Hopefully majority of prep work will be completed yesterday but its getting very close to spa.

Ok back from full respray to this...









She has some light blemishes but looks 100 times better than before she went in and im sure she is a slightly different shade. 180a,talking to a few people im positive its actually the same as the plus colour but its the colour on the bonnet.

Also fitted was a brand new le fuel cap.

Car really did me proud throughout spa and am finally beginning to be very happy with the coupe i own.

Yesterday after spa i managed to fit a short shift kit.

Ok havent updated this for a while.


New seats collected,Nigel's Hyundai coupe recaro's.Affordable and comfortable.Look forward to these being fitted.

Also turbo looks like its on its way out,what do i do...dilema

1.Fc performance one stage one hybrid and stage two map.

2.As above also with included charge cooler...


3.Or rebuild standard turbo with 360 staggered seals and flea stage one map.

Bottom one is cheapest and the car does 4000 miles a year max....hmmm

Ok to resurect an old project topic...

Since then the coupe has had...
the patch treatment on the paintwork,polish and protect.Thanks phil

Hyundai recaro's fitted and lovely to be in

Smoking problem i think was actually my fault...so no new turbo for now.

New toys to go on...
Powder coated rocket cover
Painted plenum
Coolant bottle
Boost gauge
20vt wheels and track tyres
Oil cooler with braided hoses
New horns

Will add some fresh pics from the weekend at SantaPod.

I plan to tidy the engine bay...
With the above...plus
fresh powdercoated slam panel
Cleaned coolant bottle
Cleaned throughout
New radiator
New silicone coolant hose of death.
Oil cooler and braided hoses
New horns

So...getting there..loads to do

Also need new tyres...likely 225/45/16's.

Few pics of installed equipment

Seats


Gloss back center console


rocker cover


rocker cover and new horns



More stuff to come...jsut got it started today so thought i show some pics

Ok let update this post from ages ago.

Start with coming back from a meet at Donnington suddenly I realise there is cold air coming from the vents..turn the heat up and yet no more heat.
I then think to look at the gauge and see the temp is way over the max.I attempt to pull in but car cuts out before i even stop.
Open the bonnet and steam everywhere. So gutted,assumed i ve seized it as it cut out on temp.

Seem i was victim to a coolant hose failure.

NOOOOOOO!

First recovery driver pulls up and cant get the car on the truck due to being low but thought as im waiting i might aswell ask the driver if he has any water.
The car takes gallons and i then go to fire up the car..First time starts..hurrah.. Oil pressure good..wow!

I drive the car slowly up to the junction and await a second truck who then gets me home safely.
Fantastic recovery through Footman James.

Next update,

Car home safe i would investigate further,following a compression test it seems i have done damage as i am now low on three cylinders at around 100 psi.

Gutted,car gets to Joe who investigates,

Checks out for head gasket failure and then appears that i have more than head gasket damage and new engine would be required.

All because of a hose. A hose i was booked in to get done the following week.

Next Joe looks after the coupe in usual Joe fashion as i have Joes le engine fitted.

I had lost faith in the car but Joe wouldnt let all this hard work go to waste.

Ok the 2011 SPA trip starts to reel in and big bro is passenger in the car.

Had some toys fitted before the trip.
Bilsteins shocks and eibach springs.
22mm Uprated arb
Silione turbo waterfeed hose
aircon removed(during engine install)
Cambelt kit and aux belts(during engine install)
Fresh clutch
Plus wheels and Toyo t1rs alround and car starts to feel great again

Spa is awesome as usual and car made it back.

Few niggles, oil leak and bad break wobble.

Just things to sort before the next big adventure.

Ok car back at Joes for my niggles to be sorted.

Oil leak seemed quite severe in the end so a special effort to repair. Seemed to be dripping out of the gearbox housing and the lump to get me to spa was a late engine without oil temp.

So on the ramp,little Dan had his first coupedummy car torture removing my gearbox and ancillaries and investigating the leak. Seemed to be a seal in there..Joe will confirm.

Next sump swap also for one with oil temp sensor to match my dials.

While havings its big dissection, the brake pads and discs were swapped to try and eradicate my wheel wobble.

A quick look underneath,brush and replace some underseal for maintenance. All good.

Long day and all good. Zero leak and give it a blast on the way home.

All good until around Junction 6 of the M5 where my coupe decides to try and catch fire.

just updates not recent as such.

Car driving well(perhaps too well) home until i get a funny smell. Cant identify it so continue...Just cruising along 65mph up the motorway.

Next thing within 20-30 sec smoke starts flooding through the drivers vent followed by a huge plume through the gear gaiter.
I pull over and switch the engine off but still smoke bellowing.

Maybe a bit daft and panicking(smoke engulfed then) lift the gaiter and attempt to remove the plugs from all switches. In the process couldn't see a thing..i end up blowing the service fuse with my middle finger on my right hand leaving a nice blood flow and a little chunk missing from it.

Luckily at that point the smoke started to clear as i blew more than one fuse.

I then tried to access the damage. The car started to my surprise,but i had lost all lights,dashboard(clocks,temps,revs etc) most of center console.Indicators gone,windows etc.

Things that did work hazards cigarette lighter and most important of all engine.

So pitch black without lights i limp the coupe with hazards on to Junc 5 and call for recovery.

First truck wouldnt pick me up as he wouldnt risk me driving the car 5 feet onto his wagon as he thought it was a fire risk. Second chap no problem at all.

Recovered and back home in less than 2 hours...great recovery through footman James.

Ok next morning to access the damage











If not clear is seems basically i had a fault somewhere. My fuse didnt blow as it should and my loom inside the console controlling my window switch started to catch fire. The console loom has basically melted and fused itself together.

Roll back two months ish... I hit a bump and fuse had blown.Took out windows stereo and few other items.
I had replaced the fuse with a fuse from a bulb kit i had.

Roll back again..from one pic you can see that the the plastic on the fuse simply melted and didn't blow.Everything just continued to heat up.

The problem two cables went on to the drivers door switch and burnt all the protective sleeving through console loom ,through the white connector and about 1ft up.

Quite scary at the time and have no idea how far it would have gone if i didn't manage to blow these fuses.

Upon checking the other fuses me and Joe found i have various incorrect fuses fitted inc cheap copy fuses it seems.

So guys don't underestimate the fuses your fitting or what's already fitted in the car already.


p.s thank you to Joe (CC) for helping me with a quick fix and replacement original Fiat fuses.

So far for the repair,a new console loom,repair to existing,new switches all around. Drove home perfectly but will be keeping a close eye and if anything become apparent the proper fuses should at least blow now. Likely it was a fault on the existing loom and shorted somewhere and the cheap fuse should of blown.
_________________________

Next update. Drove car home..No fire issues so car is ready for its interior rebuild.

Still have wheel wobble problem..looks like its going to be a process of elimination. Only happens after a while and on braking from 60+

Discs and pads swapped twice.swapped caliper. Gonna have a new hub i think.

Gonna have some tlc over the next few weeks ready for some meets and maybe sell this year.Who knows..its had everything done to it.

Ok decided to start striping the front end to replace the slam panel.

Within around an hour and a half it ended up like this.



My slam panel was particularly rusty with holes on the front panel so i got a used one powder coated ready for replacement.

old panel


some spots of surface rust found.


While i was doing all this i decided i should fit my refurbed battery tray.


As you can see my new slam panel fitted in place,plus rocker cover flaking in places and coil pack cables had seen better days.


A quick rub down of the cover unveiled this




I decided to tape up my coil pack cables and use my wire brush attachment of the rocker cover.


Where my surface rust spots were,i ground them out as best as. Treated and sprayed zinc rust primer over. Finishing with a protective coat of black spray.





Final engine bay pic


Bumper refitted


Missing eyes


Final things to do are refit new headlights. Fit honeycombe grill and replace a few screws for the sidelight securing screws.

Its coming together slowly. My new workshed has been a godsend to do all this work.

Long awaited update....

Brake wobble seems to be cured... The feedback which felt it was from the passenger side was infact the driver side. Swapped the brembo out on the drivers side and boom.Far better than ever. On inspection of the brembo the dust seals were blown and squashed.

Some future plans possibly with hopefully some track time.

A long awaiting update.

The car has been great over the years with very fond memories at spa,le mans, bruges,brooklands,castle combe and others.

She will be looking for a new owner shortly.

Hopefully someone with some time to give her the love she deserves.

Locked for now...