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azzurro's 1969 FIAT 125 Berlina


azzurro

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Went and visited a dude off my Fiat forum the other night, and talked some crap, checked out his 2x 131R Super Mirafioris (hes in the middle of putting Thema turbo engine in one) and also picked this arrangement up:

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looks a bit crummy on top, but thats just 10 years of garage dust, as underneath and inside they looked like this:

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Chucked the rams on the the "lathe" 8)

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And spent a couple of cold nights inside by the heater taking them apart to check the jetting etc, and reassembled this morning after a rinse with some fuel and a blow through with some air. Very happy, they are in such good condition and have new gaskets, isolators and diaphrams and stuff all round from a refurb by the PO before 131R who hardly ran them as they leaked from not being nipped up. They are also very purdy. Cant wait for some DOOOORRRRT!

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Only possible problem is they are DHLA G (the dreaded 'Emissions' ones from a later model 1.8 Alfa) that still have most of the original jets and emulsions tubes with a couple of pretty minor (?! famous last words?) changes having been made (smaller needle valve and auxilliary venturis only) to try to weaken them a bit (to suit a 1400 cosworth? :dontknow: ) so thats hopefully Ok , as most problems with these type seem to be related to them being 'tuned' like the Universal Performance types, which messes them up as they have a different operating principle to the performance ones all together. They apprently dont seem to like 'hot' cams either, so should be ok on my basically stock 1608. I doubt they wouldnt be any worse than my current carburettor and they look 10x better too.

I will also need to sort a linkage to connect them up to the throttle, but i cant really figure out how it might work as the rotation is 'backwards', pushing away from the cambox down between the carbs from about 2 o'clock to about 7 o'clock, or essentially requireing a pull from back underneath the manifold.

They also came with a 125T manifold that 131R had modified himself, and the difference is pretty stark to my unmodified one with the big restriction from the block mounted dizzy scollop:

Looking down #1 runner, OEM on top, modified below

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From above, OEM on top, modified below

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Nice Job! Hopefully my skinny X-19 dizzy that ive got fitted will clear the reduced scollop which was designed for the big OEM one, or i can just pop them on with the unmodified manifold :D

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  • 3 weeks later...
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  • azzurro

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have been playing with my van a bit lately, rust fixing and other general tidy ups and it will also need a new clutch slave soon :(

may start a thread on that one

the mrs daily needed a new water pump as well (lucky she spotted coolant!) and that has sucked the car fund down.

So only little jobs. My camera is also dying so fuzzy grainy phone shots it is.

Tried the overriders on - they were the fist thing i removed when i got the car, as i hate the plastic protector bit on them, shame theres so many holes in the crome im gonna have to put the plazzy bit back on. I might just run them on the rear to hide the tow bar a bit, or may even try my other less beefy tow bar :? .

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finally got onto changing the jets AGAIN!

went as close as i could to the 1600 GLS settings, which are much leaner than the others, incl smaller main jets different emulsion tubes and larger airs and it seems to be running much smoother, no hesitation on throttle (in the driveway) but biggest difference was after doing that, changing the slow running jet from a 50 to a 45 as a last resort.

I also got new sparkplugs and leads on too,but have yet to obtain other dizzy parts to tick all these things off the list as well, but the recently cleaned plugs were very black and sooty, so hopefully got the jetting right and thatll do it untill i get a linkage sorted out for the twins.

I also got an gine stand - in prep for this ive dug my spare engine out of deep storage (ie took all the crap off it), to fit it on and check it over and dummy up the linkage on. Just need a crane to lift it up onto the stand and ill change the 40yo engine mounts on the engine in the car as well while ive got the crane.

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Also got a package of shiney wheel centre caps from Aussie

not really a fan of them on the meshies,

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but they also fit in my slots, so thats where theyll live.

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Its amazing how fast the shine has come off these rims from just sitting in the shed!

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I have a steep driveway and because i angled the exhaust down when i fitted the towbar it scraped pretty bad and has now been bent back up and rattles like a bitch on the tow bar esp at idle, so I decided on cutting a relief as i couldnt really move any other bits and my spare/other towbar is much weaker looking and was possibly home made back in the day.

remove the two bar and have a nice clean rear end, no towbar, no overriders no nuthin

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chop (yep its haggard but i couldnt get the grinder in there to cut, had to slice it and then bend the tabs off with pliers)

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buzz

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grind

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slop

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super fugly rear end with towbar, tennis ball and overriders with bonus plastic bits.

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yay! no rattles, car sounds much much tighter now. I guess its probably a no-no modifying a tow bar but as i wont actually be towing anything, and i reused the steel and welded the shit out of it im sure it'll be ok. I also took the roofrack off as it whines and drags in the wind, but its good to have for just in case/missions etc.

also finally drilled a big hole in my cheap t-me water temp guage fitting to fit the adaptor for the guage sender

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guage even works (left) :)

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just need an olive joiner thing for where i cut the oil feed line to the oil pressure guage (the middle one) with the grinder aages ago and all three would work (volts on right). Pondering putting them up where the stereo blanking plate is in line with the clock etc like a 124 coupe.

Also need to relay the ignition switch esp the starter and main power feed next i think - driving in the dark to BF meet was ok, but having everything dim in time with the rattling of the keys in the switch really is not so good - dodgy voltage to everything is probalby also partly to blame for the annoying miss which I also have reduced a bit by putting in a bit more advance and cleaning up the dizzy again.

anyone tried these guys for 12V electrical bits and pieces?

http://www.capitalinstruments.co.nz/afa ... ducts.html

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got some packages of electrical stuff to relay the ignition switch during the week - got it all from capitalinstruments.co.nz - reccomended!

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Started off tidy

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and ended up with this

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which goes in here,

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meaning the guages are staying where they are. Id did all this to take the load off the flaky ignition switch contacts, through which the full current for the starter solenoid, all the lights and coil all run, unfused. WTF!

So now the wires that went to the back of the ign switch to supply various things from the 'brown wire' still do, they just plug into the out pin on the relays, which are idividually fused by and powered from the distribution box, supplied by a big fat new red wire (replacing the brown wire), and so now only a small trigger current to fire the relays goes though the ign switch via new colour coded wires.

Blew a few fuses and renewed a few OEM spade terminals (radiator fan was a bit dicky but new terminals on the thermo sitch is all better) but now all the wiring is better then factory, all power is fused and relayed and as ive left most of the original wring in place can easly be returned to original or removed into another car. I still need a new ign switch tho :?

This set up also makes it really easy to relocate the battery into the boot which ill do eventually/when i pull the engine out to tidy the bay/put my other engine in.

I also got a package of distributor bits, but unfortunately only the points fitted and they couldnt supply a dizzy cap :cry: . Nevertheless running seems to be better and I cant blame it on electrics - eg coil now has a solid 13-14V supply instead of a wobbly 12-0V and everything seems to be brighter and faster.

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My green alloy holder thing turned out to leak like a sieve - right out of the hole i drilled/filed which i was hoping it wouldnt but kinda expecting it would- the brass adaptor thing had a wierd taper fit (found in a gasfitters bin?) and my drilling and filing was not very precision and i had nearly stripped the threads on the brass expexting it to cut into the ally. Feck - what to do? Ive still got a great big hole in the top radiator hose that i cut on purpose and now cant fill, and ive wrecked both the sender fitting and a $20 generic internet part.

The answer is of course welder! Take one old skinny peashooter exhaust pipe. After some basic maths* figured out to make a 38mm OD pipe to 36mm OD (so the rad pipes fit) gotta remove about 6 or 7 mm of circumference:

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Also turns out the temp sender has the same thread as FIAT radius arm nuts, which i have a couple in my 'big bolts and washers' bin so the sender can still be fitted - i think this might end up being a permanent solution :D

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Had to 'machine' the stupid tapered adaptor down on my 'lathe' (lol) to fit inside the new nut, instead of 'be' the nut:

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needed the bevelled seat to seal up the sender, and i was pretty stoked with the nice relief on the bottom to fit the pipe radius given it was my first wizz and by flap disc :) :

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Whaddup! - my grandad was right, never throw anything away - it might come handy one day. Today was that day :)

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Also fixed my oil feed line, and now all the guages are go :)

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* by basic, i mean its so simple but buggered if could remember how to work it out, lucky google remembered tho: (Circumference = D*pi, so (36-38)*pi = -6.28mm section to remove).

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I bought some tyres for my daily off Michael J Fox (they are sweet, cheers!) , borrowed an engine crane off Sambo (thanks man!), and bought a dash from TradeMe this week - and they all lived in Beach Haven! WTF

Dash looks a bit rough in the sellers photo but that white stuff was old polish or something, and the brown stuff was dry mud

- it shined up nice with a spray of interior cleaner stuff and a rag and only has one crack instead of heaps of them :)

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That will go in when i eventally get new carpet/new speakers in the kick panels as its a total PITA removing the dash.

Anyway, having Sambo's hoist meant i could change these out, which went well enough:

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The old one doesnt look that crooked in the photo for some reason but they were, and the engine now sits at least 10mm higher.

Fired it up after wards and the IGN light wouldnt go out - ohohh. Unfortunately hoisint the engine must have pulled a wire

and the terminal on the + alternator had pulled itself, along with its carbon brush right out of the body of the alternator :cry: That also meant parking up in the garage and removing the alternator and carb etc instead of test my nice new mounts with a drive.

The damage wasnt 'terminal' however (ha!) and I reassembled the brush spade terminal with a blob of Ados

to help hold it in the housing against the enourmous force of the little brush spring, and put some new spade terminals

on the wires, and retaped a bunch of the loom in the engine bay back up as well as some inside and its all

better and tidier now. I also had to readjust the carburettor linkage as it was now binding and vibrating

though to the pedal at idle, so thats now better than it was too.

No photos tho cause it all looks much the same as it did before :P

Having the hoist also allowed me to lift my spare engine onto a stand to finally have a proper look at it.

Drained the black but not gritty or metallic or milky oil, took a few ancilliaries off, gave it a bit of a

degrease and then flipped it and popped the sump off to find...

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Excellent! - nice clean oil strainer, standard unmodified crank and big end (oh well),

and oooohhh whats that shiny thing?

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Why its nice new pistons and pins :cyclopsani: Hopefully they are high comp ones to go with the cams

- can anyone tell from underneath?

That also means that someone has been in here before me and has had the bottom end off (to put new pistons in)

- Is it best if I leave the main bearings done up and just assume they were replaced at the same time or can i

pop them off? Will i need new bolts and a tourque wrench and all that stuff if i just take one off?

At the top on the inlet side, everything seems nice and clean and has been smoothed/ported a wee bit and i think the valve stems could be new as well:

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I dont really want to touch the head gasket at all but I am curious about the pistons, so i might have to have

to settle for a poke though a spark plug hole with a small screwdriver to try to feel if they are domed or flat.

Pretty stoked anyway 8) It also has a new fuel pump and a few other bits as well, as well as newish gaskets on

most things.

Looks to me like it has been rebuilt with the pistons and cams and run but maybe only for a short time and then

left in the shed for ages (as per the sellers story), so i think ill put this one back together as a spare/upgrade

engine.

Meanwhile it can be a dummy block :)

I put the sideys on to check clearances etc and make it easier to work out a linkage.

I think Im going to try to construct something much as per the factory rod linkage arrangement to keep it tidy

and clean. At least as a first go!

This is an unmodified manifold with a scallop for the dizzy, and a standard s124B dizzy fitted

- its pretty tight!:

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And the modified manifold that came with the carbs - its rubbing:

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The s155 dizzy i have is only a couple of mm less in diameter but i will need all of that

+ some more to run the 'straight shot' manifold.

There is a wee bit of meat able to come off the wall of the mainfold if absolutely required

as a last resort but i definitly dont want the spark bridging out on the intake manifold!

Looks really good tho!

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Had a play with the carb linkage:

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You can see how its got to push back underneath.

It works in concept so I reckon I can make it work for real, with some generic linkage parts to allow adjustment in the lengths of a few bits, and with a bit less tape and hose clamps obviously.

But it seems to me that the big 'L' shape required in the intermediate linkage (even in the manufactured aftermarket ones) makes the forces a bit off, and is in there even in the linkages you buy, as a work around for the dumb position of the ball and esp the interference of the bulky balance screw on the carbs.

it would be much tidier i think to reverse the movement and pull "up", by welding or purchasing a ball on the carb throttle plate on the manifold side?

Like this:

repositionedcarbleverar.jpg

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I knocked off work early on friday so went to see murray at weber specialties as thinking i could get rod, tabs and ball ends to make my linkage, or to see if there was an aftermarket plate that could be ordered - nope - he didnt have any rod, and i forget to grab some screw on ball joints but he did give me some laser cut steel tabs to use for the arms, and some advice too. Nice one :D

I also picked up some allthread and some nuts on the way home. Cost me less than $10 in parts all up which is better than a $85 for a generic kit off the internet!

So got to put my plan into action today when i could finally bust out the grinder and welder. It worked ot quite well in the end, so hopefully some one will find this useful in making a much much simpler mounting for the twin Dellorto DHLA sidedrafts as fitted to many later model Alfa Romeos to almost any other engine with rod linkages. It should also work in a similar way with a cable throttle as well. Basically you want to change the throttle action to pull straight up rather then try to push down and under like the Alfa.

Standard Dellorto main throttle linkage plate (note carb is upside down so thottle plate is the same orientation in the next shot - thottle opening rotation on the ball is anti clockwise, or down towards the sump). All sorts of stuff gets in the way and the gap betwen the carbs is less than the gap between the manifold tubes:

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Linkage arm from some crusty old carb ready to weld on - after a lot of checking I put the arm directly opposite the std location and at the same distance from rotational centre so the rotation required is the same, just pulled from above - note the kink in it so the adjustable linkage arm socket clip doesnt rub on the manifold and pop itself off.

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And from above showing the slight bend in the adjustable linkage arm to clear the slave carbs balance screw (but no where near as drastic as the full 'L' required before). I also flipped the rod mount boss and i ended up taking the kink in the top tab out after this shot as the reversed mounting boss put it in the perfect spot to centre with the kinked lower arm.

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Looking towards the front of the car/engine - The difference in lenth of the arms means the small movement (25-30mm vertically) of the factory accellerator rod linkage end (in this diagram represented by my hand...) is magnified by the long arm at the carb which requires 40-50mm of lift to rotate the butterflys the 85-90deg required. The carbs will hit the WOT stopper just before I run out of pedal travel :)

The arms are tacked to a nut, and after finally figuring out that the correct position of the lock nut varies depending on the force applied (it took a while :rolleyes: ) its all done and these are ready to bolt right on to the factory engine/linkages in the car and look pretty factoryish as well :D

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Just need an intake manifold gasket and some 5/16" fuel hose, Oh and some air filters. And maybe some 6mm ID pipe of some sort to hide the allthread :lol: So carbs should be spitting at me next weekend or so :D

That done, I pulled a few bits off the spare block to tidy up and check out as well as hose out the water galleries etc - its all looking pretty choice and most are bits clean and newish, with a bit of a wire whell/sandblast they will look new again can go back on with new gaskets where required. Had a bit of a look at the pistons, i think they are just flat tops, and with the conditon of everything i think its best to leave the head on for now as its not going to be a race engine, just a nice clean spare.

vroom vroom!

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Also, what should I do with the crankcase breather valve outlet now?

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been waiting for some new parts, especially some intake manifold gaskets so i can fit my twin sideys to the engine in the car, for aaages and they still havnt shown up :(

I was hoping to have had a few test drives done with them fitted by now. Maybe next weekend.

So instead ive been pottering about putting the spare engine back together.

I painted the block - i wanted battleship grey but they didnt have any, black i decided would be too dark to spot any oil leaks so third choice bright blue it is:

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Colour I realised afterwards might be a bit OTT in my engine bay but meh, it makes all the nice clean parts pop:

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Also picked up a couple of rusty old starter mtors and my spare gearbox/bellhousing from the lockup to bolt to the back of the spare engine to see if it will fire up one of these days - gearbag was from this car:

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which had been stting in the mud at the base of this farmers bank for 15+ years when i got it, so i wasnt expecting much, other than a useful mount for the starter, but it cleaned up pretty nicely after the mud and grease were scrubbed off + a bit o' paint.

Gears etc look ok too and rotate smoothly with no rust or steel flakes or whatever in there, so i suppose thats a full spare drivetrain :)

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also have my eye on these hayashi street copies (themselves a 'homage' to a DeTomaso wheel so i reckon they are Italian styled):

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hhhmmm, given condition id have to repaint them - maybe in all over white, or plain blasted silver, i think the usual polished faces and gloss black could be a bit too JDM-yo for this car?

Hurry up already manifold gaskets! :bounce:

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  • 1 month later...

so not much happening on the 125 front, im pretty much being held up by #$%& parts.

Ive given in and ordered a bunch of stuff from the always friendly and well priced AutoRicambi.us - be interesting to see if this package arrives before i even get a reply from the several local vendors ive called/emailed (some more than once). I guess business must be really good to not be bothered to follow up on a $500+ sale :rolleyes:

In the meantime ive been pulling my spares together in prep for a big splurge when i get all the bits i need.

Had a look at my diff and drivetrain due to the noise coming from there. Verdict is some maintenance is required: centre bearing hanger thing is hosed, diff leaks from the nose seal (flinging stinky SP90 onto my nice new exhaust to burn :( ), and the diff end cap has somehow been bent in (by a stone?) and was rubbing on the housing, and probably making half the noise - bent it out of the way again, but this wont have fixed the leak (or replaced the diff hanger).

So got the guibo and hanger already, just waiting on universals and a bearing and then ill pull the driveline out and can bung in this:

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This is from the old blue car i chopped up on the driveway, except it now looks like this:

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Someone has been in there before, with one of the halfshafts being replaced and the diff head having evidence of being removed & disassembled (it was also nice and clean and smooth with no chips or anything obviously untoward despite finding a large chip from a gear tooth in the pumpkin (probably undiscovered debris left over from the reason for the last rebuild) i think that har had been driven pretty entusiastically and someone had blown a diff 8)

However, the unreaplaced halfshaft bearing is a bit noisy (oil seal o-ring was chewed into the cavity so oil out and greb in) so ill put the best one from the diff thats in the car currently when i swap it over along with fresh o-rings.

Ive also found (by driving in the dark and rain trying to demist the windscreen) that the heater doesnt get very hot (but neither does the temp guage), possibly related to the connections between the heater controls and the tap, but possibly also because its just stuffed, so ive dissassembled my sparest one. Unfortunately the matrix on that one is stuffed too, so i do have another spare in the red car, if the one in the car is also busted, but all the other parts are all cleaned up and ready to go in if required. Ill need to pull the whole dash apart to do this to, and at that point ill put the new dash pad in as well.

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I have also made a start on cleaning up the engine bay, in readyness for pulling the engine out to do the clutch/and maybe swap the spare one with the new pistons in and fixing some rust. The start is by moving the battery to the boot:

Current state - was about 100mm short with the brown wire replacement last time :?

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Battery out and ready to drill out the tray to relocate it to the boot:

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And done (ill cut the rest off and tidy it up when im doing the rust/engine bay prep):

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Pretty happy with the state of the metal underneath the battery tray spot welds :)

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All wired in, 80A fuse, nice thick cable to the drivers knee area, earth screwed to a new captive nut:

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Then to this thing, which is a distribution block with built in 60A breakers - the brown wire replacement (main supply for loom), starter (unfused apart from the 80A job) and Alternator all run from this. The voltmeter reads about 0.2V less than when the battery was in the front.

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And done, bolted in from underneath while i checked the diff:

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When i get my new parts box i should have plenty to get on with :D

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  • 3 weeks later...

Come home after my first day at work after 2 1/2 weeks off to find my package awiating on my doorstep. Bloody typical :D

Anyway straight out the door to BF meet (without the twin sideys on of course cause that will have to wait for some time off ), as always an eclectic collection of cool & interesting cars there, but these two in particular really tickled my fancy, as I Had 2 Beetles, a barn door and a 57ish splitty (rusty wreck but still regret letting it go) back in the day, and have always wanted a Datsun 1600.

I would have both in my garage if i won the Lotto so could have a bigger garage.

Loving the photos man!:

http://www.facebook....40690467&type=1

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Including these ones for some thread relevant contentt

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The package had plently of small bits and pieces and a few big ones that completes all my parts collecting for the final part of my resto - the driveline, which ive not touched at all and the engine bay which has only had cosmetic fettling and fluids so far.

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Ive been really hanging out for the $US4/$NZ8 inlet manifold gaskets that came with (i ordered 3), as cant get anyone to sell me one in NZ, and now Ive got some (all the way from the USA) I can now finally fit my sideys mainifold to an engine to test the setup.

However because the WoF expires this Friday ill only be able to burn up and down the street a couple of times to make sure they run as there is a bit of work I should do/need to do before takin it in to get one, and ive driven it 700miles since recomissioning it, and now ive got all these bits too, so its good timing.

THe driveline definitly needs a good looking at (vibration and noise starting off and at speed), and the engine is leaking a lot of oil (old gaskets and long time sitting im not surprised). It does burn a bit of oil as well, but it runs really well considering and doesnt get hot (now ive stoped the fan blowing fuses!) or use water.

THE TO DO LIST:

Job #1 - DOOORRT!

- fit sideys to fitted engine and get them dialed in so they run OK, and linkages finalised/working etc -

mainly as a motivator because then ive got a big list of jobs I need to do before getting another WoF, so it will be back up on the stands for a while:

Job #2: Strip down and body work

- pull engine, gearbox, diff and driveshaft

- fix a patch of rust in the engine bay right behind the exhaust

- trim passenger door skin to allow better gaps and closing due to front wing fitment

- tidy and respray engine bay

- fix a few bodywork issues that i messed up last time, as well as a few touch ups and paint chips

Job # 3: Driveline refresh and reinstall

- install refurbished spare diff, with new o-rings and oil seals

- check rear brake calipers + fix as required (one only has 4 H/B washers and the other leaks :? - ive a few spare calipers now )

- strip clean and refurbish driveshaft, install new universal joints and hanger/bearing

- clean check and reinstall the best gearbox with new guibo and transmission mount (GB in the car works fine, just dirty and leaky)

Job#4: Spare Engine finishing and installation

- replace timing belt, tensioner, waterpump, gaskets and etc on spare engine ready to start up with single downdraft carb from curent engine (because i know it works)

- install new clutch and bearing (still to obtain)

- get running and timed/tuned (that will be a laugh with those silly cams in it)

- drive to garage for WoF.

Job #5: Interior

- take out dash, heater box and carpet and front seats

- fix heater and install new tap

- refit new (for me) dash, & tidy up wiring situation in behind there

- make mounts for nice blue velour bucket seats ive got, - hints and tips from 125 owners welcome (stupid uneven mounts!)

- fit front speakers (6"? in kick panels)

- make/install new carpet esp for front floor

Job #6: Original Engine

- Assuming the spare engine goes fine, start the strip down and refurbishment of the original engine with new gasket set etc (Ive never taken an engine fully apart before), to have as a good spare

Oh boy that is a long list now ive typed it out.

If i actually do all that evey major system will have been taken apart and put back together at least once :/

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Started on my WoF/missed items list and pulled the driveshaft and diff over the weekend. What amission the driveshaft was!

Last shot of old diff in place - i like this shot for some reason, rear tyres look really fat :):

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Zooming out a bit you can see theres not much room (btw, car is not supported on bits of wood! thats just taking the weight of the diff while loosening a few bolts).

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Hanger support hoop was defintily toast, so that would for sure be making some noise, but the bearing seems smooth.

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universals looked a bit tatty from the outside but were actually ok - only one had any visible witness signs of the needles having worn on the shaft and i couldnt even feel them with my fingernail, and the front one had been replaced before. Interestingly they were the self greasing type but the nipples on each were missing and therewant much grease in them.

Anyway, looks like the vibration was not universal related, hoever they cant go back in :|

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Anyway the whole shaft is now cleaned and painted and this along with the new parts are in the boot of the daily to have the hanger bearing removed (dont have the 27mm scket for the yoke nut) and universals fitted and probably balanced? as there are a couple of small dents in the end of the shaft from rocks or something and a few witness markes from the seat belt bolts.

Also because my socket and hammer removal method is not suitable for the refitment of new precision parts so ill pay someone to do it properly :D

Also removed the old diff,

p1060047o.jpg

which was leaking from all three, that is both wheel and and nose seals pretty bad and it all felt a bit crunchy rotating the wheels and head compared to the smoothness of the refurbished one so im pretty sure its gone bad as well. This is diff oil from only 700 miles driving as id cleaned most ofthis out when i did the brakes about a year ago.

20121022135543.jpg

The replacement diff is a 1:4.11 (as stamped on the cage) so i may pop the head off the old one to see what its ratio is in case its different (i reckon it would be higher than 4.11) as speedo reads just over 3000rpm @ 60 mph at the moment but im not sure how accurate either is :D - my traffic-o-meter suggests its about ballpark, but that seems a but high geared to me - 4.11 will sureley bring that down? Will need to find a 5 speeder maybe :).

chucked the discs and spacers on the new one and got it sitting in place. then decided to clean and paint a few things while i had the chance so thats where ive left it for now.

p1060049.jpg

Also, my rear calipers cannot contain their brake fluid. Thats definitly a WoF fail! the paint on the inside of my rims is all blistering as well :|

p1060048a.jpg

The pistons were quite pitted when i took them part last time and i guess new seals just wernt enough. Ill clean and swap in a different set (that i now have with clener cylinders, and i got a rebuid kit in the last package) i think rather than try to fix these ones again. You can see the blistering of the go-fast red caliper paint :lol:

So in a strange way im quite chuffed that i didnt spend all that time pulling perfectly good parts and that this work is actually necessary, and will make the car better, and not just cleaner/shinier.

However, I need to pay some guy (only this, exhaust and winscreen fitment ive not done myself so far) to get the driveshaft put back together, meanwhile refurb some more rear calipers. When thats done and back in i can then back it out,reverse it back up the driveway and then ill be onto pulling the engine and box and fixing up the bay.

Also had this ghettobird circling over the hood today. Grey with no markings. Gummint's grey men are keeping tabs...

p1060051y.jpg

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wee bit more progress on ye olde 125 this weekend.

Pickup up Driveshaft from the shop, all reassembled and balanced. Was quite a bit more than I was expecting to pay, but theyve definitly welded some weights to it and the new UJ's & bearing are smooth like butter:

p1060054.jpg

and all back where it should be:

p1060066a.jpg

Reminder: need to have brakes back together to torque diff bolts. Also need more diff oil!

Also reassembled the old caliper bodies with the best cylinders from the 4 i had. The handbrake spindle seal i was able to use from my 124 kit, as i think that was missing from the last set i got, as the o-rings in there were not a good fit and i recall chucking a random oring i had spare and the best of what was there last time i did the calipers. Im sure they were leaking from the back where the handbrake mechanism is as well.

I also had some slighty different (DBA?) caliper brackets in my collection, that are not OEM FIAT branded but also do hot have wear where the steel ends of the pad sits and rattles in the braket and digs a hole from 40 years of driving. They were also 940gm each compared to the 1100g of the OEM ones as you can see from the few extra rebates in the design. (yep i weighed them to see if my hand guages was right - it was!)

p1060064.jpg

Thats a 10%+ reduction in the weight of that component. Which is unspung. So i reckon thats a high performance racing part right there yep. :)

p1060057k.jpg

All togther again now and they look nice, but I suspect these will probably leak at the caliper seal again because the bore is a bit worn (too easy to put the piston back in IMO), but also looked like they were leaking out the back as well which ive hopefully fixed with new o-rings. Well see i suppose.

p1060068h.jpg

ill order another 125 caliper kit to refurb my spare set, but they are a bit rough but serviceable only problem is i broke a bleeder screw off on one, AND my 5th one is a 124 one with a smaller caliper so i cant use it as the spare :?

Anyway ill sort that out another day (mig blob on the end + vice grips) as these ones look nice for now. Plenty of other work to do before road test time anyway to see if they will leak in the meantime.

I would have had it buttoned up bled and turned around ready to remove the engine at this point but i decided to take the opportunity to have a quick clean up the brake proportioning valve while i was there and was going to bleed the brakes anyway

well it does look ok? (this is after removing 40 years of gunge of course and a paint)

p1060065m.jpg

shame the bloody thing is totally seized! So ill need to order one of those as well. I think this may have been letting too much pressure to the rear brakes which seems likley from the driving behaviour, as well probably exacerbating the caliper leaks.

So im stuck there - cant bleed it up or put it back down in the ground untill the brake valve is replaced. Bums

So Ive had to start another parts shopping list: :shock:

- rear brake proportioning valve!!!

- SAE 90 gear oil

- 125 rear caliper rubber rebuild kit x2

- clutch kit + flywheel bolts

- dizzy rotor and cap (still on order)

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  • 2 weeks later...

I Finally recieved a package i had been waiting for for nearly 4 months!

It contained far less than my original order, as i'd since got stuff in my last order from good ol US of A, but also a contained a few new things that I ordered since.

New 125 Dizzy cap, capacitor and rotor from the original order plus a rear caliper kit (for my spare calipers incase the other ones leak again) some gear linkage bushes (bushes in gear linkage currently = 0!) and a rear brake proportioning valve which i needed to put the bum down again. Rotor and cap for my smaller/newer 128 dizzy are also not obtainable (stupid side exit style only) so will have to make the big one work.

20121110170936.jpg

First up, I popped the valve in and bled the brakes up, chucked the wards on just for a change and to see if i like them again or not.

20121110182841.jpg

the wards have quite a high offset and rub but only on the drivers side rear. Im sure the diff is offset by about 5mm to one side, and the old one was the same. probably my arch repair on that side contributing as well by pulling it in a bit :?

20121110182757.jpg

Sigh, whatevs, Meshies it is then.

After that, backed it out the driveway, went up to the culdesac head and back again, and then backed it into the shed.

The new diff and shaft seems* to be a big improvement on the old one, (smooth and no vibration) so hoping thats sorted that, but I didnt want to really push it as I had only temporarily fitted the slip joint at the front end to ease gearbox removal which is the next job, and up the road and back in 2nd is probably not enough to tell for sure, but im feeling pretty good about it.

Here is a crappy phone pic for proof - painted up the lines and stuff while i was there too:

20121110182401.jpg

Onto the front. Bonnet off:

p1060078n.jpg

Radiator out (black) - ill probably bung the polished one in when i put an engine back in and see if the black one can be refurbished. Current one works well in that the car doesnt get hot, but leaks a wee bit.

The polished one has a heap of solder in it too but has slightly fewer missing fins and they also seem to be finer. Its also shiney. :D

Neither of them will be going back in for a while anyway.

p1060083f.jpg

The current engine is very leaky from pretty much everywhere, and the oil was pretty black when i drained it, and uses a bit as well:

p1060084g.jpg

Not sure where the oil is coming from to do this (crank seal?) but there you go!

All that doesnt really bother me that much, but 'hiding' behind the exhaust and under this mix of paint, bog and seam sealer is a bit of a crusty hole, which is the main reason for the engine coming out:

p1060085r.jpg

T'other side seems solid, but obviously could do with a tidy up too.

p1060086w.jpg

This is where im at, got stuck on dropping the gearbox, would only go back about 5mm before stopping hard. p1060087s.jpg

After trying a bunch of time consuming things including taking my freshly installed driveeshaft off again, I give up and had dinner.

Re-reading the manual just now i realised that the lower flywheel cover tin needs to come off. :oops:

Probably wont be making it to the Burger Fuel meet in a couple of days then.

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got the engine out late yesterday, came out pretty easy other than the hoist getting limited by the roller door and where the stands where, and finally got the gearbox out tonight (after swinging it off the speedo cable :shock: )

they are both greasy as hell, and the gearbox and/or just the bell housing (why??) have been replaced before as the housing has 'Fiat 132' on it in wrecker pen, but the g/box definitly an early 125 4 speeder (ive tried lots of times to put it in 5th!).

not too many photos, greasy hands and I really need a new camera.

p1060088b.jpg

clutch is pretty greasy too, and throwout bearing is rough and has worn the clutch fingers

p1060090l.jpg

and this is the state of the bell housing:

p1060092n.jpg

i guess the crank seal was pissing oil out as the gearbox seal end seemed clean(er) and not as wet, and the back of the flywheel is pretty grim too.

Leaky seals have worked well to keep the engine bay pretty rust free however - its in relly nice condition under the greb:

p1060091q.jpg

And so i wont need to do any welding apart from this bit:

p1060093c.jpg

Which hardly seems worth all the bother now (not gutted about lack of rust - really!)

Might try some paint stripper due to all the funky crevices and my more recent layers of all sorts instead of a wire brush in the grinder.

Any (paint) stripper reccomendations?

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Camera is still on the fritz, I have ordered a NOS Lumix battery for my camera, hopefully it holds a charge/its not the camera draining them in 1 minute flat, otherwise im buying myself an early xmas pressie

Anyway done quite a bit over the week but have no photos to show for it.

- removed battery tray and brake res braket and etc from engine bay, im gonna tidy up the layout a bit, not smoothed or anything, just a bit neater.

20121117112922rezsize.jpg

- cut out the one bit of rust and plated it up, please that it was all sold in bhind as well, was only in the engine bay skin (oil, mud and leaves and even wasp nest had collected inthere draining in from the rust up in the wing support things + battery acid + brake fluid. Passenger side is solid as.

just needs a few pinholes filled + a few holes from where the spot weld drill and the grinder caught when removing the battery tray. Welder has been playing up for a while, going ok then not ect randomly. found it was just a loose earth terminal, sooo much cleaner welds now :oops: Bit more welding to do still, but glad it wont so birdshitty.

- cleaned ali and painted steel on original gearbox, had to use petrol in the end to soak all the oil off inside the bell housing, new guibo bolted on ready to go.

- Unfortunatley the NOS linkage bushings I got looked fine from the outside but had gone all brittle and glassy from the inside out, just like the remnants of the ones in there. I guess they were made of some sort of Bakelite or similar?

Interstingly SuperFlex has only these particular bushings listed for the 125 but they are 12.50GPB each, making them $50NZ for a set without postage, and they are only 22mm OD x 8mm wide!

http://www.superflex.co.uk/products.php?cat=114

SF1515-70K.jpg

Alternative is getting some turned up i suppose.

- i also need a bush for under the end of the gear lever pivot. The gear selection will feel like a totally differnt car if i can find the right bushes to take up all that slop that it must have had - Im surprised i was able to find any gears at all!

- cleaned up all the removed engine bay parts ready for some paint.

- did some half hearted wire wheeling and then sloshed the last of my old paint stripper around the engine bay.

Im going to order a clutch kit this week, some flywheel bolts and hopefully a gear stick pivot bush and see what we can do about the glass linkage bushes.

Meanwhile ill finish cleaning up the engine bay and get it ready to prime and paint.

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quite a bit of time spent after work and stuff but it dont look like much!

Gearbox bushings:

these are the NOS ones - broke this off with my fingernail, and a couple that i did fit fell to bits on my test wobble of the shifter.

Not really fit for purpose, but they were only $2.50 each, so no real biggie.

20121118202755.jpg

Mal reccomended cutting them in half and fitting them, but i figure they will just crack out again, given their material

and they are in a shit of a spot to get to with the gearbox fitted when they inevitably do.

There was also no way I was going to pay ~$60 bux for some from Superflex.

The shifter itself also has a heap of slop:

20121120184711.jpg

But the bushes for this are not in existence, so nothing for it but to fashion something up.

Went to M10 (my other parts supplier :) ) and found these likley candidates in the plumbing section:

20121120184626.jpg

Some 15mm tap washers (not sure what the 15mm refers to but it aint the OD of these!), two together are the perfect width, but OD needed reducing a bit.

i chose the hardest blue ones to minimise rubbery feel in the linkage (gotta be better than no bush at all tho right!)

And some toilet seat bump stops for under the shifter ball itself :)

Bump was cut down a bit to fit in the recess at the bottom nicely

20121120185408.jpg

cut down the head of a wee allen bolt with the flap disc to hold it in place,

some more cap head bolts around the edge to replace the ground off rivets and filled with grease and all back together:

p1060099.jpg

Peeeerfect :D

Hopefully the rubber lasts a while, I figure a toilet seat will have a pretty tough life (wee, bleach, cleaner etc)

so swimming in grease and being tickled by the nylon nipple on the bottom of the shifter ball aint so bad!

Washers needed a bit of a trim on the 'drill/lathe' and the hole opened out, but they fitted up real nice:

p1060096q.jpg

These are some sort of nylon/plastic so hopefully they hold up ok .

Popped the thrust bearing in the bell housing ready to go, what a difference a clean makes!

Before:

p1060092n.jpg

After:

p1060095i.jpg

So thats the gearbox all good to go back in, but ill have to keep tripping on it till after the engine is in,

but should be much less porridge stirring when changing gears now!

Also got a nice shiney new clutch kit, hopefully thats the last replacement parts I need to buy for a loooong time!

Its an Excedy and much lighter than the Valeo arrangement that came off the engine on the stand

and isnt covered in oil like the one on the engine i just pulled out:

p1060102w.jpg

The engine bay spot weld holes and the single rusty bit all welded up and cleaned back, and bay is ready for stripping the last of the paint, just wondering if i sould fill all the wire clip holes as well:

p1060097l.jpg

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first run of paint stripper

p1060107s.jpg

welded up the spot weld holes and wire holder holes (I'll use P clips and route the wires a bit different)

p1060109m.jpg

primer

p1060121m.jpg

azzurro del Mediterraneo

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Just gotta put it back together now.

Was pondering putting the original engine back in to get it rolling/wof'ed sooner (summer!!!!) as I know it goes fine, if a little smokey, and the spare one on the stand still needs timing belt changed etc and i dont even know if it goes at all, esp with the grumpy cams in there and the unknown quantity sideys which ive never ever used before.

Just want to drive it again.

but then again grumpy cams and sideys for summer would be choice too.

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Continuing to put the bay back together ready for an engine, put the brake reservoirs on the scuttle, 124 style to keep the fenders clean. Need about 20mm more hose :? :

p1060149m.jpg

Tidying up the exhaust a bit, was quite surprised at the restrictions in the factory parts, but my power file soon showed them whos boss.

The exhaust manifold at the head- as you can kinda see, the manifold was about 2-5mm smaller than the gasket all round which is also slightly smaller than the exhaust ports esp at the bottom of the oval:

marked

p1060158v.jpg

smoothed

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and the the 4 into 2 collector which was a better port size match but what the?

p1060152d.jpg

take that fat blobby welds and crushed in exhaust tube restrictions!

p1060153b.jpg

hardly going to change the world with that work, but at least there is no longer big steps in the exhaist flow and its quite a bit smoother so it should actually flow quite a bit better i think. Not bad for 30 mins (and 3 belts). If i had a die grinder i would have spent a bit more time as there is plenty of meat to remove in there if you wanted to to make a better port match esp where the head exits to the manifold.

After some humming and haa-ing, I decided to use the spare engine, instead of just slopping the oringial one back in, as it has been refreshed already (admittedly as an unknown quantity/quality) and has those mad cams in it, and the oringial engine could do with some new gaskets to keep the oil on the inside where it should be plus a all round tidy up.

Swapped a few bits over, like the alternator, starter, early style in-head thermostat and housing (has a single outlet) fitted my new dizzy rotor and cap to the original 124B dizzy, clearenced the inlet manifold a bit more, new timing belt and tensioner and a general tidy up and its ready to come off the stand:

Missing the new waterpump, which just needs the pulley boss pressed on about 5mm more and that can go in too.

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into a special engine holding rim to fit the flywheel back on and fit the nice new clutch,

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went swimmingly untill i snapped a clutch bolt tourquing them up - FFFUUUU...

Lucky I had cleaned the threads before hand and i managed to screw it in right though and out the the other side:

p1060174q.jpg

disaster averted!

so onto the main event.

nice clean engine bay just gagging for it:

p1060171o.jpg

bam!

p1060176c.jpg

thank you ma'am

p1060177y.jpg

Only the gear box & shifter needs to go in plus a long list of fluids and bleeding and adjusting etc before seeing if it starts. :D

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got my water pump pressed today, and installed that after work and got the gearbox in tonight. Was a family affair with all hands to the pump, and was still a real struggle untill i undid the engine mount bolts a bit to allow some more engine tilt for that last 5mm and pop!

my boy said its just like lego only heavier. And greasier.

Thats the last major component to be reinstalled, just fluids and radiator to go in really before cranking her over

(note to self - dont forget to bleed the brakes!).

also, pretty surprised and humbled to be nominated for project of the year

was not expecting that as there are some mad projects on here!

http://oldschool.co....uring-the-year/

hopefully next year there will be a distinct lack of updates as there will be nothing to do on it and it will run economically and reliably :)

dont forget to vote in all the polls

http://oldschool.co....neral-car-chat/

ive got some project freds to read though.

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