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tiv

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tiv last won the day on February 1

tiv had the most liked content!

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Profile Information

  • Gender
    Male
  • Location
    Earth
  • Interests
    DIY, Off roading, racing ,photography. anything to do with automobiles...
    Building old Diesel engines,

My Vehicle Details

  • Vehicle Make
    Too many projects to mention
  • Vehicle Model
    Too many projects to mention
  • Engine Type
    From 660cc to 3200cc
  • Mechanical Mods
    I need many sets of tyres
  • Cosmetic Mods
    Too old for that
  • Future Plans
    Buying a Miata ND Roadster
  • General Comments
    Automotive hobbies, keeping you broke for decades

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tiv's Achievements

  1. Does anyone know how much it would cost to get an EA- or E* Number for an older 65- suv in the current day and age?

    1. Gummybr

      Gummybr

      Those days it used to cost something like 30,000 to convert back in the day. No idea now.

  2. +1 to that, was a group for the true enthusiasts
  3. tiv

    Suzuki Hustler 2016 G

    1. The ISG (Integrated starter generator) tends to get fried on jump starts. 2. It can manage hilly roads well, I didn't notice gaps in power delivery, of course its not a 6 cyl land cruiser so within its limits (4 persons + 2 bags) it can manage. 3. 500km drive is nothing, there was one time I drove from Colombo - Negombo - Avissawella - Ruwanwella - Dickoya - Kandy and back to Negombo in one go. Mind you now these cars have a reasonable no. of miles on them, there will be engine wear etc. plus our reputed sellers turning back odometers. So account for that when buying. Try to trace and correlate with auction sheets so that you can have a vague mileage of what the car landed with. When checking out a car, make sure that the idle start stop system works. That can be an issue. Lastly, don't get disheartened but these keis are heavily bullied on the roads so grow a thick skin. Sold the car in 2019, Have purchased 4 cars thereafter, 2 being off roaders yet we still miss this car. I sold mine to a principle of a reputed institute in Kurunegala and he still tends to it like his firstborn child. During the fuel shortages he used to call me and tell me that it was doing 30kmpl when carefully driven and one full tank survived the whole period giving him kmpl to do his commute. Lastly a bit of a Jeremy Clarkson moment, I made a trip in my Hustler with a grand uncle, someone who was very dear to me, just the two of us, no wives, we had a ball of a time driving up and down to Nuwara Eliya, the road had work being done as well. Was the worst of days, rain, fog, mist mud all of it. Sipping draft beer and enjoying the local produce, street food that was a nice drive. The only reason I didn't use a bigger car I had was as it was a difficult time for me (looking at post 2019, those days were nothing now) and the hustler was the most frugal thing I had. Being nearly 80y, and someone who was a Pajero/Montero fanatic since the 1980's my grand uncle was genuinely surprised with the Hustler and by the end of the trip he was telling his son on the phone to go look for one to purchase as his daily. This was a guy whose daily was a SWB Pajero upgraded to a 4M40 from a 4D56 and tweaked for boost. Little did I know that, this trip would be my last outing with him and he succumbed to a stroke later that year. Thereby this little car will always be in my fond memories.
  4. Bro, where are you based? If it is in Kandy will be glad to help you out. 1. You probably need to get in touch with a petrol-head who knows a thing or two about cars. You have a lot to learn. 2. Don't sell it, I've had a heap of similar scenarios back when I was a noob and once we fixed up a car and used it for 20 years with no issues, ran near 400,000km (diesel engine) since the fix. Fix it and use it
  5. I've no interested in upgrading the lump we have as a brightly colored gauge cluster will not shine any light to the bland drive it offers. It is probably the lowest mileage vitz in the country and my wife will never sell it, will probably rot away in my garage. However these gauge clusters are divided between the ones with Safety Sense and Non Safety Sense models thus they end up costing atrocious prices. I just mentioned what I have seen to OP here. Perhaps you should peep into the Fb classifieds to fuel your venture,🤣 I saw fellas selling various crap claiming JDM used blah blah. @iRage Will appreciate it if you can guide me into making a few purchases off Yahoo Japan, as I have a small project and is in dire need of a few bits from Japan.
  6. Can do, there are some available in the Facebook groups, of NSP130 matching KSP130, just plug and play however none available for the models with safety sense and autobraking models locally. Half the vitz fellas in SL are hunting that gauge cluster and so will pay atrocious amounts to get one. Mileage correction will have to be done. Eitherways its a CVT, there is no huge benefit to having a rev counter. The LED screen is pretty. came in the start stop edition. Ones with the colour LED screen go over 100K LKR and very hard to find. Also you need a special multifunction steering for that (Not the one on normal Vitz's) with a different ribbon, in all will go near 200K LKR if you find them locally.
  7. If you have a trustworthy garage, just put it there and ask the insurance to settle it. They will negotiate and do the needful. But make sure the garage is reputed or trustworthy such that they won't collaborate with the insurance and do a shoddy repair to balance both sides and make a quick buck. Example, If the bumper is broken beyond repair ( large cracks, holes, tears in plastic, tears in clips and mounts, insist on replacement as the insurance may negotiate with the garage and try to fix it. Do not hesitate to attack or escalate any dispute with the insurance as their entire profits now depend on underpaying claims. Threaten to appeal via the insurance ombudsman or social media. Sri Lanka is that good now.
  8. I might have 3 of these (NKG IR) from my copen, imported from Japan. barely used as I upgraded to High Temp ones like after few km, if you can't find them new let me know. Will not be free though😁 as they cost a pretty penny new. But the Copen is Turbo so there might be a difference.
  9. So, now some say personal vehicle imports will commence next year, and prices of existing vehicles will drop?

    This poses an interesting argument in my head, I'm not in finance, nor banking, nor a car sale guy,

    Just a petrolhead from a Healthcare related background.

     

    So to elaborate,

    Hypothetically say imports were allowed, empirically the USD will shoot further-it will be a catastrophic claim where the poor would say, the rich took our USD to bring cars and now we gotta pay 2000 bucks to buy milk?

    Thus the price of these New vehicles will be unfathomable for the average joe as after all its paid for in such USD? maybe the first few imports may cost less due to the rate.

    Secondly, now as far as I know, there is no guarantee that the govt. will follow the same taxing system as before the imports were restricted, after all they too have to make a buck, and they too have control the seepage of USD.

    Could it be just a futile attempt of allowing imports for IMF sake and can they just bottleneck the whole thing with a heap of taxes?

    Thirdly there maybe a possibility where they allow vehicles more than 10y old to be reeled in as well, technically "new" yet old models may find themselves here, how will the market welcome these?

    Lastly I have noticed a heap of good well taken care of cars paraded on marketplace and various websites, thus I guess its either people wanting to shed off luxuries to save their money or people are hoarding cash for a new car.

    Feel free to share your opinions, the more the merrier!, and please correct me if I am wrong

    I chose the forum here as the crew would be rather mature than get abused on rapid rev.

     

    1. Show previous comments  2 more
    2. Gummybr

      Gummybr

      Thing is this guys, from the perspective of a person employed in the industry this is what I think. Govt will have to open up for vehicle imports since IMF says you cannot just block the market. But in opening our hawks would definitely look at bringing vehicles in the thousands and flooding the market (I am sure some are already working behind the scenes with a lot of buck being passed). To negate this the IMF would tell the govt to impose a higher tax, so that only people who can afford and who wants will import, basically telling people to stay away from importing.

      If you have a look around social media and count the number of BMW i7, Porsche Taycan, Mercedes EQA and other high end EV's have been imported and they boldly advertise them above 100mil range. Compared to what the general public can afford all the cars sold are well above 40mil mark. Have they imported any low value EV's on this so called permit other than the Nissan Leaf? Shows how much disposable income the rich has.

      Ok so my point is this, govt has to open the market, yes you can have a massive tax but atleast the industry will survive. Going by the numbers of people leaving for greener pastures you can see how frustrated they are. 90% in the industry have not had a pay raise for almost 3.5 years, you cant just wait for govt to open up, principals will / could pull out, 70% of the certified technicians have left. By opening you give hope to these people. There were times that companies sold only 10-15 vehicles but survived (remember in 2007/9 a C Class used to cost 24mil, S Class costed 60mil plus).

      Next up do not go with this electric only nonsense, even the so called developed countries are finding it hard to go full electric, you think Sri Lanka with next to no infrastructure will fare better? You buy an electric car and live in a apartment, your full chare takes two days (from a normal plug), what do you do? These are the stuff what needs to be addressed. On the brain drain, trained technicians are leaving and companies have to spend more money in training new personal and the cycle goes on. You cannot get a maka bass to service or repair an electric vehicle if something goes wrong, you could end up electrocuting a poor soul.

    3. iRage

      iRage

      This whole full electric thing is utter BS. It is not the savior of the planet. At no point in the history of man kind has humanity had one single solution for a problem. EVs are needed but so are other forms of vehicles. They really need to look in to commercializing synthetic fuels. That will keep the billions of cars already on the road running (instead of driving them to the scrap yard)

      Well.. @Gummybr...can the high-end vehicles imported by a few actually sustain the market or the industry in SL ? I still think we could look at Singapore and take a lesson from them....COEs...or go back to the permits of the past (like in the 80s...which is what the whole COE concept was based off anyway). When the IMF says open the market they do not mean free flow of whatever the heck you want to do. They would want some sensibility in it (which is what your tax proposition is).

      This is an opportunity to properly structure our car and spare parts imports...let the actual authorized dealers bring in parts and new vehicles and when possible CPOs. If external car sales want to operate...regulate the hell out of them (on the classes and types of vehicles they can bring down), again, they import a car only for the permit that their client has. For car part shops....get the parts from the agent (this is what has happened everywhere else I have lived...the outside parts shops are registered distributers) . Once the agents start selling it in large volumes the prices will come down. Right now they sell a hand full of parts which has to keep the agency a float (part of it actually).

      But then...like you said...this is just going to be one heck of a mess where the ultra rich can bring in their toys.

    4. Gummybr

      Gummybr

      From what I know the CMTA pushed for something like a quota system which was shot down by the Finance ministry. They were willing to listen to the bs theory of the car importers of getting vehicles on credit. 

      I don't say that the super rich importing vehicles will sustain the industry, what I say is that there is hope for the people in it, rather than hoping something will happen eventually. It's awful when you have to speak to principals, they ask you about restrictions and then close saying we will talk when your country opens.

      The biggest problem the government has in my opinion is that to get these permits people send money abroad through undiyal and bring them back as dollars. Whilst it does bring in legit money the harm it does to the country is more. @iRage you worked abroad would know that people can't send half a million dollars within a short period of 7-12 months, unless they have money stashed somewhere and they are like super rich.

  10. There are some cars with different trim options that are better than the basic F Grade Vitz, such as F LED, Amie, Jewela and some with Mix and matched options with nice seats, Color MID and all. Perhaps that may also be an option.
  11. Different, Turning circles are different to accommodate the CV joints
  12. When it comes to the Montero Sport and Fortuner, you sorta land and the bottom end of the pool of vehicles for sale with your budget, thus landing with the high mileage beat up cars that have been around the block. I'd suggest trying to stretch your budget a bit more as approx. there are many genuine cars at the 100K Km mark for sale, but demanding a bit higher price. I know you see a load for sale on ###### or fb marketplace but those have probably done north of 400K (tampered to 100K) with many lady drivers and doctor/director/chairman owners. The gearbox will need an overhaul nearing 400K. There are Montero Sport's that have done 400K + in govt institutions with no issues to date. I have seen a 2007 fortuner at the 350K km mark in Jaffna with only a facelift(Ex-UN or embassy car I think). My prediction is they will rise again due to the wonders of this nation. Also keep in mind of essential maintenance of these vehicles as you will need about LKR200,000 for the timing belt + ancillary replacements even if the mileage at the 100K km mark or 200K Km mark. The most frugal of an oil change would cost about LKR30000+ (Montero Sport) and that is every 5000km, same with the Fortuner.
  13. In a country like ours, I don't believe there is much gusto attached to a recorded video of a fella nicking your mirrors. When you show these videos to cops they are like, "apita owa balanna wela nah mahaththayo, entryak daana" In reality the only REAL use of a dash cam is to scare away potential thieves, or offenders on the road, even cops. Also I presume there will be a fair drain to the car battery as the camera itself will not run on its own battery after a while. Lastly these are all low end cameras which we pay a fair buck thanks to the USD, I wouldn't go to tapping into the wiring harness for something of this grade, rather spend that money for full insurance cover, atleast you'll get 70% as a claim.
  14. 70mai would be the first thing that comes to mind, but as of late, dash cam prices have sky rocketed (branded ones approx 40K for front and rear recording) and people I know have bought used go pros instead.
  15. Lowballing for cars have gone out of control, going to see a fella in the hospital who got beaten up for lowballing a Nissan Caravan 🤦‍♂️

    Paradise in the making 

    1. Show previous comments  5 more
    2. matroska

      matroska

      Wow - that's like asking for half the price - no wonder the seller was pissed off. 

      @PreseaLover - onna ahapan - you're lucky to be in one piece after offering peanuts for that paddy farmers SV40 - you would have been run over by a Kubota or trampled by buffaloes. 

    3. Gummybr

      Gummybr

      @tivlet me get this straight you know the low baller? Better tell him never to do it again.

    4. tiv

      tiv

      @GummybrYup he is like a part-time driver that my parents use for commutes 😁

      I'm sure he won't cos now its gone legal, court date given and all 

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