LE 30 Project Thread

Hi folks. Time to get this underway - whatever the outcome.
Here she is, a lovely looking car.


Now I have cleared the garage, work can begin. There is barely room to swing a cat, so until I move the Lancia out, going will be slow.


As you can see i`ve removed the wipers, scuttle cover and wiper assembly.
Inside, I found this sat on the chassis rail.

Fortunately the rail is undamaged, but further back there is a large hole.
Considering how good the car looks, the amount of corrosion i`m finding at the back of the car beggers belief. I have seen rustier coupe pictures though so maybe all is not lost.
I have this weekend off so I hope to get some pictures to post. In the meantime, here is a picture showing one of the cars good bits.

From inside I have seen the colour that the centre should be, I don`t really want to paint them though.
Thanks for looking, more soon.
Jon

Just found this, lucky the car isn`t in the pit.

Been under the car today and found to my relief that what I have seen is nearly all surface rust. No pictures of underside yet or behind O/S Pininfarina badge, here is some of the rear end. Will be a bit busy now cleaning out the pit and sawing timber.

....................................................filler behind here....

Not a great deal done today.
Removed door seals, dash ends, o/s one has 2 of the plastic lugs missing, removed blitz, widget, pillar pod and guage - didn`t like the way they had been wired in, neutral connections just wire twisted together at dimmer connection. Removed metal strip also, only mildly toasting the badge - it had some dings anyway and will be replaced.
o/s sill cover came off fine, hardly any rust bubbles underneath. n/s ones screw heads are gone, will have to drill them out - might be some corrosion below.
No pictures today except for this one, it`s amazing just how much stuff fits into a car - there are loads more bits lying around in the garage.


You can see the centre console on the seat, no longer carbon wrapped, will be painting it black I think.

cough cough - discussion here, but no worries.
http://www.fiatcoupeclub.org/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=1458308#Post1458308

To think when I bought this car I had concerns that there wasn`t much left to do. I really dislike the way the cables and pressure feed have been routed, butchering the rubber between body and door that carries wiring. The fan switch installation looks ok, but i`ll redo the ends with gold plated and heat shrink, I dislike crimp connectors. One wire was falling out of the widget. (loose)

If any one is wondering why I decided to strip/rebuild a car I only just bought, the answer is simple. The car is a deathtrap. Front pads seized in caliper - pads have bent to make contact, ground and hammered in job. I suspect the car is on its original dampers, wishbone bushes are worn. Rear subframe bushes are so worn I can move sub. with finger and thumb. Not a very good pic in scuttle but you get the idea, dash needs to come out for decent repair without fire.
Will try to get image of the corrosion behind rear quarter badge o/s tomorrow.

Just finished for today.
Discovered o/s engine mount is tired, o/s arch is broken and the sealing rubber appears to have been rubbing on the tire at some point. O/S repeater has slight crack. Can probably mend the arch. Replacing some of the small pipes. Car has those booster hoses which seem to need replacing as some ends are leaking!
Taking small parts off Alfa 145 which are common with the Coupe, like the body to door concertinas - think they are the same.

They weren`t, but that`s so last year.

I still don`t have a picture of the corrosion in the offside rear quarter, the panel forming a floor where water ingress from the pininfarina badge has pooled is perforated. A quality repair is needed and then the car will be no worse for wear - but access is limited.

I have decided to not do a blow-by-blow account of how I replaced this nut, and then that one, etc. It isn`t very interesting. I also won`t be posting pictures until a section is complete.

I am in the tenth week of work now. I have restored any rubber that needed attention and was worthy of the effort. Notably the door seals, 3 hours on each and now look new. The boot seal is knackered, cut to ribbons for some reason.

Headlights got sanded and polished but I switched papers after doing a really good job on the nearside unit, with the intention of doing a `better` job on the offside, only to find that the finer paper had a stiffer back and the edges have caused some scratching. This isn`t very noticeable, but I have become a bit picky. Offside unit had a broken tab, which has resisted my first repair effort, which being invisible lacked strength. So i`ll pin it.

I removed the HIDs, I didn`t like the way the ballasts were mounted, the straps were corroded, they weighed half a kilo per side and after I removed them the bonnet didn`t fall on my head twice so no reperconcussions. Spell checker didn`t like that one. The headlights were not designed to illuminate a road at night but to look very pretty in car photographs and i`ll stick to daytime driving. I have some difficulty with my eyes anyway as a result of `thyroid eye`.

I also removed the underbonnet sound-deadening. It was torn, oil impregnated, weighed 1691 grammes plus clips and also prevented the engine being reflected by this amazingly shiny painted surface. Noise will have increased too. Bonus.

I spent ages cleaning the insides of the fog driving lamp assemblies, then I also bought some new ones which look better again. I now have ducting to the oil cooler. Seems like a good idea eh.

Except for the oil and intercooler brackets, all the sub panels at the front have either been refinished or are about to be. I decided to paint them myself, a few people have viewed the car and thought they were seeing factory fit and finish. Car enthusiasts so..

The front end is being repainted but again I have some thyroid related problems causing me to vomit when I smell anything from sewage, coal smoke, paint etc. Very tedious.

I am in the process of an engine bay re-work. New induction pipework and layout, modded loom, obviously the battery has vanished as has the washer tank. Did you know that full up it weighs 6.5kg? The expansion tank may swap sides to de-shrould the cambelt cover. The engine is a masterpiece and should be showcased. (I`ll finish this update at the weekend)

Family stuff blew up in my face, I miss having pictures and i`m getting some new nuts and bolts so a very different update very soon.

July 5th is our first anniversary, I had hoped to be further ahead with the rebuild than I am. I had to redo some of the painting as I wasn`t satisfied, very glad that I did as these cars are worth finishing well.
A car is made up of so many parts, I have wondered a few times if i`ll ever stop seeing bits that require attention.

TTFN

Finally, here are some shots of work in progress - the good, bad and ugly.



Underneath is less good..




Fortunately, I have these.



Much more soon.
Jon

To be complete, here is the fuel tank leak again.

Only a short-term job so the car can be started, even the original feed cable is damaged almost to the drivers seat. The fuse has been running hot, relay undamaged due to better materials. I decided my job looked a bit tractor like so I have upgraded my electrical department somewhat - you`ll have to wait and see. The connectors are bomb proof though, you can grab and yank without causing damage as I layered them up with silicone, flexible glue and heatshrink.

I used an extreme enviroment glue to seal the tank.

More of the previous owners handywork.

So, what is wrong? The clue is in the brake pipe flexible and the fact that this is the front of the car - the hose should be fitted at the rear and is massively bound as it is fitted, o/s calliper was also loose, that was the clonking noise.

The bonnet release cable was damaged so I cut out the section and used a frankly dreamy 9mm 3:1 shrink to make a repair, ends then glued and a full length again over the top - now my cable is a better colour and functions smoother as the outer is slightly stiffened. I haven`t fully recovered the length so no finished picture as yet. The heatshrink is from a u.k. supplier with a product range to rival industry leaders, they don`t do boots but pricing is good and a trial quickly turned to using their entire range.


A couple of shots of the front end progress - i`m about to fit the engine mounts (fast road version) and painted/new bracket.
Own up - just how many people have done a FMIC conversion and NOT swapped the bracket?


I have started work at the back of the car and I will focus my efforts on her tender rear. I need to check a section of chassis between the subframe mounting points on the offside a.s.a.p. - other than this last one unknown area the car is going to live, and then some.

I`m doing development work towards a race type ecu loom, currently recycling F1, LMP and Indy car wiring loom sections to upgrade the slightly consumer rated tec. on the car like the Blitz. This is a half-way step towards producing work using the Deutsch Autosport range of connectors - there is a painful tooling cost of about £400 to £800 plus depending on crimper brands and number.

All the wiring I have done already got removed for something decent to replace it. I think there will be about three slightly woeful updates coming as there are 3 things that have happened to relate - one of them was done by me or while in my care. Sob!

Pictures from the o/s back so far.

I just noticed that the image of the damaged area in my previous post is misleading as the repair length is only about 110mm.

I have also reproduced here my post about suspension pre-load from another thread. This is relevant to my build as I will follow my own advice, any doubters are welcome to try and keep up.

Failure to pre-load front will promote early failure in wishbone bushes and arb to body bushes, the effect on the bushing arb to drop link may be less but...in performance, you chase even fractions of a percent so no compromises - things are assembled correctly.
The base point of pre-load should be roughly with the wishbones in the horizontal position in relation to the subframe.

Now, that last statement is very inaccurate - you will note that I said "base point" and "roughly".

The reason for doing this pre-loading is to limit the twisting forces which the bushes are subjected to during suspension movement, so in theory you would only fully tighten wishbone mounting bolts, arb to body bolts and arb to drop link nuts with the suspension damper at 50 percent of travel between rest and full compression.

Road cars are expected to rarely see full suspension compression so a lower percentage is used. Obviously, using lowered springs changes the maths, but here is the theory.
I have the famous brace of O on the car which makes a good starting point for reference(wish the adjuster wasn`t bent though).
I will probably make a tool when I see how, there are many titanium F1 suspension parts coming on the market and I would hope to have a bolt on part. Bolt on, jack up to reference mark, tighten fixings. I might even use a torque wrench.

p.s. I doubt I could find a garage for a hundred miles that would understand the term - they would bullshit you, take your money and say "yeah, we changed the springs"
p.p.s. I forgot to mention that correctly pre-loaded bushings exert, an admittedly limited, 2-way controlling influence over movement as opposed to 1-way resistance and t`other way assistance. The lighter the vehicle the more noticeable the performance increase/degradation - again in my view.

Some other parts of interest have arrived from the Red Bull F1 cars!

At the weekend I managed to get a few bits done.
Engine mounts fitted, even though i`m not happy with the nearside unit. Oil cooler refitted - I added a couple of rubber washers as the mounts are tired. Wing extensions fitted and the towing eye leg. Looks almost like a car again.

I managed to spray carb. cleaner in my eye as I sprayed the throttle body. I have taken a dislike to the throttle linkage. I think on the LHD version this would have been smoother and I hope to improve mine or at least stop the creaking.

Why do we heat the throttle body on a turbo engine? Having just cooled the inlet charge down it would seem silly to then heat it. Is the CSV temperature sensing? If it is I see an electric `choke` button on the horizon.
Re. CSV issues, mine didn`t respond to the clean but i`m hoping with a fully cleaned TB some improvement may be seen.

I also removed the fuel rail for a clean and polish and noticed that the injectors don`t appear to be a set, just a collection of odd ones. I have toyed with the idea of replacing them. I have more than toyed with the idea of changing the fuel lines, even thinking of adding dry-break fittings as they are cheap second hand.
Moving to the plenum to plan the wiring I found this - which I take to be the inlet air temp. sensor -


loose in the thread so another small pressure leak fixed.

I`m fighting my way in to replace the CHOD with an ally pipe. The car won`t have a heater or air-con. She will only be used in summer and the car is so complicated I am going to slim down to bare essentials so as to make maintenance easy. All parts will be stored for refit if necessary at some point.
My mate is a bit gutted about the air-con going, I had to promise to fit a stereo or he would have sulked for days.

So I have drained the cooling system, all over my pit lights as it happens and myself. I did all the painting with a roller with the rad. and drier in place so I will have another go when all is removed.

I tried to get a cfc cambelt cover but so far no joy. There is a guy locally who works with the stuff, he is a friend of a friend but I doubt this will happen.

Nearly all for now but while i`m at it.
I lined up the timing mark on the cover by rotating the engine, moved the engine across and removed the cover to find the belt is slack and exhaust cam seems to be 4 teeth retarded. When I last drove the car she went like a dream, didn`t stop like it but I think??? I don`t know what to think, i`m glad I didn`t rev the car hard.

p.s. I also tested the stickers supplied by Kayjey by drenching in coolant, by accident and phew - no harm done.

Managed to get the plenum chamber off today.

CHOD close to splitting at the o/s end and leaking somewhat though not visible on the floor as yet.
Generally, nothing tight at the back of engine, lots of signs of incorrect tool usage so some fixings to replace.
Not exactly fun to work in this area of the car so now i`m in there I will have to have the most colossal blitz.
Donuts from group buy trial fitted and they are really nice. I think i`ll get another set!

Obviously, doing my competition wiring makes the back of engine more straightforward and i`m blowed if i`m doing this twice so that mod is back on.
Some of the water pipes including CHOD replacement come from RB3.

Blower has made its way into the workshop now so development is underway.

I saw some race car thread and the owner has this crazy rear wing, I think i`m going to get one on my road car just to disgust you all.
Jon

I started doing research into fuel injectors and have discovered that injector swaps are a can of worms involving pressure and ignition timing adjustment. I have to talk to a specialist regarding mapping as I don`t know enough to make an informed decision as yet.

Despite this week being chaos I managed to de-gas and remove most of the air-con. components. Drier, separator and forward 3 pipes weigh 3575g plus refrigerant.

Now the front end is clear I suppose I can do some more painting.

I have noticed the plenum chamber seems to have been internally re-modelled, I have no idea if this has been done by someone with know-how or just a dude with a dremel. It has also been painted as has the inlet manifold, I don`t want to remove the manifold if I can help it at this point but I hope to get the plenum some kind of heat-proof coating that also looks the business.

I only just woke up and decided to write this, now i`m going out to get started - hoping to get a few things done and some pictures.

Progress today.

Hopefully, you can see my statement as to the ultra-fishyness of this car. I have known this car has some secrets for a while, I just didn`t know how to phrase my thoughts and suspicions. Now I don`t give a damn either way, the truth will out.

As far as I am concerned this vehicle won`t ever be what I had hoped for because of her dirty dp`ing past.

If the owner/driver who may have been involved in a collision with a motorcycle would come forward that would be a start.

I noticed the o/s wing mirror bore a trace of the colour of ultimate evil.
Broom Yellow.
It also has 2 extra wires and a stub, compared to the N/S.
One wire is frayed - exposed copper.

O/S door glass also replaced, interestingly this glass was then trashed during re-spray prep. at a guess. I don`t think the door was replaced but until I can remove the card I can`t be sure. Can`t remove card without some effort due to the state of the fixings.

Door bottom seal also doesn`t match the N/S.
Damage at front end of sill area, underneath o/s footwell and to a greater extent the n/s.
Possible signs of a dent pulled from bonnet.
Damage to headlight.

I called in a friend to look at this and another area which I will cover in my second book. I pointed him towards the areas in question, didn`t mention my thoughts, in fact I went and made the tea.

Regarding this area he said, has this hit a motorbike?

Engine number does not match V5C.

Copied from gov.uk -

1. Changes you'll need to update

You must update your registration certificate (V5C) if there are any mistakes on it, or if you make any of the following changes to your vehicle:

colour
engine
cylinder capacity (cc)
fuel type
replacing or modifying the chassis or bodyshell
seating capacity
weight of a goods vehicle
tax class changed to ‘disabled’
So I guess i`m in the frame to inform of the change which previous owners have failed to notice.
The insurance policy on the car since the unrecorded engine swap has been technically void as a result I believe.

Has the individual responsible for not recording the change not committed a crime?

Where is engine number 1161030?

Well, i`m over it!
There seems no need to maintain any outward sign of the cars identity any further. What a relief.
I have engaged secrecy mode for a while as I have decided to further buck current trends, I sort of needed my life back so have returned a lot of removed parts to the car - regular mock ups keep the enthusiasm high and mean I don`t design into spaces which are already occupied.
I have very nerdily weighed many parts of the car, I will include the list here in time - over 100kgs gone now including the seats so there will have to be a weight added list later on.
Should have a few pictures later today as a parting shot - the doctor is telling me to stop, or die, a break is inevitable now.

As promised, a few photos before I sign off.



If you look very close at the image below you can see the 1mm cfc rods i`m using to toughen up the grille.


I can say that the car will return with a fixed limit of 350bhp based on air flow in the induction system. Not much lag though. A change of induction parts, turbo, pistons, rods etc. would support 650bhp.
I met a guy with a 600bhp gtr, he also has a coupe!
Thanks for looking. Back soon.
Jon

What a difference two weeks can make!

Project 30 has gone off on a wild tangent and I don`t know how to begin to relate. You`ll see glimpses and clues in the coming weeks.

In the meantime here is something dull.


Craig had not made the best of jobs in the cutting of the front bumper. His shape was more ambitious than mine though. After these pictures I removed more material to enlarge the cutout beyond where the knife must have slipped.(pic2)
In the first image you can see the cfc rod which cures droopy mouth syndrome.

Some work is going into the front bumper/spoiler which I will add when I get it all done.
Here is the mesh again - since this shot I painted it black.


If the w/e goes well I might manage some updates - I have to go and do some ugly jobs behind the engine and don`t want to even start.
Jon

Sorry no pictures.

I didn`t get as much done as I would have hoped for due to an extensive mock-up then removal of the charge cooling bits.
:-re a cc setup - yes I saw the type of system employed on coupes in the past, I expect they didn`t work at even lowly factory power.

ABS mostly removed.
Pipes to front brakes removed.
Build your own braided stainless pipes emerging from master cylinder.
ECU loom labelled and coiled on floor in front of car.
Front end stripped (again) for paint and some design work.
Engine mount sub-brackets removed for custom made substitutes.

In line with what i`m doing I envisage a re-site/replace of the brake/clutch res. - I have a nice one from a low heat output car!
All brake, fuel and clutch lines in stainless. (HEL byo service)
Some electrics may move into the passenger space.
The battery might join them from the boot - depends on regs.
Dash comes from F1 car I think.
Interior fan fits below cabin filter.
Told my mate the stereo might be a hand held.

This is just for starters, as the car will have extensive mods. from the from front lips to exhaust tips - even the front undertray has a mod or two envisaged!

Having read the 4wd elements of the thread by Josip I see an easier way to handle the engine move. Also a sequential box would be nice, I have to stop myself from left footing as it is. Too much time in rally sim.

I have totally failed to mention the major news - what a muppet I must be eh?
More soon.
Jon

p.s.
Much as it is nice to get what we want, especially when we have paid for it, the fact that this car was a disaster has proved to be the best motivation I could have had to rebuild her into the earth-shattering LEmental she secretly knows herself to be.

I actually took the day off work today but failed to do any work on the car as I spent the whole day watching videos of Spa!

Myself and my workmate are being transferred under TUPE legislation to another firm. I`m sure that things will work out ok but can`t help worrying about what the future employment prospects are likely to be. As a result of this I can`t concentrate and my work on the car is suddenly rubbish.

I decided to go back to my original plan for the car with work to be completed in phases.

Phase 1 - make repairs where necessary. Replace all suspension components. Rebuild callipers, remove ABS and fit stainless lines. Change intercooler - now charge cooler - less lag and lighter pipework as my stainless was heavy.
Get MOT and enjoy car for a time.
So I have to pull back from some mods. already in progress. These are too many to list but big obvious ones are race-type wiring loom and twin charge setup. The twin charge implementation is so shocking that I can`t not do it, but I don`t have the fabrication skills/facilities right now and it seems sensible to plan to build a second lump with forged internals when circumstances allow.
As for the wiring I will make some compromise initially so work done already isn`t wasted.

The best news about this thinking is that I don`t even need to think about Phase 2 and can regain some concentration.

In the height of my brainstorming I also realized why I had so much difficulty swallowing my medication which I stopped taking -the pharmacy had been giving me an un-branded product which dissolved really fast and made me throw. I hope to be able to take the branded stuff and should become less as a result.

I hope this post is the last of the bad news and me bitching at previous owners. (Don`t hold breath)

This is my bad. The bonnet spat out its prop and fell to the closed position. The catch was mis-aligned and two spot welds tore. Circled. Love the scratchy paintwork too, roll on paint correction week.

I am probably just going to stick some dreadful decal over it for a temporary measure. I may well do some other naff things too so to save anyone the bother...
Note to self - You utter ricer, I would s*it on your head for this!


Damage to glass, I have been told that T-cut may improve it.


Whoever did this is going to hell.

Now, last year I posted a picture of an anomaly at the rear screen. I was told all coupes have this - it`s a braze line.
I didn`t believe a word, sorry. I always trust my instincts and so far haven`t been eaten by any sabre toothed tigers.(just bitten by dodgy sellers)

This repair occurred after the car was hit by a van. I believe the sale was already agreed between Roger Chapman and Steve Duke. There was no money in it for Roger and I imagine the work could have been done much better if someone had paid for it.
As it is, it looks as though the repair was undertaken with the B/C pillar cover held out of the way with wood-I even found painted wood slivers behind bonnet sound deadening amongst other places. The reason this was done is because one of the fixings was knackered, I had a devil of a job getting the trim off without visible damage.

The car has also been rear-ended so the n/s quarter and rear is all out of line. Expensive repairs or just say whatever/track orientated car.

Nismo may be right, and the colour matches my eyes, but does this really need to be so complex? I can`t help but wonder if the vapour line could simply be plumbed in pre-turbo.


I have come to realize that I like having the car in bits, I just need another one now to drive.


Your thermostat`s gone, and then some.


I have 9 inches to play with.


Custom plenum required though. I have no idea how this will come about, I can`t weld as I have tremor and i`m crap at it to be honest.

Re post before last, HEL service doesn`t cover fuel lines, i`m hoping Joe will come to the rescue on that bit once i`ve sourced the dry break fittings etc.
Jon

Quick update.
It turns out that my tremor relates to Graves Disease.
I cut my smoking by 60% to save 500 quid a year and stop looking like a goldfish that`s about to keel over - smoking exacerbates Graves. After just 5 days of the new regime my eyes are so much better and tremor lessened. Result.

I also found a mobile gas welder who rates himself? Good start but i`ll have to see some results, I had hoped an old friend from the docks would be on hand but he is lost in Didjabringabeeralong or somewhere that sounds like it.

I`ll make all the panels to save money and ensure they are made well. Decided to not muck about so the underside will get epoxy coated. I`ll have to do front end the same, I live a quarter mile from North Atlantic coast and if the car is to last I must use the best products.

So now I have the welding penned in I must get on and strip the fuel tank and running gear. Rear sub will also get the epoxy treatment, bushes from Ferrarist?, Boge Dampers and probably new springs. I might be tempted to keep AR bars standard till phase 2 which will include a change to coil overs. I won`t know which way to jump till I can test the car.
The rear discs look silly so they may get an upgrade. I have some vented carbon in 280mm which may become an option with some cross-grade parts from VAG/Audi. Lots of worried Audi drivers round here as been under S3, S4 and several TTs with tape measure etc.

As it has stopped raining i`m going out to get started.

Overnight a couple of things fell into place.
I`m really, really chuffed. So characteristically i`m not saying anymore.

Underneath the car is foul, I almost envy those with a lift and air tools.

Managed to remove h/brake cables, exhaust system, and heatshields. The main tunnel shield is ok but the rear sections are in poor condition.
The downpipe seems to be broken at the pre-cat., if that is what it is - the mini silencer by cat. Pipe is very loose fit at rear end.

Should there be a metal strap around cat.?
None present but there are unused hangers.

I`m not happy with the position of the car, seeing as she may be up on blocks for a few months. I need to move the Beta but it`s not really the right time of year.

I think the chassis is ok, not 100% but i`ll know for sure this weekend.
Haven`t decided whether to go aluminium or oxide red underneath, suspect i`ll go for the ally but I do tend to change my mind.

Praise goes to JBT whose application of underseal to the brake lines has saved the underbody in those areas.
He changed the cam belt 5 years ago too. I wonder if the inlet timing marks were made at this time?
I have a problem with the engine timing and the tensioner is slack but I realize now that the tension backed off when I rotated the engine backwards by a small amount. Exhaust cam appears to be 4 teeth retarded. I know I need the locking tools and proper approach to find TDC, but I really hope that I can get the engine timed without taking head off. If it comes to that, i`ll have the engine out too for a full clean etc.



The day will come when the bits you can`t see will outclass the bits you can.
I`ll post a video soon from her last cruise, next time on the road will be very different.
Jon

I have put myself out of action for a few days, old injury - always happens when working under car.

The HEL build your own service seems to have been updated since I last used it.
Prices have gone up. A 5m used to be 40 quid, now max length seems to be 3.5m at 55 quid.
They also do oil and fuel lines.
This service is pretty cool if you like to go it alone. I used to get bits made at a local firm which involved a 60 mile drive, now I just click a mouse button and they turn up day after next.

ps. I knew there was something I forgot to mention.
I just got fed up mending the grille so I glued some mesh behind. It doesn`t look too bad and is only till I find a better one, highlight was managing to glue my phone to it in the process.

I haven`t managed to get any pictures today, but I got a bit done and I`m off out to carry on after typing this bit.

I decided to put off the welder till I can get the car in the centre of the garage, if he is uncomfortable he might not be able to do the best of jobs.

Also, the car is not in a good position to block up and access all the areas I need to get at. So more compromises.
The front end is now up in the air, I didn`t have the right type of blocks so I used a couple of spare Lancia alloys and a couple of bearers running the length of the front subframe. This is going to limit what I can do at the front for the time being but I hope to have the car supported safely as I expect to be fighting with some of the rear end fixings.

Where I have to block up at the back also limits the areas available to work on but I can at least refurb. the rear subframe and maybe with tank and rear sub removed I may be able to then deal with the chassis in that area and perhaps block there to deal with the area below the rear seats.

I planned to uprate the fuel system but it`s hard to know which way to go as I might change the fuel tank.

More soon. Very soon.

A friend stopped by today and had a look at the car.

He was amazed at how clean the front end and engine bay is looking, it just looks how it should as far as i`m concerned considering i`ve bare metalled the problem areas and painted. I have been working on it for 6 months and I seem to have made little impact.

Just been attacking the inner front o/s wing area. There is some corrosion, not the worst I have seen and I don`t think the chassis by the forward subframe mount has been affected. Some welding will be required here, I think the n/s is similar.

Tomorrow I hope to really make some progress, with a little extra bravery I should be able to remove the front struts, wishbones, uprights and driveshafts.

In my porch I have 2 sets of Brembos to refurb, one set to read Brembo and the other LEmental - local GfX dude is doing the decals for me.

In my bathroom we have wheels, n/s/f came off finally, it`s only taken 15 months - just slightly longer than it took to find the oil filter.

I have to have a remote filter, probably from Canton Racing Products. The mutts absolute nuggets.

I also whipped off the pas drivebelt, there seems to be some play in the idler which looks about as sophisticated as a reel of fishing line. That`s not very good, if you hadn`t realized.

No Stuart, it isn`t a Volvo engine.

As a rule I don`t drink, maybe 3 times in the last ten years.
Today I just might get hammered.

After a not great start I attacked the inner wing further and uncovered a more serious problem than I had realized.
Do I
A:scrap car
B:tart up and try to get 7K for it
C:get pissed, fall over and do a Gary
D:exchange balls for a fanny, girl up, take engine out and repair.

Oooh, I can`t decide.

Possible the worlds fastest turnaround.

Doctor rang up with far worse news.

Watched a single episode of Red Dwarf box set.

Made a cup of tea and going back out to garage.

I`ll try to get some pictures as there must be more cars than this one with similar problems.

It is too easy to overreact at a time like this and I very nearly did.

First step was to make a little drawing of the area, on the car as it happens. Then I started removing some material that will have to be cut out and re-fab`d.

Then I thought I should get some photo`s, so got one of my drawing which has the measurements and angle noted plus another with me holding the small piece I removed back in place.

My spring compressors don`t fit that well and i`m struggling to find the right tools half the time, I have them but I also have chaos. Been looking for my multimeter for weeks!

The fixings for the ABS sensors are unrecognizable, i`m hoping I can get them out with the mighty midget.

The chassis, or what is left of it, seems to be full of grey foam, I don`t know if this is usual.

I do understand what the word failure means, however even when I lose I remain utterly defiant and ready to go at it again.

That which does not kill us makes us stronger apparently - the same is true for a car!

Now that I have digested the news, I may as well announce the situation and how I feel I must proceed.

The doctor tells me today that I have a tumor on my pituitary gland. I don`t know if this is really dire or not at this moment but some swift research reveals that 20% of people have this which often goes unnoticed.

I have to get my health problems sorted before I spend any more money on the car. It also seems sensible to further remove myself from public life.

This is a difficult time for me now and I can only hope that some successful treatment will be available, i`ll know more tomorrow.

I hope to be able to pick up the project thread again soon.

Kind regards.
Jon

(This can`t be the end because I haven`t finished!)

We are getting aggravated.

Three days later I have finally managed to remove the o/s drive shaft, upright and strut.
The ABS sensor still tethers the assembly to the car though.

Despite some heaving the car hasn`t moved one bit, the downside of having the car blocked on old wheels being the odd spanner or nut falling through the spokes and less access than I would like.

I will have to look through the bills to see if the car has had any parts changed in this area since 1997 when it appears to have been built - some writing on the tank reads 8 7 97 031, so Jim I have your fuel tank.

Front wishbone looks like it may have been replaced but this would have been before the respray. It has red paint all over it which gave me a clue.

The damper upper bolt to upright is more seized than any i`ve encountered before, so far it has failed to move.

I have worked on cars before, even some fairly major rebuilds but this is going to be the most extensive to date.

I think that trying to work on a FIAT Coupe must have driven a few souls round the bend. Good job I had such a big head start.

Ding!

What do you mean, ding?

Might not mean much to experienced coupe mechanics but i`m relieved to have got this off at last.


Wishbone shows correct pre-load. Compared to the load input from a driven wheel to suspension components, ones strength may be puny. Try holding a wishbone in the fully compressed position for 5 minutes - hell of a workout.


Dummy/experimental rad. support, carries rad. with brackets on front edge - not yet fitted.
Carries fans on top edge and oil cooler lower mount.
Requires alternative towing eye solution, allows fitting of oil cooler fan, weight saving etc.

I hathed thith evening thupped a mighty brew.

You shouldn`t drink and bake.

Time for some shake and bake.

I got pissed and i`m still working on the car.

Removed o/s wishbone, not managed to remove drop link as yet or seized bolt in strut.

After labeling the loom carefully I spilt, or spilled if you prefer, pas fluid on it which erased my labels. Spent a bit of time redoing. Had a look at how split and glued boots might work and wasn`t very pleased with the result, perhaps with a product that gets hot and bonds like the stuff plumbers use.

Inspected the idler and aux. tensioner and both have some play.

Began to investigate n/s corrosion and it may be less of a problem than the o/s. Sprayed penetrating fluid on all the fixings.
There are some wires passing through a bulkhead with no grommet in place, i`m hoping it has just fallen in and i`ll be able to retrieve and refit.
The wing to sill fixings on the n/s are stud and nut, the o/s has bolts which I thought was odd.

Ideally I will get the bonnet off once I have a place to keep it safe. This should make working behind the engine easier.

Spent some time in the pit investigating the sills. They seem fine, just surface rust. I think 2 or 3 of the skirt fixings are missing and corrosion is slightly worse adjacent to these areas as one would expect.

Once i`ve got the skirts off I hope to surface prep and block under sills so I can check that there is no corrosion at the subframe mounts, refinish subframe or replace with one from Joe.

I still have some worries about the level of corrosion at the back end but this is partly due to the fact that i`ve hardly started. Once some areas are made sound i`m sure i`ll feel more positive. I no longer have any concerns about the front, 3 areas require welding and once the work is done the flaws (moisture traps at doubler and a missing grommet allowing water to run down from above behind wheel arch liner) which caused the corrosion will have been removed.

I have a mountain of new parts to fit and in time I think the car is going to be something really special, to me at least. The idea with some of the parts is to bung them on so I can refresh the LE bits so the cars identity can be retained.

I had hoped my rad. mounts would be here for the weekend but might not come till next week now.
I shouldn`t have specified titanium, talk about over-engineering. New grommets too as the originals fell apart.
Today I feel like a pig shat in my head, and I remember now why I don`t touch booze.
Wiggins clamps not come either, so today i`ve been investigating some electrical connectors. If my evenings work goes well i`ll do a little how to soon on splitting some of the connectors for boot replacement.



Begbie is too good at getting my references, or my clues are rubbish so i`m hiding them better I hope with a wink(s) at the end of a post containing ref/refs.


p.s. My rad. mounts arrived and they are superb, unfortunately they are handed so I have to mount them one up and one down to give the desired forward tilt,also require a custom type of fixing which I hadn`t banked on.

I got so little done this weekend, I still had a hangover yesterday and I was blown away by the rad. mounts.

Today has been sunny so I thought I would get some painting done. I have had two brackets in acid for a couple of days, decided one of them needed another day so just surfaced prepped one - the bracket which carries the engine top stay.

Did the best surface prep. i`ve ever done, sun was shining so applied first coat and went in for a cuppa.
Ten minutes later it poured with rain - start again.

Later I applied a first coat to the new rad. support. The painted items are in the bathroom. Brake discs on the kitchen floor etc.

Here is one of the rad. supports.


Started working on a video of the project.
I`m calling it...LEmental - The Birth of a Legend.
Can`t decide whether to have BBC on my fluid reservoirs as a piss take, KBT or 030. Perhaps I should leave them blank.

Tried to paint again today - same thing happened!

Video/slideshow I have slung together.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5MLitfq_II&list=UUgPvKNcAdsX7aKQEgYNGw7Q

More soon.

Briefly.

I finally managed to get a coat of paint on this bracket without rain effect!



The chargecooler pipes at the chassis leg have wiggins fit to angled pipes to the cooler, as they are from F1 twin o-rings are used but fortunately the clamps fit.

I spoke too soon as the wiggins clamps don`t actually snap shut. I need to take about 0.75mm off the end of each ferrule or source some other clamps. I don`t know which clamps were used originally, am looking into it.


At the suggestion of Josip and some help from szkom I removed the compressor housing. Ideally I will refit 120 degrees rotated but will need to alter the water pipe to rad. to clear the outlet.
The run the oil feed takes must be the source of some temperature seen in the oil and I hope to change to a cooler route.
There are a few dings inside the housing. The vanes look fine.


Soon I will be able to select any gear.


I haven`t achieved much this week, but the garage is much tidier. Many things brought into the house and being slowly labelled and packed.

I manage to remove the bolt from the damper to upright, the bolt is knackered though and I accidentally hoovered up the nut. I also stripped the strut.
I was surprised to find the damper in fair condition and can`t believe it is the original. I also think the wishbone is an aftermarket item as I couldn`t find the Fiat group mark and bushes and ball joint seem in fair condition.
I will probably replace the dampers and top mounts as cheaply as possible and save some loot towards the D2 coil overs.

Hope to get a few bits done this weekend.

I didn`t feel like doing anything today.
Tidied some wiring.
Managed some surface prep. in the inner wing area, removed oil cooler and pipes, trial fitted rad. support beam and mounts.
Put turbo back together after gently modding water pipe from turbo to rad.
Just need to check wastgate mechanism is adjusted correctly. Gashed my head on bonnet release bracket.

Images show I had taken pains to get the drilling and mounting accurate.

Shame I miscalculated the positioning of the rad.
The section of the car that used to have a tie down point is also out of line from some past grounding incident- this has caused a mismatch between each side as shown in last 2 images.

Making another support beam which may make better use of the available space.
I need space for the charge cooler, unless I use a different rad. I can`t fit the one I had originally intended - which would have allowed the original battery to be in the engine bay.

Choice of 3 coolers now being considered, I may well go for the 525bhp rated option.
Blagged what may be a very useful cfc part today.

Might clean up a treat but I bought a new one anyway.


This bracket looked like I found it in the sea, needs some more paint when the weather improves.


Old pillar badges not in great condition and seemed to be affixed with Araldite. Could only get these moon grey efforts, used a small brass tube to separate the parts.


Inching forward on many fronts, attend to enough details and the car will come together I hope. More soon.

I bought these last year as the o/s unit was damaged, there was only the one o/s available. The seller packed them in a box that was smaller than the two items, no prize for guessing which one cracked in transit.



Further example of paint shop quality.
I spent an hour with a scotch cloth with little impact, will try some brake fluid or nitro fuel next.

I didn`t have enough time to get done today but here is the first one almost finished. I cleaned the inner face also for some perverse reason.
Most of the time was used soaking, only about a half hour of scrubbing.

Thirteen months since my first living room picture...




This evening i`m cleaning wheels. WD 40 to remove old balance weight glue. Insides clean up ok, outer faces are good so refurb not needed as yet.

I have read a couple of threads regarding exhaust mounts.

None of the universal powerflex mounts seem to have the right dimensions so I tried to obtain standard replacements.

This is an original vs aftermarket rear mount.

There is no meat on the lower half of the aftermarket mount and early failure seems likely. If I use this mount it will have an earth strap fitted as reinforcement. That`s an earth strap for a house not a car!
I would prefer to source an original which should last well as the one pictured is only damaged due to rough treatment when fitted.


Of these two, the one with overspray is over 5 years old and is falling apart, the other is more recent but appears to have failed prior to my buying the car.


I have to source or make a strap to support the cat. which has no fittings.

I have seen front plastic arch liners available, but for £100 a piece the seller is welcome to keep them. I paid £30 for mine.
I also located B-pillar 20VT and Turbo badges for LE model. It has been suggested to me that these might still be available from FIAT, we shall see. My local FIAT garage is staffed by turds and I have no wish to shop there.

Now the other two mounts have appeared and I have taken some measurements. I will gamble on the powerflex EXH 1, EXH 4 and EXH 15 and post some pictures/ results in due time.

I have also decided to paint the underbody in as close to body colour as possible, current best choice is RAL 3020 Traffic Red, but a closer match may be possible after contact with supplier.



The brackets were very corroded. That`s my excuse and i`ll use it again.

I have been putting off getting started on the rear of the car for too long, so on Christmas day I got stuck in. I carried on yesterday. Based on what i`d seen I struggled to work underneath today.

Here are some bits that did come off.


I didn`t get any pictures of under the car, right now the fuel and brake lines are hanging down, the handbrake cables much the same.
Once the tank/fuel lines, rear suspension and brake lines are out i`ll get some pictures.
I haven`t found anything too bad as yet, obviously the underside of this bit of boot floor... ...is far more extensive than the view from above would suggest.

As I have been having a protracted tea break I think I may finally understand the cam/belt/timing scenario. Throw in the cam phase sensor and a rusty ex. cam wheel and i`m wishing it was a nice easy Beta 8v engine once again.

Debate rages as to whether to poly bush or not and I hope I have come to understand the differences between conventional rubber and pu bushes with regard to lubes and pre-load etc.
I`m not sure I can bring myself to toast the bushes in a new pair of wishbones.

More soon and best wishes for the new year to all.

As promised, some info. on poly. exhaust mounts.


I will use this one as it allows some lateral movement which should help to align the tailpipe with the bumper cutout as the exhaust is non-standard. Once aligned, a pair of bungs could be fitted to prevent lateral sway.


I will use this one as it is a near perfect match, tight fit on the mounting pegs though.


I will probably use this one, however, the bush may need slight modification as may the body bracket hanger.

The good news is that the chassis has not been affected by the corrosion emanating from the four mounting holes of the rear plastic wheel arch.

There is a thread started by Pondman regarding corrosion in this area and there seems to be some confusion as to how the problem originates. I have seen pictures from other cars which suggest in chassis corrosion has occurred but appears to have not been investigated thoroughly or any remedial action taken.

Due to the need for strength in these areas I am not going to rush or bodge the job and some additional bracing may be implemented. A detailed update will be posted in due time.

This post was supposed to be about something else but I don`t seem to be able to get into the garage with the short days and work.

I allowed myself to get a bit distracted into shooting some substitution type of stop frame.

Apologies for the now dead video link, I have removed myself from nearly all online presence for the time being.

These came with the car. That bulb holder is bigger than the aperture in the bumper.


Much better, removed from 1990 Thema.

Having gained some inspiration from another project thread I cleaned up a couple more items.




The washer lid is not retained, one fixing to drill out and a small repair to the upper mounting needed to finish.

This bracket was very corroded, one of the sub bracket fixings was just a lump of rust. I saved the metal inserts at least.


All I can afford for now is few nuts and bolts.

A4 or galvanized, hoping to have a go at some plating.

I cleaned the expansion tank using a length of flexible net curtain rail and some home made scrubbers which fit on the end. Didn`t use any bleach as yet.



A screenwash tank is going in the boot anyway using the now redundant pipe to the rear screen and I hope with the pump in the scuttle to keep the wiring to a minimum.

I removed the abs loom at last and the brake and clutch fluid reservoir. The bulkhead sound deadening was in poor condition and has now been removed.



Now I have some space to get the new brake lines underway.
The strut brace is being painted with enamel in RAL 3001 which seems a fair match. I hope the paint is tough as the other paint I have being using appears to be rubbish.

I don`t expect to get the car back on the road till 2017, lack of funds.

The strut brace came out ok, except I think rust will form again in the offside cup eventually.

Unfortunately, the Velux above the car has been leaking for months without my knowing. I discovered this on New Years Eve, the main drip produces about a gallon a day which has been landing on the screen. Two further drips have been landing on the bonnet causing a paint blister.

I also had a flood in the house. After the day long clean up I seem to have ingested something nasty and have become quite ill. Should have worn gloves as flood water is always dirty!

There was a point that I had decided to break the car but currently I hope to get the repair work done with a full respray to happen at a later date. I can`t afford in one go and want to get repairs done soon - I need to get the car gone to repair the velux.
I`m on the verge of making some real progress but been let down by parts suppliers and some shoddy tools so waiting on replacements.

So far so good with the enamel paint and yep, that`s my living room.

Apart from some hose clips which should have come about 10 days ago to go go with the hose set, i`m not really being held up by lack of parts or funds but my inability to get down to front subframe removal.

Then come the bolts (generally) which either need refinishing or replacing. I don`t mind spending 100 quid on bolts, these ones are 18 years old at least although only one has snapped so far and a few are in amazing condition.

Lastly, I got obsessed with wind turbines and i`m about to attempt to make one. I bought 2 motors and will probably just buy carbon blades as 3 don`t cost the earth. As I live facing the sea i`m going to start with a static setup and see what happens. I`m doing this to be able to afford to run an octanerender based machine full time as the other thing is, I got back into 3d.
Non coupe projects?

(I just had a look at plating kits. I didn`t buy one but think that is the way to go, it just seems very chemical.)

I realized I haven`t slagged off any mechanics lately so...


I had the devil of a job even getting the door card off as the fixing at the handle had been bodged previously and had also seized.
Another possible source of water ingress uncovered.

At some point a mirror was required so nothing like fitting an already broken one eh?

I used a disgorger to manage the clip without damage.

Flawless.

Small wiring problem.

I will come back to the door after a few other jobs.

On the rear lights I replaced the squashed foam seals with o-rings of about the right dimensions.

Lamp on left is new, shame the shade of the indicator lens doesn`t match the other side.

Rear brakes overhaul started.

The carriers are very lagged in grease, three de-greasing sessions before clean. I think it may have been applied by a monkey.

I now have a plating kit, so the project might get a bit detailed from here on.

Ok, so the mirror body isn`t flawless, but I have these to prepare.



As soon as I realized I had some work to do on the car I started buying spares. I have most of what is needed to finish, even trims for the time of the mythical respray.
There are several boxes like this one - full of gems.



The cambelt cover was shaped like a banana...


Had this crack...


Was partially eaten...!



So I bought a new one, which is slightly different.
Less interesting front profile and revised seal.



I think i`ll polish this again.


I have this lot to get on with and then some!

This week has not been great, so many things gone wrong and stupid issues I started to feel like hibernating. So i`ve been tackling small jobs, some too small to mention but once done will allow a more noticeable rate of progress to happen.

I`d been putting this off. I thought the pipes were quite corroded. It is very easy to just replace bits, lazy in fact and as the cost is quite high...



More on this to follow.

I had hoped to get the door put back together but I haven`t found the plastic sheeting I have stashed somewhere.



I cleaned inside the door, rust proofed all the bright metal parts and replaced the seal. The one removed was the wrong way round to my thinking, now both sides match and the seal doesn`t splay at the corners which made the door look odd.

It is probably hard to grasp for the reader, but I am doing this in what seems like my last days alive.
I should be crackling with activity given my T3 and T4 levels, but I didn`t have the energy to get out of bed till 3 PM! However, I want to get the car to a certain point before I take a break and bugger off to Spain for a while so...

I managed to get this off despit the tachycardia.

As if by magic..


I forgot to crack the damper top nut - good job it is already loose and the bearing is crunching.
Given how evil the damper to upright fixings were, i`m thinking these are the originals.

Hopefully, if I can get up, the wishbone, upright/driveshaft and subframe come off tomorrow.

Begbie won.
I bought him the most tasteless set of smiley dust caps imaginable as a prize, when I saw them I decided to look for something else!

I have a chance to get on with the car again, can do about an hour and a half before the body sleeps so progress is only slow but now persistent. Tons of life stuff happened which i`ll stick in the comments in time.

Covers came off yesterday, car looks good despite 2 years or so covered/damp in places. This is due to the involuntary hypnosis I was subjected to earlier in the year which caused all manner of arm and wrist complaints and cost £120 in detailing products.
Car still smells in places like the sound of a gay viking rock group!? (No prizes)

Hoovered most of the garage, great unless you happen to be a spider. One of the stupid [cloud9] has webbed all over every possible bit of the felt sections of the car interior.

Then I fell asleep for 3 hours.
Restarted by putting up plastic sheeting above car to make things cleaner, went wrong as one man and no timber to fix to at one end, ran out of sheeting and staples/patience etc.

Of what I was planning to do at the last update, I managed to remove one nut. I did do some other things though but was then taken very ill again which i`ll go into in comments when I can face it.

I got stuck in today but some pictures from covers off condition.

One for Phil, with focus that way because even though I have cleaning kit I haven`t done any ccd cleans of late, there is a much better lens also.


Whole car, almost unchanged in two and a half years.


Going to do list of jobs so back soon with progress.

I tried to make an update last night when I had a few moments, but couldn`t get any images off the card.
Today I have no time and only one shot to test a card.


Back soon.

An abundance of le detail arriving en masse dreckly.


What with the life laundry and general time of year I don`t have time to come on here much right now, but as I don`t do the Suckerbugger fan club I`ll be here more in the future I hope.
As for that social nertworking phenomena - I changed my name to Han, the last three letters of my first name. Jon didn`t sit well with the new surname of Don-Kok.
I have no friends.


I cleaned the CCD but still on £50 lens!


The last shot is taken with me lying on my bed.
You don`t sleep with your coupe, no?

This shoddy bit of afterthought needs a proper route to the bonnet switch. No grommet was present at A-post.



Look like pro crimps. Shame about the speaker cable and the choice of terminals. No strain relief and shoddy insulation job at ECU.



There may have been an intermittent short at the diodes, also noted one pin looks suspect.
Can`t help wondering if the author of that piece of loom destruction has a website which says something like..."probably the only competent auto electrician in the whole world".


Fortunately, some gnomes had done this overnight.


So that is where IT went.
Then I did a lot of work. No time for pictures though.
Going back out now, full engine bay should be done in a couple of weeks.

Having brained myself on the o/s door on Saturday I haven`t managed to do much, so now downed tools to re-supply to do some electrical bits, hydraulics and try to finish the running gear.
The induction system needs some work as there is a different intercooler as a temporary measure. I want to look into some chiller technology to see if suitable to adapt to a cooler(charge). On the surface a 230v product but if it looks in any way a go i`ll buy one and strip it. Then if I haven`t killed it in the process, see what it can do.
The brace came out well, I just hope the finish will last.

One of the black boxes to manage wiring came from regular supplier the other seems to have been original on the Thema 16VT. Both from same manufacturer.

Clutch slave, reservoirs, the gear selection issue and absent hydraulic lines look like my next targets.
Bit more than 2 weeks.

Edit - Just noticed you can even read my helpful wiring notes!

What to do when a fellow forum member and former coupe owner has overwhelmed you with their good will?
Embarrass them in public isn`t it?



Thank-you again,O Many Angled One. (?I hope that is acceptable form)


I managed to find a picture(not mine) of this car on the internet, used by a car mag (I think) in their Titty feed back in March. I have toyed with the idea of contacting them and might look at what they do to see if the publicity would be good or bad.
Lets face it, unless the photography, scene and car are very good, one red LE looks like not a Vinci.

I used the 3:1 shrink i`m a fan of on the pins of the body pinin badges. Are they supposed to have clips? Mine didn`t, the badges I replaced but also got stick ons as I think i`d prefer wonky to rusting again.
Until Joe has done a (ha ha) series of sub rosa`s on the car she is pretty scrap and parts only.
The dash badge needs a chunkier shrink i`ve yet to determine. Plus to all this is the badges remain sealed but push fit. Nickable but without damage.

I have the odd part to sell like a 14400 mile clean brake/clutch fluid reservoir, and I got some new parts that I don`t think this car deserves like the last new rear reflector...Also pair new front fog clusters. etc. In time i`ll list.

Sort of on this note i`ve become nigh on demented about a few key areas of the car which I can influence like the B-pillar badges, wheel centres, mirrors, lights and grille.
We monkeys are very pattern driven, getting the key details right can really help to distract the attention away from the non original, damaged glass, the melted rubbers, hanging off bodykit and deranged bodywork which I can`t fix overnight if at all.
(Sorry, we sophisticated monkeys)
Oh yes. PlastR/X. Amazing stuff.
Having removed the dash strip to try to remove glue from clock faces from previous clock rings and discovered damage also, the polish has done a good job. On the boost gauge which had also collected scratches, my fault I think, I was more thorough and result is amazing, almost without flaw.
If i`d bought a black one i`d have called IT Nemesis.

I thought perhaps, maybe, just one of you might appreciate this. It`s my Facebook profile picture. As you can see I was in the process of getting mashed and I may be gone for some time due to being nursed excessively.

I actually looked like that after having a mixture of brake fluid, olive oil and garlic splurted into my left eye.
If you want to know how to achieve this feat i`d suggest just getting a friend to do it manually with a syringe.
Then I got into trouble about my blood test results so i`m back on the meds., not in remission.



I`ve decided i`m not fussed about originality so won`t be refitting any of these bits. I understand the damper was fitted to LE, VT6 and plus and that the slave can be removed from the bracket after the circlip is removed.

I have been on tenterhooks since I ordered this as the last time I used the service the pipe was too long.
I didn`t approach the problem constructively and received a replacement pipe of the same length to the mm!

This pipe also proved to be 76-80mm too long(sort of inner /outer radius). I observed that my quoted measurement occurred across the unbent length so have mailed them and am going to return and they will shorten it. They must have this problem often but the discrepancy will vary depending on the specified bends it would seem. Perhaps not at all if the fittings are straight.
I investigated the odd noise the throttle cable makes. Turned out to be the sound of the cable sawing its way through the adjuster. Had a read of what looks to be a useful how to by bockers and also been looking at motor bike throttle cables which often have a curved metal section. Found a cheap enough metal adjuster so with any luck can cobble an uprated thing together.

These have been knocking around for 6 months. Bracket still needs corners rounding. I drilled a 6mm hole in the car to mount.
Close as I can get to original looking bolts arrowed, in 12.9.
M TECH quick shift fitted. Shift is very positive, will post some pictures of stick positions. Shame it`s purple.

I didn`t like the location of the reservoirs. I also realized something else that needed to be done, so back to the drawing board for about 2 minutes.
Plan B can`t be any worse but won`t happen overnight.

I can`t be the first person to notice this.




Hopefully the second image although exaggerated shows what I mean.
It was with some trepidation that I sawed off the adjuster because at the time I was thinking all wrong. This part isn`t unavailable as such, just obsolete.

The spring of the throttle body is strong but the real problem with this cable is the maniac on one end and the shit design. I reckon I can cobble something way better than this together with second hand Chinese moped spares.
I`m serious.

Long story ...
I went underground a few weeks ago as I had slightly exploded as a result of a situation brewing in my life.
Due to the illness i`m very affected by stress and can react badly and just be unpredictable generally so when i`m out of hand I retreat into my quarter acre now dubbed `the lost gardens of hooligan`.

edit - much text removed as nobody needs to know about what is now the past

So in a fit of emotional damage limitation I had to visit the car.



I have literally slung that plate in, cocked up and drilled a hole in the wrong place. Bit tricky to measure on the curve but I did that quite well, shame about the cut-bit of a sanding needed at o/s. Needs to be finished of course but i`m waiting for a couple of items to finish the mounting for the latest unseen transdogrified fluid reservoirs.

Nice one to DavidL on the bracket, shame some fool messed up the finish instead of waiting for a new tool.

To save some money I had to buy a hobby heat gun as opposed to first choice. Been busy rebooting the electrics, i`ve only toasted one female plug so far as been unable to find my extraction tool, will try to do a bit of a walkthrough for those interested.

Made some other progress for next time, been 19 hour day.....
required

ps. Sorry i`m unable to be my usual happy if provocative self. I hope for a return to form quite soon.
*FAO C.Bangle
Dear Sir, I was wondering if you might be able to tell me why there are two gender confused plugs at the bulkhead end of the headlamp loom on my 1998 Coupe LE.
A man in the pub told me the reason is because the LE model has lunar panels secreted into the lamp surround. Is this true? If so then I fully understand the need for a reversal of established disconnected state protocol.
Best Regards.
Jon

Sorry this isn`t an update as such, i`m holding off till i`ve achieved more than the current affording, and fitting of...1 rivnut!

I found some small parts I was looking for on other vehicles.

Fuel sender - Alfa 145
Bulkhead fitting of throttle cable - Marea and 145
Front wiper nut covers - Lancia Thema

Quite busy for a few weeks.
TTFN

edit

Good bolt v. shit bolt - same torque, left unmarked and right destroyed!


Might need to use this again, so 3:1 sleeved then poly. capped.

How boring is that eh? Except that now `tis a pass without having to blow the inspector, or whatever it is people do.
I remember. Wiggle the wires.

Having remade these, I decided they were a bit garbage so i`m poised to make up the first pair at a revised spec. The wire colour won`t conform to keep the cost minimal, leaving scope for shrink boots as the lamp ends are vulnerable and the environment is harsh.

As i`m about to make a complete new set of brake pipes for the car I asked Joe as to how the circuits were arranged originally. His answer also sounded like advice which I pretended I would ignore.
I haven`t made any pipes yet as i`ve been unable to locate my fangs so I dug out the flexible brake lines which came with the car. I know I said before that these are ok as long ass pinned at the strut but i`ve changed my opinion.
The arrowed union isn`t handed to the support so doesn`t need to swivel. As it doesn`t need to swivel it can be shorter. What the hell were HęL thinking?

Sorry it`s just a trickle and lookout. When the damn bursts...

So much for that as I may not be doing any more to the car this year. I have to give my all to setting up my model making/animation/all round production entity Emission Probable.

I am well into my second 5 axis plus lens rig and the conclusion of the car project may well just be time and motion lapse depending on how busy I get.

Here are a few images from the model shop/studio.
Ciao for now.



edit...silly me forgot the significance.....

Motion control camera rigs only need a bit of adaption to become computer controlled manufacturing and machining products. Depending on what motors i`m using I can position an axis to a minute % of a degree.
Finally.

As this is a good night for things coming back....there may be typos, it`s very dark.

Thanks largely to the efforts of others on respective projects i`m making some progress with mine.

I`m still fairly batshit but hopefully in a good way. I have an RI appointment Dec.17 and i`m already on edge about it. The TED became very serious with 25mm proptosis, I have refused the decompression twice as it is very serious surgery. So that`s my bit.

As for the car. Or, my car spares project should the shell prove unviable.

New pro alloy front mount fitted but the route for the pipework is redundant to me so I have to put the short routes together still, it looks like the leg will get re-profiled. The ally pipes are still wrapped and the hoses still bagged! I also have another new redundant punto version. I`m thinking of some kind of jumbo sale oneday.

I put in a cable for the screen wash to the o/s rear corner behind the velcro flap. The tank is tiny and I have to bracket it yet. I might fit a reversible pump so it`s dummy proof or I refit rear wiper.
I sent the cable for the widget with it, the route got a bit fussy through wing extensions and front crossmember and may change.

I got new bonnet struts. After about 6 months I dared to close it again.
I came up with a fix for (my type) gear cables joggling in the engine side bushes.
Hi ratio glue shrink. Still hope to just replace the pair though.
The shaft through the top of the box is seized and i`d like to be able to sort as I have the reamer. But it has occured that this is the bit that can be removed and modded to reduce sway. (?)
I swapped the headlamps to the LE sort.
There be more at the front to add like the entertainment of abs free pipework when I get some pictures hosted again.
I`m still hoping to swap the front sub. and a/r bar before the car goes to Joe.
And the rear.

I finally dropped the fuel tank. This was a couple of weeks ago, I can`t smell fuel anymore but I got a bit ravaged.
I have prepped a whole new unit with a Walbro255, the guide didn`t match the pump but that`s another story. I didn`t match the one that was fitted already.
I was fairly sure the basket was holed and it certainly is.
However, the basket was more of a basket case than I knew.
So the question is what is the dirty secret? And there is the clue.

More as soon as I have some pictures again.

Remembered a few more bits.

Hope Joe still has tank straps and a fix for the tin can ally bit I destroyed, the 2 brassy fittings survived the onslaught. (and a boot seal anda bias valve spring)

Now i`m a covert to por15 i`m slowly doing brackets.
I dipped the 2 rear brake pipe angles and the finish is epic.
I didn`t know how tough the stuff is and had to use a diamond bit to then fit the pipe to the first one. The second was better, the two which carry pipe/ and hand brake cable fitted straight off. The next two I didn`t get the paint to key yet. I bought all new FIAT clips as I found the cheaper/stainless not to my liking.

I made both swing arm pipes in cunifer, the o/s was the first brake pipe i`ve ever made. Must have been a zen thing because the next one I made was crap but so was the template folllowing van assaults coupe?
I adjusted it and the equally bent bracket.
I damaged the forward of the rear heat shield fixings and the shield in a wild moment but then I managed to buy a new one and the fixing can be fixed. I also got a new one in front of rear wheeel.
Waiting for a refurbished rear sub. I have new Boge dampers, KYB I think springs, rear ARB, bump stops, bias valve, stone guards and probably SKF bearings. I got the subframe polybushes but will go with what Joe rates.
I still have pipework to do, it is hard to get inspired under there.
I also have the inevitable n/s p bracketand a new oil cooler. (not fitted)

I grafted the rear wiring to the later type of number plate lamps.
There is still a question mark over battery location and type and whether the car has a spare wheel has a bearing on this.
I refurbished the handbrake console.
I have a throttle cable and can make a spare from an outer and bits.

The last 7 months have not been great. I got sick on the back of the treatment which hasn`t even worked.
My eye disease didn`t flare up at least but I developed chalazia over 3 lids.
My dad died. R.I.P. MR.
My car, bought a year ago £3200, had a head gasket failure during MOT so I bought another, wiping out restoration fund.

I have become very determined to get the car finished for a number of reasons, however i`m still not just slinging it back together but attending to as many details as I can.
In the last days I re-booted the injector plugs as I found some perfect fit in a soft rubber but a quid a go, however the result is easily worth it. (I had already replaced the boots)
Will wrap the coil cables tomorrow and loom repairs/alterations complete.
I chewed the 2 main rear arb bolts so need 14 so far from FIAT.
Struggling to get any pictures, as I want to stay under wraps for a while yet and it just looks like a red LE in a garage. Here is one though, pro alloy now fitted but still not really to my satifaction. Better update soon.

There was one more picture which i`ll add next time.
Pics. are LE in garage, injector boot detail, bonnet catch etc. detail (for Simon :)), to do still in bay and short route insight, wiring to finish in dash end.

So I managed to get a bunch of cables through the dash really easily by going through o/s dash end in the space below screen with length of ring main. Neutral for preference.
Comes out above passenger footwell and consists of 9mm convoluted, 7mm pipe, 5mm cable and 2 flat cables. Boost controller is visible, input module at stereo blank plate with cable up through by clocks as too short to go with the rest and I didn`t fancy altering it. The only reasons I haven`t finished these bits are I ran out of tape and I decided to fit superseals to the incoming cables and boost guage, widget and boost controller.

The only brake pipe my car has fitted all the way is the one that is almost never replaced on a coupe. Mine can be swapped in 15 minutes, but the others are all still buggers.
They should be fitted in the next few days, not 100% happy with the fronts but I can redo much better second go now I realised how. Some bits of loom to tidy and need to find absent wiring clips. All boots replaced where possible. Hope I haven`t cocked up the cable orders as when I did these jobs I was flying. Slowly trying to tone down the red.

The n/s sill cover which I couldn`t get off came off. I drilled the heads off the screws then used very small vice to remove stubs. The channel clips could do with replacing or the new screws will corrode, not found any as yet though. Sill not corroded. I think this was caused by the A to B seal having come away. I have a replacement for someone to fit. And a spare pair. I grazed the door while doing this and the o/s wing has a mystery dent.

I couldn`t find the fixings for the B-pillar covers which I think must be spinning washer nuts, minor snag I know. Haven`t decided whether to be badgeless yet but both the pillar badges and rear quarter are just begging for magpies.
20 is the number of bolts as i`d forgotten to count the top mounts.
The short shift is as short as a modern car but I still have no side to side movement in the stick. Trying to move it seems to damage the end bushing of the cable as well as the cracked plastic thing.

Have decided not to do any subframe removal as beyond me, but as i`m prepared to commit to the restoration costs the bill just gets bigger.
Worn out. More soon.

Decided to only add the odd image from now on, because I have started shooting a motion control epic of the coupe and hopefully build from here on. Of the first 8 passes I only used one repeat - bonnet shut then open. I`m using a modular (read grafted shot by shot) (up to) 10 axis digital system so can do some interesting shots, however the space is very limited, solo set-ups not easy as supports very heavy and the background is an untidy mess. (I`m working on this)
Add fluctuating natural light and colour temperature issues it`s a miracle I only binned 2 of the shots, i`m no displeased with the others.

Got under the back end at last. Much as the car has at least 10 areas I can name which need professional repair, it isn`t as bad as my mind had painted. I also understand the construction at the boot seams now and long lasting repairs should be possible.

Only one of the brake pipes came away from the compensator, even using fluid/heat and mini vice. I removed the valve with pipes attached without doing any damage I noticed.
I had bought 2 new pipes on ebay and the quality is way better than I can achieve. Seems to lack wisdom to fit them as all four pipes in this area have either started to seep at about 15 years or have areas which are about to fail. I had planned to copy them.
I also removed the nut/washer finally from the damaged rear heat shield fixing. I think the POR 15 will hold it in place without repair.
Long story short, I don`t think there is any corrosion on the body or rails between the rear subframe so i`m going to have a go at getting it out for the refurb.
I also fitting the n/s air intake, which isn`t possible without seriously altering it of course. For that `factory` look.

Not much progress as been solving problems thrown up bringing equipment out of lay-up. Duff battery and the lens I need to use has got too stiff for the zoom drive. Many days wasted. Now have 5200k lighting though. Needed an unusual head for some shots so made a pan/roll/tilt from some abandoned bits.
Facing redundancy again which has turned work nasty, people may `off` each other before the hammer falls.
I`m up really early to get a load done this w/e. The duct looks like this, unfinished untill bumper trial fitted. More soon.

so 3 weeks till notice(probable).
Dare not do any jobs on the car as too on edge to do anything well.
Made a bunch of camera passes though, now in the middle of a quantum upgrade as i`m planning for what I do next......

Made big improvements in the garage as now a `production enviroment`, main reason was to clear the frame and improve reflected colour balance.
Did that after these shots!
Here are 3 frames from passes, including one `you can`t do that shot`, at least not with the bonnet on, can you?
(baybacktrack frame34, frame 1 of curves/reflections, frame 151 of bank shot with wrong lens, can only get at 9.30 on a Sunday morning when the light is right)

Trial fitted front bumper yesterday. No problems with duct but headers still foul at the lower vents, already took the sander to.
I can move top mount forward and lower by a couple of mm, this means more rake - clears vents but then fouls at rad. support.
Wondering if the spec. got updated. Leaving for now, sure i`ll have a solution in time.
Made a shot of it too, here is the first and last. Now the pace needs to increase, and I definately need a haircut.

(NB grindersfail refers to hastily made mark 3 lens drives which are now in the bin, mark 4s built for the weekend)

Discovering Blackberries with LE

Refitted the front seats and sat in them both, belted up. Can feel the wear in driving seat, was struck by how pleasing the interior is. The dash strip really sets the clocks apart.
Refitted n/s door seal and noticed the A-pillar cover has pulled through fixings. There is no written list but the snagging on this car goes on and on. Both doors rattle when being closed, hope to deal with as this sounds nasty. I was going to do a quick job on the o/s shower screen but had good win today so going to buy some double sided tape. Maybe.
Had a look at a few pro alloy installations, including the one done with a chainsaw. Have decided to just reshape the lower bit which fouls, hopefully the result will be in keeping.

Far from shooting faster i`m down to 4 secs./week, made most distorting dolly zoom in cinema history and I know it`s a dubious claim.

Cleared most of the intruding vegetation on the plastic above the car and discovered a nice crop of Blackberries, and maybe a million aphids.
Early notice tomorrow, either way is good news/bad news.

Two steps forward......three steps back

I fitted a shower screen of sorts to the o/s door, didn`t come out perfect but better than no screen for sure. ( Assuming there isn`t one on the n/s either but will leave till I have some space to work)
I didn`t allow for the intrusion of the door card so will have to redo. Had forgotten there is no lower fixing for the interior door pull so there still isn`t, i`m thinking rivnut when I redo. The door shuts without a rattle, this side was just the plate at the inner handle when unsecured.
Investigated n/s A - pillar trim and the circular backs at the fixings fell out in small peices as I removed. Didn`t see any for sale so I rebuilt - quite tedious and doubt they will last many fitting/removal.