azzurro's 1968ish FIAT 1100T

[azzurro]

Sent the gear shift cable off to http://www.melbarcables.co.nz/, and have had a couple of chats to Dave already about it along the lines of  "so im going to have to use a #4 cable and crimps, so can the diameter of the outer cable be larger?", and "i have these clevis pin mounts, will that work?" so im happy its in good hands and all will eventually be well. Once its back that will mean the mechanicals are as good as they will probably ever be, so get on to applying to reuse the plates, take it down for a VIN check etc, and try jack up some joker to agree to look at/sign off the rust repairs.

I also poked around on the internet for a 12" fan and ended up getting a Davies Craig (actually a Panasonic, but not complaining) from https://nzairfilter.co.nz/  and also an K&N filter as the factory one is missing, for all of the HPs. Very happy with their prices and service too.

 

Factory filter housing is MIA but should be able to make some sort of can to give it cold air from the intake on the otherside.

Good view of the aliex water temp sender pipe thing for the aliex gauge set

I Would have preferred a larger puller set up, but there's just not enough clearance between the rad and the engine (water pump pulley bolts)  on that side.

12" was the biggest i could be sure would fit on the front of the rad too, and glad i erred on the smaller side as its pretty tight!

Check out that cold air intake for the carb.

Ordered in a set of finest chinese gauges, to try triangulate whats going on, i think the oil pressure gauge is DOA, so will steal the one from the ute which doesnt have a sender hooked up yet...

Volt meter reads 1v high according to my voltmeter, lol

also did some upholstery, and 'fixed' the big hole in the drivers seat

Getting there...

[azzurro]

Installing the new gear change cable.

In my discussions with Melbar some bits were able to be made to match but some of their standard bits were not exactly the same dimensions as the Fiat original so i asked that they be left oversized and i could smoothing things down as needed, and also accounting for possible wear in the original.

This was the tips of both ends

Old and bung on the left, new on the right, with the original adjustment nut installed.

The tip on this end is the crimp and lives in the hollow end of the gear shift column, i filed that down a wee bit (basically the ridges from crimping) to fit and allow the cable to rotate smoothly with just the right amount of length (rounded the tip a bit more) so that the nut can tighten and the cable can still swivel.

That then gets installed in the lock nut and the brass screw and crimp installed in the column change shaft, along with a dampening spring and etc and then that whole lot is attached to the steering column. The Melbar guy said hes never seen such over complicated nonsense.

 

The other (gearbox) end is a bit simpler with a clevis end which they didn't have in a size that suited every dimension required, so went with the one that was right except for didnt fit the 6mm thick stamped pivot arm. I ended up filing the arm down which also lost a fair bit of slop from the slightly rounded top of the arm.

I also cut down the boot a bit as it was restricting the throw (as Melbar barry said it would)

Thats all back on the van and after a fair bit of adjusting it goes into all the gears again

*/*/*/*/*/*

Next job is to sort out the cooling scenario. Original water pump had  fixed fan on its nose, but the Cheap replacement water pump is from a 1500 car that runs an electric fan and a different pulley mounting pattern, so i need to put in an electric fan as well.

A 12" pusher is the biggest that i could be sure will fit which isnt that big, but the OEM fan is 10" and doesnt have a shroud so i think it will be OK.

Sussing out a layout and attachment 

Been watching too much Puddin's Fab Shop so had to bust out the 'dimple die'

Much better strength and possibly airflow

Backside, try to seal off the fan like a reverse shroud so most of teh fans push will go through the rad instead of across it

Youmay recognise the alloy sheet from other projects like the sign of the year and the shroud on the 125P ute

This is the engine side, with the shroud wrapped around, no screws needed. Had the Radiator shop install a bung for a standard FIAT rad fan temp switch so set up will be the same as the ute (this is the factory set up on it) and as ive retrofitted on the 125 sedan,wagon. Just need to wire it in in yet.

Had an overflow knocking around for a while and it will work nicely to replace the factory 'full loss' system (as per pic above)

And view from the tunnel - this also has a 'floor' i need to install that basically makes an air ram to the rad and the little carb air box thing as well

NOMNOMNOM like a Basking Shark.

Will be test driving sooooon and turn it around to make a start on some rust (sliding door to start with)

Picked these up from @nzstato  (i already have his folder, chur bro!) and ill start making some repair panels like a friken boss while im waiting for paper work etc

 

[azzurro]

Not been up to much on this for a while, been busy with the diy and a new (old) job and stuff.

Anyway, the 'rona finally caught up with me so ive had a week off work, spent the first half not doing much but feeling sorry for myself, but last couple days been feeling a lot better and so ive been pottering around with a few jobs on this. Have a pretty bad brain fog still and things have been taking longer than they should and getting done twice due to silly mistakes

Its pretty actually close to being drivable, in that the engine runs, the brakes brake, all the lights work etc, but the starter motor being so cranky (lol), combined with the fuel setup makes it a liability. So wanting to sort those out first.

The battery cable setup was a bit of a lash, so in the interests of finalizing things and eliminating poor electrical connections as a casue of my starter problems i finally installed a proper earth lead(s), battery to body; body to alternator mount; and alternator mount to starter bolt. Will probably add an engine (from a different bolt) to body lead as well.

Much tidier now but the starter still sounds terrible, getting hot and carrying on, so time to whip it out for another look.

I think i broke this bakelite nub off the solenoid on extraction, but certainly wont be helping going forward.

Bench tested intermittent and noisy, just like on the engine.

Mashed up teeth wont help with pinion engagement, or the flywheel long term

Disassembly shows the real issue, the rotor been grinding on the field winding plates because the shaft bushes are flogged out ($8 parts).

Looks like the pinion had also been grinding on the nose housing as the stopper was installed backwards so it was able to go too far forwards, and the aluminum housing was also a bit worn (need an extra washer)

Must have been dead shorting itself out every revolution, amazing it worked at all, but not as a amazing as the *bad noises* that it made while it did it

I have another later model starter, i think from a rwd twin cam, that is very similar in look and in much better condition.

Interestingly it has a cast pinion head vs the earlier versions aluminium which makes it super heavy instead of just really quite heavy. Probably was the design solution to the hardened pinion wearing the softer alu nose housing over time.

Bench test = good!

Unfortunately the teeth count and spline count on the new ones pinion is wrong, original with 9 teeth and 3 spines on the left, 11 teeth with 6 splines on the right. 

Been looking online and seems  9 teeth/6 spine pinions exist so ill order up one of those along with a few other bits to rebuild this better starter as a spare, eventually.

Internals are very similar (slightly cheapened/improved in equal measure)  but different enough to not allow everything inside to swap around, and overall a much better candidate but needs must.

So improving the original with bits from the spare meant i stole the bronze/oillite nose shaft bushing, the (uncracked) solenoid, the rear commutator brushes housing (that also includes the rear main shaft bush), and reused the old shaft/rotor, 9 tooth pinion and the housing, reinstalled the stopper correctly and added another washer to make up for the wear and...

Spun up much nicer on the bench than before. Basically new bushes would have meant no problems.

Also decided to tidy up the fuel scenario, i dont have a proper fuel tank yet, but a can on teh passenger seat with a hose from teh engine bay was not going to cut it even for a quick private track run through the gears.

I got a couple of cheap cube pumps from trademe on the basis that i need a spare to make sure that the one i install never breaks.

Original CAVIS fuel line reused to the rear, and poked the feed up though the filler tube to the relocated can which is now jammed between the wheel arch and the back door. Much better.

I just run these on all my cars now, on a switch under the dash somewhere to prime the lines when its been sitting for a while (once the tiktiktik changes to toktoktok theres pressure and you can usually flick it off at that point as the mechanical pump can now do its job), saves on cranking the starter for ages, and the mechanical fuel pump seems happy sucking though them even when they are off.

Starter now cranks much much better (the pinion still inst throwing out every time, probably the mashed up teeth).

With the engine now starting and running off the key reliably and without needing constant fuel fiddling,

i dialled in the ignition timing (it was slightly retarded) and adjusted the carb using teh highest vacuum method, and now it starts first crank and sounds crispy. 

Also my cheap gauges are cheap, and only the voltmeter works, but i got a hell of a fright when the electric fan kicked in off the relay and cycled a couple of times so thats great - shows its cooling the radiator sufficiently.

My helper was also very helpful

 

[azzurro]

Before driving it, i needed to sort out the drivers windows - Id previously pulled the frame and scraped the rusty windlace out to measure up for new bits, and to close the window that was stuck open, but now the panes are basically just sitting in the channel and i dont like my chances of finding new ones.

This pic from when i first got it shows how the glass just sits in a separate frame on top of the door, without it the door feels very light!

These have two sliding panes like a Mk1 mini or LandRover, so thankfully was able to fairly easily enquire about sizes and order some from the very helpful chap at mini bitz,

one metal backed strip for each base (not quite long enough - so ill have to use some old stuff or a bit of rubber stuff to fill the gap?) and then 1.5 mini sized lengths of the rubber stuff for each frame. I also got a bunch of 124/125/lada window scrapers to try and replace the outer seal of the lower frame trim where it sits on the top of the door

Lower channel in bits with the outer side trim cut off the base rubber

124/125 window scrapers trimmed and jammed into place

And reassembled showing how they will look sitting on the door - pretty happy with that, i think the scrapers were about $3US each

Both doors mirror mounts had broken off screws stuck in there, and  M5x1.0 are pretty small and easy to snap!.

Managed to get them all out eventually.

Found an Italian made but aftermarket replacement (for a 850 amigo van) for the passenger side, doesn't quite sit right, but certainly good enough, 

And this one that was on the passenger side when i got the van, can now go on the drivers side.

Van looks more complete now

 

 I also

- replaced the brake pressure switch (and made a jumper lead to covert the factory bullet terminals to spades) so the brake lights now work only on the pedal instead of being always on 

- failed to replace the oil pressure lamp switch as both of the spares i found have different threads - i need to order a special one with a M10x1.5 thread (both my common/cheap spares are M12x1.5 for twin cam)

- tightened a few bolts and clamps

- tidied out my 'bins of bits to go on the van' to discover there aren't too many bits left to go on!

- painted the door frame ready for assembly and maybe reinstall tomorrow.

[azzurro]

So long time no update on this.

After my last post I fitted up the refreshed door frame

Looks really good especially compared to the other side, which ive still to do, because it would be easier with the van turned around facing the road

 

Which is cool, because the van now has a running engine, selectable gears, brakes and all the electrics work... I could drive it out the driveway, maybe an accidental quick bimble around the crescent and then back it in to its spot.

 

Foreshadowed above tho is needing a new oil pressure switch causing the oil light to not go out.

I had ordered a cheap set of aliexpress gauges (volts, water temp, oil pressure) and wired them in too - i like being able to see whats going on in more detail than the very basic dash lets on - swapped the oil pressure one out for an old mechanical one i had, because i trust them more than the cheap electronic sender/gauge and i had some adaptors that fit the block. 

Anyway, hooked the gauge up, and cracked the line to let the oil fill the line and push the air out, and fired up the engine (which runs great), but oil didnt fill the line 

 

 

So I did the right thing and took the fitting off and gave the jandal for a bit (nothing i hadnt done before) and some sort of dribbled out.

Took the sump off and pulled the oil pump out, cleaned and checked it including running it witht eh drill in the drained oil - seems fine given how much oil it splurted over the driveway. Ill probably order a new pressure relief valve to be sure even tho the other one seems fine - the spring is stiff and it seals.

Tried a couple other things to see if i could trace how far from teh pump the oil was getting to but its pretty hard to tell without being an oil molecule. The oil pressure sensor is near teh end of the line in terms of oil supply, but seems it is getting to the centrifugal filter (which just upstream of the pump) so it will be at least partially in the crankshaft bearings, but it isnt really pushing up to the tappets/head at all (which still have moly grease on them from assembly)

So i assume i either put a bearing shell in wrong way round at some point or the crankshaft is full of crud.

Either way the engine will have to come back out to be torn down again to find out what the fuck.

So yeah, its been sitting untouched for about exactly a year.

 

 

And then the other day it was just sitting there looking kinda cool, so I might start the process of pulling everything out of the engine bay, again, in preparation to drop the engine out, again