[Sanidhya mukund]

Originally Posted by Mitadru

Very glad to hear that. Will you go down to Bihar after they apply the base coat of paint? And regarding the seats how do you plan to redo them ? Or are you going to buy new seats ? And after painting is completed, how much work will be left on the car ?

Thanks,

I will definitely have to make a trip once the painting is finished. Will load my Hycross up with all the body fittings that I’ve managed to source and drive down.

The seats will be redone by an upholstery guy. Since the entire interior is in shambles, I will have to get everything, right from the seats to the ceiling to the carpeting to the door pads redone.

Once painting is done, we will be left with Power steering and AC repairs, radiator replacement, changing of all the fluids (differential, gearbox, engine oil etc.), interior and upholstery, electrical work and body fittings such as wipers, lights etc. we’d also have to test the other stuff once again to see if any other part needs attention.

If the painting is on track, the car should be ready for its fitness inspection by December or January. Fingers crossed.

[Mitadru]

Originally Posted by Sanidhya mukund

If the painting is on track, the car should be ready for its fitness inspection by December or January. Fingers crossed.

Glad to hear that. Did you manage to find a way to not pay the taxes for the period the car was sitting idle or will you have to pay the full amount of the last 10 years or so ? Cause I remember you had posted a form for tax exemption if the car is not plying on the roads.
BTW, on a side note, won't it be a good idea to let the Ikon stretch its legs and take it to Bihar? Just asking. Let me know your thoughts on this.

[Sanidhya mukund]

Originally Posted by Mitadru

Glad to hear that. Did you manage to find a way to not pay the taxes for the period the car was sitting idle or will you have to pay the full amount of the last 10 years or so ? Cause I remember you had posted a form for tax exemption if the car is not plying on the roads.
BTW, on a side note, won't it be a good idea to let the Ikon stretch its legs and take it to Bihar? Just asking. Let me know your thoughts on this.

Still working on the tax part. Ideally, I wouldn’t want to pay that hefty an amount, so I’m exploring all legal remedies available to me.

About the Ikon, I prefer to keep it under my care and supervision. I ensure that everything is repaired, fixed and serviced on time. The logistics are also much easier as I can source parts in Delhi/abroad and have them installed right here. If it would be in Bihar, it would again entail transporting the parts whenever something goes wrong. The cars over there are usually looked after by people employed by us, and they never do a very good job, as is evident from the Esteem which suffered a broken mirror etc.

Furthermore, the quality of mechanics available in Delhi is much, much better. The people in a tier-III town in Bihar don’t have exposure to working on a very wide range of cars, since most of the local population sticks to Bolero, Scorpio, WagonR, Dzire, Brezza, Ertiga etc. Another thing I’ve noticed is that they don’t have the same professional ethics and commitment towards doing a neat job. They are evasive and wouldn’t do things right unless supervised. Then there’s the issue of them taking up other seasonal professions - they make more money driving Baraat gaadis (wedding procession cars) during the peak shaadi season, working on their fields in the harvest months and taking up other odd jobs. In contrast, Delhi mechanics will be mechanics, no matter what time of the year you visit them

I sometimes reflect negatively on my decision to have the Tata Estate opened up over there. Had I simply brought it to Delhi, someone from Mayapuri would have done the entire work in a matter of 2 months for a similar amount of money. The additional transport costs would have been worth the money. But then, can’t go into the past, can we? Best to somehow pester them into completing the task as soon as possible so that I can have my car up and running again!

[Mitadru]

Originally Posted by Sanidhya mukund

Still working on the tax part. Ideally, I wouldn’t want to pay that hefty an amount, so I’m exploring all legal remedies available to me.

About the Ikon, I prefer to keep it under my care and supervision. I ensure that everything is repaired, fixed and serviced on time. The logistics are also much easier as I can source parts in Delhi/abroad and have them installed right here. If it would be in Bihar, it would again entail transporting the parts whenever something goes wrong. The cars over there are usually looked after by people employed by us, and they never do a very good job, as is evident from the Esteem which suffered a broken mirror etc.

Do keep us updated on the tax part.
And regarding the Ikon, you didn't get my point. I was asking if it was possible for you to take the Ikon with the parts for the Estate ,instead of the Hycross . I didn't ask you to keep your car there. I know what pains you have taken to get the Esteem in running condition, and the painstaking way you're restoring the Estate. Asking to keep the Ikon there would be a fool's errand. I was saying that driving the Ikon there, would allow you to fully experience the injector service you'd done recently, since it's perfectly legal for you to drive the car in any state other than Delhi NCR So what's your thoughts about this ?

[Sanidhya mukund]

Originally Posted by Mitadru

Do keep us updated on the tax part.
And regarding the Ikon, you didn't get my point. I was asking if it was possible for you to take the Ikon with the parts for the Estate ,instead of the Hycross . I didn't ask you to keep your car there. I know what pains you have taken to get the Esteem in running condition, and the painstaking way you're restoring the Estate. Asking to keep the Ikon there would be a fool's errand. I was saying that driving the Ikon there, would allow you to fully experience the injector service you'd done recently, since it's perfectly legal for you to drive the car in any state other than Delhi NCR So what's your thoughts about this ?

Ahh, okay, got you! The thing is, I wouldn’t want to take a car without airbags on such a long journey. In fact, the sole reason I bought the Hycross was that I wanted something comfortable, safe and reliable for the highways. Will surely take the Ikon on a long journey one day, but I don’t think it’ll be anytime soon. Not in the next 5 years for sure.

[Sanidhya mukund]

The putty filling work is well underway. Sanding and cutting should take another day or two, after which, the car will be primed.

[Sanidhya mukund]

The paint work is happening at a good pace. The first coat is already done now. On the other hand, the bumpers have been stolen from the denters workshop. It had been a long time since I saw them, and now that it was time for paint, I asked the Denter to send them over to the painter. However, he says that he can’t find them anywhere and believes that a bunch of drug addicts stole them. He claims they steal scraps of metal and sell them for money that helps feed their addiction.

I had been feeling very dejected about this, but then I realised that setbacks are a part of life. Best to move on. Will be trying to source new ones. If none are found, I’ll get them to fabricate new ones out of sheet metal.

[Sanidhya mukund]

Update:

Some of you must be wondering that despite the brisk progress in the paintwork, why isn’t the work moving forward?

Well, that is because, I was not able to find bumper corners for this car. Some anti-social elements had stolen all 4, which meant that we could not go ahead with paint any further. The bumper corners had to be sourced, bent into shape to fit the car and align everything properly before we could cover the car in shiny, new paint.

For the front end, we managed to adapt Tata 207 parts and were able to make it look quite close to original. However, the rear bumper, being unique to this car and quite rare in the market, was a pain to source. Mr. Sandeep Sharma managed to get me a rear LHS part and was kind enough to send it across from Mumbai. After a couple of months of fruitless attempts to find a rear RHS unit, we decided to have one fabricated locally, using the LHS one as a reference.

The fabricator managed to do a pretty decent job in my opinion. The shape isn’t perfect, but I think a little bit of putty would be able to make it look quite a lot like the original.

Hopefully, there wouldn’t be any more roadblocks. Fingers crossed.

[Mitadru]

Alls well that ends well. Now that you have sourced the bumper corners , hope the progress will be smooth from now on. And regarding the painting, I don't guess your painter has a closed booth. So I would ask you to ensure that he does it at a closed space, not out in the open with all the dirt and debris sticking on the paint. Otherwise it will soon look dull and will require paint correction and polishing.
And once again kudos to your persistence in the decision of restoring the Estate despite the condition it was in, and the hurdles you faced. Now in the new year I hope everything will go as planned. Happy new year to your family ( both human and cars) from my end.

[BABABOT]

Originally Posted by Sanidhya mukund

Update:

Some of you must be wondering that despite the brisk progress in the paintwork, why isn’t the work moving forward?

Well, that is because, I was not able to find bumper corners for this car. Some anti-social elements had stolen all 4, which meant that we could not go ahead with paint any further. The bumper corners had to be sourced, bent into shape to fit the car and align everything properly before we could cover the car in shiny, new paint.

For the front end, we managed to adapt Tata 207 parts and were able to make it look quite close to original. However, the rear bumper, being unique to this car and quite rare in the market, was a pain to source. Mr. Sandeep Sharma managed to get me a rear LHS part and was kind enough to send it across from Mumbai. After a couple of months of fruitless attempts to find a rear RHS unit, we decided to have one fabricated locally, using the LHS one as a reference.

The fabricator managed to do a pretty decent job in my opinion. The shape isn’t perfect, but I think a little bit of putty would be able to make it look quite a lot like the original.

Hopefully, there wouldn’t be any more roadblocks. Fingers crossed.

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Hi Sanidhya,
Please accept my salute to you for you patience and to still be motivated to continue. I am sure in the next month or so when the estate drives back home, there will be so much satisfaction which you will experience. Do keep updating. It would be interesting to know how much you have spent so far on the project

[Passatman]

Hi, This one truly caught my eye. A refurbish of a '93 model Tata Estate! Did u check sources @ Bangalore for the bumper corners?
As for the car itself, I had the ( mis)fortune of owning one of these overweight beasts with a puny engine. Mine was a 93 model, clad in white and spent more time at Prerana motors than on the road!
Good luck in refurbishing your car.
Sharing a pic of my beast, clicked somewhere in Nagarahole!

[Sanidhya mukund]

Originally Posted by Passatman

Hi, This one truly caught my eye. A refurbish of a '93 model Tata Estate! Did u check sources @ Bangalore for the bumper corners?
As for the car itself, I had the ( mis)fortune of owning one of these overweight beasts with a puny engine. Mine was a 93 model, clad in white and spent more time at Prerana motors than on the road!
Good luck in refurbishing your car.
Sharing a pic of my beast, clicked somewhere in Nagarahole!

Thanks for sharing! Yes, these were certainly a pain to keep. The service history of mine suggests that it also faced several electrical glitches with the power windows, rear wiper and aircon. It was also pretty underpowered for the size and weight.

Ididn’t know of any sources in Bangalore. If you have any leads, please do share their contact details.

As for expenditure, I would estimate that till date, I’ve spent somewhere around 1-1.5 lakhs in total. That includes, body repairs, advances to the painter, engine rebuild, suspension, brakes, wheels and tyres, parts and accessories etc. Now, the major expenses pending are the dues of the painter, interior and upholstery, the electrical work and the body fittings. With paperwork and RTO fines, the total could touch 3 lakhs.

[Passatman]

Originally Posted by Sanidhya mukund

Thanks for sharing! Yes, these were certainly a pain to keep. The service history of mine suggests that it also faced several electrical glitches with the power windows, rear wiper and aircon. It was also pretty underpowered for the size and weight.

Yes, the power window switches were a pain and kept burning out or blowing a fuse! As for the rear wiper, I must have changed at least 5-6 times ( under warranty thankfully) . I recollect I used to carry spare P/w switches in my car ! Never had any problems with the AC, but the belts for P/S and the serpentine belt for the AC kept failing. Surprisingly, the timing belt held well.
The sierra turbo was very reliable and i dont recall any issues on it.
You could try to retrofit the TCIC 90 and GB of the Sierra Turbo on your Estate. It is quite powerful.

[Sanidhya mukund]

Update:

The rear Bumper corners have been fitted on the car and are looking satisfactory. There are some gaps and crevices that need to be rectified. The tinker is on it. The taillights have also gone on the car for the first time for test fitting:














The Tata 207 Front Bumper corners that we had to adapt. They aren’t looking bad:





Meanwhile, the electrician has also started fiddling with the wires. I am not being too adventurous with the electronics and will keep it pretty bare bones for now. That would mean, frills like power windows will be out of the picture for the time being. If the vehicle turns out to be reliable, then I may consider adding them in the future.

[Ripper]

The estate is one of the TATA cars that I admired a lot when I was a kid.
Had the pleasure of getting a drive in one (Classmates car). The sheer size and the powerful air conditioner was such a treat. Sadly it didn't do that well in the Indian market.

Your car looks pretty neat and I can imagine the pain of losing spares when you were nearing the finish line. Do consider powder coating the bumpers instead of paint.
Also if you are Okay with a few mods, try getting a remote fuel lid opener installed as it makes life a lot easier.