Sunbeam's 1973 Fiat 125

[Sunbeam]

Flushed with the glow of success from obtaining legality for the first time in 15 years, I am acutely aware that there is more to do. My exhaust downpipe arrived. 

It came with an inch and 3/4 outlet and I need to make it 2.  Mark:

 

Chop. No going back…

Tack.

Beer.

[Sunbeam]

Did a bit more today between farm chores and ferrying kids around (to be fair it was for dirt drift karting which I enjoyed as much or more than the kids). First job was to grind off the bottom tacks so I could tweak the end of the pipe down a bit

 

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Then it was time to trim and hang the rest. This took a few goes. Main pipe section is ok

Over the diff is good:

The rear “muffler” hangs pretty good too, but could do with hanging a few mm lower which is just a small adjustment on the clamp

It’s the bit where the front pipe should slip into the first muffler that needs a tweak:

It surprises me how much just increasing the diameter of the pipe affects ground clearance. I have 105mm under the front of the first muffler. This is now the lowest point on the car. Also, the hand brake cable is quite close to the pipe- the bare steel bit, not the rubber sheath which will limit my ability to lift the muffler for more ground clearance. Is there a minimum clearance for cables that I need to be cognisant of for WOFs?

[Sunbeam]

I have gotten as far as I can go with what I have. I’m very happy with the downpipe I bought, the fit is perfect.  All the other joints are aligned now, but this leaves the tailpipe exiting at a 5 degree angle. This will be unfixable without tweaking some bends in the tubing. The lowest hanging part has 125mm ground clearance and it’s close to the rear axle so I’m happy with that. I also haven’t been able to avoid a very tight gap with the rear passenger footwell pressing in the floor. I have 4.5mm… is this too tight?

 

Also, every slip joint has a tiny leak!! I’ve run the engine and it sounds quite stout, a bit more bass but still with all the twinky rasp.

[Sunbeam]

I personally don’t like doing this on slip joints but beggars can’t be choosers.

 

Also I have new rubber hangers so I thought I’d accelerate the stretching process. Yes, that’s an old battery..

[Sunbeam]

Yes, 4.5mm is too close. It bangs the floor vigorously when traversing bumps. So I have undone everything again and extended the hook eyes I fabricated for the rubber straps and meddled with some angles and I now have about 10mm. Also, no leaks. Also also it might be a smidge loud. I know, I know but I’m closer to 50 than 40 nowadays and I have enough hearing loss from hundreds of hours in a Cessna 206. Don’t need to be more deaf.

[Sunbeam]

Been driving around some more. 2200-2800 rpm is punishing to cruise at. Transitioning through this band is fine and generally it makes bad-ass old car tunes. The rear muffler is a straight through bullet style and this needs to change, I think. I have a new problem with clearance though. The exhaust isn’t banging the floor anymore but now the rear axle housing is banging on the inverted U section. I think I need to ditch the slip joints and weld flanges in instead. This will give me some more wiggle room to play with angles before welding the flanges on. Also I may investigate adding another leaf or part leaf to the rear springs. They are so soft I can make the diff housing touch the bump stops (and exhaust)by pressing down firmly on the boot! Increasing ride height is not an option. 
Servo pic: 8.8 l/100km on this one. I was expecting 10-11 so call me pleasantly surprised.

[Sunbeam]

1000km post run in oil change time. 

 

Then I took it in for some surgery on the exhaust. I got sick of playing around with it so like a coward I farmed it out to a zorst wizard. There was much choppy chop and a quieter centre muffler was grafted in. Still sounds good but is now bearable to drive. Wizard made multiple angle adjustments to clear the diff and brake bias valve and torque arm.

 

One problem to report: Whiff of antifreeze when the heater is on. GROOOAAAN!! Looks like dash out in my future.

 

[Sunbeam]

Gratuitous photo.

To do list:

Leaky weld on muffler

Right rear wheel bearing protesting loudly

Weeping heater core

Left rear tyre touching the inner wheel tub on hard left turns

One tappy tappet needs shimming

Oil pressure switch weeping

Build a good 5 speed from the two I have in stock and butcher modify the tunnel to fit it 

Rewire main beams with a relay

fit electric radiator fan

fit retractable front seatbelts, and fit rear seatbelts

 

Otherwise, it starts and runs very well and I’m having fun.

[Sunbeam]

Leaky weld on muffler

Right rear wheel bearing protesting loudly

Out

No in pics. Due to a lack of a press I dropped the axle and bearing kit off at Italian Job (nice fellas) who swapped it over for cheap. Wow, sooo much quiet! Much more pleasant to drive.

[Sunbeam]

If the running in process wasn’t quite finished before, it is now!

Fiat club track day! Thrashed mercilessly and made the brakes stink a lot! And realised my son is not a naturally gifted photographer…

Nothing broke and many people told me my car sounds good. There were a couple of Ferraris, 3 Alfa 4C, and a Lotus Evora which was very nice.

My car was one of the slowest but the only comparable OS cars out today were a V8 Fairlane, a MK2 Jaaaaag and briefly an Alfa spider. The Jag couldn’t catch me but I spent a fair bit of time being passed by modern turbo hatches. I’m very pleased with the way the Fiat handles for a fairly stock road car on chinesium tyres. Juuuust squeezed 100mph at the end of the pit straight which coincides with the red line on the tacho. If there’s a next time, I need better brake pads and I need to get the twin sideys on, she runs out of breath at 5k rpm. Son was fizzing as he got to go for a hoon in a Lancia Montecarlo race car (with added volumex).

[Sunbeam]

Not done anything lately except order parts. 

Nice to get a proper steel expansion tank cap. Plastic one supplied by Midwest Bayliss lasted 1 seconds. Heater tap wasn’t cheap but worth hoovering up.

[Sunbeam]

I haven’t driven this thing in months! I mainly haven’t had the time to commit to removing the dash to address the leaking heater core, so I’m afraid it’s bodge o’ clock

Sucessfully hooned.

[Sunbeam]

So yesterday I took the old girl in for a WOF since it had expired back in july. On the way there the clutch cable failed. We managed to jimmy it up enough to get it mobile whereupon it clean sheeted the WOF. Happy days. Since I had to remove the clutch cable anyway I thought to myself what do I do with my freshly legal but undriveable car? Why, I should render it semi-permanently undriveable of course! 
 

Failed cable

 

well that escalated quickly!

 

The job I have been putting off. Voila!

 

I am keen to make some repairs to the plastic wood but I can’t figure out how to get the clock and face vents out. Once they’re out the trim just lifts off. @azzurro you’ve been here before, yes?

Also, the factory workshop manual is quite vague about how the dash comes apart! 

[Sunbeam]

Maybe the heater core doesn’t leak. I pumped it up to 7psi with my old mityvac.

 

one hour later…

 

Further investigation looks like a possible leak at the heater tap gasket. The base of the heater tap does not look flat. Interestingly it looks like VAG & BMW were not the first to use plastic cooling system components! Either way, the core is well blocked with crap and it would be foolish not to take it to a radiator shop for a birthday.

[Sunbeam]

Apparently my heater core can’t be safely opened due to its construction. I’ll have to take the guy’s word for it. So I did a no-no and filled it with CLR, let it sit for 5 minutes (how much damage can you do to copper in 5 minutes?) and then flushed it back and forth many times with the hose until no more rusty coloured poop came out. It’s flowing way more easily through the core now. 

Then I did some dishes- that’s the fan housing with the fan motor removed.

Cleaned the fan of 52 years of dust and filth and set to reassembling the heater box with new a new tap installed. The tap I took out was plastic and munted. The replacement is metal, probably Eastern European. Shiny new hose as well.

Then into the car. I will confess, this is not my favourite job. 
 

It had to go in and out 3 times while I mucked around with clearances for various cables and the shitty tatty carpet that won’t stay put! Flushed with eventual success, the aftermarket strikes again! 
 

 

Yeah, that’s a bit short. 

[Sunbeam]

This was to be a triumphant post about getting the dash back together and happy cruising. Got everything in, and then went for a test drive before refitting the lower dash parcel shelf thingy. The heat was cranking yesssss! Then the heater fan made a fluttering noise as I was pulling back into the shed. Apparently that’s what they sound like when water drips on the blades.

 

Sigh. Pretty substantial rupture. Back to the drawing board, heater out again. I’ll probably bypass it and keep driving. Any good ideas for getting antifreeze out of carpet?

[Sunbeam]

More self-inflicted spinal injury today. Heater out, bypassed, heater removed from parts car…

hopes aren’t high for this one. Next pic is the good side. Face that the tap attaches to is corroded away, and the fins are jam packed full of birds nest, and there is evidence of seepage. 

 

I am in contact with an Italian geezer via ebay who has a nos heater core. Looks like it will be cheaper than a recore if he doesn’t fleece me on the shipping.

 

[Sunbeam]

Oooh yeah. NOS parts.. Heater core is finally here. Also came with a new boot rubber.

[Sunbeam]

Every lady needs more shoes in her wardrobe, ask Imelda Marcos.

Performance Challenger 14x6, FB marketscourge score. Anybody want the tyres? 185/55/14, never touched a road, manufactured late 2024, the finest Linlongs. 195/60 is what I need.

 

[Sunbeam]

I removed the minging boot rubber today.

 

Replaced with new lushness