Fiat Tipo Digidash-dizzler/ new wheel!

[HMC]

Forum regulars may recognise this tipo. Originially spotted advertised by wuvvum, and bought by skattrd, until that point it was 1 owner from new. Possibly a giffer, as there are various giffer type wiring bodges and general repairs evident. chris very kindly delivered it to me on a very round about way to get to his ultimate destination, but I will leave the telling of that to him!

 

Excuse the dingy pics, I wanted to catch the dash at night

 

 

 

 

Drives well, maybe a smidge of clutch slip at peak boost (check out my digital boost gauge YO!) and a few other minor issues that dont stop it being used. Very pleased with it, and planning on bringing it to shitefest.

 

Ill leave you with the money shots...

[ruffgeezer]

It drove lovely on the run down this morning, I considered car-napping it earlier...

[vulgalour]

Dashboard envy.

 

 

You reminded me of something too;  when I was a small child I used to think that new (we're talking late 80s/early 90s) diesel cars had to be painted black so people knew they were diesels.  So small child me would be correct in his assumption looking at this car when new, small child me would also have probably exploded with excitement at the digital dashboard.

[For Fiats Sake]

Lovely!

 

I convinced a mate to buy a Tipo replace his Sunny back in the day.  

 

Bagsy me next dibs etc.

Edited March 27, 2016 by For Fiats Sake

[Lacquer Peel]

Great car and nice photos, it suits those Alfa wheels.

There's a road test of a Tempra TD on the AA website, they complain that the engine is noisy compared to an XUD but a good performer, I'd love to try one.

[J-T]

Love that, my dad had one around 1995ish. The dash was dodgy even then, sometimes it just wouldn't come on. K148 ABL - amazing the shite you remember! I also remember him bragging about coaxing 113mph out of the derv fuelled beast, about the same as the Mk2 Golf GTI that preceeded it.

 

The Alfa wheels really suit it too.

[Split_Pin]

That dash is a thing of beauty. Strangely comforting - looking too.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Same engine as my campervan I think. The engine is MUCH better than I was expecting, it drags the camper along no problem so it must be great in this. WANT.

[Guest Lord Sward]

My Uncle was a serial Maestro buyer but converted to Tipos and Tempras when the R8 came out.  They were very underrated cars.

[dollywobbler]

Brilliant. Such a rare sight. Apart from the one I see on a housing estate a few miles away. Sounds like some epic collectioneering going on this weekend too - is that three Autoshiters linked by one caper? From opposite sides of the country?

[stilo_active]

That's lovely. Love Tipos and Tempras

 

Sent from my D5803 using Tapatalk

[17-Coffees]

Love the crazy/epic dash designs from 80's & 90's Italian cars!

[Parky]

Great car the Tipo, surprised there are so few around nowadays - weren't they Galvanised?

 

Wheels look cracking too, and that dash is a masterpiece!

[Vin]

Great car the Tipo, surprised there are so few around nowadays - weren't they Galvanised?

 

 

 

Yes, except for the floorpan...

[skattrd]

I really do hope it serves you well, it's a great motor in this, it just needs a few things sorting that I didn't have time for. Wipers now added to the list after the run down to Devon.

The giffer notes from PO I thought were in that wallet, they'll be in my office (pile of car papers) somewhere, I'll forward them on or pass them over come shitefest.

[Skizzer]

Ace!  Got to love a digi dash Tipo.  Looking forward to meeting this at Shitefest - I might even be able to forgive it for being a Diesel.

[holbeck]

A friend bought one brand new, he was going out with an Italian lady and presumably wanted some points with the inlaws.

ISTR the digi dash went black very quickly.

[Supernaut]

That dash is fucking awesome.

 

Being an old turbo diesel, is it as easily tunable as an XUD or similar? Mwuhaha.

[skattrd]

Yes, Bosch pump, easily tunable and veg friendly apparently, but I never ran it on veg.

[HMC]

I really do hope it serves you well, it's a great motor in this, it just needs a few things sorting that I didn't have time for. Wipers now added to the list after the run down to Devon.

The giffer notes from PO I thought were in that wallet, they'll be in my office (pile of car papers) somewhere, I'll forward them on or pass them over come shitefest.

Cheers Chris, I'm sure it will be, and I'm looking forward to carrying on from you giving it TLC.

 

Speaking of which, I had a look at the servo assistance for the brakes. I had a rummage around in the spares kindly donated with it, and found a couple of spare camshaft driven brake vacuum pumps. I took off the old one...

Which had some wear on the drive spindle, and looked generally tired...

And found a less worn ( though sorry looking) one in the spares

Which once cleaned up looked a lot better than the one that came off the car...

So I put it all back together & took it for a drive, and the braking had been transformed, managed to lock up a few times on my test track ( industrial estate)

 

All this meant I could adjust the idle down from 1500 to about 800rpm; I suspect the original owner who had it for 25 yrs had cranked it up to try and boost up the vacuum in stop start traffic etc.

 

At the moment I'm almost looking for reasons to take it for a spin as its such a nice old thing to pootle about in.

[ruffgeezer]

Ah ha, Chris and I did discuss the brakes on the way down to Alton, I'd likened them to C15 brakes which, even when in fine fettle were utter dogbomb.  This was the only reasonable conclusion we could muster, but as I wasn't used to the Tipo, I had no idea what normal should be.

[wuvvum]

For some reason the 1929cc Fiat engine always seems to have noticeably more grunt than the 1905cc XUD, despite being theoretically almost identical in terms of power output.

[Inspector Morose]

I hate to say it but I do prefer the fiat lump over the xud. Oh, the pug is far more refined but on willingness the fiat has it.

I had an umo with a regatta turbo diesel lump fitted. Refined it wasn't but it would fly. Fly into the back of someone's escort estate one day in fact. Oh the inpetuous of youth.

[Burnside]

Glad someone on here brought this I would love to have had it myself but haven't got any room / money etc for another Car.

 

I used to have a 1990 1.4 DGT Tipo and loved it. Was a rough example mind but being a Fiat still put a smile on my face when I drove it. Felt like a proper grown ups car after my MK4 Escort and got 114 mph on the way home from collecting it or not. 

 

The DGT dash was fantastic at night, sometimes I'd press the button that changed the speedo reading from MPH to KPH just because I could. 

 

Overall was the best £77 I ever spent!  

 

Note to self must buy another Tipo.

 

Good luck with it and look forward to reading the updates. 

[HMC]

This has been a brilliantly practical addition to the fleet, adding a Towbar equipped, spacious and economical jalopy to the mixed bag of vehicles I have scattered about. I have yet to tire of the digital boost gauge, but feel it needs a kraftwerk backing track over the radio for full effect.

 

The galvanising on these means they are a lot less rot prone than any 26yo fiat has a right to be, but they do still rust eventually. I had a poke about and there's a few little jobs to keep me busy. I've started at an ominous looking bit of the nearside floor to sill join, pulled off ( by hand) a tacked on patch, to reveal....

Another patch tacked over a hole from the upper side of the floorpan. More of that later.

 

I also decided to change the worn rubbery wheel the car has. it's a bit nasty and doesn't quite fit the techno fest vibe of the digital dash....

In the end I found a period abarth ATIWE leather steering wheel and boss kit going cheap.Italian made, even datestamped the same year as the car. It feels a better match for what was the range topping tipo at the time (prior to the sedicivalvole) and sits well next to the Italian light display going on ahead of it....

[RayMK]

We've got a 1.4ie with ordinary dials but have previously owned a petrol digi-dash version.  I did not realise that the floor pan was not galvanised.  It could explain a corrosion advisory on the last MOT.  Tyre places need watching: the Tipo's sills curve under to show a flat surface but they are not strong enough to use as an ad-hoc jacking point.  Ours gained a slight sill crush/kink when with a previous owner.  What do you think of the driving position?  The 1.4ie has nice looking front seats but everyone who's been in it gets back ache after an hour.  It also gives me leg ache because the clutch is quite heavy.  Overall, its practicality, reliability and generally good condition help us to like it  .  

 

Yours looks superb in black.  I'll overlook its dieselness. 

[17-Coffees]

That new steering wheel looks spot on, suit's the car much better! 

[smellypoo]

Awesome! I learned to drive in a red (already partly pink, slightly ratty early model) DGT back in 95, that dash is lovely!