azzurro

You have the sickness. Nice Found Itin Another Territory

All of those are good - plenty of interesting driving on the peninsular - out to Allans etc. Mrs was keen to take the Wagon up the Pig Root to the big opshop in Ranfurly one time in summer, but that may be a bit far for a convoy, it is a nice driveing road. Also agree we should assemble for a guard of dishonour/bring parts/snags for the shitbox rally

Keen as! @kiwi808 is in central i think?

@doullama, @ul9601 is right, you need special shouldered bolts for the Wards. Can measure mine if you want, but you may need to 'make' some from shouldered nuts, and high tensile bolts with the head cut off and a blob of weld or loctite to hold them together as they are very hard to find new (ebay?) let alone second hand. I also have plastic hub rings on mine too and that tidied up a lot of the 'wheel balance' shake i had before.

Would add Euro-Italian Car Parts in Albany to your list - Gavin is a top bloke and sometimes puts lollies in the courier packet. Mal has sold Dino Enterprises, have not bought anything from the new guy yet, other than letting him know i had a new project (1100T) and if he had ANY bits that suited it at all, to let me know - he replied asking for a list of what i needed and i said, well at least one of everything, unfortunately no response Take my $$$$, gosh! - not gonna force the man to make a sale or take my money, but that right there is more $ than i care to add up that have gone to ebay and youshop instead of a local speciality business.

None of the books are particularly useful with consumable part dimensions, but the notes on this page from the Catalogi di Parti Ricambio say 40mm?

Slower progress this week, My excuses are a nightmare window motor and regulator swap in the daily - complete with incorrect parts supplied, correct parts supplied that dont quite fit (never sort by cheapest!) and need swapping from the old bits, blood and much swearing And a stereo upgrade in a buddys new (to him) Nissan VanPa Beige Anonymity edition. New bearing and oil seals showed up, so regreased the passenger side, and managed to dint the seal on the new one, so thats just great. Still will be 100% better than the old drivers side bearing that had to be destructively removed and fell apart . yep, that would not have sounded good, and pretty sure it had been driven like that for a while - there were other wear on the other bits and the old seal on this side was noticeably ovalled. Dug out the bin of brake lines - 125/124/lada stuff that i have is pretty close to the 1100 stuff but had to swap the ferrules and make double flares for the ends that go into the brass distribution block that mounts on the diff Picked up this bad boy for pretty much nothing ages ago, an Oldforge, 7203, and proper Made in USA , and first time using it and i managed to squeeze out a perfect double flare. USA, A-OK! Diffs ready to go back under, I wire wheeled and degreased the sections where the diffs going to go, no new surprises and will come up mint with a sand blast, but for now Im gonna put some rust converter to just seal and pause it for now (and its mostly see through apart from where it goes black) and just concentrate on tidying the brackets that things get bolted to, so i can bolt cleaned up and painted things to cleaned and painted things. Finally found a sample that's close enough to use for a colour match. PPG Char Grey which is a bronwy/greeny grey.

Im no engine guy, but that bottom end and pcv suggests its got lots of blow by to me, and or run (not just sat) without regular oil changes. Maybe lots of short runs and long sitting could do it?. OTOH The outside (clean yellow zinc plating on the inlet studs?) and coolant passages look pretty clean. Hows the cam boxes look - blackened and burned like the sump or clean alloy? These engines are pretty stout, but if you dont want to take off the head, then just clean out the gunk, and slap it back together with some fresh gaskets and paint and keep an eye out for another engine to build. At least it runs-ish? I would probably also whip the head off too, just to inspect and clean those grody valves up, and replace the stem seals - a full gasket set is only ~$100. Then give it a proper italian tune up and the gummy rings will probably bed right back in

Exhibit B, 1981 reno of a then 20yo house, added new aluminium windows including the popouts on the front, aluminium porch, and downstairs bar. Aggressively shitty workmanship to pack out the walls behind the bar reno cladding, and absolutely no insulation installed. Added another layer of lino to the original stuff that covers rimu floorboards

I had been told there was one in Balclutha that was good too, could be the Gore guy, maybe. Worst case is if i need to get the repairs done by a shop 'approved repairer', thats a hard nope. Hopefully i can show that im not a total numptie (IMO!) and "have the skill and knowledge to competently perform the repairs required" as most of the rust is actually pretty simple stuff like door bottoms and floor sections, no real structural stuff (except for the A pillar maybe) and whcile i dont want to set myself up for 3 more vehicles worth of repair certification, pretty confident ive got the skills and equipment to make a kwalitee fix What is an approved repairer? An approved repairer will have the skills and knowledge required to competently perform the repairs required. The repairer must have the correct equipment to perform the repairs necessary. The certifier will include all the repairer’s details in a file.

Thanks Chaps, I think i may just leave it for now, and do what the man wants later. Once i have a man. (recommendations for south island repair cert folk?) I should really make a start on the paper work too. RE Weather, since i am a massive dork, i have previously prepared this: Top graph shows Dunedin is consistently ~4deg cooler, but has significantly less rainfall in winter and is less humid. Second graph also shows that its somehow less sunny as well, but I recon its way sunnier (im on the Mosgiel side of the hill tho) , and way less windy than Auckland. Also the sun is way hotter feeling when its out, but the air being less humid doenst hold the heat the same.

With the differential out time for a dismantle and clean up Axles removed, can you guess which side came out easy and which side was a real bastard? However, this is the rusty side after a bit of a soak in some kero. it still had a gritty feeling even after being regreased probably pits in the bearing rollers from sitting in rusty grease, i hummed and hawed because the bearings are over $100 each and its not really mission critical, but ive decided Ill replace this rusty bearing while ive got it out, and because pulling the brakes and stuff off is such a pain in the dick on the van and im thinking of future me - however, the other side feels much nicer so it can stay. For reference, this is a RIV 9632 which is 35x72x27, which cross references to a 3207 bearing. Outer axle seals are 48x62x10, but thats an uncommon size so ive ordered 2x 48x62x8, as a bonus that puts the seal on a different part of the shaft, which is part of the hub Diff head off and cleaned up and repainted. Marked the pinion nut and pinion with a punch, installed the new seal (38x70x10/13) Another odd one, but is common across the 1100-1500-2300 family so had one already Other than dirty oil the inside was really good, hardly any wear nothing busted or chipped, and there anything i wouldn't have expected on the magnet. Diff is 43/7 ratio or 1:6.14 which is i guess how they managed to have the original 38hp 1100cc powered vans, a '1 ton' load rating! The 0-60ft times will be good, hah! Brake backing plates after a soak in teh parts cleaner and a quick sand blast Evaporust Paint Just evaporust on the patented (bevettato) 'AXIBLOCK' by RIV - magic stuff. Dug some likely candidates for replacing the rear shocks out of the stash. Ive already swapped the lower eye rubbers and bushes over, but did need to swap the upper pins for the eyes off the old ones. And a nice box of clean, replaced or repaired, repainted and thread chased bits to go back on OLD GROSSNESS NEW HOTNESS I did a quick experiment, rust converter and use up some not quite right coloured spray can just to see if some colour made it look better, and yep, sure does! I want to figure out a way to knock the surface rust/hard dirt/dry grease back without taking off the factory texture coating i have a few attachments on the grinder to try, but not looking forward to the days underneath that will be needed to do even a half ass job tbh Sand blasting is probably the way, but i dont really want to have it done in the driveway (can this even happen?), and cant really move it with everything off out of the way. Any idea on cost or not to dos from those that have undeside sandblasting done before?

With the Ute sorted, its back outside and the cars are shuffled back inside. Back to the Van. Dropped the rear axle for a cleaning up before refurbishing the brakes/new lines etc. This is the underside of the van - i know it looks like shit, but it's mostly flaky underseal/paint, dirt, 50 yo dry grease and surface rust. All the rails are solid and unbent, the floor is a bit saggy but thats from being loaded, not rust. Ill try popping that up a bit with a bit of wood on the jack under the thin cross members. I think ill clean up and brush repaint in the factory grey mainly around all the mounting points and areas that will be hard to access with the diff back in the way so it doesn't look too restored/fixed before i sort out a repair cert, and the rest ill give a tickle with the wire bush while the diff out and just brunox or something to hold it steady. Diff oil was actually not too bad, and given the amount of oil on the outside, there was a surprising amount still on the inside. Ill replace the diff pinion and outer axle oil seals too once i get them off and note the specs to order them from the bearing place. Only one broken fastener, which was one of the captive nuts for the sway bar mount so ill need to cut the floor to weld that back in. Always very impressed with the quality of Fiats fasteners, they very are rarely the issue irrespective of the state of the crap they hold together. These have an axle/hub setup like a beetle or kombi with the drum and hub as one unit, held onto the splined axle shaft with a big fuggentight castellated nut. Pass side rear brakes where already disassembled when i got the van, which requires removal of the hub and drum, and that hub slid off nicely. I suspect a leaky axle seal was probably the cause of the original brake issue but as a bonus it kept the spines well lubed on that side! The driver side on the other hand was pretty dang tight. The spline and hub rusted together. The man in the book has a special tool but i dont, so cobbled this up. It was stuck on pretty good! But eventually it popped off. Reference photos for drum reassembly below also show everything inside the drum is present and correct, which is as expected as the handbrake worked pretty good before, interestingly also has fairly low wear. Crusty spline will need some cleanup but a blast with brake cleaner already made a big difference. Ill probably replace the wheel bearing on this side while im in there 4x150 steel hub with integrated bearing, aluminium with steel lined drum. Brake surfaces are like new, no appreciable wear or scoring, the pass side is slightly worse, but still very good.

Got pretty frosty the other day. Bonus 125 in shot Some more bits turned up, cap and stat for the new radiator and core plugs for the block. so I gently smashed them in with a BFH and a socket. Love the look of fresh new plugs in a freshly painted block. Stole the alternator mount back off the van engine and cleaned that up. Also had a test with my crate of alternators while its easy to access and, looks like a rwd twincam alternator will bolt up easily if needed. Popped the cleaned, rebushed and painted generator on for now. Pop Cant do too much more till i get the head back from the engine reconditioners with new valve seats and guides, and since i havnt taken it too them, i may be a while. Have picked up the reconditioned radiator tho, very happy with Radiator Services in South Dunedin. Good communication, job done well by people who know what theyre doing, for a reasonable price. They even added a fan temp bung (factory fan is constant - ill upgrade to a triggered system) for free as they rang me to collected it earlier than they said it would be ready and id only just noticed i forgot to ask them about it. Ended up with a cut down core from a second hand Nissan Patrol radiator, because getting a new core in the size and spec needed (3 row) was crazy expensive. This certainly wasn't cheap, but was a lot less expensive, and vans always need a solid cooling system.

Enjoyed the video. "Fidddle fiddle Braaaaappbraaaaaaaaaaaaap brapp bra... Fist pump!" Seems like the brap was shaking the camera

I have quite a few fucks to give, but I would just rather do almost anything else but prepping for paint. I think its the visible progress to time ratio - i have a series of steps in my head for a given task and i think i tend to see them equally (they all get one line on the list?) and because this one step just takes flippin aaaages it grinds my gears. So anyway, got to the point where the diminishing returns of sanding yet another coat of filler met my level of fucks. Masked up. Basically only repainting the sill area, as the paint above the body line is mostly original but a bit patchy, and still has the pink stripes so i was hoping to sort of fade it in and cover up some of the worst bits from the bottom up. The front and rear lower bits have been painted before. I was worried the rattle can primer i used might react with the gun paint. Not enough to sand it off tho, hah. Primered And de masked (i may hate sanding, but goddam i love peeling of masking!) Nioce The paint is a few years old and while i stirred it pretty good i think it was a bit thick and should have put extra thinners in it as it wasnt spraying very well at all. I went over it with some thinners at the end which smoothed it out a lot in most places except here. I also put a texture line to match the factory 'tide mark' on the sills using primer with a very low pressure just sort of spitting bumps on it. Windscreen ready to go back in And done, just need to install the filler strip and this beastie can go back outside and go back to 'work' (ie going to the dump once a month or so) . Fired up first pop too.

Just happened to come across this just before too: https://petrolicious.com/articles/this-1973-fiat-238-officially-served-belgiums-biggest-ferrari-dealer I warn you that it includes shocking statements like Normally, an old Fiat panel van wouldn’t brighten the eyes of a supercar enthusiast. Oh, sure, they may be quirky and cute, but they’re not exactly an appealing addition to most collections

How long after the first open home till you park the Series on the brand new driveway? Every successful Open Home needs a leaky transmission seal to trample gear oil though the new carpet, even private and virtual ones! Seriously, GLWS man, hope it goes well.

The correct Piston rings showed up quickly! The pistons cleaned up well and after getting the rusty, broken and stuck old rings out new hotness installed with lots of oil in the bores and moly grease on the bearings. Bores are pretty tapered based on the ring gap getting noticeably smaller as i moved it down the bores (and over spec all the way!) , but im just gonna send it. Installed the previously disassembled and cleaned oil pump, was pretty good under the grimness. Filled the gear housing with moly grease so its pre-primed New timing chain and gears, new crank nut and new welch/core plug. (turns out the 4 on the side are 32mm not 31mm, silly!!! More engine parts ordered... Everything turns over real smoothly, which is good enough for me. Turns out i didn't have all the seals. Its a weird stepped one that is only for Fiats that use these oil slingers, but ive taken a punt on a generic unstepped one to try. Future reference: Factory crank nose seal, shared with other fiats (500/600/850/1100/1500/2300 ) that use this oil slinger Seal 70/65x45x10

Some small lockdown progress. Mainly slow because i just really hate sanding and bogging, its so dusty and takes way too long. Anyway, the sill repair got smoothed in and some rattle can primer for now. Pretty good colour match, hah! That done, dropped it off the stands and popped the windscreen out to get the passenger scuttle. This is result of some paint reaction just bubbled and flaked off. Looked back in the thread when i last had the screen out and i had a bad paint crazing reaction in that area when i was first gun priming it in the driveway, probably from a mix of rattle cans i would have used to seal it overnight etc, but i must not have cleaned these areas out. Flakey paint goes up the gutter a bit too. First grind back, back to bare metal Picked at some other scabs around the opening, and got the first layer of filler - one and done on most of the other bits, but a couple yet to go in this corner I reckon. Its a tricky tightening concave that always takes me ages to blend in.

Need a parts car to go with my other miniwags. Looks like it might be a different brand tho, so new parts car too good = new project! Mini fleet

Sick of looking at this up on jack stands. I need to finish the rust so it can go back outside where trucks belong, and so the sedan can have the garage again. So, picked at the rust bubbles bursting through the previous repairs on the drivers side sill. On the Sedan what is the inner sill on this, is actually the outer sill. The panel behind the door is used on Ambulance (long wagon) and Limo and matched by a panel between the front and rear floor pans. The Ambulance and Limo have a rear sedan door and the sill continues under it. On the Pickup, the bedside panel also wraps over the Sill. The back paint you can see on the top of the inner sill is actually black bedliner stuff i sprayed on the lower floor, which is under the tray bed. Pretty easy to see how water and stuff from the tray falls down between the sill and outer and rots out. Ill fill this with wax. Old grossness. Only 2 small patches, but they were both tack welded over rust then a bog artiste blended it in. Given the quality* of metal work under such bog mastery on the passenger side on the top of a double skinned water trap, unsurprised to have to take it quite a way back to find clean metal . One big patch is easier than lots of small ones IMO Inner sill reconstructed plus the fillet plate at the corner of the door opening First outer panel. Thought i would try joggling the top to add a bit of strength, as well as way easier to weld to and maybe reduce warping. Pretty happy to be looking after @nzstato folder, makes this stuff super easy! And second patch during one of the last of 456,908 fit ups Done Couple of shitty little patches in the corners of the door done too. Little fuckers warped pretty bad, but kind matches the existing dent above it, so meh. Quick rattle can primer to finish up and get an idea for how much bog ill need to fill out all the wobbles. Not as much as there was on there before maybe? Given its a skim going over solid metal instead of hiding making rust, im pretty happy with that!

Carb rebuild kit for the Single barrell Solex PIC turned up - seems heaps of old shite uses these carbs so a full kit with spare jets and holders etc (Fits: Willys Jeep) was easy to find for $not much off ebay. Pre cleaning Used as much of the kit as a i could - the jets are a bit richer than the originals, so that may be useful later, especially as the throttle shaft has a bit more play than id like. Its a pretty simple carb and couldnt find any reason why this wouldn't 'work' Just need to find a throttle return spring. Nice to have another thing for the 'ready to bolt on' pile

Lots of bits and pieces turned up while i was away Like a NOS Piston Ring kit - 77mm, standard sized for Fiat 1500 (and 2300) Ring Thickness 2.0, 2.0 and 4.0 Sept it dont blimmin fit, innit! These are from the Car engine which i thought may have had new liners and bearings at some stage. I really should have measured these properly, as they are obviously different domes to the book and the pistons in the van engine, but i just assumed they may have been later block vs early differences. However, seems these are not FIAT pistons, but Mazda 323 UC Engine (rwd 1400) or Honda EK, EL or EP engine pistons! Anyway on the lookout for some +030 (77.6mm (yep, not standard!) ) piston rings for the above, ring thickness 1.5, 1.5, 4.0 - looks like Bowden Auto Parts has some for $80 according to his pdf's! I have heard about these pistons being a replacement for both 1500 and the 1608cc twin cam that comes in 125s, as even in the 70's and 80s pistons where hard to find for these, but never seen an engine with it before. Before spending even more money on obscure parts, I thought i may as well have another look at the van engine to try pop those pistons out as they are factory. THis has been soaking with ATF and Engine oil after getting a degrease and a water blast when i first disassembled it Lol, nope, they are not going to slide out. Popped the pan back on and rolled that back out of sight! More parts to order then.

Id been soaking the oil pans off both engines in the part cleaner for the three weeks i was gone plus a few more days for luck. They were both very very gross and i had scraped the sludge and given them a few rounds of the water blaster etc before that. This is where they ended up Both were pretty dented, the car engine one slightly less bad than the vans one. This is the car engine one. They were both pretty bad so i decided to fix up both and whichever comes out better can go on the runner engine. An hour or so with a blow torch, various hammers drifts and and dollies then a quick whizz with the flap wheel Lazy coat of satin black and done. Earlier block and is made form slightly thicker metal and has an extra pressing on the front for no reason, otherwise the same. The car one sat flatter on the test block and came out much smoother so we will go with that. Van one is on the left, car one on the right