Fiat Coupe Club UK

Project front end mechanical

Posted By: french_coupe

Project front end mechanical - 28/10/2022 15:59

I did post the below in a thread on the General Chat page, but decided to start a project thread as it will take some time as I have other things going so cannot spend too much time just on the coupe. Hopefully I will be done January sometime, but I will see.


Original post:

The wife's coupe was due a cambelt change. It was overdue and I hadn't kept up with regular maintenance due to a house move and not having a garage. The house still needs a load of work but the garage was finished a couple of months ago.
I am in no rush to get the coupe back on the road so its getting worked on whenever I get chance and have the energy!!!

I started with knowing the cambelt needed doing so decided that everything associated with it would get done too. I ordered all of the pulleys, belts, water pump etc as well as cam phase sensor. I also have a cambelt guard from Joe that I ordered ages ago, so that will go on. Also replacing the cam cover gasket and the 5 plugs.

Whilst looking around the car I see the water hoses could do with replacing so they are on order. Going with Viper. A new thermostat going in too as its pretty old now.

There were oil leaks all over the place so that meant oil filter back plate seal as well as oil cooler pipe seals. Dip stick tube needs a new seal too. The gearbox is not leaking too much but I decided to do the output shaft seals as well.

I noticed that there was oil from the bell housing so the gearbox has come off for a crankshaft seal. Might as well do both ends seeing as the cambelt is getting done anyway.
As the gearbox is off then the clutch may as well be replaced. The old Valeo is in good order, but with 315bhp I have gone for an uprated CG clutch.

With all the bits coming off I saw that one of the wishbone ball joints was loose so I am replacing both wishbones. There has been a whining noise from the front right side for a while so both front wheel bearings are getting changed as well as the steering pump bearing.
At the same time I am making a 5 ton hydraulic press. It will pay for itself with just this work. I had quite a bit of the steel anyway so its mainly just time.

One of the CV joints is not great so replacing both sides.

The steering rack gaiters are split so changing these and both track rod ends at the same time.

The callipers came off and the bottom thread stripped on both so I have a Helicoil kit to repair these.

The aircon needs the compressor overhauling. I already have the seal and gasket set so good to go here. The condenser had seen better days so I have ordered a new one (Not easy to find now. I got this one from Italy). A new dryer as a matter of course too.

I am replacing the starter as its a real pain to get to and it has occasionally been temperamental.

Once its all cleaned up and back together the car will get all new fluids and filters too.

Hopefully the car will be back on the road sometime around Xmas / New Year.

I knew that the car needed some TLC and she is 25 years old now (The wife bought the car new back in 1997). I know that the investment will be worth it as the life of the car will be greatly extended.
Next year hopefully, we will get her resprayed.

After all the work we will be ready for Turin 2024.

A couple of pics of the car looking a bit sorry for itself partially stripped and car parts all over the garage.

I hope that this inspires people for winter repairs, maintenance or upgrades.

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Posted By: french_coupe

Re: Project front end mechanical - 04/11/2022 15:50

Not much done this week. Mainly busy with house renovations, but avoid this where possible!!!

I have done some cleaning of the engine and engine bay, but there is a way to go.
I was thinking that it may need re-painting, but actually just touching up will probably do, but I will see how it turns out.
Need to sort out what paint I can get locally. Hopefully I can get colour match aerosols made up. Not sure though.

This afternoon I managed to get one of the wheel bearings out, cleaned up the hub and re-painted it.

This week I did finish my 5 ton hydraulic press. Just tried it once to remove the centre of the hub from the wheel bearing. Seems fine so should work on heavier jobs. I will know once I put the new wheel bearings in.
My welding is not great, but with practice it will be fine.

I don't expect to get too much done before Xmas now, but will try to do a bit every week and post here.

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Posted By: french_coupe

Re: Project front end mechanical - 28/11/2022 12:25

The hydraulic press has come in very handy. Well worth the time to build.
For anyone interested here is the link that I looked at for the design. I didnt stick to the design and I welded it as its easier for me than drilling a load of holes.

https://www.mistrymaketool.com/homemade-mini-hydraulic-press-machine/

The wheel bearings went in fine. I did make a stand for the hub to sit on to get it level. Just makes life easy. It works for both sides of the hub too.
I also purchased a kit for pressing bushes in or out. I used this on the power steering pump bearing. Great tool as the sleeves are idea for the hydraulic press.

I did the gearbox driveshaft seals with the press, just to make sure that they went in level.

A few pictures attached.

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Posted By: french_coupe

Re: Project front end mechanical - 28/11/2022 12:28

The gearbox is ready to go back in. I just need to change the crankshaft seal, but the flywheel back on and the new CG clutch.

I do need to look at the metal work in the engine bay first. I was going to respray, but having cleaned it up there is just a little bit of surface rust, so thinking just a touchup may do. The car has only spent 2 years or so in the UK so rust so no issue.
The cambelt side is worse though, so that will need painting.
Posted By: french_coupe

Re: Project front end mechanical - 30/11/2022 14:54

Took the old crankshaft seal off today, but didn't get time to get the new one on yet.

A pic of the area cleaned up and a few pics of the chassis condition.

Looking again I have decided that this side just needs touching up once the rust has been removed or treated. It is only surface rust so not a big problem.

I will look at the other side once I get to the cambelt change. That side definitely needs more work though.

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Posted By: french_coupe

Re: Project front end mechanical - 30/11/2022 14:59

Just for interest, here is a photo of a steel workbench that I made.

Before I did any work on the car I needed some kind of workbench. I do still need to make some wood workbenches and storage shelving units. I decided that I steel one on wheels would be best to start with.

It has turned out to be great. I use it most days and it's been invaluable getting the car sorted as well as stuff around the house and garden. Being on lockable wheels has made it very versatile too.

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Posted By: french_coupe

Re: Project front end mechanical - 08/12/2022 16:22

Today I did some cleaning of parts and spraying of others. I will put some pics up later on down line.

I have also decided to spray some of the chassis legs. Not going mad, but it was a little rough. Only minor surface rust however. The cambelt side is worse so I will see how the gearbox side goes now.
It should look OK without stripping the whole engine bay and doing everything. Hopefully I will get this done in the next few days.

The flywheel is back on. I didn't have a flywheel locking tool so decided that I would make one. This turned out to be way easier than I thought. Just a short length of 30mm box tubing with a hole in it. Worked perfectly. Pics attached.

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Posted By: french_coupe

Re: Project front end mechanical - 13/12/2022 18:14

Managed to get some yellow on today.
Hopefully its not freezing cold tomorrow and I will get some lacquer on.

It's started with a couple of simple tasks and I just cannot resist the temptation to do a little more. I have now started painting the subframe too. Not in the plan but the job has got a lot bigger than intended.
Worth the effort in the long run though.
Still enjoying the journey and it keeps me off the streets.

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Posted By: french_coupe

Re: Project front end mechanical - 18/12/2022 12:49

Finished the lacquer painting this week. Not a perfect job, but the rust has gone and it looks way better than it did. Pretty happy considering its a quick blow over with rattle cans. That's one side finished.

Now I can move on and get the gearbox back in. It's now the start of rebuilding instead of taking more and more stuff off.

I also managed to get more parts cleaned off and painted.

Hopefully this week the anti roll bar bushes will arrive. I forgot to order these so have to wait. I think that I now have all the parts needed!!! Probably something else will surprise me though.

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Posted By: french_coupe

Re: Project front end mechanical - 25/12/2022 12:07

Merry Xmas to everyone. Hope you are all enjoying the holidays.

The clutch is in and I fitted the gearbox today. No issues getting everything back together.

In the attached picture you can see the metal bracket bolted to the yellow jack. This made getting the gearbox out very easy. Going back wasn't quite as easy, but still only took 20 mins or so and managed on my own, so very happy.

I do need to attached the front gearbox mount temporarily so that I can get another home made bracket on to support the whole engine and gearbox so that I can start on the cambelt side of the engine.

So far so good.

Waiting on anti roll bar bushes. They will arrive next week. That will then be the subframe renovated with new wishbones and anti roll bar fitted ready to go back in.

Still cleaning and / or painting parts that were previously removed.

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Posted By: french_coupe

Re: Project front end mechanical - 31/12/2022 12:13

The engine and gearbox are now supported and the whole lot is free. I moved the engine over a good few inches to get good access to the cambelt, but also the chassis leg etc so that I can clean it up and paint.
There is a lot of grime all over the chassis leg as well as some surface rust, but its not bad really.

The engine support bracket worked well, but I did need some assistance once the engine mounts were free. The bracket is sitting on the jack and not bolted so the engine wanted to fall backwards. No problem with someone holding the engine whilst I got some axle stands under it.
Now I have good access.

The engine is nice and clean inside with no significant ware to the camshafts. Synthetic oil really is worth the extra money.

The anti roll bar bushes have arrived.

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Posted By: french_coupe

Re: Project front end mechanical - 01/01/2023 13:03

The subframe is done. It's been cleaned and painted. The new wishbones are fitted as well as the anti roll bar with the new bushes.

Started to tackle the chassis leg today too. After a good clean it's not looking bad. I have started to get the rust sorted with the Dremel and some sanding. Still a bit to go before it's ready to paint.

Cleaned a few other parts too. The parts cleaning seems to be never ending!!

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Posted By: french_coupe

Re: Project front end mechanical - 12/04/2023 11:51

It's been a while but I have finally got around to working on the Coupe again. House renovations got in the way, but thankfully that chore is done at long last.

So this week :
1. I have managed to get the washer bottle / coolant tank side of the engine bay back in.
2. I have sorted out wrapping some of the wiring that is not so great. I should really replace the rubber boots, but I will do that another time one by one.
3. Fitted a new starter motor.
4. Refitted the subframe with a new gearbox mount. There is a picture below with a home made bracket on the jack which I made to remove the subframe. This made moving and fitting the subframe a very easy one man job.
5. Fitted the top stabaliser mount with its new bushes.
6. I had a belt guard from Joe that I fitted too. I have had it years, but never got around to getting it on the car.
7. New, ProAlloy CHOD fitted.
8. New thermostat.
9. Started to fit the Viper hose kit. For now it's just the heater pipes.

The main work has been to get the tricky hard to reach stuff done and the engine back in fully.

So far so good. Hopefully I will get some more time this week to get further along. Not too long now before she will be back on the road.

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Posted By: french_coupe

Re: Project front end mechanical - 12/04/2023 12:41

A couple more photos. Not east to see, but the new thermostat fitted and the new blue Viper hoses to the heater matrix. The 2nd photo is behind the engine with the new ProAlloy CHOD fitted.

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Posted By: french_coupe

Re: Project front end mechanical - 12/05/2023 16:34

This week I have managed to get everything back on the car.
All parts have been cleaned / renovated or new. I am not quite ready to start the engine yet as there are a few small jobs to sort and a couple of bits that came up as I was rebuilding.

I found the spring to the rear brake proportioning valve has broken so a new one is on order.
Also the bonnet struts decided to give up on me all of a sudden. I have ordered new, but I went with the old style lock type instead.

The brake calipers also need some work. The thread stripped out of the bottom bolt (both sides) when I removed them. I have had the Helicoil kit for a while, but only just getting around to look at this job.

Once the calipers are done then the fluids can go in and (hopefully) start the engine and check everything over.

With all that done I will just have to check the tracking before taking the car for test. This depends on when the spring for the rear brakes get here.

Oh and I need to wash the car. It is filthy. Its never looked so bad before.

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Posted By: french_coupe

Re: Project front end mechanical - 12/05/2023 16:51

So it turns out that you can repair the caliper threads with them in place on the hub. This saves having to bleed the bakes and also means that the caliper is well supported and not on the bench rolling around whilst drilling and tapping.

If you look at the photo in the last post you will see that the caliper was taken off to remove the disk.

The flexi brake pipe needs to be released from the strut as the caliper needs to be twisted up. The caliper was then secured with the top bolt and twisted up as high as it would go without damaging the solid brake pipe.

Doing this allows enough space for the tap to be used from the rear. Once the tap is done the rest is easy. The new thread was inserted (again from the rear) and the caliper replaced without the disk just to check everything.

Once everything was checked the caliper was removed and everything rebuild.

Photo 1 is the hole being tapped from the rear.
Photo 2 is of the hole drilled and threaded.
Photo 3 is the hole with the new thread inserted.
Photo's 4 and 5 is with everything bolted up to check.

You can see from the photos that it's actually a good job and pretty easy to do. Hopefully this will help someone with what seems like a daunting task, but is actually quite simple.

I guess sticking to the correct torque for the calipers will help too. I never bothered before I just did them tight, but clearly this was too much.

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Posted By: french_coupe

Re: Project front end mechanical - 18/05/2023 12:34

This week I have managed to get the fluids in the car and the new bonnet strut fitted.
The car started easily (Once cranked over to get full oil pressure). I have been checking everything over carefully so haven't taken the car for a drive yet.

Tracking is done too.

Everything works as it should
.
I found a blown side light bulb. Now fixed.

Also I have a coolant leak. Not yet sorted but will do this over the weekend and the engine was still hot earlier today.

The biggest pain is a leak from the flange to the gearbox seal housing on the visco coupling side. I will look at this over the weekend too. Not a massive job but not a nice one to re-do. The seal itself is fine as it's new. The problem is with the large "O" ring in the flange mount.

I gave the car a quick rinse too as it was filthy.
Looking good now and almost done.

Still waiting for the brake proportioning spring anyway.
Posted By: french_coupe

Re: Project front end mechanical - 20/05/2023 09:31

Today I managed to sort the gearbox flange seal. At least I hope it's sorted. I still have to put oil in the gearbox, but I need to buy more!!
I should have drained the gear oil before starting the job, but I thought that there would just be a small amount of oil come out. It turns out that about a litre came out so eventually I drained the rest out as I was getting covered in the stuff.
I did remove the hub nut to gain more access. Definitely worth doing. I had another spare nut anyway.

The water leaks are fixed. There were a couple of small leaks due to the clamps on the new Viper hoses not being tight enough. I have a pressure tester so that makes the job a lot easier without getting burns up my arms.

I saw a small issue with one of the new gaiters for the steering rack. It ended up twisted when I did the tracking. There is not enough access to sort it with the car on ramps so will do that when I can get the wheel off that side. It's an easy fix though.

I will get the above bits sorted tomorrow so that will just leave the spring for the rear bakes once it arrives and the gas for the air con.

Almost there now. Looking forward to a couple of short test runs, getting the test done and giving the car back to the wife to enjoy.
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