I didn't buy my Coupe as a project but a number of things have turned my ownership into something of a restoration project by default!

I bought the car in June 2009 from symonh2000 on this forum. (Advert if you're interested!)


Simon had kept the car very well, and had done everything that needed doing mechanically. There were just a few things I wanted to sort on the car, mainly the bodywork, & getting new keyfobs to get remote locking back up & running... However, despite Simon's best efforts & despite his having changed all the belts 16 months & 17K miles earlier, the auxiliary belt of death snapped less than a month into my ownership, leaving the car undrivable.

With what I have since learned about Coupes (and their aux belts!! ) I would have changed the belts after buying the car, just to be on the safe side, but hindsight is all very well and at the time I had read that the cambelt should be changed every 40,000 miles so I thought there was no hurry to get the belts done.

The worst part of this happening so early in my ownership was that I had not yet heard of Countrycruising, his Aladdin's cave of Coupe parts, his extensive expertise and extremely reasonable prices!! So I got myself recovered to a local place that specialises in Fiat & Alpha. Long story short, the belts snapping had knackered the top end and it needed a rebuild. It happened at very low speed (as I hear it often does?) I heard a soft 'clunk' and by the time I had pulled over to investigate the engine had died & the damage was done!

Knackered top end:



The reconditioned top end along with new belts & pulleys cost me the best part of £1500 inc VAT! I stumped up the cash, insisting on the condition that the rest of the engine was in top shape & would last for 1000s of miles...

31/07/2009

A week after having it recovered to the garage I picked the car up & paid the bill . On arriving home the car would not start again when I turned it over. I discovered that one of the battery terminals had not been tightened meaning there wasn't a robust enough connection to start the engine! I sorted this and the car seemed to be OK.

I did notice the oil pressure was low at running temperature but being a bit green I had not been particularly aware of what it had been before the rebuild so I couldn't compare.

I was now fully initiated into Coupe paranoia so I paid my first visit to Countrycruising for a check up. Joe found that there was no jubilee clip on the turbo water return pipe and that the sump plug was only finger-tight! With these issues put straight my confidence was topped up a bit, but there was still the ominous issue of my low oil pressure, now 0.7 bar idling at running temperature. We had provisionally arranged to run an oil pressure test with an external sensor...

05/09/2009

AGM Weekend!!! I had been to the Midlands Breakfast Club in August but this was a much bigger meet & I was looking forward to meeting lots of Coupe people, seeing lots of nice cars & doing plenty of drinking! !

I came up for the meeting on Saturday morning and went along to Motormech afterwards. Coming in through town my oil pressure was falling away to nothing when I had to stop for lights and at Motormech Paul put over a litre of oil in!

We then all went off for a drive following McMike. About 20 minutes in, on a roundabout on a dual carriageway my bottom end gave up. MarioCirillo was behind me when it happened and I told him to 'go on without me, I'll only slow you down' or words to that heroic effect! Barmybob then turned up and helped me push the car onto a side road to wait for the AA.

Then, Mario came back, with this lot!!



It was a heart warming site all those Coupes at the side of the road, and the guys passed the time with helpful comments such as "I'll give you 20 quid for your Brembos mate!" - Not mentioning any names [Porkypaul]!

Being recovered:



'Oh! maybe we should have sent a low loader!'



Well, at least now that I wasn't driving, when we got to the pub I could have a drink!

Then, back at the hotel, plenty of people bought me pints to commiserate!



I had the AA take the car to Countrycruising's where her fate would be decided by the cost of getting her back on the road...

07/09/2009

At this point my Coupe ownership was really touch & go. Having spent so much on the engine so recently I was unwilling but mainly unable to pay the full cost of a refurbished engine block.

Enter Coutrycruising in shining armour!! Joe phoned the guy who had done the top end rebuild and, importantly, had vouched for the rest of the engine at the time and gave him a talking to. He succeeded in cutting a deal whereby if I paid for a 2nd hand block, the guy who had done the top end would fit it free of charge. I still can't thank Joe enough as this literally made the difference between keeping & losing the coop!

So Joe sent the car down to Gloucester, where the guy had sourced a 2nd hand block. It had approximately the same mileage as my old engine (around 90,000 miles) and seemed in good shape. The nearly new belt kit from my old engine went on with it. I paid £650 all in, and (possibly out of guilt!) the guy fitted new shells to the engine going in. Result - Oil pressure just under 3 bar, even when idling hot!


15/09/2009

I picked up the car and drove it again for the first time in weeks! With my overall Coupe paranoia now in the stratosphere I took her straight to Joe's for a once over. He spotted an oil weep at the rocker cover and that the top engine stabiliser was knackered & had been patched up with tape!

But other than that the car was given a clean bill of health and I set off to run in the engine and gradually regain confidence in the car!


02/10/2009

Went back up to Joe's to get the rocker cover gasket fitted. He also replaced my cracked front grille = the first non-essential improvement work of my ownership!!

12/12/2009

Having had a couple of months free from catastrophic engine events(!) I decided to give the car a bit of love. I cleaned thoroughly inside & out and treated the seats with leather conditioner.

I then used some T Cut Scratch Remover

and a chamois leather to get my headlight covers a bit clearer. Unfortunately I still hadn't started thinking in 'project mode' so no before & after pictures...

It made a BIG difference though, for the sake of about a fiver and some elbow grease I very much recommend it to anyone who's headlamp covers are a bit smoky.


16/01/2010

After more trouble-free motoring (touch wood!) - including a very nice drive on an empty M5 to Exeter on Christmas Day...

Oh no! wait, not entirely trouble-free!! I suffered from frozen hand brake (and frozen everything else) syndrome in the cold snap! So I headed up to Joe's for the following:

- Replace engine stabiliser bush
- Fit new hand brake cables to prevent freezing
- Install HIDs bought for Christmas!
- Swap over centre console as buttons disappearing into dash
- Swap front bumper over to get rid of a nasty scuff I managed to give it after owning the car for about 2 days through misjudging the massive turning circle


Before - Scuffed bumper:




After - Clean bumper & HIDs!

Now that this has become a project in my mind, I feel the need for a list of improvements made & still to make, not counting the top end rebuild & new engine block of course!


1. Fix bodywork issues:
- Scrape/dent behind passenger side wheel arch; - Bubbling under the paint in two of the rear light cups; - Scraped front bumper; Done! - Replace badly cracked front grille; Done! - Scratch on rear bumper; Dent in leading edge of bonnet; stone chips galore...

In practice this point will be the last to be completed, as it will cost so much and is not really feasible, I think, without a full respray - £££££

2. Restore remote central locking by fitting 2nd hand alarm/reprogramming my alarm & getting new key fobs.

3. Get blank silver key from Fiat (£60 !) get it cut and programme it to immobiliser

4. Replace broken grab handles Done!

5. Fix/replace centre console buttons Done! *Edit* Just noticed the lights on the console switches aren't quite what they should be! Something for next time I'm up at Joe's! Done!

6. Get HIDs fitted (dipped beam only) Done!

7. Fit LED Sidelights

8. Replace mats

9. Refurbish fuel cap

10. Polish up exhaust Done!

11. Clean headlight covers Done!

12. Painted rocker cover Done!

13. Silicone boost hoses Done! (silicone water hoses ordered)

Then just general maintenance in the next couple of months:

-New front tyres x2 Done! Falken 452s
-Oil & filter change Done! Fully synthetic 5W40

MONEY SPENT SO FAR: *Takes deep breath*

June 2009: Car bought - £1,700

July 2009: Top end rebuild - £1,483.85

August 2009: Refit boost gauge pipework/2nd hand charge pipe/jubilee clip for turbo water return pipe/tighten sump plug/visual inspection - £60

September 2009: Reconditioned engine fitted - £650

September 2009: Car transport & consultancy - £70

October 2009: Rocker cover gasket/Front grille - £55

December 2009: HIDs bought, eBay - £70.98

January 2010: Top engine stabiliser bush/hand brake cables/front bumper swap/centre console swap/HID installation - £263

May 2010: Interim service & oil change. Second hand rim bought to replace buckled one (potholes! ) Also repair to a perished vacuum hose £112

June 2010: Silicone boost hoses (group buy) £125. Reconditioned turbo with 360 degree bearing & uprated seals, painted rocker cover & new gasket & fitting of boost hoses: £773

Also silicon water hose kit bought on DavidL group buy £178 but will hold off the fitting until funds increase!

July 2010:

MOT necessary repairs (see post below): £339.63

September 2010:

Gearbox mount & final drive oil seal: £116.00

October 2010:

New front discs & pads and fit silicone water hoses: £272

TOTAL SO FAR:

£6,286.46

It does make me a bit sick to think how nice the car would be now if I hadn't had to spend so much on essential engine repairs... But the same goes for many a Coupe owner I'm sure!

HIDs Before & after:

I had these HIDs fitted last weekend. Here are some before & after pictures for comparison:

Driver's View:

Before (left) After (right)




Front-on view at night:

Before (left) After (right)



Front-on view daytime:

Before (left) After (right)



They definitely make the car look better in my opinion, and they are clearly brighter when driving at night. That said its almost as if they don't light up quite so much of the road ahead, like they're angled a bit lower or something...

This is probably just because the brighter light makes the edges of the beams clearer & they actually light up exactly the same area!

Its worth pointing out that the first 2 pictures are not taken from exactly the same place there was a week in between the photos & I couldn't remember exactly where I had been parked before!

Sorted the exhaust out today, I had let it slide pretty badly!

*Edit* Lazy post! I didn't even describe what I did to sort it out!

So:

Stage 1. Bucket of warm water, a scouring pad & cream cleaner to get the crud off. This made most of the difference...

Stage 2. Polished using Autosol metal polish.

I may give it a go at some point with the T-Cut scratch remover I used on my headlight covers to get rid of the surface scratching.


Before:



After:

Long time no post! I've recently had an oil change, back to the fully synthetic 5W40 she was on when I bought her.The thinner oil seems to be getting through my ageing turbo seal more effectively however so I'm have a reconditioned unit fitted at FCSS next Saturday.

I have also ordered a painted rocker cover from FCSS which will be fitted at the same time, so I should hopefully be able to show this off at Stanford Hall. I have gone for the silicon water hose group buy as well, but there will be a bit more of a wait for them.

Last weekend (22/05/10) I decided it was time to clean the car up properly, so I bought a Maguire's clay bar kit, some wax & microfibre cloths.I had loads of little black spots of overspray from something (not tar or fly dirt as they were far too stubborn) over the back end of the car.


Boot lid - one of the worst-effected areas:




MUCH painstaking clay barring later:




I spent so long doing it it went dark before I could finish! I finished & waxed it on Sunday evening, but again, by the time I was done it had gone dark so no pics I'm afraid... Next time I'll be sure to do it properly & take photos!

Decided to have another go at the headlight covers today as I thought they could still be improved using the T-Cut stuff referred to above.

Quite pleased with the results, I have waxed over them to hopefully protect them from tinting again too quickly.


Before: After:

Before: After:

Before: After:

Looking forward to new turbo & painted rocker cover next weekend!!

05/06/10

Booked in at FCSS to have my turbo replaced for a standard fully reconditioned unit.

Old turbo:


Shiny new turbo


I had ordered a set of blue silicone boost hoses from the Group Buy & they arrived super speedily on Friday so I got those fitted as well.



Joe does painted rocker covers on an exchange basis for a very reasonable price, so I decided to go for one of those at the same time. I initially was going to go for sprint blue with polished coil pack cover but when I saw that quite a few had this already I decided to go with something different... Pearl white & gloss black coil cover...



Joe's paint guy had had a nightmare getting the white paint to hold without reacting but I was very pleased with the final result. The only thing left was to detail the lettering...

Enter Patch234!! Phil happened to be at FCSS & just offered to go back home, fetch his detailing equipment & set to work!



I have to say such a big thanks to Phil for this! It just tops it off so nicely!



I'm chuffed - all in all a very good Coupe weekend!

July 2010:

MOT Fail! Aaaarghh!

- Emissions: Cat. knackered due to the smoke from the turbo Used cat. sourced from RMJ on this forum

- Offside track rod excessive play Sorted by MOT Centre

- Corrosion of nearside front suspension mount Sorted by MOT Centre

- Rear brakes/handbrake efficiency insufficient Used rear callipers sourced from RMJ on this forum

- Windscreen washer provides insufficient liquid Sorted by MOT Centre

The following advisories were also noted:

- Brake pipe slightly corroded - I will look at this on my next visit to FCSS (Countrycruising)

- Handbrake travel sorted by MOT Centre

- Front brake discs deteriorated - I will look at this on my next visit to FCSS (Countrycruising)

- Front wheel boxes showing corrosion - I will look at this on my next visit to FCSS (Countrycruising)

- Front underfloor chassis damaged - I will look at this on my next visit to FCSS (Countrycruising)

- Tyre treadwear slightly uneven - I will look at this on my next visit to FCSS (Countrycruising)

- Oil leak Fixed by FCSS - New final drive oil seal fitted

Total cost of parts & work:

Test: £54.00
Used Parts: £65.00
Parts & labour: £220.63

Total: £339.63

September 04 2010:

Just driving down my road there was suddenly a loud clonking noise. I got the AA to recover me to FCSS to investigate. Fortunately it was not a major issue - the gearbox mount had sheared (Joe reckoned it was probably not done up properly back in Sept 2009 when Cloverleaf in Gloucester changed the engine over).

While the car was up there Joe also fitted a new final drive oil seal.

Cost: £116.00

October 23 2010:

Took a trip up to FCSS to get some new front discs & pads fitted as well as my DavidL water hoses.

Engine bay: