[jesal]

Well, long time no reply. All niggling problems have gone from the car and its running fine. But, my dream car is still far. It has to have 17 inch rims and blah blah. Since 2004, most people know me as the guy who liked show and I realized I still do. Don't know what I was thinking building the zen in the first place. Have to admit it was fun, but its up for sale now. It has to go and I'm gonna start building my show car now.

[Äxleark]

Guys, I'm looking to go for something called a 'Half-Engine' replacement for my Zen MPFI. Thought of going in for the Esteem's 1.3G13BB 'half engine' from Maruti. Is it a direct bolt on fit? What all parts other that the 'half-engine' might I have to replace? I've got the stock 1.0 engine's head and ECU, are they a direct fit?
I'd love to upgrade the suspension and brakes as well. Do I go in for the OEM units, Gabriels or something else?
Read in the forums that the Esteem brakes are the way to go. Could someone elaborate? What exactly do I do to my (1) front brakes (2) rear brakes ? Is something like putting the Esteem's FR brakes on the front and stock Zen FR brakes on the rear advisable?

[Rahul Bhalgat]

Originally Posted by Äxleark

Thought of going in for the Esteem's 1.3G13BB 'half engine' from Maruti. Is it a direct bolt on fit? What all parts other that the 'half-engine' might I have to replace? I've got the stock 1.0 engine's head and ECU, are they a direct fit?

Stock 1 lit engine has 72 mm bore and 61 mm stroke. Proposed 1.3 lit G13BB engine has 74 mm bore and 75.5 mm stroke. So half engine of G13BB cannot be fitted to the existing G10 engine.

I never heard that the brakes on the Zen are inadequate. So there is really no need to experiment with these.

If this zen needs half engine, new suspension and new brakes, better to sell it at whatever price you get and buy another used zen in better condition.

The Zen has been discontinued in 2006. So the registration of your Zen will expire latest by 2021. So re-think about investing in this car or in any other Zen. You can consider a used Wagon R, i10, Brio.

[ashwinprakas]

Originally Posted by Äxleark

Guys, I'm looking to go for something called a 'Half-Engine' replacement for my Zen MPFI. Thought of going in for the Esteem's 1.3G13BB 'half engine' from Maruti. Is it a direct bolt on fit? What all parts other that the 'half-engine' might I have to replace? I've got the stock 1.0 engine's head and ECU, are they a direct fit?
I'd love to upgrade the suspension and brakes as well. Do I go in for the OEM units, Gabriels or something else?
Read in the forums that the Esteem brakes are the way to go. Could someone elaborate? What exactly do I do to my (1) front brakes (2) rear brakes ? Is something like putting the Esteem's FR brakes on the front and stock Zen FR brakes on the rear advisable?

You cannot(at least in my case) source a Esteem G13 from Maruti as the part has been discontinued, I've confirmed this with my regional spares last week.

But you could still source a G13 from a Gen 1 Swift or a Gypsy King, which is where I'm currently looking at while also considering picking up a Esteem Engine and Gearbox from the nearest scrap yard.

Keep the brakes stock, not worth the investment and effort IMHO, though Zen D/Esteem brakes do offer better bite.

[scorpian]

Been there done that!
In 2007 I did the E-Zen thingy in my front garage with help of just one mechanic. Like you I had many many questions and no proper answers. Some famous tuners I spoke to gave me ridiculous quotes. So I decided to do it myself. Mind you I am not a automobile engineer nor a mechanical one, in fact I am miles away from that, but I had the interest and the desire to do it for I wanted to experience the e-zen that many spoke of. Remember patience is of utmost importance here, when your mechanic gives up, its where your logic and patience will help pave the way.

Il try to keep this as short as possible, any questions please ask.
What you will need,

1) Esteem engine and gearbox
Now this should be with intake manifold, throttle body, air-filter housing. If you can’t get the air filter housing use the Zen one, I did and did use it for 20k plus kilometers without any issues. Starter/alternator can be used of zen but try and get whatever you can from the esteem engine, it will just make your work easier. Before you plonk the motor make sure you please give it a good look around. You don’t want to install a motor and then take it off again to re-build it. For these reasons please ensure you source a good motor as that will save you a lot of labor cost later on.

2) Esteem ECM is a must.
If you plan to run your e-zen on zen ecm, your car will start but will run very lean, so a esteem ECM is a must. On the zen ECM during start-up on closed loop the rpm remains very high and then drops. I used air-fuel gauge and noticed that on zen ecm it remains in lean zone only whereas on the esteem ecm it runs on proper fueling.

3) Wiring harness.
Not required if you want to keep your zen stock, trust me changing an entire wiring harness is no joke. I did use the stock zen wiring harness and had to just change one single wire. Nobody told me how to do this and I learnt this myself after burning two ECM. If you use the stock zen wiring harness, one thing that will happen is that the radiator fan gets continuous supply leading to battery drain despite removing ignition key. For a long time my routine would be park the car, open the bonnet, disconnect the negative cable to avoid battery drain. Fed up of this silly extra activity I devised a way to solve the issue once for all and never had any problems ever. I tried a lot to ask for help from tuners but they refused or asked me to let them do the setup for me.Like the say “necessity is mother of all invention hehe” I did it eventually.

4) Brakes
A lot has been spoken about brakes, well to be honest I would say you first overhaul your entire brake system, and please please do a proper bleeding of the system; it does have a strong effect. If not satisfied like in my case I replaced the brake booster and proportioning valve that brought things to control.

5) Exhaust system.
I always believe in looking totally stock and no noise stuff as this was my family car, so I got the headers done from a famous tuner in Bangalore and rest of the system was also made super silent. I had a extra set of muffler that I would occasionally use from auto-mech just for the awesome note.

6) Air-conditioning and Radiator.
I have used the stock air conditioning in my zen with a little bit of re-wiring and it runs perfect, with great cooling and besides all I feel no jerk or lack of power like the stock engine felt. Please ensure you have a clean radiator with a new thermostat and all flow lines are clean and clear. In my case I used the stock zen radiator. I purchased a new one and installed it and never did I ever run in to any heating issues.

7) Fluids
Use the best oils period! This will not only let you make the maximum out of your engine but will let you enjoy every bit of it.

Can’t think of anything more at the moment, but if you guys need any help please shoot questions, I shall try to answer and help as much as possible.

[seenu2cool]

Air-conditioning and Radiator.
I have used the stock air conditioning in my zen with a little bit of re-wiring and it runs perfect, with great cooling and besides all I feel no jerk or lack of power like the stock engine felt. Please ensure you have a clean radiator with a new thermostat and all flow lines are clean and clear. In my case I used the stock zen radiator. I purchased a new one and installed it and never did I ever run in to any heating issues.

Regarding the A/c, I'm facing a problem.
It's when you switch off the A/c via switch, then the compressor starts running and the blower can't be switched off? Then too the compressor starts running.

I'm driving with blower at 1 speed all the time. To use the A/c when necessary, then i need to switch off compressor switch to actually run the compressor. Any help regarding this would be appreciated.

By the way, my Zen is a 2001 Mpfi (Euro2) with a g13b from Esteem running on a Esteem ECU (Euro2).

Been facing this A/c issue, since the Ecu swap.

[Jaggu]

Originally Posted by seenu2cool

Regarding the A/c, I'm facing a problem.
It's when you switch off the A/c via switch, then the compressor starts running and the blower can't be switched off? Then too the compressor starts running.

This seems to be wiring issue, you need to do a complete check of AC and blower wiring. Seems like your compressor switch is being fed directly, instead of through the blower switch.

[seenu2cool]

Originally Posted by Jaggu

This seems to be wiring issue, you need to do a complete check of AC and blower wiring. Seems like your compressor switch is being fed directly, instead of through the blower switch.

Hi Jaggu Sir, thanks for the quick reply. But with the Zen Ecu that isn't the case, everything is back to normal.
Ofcourse the engine is running lean with Zen Ecu.

When Ecu is swapped to Esteem, then i face this issue.

But, in terms or performance, this car really wakes up from a deep slumber.

I need to be alert while driving with this kind of power under the hood.

[Jaggu]

Originally Posted by seenu2cool

When Ecu is swapped to Esteem, then i face this issue.

Then you need to see the wiring pins are different for zen and esteem. If so a simple swap should be able to fix. See if you can get hold of the connector schematics and confirm if all the wires are in same order.

ps: Please call me Jaggu.

[seenu2cool]

Originally Posted by scorpian

Esteem ECM is a must.
Air-conditioning and Radiator.
I have used the stock air conditioning in my zen with a little bit of re-wiring and it runs perfect, with great cooling and besides all I feel no jerk or lack of power like the stock engine felt.

Can you help me with the wiring issue, that I'm facing with this kind of setup.

Zen Ecu = Everything is perfect.
Esteem Ecu = A/c functioning is weird.

Fan speed if kept Zero, then compressor runs,
Fan speed if kept at 1, compressor is off.
Compressor switch if kept off, then compressor runs,
Compressor switch if kept on, then compressor is off.

[scorpian]

Hi,
What i had done is re-wire the ac unit independently using a relay.Any good ac technician who does installation of new ac's will be able to do this.
I guess zen's had different wiring harness in the same manufacturing years as well, for example mine was also euro 2 but when connected with esteem ecm, the radiator fan would remain on when car was hot and sometimes drain the battery. Are you facing anything like this?
Nevertheless all this are minor hiccups and can be sorted with patience.

Feel free to ask for anything related. You can send me a pm if you need the wiring diagrams, too lengthy to upload out here.I could watsapp you relevant pages.

[seenu2cool]

Originally Posted by scorpian

Hi,
Feel free to ask for anything related. You can send me a pm if you need the wiring diagrams, too lengthy to upload out here.I could watsapp you relevant pages.

Thanks Scorpion, as you said is that possible to rewire the whole thing, what if there is any wiring issue in terms of fire or anything for that matter? I'm not eligible to pm yet. So, can i share my number here, is that allowed to do so?

For now, I'm running the fan at 1 speed and compressor switch at On position to actually keep the compressor off.

Was thinking about using Zen ecu on E2 & E3 couplers.
E1 coupler would drive the engine and it's related components. What say? Not tried it yet.

[scorpian]

I dont think there would be any issue with rewiring if done properly. Infact i noticed blower to run more stronger with isolating it and powering it with a relay. Ensure you use good wire and your good to go.
You could also buy the wire and relays and hand them to the installer incase you feel poor quality material will be used by the technician,or you could even do it yourself if comfortable and have basic idea of figuring out the connections required.

I never tried running two ecus,you could try.

[c10]

Originally Posted by seenu2cool

Can you help me with the wiring issue, that I'm facing with this kind of setup.

Zen Ecu = Everything is perfect.
Esteem Ecu = A/c functioning is weird.

Fan speed if kept Zero, then compressor runs,
Fan speed if kept at 1, compressor is off.
Compressor switch if kept off, then compressor runs,
Compressor switch if kept on, then compressor is off.

Hi Seenu,
Did you fix the AC switch issue on your ride??