I took way too long to publish this post. I blame it partly on Facebook and Instagram. Have been posting there every now and then but haven't blogged here for quite sometime.
I bought an old Maruti 800 about 6 months ago to handle local commutes. After moving in to our new flat, we realized it was important to have a 4-wheeler for convenience and safety.
We bought the car at 50 grand. We knew there'd be some issues so we had it serviced at a local mechanic. He sorted out some issues with the engine but there was still some work to be done. The seats and the door fabric were in pathetic shape. The dashboard had lost color and there were broken bits here and there. I decided to get my hands dirty and do the restoration myself. I forgot to properly document the "before" pictures of the car. That would have given a better idea of how much has changed.
Some description and pictures below:
The air filter looked filthy so I ordered a new Bosch filter from Amazon. Swapping it was real easy.
The dashboard got a fresh coat of dark brown paint. For a moment I thought that was a mistake. Maybe black would have made a better choice? But seeing that the paint itself is not heat resistant, black might prove to be a headache in summer. A friend did the same on his car and ended up with molten paint all over the place. So the brown stays.
The doors fabrics were repainted to Siemens grey.
One of the doors had a broken back board so I patched it up with pieces of laminate and lots of glue.
The push-to-open cover on the middle of the dashboard was broken so I fixed it with a bit of plastic and covered it in 'carbon fiber' vinyl I bought from Amazon. Used the same material on the left hand side just above the glove box. End result below.
The window borders were painted matt black. Not sure if this was a good idea but I like how it looks overall.
The two rear tires were replaced with new Bridgetsone S322s which set me back by 5k.
More updates on the way:
- New paint job for the whole body
- New brake pads
- Basic wheel caps
- Reflective stickering on the back
- New stereo
