Spirito de Punto

[vaughant]

Balls I won a headset for one of these in an auction of random parts you could have had for postage.

Sterling work and once repaired I think you'll have a cracking car, at least you know everything else is good mot-wise.

[louiepj]

She runs and is nice and warm...

And she's parked up next to my neighbours car with a slipping clutch.....

 

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[louiepj]

So to recap the head gasket failure replacement was a success!! It only took at least two weeks longer than necessary to get the head skimmed, valves relapped and tappets adjusted.

The head refitting was supposed to include updates and pictures but my phone had existential issues over what is better WiFi or 4g and ruined my plans so I carried on in the freezing cold and torqued the head down, then checked engine was correctly timed before slipping the new Gates timing belt on then I noticed the new white timing marks on the cambelt...... Sigh about 20 minutes of trying to get the white alignment lines on the belt to both align with cam and crank before I gave up and then statically timed it up correctly. Connected everything electrical, fuel and vacuum on the head. Threw some oil in and fired her up.... She started and ran first time for about 1 minute before adding coolant and refitting all mounts and covers.

Will change the oil in it again next week if all goes well as it is immediately needed to be used.

 

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[louiepj]

And the Punto rewards me with 400 miles of pleasant driving before the exhaust blows

 

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[alcyonecorporation]

Better exhaust blows then exhaust lows.

 

Then your box would start vaping and audition for a role in Watchdogs 3 or summat.

[louiepj]

I cut the exhaust centre section to hopefully rescue rear box when it was off the car. But when it was off I realised it was breaking up internally so I gave in and spent £75 on the two sections with clamp and gasket included. I did try posting pics of new exhaust but phone had an argument between 4g and Wi-Fi and nothing got posted. All this effort and I still get moaned at by SWMBO for putting more new parts on the car, but she did see see that evil bay had exhausts for £45 though they only had single box systems not twin box.

 

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[rainagain]

I cut the exhaust centre section to hopefully rescue rear box when it was off the car. But when it was off I realised it was breaking up internally so I gave in and spent £75 on the two sections with clamp and gasket included. I did try posting pics of new exhaust but phone had an argument between 4g and Wi-Fi and nothing got posted. All this effort and I still get moaned at by SWMBO for putting more new parts on the car, but she did see see that evil bay had exhausts for £45 though they only had single box systems not twin box.

 

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You should have gone for the single box system for moar poweerrrrr! I read this tip on the Fiat forum and fitted one to my 1.4 16V Punto

[louiepj]

Does a fiat 1.2 8v have power?....lol

I was tempted by the evil Bay special Hornet exhaust system for £110 then I remembered I really like quiet exhausts.

 

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[louiepj]

Okay so my ever reliable Punto is rewarding me once again for lavishing it with new headgasket, cambelt and waterpump, front discs and pads, sump pan, gearbox seals+oil, radiator lower panel, exhaust centre and rear sections and a service in the time of my ownership (less than a year) by slipping its clutch........

Only on hard acceleration or if I try to make it at the moment.....

How do I tell SWMBO without losing face or limbs; sigh at least a clutch isn't too expensive or difficult on these little cars.

 

Edited because of predicted text

[Bradders59]

Ive just been offered a 2010 Punto for £255. Sounds like a bargain but the ABS light is on, the electric power steering is giving the usual problems, and worst of all, it has over 160k miles on the clock.

I'm sure I could fix it up, but who is going to pay decent money for it with that mileage on the clock ?

I think I will pass on this one.

[louiepj]

Mines got about 55000 miles on it and the clutch is going to be the last big job (I keep telling myself) I will do.

... Except I might be willing to then treat all surface corrosion underneath and then underseal it, oh and there are a few rust scabs on the car I could clean up.

But I definitely haven't sat in the car making plans to fully valet it and tidy up all small niggle bits like the radio display not working. I could make a list but I do not want to much evidence of my love for this car to be seen by SWMBO.

 

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[louiepj]

Ive just been offered a 2010 Punto for £255. Sounds like a bargain but the ABS light is on, the electric power steering is giving the usual problems, and worst of all, it has over 160k miles on the clock.

I'm sure I could fix it up, but who is going to pay decent money for it with that mileage on the clock ?

I think I will pass on this one.

This sounds similar to the conundrum that the car dealer had in Car Mechanics Mag. The effort and outlay just isn't always worth it for the punto so he scrapped it. I was told by a salesman at one Vauxhall dealership that 8 years is end of life for a car, I did point out the cars he sold had 10yr 100,000 mile cambelt on them which he shrugged off casually.

 

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[Aston Martin]

How are the rear radius arms?

[louiepj]

How are the rear radius arms?

They were fine on the MOTbut that was 2 months ago!! The MOT tester remarked on how clean it was for its age so I am hoping they are OK (I'm now Google searching for radius arm problems).

 

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[louiepj]

Luckily this is not the mk1 with radius arms

It has a rear beam axle on mk2 so one less worry for now.

 

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