Star garages - The Good, the Rusty, and the Delayed - Two engines to make one? Yes, but...

[IronStar]

Engine goes out leaving an empty bay

 

Two that need to become one

Sharp eyed will notice that it’s on the ramp, which allows for rust inspection. I brought drinks, and conversation went something like this

- Is it terminal doctor? 
- Well, all the usual weakspots are rusty. Rear beam is toast, rear strut towers, front strut towers. Needs works. Take off what you need and scrap the rest. 
- So terminal? 
- It can be done, but it’s…. 
- Right. Let me rephrase. If we scrap this and buy another one, will it be a better starting point? 
- They’re all fucking fucked. 
- So no? 
- No, it will be as bad, probably worse. Look, are we talking cutting out the rot here or a full blown nut and bolt resto like Cabrio? 
- Just the rot and some reinforcements. We’ll polish it to make it seem nice. 
- You are an absolute fucking nutjob. Fine, I’ll do it, make it sound on a budget. 
- So I should go buy a Bravo/a? 
- Yes. Fine. Go buy another donor car. Let’s make a stupidly fast Yugo. 

End result - another Yugo gets to live, albeit in a modified form. I saw 1.6 16v ECU has pins for check engine, so the dash light will also remain operational. 😄

Have a bonus photo of Cabrio with windscreen back on and both front fenders attached if you made it this far in the post.
 

[IronStar]

Two arrivals today:

Early this morning, on the back of the van, straight from Germany

I originally wanted this for Mini, but as we’re wiring in a stereo into Cabrio, might as well have a proper thing. To be fair, the OEM Yugo one looks cool, but leaves a lot to be desired as far as the sound quality is concerned. Maybe I’m getting one and swap it for the meets or something?

Came back home, went to the gym, then got into a car and drove to Bosnia to pick up a thing I found on their classifieds:

RSL Cult 2x 14x7J, 2x 14x8J.

They need a new coat of paint, screws (that don’t hold anything) are missing, and new tyres, but seem fine overall. I wanted set of these on the car, but couldn’t find any for sale in Serbia. As the project is close to the finish line, I started looking in the neighboring countries and found these. Some messages were exchanged, and thankfully got home without being hassled by the customs. 

 

[hairnet]

On 24/01/2025 at 00:06, IronStar said:

 

Two that need to become one - OMG spice girls lover

. We’ll polish it to make it seem nice. 
- You are an absolute fucking nutjob.

 

 

0.13

 

[IronStar]

You know how I said between 700 and 1000€ to get the 159 fully fixed? Just got the invoice.

A smidge under 1600€. 🤯😱😱😱😱This is sending it straight into top 5 mechanic bills I ever had. On a car worth 3-4 grand. Fuck me. 

They could’ve at least called me for an approval for spending this much. I would’ve probably still said yes, but fuck me! I absolutely did not plan or budget for this. 🫣

Have a rusty shock absorber.

 

[IronStar]

2 hours ago, IronStar said:

You know how I said between 700 and 1000€ to get the 159 fully fixed? Just got the invoice.

A smidge under 1600€. 🤯😱😱😱😱This is sending it straight into top 5 mechanic bills I ever had. On a car worth 3-4 grand. Fuck me. 

They could’ve at least called me for an approval for spending this much. I would’ve probably still said yes, but fuck me! I absolutely did not plan or budget for this. 🫣

Have a rusty shock absorber.

 

Well to their absolute credit, first impressions are that it’s a much nicer car now. Handling seems better, all the small knocks and rattles I’ve been hearing no longer seem to be there. The knock from the rear has disappeared. There is no longer a concerning DMF knock on shutdown with the working flap. Shifter that had an odd movement to it no longer moves. Engine is no longer greasy and they can’t find any leftover leaks. Last, but absolutely not least, the cumulative effect of all the work is - it’s no longer shaking in the 2nd gear. This is something I’ve been trying to weed out for almost 4 years now, and this alone makes any price they could’ve named worth it. Absolutely lovely!

For a small grump, insignificant to the wider satisfaction with the car, left HID shat itself in their custody and is intermittently blinking on and shutting off. 

Overall, I’m chuffed!

[grogee]

I just noticed the EFi marking on the intake - I never realised they made it that far. Incredible tech. Did they nick it from someone else or is it all Zastava's own work? 

Well done on your Alfa. I think I did similar jobs to mine (well, Mrs Grogee's) at various points. The only thing I paid A Man for was a gearbox bearing which might be related to what you were talking about - gear lever movement on/off throttle. That was a big bill. 

I never did get to the bottom of it eating front tyres despite several wishbone replacements and tracking sessions. 

[IronStar]

4 hours ago, grogee said:

I just noticed the EFi marking on the intake - I never realised they made it that far. Incredible tech. Did they nick it from someone else or is it all Zastava's own work? 

Well done on your Alfa. I think I did similar jobs to mine (well, Mrs Grogee's) at various points. The only thing I paid A Man for was a gearbox bearing which might be related to what you were talking about - gear lever movement on/off throttle. That was a big bill. 

I never did get to the bottom of it eating front tyres despite several wishbone replacements and tracking sessions. 

EFI is Zastava’s work. It’s running Bosch Motronic 3.1 for the early ones and 4.6 for the later ones.

Gear lever was a bushing on the shifter cable. The original one has double bushing in the linkage allowing some play in it, so it doesn’t transfer any movement from mounts, or anything else really, onto the shifter itself. It has failed at some point, and as Alfa doesn’t sell just the linkage, in theory you need an entire shifter cable at €€€, so it was replaced with an aftermarket unit that doesn’t have the same double bushing. There was some slack in one of the gearbox mounts, and that movement was most visible in 3rd gear. What they did (other than replacing the mount) is buy a Grande Punto cable, at 1/8th of the price of 159 part, that has the same linkage, swap the linkages to an existing cable, and scrap the rest of it. 

I’m still trying to wrap my head around parts pricing, 4 years into the ownership of this car. Does FCA Stellantis think Alfa owners are made of money? Or that we just like the cars enough to shell out for anything? It’s the same quality and materials as parts that go onto Fiats, just at 5x the price. 

[IronStar]

The last time I saw both Yugo engines, they were on the back of tame Zastava mechanic's Fiat Stilo estate, and on the way to become one engine. Not before they get a full check, so I end up with a properly sorted engine, not something that goes pop in 3000 kilometers.

Just got a call they're disassembled, and it's all fucking fucked m9. There's scoring on the cylinders of the engine block that needs to stay, so depending on parts availability it will either be re-bored or re-lined. Camshaft, that is, of course, EFI-specific is missing lobes. 

Will this car ever stop resisting? Is there a single part on it that's not completely broken and/or overdue for a replacement? 

I can't wait* for a final bill in an already super-expensive month, for a project that blew its budget ages ago and is now absolutely rinsing my wallet.

[Yoss]

14 minutes ago, IronStar said:

The last time I saw both Yugo engines, they were on the back of tame Zastava mechanic's Fiat Stilo estate, and on the way to become one engine. Not before they get a full check, so I end up with a properly sorted engine, not something that goes pop in 3000 kilometers.

Just got a call they're disassembled, and it's all fucking fucked m9. There's scoring on the cylinders of the engine block that needs to stay, so depending on parts availability it will either be re-bored or re-lined. Camshaft, that is, of course, EFI-specific is missing lobes. 

Will this car ever stop resisting? Is there a single part on it that's not completely broken and/or overdue for a replacement? 

I can't wait* for a final bill in an already super-expensive month, for a project that blew its budget ages ago and is now absolutely rinsing my wallet.

Liked for the update, not the news within the update. I kind of know what you're going through but on a much smaller scale. I've only got one car giving me endless grief and to be fair it was my fault in the first place. The other three seem to be working fine. For now. 

[IronStar]

13 minutes ago, Yoss said:

Liked for the update, not the news within the update. I kind of know what you're going through but on a much smaller scale. I've only got one car giving me endless grief and to be fair it was my fault in the first place. The other three seem to be working fine. For now. 

It’s just so frustrating not having anything actually finished, in what seems like an eternity, and having thousands upon thousands of euros in bills to show for it.

I did take the Mini for a spin last night, and despite some things still being unfinished and rattling, it’s at least a proper giggle driving it. So shades of gray I suppose.