a dent since last few months (banged when parked!), so hatch needed denting & a paint job. And the grill needed to be painted as well.

4. I have had an itch to get the bumpers painted to body color for long. Though, this has its own disadvantages of getting scratched and bleeding black in patches later, but since we had based our 'prototype' on VXi, we decided to get it done.

Cost of painting of grill, hatch & bumpers - Rs. 11,000/-

5. A rear wash-wipe system was added as a DIY! (MASS gave it a more professional touch later.) [Related thread: http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/diy-do...aruti-zen.html]

6. Other Misc Jobs:

- Needed a new parcel tray as the old one had sagged down due to age and the weight of speakers. Cost Rs. 1279/-

- New RHS Tail Lamp - as the old one had gotten dull due to constant fight with the weather conditions. Cost Rs. 398/-

- Got day/ night prismatic internal rear view mirror. A real welcome addition for night drives- Rs. 573/-

- Got LHS Outer rear view mirror- Internally adjustable. Rs. 1450/-
Well, what do I say about it. It was assumed by Maruti that we Indians will not require LHS mirrors so it was not provided as standard fitting in 2002.

- Addition of rear high mount internal stop lamp (it wasn't a feature back in 2002!) Rs. 300/-.
Actually this one was shocking. The original fitment for Zen is a Suzuki Genuine Part (SGP) rather than MGP and it costs a mind boggling 3000 Rupees!! No way I was going to spend 3K on a brake lamp. We decided to somehow plonk the M800's one and it was done with a small hole drilled in the inside of the hatch. It did fit nicely like an OE fitment, thankfully.

- Change of rear shock absorbers. Rs. 1900/- plus labour: The ride at rear had become bouncy as the car was probably supported only by the coil springs. I was actually surprised to know that rear shock absorber for Zen cost only Rs. 950/- each! That's reasonable by all means.

- Cleaning and anti-rust treatment to rusting panels: We noticed rust near the LHS running board. Actually stripping the entire interiors was not in the plan initially. But eagle eye Shashi spotted some rusting at the LHS running board. So, we decided to attend to it. Thankfully it was detected at the onset and sanding plus repainting of the area took care of it. Taking a lesson from Shashi's M800 cowl's rusting episode, anti-rust treatment was given to the inside of the cowl as well which had just begun to corrode.

- Gear Oil/ Coolant/ Brake fluid change: Gear oil had got contaminated due to age and was changed. Brake fluid & coolant were also flushed and changed.

- Complete 35K kms service was done: well, the car has done, ahem...only 33K kms till date!

- Complete upholstery/ roof liner cleaning: Felt really relieved to get rid of the dirty roof!

- Complete detailing & rubbing polish by MASS.

- Some rubber parts like door seals, wiper blades were changed.

- Sponge foams under the hood at places like radiator fan, AC condenser fan, etc were added back - courtesy Shashi.

- All emblems were replaced. Thankfully Maruti logos/ emblems are reasonably priced. A few decals were added too.

- White LEDs for license plate illumination. Rs. 130/-; sourced from Amazon.

- Finally, new set of license plates. I am a fan of clean looks. So decided to get a neat one done for Rs. 1000/-



Some Pictures of Work in Progress:

Old grill which was hanging in place for 14 long years!



New Grill lying. Don't miss the new rear wiper motor around!



Old grill, bumpers & crash bar removed.



The enthusiast rat - didn't cut any wires or pipelines; rather collected rags under the quarter panel area for 'sound damping'!


The damping material...



All seats & carpets were taken off to clean the dirt and to check for rusting spots:



And a few were found - This one is near the LHS front door running board:



In close up:



And this is the LHS rear door area:



All these rusting spots were sanded away and primer & paint was applied for curing it. I was glad that we spotted it in the nick of time before it could turn into something serious. Also, embarrassed because a petrol-head should have discovered it earlier.


Cowl opened and being cleaned. Anti-Rust treatment was given to the inside of cowl:



Dirt washed out from the cowl area!!



Mr. Sunil - A very skilled denter, matching the fender lines with doors. Unfortunately, this mismatch was a result of poor workmanship earlier at another ASC.



Notice the crude finish inside of the hatch - result of my DIY wiper fitting. Thankfully, Mr. Sunil took care of it without asking and finished it in a neat manner later. Please see the pictures below:





The dent in the hatch being repaired. Fortunately or unfortunately, most of the mishaps with the car have happened while it was parked!





Hatch ready to be painted:



Bumpers all set to wear the silver coat!



And finally...


Just look at the finish! You just got to feel it...



Cleaned carpets being put back in place. Also, entire interior was washed with car shampoo to remove all dirt inside.



It did take some time at the Maruti Service Station, mainly because Shashi & I wanted the work to be near perfect, so we were not in a hurry at all. The unexpected rusting issue added to the timeline.

Also, I am very happy with the attention to the details provided by Maruti Automobiles, Ranchi. We two guys were a bunch of perfectionists (like most BHPians!) and we might have behaved extra ordinarily finicky for a 14 year old car, but the guys at the workshop respected our point of view and delivered what we wanted. In fact, I found some tech guys over there to be as passionate as ourselves!

Break up of the total cost of the mid-life makeover of the car:

-Total Bill at Maruti Automobiles: Rs. 20,700/- including denting, painting, labour, service, shock absorbers, consumables and other small numerous 3 pager spares list.

-The cost of Day/night mirror & ORVM was separate and they together cost another 2K.

-Cost of other spares bought which included parts for rear wiper, tail lamp, radiator grill, parcel tray etc: Rs. 5700/-

-Engine Oil - Rs. 3750/-

-New set of licence plates & a couple of White LEDs: Rs. 1130/-

Total (Approx): Rs. 33,280/-

[saket77]

Other small but significant things (added before):

- Central/ remote Locking by Minda.
- All power windows by RD (OE supplier of Maruti Suzuki)
- Up module (so that windows roll up automatically when car is locked by remote)
- Blaupunkt MP47 Music System
- Carries MMI GPS device.
- 100/90W Philips rally bulbs with Roots kit & harness.
- Neo wheels alloys

Some pictures for your viewing pleasure:



















(This one is with BHPian Leoshashi's immaculately maintained 5 Speed Maruti 800)










This is the small story of my dad's Zen. I'll make sure that you are taken well care of as long as I'm there. And in turn, just be the way you have always been...through all the thick n thin in our lives...

Thanks!

[GTO]

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing!

[//M]

Wow sir ji, this is one lovely transformation. You have always managed to keep the Zen in pristine condition as I have been observing since last two years. But my last visit, two weeks back, was quite surprising. The Zen was not parked at its usual parking spot so it took me some time to realise that the Zen parked at a distance is actually the one.

Absolutely wonderful work done, very tasteful and nothing over the top. I am not sure if it will look good, but I feel you should do away with the "MarutiSuzuki" badge on the hatch. A cleaner look with just the "Zen" moniker would look amazing. Just my personal opinion though.

Cheers to leoshashi for all the support !

[Dr_MNC_SK]

Nice job. The Zen looks immaculate now. And it must indeed be a proud feeling for you to refresh your dads buy. It looks so perfect. How many kilometers has it clocked? All the best for years and years of happy riding and owning it. Happy New Year 2017

[satrikon_454]

In one word, Touched! This wasn't like other restorations. It involved an emotional aspect that could be felt throughout the read. Congrats saket77. It looks lovely indeed.

[mohansrides]

Very nice Saket. Congratulations on what looks to be a super job on an iconic car. Congratulations also to Sashi for his involvement in this project. All of us deserve a co-pilot like him.

No one in my family shares my interest in cars and motorcycles. But, that hardly matters. Because family is family whether they get you or not (and vice versa). So, I quite related to this effort of yours as a tribute to your dad.

Incidentally, your mention of the big C was quite poignant for me. My father was diagnosed 2.5 years ago and I had to live out of a suitcase for close to 8 months to help him through it. He fought it off with a ferocity that only he is capable of. We are still going for reviews every quarter, and I am thankful to the Almighty, my wife and my in-laws for helping me help my dad.

The thing is, my father in law who stood by me and did all the heavy lifting (in my absence) for my family, got diagnosed with liver cancer just 2 months ago. Unfortunately, despite our best efforts, we could do nothing to help him, and he succumbed a day before Christmas. We are in the middle of his ceremonial rituals even as I write this. It was quite moving for me to see my dad make a long and arduous journey to actively participate in the last rites of his counter part. Notwithstanding my orthodox mother's protests that he remain uninvolved (because she felt that the scriptures didn't allow a role in the rituals for my dad as he isn't directly connected to my FIL), my dad threw aside her reservations and went the last mile because he wanted to. This life is funny sometimes.

[aveemashfaq]

Congratulations for the restoration. I wish I had a zen as I am all praises for that gem of an engine. In fact, it was my hero car during childhood. I had a zen toy car which would jump off the bed and ford through streams and save the day (really I love it so much). My father would have bought a zen but the lack of vitamin M had seen him settle down for an 800 DX in 1995.

I suggest you to get underbody anti-rust treatment as well because maruti cars do rust a lot. I have seen lots of maruti 800s of 2000s rust away but a similar era hyundai did not. I also recommend you to put on insulation on the floor. Sashi did it with OEM suzuki parts which cost a bomb and I have done it with cheap 8mm thermocol which has the same effect. This will cool the car WAY faster and AC compressor will cut off sooner giving you very good mileage. And finally, I suggest you to get the door mirror frames painted matte black as it complements the looks. A bit like I have shown in the image below. Of course, this is a maruti 800 but all maruti cars of the era seem to have the mirror behind the rear door which is the same size as the door frame itself. So getting them all blacked out gives you an enhanced look. Trust me it looks good.



If you want to go crazy, you can paint the insides of the grill with red. I have attached my car pic for reference. It may not be noticeable in real life but it makes the car look that extra bit smarter.



And the customary question. Kitna deti hai? Any engine servicing? Planning on radiator flush? Injector cleaner? Have you poured ceratec into the oil? If so, please share your reviews. If not, I am about to do all of those and so you can get reviews from my restoration page.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/diy-do...00-budget.html

[saket77]

Originally Posted by //M

Absolutely wonderful work done, very tasteful and nothing over the top

Cheers to leoshashi for all the support !

Thanks Arunabh! I'm really glad that you liked it. And since we were pressed against time on that day, we missed a drive. I'm sure you would have liked it too.

Originally Posted by Dr_MNC_SK

Nice job. The Zen looks immaculate now. And it must indeed be a proud feeling for you to refresh your dads buy. It looks so perfect. How many kilometers has it clocked? All the best for years and years of happy riding and owning it. Happy New Year 2017

Yes, I do have an inner good feeling after giving the car this refresh. As stated, you may consider the car to be virgin as it has clocked just over 33K kms.
Thanks for your nice wishes and wish you a very happy new year as well!

Originally Posted by satrikon_454

In one word, Touched! This wasn't like other restorations. It involved an emotional aspect that could be felt throughout the read. Congrats saket77. It looks lovely indeed.

Thank you for making sure that I did justice to the car and the write up.

Originally Posted by mohansrides

Very nice Saket. Congratulations on what looks to be a super job on an iconic car. Congratulations also to Sashi for his involvement in this project. All of us deserve a co-pilot like him.

The thing is, my father in law who stood by me and did all the heavy lifting (in my absence) for my family, got diagnosed with liver cancer just 2 months ago.

I'm really sorry to know about your father in law. That's heart breaking. But at the same time, great to know about your dad. Wish him a long and healthy life. Life indeed acts funny at times. I was very close to my dad and was completely broken when I got his first reports. We single handedly took him to the best institution in the country and everything started going our way as the treatment started. Just when his cancer was almost cleared, we got to know that one of the administered drugs had reacted with his lungs. And despite all our efforts, ultimately we couldn't save him after a long battle.
All in all, I would say take care of what we have. Often while chasing a thing, we forget what we have now.

Just take care of your dad.

Originally Posted by aveemashfaq

Congratulations for the restoration. I wish I had a zen as I am all praises for that jem of an engine.

I suggest you to get underbody anti-rust treatment as well because maruti cars do rust a lot. I have seen lots of maruti 800s of 2000s rust away but a similar era hyundai did not. I also recommend you to put on insulation on the floor.

If you want to go crazy, you can paint the insides of the grill with red. I have attached my car pic for reference. It may not be noticeable in real life but it makes the car look that extra bit smarter.

Thank you for your nice words.
Well, thanks for the red painting advice but I'll prefer black. The way it is. Not a fan of loud looks.
The underbelly is in decent condition as anti rust treatment is already in place.
The AC job will be done soon; saved for later.

Originally Posted by aveemashfaq

And the customary question. Kitna deti hai? Any engine servicing? Planning on radiator flush? Injector cleaner? Have you poured ceratec into the oil? If so, please share your reviews. If not, I am about to do all of those and so you can get reviews from my restoration page.

Will go through your thread. Thanks.

Engine is in pristine shape. Injectors were cleaned about 5000 kms ago; so not required. Radiator coolant was flushed and same with brake lines. The car must have gained at least a couple of kms per litre (earlier it was giving 15 KMPL) but any gains in FE is being negated by spirited driving due to new character of the engine- courtesy engine oil. No plans to add any additive. Thanks again!!

Regards,
Saket.

[crdi]

Nice work. Looks as if it was delivered today, straight out of the showroom. Even the alloys have an OE look (except for the extra holes). Please post the interior pictures too.

[Leoshashi]

Take a bow, Saket bhaiya!! Our "mid-life restomod" would have remained incomplete without this superb report of yours.

While you had given me strict instructions not to venture out into other details, I did try my best to do whatever I could, with tied hands. Sorry for ignoring your strict instructions.

I was shocked at the shoddy work which your previous ASC had done, and while we have managed to correct most of that, there are still some areas which I would like to review. Well, that will be the content of another major revamp which this car will see in future. I won't rest until I bring your Zen to the perfection which it exudes in the pic taken in December '02.

This Zen is extremely lucky to get a caring owner like you.

Originally Posted by aveemashfaq

I also recommend you to put on insulation on the floor. Sashi did it with OEM suzuki parts which cost a bomb and I have did it with cheap 8mm thermocol which has the same effect. This will cool the car WAY faster and AC compressor will cut off sooner giving you very good mileage.

Sorry buddy, but you got me wrong. The melt sheet was mainly used for improving the NVH characteristics of the car. No doubt, it might have added some thermal insulation in the process too. By the way, I am planning for an underbody heatshield for my 800, as the catcon gets too hot, heating the central tunnel. Currently I have Nano's engine heatshield from inside the car for the same purpose. It does the job brilliantly, but I would like to block off heat from outside the cabin.

Regards,
Shashi

[rakesh_r]

One of the best and subtle restorations, Kudos to your efforts. The Zen was our first car, a golden Beige 1998 carburetted one. The Zen had one of the best gearboxes, smooth and precise. Sharing an old pic of my car.

[Mr.Boss]

That's one of the clean example on road. Congrats on your effort and wishing you happy miles ahead.
Zen is one of the favorite car (till date) among many, for it's cute structure, crispy engine, mod friendly nature and more importantly spares availability. I wish I could get one in future.

PS: See if you could get the B-Pillar and window borders blacked out (like the M800)

[ariesonu]

Around 2001, I was all set to take delivery of this model of ZEN and that even through CSD canteen but had to let it go at last minute due to job call.
Till this date, I regret that decision.

Breathtaking work done & I have always been of opinion that mods, if any, should be as subtle as possible. Kudos to MASS-Ranchi too.
Coming to observations, I would suggest that you paint those yummy alloys in black, reason being that they will gel very nicely with black ORVMs, Black mesh in grill & door handles. The car will look sporty & that 16V SMART sticker at back will get a "boost".
Also you must add those side beading on doors.
Do post some interior pics too.

Regards-Sonu

[vsathyap]

This brought back memories of my first car - the Original Zen with the MH410!! It was such a lovely thing to drive! I miss the Zen thoroughly, but I sort of make up for the engine since I own a K10 now - but the Zen will always be that - "ZEN"!