azzurro

looking good but: - the front springs are too short want it to sit about an inch higher at the arch to be even with the rear - you can see there is a bit of rake, but it could be my driveway - perhaps an 1/2inch ally spacer between the rubber spring top thing and the strut top? i am really gonna need to replace them tho as they will continue to settle even more they can stay in there for a while tho - the driving position/visiblity seems much better with the bonnet a bit lower! - want meshies to be silver - they also need drilling for the wheel posts, and the shank on the piece flat bolts that came on red oxide/wards is too small - will have to run them (if i do) with double ended bolt and shank nuts which i have, but i just dont trust them - wards are growing on me too, but they will rub on the rear arch with the tyres that are on them but running no spacer might give enough clearance however, the 131 steelies are still my faves and require no mucking about with special nuts, (re)painting, new tyres or spigot rings...

EURON8 who i borrowed special internal spring compressors off wants them back (fair enough!) for his/Chickity's Humber project, so that was all the motivation i needed to give up welding for a while to slap in my new setup - his timing is good as the wing/a-pillar/outrigger is all stonger than ever now. Got the fronts in first - as i suspected the springs have ended up a bit too low (is such a thing even possible?!? ) - the lowest point of car (exhaust mainfold below drivers feet) is exactly 100mm above the ground, sump is about 130mm so is border line legal. OEM v Compressed KYB to suit 124 vs OEM 125 shocks @ full droop with top hat inverted the lower wishbones are parallel, but appear to be resting on the bump stops - i hanvt investigated fully if they are just 'touching' or they are carrying some weight - hopefull the former as there is still some give in the suspension, and in the shot they dont appear to be squished - fingers crossed, however i was hoping for about a half inch higher at the bump: However, rear has turned out pretty much exacly as i wanted, after a bit of cursing and a lot of strainaing to get the centre retainaing bolt in (calmly loosening u-bolts and adjusting did work better tho) reset leaves on bottom 14" 131R steelies fit well (my gold meshies are exact same offset, width & tyre size ): My 13" Wards have a lower offset and the tyres are a wee bit too wide/baloony and will rub (185/65R13) so will need to change the tyres to run them. Suggestions on tyre size welcomed!. Ive also realised these are not the actual 125T style ones which are a bit more angular/flat faced and have more ribs on the rim, like this: moar photos when its not raining

tis a low amp draw, so any current would turn it on (works like a relay). you could run a loop from the + amp power supply via a wee switch on the dash or whatevs and then back to the remote? but, yeah, amp will always be on otherwise => flat battery in 30 mins or less.

still plugging away at this. however my fiat time has been interrupted by servicing the rest of the fleet - the mrs corolla (oil/filter, pads all round, alt belt, wipers, rear wheel bearings), my suzuki (oil/filters), and the van (oil/filter). after doing all this, my suzi took itself for a roll down our driveway across the road and down the neighbours driveway, ending up stuck on the level difference between that drive and the other neighbours (mean grind bro!). amazingly no damage to the neighbours property at all, but suzi needed a new rear subframe and exhaust unbent - sooo lucky, if my other neighbours boat had been touched i would be in traction! $100 at pickapart + some quality under car time and we are rolling again, better than before anyway, enough with the cheap dailys already, on to the garage-queen folly: scuttle panel repair panel repairs then on then outer a-pillar skin made and on so the inner arch is all now painted up and seam sealed and (hopefully) water proof for probably the first time ever im currently working patching the outer sill and forming an end cap, and once thats on & primered she'll be coming off the stands for the first time in ages for some lowering (and a vacuum) list of welding related stuff to do is getting pretty short now!

nice work the only surprises in that will be pleasant ones! my mrs has a thing for humbers, me not so much, but i do reckon they have a touch of this about them (but more rat obviously)

cracking on so i can get this off the stands and put the new suspension in popped the rivets and cut the underseal holding the repair on to reveal this tasty sight nice solid steel to rivet to! which quickly became this chopchop which then has taken bloody ages to become this weldweld bangbang grindgrind take that you rusty fucker! still got plenty to do, like: - finish scuttle/windscreen surround and the wing support flange type bit - repair & attach sill - finish the a-pillar second skin - close off sill/a-pillar base - chassis repair below front bumper bolts - tidy up/patch replacement wing - front valance patch/tidy and maybe insert later model one with air inlets - in two minds about this (better cooling or more cool? tough choice!) - plus assorted do-overs and missed bits wierd how this just seems like a small list of minor cosmetic tickles after getting this far! the end is (nearly) nigh!

what about this roller painting thats all the rage on teh interwebs? any one given it a go? can ya get a suitable 'coach' paint in nz? seems to me the trade off is lots of drying/sanding/flatting off time between heaps of thin coats but using cheap material/equipment vs a quick result using expensive materials/equipment. but both need good base prep to turn out well, so... is it as simple as the old time or money conundrum? or is it balls?

picked these cart springs up from snell springs on friday, less 2 inches in the rear, and asked for 2 1/2 inches less in the front (which would have been ~ 1 1/4 inches shorter in the spring) but it looks to me like it might end up sitting a little more than that in the front (the spings i got compressed were from the red parts car) so i hope it doesnt end up toooo low - will look cool for sure, but the suspension geometry/feel in these is adversley impacted by too much drop pretty keen to get all them in for a gork, but gotta finish the a-pillar first, which will take another couple weekends i think. (hurry up, hurry up!) this is how they size up with my new shocks (shorter ones for a 124 coupe) according to the manual, standard springs are ~415mm free length, these are now ~315mm but they will still be captive

mean my mum had a GT hatch one from new exactly like this: i remember it as being pretty trick at the time, and it handled better than the old boys v8 calais of the same vintage - she eventually traded it in for the newer shape but she reckoned it was nowhere near as good as her old one

been a while since ive checked in, but progress is continuing at la grotta azzurra ordered some bits from autoricambi.us, got some 124 KYB G2 shocks for the front, lower ball joints, some blue brake booster hose, some bushes and and heaps of other little bits & bobs as well all landed for less than a set of KYBs retail here - loving the us debt ceiling debate finally got around to picking off the right front wing as well, which is the last corner to be done. (homeward bound...) as I suspected, second verse, same as the first, a little bit faster, but a little bit worse... decided i should stiffen up the body as much as possible before attacking the main area of the inner wing at the base of the a-pillar - not sure if this would make much difference as a previous repair is just riveted on over the old rusty panel! impressive work tho, as theyve somehow managed to remove the old wing suppport, make some repair(cover?) panels, rivit the main bit onto the body, and only then 'weld' up the outer seams of the box section all without removing the wing (i drilled out the factory spot welds to get it off) so i started on the sill, and decided to pop the outer sill sill off to fix some jacking/off roading booboos that had bent the inner sill as well as fix the inevitable rust which was a result of the original rust trap design exacerbated by poor repairs you cant really tell in the pick above ^, cause ive fish oiled it, but parts of the inner sill had never been painted, and were still shiny bare metal fresh from the factory - right next to utterly rusted out parts that cruble in your fingers in the same panel! the whole car is wierdly contrasting like this the top of the inner sill was much the same as the outer sill which im holding, and I had to remake the top join where the door rubbers sit, which were pretty shot. i didnt take any before shots, and my flap discing is good , so you cant really tell what it was like before, but very happy with how this has turned out, and the car just feels much more solid now remaking the front indicator was a bit trickier than the other side, as the replacement bits from my parts car werent too hot either, but we got there in the end: ^eeeewww! all gone ^hmmm - krypton factor puzzle - had to unpick, repair and remake ^done next and more or less final step (barring redoing some of my first lot of welding , and some wee bits ive missed etc) in rust work is the base of the a-pillar, which has been 'fixed' before, but this will be (relatively) easy as ive kept my C.A.D templates from the other side, just hope ive enough sheet left to finish it off! fixing structural repairs by riveting over rust the ratsun from the random piccy thread has motivated me decide to drop my spare leaves and springs in to Snells to get reset this week too, so im looking forward to seeing lil blue closer to the ground with matching mis-matching blue panels, 'patina', and slot mags i also had the day of work today (yay) cause i got some grinder shit in my eye (boo) on sunday and finally went to the doctor yesterday. big needles in eye are not cool (but neither is grinder stuff) - always wear eye protection folks, youve only got two

well got the rear quarter on finally, all the outer access cuts/seams are now welded up, just need to spot the inside seams. to access this easily (ie lying in the boot) it needed to come off the stands, so i thought id turn it around ready to get cracking on the last bit of body work, the drivers front wing. i also wanted to see how the ward rims looked on the ground as they wernt working for me on the stands - while the tyres are the same diameter as the 14" steelies, they sit about an inch further out towards the guard, which you think would be good, but meh I think i prefer the 131R steelies and/or needs more low with these wards and stance it just looks like a gasser! (maybe I should paint my tyre lettering ) gave it a burn up the road (as i had to turn it around anywho) and my boy videoed it on his i-pod ! not sure if the car or dog is quicker off the mark (shes part whippet and a bit of everything else too) sounds the biz aye! I have ordered a box of goodies from the states which should be here soon and im expecting a tax refund (yus!) so when this comes though ill be straight to the spring shop with my spare leaves and springs for a wee bit of low. there is literally 5" of space between the front guards and tyre which is now starting to bug me. also, cant wait to drive it with doors on

yeah, one of these bad boys - was using it for the nice straight 90deg bends it had on all the edges, but its nice and thin (0.8mm) and much easier to bend than the thicker stuff ive been using (1.1mm) everywhere else clarkson can eat a dick. he is half right tho - in the 60/70/80s italy was still politically (and geographically) close to the eastern bloc, and FIAT was very unionised - they did a deal with russia for steel supply (partly in exchange for industrial expertise/intellectual property - ie fiat 124 (as well as later models) are the base of many VAZ and LADA cars, the 125 was made in Poland for 30 years longer than FIAT did (5 years) etc but russkis used the more rugged/older suspension design and engines from the pre 124, 1200/1500 series). Unfortunately the russian steel was very low in trace elements like zinc, but no doubt full of other shit like melted down tanks and washing machines. in the ladas they used a thicker guage steel so they were stronger (and rusted less). Many FIAT group cars were also exported by ship on top stow (on the top of the containers!) so many overseas markets had rust installed from new. the steel was also thin (FIAT was going for lightness and rigidity via then new unibody construction techniques) and fiat/lancia/alfa group painting/sealing was notoriously slapdash. all euro cars of the era are rustbuckets to be fair untill audi started galvanizing, and fiat eventually followed suit in the 80's - mark II unos onwards i think. my car is way worse than it should be cause it was 'repaired' (with a hammer and heaps of bog, then must have had hours & hours of sanding) before being resprayed, and chucked in a shed for 20 years. The bog and underbody goop sealed in the moisture/dirt and leaves and its been sitting and eating its way out since , however outside of these messed up bits its pretty minty cheers man, hopefully will be rolling soon. im really looking forward to doing a skid/stall/broken diff

made some progress on the wheel arch too - just doing a couple hours after work on the car instead of watching tv adds up! its a patchwork quilt (from R-L) of 1/2 a rear inner arch, part of the front fender, a bit from the inner-inner arch that was on the good replacement half, the only solid remnants of the original parts, but flipped over, and patched between that using parts of our old gas heater (it was a de'longhi ) which was made from nice thin and bendy metal which helps dealing with all the curves. making this took feckn aaages, but has came out well enough i think, as even the ribs ended up in the right place, and its not exactly on show it was a nice tight fit when offering up, but now that i have been spotting it in its a bit gappy (but of course only on the bit i made ) however nothing a bit of BFH (and maybe a little more heater) cant fix have a couple of weeks off (tfgif!) so going to finish this side and drop leaves and springs off at snells, so i can finally give EURON8 his spring compressors back have also found out that 124 shocks bolt up and are shorter, and are also avaliable new which is a bonus with the NZ $ so good i think im going to order some 124 shizzl from teh states for cheaps (+shipping lol)

ladies please, you're both right you'll have to excuse the rim stylz on the yellow one

so ive got a set of leafs (leaves?), and a set of factory springs and some new spring specs (from a 125T) to take to a spring shop. i want the rears reset 2" lower and the springs made to spec (and or compressed?) and a new set of shocks (which would need to be a catalogue job as replacements are NLA) - who should i go see? snells? how much should i be looking to pay? azzurro likes this ^

made a bit more progress on the rear 1/4 1/4 panel patch repairs 1/4 panel fit check - nice one! but now im kinda stuck on the inner arch panel at the mo, hmm - now what? ive called gee motors to see if they can get 210X lada sedan repair panels - or if anyone has a lada parts car... which is kinda demotivating so thinking i might focus on something else for a while, Like fitting tyres onto rims! and seeing what they might look like with imaginary lowerage! 125T: NZ made Ward 13x6 185/70 13 125 Special: Cromodora CD-5s 13x5 w 185-65 13 - Magnesium! From Pick-a-Part! lame, but it got me going again so thats what counts at the mo. I also realised i dont actually have to wait till ive finished the rust work to lower it, and this would also be smile inducing so ive got a set of leafs (leaves?), and a spare sample spring and some spring specs (125T) to take to a spring shop. i want the rears reset 2" lower and the springs made to spec and a set of shocks (which would need to be a catalogue job as replacements are NLA) - who should i go see? snells? how much should i be looking to pay? also somebody has somehow (feckn dino riders!) managed to scan and copy my basic mental image of a finished little blue onto a 125p for my inspirational pleasure:

cheers man, your 131 will be a weapon im motivated by hating not being able to drive it (legally), and as this is my first welding project so im not totally over it yet! its also a good constrast to my work which is not grubby or physical at all i also want to finish it before my boy gets his licence and claims it - that some time away but as hes 11 now... after welding, ill get started on doing this (but with better wheels):

done heaps since last update - well not really heaps of progress, but definitly heaps of fiddly spot weld drilling and seam seperating de-bending and measuring cut, measure, cut, weld, gring, weld, grind... i thought i had all the bits i needed from the parts car but have had to fabricate heaps of bits which takes fricken aaages especially with only a tiny vice and a bit of I-beam as forming tools. i want a big garage with heaps of tools and a hoist for next time! the m.f. weldathon progresses - Right C-Pillar Right rear quarter: left front inner wing: indicator assembly: left rear quarter: sill end: boot end: lines up pretty well with the 1/4 panel gotta make the inner arch section now which is gonna be a mission - have only the rear half as repail panel to turn this into not a lace doilie: after that, only front right corner to go which will pretty much as per the left side and that should be all the welding done apart from a few touch ups. then onto the filler and paint prep.

yep, drill and plug for extra trickyness make the top/outer hole a couple mm bigger than the bottom one, and do a little plug to get the bottom on, then a O around it for fixing the top layer to the plug/bottom layer. try to line up your plug holes with the solid metal on the roof frame bit as some bits look a bit crusty and so might it blow though or not weld properly. also, consider taking the roof lining out so you dont set it alight and also check for wires in the roof chanel (interior light?) cause they will burn off the plastic and short/break i have found plugs welds turn out best on higher amp setting than you would do butt welds - gives better penetration and a flatter plug good luck!

^ was also going to ask about setting up a shopping/wish list there is a few 125's there right in the far left back corner - i want a bonnet liner - should have grabbed it last time i went thru there with red oxide on the trailer, but the price they made up for my first handful of bent & rusty bits made me drive off in a huff instead of going back to get one no idea what they would charge for one tho so dunno how it might work...

bigger is better, that what i wanted to hear! havnt got sideys yet, only the manifold, but on the lookout for some (hints) also always increasing metal replacement issues are pushing on road date further and further out and demotivating the wallet opening urge for this bad boy other than for welding wire and flapdiscs. oh and tyres fitted thinking of how boss it will be when done is keeping me going on it, but fuck it seems like ive been under that bastard every weekend for the last year and progress seems to be slowing or going backwards...

its a year to the day today since i started my fiat journey - i picked this up from my father-in-laws on anzac day last year - blessed we are to live in interesting times! i re-read this topic to see where ive got to in that time and it seems not very far! at the same time it seems ive been spending way too much time in the mankave have leaned a lot tho - for example, see those little bubbles?, thats not just the paint lifting, no. also, you just cant weld to rust. long weeekend thanks to the easter bunny and the anzacs. anyways, with all this time avaliable for fiating, plan was to finish off the drivers side C-pillar, hopefully making a better job of the exterior panel than i did on the other side. started to tidy up my initial rust removal cutting and found - wait for it - more rust boring! surf this weekend has also been very very very good, so dealing the rust took a bit of a back seat. decided to polish the wards from red oxide instead. determined that my 90HP wheel polisher would be both deafening and potentially asphyxiating with only headers, so decided to fix that first, making one functional exhaust from the previous one on lil blue, and some random bits and peices left over from old blue and red oxide. this is a surprisingly fiddly and frustrating job but it all fits and only rattles a little bit. after the 'no exhaust' sound, im a bit underwhelmed by the sound of a 1 1/2" non-mandrel bent exhaust fitted with not-perfomance mufflers (even with a few leaky welds for added pops and chuffs). it will do for now untill wof time tho, and i similar to the style i would like. after my experience i will probably be getting a pro to fabricate this. im thinking 1 3/4" all the way through as being ideal for the 1608, but 2" will be easier to get pipe and performance mufflers, and will have the flexibility for future engine upgrades, but might be a bit low in the back pressure for the smaller engine. comments?? wards came up a treat too: before during after ill pick up a polishing head for my drill to finish off the centres properly. i also found 2x cromodora cd-5s (125 special factory rims - magnesium!) at pick-a-part of all places the other day! will use the best one as the spare to save a few kg's on the steelie. (like these but without the hub cap) have a set of 195/60 r13 goodyears to go on the wards (no stretch \_/ just phat (_) ) so im looking forward to being visually motivated to address the rust - will get them fitted this week hopefully. i really like the 131R steelies tho...the flat wheel bolts also mean the gold meshies are a feasable option too, as are the cheviots, or of course the pizza cutters. i just now realised I have 6 sets (x4) of rims for this car with only the cromodoras as odds. is this wrong when ive only driven it 30 miles tops, and is unlikley to go very far even when done? also removed 125T seats from red oxide - drivers lower pad will obviously need some work, but both are very comfy and surprisingly supportive (compared to the low back blue ones anyway!), and tilt and etc without trouble. they are totally useable with a seat cover (blue sheepskin? ) there is only going to be rust-fixing action over the next few months, so am unlikley to have much to report for a while

your little suzi looks super sweet, esp on rims and lowered and i can also verify that the garage is jealous inducing esp to me struggling in my pokey little cave with 3 other cars out on the driveway btw, shavens better half was able to carry a short block for this beastie half way down the driveway by herself to that sweet garage in a wet/oily cardboard box holding the box by the top - max power! 3 pots ftw! also, me and my bro used to get stuck behind a hiace like yours every day on our 30km school run - we both hated them and all their ilk - we couldnt pass it cause our ride was a 1300 MkII escort Auto, Ghia beige nana spec (my nana actually had a green one with vynil roof too!) - when it kicked down from 3rd to 2nd it just made more noise! tis funny cause now i want an old Hiace like yours and never ever want another mkII escort (but will have a Mk 1 cortina please, thanks)

and when i havnt been getting cars i dont really want, with bits i dont really need, have been doing this: this is without any filler and still some tidying up to do with the fine flapdisc (those are sooo awesome) - pretty stoked with my first timer efforts actually, but did get some warping - its hard to be patient! have pretty much done the passenger side now, except for the front fender, which im putting off removing (have to drill/cut them off) to put the spares i got off the blue one on - the drivers side also needs doing in pretty much exactly the same places but this is nothing for an old fiat! after that just a skim of filler, primer, a quick paint with some colour match rattle cans and fix the exhaust and should be wof time (sounds easy when you say it fast ) then hope to have it sitting like this: oh yeah

so went and picked up this the other weekend, bid on a whim, mainly for the 125T bits it was rocking, being the 13x6 nz made ward mags and the black tombstone seats: i got out bid, oh well whatevs, then other bid was removed - i ended up as the winna! shitbags, cause gotta drive all the way to pn to pick it up (ironically where the other 2 were from as well - and me too! ) Get it home for a good looky: Wards are held on with proper flat bolts - win! (i have double ended bolt/stud converters to hold on my meshies and cheviots which is a super dodgy set up - can now run the wards, cheviots and meshies without freaking out - i do like the 131R steelies tho) Seats are comfy - score! (drivers will need a recover at some point) wards will shine up good, have tyres already to go on - ace! Front springs look lower and stiffer than standard - yes! Rear Leaves also sit nice and low - ooosh! Shame the body is 40% fibreglass, but it can sit in my lock up till i decide what to do with it - its not worth restoring, but i do have the missing glass and bonnet...