This is the one

After 18 months lying in the previous owner's driveway, notwithstanding a tow down to FCSS and back for inspection/intended repair, an apparently "famous fiat four" (thanks HiraethHuw ) based up her in Edinburgh have taken on not a little challenge considering three of us have little/no experience of such a project - bar reading of others' fascinating restoration threads

Timescale - open.

Plan - first wash and brush thoroughly, cleaning out engine bay, getting some polymer at least on paintwork and popping on a cover to protect her from the winter, seagull poo and u/v light.

Followed by:

Brake overhaul
Engine and gearbox out and overhaul
Corrosion treatment
Suspension
and a host of tidying/replacing and electrical work including repair to rodent-chewed loom!

Pics



Replacing the bonnet en route


New home ready for weather protection and imminent car cover


The gentle breeze during transit will have helped to disturb some of the leaves etc in the engine bay but a serious hoover and wash will be next on the agenda before the project starts in earnest.

For my own part it's taken me a while to come around to the whole idea but now it's an exciting reality and there's a mountain of stuff to learn! It has to be said that PJM was sorry to see her go after spotting it 18 months ago, having laid under a tree for 13 years, (the coop, not him ) but at least he can be content that it's destined for the revival he once planned

Workday No.1- Monday 4th September

watch this space...

How it emerged from its 13-year hibernation (march 16)

From under a tree..

down the road

arriving at

twilight hose, brush and clean

that's better...

bootwell...

...contrasting with engine bay

wheelarch inner seams


18 months later in new surroundings

Although evenings are darkening and the Broomy is at least 20 mins away for most of us work, in fits and starts, has begun. A file is born..

It lives outside under a cover and the bonnet is left loose off its hinges for easier access. Up to now has been mainly cleaning engine bay and removing each wheel, squirting penetrant fluid at every visible nut and bolt in readiness for removing callipers and wheelarch liners. 14 years' worth of leaves and debris is slowly being extracted from each newly-revealed orifice.

The battery tray has been removed and is being cleaned up


The front bumper was next


Lots of items shot with rust but bodywork still surprisingly sound.

Rad off next....

Today was Radiator day....first the a/c


then the rad itself -


and down below it

Can save the fans with luck...


That was enough!

Update:

Dismantling has now ceased so that bodywork tlc can be accessed and carried out.

All boot carpets removed and brushed clean.
Boot lid lining removed and mildew cleaned off.
Passenger seat removed along with rears, aired, mildew removed and upholstery cleaned.


Undertray

Boot rear trim


And now the important stuff for 'stopping' duties
Before

After


Both callipers (o/s with seized bleed nipple and h/brake cable end)


Cylinders in not bad nick


But seals leaving much to be desired

not to worry..


Brembo starters, cleaned with brake fluid



And finally after much help from


the POR15 finally gets under way




Immediate challenge is to try and "ease out" the seized bleed nipple as well as removing the fused h/brake cable end from the flange at the back of the o/s calliper - the side that tends to attract the worst wear and corrosion.



Next stop front brakes....

Well not quite....

Vultures re-gathering


...after a very lengthy gap in attention to this for all sorts of reasons the last 2 or 3 weeks has thankfully seen a renaissance of attention, mainly thanks to dante's sterling work cleaning up the rear callipers and associated parts, eventually fitting new seal kits so that they work perfectly

They've still to be refitted though as trailing-arm brakelines need replacing.

This evening was fun! First, off with the rear bumper


complete with undertray only delayed by one central recalcitrant 10mm hex bolt holding the tray on which had to be sawn off as the head corners were rounded

A good opportunity to brush out years of crud therefore, and it all cleaned up really nicely.

Then for the fuel tank.....having soaked relevant fixings in penetrant fluid over several days most of this went quite smoothly but there were a couple of surprises removing it though - a) the brake lines attached to the front end of it (near the cnetre of the car) with a sort of figure-of-eight clip, and b) the fuel line/hose also at the front, driver's side, which is routed over the anti-roll bar

It had more fuel in it than we all thought but since it's been lying there for 15 years unused it has to come out...and grotty it was too

At least now the compensator valve and neighbouring bits and pieces can be more easily evaluated Compensator valve

Pics to follow. added

quite a successful few weeks on the beast- in a concerted attempt to finish at the rear of the car, in order to get the back-wheels back on, and be back on the ground.

All underbody prep & treatment and undersealing done, from the subframe crossmember back. Greatly helped of course by the removal of the fuel tank to drain 'whatever' was in it, after nearly a decade of sitting still.

This Saturday saw the refitting of the overhauled rear callipers, and refurbed cable & pipe brackerty.
We have the rear compensator off and have sourced another and are currently waiting for brake lines, which are being fabricated for us.

fuel tank straps were ground-back & painted and this week we anticipate refitted the NS rear arch liner.

Once we get the rear-compensator & brake lines back- we'll fit those, then the fuel tank, then the handbrake cables, then the OS rear arch.
And then the wheels go back on- and we are done at the rear.

We finally sorted my little foxes-paw on the rear brake shoes fitting last night-

and got the NS arch liner back into position also

waiting on brake lines now...

New Rear-brake compensator fitted now to rear crossmember and new copper lines run from it.

Two: forwards to the junction point with the lines that run the length of the car.

And the two; that go either side to the tops of the trailing arms.

Pending final fit- we'll have to whip 'em off for a quick paint up- can anybody recommend something we could spray 'em with..?

Apologies; technology prevents me from attaching any images at this point.

How time flies....the logistics of co-ordinating four people, all with different talents, around work, families, weather - make this maybe more protracted than would be desirable for some, but then it's a commonality and an opportunity to learn about the coupe all in good company

It's now had a pretty thorough valet inside, removing historic dust, dirt and cobwebs, the intention being to throw in a bag of silica gel over the winter. All the cloth seating has now been extracted and cleaned up - it's in terrific condition.

Rear brake progress:


Callipers refitted after cleaning out and new seal kits


The new copper brakelines - passenger footwell to rear


Fitment to new rear compensator


Brake lines wrapped in self-amalganating tape


Perforation in boot/rear panel join, initial clean and prep, repair with Steel-Stik


Arch area and underneath undersealed



The heat shield had come off one of its bolts - this obstinate latter eventually succumbed to the knockometer after abortive attempts to drill it out from inside the boot.


Refitting the fuel tank


The handbrake cables are ready for action but seems we should have the hydraulic system up-and-running first. Won't be long till the rear bumper, left removeable for easier access underneath, is refitted permanently!


One of the many items on the front to-do list


The n/s wishbone mount is badly corroded - high also in priority.

Meanwhile the imminent front brake dismantling is being prepared by numerous attacks from penetrant spray - the onset of GMT is likely to mean a significant reduction in quality time in this open-air environment

With rear bakes now reassembled and fuel tank back on, time to tidy up the back end and prepare for 180 degree turnaround
The bumper polystyrene becomes loose when the fixing holes enlarge so three of the four allen bolts were given larger washers to secure it.
The gaffer tape over the n/s reflector is only temporary!


The turnaround would allow work on the front end to take place with a slightly improved shelter factor alonb with the tarp being rotated 90 degrees
Pre-tow

Installing driver's seat


Out she comes

In she comes, chocks as brakes

In position and tarp at work

The n/s wishbone needed replacing, the rear mounting collar reduced to a few scraps of rusty metal. Preparation for this began with droplink removal
Ball joint prised but rubber boot seal damaged

Droplink bolt sheared



Mostly removed apart from collar remaining fused on to antiroll bar


Sheared stuff

TRE removal


Pinchbolt removal


Getting clearer

Collar "removed", not without resistance


What awaits us now...

Phew-

well; that was a bit of a mission; but thanks to the extreme generosity of GrahamL and his tooling; we were able to get the NS wishbone off.

An initial issue was that the rear-most inboard clamp for the legacy wishbone mostly stayed in position; after the arm itself was removed! But one of us (who drives a yellow car) was able to whip-it-out with his patented virtuoso crow-bar technique.
(it's all in the wrists, apparently)
Once removed, an unhealthy residual rust pile remained in the place of each clamp. Once cleaned away; this revealed a still sound subframe.
Could do with a paint though.

Needless to say; it was a bit 'difficult' to get the lineup for the new subframe-to-wishbone bolts. I found myself wishing I could swear in Italian; so the car would be under no illusions how I felt.

New bolts fitted all round- detail is of ball-joint swivel pic-bolt & nut.

Final torquing and anti-toll bar drop-link tightness yet to be achieved.

Well, last night was quite productive- but before we get to that; some footage from recent off-site / workshop efforts on the front calipers.

Thanks to the miracles of our local FIAT/Alfa specialist (/magicians); McLennan's in Loanhead; they were able to free the seized input-unions on the rear of each caliper, and undo the slide-shim bolts.

(we already had the pistons & all the seals removed)

So we then laid into removing any alloy-corrosion from under the shim positions, cleaning & flattening the shims themselves and cleaning out the piston bores & dust seal seats (recess-rings).
Plus we cleaned out the slide-shims' mounting holes with an M6 tap.

Then one of the refurb kits was used to reassemble the NS caliper with new pressure & dust deals, and the slide-shims were re-attached with new M6 bolts and some Loctite.

so, last night was mostly 'remedial work' with regard to brake lines,

We have had remade the front NS line, and the two lines which drop under the NS floorwell; to join the two going to the rear of the car (compensator valve).

As it happens; thanks to the miracles of the AC pipework; we are unable to remove the OS front brake line; leaving it the sole remaining original line on the car.

It was a not inconsiderable fool-around, to route the two rear-bound lines down the firewall/bulkhead and out under the NS arch. At the bottom, these lines pass, just out of sight, behind the inner arch lip and turn under the car. There is a plastic bracket with holds them in parallel behind the inner arch lip, and this was refitted.

The NS front brake line was a walk-in-the-park by comparison, but advice would be gratefully received on the collective wisdom of whether this line is supposed to pass through this somewhat oversized plastic clip, as shown in the attached image, on it's way down to the wheel arch.
Our new NS line is the vertical object on the right of the picture; wrapped in self amalgamating tape. please see attached first image
We could not tell, by looking at the other (complete) cars present whether this was appropriate.

Further to that; the recently refurbed NS front caliper was temporarily held on the hub, with a couple of screwdrivers, whilst we bent-up a toy-piece of brake line to act as a template for the remanufacture of new ones.
The NS front brake-flexible was attached also.

At the same time as having a key role in all these tasks; he-who-drives-a-yellow-car-with-a-black-roof, also refitted both new track-rod-ends..