Show Off - Mahindra Classic

The day one experience in my office with Mahindra Classic is really amazing, as almost all the vivid automobile enthusiastic reached me asking for details of the Jeep. Even some of them wondered if I spent huge budget to bring it to this condition (Not their mistake as they compare the work with modern car's maintenance cost).

Driving to office in Classic is not so easy as modern cars but the impression I create on the road is amazing experience. I could see the crowd in local transport buses, two wheelers, Drivers of other cars apply break to see me. My parking lot in office was already surrounded by the smokers who pass by every time, the security guards stopped asking me the ID as they recognize me with my jeep ;-) he he he (Unique feature)
I have not really engaged the 4WD in my Jeep though few tests proved it in good working state, will make an attempt in the near future. The spare wheel, exhaust pipe and side view mirror are the last pending work that I need to concentrate as of now, hope to get it done very soon.

Tyres for Mahindra Classic

The first run in chennai for my mahindra classic is to the tyre shop as I have to do that in high priority to save the wheels and suspensions of the jeep.215/75 R15 the tyre size of Mahindra Classic was been the last work to complete on the Classic, along side the windshield also changed yesterday. The below picture shows the old tyre with black colored wire wheels. I need to avoid the chrome plating work as the guys in garage advised me not to do, because the alignment of spokes may get spoiled if i do that. So simply colored it with black.
While I was looking out for options, I made my mind with Haida (Made in China) tyres which had a good button type for both off and on road. This tyre is also worked out economically compare to its Indian/US counter parts.Now the jeep looks appealing with the new tyre, here is the picture of fitted tyre. All the 4 wheels wear a new shoe now.

Aspecious Ocasion

The Tamil new year's turned out to be the aspecious day for the delivery of the jeep from garage, though some more work needs to be done in chennai.

The jeep was taken for a Pooja in Tiruvannamalai temple and short run followed in the night.

Today I took the jeep from Tiruvannamalai to Chennai around 200kms distance, without windshield I really felt the wind though the soft top was on.

During the first run to chennai I had a short break and picture is for your persual.

Cosmetic operations

Jeep has reached a state where the final cosmetic touch-up of 2K painting, Now the jeep really looks cool with hot chilli red color.

Last week was one of the busiest week(end) for the garage guy working day and night for the delivery of the jeep.

The liner also done a good job making a good seats for the jeep, they are sexy looking and as usual the crew has fitted it nicely. The liner also made a verygood floor mat and thermocol lining both inside the engine compartment and under the dash board to reduce cabin heat.

Sunday was also turned to be a good day as we have also fitted the soft top and its frame, to say the jeep has almost reached the state of final work. Though I need to change the tyres and fit new windshield glass etc.

Mechanical works - Mahindra Classic

The base red (orange?) color has been painted on the jeep's outer body, only two more coats of red will be applied on the base color after mechanical and electrical work. To move the jeep from Body workshop to Mechanic's garage some of the basic mechanical work has been completed. as another milestone in the restoration work that is today the jeep has seen its re-entry into the mechanical workshop.
As a parallel work, last week I bought two color Italian leather fabric for the lining work. The liner is making a special seat cover for the jeep. Here in the below picture see the liner making the red and black themed seat for the Mahindra Classic.

In the paint crew's hand

The image is exactly what I meant by rubbing work. The painter used water with emery paper to rub and get the surface as he needed.
The whole painter crew was fully involved in each and every corner of the Jeep with rubbing work.
Here is how the jeep looked after complete rubbing on the NC putty. Actually speaking I was seeing brown, ivory and grey shades here and there after the rubbing. Painter was stating this is how the uneven surface getting leveled for the next course of action.
After making the jeep to this state, the crew applied Deco-pu surfacer mixed with Deco-pu hardener and Thiner. This process had dealt with the air gun painting machine.
Here is how the final state of surfacer applied jeep's look in the below picture.

After completion of this process is what the actual coloring of the jeep. However there is a patch and fix work for the minute surface issues on this stage. That makes the jeep to get ready for the first coat of painting. The surfacer will harden the primer, metal paste and putty applied surface for the painting process.

Metal paste work - CL340 DP

The picture here shows the past week's metal paste work. Actually the painter has rubbed all the metal paste neatly to get a good shaped rough surface.
If you remember my last post about the tailgate work by the tinker, I recall it here with this picture for your review.
This was the condition I saw the jeep when I've visited during the last weekend.
During the weekend, one day the climate was not suitable for the painting or related work, the town(Tiruvannamalai) where the work is going had rain fall and it was a cloudy day. So we were force to loose a day for the nature's demand.Later we applied NC putty and again the rubbing work to make the surface neat and shine. See it in the below picture.
After the whole body applied with NC putty the Jeep looked as it shown in the picture below

Electrical equipments - CL340 DP

As I didn't visit the garage last week, I was so much involved in finding a tyre and disc deal for the Mahindra Classic jeep but still didn't come to a conclusion. There were good deals from China and Indonesian made all terrain capable tyres.

The whole week was so much occupied finding the remaining stuffs for the jeep and I managed to find the steering lock with ignition key set and few other electrical items.
In the above picture you can see the following items:

• set of Roots Horn
• 9 in one melody relay for the horn
• FM Antena
• Parking break auto light switch
• Cigar lighter
• Ignition key with Steering lock
• Diesel logo for the tank mouth (non electrical)
  

End of Body repair - Mahindra Classic

The rear tail gate & windshield have been completely tinkered to get it's original state. I was searching for a spare tailgate and I couldn't source, initially in a dilemma to do the tinker work but after the professional touch on the tailgate I'm so confident that the tailgate is as like as the stock one.

In addition to the above two parts, the front grill and radiator holders are also completely done and they are up to their original state. As I could source the OE muffler (The equipment used to reduce the noise emitted from exhaust pipe), the JEEP is going to be a silent macho machine, isn't that interesting. The picture here shows my son holding the newly purchased muffler.

As I couldn't visit the garage last week there was a gap in the blog about status update. Though I couldn't post the pictures, the metal pasting work has been completed and the surface of the jeep looks neat. The new body bolts and the rubberized body bed also been installed properly.