[BrabarusMark]

Seeing your Maruti Esteem brought memories of my family's first sedan and how we got it. My dad hunted down all sorts of sedans in the used market in the early 2000s and I remember going on test drives to give my feedback of the rear seats. There was one particular Opel Astra that was simply the definition of disgusting.

Anyway, we went to a used car dealer and spent almost the whole day looking at cars. So many newer cars and my family would refuse for one reason or the other. We were running out of options and time at the dealer until I pointed to a pristine white '98 Esteem that we had been loitering around all day. Took it for a test drive and it was instant love.

It was the perfect ownership experience. The AC worked perfectly. There were no creaking noises. The seats were comfortable. As kids we got a good exercise winding down the windows. That car just felt right.

Thanks for sharing your memories with us. I'll be having a nice dining table nostalgia session with my family today.

[clementw]

Best wishes for the project. What a lovely tribute to your dad!!! The Esteem has aged well and still looks good after all these years. Do share the finished product.

[sramdev9]

The car looks too good to be a 26 years old car! Your father took great care of the car and kept in such immaculate condition. May his soul rest in peace!! 🙏🏼

All the best for the restoration!!

[bosem123]

Esteem was my first car to drive after learning, and it was the first time I realized that the length of the bonnet does not have to be seen to drive it It was the first time I banged big time into our housing society gate (later hits have been at other areas of other cars!)

No doubt that the visibility was excellent from the windshield otherwise. Its
maneuverability is still unmatched among modern cars.

[Sanidhya mukund]

Originally Posted by sohanbala

It's wonderful to see another Type 1,I hope to keep my thread as detailed as possible to help others.Are your seats stock or have they been covered?
Hopefully I'll have more updates by month end.
Thankyou

Yes, my seats have fabric covers. They were installed in 1998. Eagerly waiting for the updates!

[AntPaul]

Good luck with the restoration. Since the Esteem was in production relatively unchanged till 2007, parts will be easy come by. Boodmo is your friend. Also converting exterior to type 2 or type 3 is a fairly easy job if have that in mind. But if it were me, I would retain the type 1 look if parts availability is not a concern.

I drive an 06' Esteem, but I like type 1 style dashboard with its door ac vents more than the type 2 onwards style. Does the car have or had LPG conversion done? I am curious about orange pipe running from firewall to carb area. Are you planning to retrofit power steering?

[eyeman]

Good luck in restoring your car. I used to own one from 2003 to 2007. It was a 96 model I had bought used, and boy it was a wonderful car. Did one lakh kms in her after I bought it. Decided to sell her off when I thought she was getting old. But I have always regretted that decision, not to hold on to her . But then I was younger and stupider at that time...

[H Karter]

Esteem, the pictures of the car advertised in the Sunday Times of India; I used to drool over them as a kid.
The interiors pics were also included, of which, I liked the pull out type twin cup holders! These are visible in your pics.
Being from a very small town, only the heavy-weights had the privilege to own one. One in our neighbourhood who use to own one, went on to become CM of the state for two times!

All the best for your Father's memory.

[sohanbala]

Originally Posted by TrackDay

"I always say, the way a man treats his car is how he treats himself" - Tarconi from Transporter (2002)

Your Esteem has clearly been loved and taken care of all the way, these past 25 years. The engine bay looks neat and clean and almost just a few months old. There are month old cars with engine bays that looks like a chimney ! Anyways the Esteem is a beautiful car and will keep track of this thread. I remember back in the day, an esteem carried more pride than having an expensive German car today. It was truly the first mass market Indian sedan. All the best to your restoration !

By the Way are you planning for retaining the 1995 looks or upgrading the exterior in terms of how the Esteem looked around in 2004 etc. ?

Originally Posted by AntPaul

Good luck with the restoration. Since the Esteem was in production relatively unchanged till 2007, parts will be easy come by. Boodmo is your friend. Also converting exterior to type 2 or type 3 is a fairly easy job if have that in mind. But if it were me, I would retain the type 1 look if parts availability is not a concern.

I drive an 06' Esteem, but I like type 1 style dashboard with its door ac vents more than the type 2 onwards style. Does the car have or had LPG conversion done? I am curious about orange pipe running from firewall to carb area. Are you planning to retrofit power steering?

Hi
Im hoping to keep it as stock as possible.
It has been quite a trouble to find type 1 fitments,but Im working in it.
I have already managed to find a few old stock.

The orange pipes are the fuel lines, the OE fuel pumps were weak and had to be replaced sometime in 2006.
That time we had to settle for an aftermarket one retrofitted into the engine cabin.Eventhough we were supposed to get the OE ones later when in stock, since the replacement had no issues it had been retained so far.

[trivian@k]

That is one neatly maintained Esteem. Good Luck with the restoration. The esteem sure is a collectible.

[sohanbala]

Part 2 - One last wish | Restoring my father's 1995 Maruti Esteem

Thankyou for all the wishes and support extended, the responses are truly encouraging, I've noted down many of your thoughts shared in this thread which will be helpful at a later stage.

In addition to the replacements mentioned previously, engine mounts and bush kits have been replaced.
Now, with all the mechanical works completed,the next was Body Works, before that I decided to make a list of parts needed so as to have them ready when the body works are over.Parts were ordered in Feb begining with an ETA of 45 days.
The entire project took a dip in February as many of the parts ordered was still not even billed.

First week of March-2021

I had managed to find a few parts online by now, however the local dealers kept repating that they do not have any body parts for the Esteem.Even after Type 1 sharing all body trims with Type 3 which was in sale till 2007, I found it a bit odd to leave the matter there.I assumeed since demand is less, nobody stocked parts and didn't want to go through the trouble of sourcing them occasionally.
After a series of emails and calls to Maruti, they connected me to a local distributor who turned out very helpful thereafter, they helped me order the parts on request from Maruti and even got avilable stocks in other districts moved to them.

Apart from annual servicing, the car never went throuh any trim replacements.Most of the 26 year old rubber inserts have become brittle.Considering the scarcity of parts I decided to replace every external fitment and trim for which an OEM replacement was available.
For this I had downloaded the entire parts catalogue for Esteem and Maruti 1000, since some parts for Esteem Type 1 had their part numbers only in Maruti 1000 catalogue.After identifying the part numbers, the following had been ordered

1. Door trims
2. Weather Strips
3. Window Mouldings
4. Roof Mouldings

Surprisingly some parts were 5-6 times more expensive than the Left or Right counterpart even though it's the exact same component. The MGP Distributor was kind enough to explain to me that this was because certain parts are no longer available with maruti hence they are replaced by SGP(Suzuki Genuine Parts) which were imported from Japan.


Yet again, certain parts for Type 1 were no longer available for order with them either since Maruti had closed the part for order.
People started suggesting to use Type 2 or Type 3 fitments since waiting for Type 1 may cause further delays. This was a tough call for me, however after thinking through, I had only one thing in mind, this car was preserved as it is for all these years.

"Restore as it is, in the best possible way"

My mechanic agreed to the same and suggested we start looking at scrapyards and part dealers in Bangalore or Delhi to find more parts.
Throughout the next 25 days I have been visiting every possible scrapyard, service centres and spare parts shop as the body work progressed.

Body Work

Patch Work
Having heard Esteems are rust buckets we started stripping the car only after doing a thorough underbody check. To my surprise the car didn't have any major rusting.




There was a bit of rust around the RH ORVM mounts



Floor mats removed for the first time in 26 years



We couldnt find any rust on the floor either, however for my peace of mind, I decided to get a coat of paint done.
Some minor patchwork and reinforcement was done alongside.

Tinkering

I was very particular or maybe stubborn to an extent, that the body shape should be as good as it can get.To be sure of the same, now I started working from the garage with my papers.My new schedule was to be at the garage after lunch till they close, the gagrage owner being a good friend and an auto enthusiast was equally happy to host me there.
On days where he was free, we would spend the evenings for chai and part hunt.

We started sanding the car down, days were flying.







9 days of work and finally the car is in the paint booth now, my head was yet unable to comprehend all the work until I see some paint over.
Soon we had the guide coat applied, all the efforts in shaping started to show up now.




Paralell developments

1)Bumpers

After alot of search in the past 2 weeks, I guess it was a lucky day.
We found an OEM Esteem Type 1 ,Front and Rear Bumper with a dealer.

The existing bumpers had a lot of dings and cracks,it had been painted multple times over the years.These new ones were much needed.

2)R134A AC Kit

The stock R12 AC kit was never used after the refrigerant shift happened, the AC was left untouched for over 10 years.Maruti had informed a new kit will be expensive and moreover they were unable to give a timeframe since the full kit as such has been discontinued.
One fine day I was informed of a very clean MPFI Esteem that was just driven in to be scrapped.We rushed in with an AC technician and found a wonderful AC kit which was perfect in shape for a very good deal.



Eventhough everything ended up quickly in this post, the whole process went until the begining of April.Some good folks at Maruti had helped in identifying the exact colour code of my stock paint.
Will keep those for the next update.

[--gKrish--]

I am delighted to see the progress on the car.

We had an Esteem in the exact same shade and I've always had a soft spot for this car. We had it for around 13 years. It was cosmetically spotless and didn't have much niggling issues but it did guzzle fuel (gave 9 km/l or so). The AC was replaced with the r134a unit sometime around 2013 and it was a chiller. Initially, we had plans to do a mechanical restoration (new suspensions, new piston rings etc.) but many mechanics dissuaded us from spending money on an old car and moreover, grandparents were finding the low slung seats uncomfortable. Eventually, gave it away to a relative who had less usage. Didn't considering selling it because of the quotes being less than half of what we had spent on the car in a year.

I believe the parts store in the pic is Swaraj Motors. Where are you getting the repairs done?

[chiranjitp]

Thanks for sharing such an amazing thread, eagerly waiting for the final outcome. Your car even before the restoration was in very good shape for a 26 year old car. I am sure you have already checked, but if not check for under-body rust. We too own an old Maruti that went through a restoration last year, a 99 Omni that is dad's first car. Our car though newer than your car, was in worse condition. Rust was an issue in few parts & paint had faded badly, thankfully all metal panels were available (the Omni was in production till 2019). I faced some issues while sourcing small bits/trims, which got damaged during dismantling of the car. Since yours is a Esteem that has many more trims/parts, please take care that all the tiny bits/parts are all accounted for & stored carefully.

Despite it being a Omni, there was some discontinued (type II specific) parts. The headlights were recently discontinued (shared with type I Maruti 800), along with the screws to adjust the beam (I needed these as the old ones had rusted). The HL bezels were also no where to be found, found a pair in a car parts store, restored them & have kept them for future use (if the need comes).

Originally Posted by sohanbala

After a series of emails and calls to Maruti, they connected me to a local distributor who turned out very helpful thereafter, they helped me order the parts on request from Maruti and even got avilable stocks in other districts moved to them.

Nice to see Maruti helping you in sourcing parts. Over the years of buying/looking to buy parts for old Marutis (also had an used Zen till 2018), I have learnt that knowing the part number is a big plus. MGP outlets here generally don't like to entertain you, if you go looking for some small part of a discontinued car. Quote the part number, then they would entertain you. Also I would ask them to do a live stock of the part, if the part is not available in their outlet. In 2018 needed a new speedometer for the Omni, that part was long gone (last came brand new in 1999). Luckily for me live stock revealed a piece was available in a different city, a friend of mine went over there, bought the part & shipped it to me. Have found a few rare parts over the years, using the live stock search. Even if all of these didn't work, dear friend & DBhpian Leoshashi was always there for me, finding me the rarest of the rare parts. Here's wishing you luck that you find each & every part that you would need for the Esteem.

As far as possible, try to retain the originality. I personally believe such old cars are best kept in original condition. I think the mechanical part is already sorted, one suggestion from my side is to replace all the rubber hoses (especially the radiator hoses), of course subject to availability of the parts.

Sharing a couple of photos of the Omni after restoration:

[sohanbala]

Originally Posted by --gKrish--

I am delighted to see the progress on the car.

We had an Esteem in the exact same shade and I've always had a soft spot for this car. We had it for around 13 years. It was cosmetically spotless and didn't have much niggling issues but it did guzzle fuel (gave 9 km/l or so). The AC was replaced with the r134a unit sometime around 2013 and it was a chiller. Initially, we had plans to do a mechanical restoration (new suspensions, new piston rings etc.) but many mechanics dissuaded us from spending money on an old car and moreover, grandparents were finding the low slung seats uncomfortable. Eventually, gave it away to a relative who had less usage. Didn't considering selling it because of the quotes being less than half of what we had spent on the car in a year.

I believe the parts store in the pic is Swaraj Motors. Where are you getting the repairs done?

Hi,
The fuel efficency has been more or less the same in my case aswell.
All my services was done by Jass Motors since, the restoration by Mr Sanal of Motofab.

Originally Posted by chiranjitp

Thanks for sharing such an amazing thread, eagerly waiting for the final outcome. Your car even before the restoration was in very good shape for a 26 year old car. I am sure you have already checked, but if not check for under-body rust. We too own an old Maruti that went through a restoration last year, a 99 Omni that is dad's first car. Our car though newer than your car, was in worse condition. Rust was an issue in few parts & paint had faded badly, thankfully all metal panels were available (the Omni was in production till 2019). I faced some issues while sourcing small bits/trims, which got damaged during dismantling of the car. Since yours is a Esteem that has many more trims/parts, please take care that all the tiny bits/parts are all accounted for & stored carefully.

Thankyou for writing, your Omni has been wonderfully restored.I can imagine how much effort have gone into putting this together.Until now, we couldnt find any other rust, the car was always parked well in a garage.Anyway Im getting the underbody treated and painted
The dealer had helped us with the live stock feature.
I wanted to retain the car as stock as possble.
All I need is one more part, new stock reverse lamps that came for the M1000/ Type 1.
Rest everything has been sorted.

[sohanbala]

Part 3 -One last wish | Restoring my father's 1995 Maruti Esteem

First week of April 2021
Now that we have completed all our pre-paint prepping, the major challenge ahead was identifying the stock paint, gathering all parts required so fitment can be started as soon as the paintjob is over.

After checking with my old Maruti dealer, they were able to confirm the stock colour code for Esteem Type 1 Metallic Maroon with Asian PPG paint.



We will be going with Asian PPG Paint, DuPont clear coat for the shell and body panels.
DuPont 80% Black and Matte clear for body fitments.

The entire painting has been devided into

1. Body (Shell and Panels)
2. Interior Panels
3. External Fitments
4. Underbody Coat

However I only have Exterioir(Shell) Painting updates in this post, for now.

Shell

Primer

We went with a warm primer tone for an enhanced finish.
My camera had pciked up the colour more towards pink.



Base Coat



Final Clear




Wet Sanding




Final Outcome



The reflection is from the wrapping cover, again my camera keeps picking slightly lighter colour tone.
Will update with more pictures soon.