My Tata Nano: A New Journey Begins

[ss80]

http://www.theautomotiveindia.com/forums/automotive-meets/24075-nano-owners-meet-bangalore-22nd-november-2015-a.html#post472653

Been to Nano meet 2nd edition, awesome Sunday. Tonnes of pics there too.

 

[ss80]

Fed up with TASS not giving me a suitable appointment for servicing my nano. I took matters the DIY way. Opened up front drums of my car and found right side brake shoe worn out a bit more than the left one. Cleaned drums and adjusted brake shoe play. Now pedal sink is reduced.

few pics here.














Completed 4000kms in 2months and 25days

 

[ss80]

Trip to Avalabetta

Been to another short trip, this time to "THE SILENT HILL" - Avalabetta.

Its about 90kms from Bangalore (80kms from hebbal) & is a very secluded place with less than 100visitors a week! Few points about this place.

1. Less than 100visitors a week
2. Zero commericalisation
3. Terrific silence and wind speeds @ hill top
4. Road connectivity till Peerasandra is awesome, interior roads are good - okayish type, with ample potholes. But for anyone driving regularly inside Bangalore, this is nothing new.
5. Roughly aboour 300 - 500 steps to reach the hill top.
6. On a weekday, dont be surprised if you are the only visitor to the hill - yup, you read that right.

Lets the pics talk now.



















Atlast a few pics of my ride on the beautiful highway

 

[shrijit303]

Finally a nice update from the guru.No douubt that your ride is beautiful on the highway.I see the tata monograms on the bonnet.Anand,whats the cost of a new paint gun...I have decided to redo the grill and bumpers.Thanks...

 

[ss80]

New spares: All the way from pune!

Yep, that's right. Here is my situation

Monday to Friday: I work in 2.30am to 11.30am shifts, hence cant reach any TASS in the morning. After 11am, no TASS takes car for servicing. They wont keep the vehicle with them, even if I insist (sighting parking issues), regardless of appointment taken well in advance. They wont sell parts over the counter, their spares outlets - took advance + 2weeks waiting time, then returned money saying -SORRY!





You would rarely find a Nano being serviced at any FNG workshops, for every 1000 maruti/hyundai cars @ a local garage, only one or two nano could be found, mainly due to lack of ready spares in shops.

So I needed Brake shoes, engine mounts, indicators, power window switches - none of them available. Local cheap replica of the already cheap TATA spares were simply ruled out.

After struggling for nearly a month, Rahul from Pune, joined Varun & bought these for me - Engine Mount "A", Fender indicator, Power window switch. Then once Varun came back to Bangalore, he got me front 2 brake shoes.

So my nano gets spares, thanks to a friend staying 1000kms away! NOW THAT'S WHAT YOU GET, WHEN YOU ARE SERIOUS ABOUT YOUR CAR & WHEN YOU HAVE A HELPING TAI-GER WITH YOU! Thanks to these guys, things are better in the car now.

All this part replacement was a pure DIY @ home, or should I say right outside home. Then came out a new issue - Leaking brake cylinder in rear wheel. Luckily, a friend of mine went on a hunt for the leaking cylinder, with a pic on his phone. Managed to get a TATA original spare (I'm saved).

During all this drama, the engine mount replacement was a pain on its own.

Here is the list of things to be removed, in order to access/change the mount.
1. Wheel
2. Wheel well cladding
3. Losen the damper
4. Remove the coil
5. Use one jack to lift the rear of car, use one more jack to lift the Gearbox

& here I get stuck with a 16mm bolt that was rounded by the previous guy (whoever) worked on it. Now I tried for 4hrs to remove it, failed. tried everything - hammer with screwdriver, bigger spanner with a metal sheet piece inside, cutting it with axablade, grinding the cound edges to form sharp corners. All in vain! Finally, got a cutting tool & cut off the bolt.

Then another hunt for the bolt itself! For a 20/- bolt, I spent 150/- petrol in the scooter & 3hrs of roaming around! Now this is sometimes, the DIY side effect

Here are a few pics now




















one hell of a weekend guys!

 

[shrijit303]

Anand,you are right,in my locality,few miles away,I saw a Nano sitting at a local garage for a long time.I asked them-no availablity of spares.I can understand the problem faced by you.I forgot to give my introuction,here is my introduction thread.
http://www.theautomotiveindia.com/f...-petrolheads-tai-posting-late.html#post477168

 

[ss80]

brake shoe video

http://www.youtube.com/attribution_link?a=FguAPKLahv0&u=/watch?v=Ph8YDHvCI0Y&feature=em-upload_owner

 

[ss80]

Few Videos of my Nano

A few videos from the cockpit of my nano

https://youtu.be/cbgEy1HvjSk

https://youtu.be/8Wldz0ipGGM

 

[Nanofreak]

Re: New spares: All the way from pune!

Yep, that's right. Here is my situation

Monday to Friday: I work in 2.30am to 11.30am shifts, hence cant reach any TASS in the morning. After 11am, no TASS takes car for servicing. They wont keep the vehicle with them, even if I insist (sighting parking issues), regardless of appointment taken well in advance. They wont sell parts over the counter, their spares outlets - took advance + 2weeks waiting time, then returned money saying -SORRY!

View attachment 187896

View attachment 187897

You would rarely find a Nano being serviced at any FNG workshops, for every 1000 maruti/hyundai cars @ a local garage, only one or two nano could be found, mainly due to lack of ready spares in shops.

So I needed Brake shoes, engine mounts, indicators, power window switches - none of them available. Local cheap replica of the already cheap TATA spares were simply ruled out.

After struggling for nearly a month, Rahul from Pune, joined Varun & bought these for me - Engine Mount "A", Fender indicator, Power window switch. Then once Varun came back to Bangalore, he got me front 2 brake shoes.

So my nano gets spares, thanks to a friend staying 1000kms away! NOW THAT'S WHAT YOU GET, WHEN YOU ARE SERIOUS ABOUT YOUR CAR & WHEN YOU HAVE A HELPING TAI-GER WITH YOU! Thanks to these guys, things are better in the car now.

All this part replacement was a pure DIY @ home, or should I say right outside home. Then came out a new issue - Leaking brake cylinder in rear wheel. Luckily, a friend of mine went on a hunt for the leaking cylinder, with a pic on his phone. Managed to get a TATA original spare (I'm saved).

During all this drama, the engine mount replacement was a pain on its own.

Here is the list of things to be removed, in order to access/change the mount.
1. Wheel
2. Wheel well cladding
3. Losen the damper
4. Remove the coil
5. Use one jack to lift the rear of car, use one more jack to lift the Gearbox

& here I get stuck with a 16mm bolt that was rounded by the previous guy (whoever) worked on it. Now I tried for 4hrs to remove it, failed. tried everything - hammer with screwdriver, bigger spanner with a metal sheet piece inside, cutting it with axablade, grinding the cound edges to form sharp corners. All in vain! Finally, got a cutting tool & cut off the bolt.

Then another hunt for the bolt itself! For a 20/- bolt, I spent 150/- petrol in the scooter & 3hrs of roaming around! Now this is sometimes, the DIY side effect

Here are a few pics now
View attachment 187886

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View attachment 187891

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one hell of a weekend guys!

Hi Anand after a long time, the DIY Guru, I was wondering how easy/difficult it is to remove/install the coil springs?, why I ask if you need to lower the Nano by cutting a inch or 2 off the springs, and installing 13/14" alloys, with slightly wider rubber, to give the lowered stance, would look super cool.

Regards

vinod

 

[ss80]

No coil mods

Hi Anand after a long time, the DIY Guru, I was wondering how easy/difficult it is to remove/install the coil springs?, why I ask if you need to lower the Nano by cutting a inch or 2 off the springs, and installing 13/14" alloys, with slightly wider rubber, to give the lowered stance, would look super cool.

Regards

vinod

It takes only about 15mins to remove coils from any Indian hatchback car. Jack the car near running board and unbolt the damper and losen it. Remove the damper from its place and the lower arm simply comes down and you can gently pull out the COIL.

Cutting coil although is easy, the edges when cut wont be in proper circular shape to fit them back + wider tyres are a no-no in nano. In front it ends up rubbing the inner sidewall of tyres. Wider tyres in rear is ok.

 

[ss80]

Update:
Air filter and engine "B" mount changed. The change of mount had to be done, as old one was cracked. The engines vibes are nill at high rpm now, smoother than before however @50 - 70kmph the usual cabin booming noise still exists

I changed the Air filter as a DIY & sprayed a bit of diesel in & around engine bay to get rid of dust and muck. Been to Krishnagiri with Varun to bring back his car, Our ever helping Ashwin got the mount changed by his mechanic is just 5 mins. He has a pretty cool garage with the ramp, a unique set of painting equipments, ample space to bring about brilliant output & highly skilled workforce. Varun had given me some of the TAR damping sheets he had bought and we used it on the nano's engine bay lid & under seat area - stunning heat insulation and sound of engine is lesser now inside cabin!












TATA ORIGINAL AIR FILTER BOX CAME WITHOUT A MRP STICKER!

 

[Rahul401]

Re: New spares: All the way from pune!

After struggling for nearly a month, Rahul from Pune, joined Varun & bought these for me - Engine Mount "A", Fender indicator, Power window switch. Then once Varun came back to Bangalore, he got me front 2 brake shoes.

So my nano gets spares, thanks to a friend staying 1000kms away! NOW THAT'S WHAT YOU GET, WHEN YOU ARE SERIOUS ABOUT YOUR CAR & WHEN YOU HAVE A HELPING TAI-GER WITH YOU! Thanks to these guys, things are better in the car now.

Here are a few pics now
View attachment 187886

It would have been a sin if I am not helping you for the parts which I can easily get from Pune. I know the efforts put by you in your vehicles. You would have been discouraged if you didn’t get the required parts. We are here to help you. I am glad that I was able to help you with the necessary parts.

 

[ss80]

Thanks Rahul bhai, your timely help was a big help.

 

[ss80]

Over the last one month there was a noise from the front wheel area like ....krr krrr...
Took it to TASS this time, they checked everything and informed me that bill would be around 13000/- to - 15000/- and that the below parts are dead/as good as not worthy to be used anymore

1. Both struts - 3600/- (pair)
2. Both lower arms bent - 3500/- (approx)
3. L angle for struts - 1000/- (pair)
4. Entire steering rack - 4000/-

I was disheartened looking at these numbers. But still had to get rid of the irritating noise hence agreed to change a few parts for now & got it done.

1. Clutch cable - 350/- part & 250/- labour
2. Rh mirror - 600/- part & 50/- labour
3. Steering rack - 3600/- part + 750/- labour
4. Insurance - 3450/- - Reliance General
Alignment was done free of cost by TASS.

The sound is not completely gone, steering is stiffer & play is very little. Next month front struts & lower arm will get changed. Few pics.
8K for this month & 8K for next month seems a bit too high for a small car, but probably due to a little high usage by me.
Completed 7150kms in 5months since purchase.

 

[incarnation]

Thats some running for 5 months bro. i think even if you consider Rs2/- per km as a maintenance cost only for now not all the time, the cost would be justified. Happy motoring, keep Driving