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Sunbeam's 1973 Fiat 125


Sunbeam

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Aaaaaaaaargh! I had a cluster fly infestation in the shed so I bombed it.

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The picture does not do justice to the carpet of dead flies. I then set about vacuuming them all up. They are so gross, the vacuum cleaner hose now has a thick buildup of goo on the inside with the consistency of tar from the filth that these flies excrete.

My cleanup revealed a bigger problem, a mouse plague. They’ve had such an abundant season thanks to the mild, moist summer that the numbers have exploded. Anyway, they have made camp inside the Fiat and MG, and have been gnawing on bits of car. Quite demoralising.

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I’ve cleaned up the front and rear crank seal housings and fitted new seals, also the oil filter housing.

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Then outside with the block for a hot soapy wash.

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Of course, the bores started to flash rust immediately despite me working as fast as I could to dry everything. I soaked them in CRC as quickly as possible and wiped it away as well as I could.

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Then I masked the block.

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And finally I get to apply the Ford Grey engine paint which is very close to the original Fiat grey. EXCEPT…..

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IT’S NOT FORD GREY!! Crap crap crap! It looks stupid. I did the full coat to prevent rusting. Not sure what I’ll do about it. I might let it cure and then go over it with something else. I’m not sure how this error occurred.

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More Visa thrashing today. New balljoints, shocks, spigot bearing, timing tensioner bearing, spindle nuts and a couple of oil filters to pad out the shipping are on the way. KYB shocks from Rock Auto $32 nzd a corner! I ordered shocks for a 124 coupe as these should help when some low is installed. Pretty sure they’re the same fit but a smidge shorter than 125 shocks…fingers crossed.

Also, I got the head back from the machine shop the day before Christmas eve. There was a last minute drama as some of the valve stems were under spec/had massive wear grooves (CHANGE YOUR OIL, FOLKS!) so a quick pillage of my spare engine and a trip to town ensued. I didn’t have high hopes as the spare engine is even grungier than the one I’m rebuilding, but we managed to make a full engine set..whew! Apparently other than that my head is mint and has had the lightest of skims.

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