[Sanidhya mukund]

Originally Posted by Viju

Hi Sanidhya

Wish you all the very best for this project! As long as you have an honest, knowledgeable mechanic on your side, this is very much doable.

Please stick to factory colors with black bumper, and original wheel covers. I am an 80’s kid, and have vivid memories of brand new Tata Estates going down the road. It was the closest thing to a W124, at least in terms of looks.

I agree with Condor. Please stick to a light color. White may be a bit bland and anonymous to be honest. Wish you would consider the factory silver as well, which shows off the long, straight lines really well. But please keep the bumpers, mirrors and door handles black and really hope you won’t be tempted to put any non-original stickers or decals on the car!

PS: I don’t remember if the bumpers were unpainted black or painted black, but I would leave them in the factory condition.

Thank you for the reply!

Even I am very keen on maintaining originality and will try my best to purchase original body fittings. I have ready acquired wheel covers, tail lights etc.
the real challenge will be to find the original interior parts like switches, knobs, power window motors etc. my wiring is badly damaged, so I am trying to see if I can revive the electrical stuff or not.

The bumpers are made of metal and were painted gloss black from the factory.

Would you be knowing what all colours were originally offered on this car? Was black an option from the factory? I have emailed Tata Motors asking the same, but I am not really expecting a response.

[Viju]

As far as my memory goes, the Estate came in the following colors from the factory:
1) White
2) Silver
3) Red
4) Grey (similar to the granite grey of Marutis)
5) Blue (close to navy blue)

The colors were pretty much common with the Tata Mobile and Sierra of that time. I am sure the Estate never came in black from the factory. Also, as the bumpers, mirrors and door handles are all in black, I think a lighter color will provide a good contrast to those fittings. If you paint such a big car in a single color, it may look like it’s been dipped in a bucket of paint. Just my opinion.

[jeeva]

Originally Posted by Sanidhya mukund

Even I am very keen on maintaining originality and will try my best to purchase original body fittings. I have ready acquired wheel covers, tail lights etc.
the real challenge will be to find the original interior parts like switches, knobs, power window motors etc. my wiring is badly damaged, so I am trying to see if I can revive the electrical stuff or not.

Most of the parts were available in Bangalore until a few years back, when I was restoring a Sierra (Tata Sierra Turbo: Queries).
Yes, some of the interior parts might be a little challenging to source, but you should check with the Tata commercial service/spares. Most of the parts are shared with the 207 DI (lights, beadings, glasses, locks, etc). If you have a good electrician at your disposal, the power window motors and stuff can be easily swapped with one from a relatively modern car (Safari/Scorpio). My Sierra's wiring was completely redone from scratch using good quality Finolex wires. Everything was properly sleeved and soldered, and everything single thing on that car worked flawlessly as it should.


So, this young chap from Kerala drove the Estate all the way to Ladakh and back. Hope this gives you the much needed inspiration.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSJaPKzmKno

[condor]

Originally Posted by Sanidhya mukund

the real challenge will be to find the original interior parts like switches, knobs, power window motors etc. my wiring is badly damaged,

Had come across Rajesh Oswal / Venus motors in Pune. 8329669417 / 9624242424

You could check with him.

[Sanidhya mukund]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

The antecedents and reputation of this garage will need to be checked thoroughly. This sounds like a regular garage wallah and not a high end car restorer.

You were spot on about this, sir. He was indeed a regular garage wallah who just knew how to talk about lakhs and lakhs of rupees and was planning to fix my car with junkyard parts. He was very keen on scrapping the car, probably to make a decent profit out of it without much effort. Thankfully, I didn’t give in and brought my car back to a garage that is much smaller and doesn’t have as many advanced tools, but their knowledge and experience are something this big garage could never have had.

The tinker has started off by dismantling the interior. The extent of rusting on the inside isn’t as bad as one would expect. Loads of damaged foam and broken glass found inside the car. Attaching some pictures that they sent me:

Oh, I almost forgot, before opening up the engine, my mechanic wanted to gauge the condition. He started the car and moved it back and forth and has concluded that the head needs a rebuild and we will also have to get new piston rings because oil is getting into the combustion chamber:

A video of the symptoms:

https://youtu.be/lrQz8kBxP0s

[Juan23]

Glad to see you restore this great car of the 90s. Eagerly waiting to see it fully restored.
I do remember that our car came with 195/70 r15 Jk tyres.
(Do correct me if I am wrong)

[Sanidhya mukund]

Originally Posted by Juan23

Glad to see you restore this great car of the 90s. Eagerly waiting to see it fully restored.
I do remember that our car came with 195/70 r15 Jk tyres.
(Do correct me if I am wrong)

You are absolutely correct about the size. My car originally had MRF tyres, which I believe were replaced with Bridgestones around the time my Ikon was purchased.

From the owners manual:

[Sanidhya mukund]

A general update about what’s going on with the Tata Estate. Progress is really slow, but that can mostly be attributed to the rain and associated water logging etc.

The block and head are back from the lathe and the crank has been bolted on. The engine will be completely assembled and fitted on the car once the welding work pertaining to the engine bay is done:









Meanwhile, since it had been raining heavily, the tinker wasn’t able to make much progress. They had taken the doors and bonnet to their shop to work on until the rain ceases. They tried to remove the boot and bumper, but the brackets were all bent and rusted, making these parts impossible to remove without cutting them out. Further tinkering work will be done at the tinkers shop. It will be possible for the car to be pushed till there once the front two tyres are replaced. They have found used tyres of matching specifications for now and will be taking the car to their shop post Durga Pooja celebrations.

[DR Manabendra S]

It's béen long since there have been any update to this thread. How is the restoration going ? Have you managed to continue with the restoration or have you let it go? Am really looking forward to some updates from you , Mr Sanidhya Mukund.

[Sanidhya mukund]

Originally Posted by DR Manabendra S

It's béen long since there have been any update to this thread. How is the restoration going ? Have you managed to continue with the restoration or have you let it go? Am really looking forward to some updates from you , Mr Sanidhya Mukund.

Hello,

The restoration is still on, don’t worry
It is just that one thing after the other is leading to delays. My tinker was not able to make much progress during the festive season in November. And then in December, the unprecedented cold wave began due to which his workers are only being able to work for 2-3 hours every day. They also keep having some issue or the other in their family, leading to delay after delay.

Paint, interior, electrical, engine work- all of it is lined up and waiting, but the delays on the part of the tinker has been holding everything up. Meanwhile, I have been sourcing parts. I have given him an ultimatum to work on the car expeditiously so that the project can be brought on track. Let us see how it goes.

[Sanidhya mukund]

Update:

I’m extremely sorry about the lack of any updates on this thread, but most of it could be attributed to my tinker. Given his inability to work, I got another tinker to continue with the project. The new tinker is now on it with full force and had promised to be done with it in 1.5-2 months. He has completed the doors and has now started work on the front end, I.e the engine bay, behind the fenders and below the bumper. Each new stretch of metal is being simultaneously primed and rust proofed to ensure longevity. On the mechanical front, the engine has been rebuilt and test started outside the car. Seems to be working well, but the real test will be when it propels the car. I’ve also sourced quite a few cosmetic parts, some of them new while some others New old stock (NOS). That is all for now. Suspension, steering, brakes etc. will be done once the body is finished. After paint, electrical, upholstery and fittings will be done. Hoping the new tinker keeps his commitments.

A video of the overhauled engine’s test start:

https://youtu.be/hcw0EGq27tg

The body work:

[Sanidhya mukund]

The parts I’ve procured:

[DocwithFiesta]

Congratulations, you have almost made it to the finish line.

We have a 1998 Fiat Uno that we tried restoring, 5 years back.
My dad's office is 100kms from home and he decided to get the restoration done over there as the car would be under his supervision, and the garage there told him they could handle the work.
The car had cancerous levels of rust, that required stripping it completely, much like your Estate. The engine ran, but there was some problem with the gear box and the electricals were little messed up. The car was towed 100kms, with the engine on throughout the journey.

A pic from 2014


Talking about the year 2013 or so, we had 3 cars (2010 Fiesta 1.6, 2003 Esteem 1.3 and the Uno). My mom was a housewife(she works now), and my dad used to take 2-wheeler to the office(back then his office was within the city). I was a school student. This meant none of us used the cars, and the Uno being the oldest one, used to sit and rot, and given the fact we stayed (still stay) 250 metres from the sea, it turned out to be a catastrophe.
Our 3-car family, good old days



The Uno was ruined due to our negligence. The Esteem also suffered from rusting- the arm that holds the hub where the rim is bolted, had rusted and that resulted in the wheel almost coming off on braking. Dad tried to get it sorted 3 times, but the outcome was never the same(as original) and hence, we decided to sell the Esteem.
You can make out something's wrong with the front left wheel


The Uno was sent for restoration: we bought doors, windshield, bumpers from a donor car but the garage would just not start working. They did not start the work for about 1.5 years saying that they were busy on other cars and if we could not wait, we could take it somewhere else . The body work was almost done, finally, but the guy who said he could do the electricals would never turn up- he was busy in making easy money on running cars that could be done in a day, and never bothered to entertain our car. He would say "I will start the work tomorrow for sure", but that tomorrow never came. We could not find any other person who could sort the electricals in that place, 100kms away from Chennai. Then came COVID, the garage where the car was, told they could not keep the car in their place(the electrical guy was not part of the garage), so they decided to park the car at an open space.

Car stripped, all rusts sorted, just before COVID


At this moment my excitement was through the roof, and bought these badges thinking the car would be done in few days.


Till date the car is in that open space waiting for a person who can sort out the electricals.
Uno in that open space: body work complete


Meanwhile, the Fiesta also developed cancerous levels of rust, and it took almost Rs.80k to get it sorted, last year. We also bought a hatchback last year and that too costed some money. At the moment we have kept the process on hold as we already spent a lot of funds in the above-mentioned things.

I am a 'new' doctor, just starting my career and instead of "buying my first car", I want to get the Uno fully sorted at any cost. Hope that day comes soon.

Having gone through all these, I do understand how cumbersome it is to get a car restored and am quite happy you are almost done with your project.

[Sanidhya mukund]

I’m sorry about the late update. Tinkering is taking much more time (and money) than was originally estimated. However, I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. The floor, pillars, door jambs, door sills and doors are all done. Fenders and bumpers are also done, but yet to be fitted and aligned. The rear windshield shattered when it was being removed for fixing the rusting around its frame. Will have to get a new one fabricated since you can’t get them off the shelf for this car.

I am being told that in another week or so, the car will be able to go in for paint. I will most probably be going with white for the car and black for the bumpers. Here are a few pictures that have been sent to me:

[Sanidhya mukund]

Update:


So the tinkering work is nearing completion. The car is back on 4 wheels and the fender linings are being installed. In another 2-3 days, the work pending at the front end should also be done, after which, the car will FINALLY go in for paint. The tinkering and body work part has been a very time consuming process because as the car is disassembled, more and more rust is found. Needless to say, the budget and turnaround time have been blown away.

Attaching a few pictures and a video of the updates.

https://youtu.be/h0v2KYfLylQ?feature=shared