1984 Restoration

Wiring Loom

Hi TonyK

Yes I will be changing the loom and throttle cable, I'm putting a Punto gt engine and gearbox in so will be adapting another wiring loom to take power to the gt loom power and i'm adding and removing a few other bits and bobs as well and will have to make a new throttle cable as well so left in in so I couldn't loose it as i may require the pedal end.

You may have noticed a few modifications in the engine bay as well like the gearbox stabilizer, some brackets for the oil cooler and some nuts for the charge cooler pump to fix to.
 
awesome job......a man after my own heart, I can tell you it is worth all the effort to do it once - do it right. The only mistake I made was reskinning only the bottom of the doors. If rust is in the bottoms, IT WILL BE in the whole door, mainly where the skin folds around the frame. I just recieved two door skins from our mate Henk and have stripped the doors, sand blasted , epoxy primed then reskinned and repainted. Great job with yours, keep the high standards and photos comming.
Lappy:clap:
 
STOP THE PRESSES!

Gunna, PLEASE consider creating a new thread dedicated to posting copious documentation of your new drivetrain installation!

(I'm not saying to end this one which has been mostly body restoration, I'm just saying one that deals exclusively with your drivetrain swap deserves its own thread.)

Many folks on XWeb are enthusiastic about engine swaps, and a thread showing a swap involving a more modern FIAT drivetrain will certainly be a VERY popular thread.
 
Trunk floor

Hi Fiatpwr I did make the panel myself, I modified a hydraulic pipe bender then welded some 1"x1/4" to the shape I wanted on a base plate I made to fit the bender and made a head piece to fit the ram with another piece of 1" attached to it and although it was braced every way it could be it still flexed quite a bit under pressure and what i didn't realize was you can only use them cheap benders flat down which made it very hard to position everything.
I wouldn't recommend you do it this way I wouldn't of modified mine if i'd known, you can see the center section on my panel is very slightly offset and angled as it was so difficult holding everything in line whist pumping the ram.
 
Awesome job. Love the pics. I've considered doing the same, stripping the whole car down to bare minimum, making a cool rotisserie, would be so nice. I worry I won't know where things go when I try to put it all back togther. Or maybe, by stripping it and because things only go back in one way, usually. Maybe its not so bad. I should probabaly get more used to the vehicle before totally tearing it apart. Excellent info and very inspiring. Thanks for posting.
 
Putting it back

Hi Tin Soldier, I will have double the fun putting it back together as it was part stripped when i got it and I took some small items off it as well 10 years ago and its been moved around so many times that some items of trim have gone missing.
I know i'm missing a door weather strips a wiper arm a joiner clip for the window surround and most of all my BLOOMING MARBLES!!!!!

I'm busy sorting out the wiring at the moment and its doing my head in as i'm doing it under artificial lights every time you think you've got the right wire you realize its the the other dark wire next to it.
 
What can I say!!!

This is outstanding work, I only hope I can do justice to mine. I just need to ask a questions?

Rust...I know it's a major problem with these cars, and sometimes the area the rust has been found in and getting access to do any decent rust removal can sometimes be problematic. Any suggestions...other than cutting it out. I can tell you now I've cut a lot out.

I have to say looking at what you have done keeps me on track to do all the metal work as near as possible to the original spec... it's not easy.

I don't need to say it but I'm going to "keep up the good work"
 
Rust blooming rust

Hi DaveF I too have cut out lots of rusty metal and have to say that it is my preferred method but when its in an area that is not too rusty I tend to do lots and lots of sanding then rust cure then I will sand the area again then redo the rust cure, I might do this five times before there is finally no more rusty debris coming off. Its absolutely amazing how you think you have cleaned up the rust apply acid then it seems to free up the rust that you didn't get or see, keep doing this and eventually you will get all the rust off.
My mate thinks I got a little anal about it but the only solution is lots of elbow grease.
I also found that a rotary burr set and 1/8 drill bit was absolutely invaluable when used with a die grinder great if you've got any solid areas with pitting, I spent hours and hours working on the rear suspension cross member with the die grinder, the metal is very thick there but was pitted quite a lot, I used lots of acid and lots of wire wool and even more elbow grease.
I have spent around 1200 hours to get it this far its scary how much time it takes but that's making all the repair parts as well
 
Slow going

Been a little slow the last few months been far too busy working around Christmas time but just about ready to put the suspension together.
Made these up in the last month not too sure about the colour but the paint was free!!!!
 
Suspension on!

Got the suspension together all loose ready for torquing up when its back on its wheels, I think looks pretty sweet and quite pleased with the way the D.I.Y coilovers came out.


 
Looks ALMOST right... You forgot to...

paint the springs RED!



All performance springs are RED, except mine, which are BLUE... but they are stock and just cut down.



OK... maybe there are some more colors like...



... but the RED ones are the FASTEST!

I know... one step forward and two steps back. But its better to take them apart NOW and paint them RED than later...

(hehehe)

Nice work otherwise... Congrats!
 
Shockers

Here's a drawing of what I did, I welded all the parts up there not rebuild-able as I can't remember actually having to change a shock absorber in 30 years!
I was lucky enough to have all the relevant bits of tube in stock at work so all it cost me was my time.
The brackets were CNC'd out of 5mm plate on our router at work with plenty of lubricant squirted regularly onto it.(looked very silly on an 11'x5' bed)
Shocks are KYB 363017 and I've used Faulkner 225lb rear and 175lbs front as far as I can tell thats around 18% stiffer than stock, I know the KYB's probably won't handle much more than that and i'm not wanting too harsh ride.

 
Strut tops

I forgot to mention about the tops I modified the rear tops by cutting away all the unwanted metal then simply putting a spacer tube onto the strut top, I think it was 16mm wide with 12mm hole otherwise the shocker will not fit properly.
The fronts I used the original alloy top dome and used the spring top cap that came with my coilovers but i machined a recess to take a 2mm thick thrust bearing so the steering should be lush, wasn't difficult and anyone with a lathe should be able to do the same.
 
Still Black

I like the contrast and unless I run them over don't think anyone will notice!!!
 
More work done

Got the fuel tank cleaned out which was a complete pain, 17 year old fuel 1 1/2" deep completely solid took hours of scraping a good long soak of acetone to loosen up then lots more cleaning before I could finally treat rust and seal the tank.
Tank is now fitted with electric fuel pump and sensor now fixed and working again and pipework for charge cooler fitted along with radiators

 
OK Gunna... I reviewed everything and might have...

missed it where you stated just WHAT those two black pipes are for leading fore and aft parallel to the stock coolant lines...

Secondly... with all the Black, Yellow and Grey paint against the Orange Body color... you really NEED Red springs...
 
The black pipes are for a charge cooler which is an air to water to air heat exchange system one would use with either a turbo (most likely) or a supercharger.

If he is planning an Uno Turbo set up and wants to ensure proper cooling of the intake air without having a air to air intercooler in the engine compartment which will be prone to heat soak and limited airflow.

With an electric water pump he can run a lot of water through the system to cool the intake air without lots of air hose plumbing and reduce turbo lag with any luck.

This is an example of one for a supercharger, turbo solutions would be similar: http://www.paxtonauto.com/product.php?id=248

classiccarbcooler.jpg


Lotus used systems like this on the Esprit before they went to the V8 engined cars.

Some info from another maker to better explain the ideas around this solution:

http://www.gdmcoolers.co.uk/IntercoolervsChargeCoolervsNothing.php
 
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