Sunbeam

Actually I’ve found some on ebay in Western Straya. Seller has loads of Fiat stuff. Really helpful. I’m getting a set of 80.4mm Borgo pistons, about $650 landed.

Got a call from the engine shop, bore wear is 6 thou which is the trigger for a rebore. New pistons on the way$$$$$!

Parts supplier came through. Took a while but today I took delivery of a new donut free of charge. I’m at home with the Rona this week, so I’m claiming the torquing of 3 bolts as achievement. To be honest I’ve had worse colds, but my excuse for doing nothing is that there’s a stack of polycarbonate roofing in my way. Happily they torqued up nicely. This donut has one piece crush tubes, and the tolerance is way better.

Find previous bodywork jockey and apply ball-pein hammer? Doesn’t help with the ripply door though.

When I lived in Vanuatu one of the ex-pat lifers who ran a workshop ran his LD28 powered Range Rover classic on straight coconut oil. It would only start if the fuel temp was mid 20’s temperature or warmer, which was most of the time. Once running it was good to go as it had a fuel heat exchanger set up. Exhaust smelled yum. There was a fleet of government Isuzu utes running the stuff too.

West coast mate is running 60/40 diesel/filtered chip oil in 4D56T L200. Going well apparently.

It’s for the lifting strop. guffaw..

Totp!

So, I pulled the pin after 380km. It’s just too embarrassing. Anyway driving like an economy anorak netted 4.2l/100km. One does feel smug though, putting $39 of gas in the tank for 380km. Now I can get back to driving like normal.

The Aqua definitely isn’t optimised for high rpm. Mine doesn’t go over 4800rpm no matter how hard you mash the throttle. Which is probably why the petrol engine only makes 54kw.

Mine has failed to save the Aqua battery (AGM) but it is 9 years old, so meh. Worked mint for a week but now it’s running low again.

Already on it! Geeking out hard.

This is basically just a proof of life post. Due to economic setbacks, 2021 did not see the return to roadworthiness of the Fiat. I’m chipping away at things though, and having a fun time with the quality (or lack thereof) of today’s aftermarket parts. Exhibit A. New driveshaft centre bearing support (“pillowblock” in the book… cute name) spacing of bolt holes… To slot or not? And an expensive piece of cheese: this is a giubo, or “flex coupling”. The o.g. Unit is a bit doughy and cracked after 50 years. The steel sleeve pictured collapsed before getting anywhere near the specified torque on the fastener. I’m in talks with the supplier who seems to be deflecting at the moment.

This is harder than I thought, as my strong sense of shame is battling with my scientific curiosity. I have made the eco bar go into the red twice already.

Aqua just returned 4.6l/100km. I’m going to try this next tank driving like an annoying eco wanker, then the next one after that driving like a taxi driver (full throttle acceleration/hard stops) all in the interests of science.

Wow. Is that from a trip computer or observed by km/fill up? Impressive for ‘Murica pickup.

I do 45 km each way from North Canterbury to the airport. I just bought an Aqua. Will see how it goes and report back. First mod was to increase tyre pressure from 29 to 39 psi.

Anyone rocking a manual Swift? Real world l/100?

Speaking of which, I’m seriously considering buying an Aqua for cheap runnings…unless a tidy big block K11 comes along in the next few days. People struggle to work me out when they see my fleet. Nissan Leaf parked next to Grand Cherokee V8. Parking an Uber in the drive would be funny.

Wow. Didn’t know manual hybrids existed. Still, spendy/small market?

Those wheels are a VAST improvement!

About time! (Also people who live in glass houses, I can’t talk etc…)

Pretty much, yeah. The result surprised me, because normally I’m sceptical of magic potions.

In other news the Fiat 1500 isn’t happening. The too hard basket became a yawning abyss and the owner offered to reverse the deal, so I said yes. You North Islanders keep an eye out on TradeMe. It’ll be relisted soon. Sad, but onward and upward.

Rewind even further. Before I tore into the engine I needed to do something with the bumpers because they were cluttering up my work bench. They’re alright on the outside, and mostly straight but the overriders have seen better days and probably a few knocks too. I wanted to do an overrider delete anyway because I prefer the look. The insides of the bumpers were deeply rusty. I mummified the shiny side with masking tape. Then, I spent ages trying to clean up the inner surfaces. Starting with a wire brush and then moving to sandpaper. This took hours! The end result wasn’t great, but I cleaned and degreased them and then went Brunox x 3 coats, high build primer, then 3 top coats in black. I then needed some long bolts to replace the long studs that are part of the overriders. No bumper bolts I have seen are anywhere near long enough, so I ended up buying stainless engineering coach bolts. These are a very dull finish and have grading numbers on the heads. I ground the numbers off very carefully with my most worn out flap disc. Then I went through wet sanding by hand up to 2000 grit and then finished with Autosol. They came up nice. No wide shot, sorry due to fullness of shed, but I’m happy enough. There are some visible witness marks in the chrome mostly on the rear bumper where the overriders used to sit, but the bumpers are not the worst looking part of the car by a long way. I’m no further with the engine either.