[BhaskarG]

Congratulations on buying your dream car, and thanks for writing this very immersive account of the whole process. Enjoyed reading it. Few get to live their dream, and you did it. And a big thumbs up to all those who were a part of your journey, from searching to restoration.

I happened to have a glimpse of your car near bhpian chiranjitp’s office, and I loved it. I have not driven any Baleno, so I am not qualified to comment of anything else except the visual appeal of the car. All I can say is that it is a very beautiful looking car, more so in black.

Wish you and your car all the best.

[DevOnWheels]

Originally Posted by BhaskarG

Congratulations on buying your dream car, and thanks for writing this very immersive account of the whole process. Enjoyed reading it. Few get to live their dream, and you did it. And a big thumbs up to all those who were a part of your journey, from searching to restoration.

I happened to have a glimpse of your car near bhpian chiranjitp’s office, and I loved it. I have not driven any Baleno, so I am not qualified to comment of anything else except the visual appeal of the car. All I can say is that it is a very beautiful looking car, more so in black.

Wish you and your car all the best.

Thanks a lot Bhaskar da. Glad you liked her.

[Jajabor]

Great writeup Devarshi Baleno is one of my favourite cars from the past with a gem of a engine. Infact many offroaders use this engine in their Gypsies and old CJ Jeeps to compete in offroad events. Congratularions on successfully acquiring and restoring this beauty and wish you many miles and wonderfull ownership of this great car.

[DevOnWheels]

Originally Posted by Jajabor

Great writeup Devarshi Baleno is one of my favourite cars from the past with a gem of a engine. Infact many offroaders use this engine in their Gypsies and old CJ Jeeps to compete in offroad events. Congratularions on successfully acquiring and restoring this beauty and wish you many miles and wonderfull ownership of this great car.

Thanks a lot dada. Yes, the engine is a gem, especially the low and mid range. Waiting to see a G16 plonked into your Gypsy as well.

[jithin23]

Excellent thread and I'm really happy that you have gone to the extent of restoring every bit of this legend and the OG Baleno certainly deserves to live! Lived every bit of your narration and pics and yes, dreams to come to fruition!

Congratulations on the ride and may you have blissful miles with her.

Krisnanagar route has never changed at all from the later 2010's era.

Of course, the crew37 group is crazy and I've heard a lot of stories from Nayan da and Chiranjit!

[DevOnWheels]

Originally Posted by jithin23

Excellent thread and I'm really happy that you have gone to the extent of restoring every bit of this legend and the OG Baleno certainly deserves to live! Lived every bit of your narration and pics and yes, dreams to come to fruition!

Congratulations on the ride and may you have blissful miles with her.

Krisnanagar route has never changed at all from the later 2010's era.

Of course, the crew37 group is crazy and I've heard a lot of stories from Nayan da and Chiranjit!

Thanks Jithin. Heard a lot about you from Nayan da and loved the mods you did to his Ecosport.

Hope to meet you next time you are this side.

[keroo1099]

Hope you won't mind me posting a pic of my Baleno. One car the family truly misses.

[DevOnWheels]

Originally Posted by keroo1099

Hope you won't mind me posting a pic of my Baleno. One car the family truly misses.

Attachment 2685180

Wow. That's looks really clean. Lovely wheels as well.

[DevOnWheels]

Its been 2 month Phoenix is with me in Kolkata. She's running well with no issues whatsoever.

However, as I mentioned earlier "The urge to improvise to make it perfect and then go even further is tough to control". It struck me again.

Ever since she was in my hometown, there was a faint thud sound from the front end on really rough stretches of road.

The car was with BHPian Chiranjitp for a week in August, and he too noticed that thud. After sometime both of us zeroed on the engine mounts. Chiranjitp even got it checked by a mechanic and he too confirmed that the mounts are coming to the end of their life. Since the sound was really faint, I decided to get it done in Kolkata itself since parts availability is better here. I could have carried the mounts with me from Kolkata and get it fixed there, but thankfully I didn't.

Chiranjitp discussed the same with BHPian Leoshashi and he informed that only front and rear mounts wears out over time and the side mounts are just for support. He also suggested to go for Bravo brand as they are the OE supplier.

Since the car was running on 20 year old stock mounts, I decided to change all 4 together and accordingly asked Sheesh Auto Sales to source them.

On 18th of Sept, Sheesh Auto confirmed that the front and rear mounts are same as SX4 and are available with him and the other 2 he will arrange once I give him the old ones for sampling.

Next Saturday I took Phoenix to a Eastern Automobile near Sheesh Auto and collected both front and rear mounts for installation.

Front and rear aftermarket mounts (Maruti SX4 mentioned). Bravo was nowhere to be found in Kolkata.



Removal of old mounts under process.



Both front and rear mounts were removed one after another and the front one was found to be damaged.

Damaged front mount.



Now the real surprise. The reason I am thankful I decided to get it done here.



The SX4 and Baleno mounts are completely different in size although the mounting points are exactly same.

Went to Sheesh Auto (200m from workshop) with both the mounts and the owner started calling different parts stockiest to check if anyone have one in stock. He even asked one of his employees to go and search other parts sellers to get a matching one.

After 2 hours, the guy returned with a new unboxed (claimed it to be Bravo) mount which was kept somewhere in another shop. There was no packing as it was kept in some corner of the shop for many years. Thankfully it was not a used one and an exact match with my stock mount.



The new mount was replaced and I started driving towards my home.

However, once on the main road, noticed that although that mount sound is completely gone, there is one more sound from front right suspension which will come up whenever the wheel hits a pothole.

Returned home that day as it was already late evening and there was no time to start fiddling with suspension at that point of time.

Kept it that way for a month as I went to Thimphu (Bhutan) for a week and then to my home town for Durga Puja.

Some glimpses and car spotting from Thimphu.



















Once I returned back to Kolkata, there was to much stuff going around and I couldn't manage time to get the suspension sorted.

One more work was left out to be done at Kolkata and that was tappet clearance/valve adjustment. Its recommended to get it done around the 100k kms odo mark. Also after some spirited driving for 50+ kms, I could hear some tappet sound which wont be there in short light foot drives.

The petrol price in West Bengal(Rs.7/Ltr more than Assam) and Phoenix's fuel efficiency was hurting my pocket a lot as well.

Fuel efficiency during my Assam to West Bengal drive.





11.6kmpl on 4 lane highway with AC and XP95. Not a very pocket happy number.

While discussing with BHPian and friend Ashtoncastelino on the progress of my build and his Swift G13, the discussion of FE came up and he immediately suggested that tappet clearance/valve adjustment will sort this out as he got amazing numbers once it was done in his Swift. He also recommended to stick to OEM spec of 15 for intake and 25 for exhaust.

Once all research done, went to Eastern Automobile on 26th Oct to get the front suspension and tappet clearance/valve adjustment done.

Phoenix at workshop with another Japanese black beauty which came for engine rebuild.



The front right arm was found to be the culprit for that thud sound and left arm had some life left. Decided to get both changed at one go.

Sheesh Auto Sales delivered the arms to the workshop.





Once arm installation was done, the valve cover was opened for the tappet adjustment and I was really sad to see the amount of sludge deposit.



Decided to do engine flush during next oil change.

Clearance was kept as per OEM numbers:
Intake: 15
Exhaust: 25

Once adjustment was done, valve cover was installed back using new gasket and black bond adhesive and kept to dry for half an hour.

Went for a test drive with the mechanic and everything was sorted except for wheel and steering alignment. Since, it was already past 10 at night, all tyre stores were closed. Decided to get it done next day and returned home.

As planned, got both front and rear alignment done next day in a Hunter machine.



Probably this is the first time she is getting her rear alignment done in 20 years as I couldn't find any store in Assam confident enough to do it. The straight answer I got was "rear alignment is not required in any car, only front to be done."

Immediately after the alignment I could find the rear to be more stable than before. BHPian Tanveer02 had highlighted this the day he first drove her that there is some pitching of the rear end on tight curves, but I didn't give much prominence to this. Now the rear end behaves like a different car altogether.

Now only thing left is to go for a long drive.

Took her for a 350km drive to Kharagpur and Haldia next week and was completely amazed by how she felt after all the work.



The real surprise.





There's 2.9kmpl / 25% increase in highway mileage with normal petrol, 100% AC and moderately heavy right foot.

Finally, not only my heart, my pocket is also happy with Phoenix.

[Leoshashi]

Originally Posted by DevOnWheels

Probably this is the first time she is getting her rear alignment done in 20 years as I couldn't find any store in Assam confident enough to do it. The straight answer I got was "rear alignment is not required in any car, only front to be done."

Immediately after the alignment I could find the rear to be more stable than before. BHPian Tanveer02 had highlighted this the day he first drove her that there is some pitching of the rear end on tight curves, but I didn't give much prominence to this. Now the rear end behaves like a different car altogether.

Bang on! While my car didn't have any perceivable alignment issue, I got both front and back alignment done. In my car too, the rear wheel alignment was never touched in these 21 years. All values were out and upon rectifying, the car behaves like a different beast altogether! Thanks for pointing this out.

The cap which hides rear alignment nut:

Some pics of the build as of now:

[1.2GT3GT]

Great the hear about so many OG Baleno’s living on and on.

In my circle, I’ve had the front and rear shock absorbers, strut mounts, strut bearings, lower arms, wheel bearings, bushes, ignition coils, spark plugs, etc changed on two 20+ year old Baleno’s. The Baleno has 4 engine mounts and 8 small rubber cushions that are part of the mounting arrangement. Have sourced 3 out of the 4 mounts so far for both cars. The cushions are very hard to find, have managed to source 12 so far out of the required 16 for two cars. 8 of those cushions are 2010 stock. Once all the mounts are in hand. Planning to change them as well on both cars.

I’ve also had the clutch, head cover gasket, spark plug seals and some other o-rings changed on one Baleno. Its engine compression is good.

The other Baleno’s engine is unable to hold compression and is about to undergo an engine rebuild. Have been running around sourcing lots of parts both Suzuki as well as aftermarket. Pistons have been ordered from Australia as I wasn’t able to find any locally. Lots of other parts are also incoming. Let’s see how it goes.

[DevOnWheels]

Originally Posted by Leoshashi

Bang on! While my car didn't have any perceivable alignment issue, I got both front and back alignment done. In my car too, the rear wheel alignment was never touched in these 21 years. All values were out and upon rectifying, the car behaves like a different beast altogether! Thanks for pointing this out.

Perfect. Your Baleno is turning up beautifully. With the rear spoiler its complete now.

Also where did you find the Kizashi Suzuki monogram? I have placed an order in Boodmo, but wasn't delivered even after months.

Originally Posted by 1.2GT3GT

Great the hear about so many OG Baleno’s living on and on.

This car surely deserves to be loved. Do share photos of the ones you have in your circle.

[DevOnWheels]

Its been almost half a year that this thread has been updated.

A lot of work was done on Phoenix during this period.

Starting with the mechanicals, she received a complete service and more.

As visible in previous post, some sludge was noticed when the valve setting was done. Hence, decided to flush the engine during oil change. As suggested by friends, went ahead with Liqui Moly Engine Flush Plus and Shell Helix Ultra 5W40 engine oil.






Spark plugs were changed to NGK from the existing Champions.


Some vibrations were present when braking from speeds higher than 80kmph. Got the rotors skimmed and all vibrations gone now.




Front left shock had leaked completely and the right one also started leaking a bit. OEM Showa shocks were no more available as expected. Searched for Bravo ones for almost 2 months but failed. Saw some good reviews about Excell POWER shocks on a Cruze forum. With no other options left, went ahead with these and happy to report they are performing flawlessly.






The reverse light was working intermittently. It was diagnosed to the faulty reverse switch. Its shared with many other Marutis hence was readily available at Sheesh Auto.


The rear seat was making weird noises and the folding mechanism was not working. Took almost 3 hours to remove the trims and fix. The amount of insulation for a Maruti is truly mind-boggling

[DevOnWheels]

With the mechanicals completely sorted out, time to get the cosmetics done.

Got the front grill wrapped in gloss black and the rare Stanley foglights tinted in yellow.


Installed tints with 70% visibility.




On 1st May'25, Phoenix went in for partial repaint, spoiler change and detailing.

There's a controversial (from originality perspective) mod that boys down south are doing to their Balenos, Esteems and Citys. It was bumper mounted rear fog light.

Ordered this universal rear fog light assembly from a seller(Partskart) down south. Its a part from Malaysia and the seller was getting was doing a bulk import. However it was a bad luck that the parcel got stuck in customs for almost a month and never got delivered. The seller returned the advance payment without any issue.


Decided to make it locally using a damaged Swift T2 bumper and new MGP fog light.


When I got her, an OEM replica spoiler was installed. I was not happy with the finish and there are lots of signs to tell its not OEM.

An original spoiler was sourced long back from a scrapped Baleno in Shillong, but was not installed since I was wanted to do it during repaint to match the colour.

The OEM spoiler looks absolutely fabulous.




Both bumpers, spoiler and rear left door was painted.





Since she is 21 years old, got the exhaust coating done as well.






Installed a front bumper splash guard to make it look a bit lower and reduce mud and water splash to the engine.


Engine bay was given a good cleaning since it was really dirty.


This is how she looks post the paint work.

[DevOnWheels]

With the car back to near showroom condition, some small additions were also done.

At Roadstar Kolkata for some accessories/additions.


Now Baleno is not an easy car to drive in tight parking spaces. Not because of the size (she's narrower than most modern hatchbacks), but because of the low seat height and long bonnet. More so in my case since I am used to driving WagonR, i10 and Tigor with high seating and stubby bonnet.

Managed to scratch the front bumper twice during parking.

Front parking sensors would have worked wonders, but I was not interested to drill holes. RD Camera control box comes to the rescue. There are similar modules available internationally for Toyotas and many other cars. It basically connects to the existing HU and switches between front and rear camera based on the gear selected.




Rear parking camera.


Front parking camera.


While at it, also got replica Mugen sports pedal kit installed for Rs.2000. The original part costs a bomb.






With the rear seat folding mechanism working, got the audio wiring tidied up.


Installed a BMC conical intake.






How the rear looks with the new spoiler and rear fog light.


After a good polish this is how she looks now.






Team-BHP'd


In front of the iconic Victoria Memorial.


All lit up.


This is what 16 months of love and hard work does. Age is now just a number for Phoenix.