Lancia Y10 1.3 GTIe - Why will it not start?

[mat_the_cat]

I've just read this from start to finish...all I can say is well done that man! And I look forwards to seeing it in the flesh next month.

[dollywobbler]

Great stuff! But please don't use Hammerite, it's utterly shite for cars and will be an utter waste of your heroic efforts.

[500tops]

Hammershite.

[philibusmo]

It's time for some Lancia updates.

 

First major update is that it has an MOT booked for Thursday - will I have it MOT ready in time? I am only wanting it capable of passing an MOT by thursday, it will still be some way from finished.

 

It now has a fuel tank, which is a horrid job to do in every possible way, especially this bolt which is very nearly impossible to get to. It is located above the rear axle mount, behind a brake line, hand brake cable and  the fuel tank itself which is designed in such a way to make access as difficult as possible:

Getting this in place which is all of 4 bolts took approximately three hours and is possibly my least favourite job on anything ever.

 

The front suspension has been removed on both sides and has now been fully rebuilt on the drivers side. I managed to tear the inner CV boot on both sides which was a pain in the arse as it has an odd arrangement where the inner CV joint is lubricated by the gearbox oil and so the CV boot is full of the oil. When it tore this all ended up on the floor so this will need to be re-filled as well. Luckily I managed to get new ones and the drive shafts are re-fitted.

 

Here's a shot from a couple of days back before the drive shaft was re-fitted. All nicely painted with new shock absorber, springs and lower arm. All the bushes are also replaced and all other parts painted:

And the hub and brake caliper with freshly welded up brake back plate...

There's no shots of this all together as it had gone dark before I finished. I also put the rear bumper back on.

 

The gaping space where suspension was on the passenger side:

The drive shaft is now back on this side, along with a new track rod end, and shock and spring. I just need to get the ball joint into place on the bottom of the hub to carry on getting this all back together.

 

Bodywork wise, the glass is back in along with the door internals:

And I have finished making up the passenger side sill ready to weld on. Or at least it would be ready to weld on if it fitted. I managed to bollocks up a couple of vital measurements and so it is no-where close to fitting. Luckily with a bit of work it is sortable but it has put me a bit behind, especially as it looks like it will be raining every day between now and Thursday except Monday.

Finally an AMAZING shot of some paint drying. HOW MUCH MORE EXCITING CAN THIS GET?

 

I am going to need to crack on this week, without delay. Thursday is looming and I have a fair few jobs left to do. If anyone local to Tiverton fancies popping over to lend a hand - you will be repaid in tea, biscuits and possible future welding.

[phil_lihp]

Super stuff this. You have PM.

[Danblez]

Jesus man that paint looks almost dry, I am on the edge of my seat here!

[philibusmo]

today I finished rebuilding the front suspension on both sides in the rain, which was fairly misery inducing. I also added the brake calipers and connected them up.

 

I did make a start on fixing the sill but the persistent rain made this a pretty impossible task.

[Skizzer]

This is such a great saga. Like Mat the Cat said, can't wait to see it in the (new) metal.

[philibusmo]

That's right, I'm back with another AMAZING update for you all!

 

Todays update is bought to you with the help of Phil_lihp who popped over to lend a hand today. Good job he did as there was a number of jobs that I couldn't have done without a second pair of hands, first of which was the anti-roll bar:

This was a vicious bastard to attach as it needed to be under some tension to fit onto the mountings, but between us and a large amount of bruit force it was levered into place.

 

Second job was bleeding the brakes. Mmm so much nasty black brake fluid. In the end that was running through golden from all four corners. Notice my use of a Polish pickled pepper jar for a brake fluid container. I fucking love alliteration.

 

Then came filling up the gearbox with oil, which was made much easier when Phil 2 found the filling point after what I though was the place to fill it turned out to be the speedo drive.

 

The engine oil and filter was also changed and it took a surprisingly large amount, we were looking around for the massive oil leak as it took about 4 litres for it to appear on the dip stick. What came out of the sump was as black as your hat and thick like good gravy.

 

The rear lights were re-connected and after the battery had been slapped in place and a bit of faffing around with the earths all was working as it should be which was pretty amazing for an Italian vehicle which has stood outside for two years. It's starting to look more like a proper car now.

Then we tried to start it. It cranked over until the battery was flat. This was on the original battery which wasn't that good in the first place so we swapped to the battery that came in the Supra and that had mostly the same effect as well as the other ropey spare in the garage. The battery from the Fiesta had it turning over quicker but still no life. Only one minor drama occurred as the nut holding the fuel lines onto the tank hadn't been done up properly so it pissed petrol everywhere. After charging the Lancia battery for an hour we hoiked out a spark plug to see if it had a spark. A yellow spark was produced from the weak battery and then unexpectedly it coughed and tried to run. On returning the spark plug it was slow to turn over again and didn't seem to want to run. I think the battery is too weak to turn it over with compression when all the spark plugs are in place and the fuel has only just got through from the tank in meaningful amounts. I shall get a new battery tomorrow and try again.

 

Finally some of the interior started to go back in. The sound proofing at the rear, along with the rear cards and boot trim. The alcantara dash panels went back in and could do with a clean.

 

JOBS LEFT TO DO FOR MOT:

 

Weld on the passenger side sill

Finish off the drivers side sill so it look half decent

Bolt in drivers seat

Find a temporary way of securing the fuel filler neck

Get the car running

 

I'm feeling reasonably confident and hopefully that last job on the list won't become too much of a sticking point.

[phil_lihp]

It was a good day and very satisfying, Phil's done an astounding amount of work to the little Y10 and it's so very nearly there now.  Phil's mum is a legend and kept providing a steady stream of cake and tea plus lunch - with that plus more sunshine than rain and a rusty Lancia to work on, what more could anyone want?

 

I cannot believe how much oil that little 1.3 engine took, kept expecting to see it seeping out somewhere to account for where it was all going but as that seized sump plug proved, it appears to be nicely oil tight.

 

I reckon the little cough that we managed to get with one plug out says it will run with a good battery.  Fingers crossed for Thursday!

[Danblez]

Great stuff, it makes me chuckle every time I read the title of this thread. You weren't bloody wrong!

[phil_lihp]

Incidentally Phil, did you know your Y10 is famous?

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autobianchi_Y10

 

[philibusmo]

I did not know it was famous, but that is a nice surprise.

 

Have you actually tried reading through that Wikipedia page? I have never seen so much Google translate gibberish in my life.

[phil_lihp]

I hadn't read it but have just skimmed through and it looks fine to me.

 

The campaign focuses on the vehicle's original philosophy and technical content. Because Y10 is innovative car that offers exceptional performance and a series of new solutions in its class. Thus was born "The city of the future" and, thanks to "Donna Robot" (Woman Robot) that acts as godmother moving with sinuous feminine, the car becomes unmistakable Y10 characterized by its modernity.

 

Makes perfect sense.

[philibusmo]

The MOT is the day after tomorrow!

 

Yesterday I spent the morning generally mucking about trying to get the thing to run and finishing off getting the sill ready to be welded on.

 

In the afternoon I started welding it in place after continuing to fail at getting the car running. I went in or something to eat with the sill tacked in place while it was glorious sun shine. Of course 20 minutes later it had started to rain so everything got dragged back into the garage with the sill only half welded in place and so I put the dashboard back together instead. Now that looks much better than it ever did.

 

This morning I got up extra early to finish off the fecking welding and it was all going very well, and then suddenly it wasn't. The massive wheel of MIG wire I got just after I started this weld-a-thon had run out with about 3 inches of welding and half a dozen spot welds left to do. I did some of my very best swearing and leaped in the Fiesta to get some more, along with a spare gas bottle just in case that ran out as well.

 

This, along with having to take the Fiesta for its MOT took about an hour but once back I cracked on and had it welded up and the welds ground back by lunch time ready for some paint. I then got the call to say the Fiesta had failed on rear brake imbalance of all things. As I need the Fiesta for the weekend I got a lift back to the MOT station, eating lunch on the way to take it home and look at the brakes. picked it up and came home where I slapped some seam sealer on the passenger sill and red oxide on the drivers sill. Here's a pick before the paint:

 

Then it rained. And oh boy did it rain. For about 30 minutes and then it was so sunny it became almost unbearably hot. I took apart the Fiesta brakes and they were more fecked than I expected so I had to do a run to the local motor factors and found 1 who can get me the brake shoes by tomorrow afternoon and another who can get the brake cylinders. Fixing that is going to take a fair chunk of time tomorrow and hopefully it will come apart fairly easily.

 

Jobs left to do tomorrow are:

 

Fit front wings

Secure fuel filler neck

Fit Drivers Seat

Fit Wheels

Get the thing to run!

 

Easy peasy*

[phil_lihp]

Blimey Phil, you do like to keep busy don't you!  Shame on the weather, I'd offer to come and help but I'm away every day until the weekend now.  In theory, at least the only potentially difficult job left on the Y10 is getting it to run though so fingers crossed something in your spares pile will do the trick.

 

Dash looks good though!

[Danblez]

I really hope you like it when you drive it!

[philibusmo]

It runs!

[phil_lihp]

Result! What was it?

[barefoot]

It runs!

It's alive!

[philibusmo]

Tomorrow morning is the MOT -

 

As you may have gathered from the above, it now runs. The problem was two fold. Firstly (and rather embarrassingly) I had connected up the pipes to the fuel tank incorrectly, so it was doing nothing more than pressurising the fuel return pipe. Secondly the vacuum connection to the Magnetti Spaghetti Digiplex 2 (electronic ignition module) had snapped so the timing was all over the shop and it didn't want to run. Fitting the spare one fixed this.

 

The front wings were also put back in place, the wheels bolted on and it was removed from the axle stands.

 

I haven't had the opportunity to see if it will actually move yet as I had to get going on fixing the Fiestas brakes which turned out to be a right mare as expected. Tomorrow I will get up early to lob the drivers seat in place and bomb down for an MOT.

 

FINGERS CROSSED!

[cort16]

Good Luck! This has been one seriously epic project. Did you actually get to drive it much before you found all the rot?

[phil_lihp]

This is excellent news, good luck tomorrow!

[Angrydicky]

Good luck!

[Honey Badger]

This is an epic rebuild thread, good luck tomorrow!

[mat_the_cat]

Nothing like finishing it in plenty of time is there!? Best of luck for tomorrow anyway.

[SambaS]

Good luck tomorrow, this thread is ace

[philibusmo]

Just dropped it off for its MOT. It ran great with the only issues being that the tracking felt a bit out and the brake pedal a little spongy, but I think it was like that originally. I can't really remember how it was two years ago because I only drove it for a month and a half.

 

I'm sat nervously waiting for the phone call now.

[EssDeeWon]

Good Luck hope it passes, then you can get started on the SD1 this afternoon....

[cms206]

Good luck Phil, we're all counting on you.