The Grey Skid – Chevy Beat TCDi LS (December 2012)

[deville_56]

September 2020 - New Custom Temperature LED Dome Light

The el cheapo module installed temporarily was forgotten and was still doing its duty. I like pure white, this one's got a violet tint in it, but not violet'y like the cheaper festoon replacement bulbs available.

Dome light assembly. J13126729. New ones retail for ₹808.00.

Glass and frame are separate parts, but not available as child parts.

Bored of usual pure white and warm white. Had only a couple of warm light SMDs left in stock. Pure white was also depleting in stock. With the end of eBay, it's costlier procuring SMDs. These were bought in bulk before eBay.in said adieu. 5630/5620 SMDs also became obsolete, giving way for now more efficient smaller 2835 0.5W ones.

Mixed and matched. 4 warm whites + 5 cool white.

New custom cooler-than-warm-warmer-than-cool-white.

Brighter, but easier on eyes.

LED streetlight for comparison. Warm white streetlight at distance.

 

[bhvm]

Amazing. You just made my Fav color temperature!
I did this Process on my XUV 5OO as well, a few months ago.

 

[deville_56]

September 2020 - Little Trees

Bought two, one for Skids, one for Pony. Wonderful wastage of money. Didn't last a day with AC. Earlier it used to last a week to a month.

₹150.00 each from Car Park.

Some scratching revealed original MRP to be ₹109.00. Daylight robbery.

Previous one was also Litte Trees. Always loved the Little Trees hung on foreign cars.

Found the HU remote in kids' toy bin. Dissected to check for battery leak. Remote was giving out IR signals but not working.

 

[deville_56]

September 2020 - Another Screw up

The stupid construction guy next door splashed mortar from the third floor over the bonnet. Didn't inform either. Saw in the nick of the time, started hardening. Washed'em off, but the residue remained.

Grabbed the Compound. First did hand buffing, then took the polisher.

Way beyond the capacity of the Meguair's. Switched to 3M Perfect-It and all residue gone.

WIP.

Finished off with Tech Wax 2.0.

Hydrophobic.

 

[deville_56]

October 2020 - Misc updates

Running fine in town and country.

Woke up reading the BS WA forwards about MVD fining crores for tiny stickers. Had a Nankang sticker and was lazy to remove it after installing the Maxxis. That acted as a gentle reminder. Removed them.

Had the Nankang sticker even before we bought Nankangs when running on stock Good Years.

Heights of laziness. It's been 2 months since tinting the front logo and didn't bother about the rear one, a 5-min job.

Grabbed the usual stuff.

The purpose it's made for. Nowhere dark like the ricers painting pitch black. No plans to tint'em.

Easiest of all logos to work with.

El cheapo craft knife.

Trimmed to shape.

Date with the Angel.

 

[deville_56]

November 2020 Updates

Half-yearly pollution check.

Turns yearly. Thanks to BS-IV by birth motor.

Had heated argument with a non-so-automotive friend regarding factory tint. He was no way accepting at-least budget cars came with them. Clicked these for him. Skids had 75% transparency in front and 70% all-around. Front and rear glasses were Indian made AIS brand, but the side glasses were Fuyao, a Chinese brand, but OEM vendor for GM, Ford, VW, Subaru, etc. Later Beats came with Saint-Gobain glasses.

Shell Helix HX8 at 5000 km. Beat diesel like other diesels are famous for their oil drinking habit. Level is still decent and oil is still oily

 

[Christo Zachariah]

Hi deville 56
I have a question about you
What is your real name

 

[deville_56]

November 2020 - Theatre Dimming Effect for Dome Light

Just another killing-the-boredom project. The idea banged when was playing with capacitor for a 555 timer for another project. The biggest one I had was a 4700 uF 25V (the blue on in snap).

Ran to nearby electronic shop and bought 3 of'em. Keltron, Kerala Government's own product. It was a bit shocking at ₹40 per piece, till date never bought a capacitor worth more than ₹5 (smaller values)

Ran three in parallel, dimming time was okay, but not satisfactory, so added the fourth one I had, totalling 18,800 uF.

Soldered'em and added a 1k 1/4W resistor to ensure complete discharge. Without the resistor, the LED will be ON for a prolonged period, maybe hours, but with feeble output, which is really annoying (happened to many converting dome light to LED).

Added a diode to prevent reverse discharge (in case) to stock electrical. Full circuit diagram below.

Dome light connector.

Used Berg strips to make custom plug and play connectors.

Final version. Plug and play. Replaced the female Berg connector to IC-type Berg connector for tighter fit.

Circuit diagram.

In action. Gets around 2 second of dimming effect.

 

[deville_56]

December 2020 - Glow Plug Replaced (Finally) + Misc Updates

Replaced at AM Motors at a very nominal charge. Went there to leave the car and pick up later as it was hot, but he carefully removed and replaced in no time.

New plug, sat in shelf for 3 months.

Old plug was Beru make.

The error is gone forever.

Dr. Marcus Pump Spray, Lemon flavour. Came with the Polo, not being used. Thought of finishing before expiry. Love the lemon smell, but won't last long.

Door hinges, completely forgotten. Became tight and noisy. Lubed them up.

Sprayed TVS chain spray and applied some bearing grease.

First time noticing the shape of the cladding.

Bath time.

Black dots on roof. Need some hard work to remove them entirely. Formed due to prolonged covering during the monsoon before my purchase.

Applied some Moto Max dashboard polish over mirrors.

 

[Christo Zachariah]

December 2020 - Glow Plug Replaced (Finally) + Misc Updates

Replaced at AM Motors at a very nominal charge. Went there to leave the car and pick up later as it was hot, but he carefully removed and replaced in no time.

View attachment 286139

New plug, sat in shelf for 3 months.

View attachment 286154

Old plug was Beru make.

View attachment 286140 View attachment 286141

The error is gone forever.

View attachment 286142

Dr. Marcus Pump Spray, Lemon flavour. Came with the Polo, not being used. Thought of finishing before expiry. Love the lemon smell, but won't last long.

View attachment 286143

Door hinges, completely forgotten. Became tight and noisy. Lubed them up.

View attachment 286144 View attachment 286146

Sprayed TVS chain spray and applied some bearing grease.

View attachment 286145

First time noticing the shape of the cladding.

View attachment 286147

Bath time.

View attachment 286153

View attachment 286151

Black dots on roof. Need some hard work to remove them entirely. Formed due to prolonged covering during the monsoon before my purchase.

View attachment 286152

Applied some Moto Max dashboard polish over mirrors.

View attachment 286148
View attachment 286149 View attachment 286150

How much this motomax dashboard polish costs

 

[deville_56]

How much this motomax dashboard polish costs

Pretty cheap, ₹65.00.

 

[deville_56]

December 2020 - New Wiper Blades

Bought Eagle wiper blades from Amazon. Thought of trying after seeing them in @Dr MUDHAN 's thread. Same 22" and 16" pair listed at different price for different cars. For Beat, it was listed ₹ 449.00 a pair, while for Tata Zest and Honda Amaze, ₹ 429.00 and ₹ 399.00, respectively, so bought the ones listed as Amaze. Now all listed ₹ 429.00.

There was not much details, or rather no details at all about the manufacturer. Some Googling and FB search revealed them to be manufactured (or imported) by Gurugram-based Lakshay Industries, sold under Eagle Automobiles brand.

Clips were sturdier than other generic Chinese imports and Minda (the one I had). Eagle logo/imprint was everywhere.

Compared to old Mindas. They ran good for a year, then started streaking.

Installed.

Initial wipe, was impressive.

 

[deville_56]

February 2021

Random clicks.

Sharing juice with Polo....

.... with my brand-new truck grade jumper cable

Stock Go Kart suspension .

Noticed corrosion formation over positive terminal. Signs of overcharging, end of life nearing. Battery is almost 6 years old.

ENO plus soap water.

Dissolved some.

Full clean to follow.

 

[deville_56]

March 2021 - Battery Story

Continued from previous post. After mild cleaning with Eno, there was still crap formation. Being on the positive terminal indicated overcharging or rather battery can't hold as much current it used to. It's sulphate formation, bluish indicates copper sulphate and white indicates aluminium sulphate depending on the material of terminal.

Window shows battery is okay.

A lot of sulphate there.

Cheap cleaner aka Baking soda stolen from kitchen shelf

Cover the terminal generously. Pour water in small volume for it to get soaked, diluted Vim liquid worked even better

Both of them reacts and forms something, (very bad in chemistry, class topper from bottom ) which can be washed off with running water with zero effort.

Nothing left.

Terminal needed repetition as there was pockets.

Terminal cover was removable. Removed and cleaned as well.

Clean terminal.

Noticed the terminal was bent due to stress from connector.

Battery was 5.5 years old. Best life of all the batteries I have used all these years.

Charged paralleling the inverter battery.

Make sure to rinse thoroughly of any residue. Battery tray rusted. Tried cleaning, but felt rust converter can do better job.

DIN 50 and DIN 45, from Beat and Polo 1.2 respectively. Both had same footprint, only difference being height.

Bulged. End is near.

Installed and sprayed some rust off to prevent further formations.

Good to roll.

All American Garage.

Out with Pony.

 

[deville_56]

April 2021 - Misc Not-so-Significant Updates

Customary first shot from new phone.

El-cheapo-never-used-but-used-to-be-there phone holder. Got these for ₹ 200 from an electrical shop some years back. Never used as phone used to fall. Fixed that issue by bending a bit and was functioning well, but never ever used it. The sucker liquified like old rubber bands and started flowing through the door pad. Removed and cleaned the mess before it was too late.

Tyre pressure mystery. Front RH tyre was losing pressure pretty quickly like 10 PSI in a week. Checked multiple times, no puncture. Jacked up and removed the wheel and checked.

There was leak through the wall on both sides. Have to remove wheel from rim and clean and reinstall.

Phillips T-Bulb, efficient work light. More spread than normal bulb.

Caliper needs painting.