Whats next

Currently engine,gear box,prop shaft are out. The rear axle and gearbox are going in for a service on Monday

The plan is to sort out the front and back wheels for now while i wait for the brakes to arrive.
I need to get new shocks (front and back) as mine are no longer usable.
To remove the body from the chassis and get the chassis sandblasted and painted.
Once that's back, get the wheels back onto the chassis and then turn my attention onto the engine.
When its firing and everything is grafting then the body work can start.


At least thats my plan anyway.

It's out!

Engine ready to come out

Status report

So where we are now is kind of exciting. In the next two weeks i will buy an engine crane and take the engine out so i can get to the whole front assembly and start working on that. Brake cylinders and a brake pump are on their way from Italy. I cant actually get to anything easily without taking the engine out. Unfortunately years of Tectyl, paint and grime have solidified the bolts.

The braking system has been cleaned and had the rust removed. I am going to paint them at some stage this week although i am going to have to convince Neen to allow me to bake the parts in the oven to allow the paint to cure properly. That should be interesting.

I have disconnected the engine and gearbox save for the two engine mount bolts and the radiator has been removed. Two issues that have come up, while trying to remove the exhaust manifold I stripped one bolt and the other sheared off. I will have to cut the stripped one which might be difficult given how small the working space is.

For now I will take apart the rear axle and clean it up. It has seemingly sprung a leak over the last 60 years so there is a ton of oil over the bottom.

Oh, the other issue with the engine! Of the 4 bolts holding the engine down, 2 are tight, 1 is missing a nut and the other isn't even through the hole in the chassis. Deathtrap is what that is.

Rear axle is out!

Skateboards come in handy

Before and afters on the drums

Some before and afters.

Removing rust from the drums

I read about removing rust using electrolysis, it worked out to be not too hard. My battery charger is a little bit more sophisticated so it realised I wasnt charging a battery and it shuts off. Improvised using an old laptop charger running 19v at 4a. Working like a charm.

Cleaning up the front left

>

And again we start...

This time, I'm going to do it. Last night i took the front fender off so i could pull the brakes out and have a good look at them. As it had happened 10 years ago, the brake fluid has dried in the wheel cylinders and will take much effort to sort out. Speaking to the ballie on the weekend he told me the cylinders are heavily pitted so i will need to get them resleeved. It might be cheapert to buy it online from mrfiat.com. I noticed on the first one that the cylinder is broken on one side, seen in the last picture, so i will most likely need to buy a new one anyway.

Redoing the brakes