[bottle]

yup palio is a perfect sleeper car i was actually referring to stuff like seats. some nice black leather seats would really spice up the car

[swathyd]

Great work done on this car. Any rattling or sqeaking from this car, if there were any what you have done with it.

[RedMM340]

Originally Posted by bottle

yup palio is a perfect sleeper car i was actually referring to stuff like seats. some nice black leather seats would really spice up the car

The stock seats are actually pretty nice. The cloth is comfortable and breathable with no sweaty feel on hot days.

Got a quote for a Fiat guy in Gurgaon (Sujan Parikh, Unique Auto
Works) for Rs. 60K to do the seats in real buffalo hide (by Pandit & Co.). Not sure that this is really worth while. But if I do decide to get the seats done in leather this is the way to go not fake stuff aka. "art leather". What the heck is that stuff anyway? Either it's leather or some type of synthetic material that appears to be the real thing, right?

By the way, for that type of money, I can get a couple of really nice Sparco seats from the U.S.

Also Sujan is looking into the feasability of a hub adaptor to fit a nice sport steering wheel. Apparently, he has a long history with Fiat, and specializes in restoring old Fiat 1100's. I am kinda tempted to have him do one up for me. He is currently denting and repainting the front of my Palio, and I will report back on the quality of work.

Best regards,

[RedMM340]

Originally Posted by swathyd

Great work done on this car. Any rattling or sqeaking from this car, if there were any what you have done with it.

The Palio is a damn solid car with a really stiff chassis, hence there is no rattles.

There were some squeaking/funny noises that were fixed:

Screech from the start every time engine is started. Fix: Pull the self starter and do a lube. (Done at dealer).

Metallic vibration. Fix: Bent a heat shield that was touching the exhaust pipe, such that there is some clearance.

Sqeaking from engine. Fix: Replaced an idler pulley and belt tensioning pulley. The bearings in both of these were noisy, and the only way to rectify this is throw them out and replace with new ones.

Humming from rear axle: Fix: Replace both rear bearing with new units. Done by dealer.

Noise/squeaking by clutch, which would go away when clutch fully depressed. Fix: Replace clutch and pressure plate along with bearing. Done by dealer. They actually have a complete kit including bearing.

Best Regards,

Gaurav

[bottle]

art leather is artificial leather! stanley seats cost about 15k for leather fronts (contact parts with body) and rexine/pvc for the back of the seats. 60k is insane !

do post some pics of the body work as it is being done if possible too

[RedMM340]

Originally Posted by planet_rocker

Congrats RedMM540, the car looks fantastic. wish you many miles with this car.

can you give the cost for each of the work done.

Attached is an excel sheet with a complete run down of the repairs and costs.
Total cost to date is Rs. 2.15 L This is definitely more than I thought that I would have to spend on repairs and upgrades. I had orginally budgeted 50,000 for repairs, but this ballooned to 1.3L . All mechanical repairs were done at Samyak/Elegant motors in Noida, which is a Fiat/Tata authorized repair center. The denting and painting was done at a small local shop, which I now regret. Should have done this at the dealer also. The little local shop mixed up fasteners, and did not aim the headlights properly. Nor is the paint quality very good.

But my total cost is still below 50% of the price of a new Palio 1.6. The mechanical & cosmetic condition is very close to a new vehicle. I plan to keep the car for several years, so if it stays reliable after these expenses, I will get a good value for the money I have spent.

My Automech exhaust has arrived, and I can't wait to get it installed!

[vinit.merchant]

Originally Posted by RedMM340

Attached is an excel sheet with a complete run down of the repairs and costs.!

The Fuel pump has cost you a bomb. 11K .
I replaced 1 for Santro @ 2.5K .

Rest all costs look ok. Very helpful file, atleast for me.
Will refer to this when I go for a service and other necessary work in FIAT.

[ab1xlr8]

Post Deleted by the Team-BHP Support : SMS / Slang is STRICTLY prohibited on this community. We would much appreciate your using full & proper english in posts, for the benefit of other forum users.

Please view our board rules carefully before proceeding any further.

[RedMM340]

Originally Posted by ab1xlr8

i think u should be a proud owner for the results to bear fruit,cause not many would have the guts to do wot u did.
i would also suugest to install a k&n filter with a proper pipe to accompany your automech.

A K&N replacement filter has been installed. I decided against a conical universal filter since these designs tend to suck hot air from the engine compartment.

The Palio under bonnet temperature seems to be really hot. When I open the bonnet of a hot engine and put my hand on the stock air cleaner box, it is really hot. I decided that the stock air box with its cold air pipe was the best engineered system to draw relatively cool air into the air filter. I also removed the fiberglass insulation pad under the bonnet, which helped somewhat.

I plan to add a cold air inlet by cutting the driver's side front fender. But this will be later.

[RedMM340]

Originally Posted by vinit.merchant

The Fuel pump has cost you a bomb. 11K .
I replaced 1 for Santro @ 2.5K .

Rest all costs look ok. Very helpful file, atleast for me.
Will refer to this when I go for a service and other necessary work in FIAT.

This is why the Team BHP is such a good resource for auto enthusiasts. I received a good amount of information in researching this vehicle, so I figure I should return the favor and share information from my experiences.

The fuel pump was put in on Sunday, June 29th, 2008. Apparently there has been a HUGE price increase for Fiat earlier in the week. Samyak motors told me that prior to the price increase, that pump was about 7,000. So this would amount to a 40 - 50% increase for parts.

Hope that Fiat knows what they are doing, because this is not exactly a good way to improve brand loyalty. One of the biggest problems with owning a Fiat is the lack of availability of service & spares.

[planet_rocker]

Originally Posted by RedMM340

Hope that Fiat knows what they are doing, because this is not exactly a good way to improve brand loyalty. One of the biggest problems with owning a Fiat is the lack of availability of service & spares.

tell me about it! - my GTX's front fog lamp switch had a mind of its own - it used to work only when it was not required - whenever i felt the need for the fog lamps it never worked - recently gave the car for checkup at F.A.S.S. and the mechanic simply switched the rear defogger switch with the fog lamp switch and it worked for two days and again the fog lamp switch works only when not required.

the mechanic said that we will replace the switch when you give the car to them for the next round of servicing - WELL - they donot have stock.

Originally Posted by RedMM340

I plan to add a cold air inlet by cutting the driver's side front fender. But this will be later.

i dont think it will be a good idea to make a hole on the fender - or do you want to get it done in the wheel well - which again has a negative side of sucking in water from the wheel well during monsoon.

[ravikn]

RedMM340

Thanks a lot mate. This would certainly help me as am planning for 65K service for my 1.6 GTX SP. atleast I could expect something close to this when they are replacing the necessary parts

[RedMM340]

i dont think it will be a good idea to make a hole on the fender - or do you want to get it done in the wheel well - which again has a negative side of sucking in water from the wheel well during monsoon.[/quote]

What I want to do is add an inlet screen on the fender. Similar to what is on the Mercedes W124, E250D. This will allow for more cold air.

Or I will add some type of ram air inlet on the fender with a flex tube that goes to the stock air inlet.

Then there is one more option that I am think about. There looks like there might be enough room to put a small conical K&N in the fender cavity where the stock air inlet snorkel is. I will investigate more and let you guys know if this is feasible.

[RedMM340]

I want to put this information about a Palio 1.6 problem on the forum to share my experience.

About a week ago, I had an issue come up where the fuel injector warning light would come on, and the motor would start running very rough, with a severe loss of power. This was an intermittent problem that would happen without warning and go away after a few minutes.

I thought that it was due to a faulty or clogged injector. But not so.

After hooking up the car to a diagnostic computer, it showed an error code for a faulty ignition module. Then the problem started at the workshop. The tech pulled off the ignition wires at the ignition module one at a time. The good cylinders had a solid spark, but one of them had no spark firing. It was confirmed that the ignition module was the culprit.

Cost me about Rs.1700 plus 300 for install plus 300 for diagnostic. Hopefully folks that read this post with the same issue can save the diagnostic fee and labor fee since replacing the ignition module is just 3 bolts and a electrical connector.

I also had the technician ohm out each spark plug wire, which is the only way to diagnose if they work. The tech did not really want to do this and assured me that they were fine. 3 of the wires showed 600 to 1k ohm resistance while one of them showed an open circuit. Ended up replacing all of them since the dealer sold them as a set only.

Motor is running great now!

[prabhuav]

redmm340 -

That is a sweet deal you got on the GTX.. given that the same car will cost double in Bangalore than what you paid.

I am on the lokout for one here in Bangy. Anyone seen any decent cars here?