Sunbeam

Change of plan. Starting work late afternoon now, so quickly went for hoon, no leaks! Reassembled interior and a quick wash. I’ll drive it to work and hopefully when I finish at 2am on Sunday there will be no drama. Boy, it looks yellow in photos.

Remember this? Time to print a retraction. It was not the fault of the aftermarket, but a brain fart by the supplier who swiftly rectified the error. In the following picture, upper is correct, lower incorrect. With some limited shed time after dinner, I risked further spinal injury to refit the heater. Firstly I wanted to remove the steel heater return pipe so that I could fit a new hose. It’s not possible for me to do this in situ. This however required removal of the alternator and extraction from underneath the car. Et voila refitted in reverse, and then assembled the heater box with my flash new core. What a prick to refit. It goes in ok but if it’s not lined up millimetre perfect, the fresh air flap won’t open. Now I have a new heater core and all new hoses associated with the heater. I refilled the coolant for what seems like the 50th time in the last 6 months and ran it up to temp in the workshop. Wow, what heat and fast! No leaks yet, but I need to top up the system post cooldown and then go for a hoon and get it properly hot and up to pressure. If it oasses that test I can refit the ductwork and reassemble the lower dash. I probably won’t get around to that until next week because I’m a grownup apparently, with a job.

I removed the minging boot rubber today. Replaced with new lushness

My wheels were supplied with the correct bolts.

Every lady needs more shoes in her wardrobe, ask Imelda Marcos. Performance Challenger 14x6, FB marketscourge score. Anybody want the tyres? 185/55/14, never touched a road, manufactured late 2024, the finest Linlongs. 195/60 is what I need.

Oooh yeah. NOS parts.. Heater core is finally here. Also came with a new boot rubber.

I hadn’t considered that because the outlet spigot has to be just so to line up with a hole in the firewall and everything is packed very tightly. I’m pinning my hopes on my new Italian amigo.

More self-inflicted spinal injury today. Heater out, bypassed, heater removed from parts car… hopes aren’t high for this one. Next pic is the good side. Face that the tap attaches to is corroded away, and the fins are jam packed full of birds nest, and there is evidence of seepage. I am in contact with an Italian geezer via ebay who has a nos heater core. Looks like it will be cheaper than a recore if he doesn’t fleece me on the shipping.

This was to be a triumphant post about getting the dash back together and happy cruising. Got everything in, and then went for a test drive before refitting the lower dash parcel shelf thingy. The heat was cranking yesssss! Then the heater fan made a fluttering noise as I was pulling back into the shed. Apparently that’s what they sound like when water drips on the blades. Sigh. Pretty substantial rupture. Back to the drawing board, heater out again. I’ll probably bypass it and keep driving. Any good ideas for getting antifreeze out of carpet?

Tapered drain plugs can eat shit and die. Every one on my Fiat drips a bit, and they’re all new too.

I got quoted a shade over $400 to have the heater re-cored so 690 for an actual radiator is sounding pretty good.

I decided to leave the dash covering alone. Just keen to get driving again!

Apparently my heater core can’t be safely opened due to its construction. I’ll have to take the guy’s word for it. So I did a no-no and filled it with CLR, let it sit for 5 minutes (how much damage can you do to copper in 5 minutes?) and then flushed it back and forth many times with the hose until no more rusty coloured poop came out. It’s flowing way more easily through the core now. Then I did some dishes- that’s the fan housing with the fan motor removed. Cleaned the fan of 52 years of dust and filth and set to reassembling the heater box with new a new tap installed. The tap I took out was plastic and munted. The replacement is metal, probably Eastern European. Shiny new hose as well. Then into the car. I will confess, this is not my favourite job. It had to go in and out 3 times while I mucked around with clearances for various cables and the shitty tatty carpet that won’t stay put! Flushed with eventual success, the aftermarket strikes again! Yeah, that’s a bit short.

Ride height looks spot on for a practical vehicle. Just need some sik rimz.

Righto, my stash is all 3.90 and thicker, soz.