[ads295]

Special mention - Boodmo proves unhelpful

This is for anyone who is thinking of buying parts from Boodmo that are not explicitly marked "Fulfilled by Boodmo".

I had naïvely assumed that Boodmo would stock all the parts they list on their website. After I was told earlier in this thread that all those parts not fulfilled by Boodmo are on back order, I decided to tread cautiously and not depend on them for anything major. I ordered a small shipment of assorted but hard-to-find parts - fuel filter, air cleaner, the V6 emblem, power steering fluid hose - just to see if they could fulfill the order. The total for this order came to ₹5,531.

I concurrently ordered everything from Korea anyway since I had a hunch this wouldn't work.
It didn't.
I placed the order on 14/12/2023.
I was told the parts would be dispatched within 16 days - so 30/12/2023.
Today is 03/02/2024 and none of the parts have been dispatched. The order system just keeps adding 7-10 days every week.

I have the option to cancel my order but I'm not cancelling right now - just curious to see where this goes. Their customer support representative e-mailed me asking for a positive review (an actual person, not some generic Boodmo e-mail ID), I replied to the mail asking for an update on my parts - no response.

[ads295]

A small mod

While searching for spares for the Sonata, I came across a website that sold Korean car parts.
While a lot of it was cosmetic stuff applicable on the outside of the car, I saw a very cool speedometer console that totally changed the look and feel of the speedo. I ordered it for ₹7k and it arrived about 2 weeks ago.

Old speedo console:

New speedo console:

To be clear, none of these pics are mine, just sharing to give you an idea. The panel will go onto my car once the rest of the parts arrive.

[Shanksta]

Wow!

Sir, you are really putting a lot of effort, time and money to restore the rare V6 Sonata. Please keep updating the thread regularly I am excited to see the final outcome.

[Rohit_Quad]

@ADS i would also suggest dampening the full flooring and doors with dampening sheets, as it will make the car much more silent eliminating a lot of the NVH.

[Civic_doc]

Hats off to you for putting so much effort and R&D wish you happy miles with Sonata.

[svsantosh]

Originally Posted by ads295

My checklist for a buy were as below:
1. Must be utterly reliable. I wanted to be able to take a cross country drive with the same confidence as I get with our 2017 S-Cross 1.6. I did not want to have to do anything beyond the regular service once I'd gotten the car up to spec.
2. At least mid-size. There are no sedans in our household and its my favourite car type.
3. Cheap as chips. I assumed that every rupee spent on this vehicle would be of zero use to me and that the car would irreparably fail at any given point in time. Thus my budget was low - not ₹5-7L, not even ₹3L after I gave it some thought. There would be hefty spends on getting it restored anyway.
4. There should be nothing majorly wrong with the car. Yeah some nicks and scratches and a few broken bulbs would be OK, but I didn't want engine rebuilds, rotten body bits, or a chewed-through wiring harness on my hands. This is the sort of stuff that can be a disaster for your wallet.

1) Check (just a 20 year Korean AT GB acting up, no biggie)
2) Check & Check
3) I am going to need lot of chips bags by the time I see the final product. 1L INR car Check, few lacs for restoration - check.
4) Check - not entirely rotten, only partially.

You, my friend, seem to have a penchant for such 1 in a 1.5Bn kind of project.

Totally love your enthusiasm, not quite sure about the quality of body work, mechanical work remains to be seen, all in all you are going to be a wiser man a few months from now.

God Speed to the Korean V6 Project.

[ads295]

Paint work begins

Work started on Monday, 12th Feb '24 for paintwork.
As it stands, the car's old paint has been sanded off and the body is now free of any dents whatsoever.





Today was the last day I had to choose the new paint colour. After much agonising over whether I should go for black, I eventually selected silver. Black was my first choice but I decided against it for the usual reasons - it's hard to maintain, has to be cleaned frequently to look good, and mostly because there are many chrome body trims that won't look so good on black.

Below is the paint code I chose.

It's nearly pointless trying to show the shade itself, because it doesn't look much like the real thing, but I'm giving it a go anyway.




Meanwhile, 28 of the 35 parts I've ordered from Korea are ready. It's a test of my patience but I have no choice but to wait. I've been offered split shipments, but who wants to pay for a separate shipment from Korea?

[ads295]

Updates as on 24th Feb '24.

The paint has been purchased. The interior of the car is being worked on. All the places where the rusty bits were replaced are now the same colour as the rest of the car - its impossible to tell it's been repaired!

Interior view of the car currently. Note the wiring and the dash have been taped up using newspaper in preparation for the spray.

The last bits of surface rust are now being cleared away using a grinder. Here you can see before and after pictures of the front passenger footwell. Everything will now be sprayed in an anti-rust black coat and then body colour paint.



I have taken some short video clips too. I'm getting proper Wheeler Dealer vibes seeing my mechanic grind away the surface rust with a grinder... He has salt and pepper hair too so it's like having a desi Edd China working on my car

The painter told me a few times that it's very important to have completely dry air for the spray. Any moisture in the air from the compressor can cause problems as the paint just won't stick to the car. (He was trying to sell me the idea of getting the car painted at his place rather than my factory.)
I promptly hooked up his air supply to our industrial strength air dryer that's meant to exclusively dry the compressed air required for our CNC machines. What's more, the air blows out ice cold. He'd never used a dryer in his own workshop and he was suitably impressed.

My mechanic reminded me to order the ATF (Auto Trans Fluid) in advance since it may take time to arrive. I had enquired through Motul and their fully synthetic ATF is readily available in stock. I checked Hyundai's official ATF (grade SP-III) prices and it costs a stratospheric ₹2,400 per liter (my car may need 7-8L). The Motul stuff is ₹975/L.
I saw this t-BHP thread and it helped me a lot:
https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/techn...ed-life-6.html (Why you should periodically change your Automatic Transmission Fluid (even if "sealed for life"))

[ads295]

Time for the weekly update.

The paint process technically completed on Thursday, 29th Feb, 2 days ago. The car has been drying since. What's more, it rained heavily today here so we got the paint done just in time!

Decided to resize images prior to upload this time around to make it easier for everyone.

Pic of the car as it stands today.

Water drain area had slight surface rust. Cleaned up and painted. (Red is just a reflection)

Entire interior sprayed, including the boot area.

All the old rust spots are now no more. The car is good to go for the next decade!

The spares situation hasn't improved. I pushed the local Mobis exec to write to Hyundai management. He took WIP pics of the car to add to the story. He spoke with the Mobis outlet owner as well. I'm writing to Hyundai Mobis from my end as well. Here's hoping this ends soon...

Finally I decided to go for Mannol ATF since they have a specific SP-III grade that corresponds to Hyundai/Kia specs rather than the multigrade Motul stuff. I got a response from the company directly so it's almost too cheap, at less than ₹850/L. Saved a bomb not going for the Hyundai ATF! Also got coolant and brake fluid for the car from Mannol.

As for engine oil, everyone recommends 5W30 but Hyundai recommends other grades for temps exceeding 38°C. Below is a screenshot from the owner's manual.

After some hunting, I managed to find some semi-synthetic 10W40 from Mobil. It seems as though the higher temp grades are not made fully synthetic.

I ordered 3M Headlight Clear Coat so that the headlights don't yellow out again after I've cleared up the current yellow layer. It took me a lot of research to get there. This one review covers everything I found during my research:
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I was in fix regarding the car audio. I'm not an audiophile when driving, at least not when there's a sonorous V6 under the hood, but one of the stock speakers has distortion and tearing even at normal volumes. Rather than mess with the stock wiring, I'm going to replace the speakers with superior ones. I like the factory look anyway.

Watch this space for more...

[ads295]

Originally Posted by ads295

Special mention - Boodmo proves unhelpful

...
I have the option to cancel my order but I'm not cancelling right now - just curious to see where this goes.

An update on this, Boodmo auto-cancelled the pending parts and refunded me the money without any action from my side.

Long story short, they don't really know what's in stock, they'll take your money without saying anything and simply refund it after 60 days - never mind that someone would actually be waiting to receive parts instead of a refund! (The cancelled parts are still listed BTW, anyone can still technically place an order on Boodmo for the same parts).

I'm glad I placed the order directly from Korea. 2 months saved.

[superblover]

I've been patiently following this thread ads295. Glad to see you managed to procure all the necessary parts and managed to work the body back to it's original glory. Hyundai being my first car ever i have a soft spot for this V6 beast that you're so meticulously resurrecting. Can't wait to hear that engine fire up! Keep going, good sir!

[DuHasstMich]

Interesting thread, always happy to see neglected cars being restored back to their glory days. Waiting for more updates!

[abhikb2005]

Man, this should be a documentary! I'm so emotionally invested in this now. Congrats and all the best, ads295!

[ads295]

Thank you all for your support.

The biggest challenge now is to wait for the spares. Mobis India is unhelpful in this regard. The local dealer has no idea when the ordered spares will arrive. They've received less than half of the spares I ordered (all were in confirmed stock at the time of placing the order). Also, the way I've ordered parts, it works only if I get both Korean imports and Mobis India spares together. For example the water pump was not available here so it's coming from Korea, but the water pump gasket is available with Mobis India so I've ordered it from here. I can't do anything unless I have both with me.

Monday I filled out a form on the Mobis India website and I promptly got a call from the local exec asking what happened. I explained that I needed the parts ASAP and he said he would try his best (it's not really in his hands either).

Then I dug out e-mail addresses of the top brass at Mobis India and e-mailed them. The first mail didn't do anything. The follow up on Friday again prompted a call from the local dealer asking why I was repeatedly sending mails to the management, because it was putting pressure on him. I asked him if he had any control over the spares dispatch and he said no! So I then asked him to not worry since I had no beef with him, but I needed the spares ASAP. He said he'll reply saying likewise. I'm not convinced, frankly.

Even the Korean order isn't going as planned, no new spares have arrived there in the past 2 weeks, they're still waiting for the 8-9 pending parts.

Oh well. I'll wait. But there's going to be no compromise whatsoever. I will use OE spares only.

If any member here has connections at Hyundai Mobis, I would really appreciate your help.

[ads295]

It's that time of the week again...

I'd mailed the Deputy Manager of Mobis India (just one level below the Korean management), and this paid dividends, finally. All but 2 of the ordered spares have been dispatched and should be here shortly. What a relief!
The Korean spares order will be dispatched tomorrow. There are 8-9 small parts pending (mostly beeding/weather strips) which will be shipped separately. The old beedings are usable so I'll make do with those for now.

The car is now on jack stands and the wheels are separated from the tyres. I'm getting the wheels painted black. :-)

By the looks of it, the car should be ready a month from now...