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azzurro's 1989 Polski FIAT 125p Pickup


azzurro

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And today i had the day off as well (back to werk tomorrow) , so dug right in to see what i had done.

So, first things first, RIMZZZ

the factory rims with the pastic centres actually looked ok, but they tyres were shit. So

14"x5.5 DELTA AUSTRALIA Meshies, with 185/60 Direzzas

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Or these 13"x5"  Indianapolis with some unused but old and off brand 185/60 
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Mrs and boy reckon  the meshies, i like the 13s but needs to be lower first.

I also have some 13" wards, and some 14" steel iron cross and some factory 125 steelies too. Sad.

So digging, they guy has a 125S and a 128 Coupe so this truck has been pretty well setup. 

125 Sedan Diff (4.1 ratio)  in the back (complete with leaking axle seal, but new rear pads). These were factory disc as well, he said the FSO one started making a noise so he swapped it over, and i think the pickup diff is lower geared (like 4.3 ratio) so the swap improved highway comfort too.

Still has the factory polonez 5 speed box (halfway between lada and fiat twin cam to suit the 1500 (and 2300!) engines) with the starter is on opposite side to fiat twin cam), The stick is removable! but box it is quiet and smooth.
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Rear lowered by flipping the ubolts these ride pretty high in the ass usually, and the suspension pretty stiff. Front is apparently stock but has lots of nolathane bushes.

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took the front end off to tidy it up and remove the lights. One of my favourite jobs is cleaning the muck out from light lenses, seems to make such a big difference to the appearance for the sake of a bucket of soapy water.

WHile i had that off it would be rude not to see if the 20 year older italian Fiat 125 chrome grill  will fit in the usual spot. It will but it about 20mm wider than the plastic one and covers the edge of the inner light, so yeah, but nah.

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Car has been sitting around for a while not being driven.
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Tracing why this side repeater (this one is odd and from a Toyota of some sort) is non operational
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Deja vu is when they change something in the Matrix
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But is otherwise pretty straight

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item 1 on the list above, section behind the rear wheel.

 

From bottom to top, rusty section, CAD, and the patches 90% ready to weld in

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Then welded up the pie cuts and slits, checking against the car as it can warp, then welded most of it in from the inside where i could.
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Then my welder started playing up, all pops and burn backs and no penetration  :( 

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Turn out it was the new 5kg wire roll was quite a bit heavier than a nearly empty one, and got the wire speed set properly, after some long overdue maintenance.

Ground most of that off and ran over it again with the revived sizzle stick, ground most of that off too, and here we are :) 
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SO thats the rear half de-rusted, started on the first round of bog, and washed the dust down with a beer i got just so i could use my new opener :)
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Bog, is boring so skipped ahead abit, the spare door cards were in the way, so sapped them over. This is what i had, which were ok apart from the massive holes and wobbles.

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And this is what ive got, 2x  passenger side 125S (for Special!) door cards, complete with GOLD AND PURPLE trim. 
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Passenger side swapped right in
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Drivers was a bit more of a mission. I ended up ripping the vinyl off to reverse the door card to reuse the factory holes for the door pop-clips and stuff, but better than before, and thats a job that is now finished!
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While i was in there I have also

- cut down some foam for the underlay

- removed the shitty stereo (will probably put a head unit back in with speakers in the kick panels, and gauges under)

- removed the heater box 

- so i could access the hood opening mech (now sorted)

 

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I removed the crappy stereo and looked at the wiring, sighed and pushed it back out of sight and started putting the front half of the interior back in over some 6mm foam which makes it a bit nicer to sit in while faffing about

The old stereo was just sitting in a big hole in the dash as the factory (single centre) speaker cover is all broken too and my spare headunit (CD) was too long,  so ive ordered a cheap 'retro' mechless bluetooth jobbie off aliexpress, as well as some gauges, (RPM and Voltage), and some other shit.

To prep for this, i made up a dash panel for the stereo to mount in and ive had this cool gauge pod thing for ages and i think it suits the brittle black plastic aesthetic that the interior has going on (the screws are fake, lol) 

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I only had to trim this massive gash a wee bit (on the bottom half)  to get it in
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Bit of black formica over the top and jobs a goodun pending the headunits arrival.

Will probably run oil pressure, a 52mm tach and voltage as the dash water temp gauge works fine.
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Sorry about the carpy photos it was dark.

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this week i finished off a few jobs on the list,

started on the a-pillar, as i thought it would only need a little patch. which is nice because this area is a common rust spot with the pointy fender angles trapping much up there and then rusting into the scuttle

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then i found it has been leaded before. and there was a big hole on the underside letting water up into the scuttle, so off with this whole corner (this is about the 5th time ive done almost this exact cut).
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as per usual the triangle bit had a hole in it letting water from the front wheel up into the a-pillar. Nice
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REmade that bit and repaired the scuttle and fender corners
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buzzed back on
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and a coat of primer. Just needs a skim of bog, but that can wait
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Heaps of little things,

- got the stereo/gauges installed and working (except the oil pressure -  need a 1/4 NPT to 12x1.5 thread adapter to put the china sender in the standard Fiat sender hole, or a Fiat guage i guess)

- swapped out the old secondaries for some from the stash, factory 125,

old holey rubbing and bent ones on left, new hotness on right

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made a few free horse powers before installing them with the power file!
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Lot quieter now so i can now hear the valve shims tapping... 

My Ladapower box turned up,

- so far ive fixed the steering column bushes (nice and tight now)  

- replaced all the dash panel lamps

- installed the new gear lever and bushes, and rubber  boots so it doest fall out nor can you see the road though the hole

- replaced a couple of other random firewall boots

- replaced flasher unit

- diagnosed the no start issue to the ignition switch (same as 80s/90s Ducato/Renault/Citroen van, so only 28Euro with freee shipping instead of 90Euro + for a Fiat 127/128/132 listed item!)

- installed a battery holddown and tidies up some engine bay wiring

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- found the factory hub caps sit flush on the meshies, yeah or nah? 
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And some rust and stuff around the drivers door 

The mirror mounting points were, ahhh, not rusty but may as well have been. No access from the inside, so i chopped it out.

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Found some RivNuts at Supercheap (no gun but!!!) so tacked some in my patch before install so it matches the passenger side (which needs a couple of the extra holes welded up too, but already has the rivnuts)
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Knocked back the welds and done :)
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Then i founds some holes in the gutter 'hiding' under some clear silicone:

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Chopchop  I purposely kept my cut below the swage line as it made the patch easier to make and blend in and reduces the chance of warping a lot, even if it was a bit tighter with the torch tip. Got some rust kill and primer in there while i could, always a bit of a tradeoff as the stuff you jam in can contaminate the weld and make it more prone to rust out again vs slowing down or stopping the cancer thats already there that will definitely rust out again!
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CAD then steel,
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A flattened bit of old copper pipe makes a good bridge/heatsink and saves grinding the back side of the weld flat, as the weld wont stick to it
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Bam! and the rust is gone :)
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Few more blebs and holes sorted too while i was there
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I pretty much only have the back of the cab floor to do now, and ive had a bit more of a poke at it and i think ill just patch the worst of it to get er done as its not that bad really , and keep the floor sections when i eventually collect and chop up my red parts car for that 'one day when i do it properly'. Future me can suck it.

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