Popular Post azzurro Posted June 7, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted June 7, 2021 Had a combo of not raining and the Mrs in a mood to help, so got the van turned around. Not quite Austin powers 100 point turn style but nearly - i had a roller jack under the diff which made it a bit easier to pirouette. Jacked it right up, stuck the engine crane though the drivers door and after disconnecting everything (-1) eventually pooped this greasy lump out. Thats a single barrel Solex with about a 25mm venturi and the exhaust manifold is van specific to poke though the engine bay into the front wheel well. Smelly greasy hole Two cans of degreaser later and its much much better - the opening behind that loose pipe is for the exhaust pipe. What looks like a chassis rail the pipe resents on is actually the cold air feed, from in front of the radiator, dumping behind the firewall, with a smaller round hole for the carb - i wonder if that has a ram effects? Tidied up the starter motor, came up really nice, solenoid even has yellow plating still on it, and even bench tested successfully, and happily a bit smoother and quieter than it was before the tidy up Mid tidying up Fresh alternator brushes, I got 4 boxes of these these cheap as (like $10 euro for all four boxes?) ages ago for my 2300, quality West German made. I also swapped the starter bushes for the old 2300 ones i swapped were actually quite a bit longer than the ones in the one that came off the van engine (never throw anything away!) And compared the spare that actually looked slightly better on the outside (but felt a bit crunchy spinning). 16 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post azzurro Posted June 7, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted June 7, 2021 Headlights These take a 7" H1 bulb headlight, which seems common enough, but the bulb housing has the mounting and adjustment built in and clip on to the bucket and are only available NOS, like these for only $500NZ + postage, and these aren't even RHD. https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/124135811511 So i bought the cheapest 7" headlights i could find with a peace symbol which tuned out are Lucas STYLE 700 lamps from here along with some other stuff: https://www.classiccaraccessories.co.nz/collections/lighting/products/classic-lucas-style-p700-headlamps?variant=29025370636376 Unfortunately they didn't mount quite how i imagined but luckily some actual Lucas headlights popped up on FBM and they had the mounting rings too, so I could fabri-cobble something together. OEM SIEM light (H1 bulb), old Lucas 700 with mounting ring (bayonet style bulb) , modern Lucas 'Style' 700 lamp (H4 bulb) The SIEM lamp has a 'long' side glass which gives room for adjustment within the light trim ring. The mounting ring on the lucas makes it a bit tighter Reusing the original mounting buckets (they have small clips for the trim ring built in as well) meant cutting one wee clip off the old headlights, cutting some slots and adding some captive nuts to make some adjusters And they actually fit! Van finally has its face back. H1 and H4 bulb wiring is pretty much the same but ill probably add some relays in for these and a few other things at some point This is normal right? Classic OS, 'saving' money on buying the right thing, by spending almost as much buying old junk that doesn't quite work and spending hours making it fit. Should have probably just bought these, but they were out of stock or I would have https://www.classiccaraccessories.co.nz/collections/lighting/products/7-inch-headlamp-cone-assembly-metal-with-gasket 30 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post azzurro Posted June 13, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted June 13, 2021 slow progress this week finally started painting the bathroom ceiling i rejibbed after replacing the old 3 in 1 fan a few months ago. Some more treasure from Italy showed up, its the missing sliding door handle. Popped that on and now the van (furgone) is pretty much complete now. Just doesnt go or stop... So shuffled the 'car' engine off the stand and under the bench and got the original one from the van ready, removed clutch and flywheel, and got it on the stand to start the tear down to see what we have to work with. Got a new parts washer - its a revelation - good for cleaning things before (remove the greasy smeg) and after a soak in the vinegar bath (to neutralize it) and after the sand blasting cabinet to get the sand off things before putting them away - flywheel and clutch plate are both in great condition and came up well I know this engine is hard seized and the engine number is about 50,000 lower than the car engine. Both are 115C 000 blocks, but the van one is #35xxxx, car one is #409707. Centrifugal oil filter shows signs of a lot of deferred maintenance! Popped the valve cover, the inside and the head very blackened (from dirty old oil getting hot) and the valve gear has some surface rust from condensation A couple of valves were sticky but they freed up once the head was off and i could tap them back up. Ill strip the head down after work this week some time, hopefully its better than the other one. The valve gear off the other engine is nicer than this This is Cylinder 1 after popping the head off and a quick vacuum. That will buff out? After a good water blast and air dry i stripped the rest of the accessories out. Cam looks ok - cam gears, chain and cover are also in good nick - no witness marks from loose chains either so ill use that cover at least. Oil pump shaft is stuck in its hole- and BLACK Left some ATF and Acetone sitting in the cylinders overnight - only #2 drained out - i know for sure #1 is rusty and stuck, but maybe #3 and #4 just have really good rings? HA haaaa haaaahaaaahahahaha hhmmmm. Hmmm. Shame because it looks like this engine has standard pistons still (77mm vs 77.2 on the car block) and apart from the rust the cylinder walls look less worn as well. Will see if it frees up, but i think ill stick with the car block, hopefully the head off this one turns out to be ok, or at least better than the car one, and with a few other bits swapped around and some new rings ill get 'a runner' 27 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post azzurro Posted June 20, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted June 20, 2021 Fingats crossed the van head (left) is better than the Car head (right Both have the same casting number with the van being an '8' the car head being the later one is a '14', chamber head is very slightly different as well Dang it, looks like i will need two new sets of valves and might even need to pay a guy to re grind the seats properly and other similar stuff. Bugger 12 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post azzurro Posted June 20, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted June 20, 2021 So onto other stuff, Gearbox has been sitting in the corner since being removed It looked pretty suboptimal on initial glace After a waterblast looking better. Box is early 1100 style so pretty light and small. Similar design to my 2300 but that has a steel case and is i bit beefier all round. Linkage has been fuckled with and the top of the bell housing looks to be welded back on. Mounting face is flat and the holes line up, so im letting it be. Insides look ok, i guess? Turns out the output seal is the same as a lada/124/125/1100/1500/2300 which is good as i had one 'in stock' from a past order FIAT ITALY PA335 Removed the bell housing and tail shaft. Nothing seems missing or broken, there is some wear, but nothing i can do anything about. New oil seal and some bloo goo on the original gasket Put back together - ive ordered some more seals for future reference: 1100T 217.000 gearbox output seal - 32x56x10 - same as lada/124/125/1100/1500/2300 input seal - 22x45x8 - shared with other 1100 group boxes selector rod seal - 14x24x7 - shared with 850/1100/2300 Clutch master came apart and cleaned up pretty nicely too - i have already got a NOS rebuild kit ready to go, but i also have also a strong feeling this is a lada compatible part (the slave is) so may drop one in my next ladapower order just in case. 24 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post azzurro Posted June 27, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted June 27, 2021 Brake master cylinder is cleaning up nice. Got a rebuild kit to go in. Trying to figure what intake to run. The potential performance advantage of the twin barrel car manifold over the single Solex 32 BIC is obvious But so is the size. Might rub on the cab. Fitting a different carb with the gubbins mostly facing the head would probably work too. Maybe later. Anyway, variations on the Solex BIC single carb was used in many small and medium cars from the 50s to the 70s, and much later in the third world so parts are plentiful (and cheap!) and so now have a 'Willys Jeep' full rebuild kit on the way so will start with keeping it originale. 13 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post azzurro Posted June 27, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted June 27, 2021 Dropped the fuel tank. Filler and vent rubber had been replaced with radiator and garden hose respectively Was empty which i took as a good sign. Its dented underneath but looks watertight and is galvanised. Level sender not looking so good. Floats are cork. See what happens after an overnight soak in vinegar. Thats just nasty After a rinse with the hose this appeared, looking al the way through back out the sender hole. Dang it. Plan was to take this and the radiator to get dipped and cleaned. Radiator has a split too. Hopefully the whole bottom of the tank isnt thinned from the inside out. Will see what the man says. 15 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
azzurro Posted July 5, 2021 Author Share Posted July 5, 2021 The man did not have good news Swiss cheese, rusted from the inside out. Radiator needs a recore too. Suggestions for custom fuel tank replacement on a postcard. Lada Niva tanks have a similar general shape, pipe location and attachment style/location, so will dig into that for starters Shame theres no pickaparts down these ways to go wander with a tape measure 5 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post azzurro Posted July 11, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted July 11, 2021 Some orders turned up in the last couple of weeks: - piston rings - front brake cylinders - engine gasket set - gear box linkage bushes and misc rubber bits - valve guides - water pump Still need a few more bits, mostly brake related, and have a big ladapower order that should do the trick. Brake master cleaned up ok, but has one quite bad rust crater right under one of the inlet ports. Ill probably get it ss sleeved before i install my lovely NOS rebuild kit Also tidied up the propshaft I replaced one universal as it felt a bit sticky, but it looked pretty low milage once removed. " Hardy Spicer (Aust)" on it so definitely a replacement, so i left the other one which felt fine 13 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post azzurro Posted July 11, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted July 11, 2021 Had to collect the 125 from gc@nzstato offsite storage facility so he can put his own stuff in it. First time these have been together. Dropped the super heavy (C beam, 0.25" plate and angle iron) rear bumper/towbar that some PO had added (no rear bumper from factory!) and sanded the paint on the valance/ rear quarters behind it. Aaaand went over a few other patches again and so thats the last* of the maroon paint and its primer. Gave the cab a wipe down . Then gave the side i see the most a wizz with the polisher Not bad! 34 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post azzurro Posted August 22, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted August 22, 2021 based off the sizes on the old ones, I ordered two full sets of gearbox oil seals including shipping from Ali Express for less than the Buy it now price of a single NOS seal via Ebay. Definitely due for some! This one is the rear seal and a real shit to get the old one out as its face is flush with the inside of the recess. Gearbox is now as ready as it ever will be. Been pretty busy with work and a couple of weeks in Auckland visiting family and dragging back a solid van load (+ trailer) of shite from my storage unit - still another load to go. Anyway, some of the retrieved treasure includes a Fiat 1500 clutch master i got ages ago to try on the 2300 wagon, that didn't fit. Perfect match for the Van Various bits for a new exhaust And all sorts of other rusty shite treasure that will maybe come in handy one day for the Van and maybe the rest of the fleet. 18 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post azzurro Posted August 22, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted August 22, 2021 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 10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post azzurro Posted August 22, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted August 22, 2021 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. 10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post azzurro Posted August 22, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted August 22, 2021 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 33 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post azzurro Posted August 29, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted August 29, 2021 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 21 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post azzurro Posted September 21, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted September 21, 2021 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. 19 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post azzurro Posted September 21, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted September 21, 2021 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. 29 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post azzurro Posted September 27, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted September 27, 2021 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? 18 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post azzurro Posted October 4, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted October 4, 2021 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. 27 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post azzurro Posted November 21, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted November 21, 2021 Chucked the diff back in a while back, fresh black makes everything else look worse. Had a bit of a splurge on ebay, got a NOS Pirelli windscreen rubber, which means i can cut the old one off eventually a NOS Sipea ignition switch a replacement (not NOS but made in Italy) passenger side mirror some NOS tail lights lenses for the 125p ute Ignition switch came with a nice note Thanks Hans, Installed, so van finally has some keys Also got this parts catalogue, good for practicing the italian, french and german But full of great diagrams like this, which has already proved invaluable taking a few things apart, and putting them back together. Also broke my crawler with the diff so that got new base wood - used some random ply that would result in the least waste - tuned out fancy! 14 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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