Car looks great i am really please for you, you are always helpful on this forum.

One more little touch though is to hide the rusty wheel bolts so get a set of the chrome finish bolt covers from ebay for about a £10(better than they sound i promise. Some in this picture Wheel bolt covers

Tom

Too late now, I fear, Tom. I start driving on Friday... Still have the oil and filter to change and the fan override switch to hide somewhere.

Love the pics Neil

Thanks, Joe. Maya helped!

And while I'm here - let me say that this would not have been possible without Joe's enthusiastic support, help, ability to swing from exhausts, and inexhaustible cheerfulness when things fell off.

Thanks, mate.

Your welcome Neil

My therapy is going well btw, the twitching has nearly stopped along with the anxiety, cold sweats and nightmares

Yes, but are you still chewing bits of car when the dog's not watching?

Only Quantum parts yes

Very nice. Looks like a very good paint job. The only thing, and I think I may get shot for this. The bumper/boot lid needs a jiggle. The lines aren't quit.

You won't get shot; I know.

Also, I don't like the colour I have painted the wheels. Unfortunately the sudden requirement for an exhaust system in toto meant there was insufficient time to get the wheels dipped and powder coated; that will have to do after I return.

That says it all

Well done guys for such a transformation from a more sorry-looking 19-yr old I saw in February.

Looks like a job for when the paint has fully hardened, but the bumper should square up nicely. Just needs the holes elongating on the mounting points.

It really does look smart. Just need the right wheels back on.

Inlet sleeves are not available, neither is the main water hose at the rear

..........radiator has arrived though so that's now here safe and sound

Well that's at least *one* shiny thing to go back on! The old one can be a spare.

Do you have the dimensions of the manifold inlet sleeves to hand, Joe? Also, can we make the main water hose from three fat pipes and a T-piece? Need to look at that. I'm not looking forward to sticking it back on twenty years old...

I'll get the dimensions before I finish tonight.

I've found some new inlet dognuts

How much out of curiosity? (says the man using the tipo 16v inlet manifold)

Not mega money for a set so once the price in confirmed I'll let you know.

Pm'ed you Alexis.

Fine stuff Neil - I'm surprised the two shards didn't cause more damage.

Quite impressive that they just sat where they were. We found one in an internal oil-way and the other just floating around in the bottom.

I think I got away with it because they're too heavy a chunk to move too far in random oil movement. They're half an inch long and a quarter thick.

Crikey.
I`ll just get back to my fluffing around the edges then.

Neil there are pictures of your freshly re-ground crank, they're on my FCSS Facebook page so you'll have to join to view them

I won't, you know...

Is it me or has the regrind included not only cleaning and replugging the oil galleries, but also what looks like some balancing?

I was just thinking if they rebalanced the crank as those drill holes look fresh.

Polite discussion with an angle grinder and hammer per chance?

A few more photos and you'll have a Haynes manual.

p.s. I have a copy of your book. Not a Bangle signed on like yours though.

Hello,

Nice to see that someone else put much effort in "only 16V NA" for many people it woult be waste of money/time to spent such amount of effort on stock 16V...

I´ve read that your intention is to use 16VT final drive.. I think that it won´t fit to 16V NA gearbox..

only option is something longer from punto GT (someting around 3,3:1, I dont´know exactly) or tipo 2GT or sedici where is 3,545:1.... coupe has 3,733:1 16V turbo is different family of gearboxes...

to improve reliability and prevent oil pressure problems is good to remove balance shaft and use balance shaft eliminating kit from eg. deltaparts (I made my own..).

If its late to remove balance shafts, then simply don´t use balance shaft belt.. you will improve reliability of timing belt but problems with oil pressure can remain (middle bearing of balance shafts are in 90% of cases wery badly worn and most of oil pressure is lost here and in oil sprays..)

Thanks Honza,

Already discovered that the turbo final drive won't fit without significant effort; it needs the pinion gear as well as the differential changing and that's so far down the cluster you may as well just change the lot.

So I'm sticking with the original (but a new-to-me second hand box, as my differential is dead).

I'd prefer to keep the balance shafts working. It's not too late to remove, and yes, there is a concern about the bearings, but the pressure before the fix wasn't too bad (1.7 bar hot).

The main thing here is as much originality as possible, while attempting to make something that will last another twenty years.

Then, If you want to improve mpg, or reduce rpm on long jurneys, you can simly use wheels with bigger circumference.

As I have shorter final drive (4,07:1) -which is about 9% shorter in comparison to standart, but I´m using stock 20VT wheels and tyre size for normal driving. For track I change the wheels for 200/580/15 which correspond to 195/50/15... there is about 6% difference in total revolutions per mile and larger wheels partly compensate for shorter final drive..