Hi guys, hope you all are well.
I'm planning on restoring a 1994 Suzuki Mehran that's been sitting in my relatives house for about 16 years or more I guess. The car has been badly used and abused.
I want to start the mechanical work first then the cosmetic work, so I'll be listing the problems one by one and hope you guys can help me. I'm only 16 YO and I'm doing it as a weekend activity, so I'll appreciate any help.
The car....
1994 Suzuki Mehran in white with the original engine and gearbox. It has 266k KMs on the odometer.
Mechanical problems...
Car vibrates extremely violently when idling. Could this be due to bad engine mounts?
Very strong and unpleasant odour from the exhaust pipe. I believe these cars had no cat-con in 1994. Please correct me if I'm wrong.
It's nearly impossible for me to put it in any gear even though I've been driving better and newer manual cars than this ox-cart. Do I need new synchros or the shift gate thing which is in a 2013 Civic M/T? I want to make shifting easier.
Clutch is extremely unresponsive. There's absolutely no way to tell how much it needs pressing when driving which is the exact opposite of my 2013 Civic M/T.
It needs a lot of revs to make it drive and get it up even minor slopes. It makes weird noises when you press the clutch while decelerating. It's like an oomph, oomph sound.
Speedometer, fuel gauge, heat gauge and odometer doesn't work. It hasn't worked in over 4 years I guess.
Suspension is practically absent. Potholes seem like hand grenade explosions. I am not a fan of the rear kumani thing.
Fuel consumption is high, car eats engine oil, cooling fan is direct etc.
Okay, so that's that. I'm on a tight budget because I don't wanna spend a lot of money on an ox-cart like this one. I need your advice on how I should I go about getting the work done and where I should go. I'm based in Islamabad, but the car is in Rawalpindi so advise accordingly.
Cosmetic problems...
Needs a new paint job.
Driver's side fender is bent badly; should I keep it or get a new one?
Pillars are bent so doors don't sit flush with the body (neither does any other panel for that matter lol).
Floor has lots of rust, rust in engine bay and wheel arches etch. What to do there?
Needs new lights and bumpers.
Should I go for face-lifting it to the 2017 model year by changing the fenders, hood, lights, doors etc or keep the original (yet crappy parts) and have them sorted by a denter?
How much money could I be expecting to spend on it keeping in mind that I don't wanna spend much on something that's a cart and not a car imo. I wanna make it look and drive as good as possible and still don't spend much on it. The relative I'm doing this for is very dear to me and I really want to help them, so you guys can be sure it's for a good cause plus I told them I'll make this cart look way better, so now I have a responsibility as well. I'll be using my pocket money to do so.
Would appreciate any replies.