I couldn’t find a Fiat Tipo bearing that was dimensionally correct, so I’ve ordered a bearing BA2B 633667 online which looks correct from Simply Bearings Ltd.

Centre console work is a bit laborious, but keep at it.

I used a mixture if thinners, scrapers etc and got there.

With the paintwork, try and be rational.

Do I want perfection, and have I the time and money ?
Or do I want something reasonable, so that I can divert the time and money to getting my car running ?

At the end of the day though, it is your car, and make the decisions that suit you.

Best wishes

PaulL

Hi, my coupe is off the sorn list after 2ish years she's mot'd . Now the work begins 😀 needs respray thanks to lacquer peel, cambelt on the list too ! Centre console refurb started today, going to try a matt lacquer finish

Sadly a lacklustre and extremely disappointing event, with not a single of the promised Ferrari, Lamborghini, De Tomaso, Pagani, Iso present. I expect there was only about 40 cars or so on display. Fortunately two of those were Andrew's and my 20V N/A. Good to see Andrew and his daughter.

Great thread Jamie.
No easy on the driveway.
Looking very good so far. 👍

Thanks for the update Jamie and the photos.

I was telling a guy at our local car show today, all about you.
Your efforts and successes, mainly done in your home garage, driveway and now patio. Then I mentioned the Nurnbergring !

Keep it up !!!

Paul

Cheers szkom

I’ll search the tinternet now

Thx Jamie

Yes, they will have marshalls there to get people to the right place.

So just got my hubs back with the new bearings installed. It took 17 tons of hydraulic pressure to shift the old ones, but they’re all good now

Also split the cv joint from the driveshaft as the rubber looks cracked, still fit a new one this afternoon

Currently working on getting the bearing out of the power steering pump and whilst it is taking some effort, I can definitely hear and feel noise in the old bearings, so it’s a job worth doing

Cheers Jamie

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1bv_IyVF6GCa8Iy3VzYooOsIdeRZLHG4R?usp=sharing

To start with for pictures

and now the stories begin……

So I’ve wanted a quaife diff for some time, and bought a new one from a few months ago. So for £750 you get a new diff, with bearings and the new oil seal plus a 2nd hand output cover from I think an Alfa 147 GTA , which is needed to deal with the gap the viscodrive leaves.

Then you randomly stumble across other goodies on the internet and end up buying a lightened flywheel for £200, and some Motul Racing gearbox oil, and that’s a £1000 spent!!!!!!

I contacted Mick @CG Clutches up in Leeds and they will reline the Valeo OEM friction plate with a Kevlar material for a £100. I might just post it to save me a 4 hour round trip

I’ve mentioned before that I’ve acquired a set of lower subframe to floorpan plates from an Alfa GTA, so during the reassembly I’ll mess around with fixings and get them fitted

So that should be the upgrade part of the project done

For general maintenance, as I needed the gearbox I thought whilst Im there, I may as well….. spend more money!


So as the gearbox for me at least is the crappiest job, I’ve taken both wishbones off, disconnected the hubs so I can change the wheel bearings.

So wishbones come off pretty easy, and likewise removing the hubs is ok, but getting the wheel bearings out is a whole world of pain without a hydraulic press . I spent a good hour with the pullers and various blunt instruments with little success, so I’ve called in a favour where they have a 20 ton press to both remove the old outer bearings cases ( I’d smashed the inner parts out quite easily) and fit some new QH bearings at £50 a pair.

The bearings were definitely the original ones as the grease looked like a Caramac candy bar, so they’ve definitely stayed the course over almost 3 decades. I simply wanted to change them whilst I’d got other work planned, to last me another 20 years

I then moved on to taking the gearbox out, which to be honest wasn’t as bad as I remember, but there’s definitely a load of bolts to remove that just takes time

A tip for anyone thinking about tackling a gearbox out job is to double nut the threaded studs that go from the gearbox to the engine and remove them. This way it gives you a good couple of inches of lateral movement to make getting the box out a lot easier.


So gearbox out and then I can inspect the original clutch and the flywheel…..

So Graham did the clutch job during his ownership, and I’d guess the car has done circa 15,000 miles on that clutch, and on inspection (photos in the google drive link) I’d say it was more than 50% worn. It’s never slipped but there are a few hot spots appearing on the flywheel

Onto the flywheel, I think graham had it machined when he last did the clutch, but looking closely there are lots of what I call fire cracks, which I guess isn’t a surprise with the age of it.

Anyway these parts take 10 minutes to remove, it’s the gearbox that is the pain element

Onto flywheels so my OEM flywheel weighed 9 kilos, and the new chromolly one weighs 4 kilos, so it should make the engine more responsive both in terms of accelerating and braking

A quick spray with brake cleaner and I fitted it in 5 minutes

The next job (Saturday 14th June) is to remove and replace the inner tie rods, purely as a load of stuff is out of the way and I’d say there’s a tiny amount of play there.

Bought a pair of new rods for £30, plus a £10 for the tool to remove them

Never done this job on any car , but I’m not expecting any pain

Tune in for more updates

Cheers Jamie

The story goes that in the late 40s, the UK and USA shared a lot of technical information in aeronautical design, especially jets.

Boeing were working on the 707 and De Havilland on the Comet.

As you may know, De Havilland did have problems with the cabin windows. However, the front cockpit windows were also a significant issue due to the higher speeds of the jets.

Bird strikes were something that needed to be considered.

De Havilland advised Boeing that they were using chickens, shot at the screens at varying speeds.

Boeing picked up the idea but immediately hit problems.
Two British engineers were sent across the Atlantic to support.

Ten minutes after their arrival at the laboratory they made a vital suggestion.

How about defrosting the chickens first ?

I'm booked in!

I'm now a member of Fiat Motor Club (GB) too, but I plan to park up with us, so count me in towards a club display area tally.

I missed out on Fiats & Friends last year and once again it clashes with Beaulieu Supercars (Lez always shows his Ginetta there), so my sister's joining me. Exhibitor and any passenger tickets cost a fiver less than the usual museum entry price, so rude not to!

Good effort Alan! Hope all well with you and family - and coupé