Trying To Get Our Coupe Back On The Road

Hi Guys,
Thanks for allowing me to join the group, which has already provided me with some excellent information.
I am currently in the process of getting our 20v Turbo Coupe back on the road, having spent the past five years in our garage on a SORN.
We bought this car brand new in 1998 for my Wife to use, but she also had a company car and the Coupe was a runabout really and has only done 42,700 miles.
I regularly check all the fluids and turn the engine every couple of months, so the work I am doing is based on advisories from the last MOT. These are all related to braking issues, with the front hoses having slight fraying on them....so I'll just replace these. Then the rear brakes efficiency was very poor and only just passed last time, but with the help of the forum, I believe this is down to the compensator valve being seized and plan on hving a good look at this, when it stops raining. Just wanted to thank the forum contributors for all their hard work and giving others the benefit of their experience. Cheers.

Hi Steve and welcome to the forum which as you say is a national treasure when it comes to inner (and outer) coop knowledge and info. The howto section is packed with good stuff and full of tips/shortcuts on just about everything you might need to attend to in the advancing years of Bangle's beauties

Sounds like you have a gem of a Coupe there so long may you keep it on the road and enjoying the support of the forum.

With regard to the rear brakes:

1) check the proportioning valve (as you suggest)
2) remove, clean, grease, and replace the guide posts on the calipers
3) check the handbrake is actually moving the levers!
4) consider changing both the pads and the discs; if they have been poor for some time the pads are probably glazed and the prices are cheap at that end of the coupe (the discs are Punto front discs).

Thanks to everyone for their comments. Here are a few pictures of our Coupe, which is in original condition apart from me replacing the Clarion ICE (which died) and doing a refurb of the centre console and gauges panel (which had the usual rubber peeling off and looked awful).

We have always kept this car in our garage, knowing prices would escalate and with a view to passing this onto our Son when he was old enough for insurance premiums to be reasonable (ha ha). He's now 31 and doesn't really have an interest in the car since he has a company car.

The car looks great. Rare to get truly original condition. Could be worth decent money soon.

Well I finally managed to get underneath the Coupe yesterday, only to confirm that the Compensator Valve is not ony seized. But it is totally shot, with a loose washer where the piston arm presses against it.
No matter what I tried, WD40....blowtorch....brute force, etc., I couldn't free the arm so it's definitely knackered and I wanted to ask, if it's easily replaced or a job best left to the pro's?
I'm not to optimistic about doing it myself, as I can only foresee problems trying to undo and then tighten up the brakeline connections. Due to working blind and upside down.
Whilst underneath, I discovered that the linkages on both rear calipers were seized and rusty. So I need to decide whether to spend ages trying to refurbish them, or just bite the bullet and replace them?
There was some good news however, in that the discs are okay and the pads. But on a negative note, I found that the offside Bump Stop (Rubber Cone) was floating loose in the spring and not fixed to the top cup, like it was on the nearside. Is this an easy fix? Thanks for any help.

Hi Steve, I am not mechanically minded enough to assist you on the caliper issue, but I replaced the rubber bump stops on mine last year.
I needed to replace a snapped spring which were no longer available through Fiat, so I got a set of lowered ones from Joe. Whilst the suspension was in bits, I decided to replace the broken rubber stops at the same time.
They are eye wateringly expensive for what they are, even the main dealer was surprised.
I think they were around £90 for the pair!
Hopefully one of the specialists might have some for sensible money.

ETA: Just seen a set on eBay for £20-40

Spray the comp arm with plus gas and leave it for a couple of days, it will work loose and when it starts to move it'll free up. If you're thinking of changing the valve you'll also be heading towards new lines as they never come out with out issues, if they were corrosion free your arm wouldn't be seized so careful otherwise you might be opening a pandora's box of extra work.
I stock the rear comp springs of you need one, also the rear bump stops, OE new in stock and just under £40.00 for the pair.
Rear callipers should clean and service so that the sliders are free and the piston action works correctly, issues like this with the rear brakes are common and buying new callipers is only a very last resort imo.

01684 593187.

Calipers are a simple design and can be refurbished. They have 2 pins per caliper which compress. The bolts are threaded into these. They can be pulled out, lightly sanded down and regreased the reinserted. It may also be worth while sanding down the areas of the caliper which the brake pads touch and regreasing those areas.

If the compensator valve is truly seized then replacement is the way forward. It isn't pretty as you need to undo all the brake pipes which connect into it, and of course there's a chance these will not play ball when they are removed.

If it were me I'd do the rear calipers myself but would sent it away for the compensator valve.

Frankly I'd not be that fussed over the bump stop, I have 1 on and 1 off and have done for years, but then I live in a city with lowered suspension where the only bumps are speed bumps.

Thanks to everyone for their help on this. You have given me the confidence to have another go at refurbishing these rusty & seized items myself, rather than take the easier but far more expensive option of taking it to the pros to resolve.

I think patience is going to be key here and to be honest, I have plenty of time to complete the work anyway and so there's no need to put a timescale on it. However, once completed I will update the post and let you know how I get on. Cheers.

Finally got around to getting the work done on my wife's 20Vt, in order to get it through the MOT. I have a mechanic coming tomorrow to give some help as I am currently just getting over emergency hand surgery in January and won't have full feeling back due to medial nerve being severed for 6 - 12 months.

Another point to consider when you mention rear brake efficiency is low. The last hose at the rear has a tight curve and mine were delaminated greatly reducing the pressure at the caliper. So, change all the hoses while you are at it

This is absolutely worth doing.

Keep us updated on how you get along SFTaylor223

Hi Guys, Just an update on how things are going on the quest to get our Coupe back on the road. Which has taken a bit longer than I had planned due to my having a couple of medical issues, bad weather and my mechanic injuring himself playing rugby.

Anyway, everything now sorted and goes into MOT next Wednesday after a quick blast to clear the cobwebs away. Jobs I had done include:-

1. A complete strip and refurbish of rear brakes, which had just become stuck on caliper guides through lack of use and all parts found okay. Including the rear compensator, which he freed and reset. The hoses and pads were okay as well with hardly any wear.
2. Rear springs removed and refurbished.
3. New bump stops fitted.
4. New offside front ball joint fitted.
5. Brake fluid renewed and system bled.
6. All suspension rubbers cleaned and lubricated.
7. All brake discs refurbished.

Hopefully everything should be up to standard now, as I have even taken care of the advisories from last MOT. But I do have a slight doubt regarding front offside tyre, which has an amount of cracking on outside area of tread, which some testers may fail. But I can always replace this if it gets flagged up.

I'll let you know how it gets on next week. But in the meantime, I wondered if anyone might be able to offer an explanation as to why my oil pressure light is glowing slightly, when I switch the engine off? The oil pressure is still superb when the engine is running and revved, and I have checked the wiring etc., but can't come up with a solution. Thanks for any advice.

Fingers crossed mate for the MOT. I'll use your jobs on my to do list next month

You can do a search for this (using the "Search" link just to the right of "Active Topics") and find this thread for example. It's normally something to with the alternator/battery (one or other failing, or bad connection)

Good to see you making progress - very nice looking original car.
Fingers crossed for the new MOT.

Cheers.

Cheers.

Cheers.

My oil light stayed on with ignition off due to alternator on its way out...there was a question that it was due to lack of use and once up and running again it should sort itself, mine too had been off the road for a period of time (8 years)...I shall try to find the conversation

http://www.fiatcoupeclub.org/forum/ubbth...811#Post1583811

That's the same link I gave in the first response above to the question, before OP posted the same question on another thread

Thanks to everyone for their help about the oil pressure light. I will leave it until after the MOT and then see what it's like when I've had the car out for a decent run and allowed the battery to fully charge, etc.

Just advertised our Coupe for sale on eBay. Here's the link:-

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Low-Mileage-Fiat-Coupe-20v-Turbo-One-Lady-Owner-From-New/152965149266?hash=item239d6ef252:g:jpkAAOSw7wxavhAt

I will put it on here in the Coupe's For Sale section, as soon as I have a bit of time.

Steve