Sunbeam

Hi everyone. Having got back from 5 weeks overseas and on the back of finishing and moving into the house, I took pity on this thing today and dug it out of the corner of the shed. Fired up nearly straight away. Pretty good since it hasn’t moved since January. Then I got all fired up and thought I’d flush the cooling system. It has gunge floating in the expansion tank and I want to clean out the whole system and see if it comes back. Looks a bit suspect but it doesn’t overheat or pressurise the cooling system, or milk up the oil so I’m not super worried at this stage. Anyways, I thought while I have the hoses etc off, I should do the cambelt too, so I started getting the tools out, making a plan of attack, and then.....meh. Jet lagged. Maybe later.

Good find. Doesn’t even look like it’s made of rust.

Should make some good sucking noises when jandal given.

Clearly, yes.

Novel solution putting the air filter inside the car. Have you considered A.Noise and B. needing to run it with the windows open in case it sucks your brain out/implodes the windows?

Well, it's been a while...I do have a good excuse though, we are building a house and have been living in a 40 square metre portacom since pretty much my last post, so all my spare time has been directed to the build. We're trying to get moved in before winter really bites. Would you look at the state of my shed.... However, I have done a Fiat related thing recently. My finger got real busy clicking and resulted in purchasing THIS: See you in 6 months...

Unbelievably cool. Well done. There's a yellow one floating around Christchurch I've been lusting after. Can't wait to see what you do with it!

Good work on the front panel. Mine's rotting in the same place. It's the only reason I haven't taken it for a wof yet. Would you rate it a complicated diy fix?

Thanks to @azzurro I have another carb to try. Out with the old: In with the new (well, older actually) I'm getting quite quick at removing and installing Fiat 125 Carburettors. As you can see, it is slightly different around the fuel inlet side and is missing the breather hose thingy. Must have been pretty well dialled in because it fired up straight away. I then took it for a hoon down the road and maaaayte it's much better. Some fine tuning to be done with the idle but very driveable. I'm calling it a win.

Which is exactly why it can wait!

Sounds like a good deal! Pm me bank details and I'll pm my addresses

I'd be keen to give that carb a go. Let me know how many Lire you want for it and postage. I am beginning to suspect seat damage in the mixture screw, and there is a hairline fracture in the accelerator pump housing. The brake tubing is weird, I can't find it tracking from anywhwere and it only started seeping after I bled the system with Valvoline Dot4. All the tubing is sweating on all sides. At least it's easy/ cheap to fix this problem. the 124 box looks good sitting on my garage floor for now. The 4 speed in the car is mechanically fine until I find time. It'd be interesting to see how long the 124 gearbox in yours lasts behind a 2 litre. I have found a bit of anecdotal evidence that the 124 5 speed is one weakest Fiat boxes made.

Update time, although not much to report on the car except it's still idling poorly. We have had a few dramas of late at the property with the recent heavy rains. The road culvert is not big enough, and more importantly, the shed leaks. A lot. Yesterday was a nice sunny day so apprentice no 3 and I took the Fiat for a drive. It's going well except not idling and the accelerator pump circuit is not working. I'm saving for another carb setup. I also noticed the lines from the brake fluid reservoir to the master cylinder are "sweating" brake fluid. Never seen anything like it. In happier news, I bought a compressor! Now I just need to pop a 15A socket in the shed so it can work...

All good. Sneak away! Undecided as to their future at this point.

Done some research on this topic. If they were pure magnesium I would see them as shed ornaments for sure. I will have them NDT'd for peace of mind. The alloy formulation must be reasonably durable, Cromodoras of this vintage are still kicking around in fairly large numbers, although mostly in Europe/US. But yeah not taking anything for granted

Had them for years, I was saving them for my Triumph, but it got sold. I found them in a wreckers yard on a Datsun Silvia. They got a hiding on Frankenstarlet river buggy for years too before I realised they are quite rare and worth money.

Quite like this look. Has a 302 in it....

Oh, and wheels are sorted. Current rims are fake wires with wrong stud pattern, the holes are ovaled to fit!!!! 5 rusty Rostyles in the boot but I have these 1978 Cromodora CD78s 14x6, good offset and Magnesium alloy. They are stupidly light. I'll get em crack tested before use but they have held air for over 10 years so should be good.

Step two, remove spark plugs, 10 second squirt of WD40 in each hole, and for good measure fill hole with oil, in this case leftover expensive synthetic ATF. I'll let that soak for a while before I try and turn the crank nut. Remove rocker cover and discover: The CLEANEST valvetrain I have EVER laid eyes on!! Also, the inside of the carb looks spotless and new, and even the radiator is not full of rust

Plans? Leave in big shed, forget about it and build a house. Officially. I'm busting to get it going though, so today I pulled some rats nest out of the engine bay and discovered a missing starter motor. The bellhousing is full of fluff too. As you can see it's a bit filthy. The car is also originally white. Aand, it has a Weber Carb. Looks like a 32/36 DGV on a Pierce manifold. It also has a Piranha ignition sticker on the back window, but I haven't taken the dizzy cap off yet for a look. Carpet is mint

This Old girl could be a challenge to register. It has never been complied despite having spent the last 24 years here. I have the North Dakota Certificate of title and that's IT as far as paperwork goes. Anyone been through an exercise like this? Project Thread

This started over a few Ales in Los Angeles with a colleague. It was agreed that the car could go to a good home (mine) for some craft IPA. It took me a while but I finally got around to it last month. My buddy and I hitched a trailer onto the trusty Pajero and set off on a recovery trip that saw us go from Rangiora to Clevedon and back again in 60 hours. My mate had a stroke the day after which was apparently unrelated, but I digress (he's fine now BTW). This car came in from North Dakota in 1993, imported by my colleague. He had it converted to RHD in 1995 and it moved into an old cow shed In Clevedon in 1998. Due to job/no time/house moves etc. it never got entry certified. It did not move again until June 10, 2017 when we dragged it out onto the trailer. It looks like it's been dredged out of a pond, but remarkably it's quite solid. If only it didn't have a car cover on it I think it would have come out much better. New home:

As seen on my Fiat thread, I have obtained an MG BGT in British Racing Green Sadly it Actually looks like this: Discussion thread

Score! Had that one on the watchlist. Can't really go wrong at that price. Good luck

I just can't believe how small they are in the metal ( or what's left of it lol)