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Parts, parts, parts!

I finally took up Avto-Korea's offer and had them ship whatever parts had already arrived. The parts were shipped on 21st Mar '24. Ms Janna Kim from Avto-Korea is the most professional and helpful dealer I've come across - not only did she offer heavy discounts to begin with, eventually she even waived the USD 100 handling charge we had agreed to, at the time of placing the order!
Again the wait began, as I dreaded the worst from the Foreign Post Office (FPO Ahmedabad). Thankfully everything went well and I got a call on 8th Apr '24 from my local post office asking me to pick up the box as it was 15kgs heavy. I could've pushed for home delivery but I didn't want them to handle it if they didn't want to. Finally the parts are home. This shipment contained some really important goods such as the water pump, the engine mounts, many beedings, fuel filter, air filters (! they don't stock them in India so I ordered 5), and a lot of other stuff. Truly I felt like I hit the jackpot that day!

Some pictures...

Mannol India goofs up

The goods from Mannol arrived: 10L of AG11 blue coolant, 1L of DOT3 brake fluid, and 9L of SP-III Automatic Transmission Fluid (ATF). That last bit as I discovered after opening the box was actually 9L of SP-IV grade ATF! I was dumbstruck as to how an MNC could make such a mistake and immediately called them up. Soorya from Mannol was very apologetic and said there was no "incentive to switch" as SP-IV is pricier than SP-III and said he would revert. He later said that the switch was a mistake, but they were out of SP-III (had only 3-4L in stock). He first tried to sell me the idea of multigrade ATF (rejected by me because a Motul distributor lives right down the street from me and I already didn't buy multigrade from them), then he tried to sell me the idea that SP-IV was compatible (it's not, they are different, SP-IV is used more for DCTs) and finally he offered me a refund (again not an option because the only alternative - OE Hyundai ATF - costs 3x, at ₹2,400/L). Finally he said the new shipment of oil had just reached the port and customs clearance could take anywhere between 10-30 days. Of course I've opted to wait.

"Control, Uday..."

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The Mobis India saga continues

Exactly 1 month after the follow up with the Mobis management, and after a lot of back-and-forth between me and the local dealer (I even wrote an e-mail to the management threatening to file a consumer court case for inadequate service) I finally got a call on 10th Apr '24 asking me to come and pick up the parts, and that all parts from all 3 orders were ready bar 3 parts that would take another 2 weeks to arrive. I was relieved and said I'd come on 13th Apr '24 to pick them up.

I went, and to my surprise, order #3, the last one, was still missing - no parts had arrived. He checked and said they were in the local warehouse and would reach them in 2-3 days. A bigger surprise was when many parts of which I'd ordered multiple quantities - 2pcs AT oil filter, 6pcs of some suspension bushes, etc - had only part quantities received by them. After asking they said that this happens only when Hyundai doesn't have stock (they only know that a part is "available", not qtys) and that this part would now be on backorder with them. Given that none of these parts are made in India, I surmised that I would probably get the parts when my children graduate from college (I have none). I was about to blow my lid but then the guy offered help and said he can check with some dealers in Delhi - OE, but not from the Mobis network. I'm not holding my breath, but I'll let him get back to me and see where this goes. Worst case I'll have to order those items (there are 4 part numbers with part qty) from Korea again - not so bad since I'm now confident.

That said, it's a relief to have 95+% of the parts with me... The build can now continue!

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Originally Posted by ads295

Parts, parts, parts!

Mannol India goofs up

The build can now continue!

Thank you for the updates! That V6 growl continues to elude you with all these part unavailability. It's extremely helpful that you have documented all your trials and tribulations in an extensive manner so that anyone else attempting a similar endeavour can know exactly what they would have to deal with. Hope you get all the parts you need to get the beast up and running!

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Engine work begins:

The timing belt is changed. It's due at 96k km and the car has done 94+k so this is just in time. The old one is in good condition though.
I was informed earlier that the idler pulleys needn't be changed, but upon inspection they're worn out so we're swapping those out.
The water pump that was sourced with so much difficulty is going to be stored for now, as the current one is in good condition according to the mechanic and doesn't warrant a swap.

One hitch is that the engine mount and the bracket are interfering with the torque wrench. We'll torque as many bolts as we can, but the ones that aren't accessible to the wrench will be tightened manually - old school human "feel" FTW!

Before the timing belt + pulley swap:

After the swap (note the shiny new pulleys!):

The OE timing belt is made by Gates! I'd seen the brand on Boodmo but never knew they were OE suppliers.

The engine mounts replacement is now underway as I type this. Including a picture of an old one (top) and the new one (bottom). Looking at the gap, it's clear as day that the old one is way past its prime.



There are 4 such mounts - 3 for the engine and 1 for the transmission. The trans mount is gone, too, but at the time of placing parts order my mechanic had insisted it was in good condition and didn't need replacement. Now he's saying I should order one! Checking with Mobis and Avto-Korea for availability...

Meanwhile we've sourced a die grinder and I'm planning to buff out the rims such that the outer part remains a gloss finish while the inner is all black. The effect should be that you see a black rim surrounded by a shiny "ring", so to speak. Stay tuned for updates on this.