Restoring my dad's old 1999 Maruti Zen LX

It was high time and I was sure that she was going to Mayapuri to get scrapped within a few months, so I started the restoration.

BHPian yuv3447 recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Hello guys! I’m Yuvraj from Gurgaon and I’m gonna talk about my 1999 Maruti Zen which I restored during lockdown. First let’s talk about it’s color. She’s still largely wearing her original velvet grey paint job, carbureted engine, no power steering and some chunky 13 inch rims.

Ok, so let’s talk about it’s life and how I restored her. So basically my father bought the car for Rs. 2.80 lakhs in 1999 from Maruti Suzuki Pasco located in Gurgaon, my father daily drove the car up until 2016-2017 and had clocked just about 1.24 lakh kilometers on the odometer with majority of its mechanical parts and paint still factory. In 2017 once we couldn’t insure it or get a fitness certificate for it (thanks NGT), we parked it away for some odd 4-5 years. The car was parked untouched for those years. It was high time and I was sure that she was going to Mayapuri to get scrapped within a few months, so I started the restoration. I will be talking more about the restoration after this post but for now I'll let the pictures do the talking:

Well! now that I have started a new thread I must add on to it... Lets talk about how I got her started. Firstly I tried charging the 7 year old battery whose brand I do not remember, that was a complete failure. I went to my local battery store and got a three wheeler battery for around 2200 bucks ( I tried keeping the budget tight, was a complete fail too) Once the battery was installed I checked the oil and coolant which were present and the oil was in BRAND NEW condition since it was changed the day it was parked so I didn't bother changing that.

Next up I added around 5 liters of fuel and tried starting the car, tried pressing the accelerator pedal and it went down but didn't come back up . Alright so I was a newbie when it came to carbs back then( we're talking about 1 year ago). I sprayed the accelerator lever with WD-40 and let it soak overnight, came back the next day and move the accelerator with a pair of pliers multiple times and eventually it broke free and was functioning as expected. I was a scared when it came to removing the carb back then, was like rocket science to me.

Now that all the fluids were sorted I put the key in and turned it to the ACC position and heard the fuel pump prime, tried cranking it and it made an AWFUL screeching noise. I let the starter stop completely and tried starting again, the car didn't start at all, kept cranking. Then I used an empty bottle of Colin, loaded that with petrol and sprayed it into the carb. car did start for a brief 2-3 seconds with a BIG puff of white smoke, I guess that is common for every abandoned car!

After that I decided to unbolt the fuel tank and when it was very rusted. Luckily non of the 4 bolts broke off. Though I did get a nasty cut and broke two wrenches, Eventually ended up buying a ratchet and socket set off Amazon for around 1500 bucks. So once all the bolts were loose I propped up two jacks under the fuel tank which I stole from my parents daily drivers.

Once the tank was out, I removed the float assembly and Fuel pump assembly I discovered nothing but rust. Next day I went to my local hardware store to buy 4 bottles of HCl, filled the tank with that and let it sit overnight, most of the rust was gone but flakes were still falling off on tapping the tank. I installed it with the old rusted float and a new pump unit(it messed up a lot of things later on). I then assembled the fuel tank and new lines and there was fuel. Then i tapped on the float bowl cover with pair of pliers to loosen the stuck carburetor fuel float. I did get the car to run but it died as soon as i pressed the gas pedal. eventually after a lot of tinkering I got it to move with the help of the choke and precise accelerator input. I don't think I've ever been happier!. After I got her running, I drove her to my main driveway for the first time in 5 years. She was looking very tired... Going to share some more pics now!

Next up I'll talk about the paint and its cosmetics.

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