azzurro

Used up a whole 1L canister of Dinotrol underbody on the front half when i got home tonight, should keep it nice for a while, as well as hiding my secret excavations. Ill cavity wax in the corners and access holes tomorrow and then its off the stands. My Aliexpress oder turned up too, so I finished off wiring up the centre console on the bench. Sound Pressure, Oil Pressure, Engine Pressure and Electrical Pressure Gauges ready to go. This combination of Chinas finest automotive accessories (head unit, 3x 2" gauges cluster, and a 2" Tach) cost me US$62 including shipping, and im quite pleased with my purchase so far, and i very much like the factory ''2FM + 5 AM Station Memory' looks, even the wonky chrome kinda suits. Mechless Head unit has bluetooth, Aux and USB inputs and a tuner, and has 4 channel RCA outputs if the 4x60W (lololol) onboard amp turns out to be total pants, but i dont imagine the bottom tier 90s Pioneer box speakers ill jam under the seats will reveal much of a soundstage. TBH ill just be happy of the Aux-in works and the USB port charges my phone.

I then moved onto the base of the a-pillar, which is another common rust spot, mainly due to being commonly used as a jacking point when it isn't (the thing with a hole in it is an assembly jig point). You can see the lip all bent up and the bit behind it all holey. chopped it out, the bit behind (the passender floor panel) and all the other areas are in good nick. buzzbuzz grind and primer. Then the other Drivers side, which has been jacked on but was nowhere near as bad, a-pillar is good too I will cover most of this in seam sealer to build up the texture of the factory undercoat before putting a fresh coat of undercoat over the hole lot. Only rust remaining is in the rear of the cab, but im not sure ill get to Hamilton to get my 125 shell and back (1 weekend) , cut out the floors in both, (1 weekend) weld them in etc etc (1 weekend) before drag day which is 4 weeks away, so pondering a quick bodge to squeak it though a wof (maybe!) till the new year when ill have more time to do a good job Ive got a lada power order of various bushes and stuff, and an ali-express order that should arrive next week to finish off the interior before then too.

this week i finished off a few jobs on the list, started on the a-pillar, as i thought it would only need a little patch. which is nice because this area is a common rust spot with the pointy fender angles trapping much up there and then rusting into the scuttle then i found it has been leaded before. and there was a big hole on the underside letting water up into the scuttle, so off with this whole corner (this is about the 5th time ive done almost this exact cut). as per usual the triangle bit had a hole in it letting water from the front wheel up into the a-pillar. Nice REmade that bit and repaired the scuttle and fender corners buzzed back on and a coat of primer. Just needs a skim of bog, but that can wait

other than the gearbag, is the engine tiptop? To wring as much as you can from the small 4 pot staying on top of general maintenance having new points/plugs/dizzy cap/leads oil and filters (esp air) as well as timing and carb tuned could help? Dodgy wiring, janky fuel lines and etc is often an overlooked issue in older stuff with plenty of previous owners and roadside fixes and could make a big difference. A 1hp improvement by loosing a slight misfire when you only have 50hp on a good day is a 2% improvement !

My order from fiatparts.co.nz turned up on Thursday, with my crank seal so got the cam belt on and engine all buttoned up Changed the spark plugs. Hopefully now that the carb has fewer fuel leaks and no air leaks and doenst really need the choke they will be grey next time i do a plug chop I had some NOS Beck-Arnley leads, purple to match the sides and interior stripe, lol. Also chopped the cam cover so it can come off without draining the radiator Swapped in the Pertronix fitted dizzy i had on my 125 before i went to Digiplex, and a new coil, and tidied some wiring. New oil and filter, fitted radiator, filled with water and a bit of simple green for now to clean it out a bit more. Replaced the mechanical fuel pump, turns out the non-OEM bolts didnt have quite enough thread to tighten up properly, so hopefully sorted a big oil leak too. And picked up my box of carbs, L-R DCHE, same as whats on there, but very crusty, will try swapping the few bits that still leak on the fitted one DCD, i had cleaned and reassembled this in 2014 and it is 'OK', according to the vivid on it, DMS, clean body with no bits, i sold my complete, but a bit worn one to NickJ, but i think i still have jets and stuff to make it work, but the linkage is a 'pull' instead of 'push' like the other two, but i have linkages from when i ran one on my 125. This is the best carb by far, but needs the most work to fit. In my order from Mal, i also got some diff seals, it is a 125 diff, he just sent me the wrong ones (131 gbox seals), so the axle is refitted, diff refilled with oil. Finally removed the rear bumper (one bolt required 4 jointed arms or removal of the gas tank to reach) and did a couple more patches hiding behind it, and bogged them up, putty all the wee bits etc then primered it to grey (last before real paint), stoked to get that finally done. I then took it for a burn up the road to turn it around so i can fix the rust in the front, and see how all my work went on the engine etc (great!). Next jobs: - cavity wax rear of tray and reassemble tins, tail gate and tonneau etc - replace the holey front half of the exhaust (have an ok spare) and fit a joiner (its currently 1 piece...) - fix rust behind front wheels - fix rust in passenger a-pillar - fix rust in cab floor/base, either collecting my old red 125 shell back from Hamilton for cuts, or make my own. - wof - drag day... - 1000 other little things

I removed the crappy stereo and looked at the wiring, sighed and pushed it back out of sight and started putting the front half of the interior back in over some 6mm foam which makes it a bit nicer to sit in while faffing about The old stereo was just sitting in a big hole in the dash as the factory (single centre) speaker cover is all broken too and my spare headunit (CD) was too long, so ive ordered a cheap 'retro' mechless bluetooth jobbie off aliexpress, as well as some gauges, (RPM and Voltage), and some other shit. To prep for this, i made up a dash panel for the stereo to mount in and ive had this cool gauge pod thing for ages and i think it suits the brittle black plastic aesthetic that the interior has going on (the screws are fake, lol) I only had to trim this massive gash a wee bit (on the bottom half) to get it in Bit of black formica over the top and jobs a goodun pending the headunits arrival. Will probably run oil pressure, a 52mm tach and voltage as the dash water temp gauge works fine. Sorry about the carpy photos it was dark.

this is actually barry genius*, its easy to work and shape holes to suit, and dead flat when installed, will insulate from heat soak and over time will expand to fill any gap and prevent airleaks. *Untill it catches on fire

fuck yeah, nice one galaxienoob! love the colour

only took one pic Will grab the Mrs phone and get her scooter shenannigans videos.

Ive also been doing mechanical stuff too, new engine mounts (and transmission mount too), they were all soft and bung, so should tighten everything up alot. got carried away, some rustoleum spray paint i got to try is not a match to the body so trying to use it up... New Starting reassembly, (after a waterblast and lots of degreaser!) incl new shaft seals to hopefully keep the oil inside. New waterpump , tensioner fitted and cambelt to go on too I dont have a crank nose seal so thats ordered for next week, so stuck here for now Also - Drained the radiator and removed it , cleaned out out the overflow (gross) , - drained the engine oil (gross) and filter, - checked the gearbox oil (way overfull, but clean), - drained the diff oil (gross) and removed the passenger side axle to replace the leaky seal but the 125 seals (30*48.6*6) wont fit, but 124 ones do (30*45*6) do, so i have them coming next week to finish that off too. The diff may therefore be a 124 type with 125 mounts selded on, if so then a Russian LSD could be a goer at some point. Tomorrow im heading up to storage to get rid of some stuff and bring some back down, will grab my 34DMS carb as the one on there is still leaking gas pretty bad even tho it works quite well otherwise, and will remove the mechanical pump that the electric one pumps into, that also leaks.

Bog, is boring so skipped ahead abit, the spare door cards were in the way, so sapped them over. This is what i had, which were ok apart from the massive holes and wobbles. And this is what ive got, 2x passenger side 125S (for Special!) door cards, complete with GOLD AND PURPLE trim. Passenger side swapped right in Drivers was a bit more of a mission. I ended up ripping the vinyl off to reverse the door card to reuse the factory holes for the door pop-clips and stuff, but better than before, and thats a job that is now finished! While i was in there I have also - cut down some foam for the underlay - removed the shitty stereo (will probably put a head unit back in with speakers in the kick panels, and gauges under) - removed the heater box - so i could access the hood opening mech (now sorted)

item 1 on the list above, section behind the rear wheel. From bottom to top, rusty section, CAD, and the patches 90% ready to weld in Then welded up the pie cuts and slits, checking against the car as it can warp, then welded most of it in from the inside where i could. Then my welder started playing up, all pops and burn backs and no penetration Turn out it was the new 5kg wire roll was quite a bit heavier than a nearly empty one, and got the wire speed set properly, after some long overdue maintenance. Ground most of that off and ran over it again with the revived sizzle stick, ground most of that off too, and here we are SO thats the rear half de-rusted, started on the first round of bog, and washed the dust down with a beer i got just so i could use my new opener

personally id grind that back and slap some paint on it before ol' Mate sees it edit beaten!

http://www.kumeuhotrodshow.co.nz/about.html Keeeeeeeeeeen. Its only down the road from me, AND i will in the country for it this year. Woot!

Ooh. A 2300 coupe! rare bird for sure. Thats 2 i know of in nz. Wheres the engine? Is it an 'S'? Looks like a proper fiat pest with the yellow 850 on the right and is that big silver car a 130 sedan on the left? (Would love a 130 coupe!)

I actually bought this not just because its cool, but because it was a similar price to a decent trailer, but with the benefit of being self propelled! Looking forwards to smug facing at the dump as i reverse up the small gaps between all the jack-knifed trailer + modern ute combos

more rust. I always think it wont take very long but it does. I tend to work in sections and batch things to the tools needed - saves trying to find that tool while your lying around on the ground, as its always in your hand. . Eg mark sections, drill all the spot welds, cut all the holes with the slit disc, tidy with the other grinder ends and powerfile etc. Then make all the CAD templates, cut all the steel, then fine work to get teh patch to suit the hole, weld, grind, weld pinholes, grind, sand, primer. Also means i can do a bunch of quieter stuff after work etc and do all the welding and especially grinding in a single annoying spurt on the weekend instead of a little all the time Section A Wheel Arches. Figured id get this done so i can loosely fit the tins and start pile crap back in there. Pretty much 3 matching areas both sides, plus a couple of random blebs out of shot Section B: Rear Valance etc Took the tow bar off to get into this area, this section is 'closed' (lol) from road debris form the wheels and tray areas and does not have very big drain holes (there are some humps in the inner section that his plugs to that face forwards...) so trapped wet grime sitting on the flat sections has made its own way out. First batch of patches. I should have replaced the whole bottom section right across TBH, i added a couple drain holes in the big patch which should help let dirt and stuff out (and cavity wax in). I will also seam seal before i underspreay as there isnt much on this car, and some of the gaps are pretty bad! Moving around to the passenger side, thought id get away with filling a few pinholes, but ive since done what i should have done the first time, and cut the corner off like onm the drivers side, as well as extended the big patch in the middle both ways. You can also see the strengthener on the flank where trapped muck and holed the side, below the bumper, from the inside out, and it was just the same on the other side. Got all the remaining patches for this area ready to weld in during the week some time. Remaining rust (i know about!) to be cut out, which isnt that much if you say it fast is: - 1 tricky to fold section if the rear lower corner of rear passenger wheel arch (just in front of the mudflap) - 2 & 3 holes/bands in rust trap factory positioning things that look like jacking points but are not... of outer floor section behind front wheels, both sides - 4 rear cab/floor area (will probably use rust cuts here) pass and drivers - 5 lower rear tray to tailgate seal lip, but can leave it till after summer/WoF , and will get a section bent up so i can spot it in easy, like the 2300 section in the same place

I meant a sedan, but yep i see they made an even uglier pickup too, but flat deck.

So a bit more digging today, i pulled out the interior, seats and carpets are fine to reuse, floors and sills and pillars are excellent. but there was a suspicious amount of no more gaps with a coat of bitumen spray over it on the rear cab/floor join, inside and the tray side. After lots of thinners soaked rags to get rid of the black tarry shit, and about an hour of wire brushing, and emptying the vacuum twice. That no more gaps sure is is sticky stuff! This is the passenger side from inside the cab and is the worst, drivers only has a couple of spots This is the drivers side from the tray side, and is the worst, but passenger side has a couple of hole too. Might be easiest to cut and shut ~100mm wide sections from a sedan floor as they never rust there. My red 125 body is in now in Hamilton and ive been meaning to grab some bits back off it so i guess thats moved up the list. This are will probalby be the last to do as a result. The cab wall itself is fine. More rust chasing I think i found the 'custombuilt' part of this truck. The vertical shock mounts have actually been removed and the angled setup installed. I didnt have a very good look underneath but it looks factory, so i wonder if its got 1500 bits under there. There are a few holes to fill in both inner arches due to the torn spot welds rusting. There are also matching holes in front of each arch where ive never seen a sedan rust. As well as adding rusty holes to the list, I crossed some off. The tail gate was rusted though in one corner, but now it isnt! I was in the zone and forget to take pics till i put the first coat of primer on, but you get the idea. Will need a skim of putty (especially to fill my wonky edge line!) but im pretty happy with that for the first patch.

Great spots! Would love to see the ad too. Pretty sure the 9 or so utes apparently in NZ were imported by a 'quirky' chap*, so unsure if there were any cars or not? A Caro** with a twin cam would be a real sleeper, but do not want. *dont know what that means, but thats what someone on t124 said **updated body that looks like an even fuglier 4 door Lada Samara still on the old RWD 1500/125 floorpan

^I can see in jons spotted photo that they are all still there, and the missing pink fade section behind the door has/had a kicking rad turquoise vajazzle on it

Nah, and ive just this minute taken the other ones off! I think they are pretty generic from a big roll type ones with a turquoise pin stripe tape over the silver

Cheers all, at this stage my plans are to clean it, fix what rust and niggles there is, make some secret compartments and then pootle about in it taking stuff to places. But probalby not in a purple lace prom dress with my bad ass wrekking krew Turns out these are longer than the 125 Belina (sedan), by around 300mm. This approach was also used for the Ambulance and Hearse body variants I found this pick online of someone doing a rust repair and have removed a lot of the bracing but, it shows the 300mm lengthening section (with the X ribs) between the what would normally be the rear passenger feet floorpan that extends behind the cab and the diff hump where the back seat would go. All that room wasted! No longer! The same thread also shows the sills which are 4 layered vs the 2-3 of the sedans to make up for the lack of roof stopping it folding in half This is an earlier model or a Polish spec one, as it has the shocks in the sedan arrangement (straight up from the diff). On mine (export spec? late model?) the shocks are angled inwards like an Escort (and my 2300) to a cross brace but the massive holes for the shocks are still there, but the load area is also much wider as a result. Like the 125 and 2300 it has no rear lateral support other than the leaves, but i think the angled shocks would do better than vertical ones in this respect.

Gooped up the carby and manifold last night with hylomar blue and put them together and tightened it up after work just earlier. The 'set' goop tends to act more like an o-ring, but HB never really sets so it will still sqush out the tighter areas. New fuel filter and a couple of new hose sections and clamps and it fired right up adjusted the timing (way too advanced) then set idle mix using highest vacuum manifold method and now more bogging or running on. In typical fashion however the starter no longer runs off the key, but easily rigged up an engine bay bypass and with the carb 'fixed' it starts super easy. Oh also the bonnet latch was super hard to open and now its cable is broken, lucky i was trying to adjust it at the time and had the catch nuts loosened.

the PO said they are about a foot longer wheelbase apparently, but i havnt checked this for sure and the floor pan didnt look any different so i reckon they are the same (ish) If you look at the 125 sedan the bonnet and front doors are quite short relative to the rest (big back doors/footroom and big boot) , i think the bed just highlights it more. He said he had a 200cc motorbike in it with the tray up, so its pretty good loadspace.