Rich's Sprint Blue - 20VT - Restoration

Background

I've been very grateful for the forums search facility and how to guides.

Also thanks to Joe at FCCS as it's now starting to look like I can afford to get the car properly back on the road. It had been looking like I was either going to sell her on or do a very slow restoration in my spare time, which I'm probably capable of, but isn't ideal or realistic.

Jobs done thus far:

• Auto centre on gearbox by following the guide
• Topped up the gearbox oil
• Wiper blades on safety ground
• Brembo front discs and pads on safety grounds
• Reconnected boost gauges
• Stripped centre console out to remove restore to black from sprint blue and remove the massive turbo badge stuck to it!
• Stripped sticky parts and started the cleaning process to restore them
• Fitted new oil pressure sender and had a pleasant surprise that it's all working - photos
• Dismantled and fixed the boot key lock barrel mechanism, helped in part by the guide but the photos are missing from that. Photos
• Fitted new OE stabilus bonnet struts as existing failed on me
• Replaced cracked and leaking rocker cover with fresh gasket - Photos
• Replaced 16+ year old cabin filter
• Replace leaking t piece that was causing poor washer jets

Jobs in progress:

• Paint centre console satin black - Photos
• Clean and paint sticky dash parts

Jobs to do:

• Clean up historic oil leaks to see what's still leaking
• Restore zender grill before rust gets it
• Restore or replace horns before rust gets them
• Restore speaker covers

Jobs done update:

• Recaro Sportster CS seats - photos
• Paint centre console satin black - photos
• Clean and paint sticky dash parts - photos
• Sand the red rocker cover to reveal the text - photos

Recaro Sportster CS seats
Used leather seats from a Renault Megane RS. You need a OMP HC 782 mounting plate and a pair of Recaro runners.

It's not a direct fit. The OMP HC 782 is specific to the Fiat Coupe however, it did require a slight increase (45 degrees inboard and backwards) to front mount holes to match floor hole locations. Additionally you need to drill the OMP HC 782 mounting plate to add two holes at the front, and extend holes at the rear to match the Recaro runners. Please look at the pictures of the mounting plate in the link above.

You need to space (I used washers) the mounting plate and runners to allow space for bolting to the floor at the front. The rear steps down and is inboard so that's fine as is. Measure twice and drill once. I also needed to space the front, between the car floor and mount plate, to allow for a vertical gap for the bolt that holds plate to runners. I needed to place a couple of spacers at the rear to allow for the carpet as the OMP mount plate is flat and without it will bend the plate and push runners out of alignment. There is a side view photo in the above link that should help.

I did the passenger seat first which took me an afternoon to figure it out. The drivers seats was done in half the time.

In summary, 1) you need to add two holes at the front to mount to plate to the runners, 2) extend two holes at the back outboard to mount plate to runners. 3) Extend the front two front hole at 45 degrees inboard and backwards to match the Coupe floor locations.

The Coupe went in to Joe's an overhaul and some rust. The overhaul was extensive as it had been sat for 16 years. The rust wasn't awful but it made sense to deal with it whilst the car was stripped down.

Work done by Joe at FCCS:

• Front and rear brake calliper restoration and painted red
• New brake flexi lines
• Copper nickel brake lines to the rear
• New standard shocks and springs all round
• Restored rear subframe with bushes
• New rear bearings
• New front wishbones
• New front top mounts
• New front and rear bump stops
• Front anti rollbar bushes
• New clutch and flywheel
• Restored 6 speed gearbox
• New CV gaiters
• Refurbished steering rack
• New silicon coolant kit
• New heater matrix
• New radiator
• New air-conditioning condenser
• New front and rear under trays
• New fuel tanks straps

Rust repair done by Joe at FCCS:

• Front eiffel towers
• Rear eiffel towers
• O/S boot/arch
• Rear inner arch edges
• Handful of minor floor bubbling
• Floor sealing

Jobs done update:

• Heated seats - photos
• Stereo, amp and front speakers - photos
• Fuel filler restoration - photos
• Headlight restoration - photos

I've stripped the majority of the brackets of the car to be powder coated. Heatsheild is off to be ceramic coated. Whilst that lot is off I'll be treating the minor rust on the front cross member and legs.

Brackets

Update:

• Brackets back from powder coating - photos
• Front crossmember and leg rust correction - photos

Should have heat shields back from cerakoting for next weekend as well as rebuilt turbo.

Let the assembly commence.

Update:

• Rebuilt with powder coated brackets and ceramic coated heatshields - photos
• Fitted new nuts, bolts and washer in most cases for items touched
• Fitted new stainless jubilee clamps on rusty or visible clamps
• Fitted new aux tensions, idler and belts
• Rust treated turbo lines and painted with high temp paint
• New oil drain host on turbo as previous showing signs of wear from rubbing
• Fitted refurbished turbo including oil and filter change and priming the turbo with oil
• Road test complete

Will be having a rest after all that now.

Needless to say I've learned my way around a coupe and pleased I didn't make make too many mistakes. Taking lots of photos of brackets, bagging up and labelling fasteners helped with putting it back together.