New member Hi! - Fiat Coupe Club UK

Posted By: Anonymous

New member Hi! - 12/08/2019 00:09

Hi, not sure where to put this but wanted to say hello!
New member in Cambs
Have a 20v NA Portofino blue as a project at present, but may change it...

Posted By: Ballypete

Re: New member Hi! - 12/08/2019 06:13

Welcome to the forum Smatt.

You will find loads of great resources here to help you with your car and good advice from the members too. I started off with a Porto 20v NA as a project 3 years ago and wouldn’t swap her for the world.

Posted By: Blueboyracer

Re: New member Hi! - 12/08/2019 06:21

Hi Smatt
Welcome to the forum - I hope to see you join the club at some point too ;-)
I had a Porto 20v NA project once upon a time - however work on my Porto 20vt took too many parts off it and it became a donor car in the end, pretty good really as when I dug deeper and deeper into the resto project I found so much irreparable decay for me to repair.
Looking forward to seeing lots of updates on your project - do shout if you need anything at all.
Anyways - great to see another easterly (ish) owner, do have a good look around here and hope to catch up at a meet sometime.
Rich (BBR)
Club Membership Secretary

Posted By: Edinburgh

Re: New member Hi! - 12/08/2019 07:13

Hi and welcome to the forum Smatt

Posted By: aust_powers

Re: New member Hi! - 12/08/2019 09:00

Hi Smatt from another 20v N/a owner

Posted By: Anonymous

Re: New member Hi! - 12/08/2019 19:14

Hi all & thanks for the welcome!

Posted By: Anonymous

Re: New member Hi! - 12/08/2019 19:20

Originally Posted by BBR

Hi Smatt
Welcome to the forum - I hope to see you join the club at some point too ;-)
I had a Porto 20v NA project once upon a time - however work on my Porto 20vt took too many parts off it and it became a donor car in the end, pretty good really as when I dug deeper and deeper into the resto project I found so much irreparable decay for me to repair.
Looking forward to seeing lots of updates on your project - do shout if you need anything at all.
Anyways - great to see another easterly (ish) owner, do have a good look around here and hope to catch up at a meet sometime.
Rich (BBR)
Club Membership Secretary

I hope i don't have the same experience with the NA - I'm already worrying that I've bought a dog haha....
I've already applied for membership lol!

Posted By: Anonymous

Re: New member Hi! - 12/08/2019 19:29

BBR & aust- powers, I love the shape of the car & style- not so worried about the performance so don't need the turbo.
I would like it as a daily driver as a bit more economical(?) than my E350 estate.
I have some big-ish plans, but want to keep it as simple & retro as poss ....

Posted By: G_Man

Re: New member Hi! - 12/08/2019 20:10

Welcome to fiat coupe ownership and the forum

Why not pop over to the AutoItalia meet end of September and meet some fellow owners:

https://www.fiatcoupeclub.org/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/1632593/stanford-hall-is-back#Post1632593

Only 90m drive from Ely so an opportunity for a bit of a blast

Posted By: barnacle

Re: New member Hi! - 12/08/2019 20:39

Hey Smatt - I work in Dry Drayton (though rarely drive the coupe to work).

Neil

Posted By: aust_powers

Re: New member Hi! - 12/08/2019 20:43

smatt,

I drove back from collecting my coop a few weeks back and on a full tank managed 400 miles without an issue to approximately 60 litres of fuel and I was driving quite spirited to listen to the lovely sound

Posted By: Anonymous

Re: New member Hi! - 12/08/2019 21:17

Originally Posted by G_Man

Welcome to fiat coupe ownership and the forum

Why not pop over to the AutoItalia meet end of September and meet some fellow owners:

https://www.fiatcoupeclub.org/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/1632593/stanford-hall-is-back#Post1632593

Only 90m drive from Ely so an opportunity for a bit of a blast

Hi G man
I'd love to come over to that meet
Unfortunately, car not currently road legal!

Posted By: Anonymous

Re: New member Hi! - 12/08/2019 21:19

Originally Posted by aust_powers

smatt,

I drove back from collecting my coop a few weeks back and on a full tank managed 400 miles without an issue to approximately 60 litres of fuel and I was driving quite spirited to listen to the lovely sound

That sounds like pretty good economy!

Posted By: Anonymous

Re: New member Hi! - 12/08/2019 21:20

Originally Posted by BBR

Hi Smatt
Welcome to the forum - I hope to see you join the club at some point too ;-)
I had a Porto 20v NA project once upon a time - however work on my Porto 20vt took too many parts off it and it became a donor car in the end, pretty good really as when I dug deeper and deeper into the resto project I found so much irreparable decay for me to repair.
Looking forward to seeing lots of updates on your project - do shout if you need anything at all.
Anyways - great to see another easterly (ish) owner, do have a good look around here and hope to catch up at a meet sometime.
Rich (BBR)
Club Membership Secretary

The how to section is really good, although some of the photos & links don't seem to work anymore

Posted By: Anonymous

Re: New member Hi! - 12/08/2019 21:22

Originally Posted by barnacle

Hey Smatt - I work in Dry Drayton (though rarely drive the coupe to work).

Neil

Cool!
Hi Neil

Posted By: Blueboyracer

Re: New member Hi! - 13/08/2019 05:51

Originally Posted by Smatt

Originally Posted by BBR

Hi Smatt
Welcome to the forum - I hope to see you join the club at some point too ;-)
I had a Porto 20v NA project once upon a time - however work on my Porto 20vt took too many parts off it and it became a donor car in the end, pretty good really as when I dug deeper and deeper into the resto project I found so much irreparable decay for me to repair.
Looking forward to seeing lots of updates on your project - do shout if you need anything at all.
Anyways - great to see another easterly (ish) owner, do have a good look around here and hope to catch up at a meet sometime.
Rich (BBR)
Club Membership Secretary

The how to section is really good, although some of the photos & links don't seem to work anymore

That is great feedback and I am sure a friendly moderator round here would love to hear about any specific issues you come across
Please post any found here: https://www.fiatcoupeclub.org/forum/ubbthreads.php/forums/36/1/forum-issues

Posted By: neil_r

Re: New member Hi! - 13/08/2019 11:41

Welcome!

We have just handed over our 1997 20V for bodywork and a full respray. Looking forward to seeing it looking somewhat like when we picked it up from the dealers 22 years ago.

The suspension will be replaced once we get the car back. All the parts I have collected are still taking up space in the garage. I was pleasantly surprised how cheap it was to buy shocks, springs, suspension arms, hubs and bearings, etc., and the main components were all from known brands.

Body panels are getting rare though. I got the only undercoated new bonnet I could find in Germany. The guy at Coupeteile had one or two bare-metal ones left a few months ago and the rest were used parts.

Good luck with the project.

Posted By: Anonymous

Re: New member Hi! - 13/08/2019 12:28

Originally Posted by neil_r

Welcome!

We have just handed over our 1997 20V for bodywork and a full respray. Looking forward to seeing it looking somewhat like when we picked it up from the dealers 22 years ago.

The suspension will be replaced once we get the car back. All the parts I have collected are still taking up space in the garage. I was pleasantly surprised how cheap it was to buy shocks, springs, suspension arms, hubs and bearings, etc., and the main components were all from known brands.

Body panels are getting rare though. I got the only undercoated new bonnet I could find in Germany. The guy at Coupeteile had one or two bare-metal ones left a few months ago and the rest were used parts.

Good luck with the project.

This is useful info, thanks

Amazing you've had same car so long
-Longest I've managed was 11yrs from new on a MB C class coupe

I would be interested to hear about your re spray experience
Did you strip everything off?

Posted By: barnacle

Re: New member Hi! - 14/08/2019 19:21

Neil_r has barely started - mines coming up 24 years...

Posted By: Anonymous

Re: New member Hi! - 14/08/2019 20:28

Haha Fab!

Posted By: Anonymous

Re: New member Hi! - 15/08/2019 14:19

Originally Posted by barnacle

Neil_r has barely started - mines coming up 24 years...

How many of those have you been a FCCUK member for?

Posted By: Ballypete

Re: New member Hi! - 15/08/2019 15:16

Give Leighton (Flea on this forum) a shout about their 20v NA chip which adds a few horses and really refines the engine output. You wont regret it.

http://fcperformance.co.uk/

The other thing I did was get a stainless steel exhaust fitted. You can buy a system on ebay but I got mine made for the car.

Posted By: PeteP

Re: New member Hi! - 15/08/2019 15:41

Originally Posted by Smatt

Originally Posted by barnacle

Neil_r has barely started - mines coming up 24 years...

How many of those have you been a FCCUK member for?

The club started in 2002 and I believe Barnacle was one of the original members.

He was certainly a member when I joined in 2004.

Posted By: Anonymous

Re: New member Hi! - 15/08/2019 17:08

Very impressive!

Posted By: barnacle

Re: New member Hi! - 15/08/2019 18:01

I wasn't a founder member, but I was an early one. Don't recall not being a member - certainly I joined before the great crash.

Posted By: G_Man

Re: New member Hi! - 15/08/2019 18:22

You mean the Great Depression of 1929 Neil

Mucho respecto ..

Posted By: Mark_S

Re: New member Hi! - 15/08/2019 20:46

Originally Posted by G_Man

You mean the Great Depression of 1929 Neil

Mucho respecto ..

No the Kayjay server crash, it was brutal living without the Forum :-(

Posted By: Edinburgh

Re: New member Hi! - 15/08/2019 23:37

Originally Posted by G_Man

You mean the Great Depression of 1929 Neil

Mucho respecto ..

Saw what you did there, you naughty person

Posted By: barnacle

Re: New member Hi! - 17/08/2019 16:49

I can't help it if these millennials insist on mistaking wisdom for senility.

Posted By: Edinburgh

Re: New member Hi! - 01/09/2019 08:57

(Moved parcelmonkey's post to new dedicated thread)