Jump to content

Lancia Y10 1.3 GTIe - Why will it not start?


philibusmo

Recommended Posts

With the tax running out on my surprisingly clean Sierra, I decided it was time to get a smaller car for my commute. Winding A roads and congested city streets are not as fun in a Sierra as one could hope; so off it went to eBay whilst I searched for another car.

img0345yb.jpg

Sold for an absolute steal at £350 by the way, if you can find a tidier Sierra with 7 months MOT for less then I would be very surprised indeed.

 

And here is the new car that I came up with. Say hello to the slightly deranged Italian now sat on my drive. A Lancia Y10 1.3 GTIe.

lanciay10gtie2.jpg

 

I may have only had it three weeks but I have fallen hopelessly in love with this little motor. First and foremost, despite being a Lancia, it has been the most relaible car I have bought in 2 years, with the Maxi, Cressida and Sierra all having carb issues marring my enjoyment and in some cases the engine longevity (pouring fuel out the overflow, sticking shut and sticking open respectively).

 

lanciay10gtie3.jpg

 

But the joys of fuel injection. Such a simple starting process with no choke or auto choke to ruin the fun!

1) Get in the car, and put keys in ignition barrel.

2) Move key to position one and allow it to go through its electronic checks.

3) Move key to position two and swear when there is no sign of life from the starter motor.

4) Turn off ignition and then move straight back to position two which starts engine but sends low oil light blinking furiously on the dash board because you rushed it and the electronic check panicked.

5) Turn off ignition again and then set to position one and allow electronic checks to complete again.

6) Turn key to position two and engine starts with no issues what so ever.

 

Such a simple six stage process!

lanciay10gtie.jpg

 

Then you're on your way, at which point this little car becomes more fun than a Leyland DAF full of hookers. The throttle response is instant and it zips away, bouncing over every bump with unexpected speed. Chucking it round bends is also a laugh as the tiny little tyres scrabble away with not an awful lot of grip, but a superb amount of predictability and enormous amusement.

The engine itself is the old Brazil unit, which saw service in many Fiats over the years, but I believe that this is the only incarnation it has had with fuel injection. It manages the peculiar trick of sounding horribly thrashed like it might suddenly explode at low revs, really getting into its stride and sounding much healthier at high revs, which is exactly what it wants to be doing ninety percent of the time. The gearbox is a rubbery five speed with syncromesh whine that could be mistaken for a supercharger to the untrained ear, but that is all part of the character.

 

And before anyone says anything, the matt black bootlid is standard from the factory!

 

lanciay10gtie5.jpg

 

Speaking of character; the interior is a joyous place to be, with a nifty flannel covered dash and alacantra seats, teamed with that brittle hard plastic that only the italians can manage. Despite this being a very well cared for example, a piece of plastic often randomly falls out above the cigarette lighter, the central fascia is falling apart, the A pillar trim is coming away and the sun visors squeak and rattle. But would I change it? No. It all adds to the charm. Since this picture was taken, the original steering wheel has been re-instated.

 

lanciay10gtie4.jpg

 

All this reliability, economy and amusement was had for just £650, with 2 months MOT and tax until June. Its not even that rusty, apart from bubbling on the door and rear arches and has service history back to 2002.

Everyone should have one.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I love White Hens - I've had two, although both were 999cc FIRE-engined jobs - still surprisingly nippy though. The main irritation with them for me was that being designed for Italian cities the turning circle is a lot better to the left than it is to the right, which is GR2 4 U-turns in Britain. Still an enormously fun little car though, and far better equipped than most mid-'80s shopping trolleys.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

These things are fackin brilliant! I've had 3, and remember flying down the A9 in my matt black one, 999 FIRE, me, the wife, 3 kids, a dachshund and a Flymo, and seeing 110 on the speedo. Let me know if it ever comes up for sale

 

You should google the Yintegrale. It was/is awesome. :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A mate of mine had three or four of these in quick succession about 20 years ago. Started with the base model, ended up with a Turbo one which he loved.

 

They were ace little things, the turbo one could be a tad temperamental but it went like stink once he finally got it all sorted, went even better when he managed to get hold of some tuning bits including a sorted cylinder head from some mad bloke in Turin. It was something daft like 140 bhp and bloody scary in the wet.

 

It looked mental with Maserati Biturbo alloys.

 

I like 'em.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You should google the Yintegrale. ... :)

I did, and clicked 'images' - DON'T DO IT KIDS!

Certainly nsfw!

 

I had a turquoise Y10 'Touring', with the 1050cc 127 engine. Saved it from the scrapman with nsf damage, and fixed the suspension with Panda parts. I thought it looked like an early try-out for the Cinquecento's styling. It had the same alacantra inside, and with all the LEDs it was ace, nobody knew what it was even then (1999?).

Winnar!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nice rarity, one for a road trip to the summer lancia barbeque do in wiltshire maybe? Seem to remember there was a 'Fire' trim or option on these?! (no jokes about italian electrical systems please)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nice rarity, one for a road trip to the summer lancia barbeque do in wiltshire maybe? Seem to remember there was a 'Fire' trim or option on these?! (no jokes about italian electrical systems please)

 

FIRE stood for Fully Integrated Robotised Engine. Maybe you mean Fila? all white edition?

 

 

GAHHHH. sorry for the non SFW google search. Have some mind bleach.

 

This is the Y Integrale.

 

AI_May_2002_4.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

FIRE stood for Fully Integrated Robotised Engine. Maybe you mean Fila? all white edition?

 

Fila was one of many Y10 special editions, including such delights as the Missoni, Trussardi, Appia, Junior, Mia, Igloo and even a Martini striped Turbo. Fila was also available in black - you could choose either with bright blue or red Fila interior and tasteful 80's stripe. Unilke all standard Y10s they had colour coded bumpers and tailgates. My first 'new' car was a Y10 Fila 'black n' red'. RIP F368 YRP.

 

373797742_970ef135cf_z.jpg?zz=1

 

2110754686_5147cf275c_z.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It is a fun nippy thing to blat around town in, far better than the lumbering Sierra.

Good job I didn't quite have time to look that up at work today, or I may suddenly have found myself with plenty of time off and very little in the way of money.

Glad you guys like it, I get the feeling this one may be hanging around for a while longer than my previous 3.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Hmmm... seen 2 >> both Trrbozz in breakers

 

Second one was 'up a height'... and looked very similar underneath to my [then] daily...PANDA750!

 

Why was I so close, you ask? well.... I was removing the ARB, which fits straight onto the Panda.... fabulous mod 8) .... actually allows the Panda to go round bends, in both WET :shock: & dry :!: ...

BTW... also fitted the 'Halleffect' electronic Dizzy [from the Auto Panda]... ran like a swiss watch :twisted:

 

tooSavvy

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My first Hen was a white Fila, bought from a scrappy for £50, back in my mis-spent youth when I didn't bother too much about niceties like tax and MoT. That had the bright red interior. My second one was black, but I don't think it can have been a Fila as it had a beige interior with beige Alcantara on the dash and electric windows. Was just as much fun to drive though. Both were 999cc - would love to try a Turbo.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...

Well the Lancia went for an MOT on Friday and failed on front brake flexi hoses and a patch of welding on the drivers side sill.

No bother I thought and went to order some flexi hoses then came home and after the grand-prix qualifying I pottered outside with a jack and some axel stands to take a look at what needed to be done.

img0070gj.jpg

img0071vjg.jpg

img0072ns.jpg

img0073uum.jpg

Well that doesn't look too bad, there was a small hole on the other side of where the arrow is pointing and it was looking a little frilly under a bit of seam sealer at the rear edge of the sill, not too much work, possibly take a day or so depending on how well I do it.

So I began hoiking trim out so that there would be a reduced risk of turning my car into a massive fireball when I noticed a worrying bit of rot poking out from under an arch cover, next to the rear drivers side seatbelt mount...

img0076fp.jpg

img0075sb.jpg

And with that trim removed I found this rather scary piece of oxidisation with a big old patch behind.

img0077gh.jpg

Looking through the service history it turns out this was actually bodged by an MOT station to get it through its MOT. Isn't it nice how they care for their customers so well.

I then started digging and finding more and more rust blebs around the back of the car, along with a few more nice MOT bodges on the sills and rear arches.

img0086pr.jpg

img0084re.jpg

img0083wz.jpg

img0081ot.jpg

img0082xu.jpg

By this point the inside of the car looked like this:

img0088fn.jpg

And my conservatory looked like this:

img0092in.jpg

Realising that the worst of the rust was right at the back I decided to take the bumper off the next morning and left it at that for Saturday, falling alseep with thoughts of a couple of weekends weling ahead.

 

Sunday morning and I was up nice and early to whip the bumper off. I was expecting some rot, but not on the scale that I found.

img0093mw.jpg

This was the passenger side, and all three layers of metal with their cunning mud and water traps were rotten and need cutting out and replacing. The chassis rails and rear cross member are really solid, it is just everything around them that is falling apart.

img0102gj.jpg

And then this is the drivers side, which is even worse, so much so that most of the metal which is crusty on the other side has completely disappeared over here.

img0096uf.jpg

img0106pe.jpg

With this many layers, complicated sections, and a car that I cannot find any repair panels for, this is going to take some serious time and patience to fix.

It was whilst poking and finding out the extent of these two areas of destruction I realised that the seam sealer was covering up vast swathes of rust and was actually more structural and solid than most of the metal. This prompted me to poke the smaller bits I had found the previous day and then recoil in horror as they turn into gaping chasms of misery.

img0107zd.jpg

img0108vcn.jpg

img0109rc.jpg

img0110qh.jpg

It was at this point that I began to think that this may all be terminal and to bin the car, but I have decided to stick with it and get it sorted. It is rare – possibly one of 3 left in the UK - and overall very savable, nothing here is mind bendingly impossible and within my skill. Besides, if I did frag it, I know for certain that I would regret it.

With it now quite late in the day I set to work on the worst side so that I have the passenger side to look at if I get lost and began by taking off half of the bumper bracket and cleaning up the other half to find the spot welds.

img0112ze.jpg

Where possibly I am going to try and use the original metal and grind it back to good, letting in new metal around it to try and maintain the original shapes in this area.

Upon clearing up, I swept up the pile of stuff that had fallen off, which this picture does no justice to.

img0114fn.jpg

You will just have to believe me that it filled a small (boots) carrier bag.

And that is how when you own a Lancia an afternoons work to get it through an MOT quickly turns into months worth of welding.

And finally a finishing shot of all the assorted chod sat on the driveway.

img0116xy.jpg

There's no place like home...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...