sampathd

It happens if you are buying an unregistered permit vehicle. PAYE tax payers are eligible. Basically the seller has to give a letter indicating the selling price and the buyer has to prove that amount is taxed.

Hi Jaliya, Appreciate some places for parts my self. Seems my ke50 needs a water pump. Would like to source one. Cheers, Sampath

A little update.

Hi, Sadly very few updates to give .But the engine is coming along. It's been rebored, cranks done, etc. Now its a matter of putting it together, testing it. But hte mechanic is busy putting together another engine, so mine is next in line. I still need to find the brake upgrade. Was promised one, but it never materialized. -Sampath

I used to use fuelly. But gave up as it didnt have a mobile app. And it didnt have a maintenance recording feature. Thinking of whipping something up. Hope some of you guys would get on board to use it when I do. Will keep you all posted. Cheers!

Hi Guys, Just wanted to know if any of you guys use any online apps/tools to track fuel and mileage on your vehicle running. Sort of a vehicle running chart that keeps track of fuel you pumped, mileage, services, repairs (or any part of these). Cheers, Sampath

Im answering this because I have a sportage and also in my extended family there a a few Korean SUVs. Let me start of by saying that I bought the Sportage at that time because it was the cheapest brand new SUV in the market. It has been 100% reliable, no breakdowns. The only maintenance that I had to do was to replace something in the AC (which was done FOC as under warranty), replaced the key because the robber over the switch got cracked (again FOC under warranty) and replaced the brakepad at around 22000 km's. Its a nice and easy to drive SUV with plenty of leg and head room, decent luggage space, pretty decent options which comes standard. Fuel economy is around 6.5km/L. I wish it was better. On the other hand my cousin runs a sorento which has done 140,000 km's and he is pretty happy with it and he bought a latest sportage while keeping the old one. Another one runs a Sorento and he does quite a bit of distance on it as he lives in Colombo and works in Matugama. They are both very happy with the vehicles. My plan for the sportage is to use it for 5 years (because its on a lease) and then change. Now at the halfway point, I have no complains. I dont know why others sell, but I think one of the facts is that there are many more Korean SUV's on the market than a few years ago. So they are bound to come up for sale. But all in all, there is no gaping issues with them from experience.

On the hunt for pistons and rings. Seems they are not as freely available as I thought. Keeping my fingers crossed.

Thought of going with Ajtih itself. He has a garage in Malambe which exclusively does tinkering. Actually he has taken the car there last night. Hoping to take him and go around tuesday. Willing to give him a try. As right now I dont have much options. He showed me a the rust. It's in pretty bad state. There was no way I could have driven around with that rust. What to do machang. All in the name of learning a lesson.

Spent some time at the garage yesterday. ANd because I was there, we got around to dismantling my new engine. Took everything apart. So on Monday it will go to Lal & Nihal and also we will source new parts depending on the recommendation. Monday will be the day we will decide if we bore and put int over sized pistons or if we put in sleeves and use the same sized pistons. And hopefully be the end of the week the engine will go in the car. I can see this month draining my bank account dry with both projects starting to move forward. And to make matters worse its school holidays.

I little bit of an update. The car seems more rusted than I thought. So plans changed (dont they always). Seems getting the rust out of the day is the first order of the day.

Saw this beauty being driven around in Attidiya area yesterday around midday. Had a doctor pass on the front. Figured it was you.

If you dont mind me asking Charith, how much did the HID conversion cost?

I think the 20K range is normal. I recently changed brake pads on my Sportage at 22K km's. Mine is an auto.

One thing I wanted to ask you guys, I am thinking of an engine swap on this one. I dont want to go for a newer one like the 4AGE, prefer something more sedate. What is a good engine that will slide in nicely without major mods? Currently it has a 3K motor. I think the safest is a 4K or a 5K. Want to have a carb engine to keep with the period of the car. But prefer something with larger displacement, maybe a 1500. Currently its a 1200. Any pointers? Any places that I should go and see to find an engine?

Yes, both wheels hit the well. But one more than the other. This was there from the time maka bass touched it. But he never even got close to sorting it out. Once he was done, the two wheels were going in two different directions. Bloody lazy bugger.

Yes that's what I was thinking. But the waiting game is eating me alive!

Finally..

I had a car for two weeks at a mechanic whom I used to go to get very small jobs done. But he ended up being a maka bass on the corolla. Seemed like he was approaching it trial and error, without a holistic plan. SO ended up considering it a sunk cost and getting it to Jaliya's mechanic. SO the car has been sitting at his garage for a few days. The guys been sick and is finishing up a job in hand. So hopefully he will start on the rolla tomorrow. Things to be done immediately: - Sort out the suspension. replaced everything at the maka bass but its worse than it was before. Hopefully not much is left to do. What worries me is that the wheels hit the wheel wells at full turn and Im not sure if this is due to an impact or whether wrong tire sizes. - Sort out the brakes. Replaced all bushes rings. But still brakes are non existent. Maybe the master pump also needs replacement. Will wait and see the mechanic's assessment. - Sort out an oil leak from the engine. Hopefully its a easy to replace oil seal and I wont have to take apart the engine. I really dont want to take apart the engine now. Planning to rebuild or swap it later. - Sort out the wiring. Seems like the wiring has been chopped and messed up. For now it seems to be the biggest issue to be sorted. - Get rid of the fart box. Secondary plans: - Get the body work done. There is rust all around. But I really want to get done with the Escort before I start on this one. - Restore the interior. Hopefully I will be able to find a few missing bits and pieces locally. Need to roam around panchi a bit. - Rebuild or swap the engine. - Get the AC sorted. - Change the wheels. That's about all I have planned for now. I guess more will come about once I start running it. -

So I gave up with the idea of running the car for a while before starting on the body work. Got in touch with a couple of tinkers who were recommended by friends. They seem to be busy. The earliest one can take my car is in another two weeks. And the other guy is booked for another 6 weeks. For the moment the car is in limbo until the tinkers get free. And still no news from the mechanic to build the engine.

For amazon try kapruka global shop. I think what happens is you shop through their account and the items get shipped to their warehouse and they bulk ship them to Sri Lanka. If I remember right, they charge something like 5% of the order value for shipping. Sounded pretty decent to me.

Mechanics can really take the steam off of a project. My mechanic has been missing for about 2 weeks now.. For an update, the swapping the carb, plug wires and repairing the fuel pump exposed another problem. Seems oil is leaking into the spark plugs and that kills the engine after driving it for a while. Well that was discovered about 2 weeks ago. So instead of taking apart the 1100 engine decided to build up the 1600 engine. Figured no point in putting money into a engine that I am going to chuck anyways. That's where the mechanic did his third disappearing act. With the problem of not being able to move the car I cannot get it to a garage to get started on body wrk. But enough is enough. By hook or crook, ie. either by driving or towing it will get out of the garage this weekend. Im done with being mr. nice guy!

I havent got any interior pics. I will upload some exterior pics in a bit. They are on my phone...

Congrats Komi. I am truly happy for you man! I think I should switch to Indika. He seems like a guy who does things properly. My only issue is he is not 'on my way home'

Hey Guys, The car was advertised for 300K in Gampola. It was with a car dealer. But since the car was in Gampola I wasnt able to go see. When I called that guy at time he told me he sold it for 260k. Then I asked the new buyer to sell it to me with a little markup. But he wanted way too much money. Quoted 400k and the best I could bargain for was 350k. I was tempted to go see it and make a deal. But dropped it because I felt the price was high. Then it surfaced again for 275k. And I finally got it for 225k. And no, I didnt buy it to turn around and sell and make a quick buck. Im thinking of making it a more of a daily runner. Currently its at a mechanic getting a bit of a cleanup, initial wiring sorted out because I need to get it to pass a smoke test to get the license renewed. As soon as it is renewed she will be transferred to my name and I will start the resto project. The car's interior not good, its pretty shot actually. I can get the seats sorted out. But can a upholster also restore door boards etc? Do you guys know of any place where they break Corolla's? I wouldnt mind shopping for some interior bits and pieces.