My 1978 Fiat 900T van. And the rest of my fleet...(3 years later!!! ...Updated 11/12/23)

[pompei]

Brilliant stuff!

[KruJoe]

Impressive efforts on the Punto Vin, it'll last for ever with love like that.

I didn't realise they still used the good old 'FIRE' lump in those.

[twosmoke300]

My wife's 2007 grande still has the fire motor . Not fast but a good motor

[Cavcraft]

Probably the same lump in my daughter's (year) 2000 Punto 1.2.

 

Vin, sorry to be a pain, but if you get a chance could you post before and after pictures of something you put into the ultrasonic cleaner, and what sort of things can they clean, please? Thanks.

[purplebargeken]

Fantastic stuff! The van is looking absolutely lovely!

 

A second on the before and after pics re: ultrasound cleaner please. That would be a huge help as I have been thinking about one for a while. 

 

Cheers

 

Ken

[drum]

Top thread.

 

I was transported to primary school in the minibus version of your fiat van in the late '70s. Same colour as yours.

[MrFarkinBasz]

Vin, many thanks for this thread.  I have added this to my favourites.  This is top work getting the 900T back on the road - so much more interesting than yet another VW Splittie or Bay.  And Fiats always look best when they are in light blue!

 

Keep up the good work - this will be amazing when you finish it.

[Vin]

A little bit of van stuff...

 

In order to repair the quarter, part of the process involved me drilling out the spot welds on the expansion tank holder to remove. This then sat in a box for ages and I forgot about it. It was only when I got the van back from paint that I realised it needed painting too...

 

So I did it myself. I took the frame and with a cup brush in an angle grinder I got rid of the paint and surface corrosion. I then soaked it in a bucket of Deox-C for a few weeks with a regularly go over with a wire brush. I then had a good rust free frame, although pitted in places. I fillered it and sanded it down and primed and painted it with rattle cans. The bottle itself was brown so a good soaking in washing powder and a thorough going over with bottle brushes bent to different shapes, it cleaned up well...

 

I took pictures of all this but they disappeared in the SD card disaster I mentioned further up...

 

So yesterday I welded it back. The last thing you want with a nicely painted rolling shell is to go anywhere near it with a welder. I was careful and put some bits of scrap mdf around the workspot to keep splatter to a minimum. I then ground it down, skim of filler. Sanded that and brush painted it. There is a fibreboard insert that fits on top so it had to be flat...

 

 

 

 

 

 

[dollywobbler]

Look, this van stuff is all very impressive, but can you please swap the wipers over on that Punto ASAP? They're making me very twitchy. I'm guessing it's had a windscreen at some point.

[Honey Badger]

Cracking thread Vin, love the colour of your Van.

[Vin]

I hadn't noticed the Punto wipers are the wrong way round Ian...I'll swap em over next time I see it again... :-D

 

 

I'm not going to Shitefest this year. This makes me very sad. Shitefests 2012 & 2014 were Brill (I couldn't do 2013)...

 

The reason I am unable to trek over to Welsh Wales is Papa Vin is getting married on Saturday. I'm driving him to the church in the 126. It is no stranger to wedding day duties (my mate commented..."it's been to more weddings than Hugh Grant, that..."). I've been off work this week, doing various things including getting the 126 into shape...it's had a good clean and will get polished on Saturday morning...

 

I took it for a blez about on Monday afternoon and there was a bang from the back and the battery light came. Pulled over sharpish and the fan belt had gone. I couldn't carry on without the fan providing cooling or it would kipper everything. I rang my mate and we towed it the 2 miles home. I then ordered a new belt from Ricambio at 3pm and it got here at 9.30 on Tuesday morning...

 

To be fair, the old belt was what was on it in 2001 when I dragged it out the lock-up it had been in since 1994...

 

Took about 1/2 an hour to fit. Took the engine cover off and unbolt the pulley as it's in 2 halves...

 

 

Fixed...

 

 

I been out everyday in it this week and I love driving this little thing, especially when the weather is like it currently is... 8)

 

Here it is after a wash...

 

 

Also, this is the new tax disc it currently displays...it was registered 1st August 86...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Vin]

I've been to Stanford Hall today for AutoItalia...

 

I went in the 126 as I hadn't been anywhere in it in recent years due to me doing things to it. See here...

 

http://autoshite.com/topic/15100-my-fiat-126-a-bit-of-much-needed-tlcupdated-100914/

 

I thought I'd make a weekend of it so I set off yesterday morning and stayed at my Sister in Ripley, near Derby. This meant the run down the M1 to Stanford only took an hour and was fairly uneventful, until I got off the M1 and it had started 'clattering' and was making a bit of a row when I got in the grounds...

 

Anyway as the noise stopped when I put the clutch down or gave the accelerator a burst, we diagnosed a goosed thrust bearing...

 

It performed alright on the way home, in that it got me back. I came home M1, A46 round Leicester to Newark, then A15 and it was fine in 4th and 3rd gear. It was in 1st and 2nd at roundabouts that it was really knocking loud. I left at 2.30 and got home at 5 but when I did get back I just left it on the drive. I went out 15 minutes later in order to move the Marea to put the 126 back...It wouldn't start unless I put my foot on the clutch and in neutral it's just a racket...Looks like I'll be whipping the engine out to fit a new clutch in the next few weeks...

 

I've done 260 miles in the 126 this weekend...It's done more miles in the past 5 weeks than it has in the last 5 years, which is probably why the clutch decided, like the fan belt, it had enough. I've had it apart in the past, but I never fitted a clutch at the time as it was OK. I have paperwork that the one in it went in in about 1993 just before it was laid up...

 

It's twin turned up at Stanford Hall too, which made a good photo opp. Here are some pics of them and other 'Pastashite'...

 

 

 

 

[twosmoke300]

What kind of mpg does that do ? Are they one of those dissapointingly juicy small cars like minis?

[skattrd]

Why do I always forget about this show?

One year I will turn up at it ... probably in a scruffy as hell Lancia that people point and laugh at.

[dollywobbler]

What kind of mpg does that do ? Are they one of those dissapointingly juicy small cars like minis?

 

Eh? Mrs DW could easily extract 50mpg from our Mini. I have no idea how she managed that mind.

[stillOrange]

Mirafiori, mmmmmm bella ragazza

[twosmoke300]

Dw , every mini that I and friends have driven have been terrible on fuel . Your good lady must have very light feet

[NorfolkNWeigh]

Nice pics,looks like quite a civilised location for a show,rather than a barren field or racetrack.

 

This might be one for the Stupid Question thread, but your pictures reminded me of something I've wondered for years. Is there much difference in size between 131 and 132? As a kid they looked pretty much the same,certainly not an obvious Cortina/ Granada or Marina/ SD1 difference. This in late 70's early 80's company car hierarchy obsessed Britain must have cost a lot of sales.

[skattrd]

132 was quite a bit bigger from memory.

When I was about 12 my family had a 132 and we looked down on the smaller 131s without the plush velour.

 

According to wikipedia 132 was 7" longer than the 131.

[plasticvandan]

Had three minis,none would average more than 35mpg,heavy,ancient cast iron engine.minors are the same.can't remember what my 126 was like,but can't have been that bad or I would remember!

[pompei]

I only realised at 6.00 this evening that Auto Italia day was today ... only they don't call it Auto Italia any more.

[dollywobbler]

Dw , every mini that I and friends have driven have been terrible on fuel . Your good lady must have very light feet

 

It would do comfortably over 40mpg even with me driving it. Which is pretty impressive when you consider my average in the 2CV is 45mpg, with half as much engine.

[M'coli]

What kind of mpg does that do ? Are they one of those dissapointingly juicy small cars like minis?

Mine was, it was less economical than the 1.0HLE Metro that followed it. I had a C-reg, so virtually identical spec to this one - the engine's crying out for vacuum advance on the distributor, which is easily sorted now with aftermarket electronic control now but I couldn't do back in 1991.  I'd taken the head from a previous version - the 7.5:1 compression ratio one, these had 8:1 - and had 2 mm machined off of it to take it about 9.5:1... it made quite a difference to the power...!

 

It did around the 45mpg mark, whereas the Metro did 50.  The Metro would also do 70mph uphill, which the modified version would only do on the flat...

[Vin]

I've never actually worked out what the mpg of the 126 is...but like the Panda 45, it drinks more noticeably if you are doing an NSL motorway run, pootling not so much. Much like all older smaller engined stuff I guess...

 

 

Some van updates...

 

These are the wheels I got from Italy. NOS 13" 128 CL steels, same as the 900E...

 

 

I refurbished the air filter housing. It's had a mouse living in it at some point...

 

I took all the old paint off and gave it a bath in deox-C. I then cleaned it all down and painted it in Por-15.

 

One of the clips was snapped so I had to cut down a 126 filter spring, heat up the end with a blow torch, create a loop and fix it with a nut and bolt. It works OK.

 

 

The gearbox.

 

Back whenever it was in the thread that I took the gearbox off, I spent a couple of days degreasing the box of twenty odd years of shite using white spirit and a toothbrush...

 

I then put it aside in a sheet and the other weekend I retrieved it from the lock-up, in order to clean it and check it over and paint it...

 

Collected by Panda...

 

 

After another going over with 'gunk' and a toothbrush and rags I brought it into the garage to paint the part of the casing that was originally black...

 

 

Painted with Por-15. I've done the driveshafts and box to body mounts too...

 

 

Cheerio for now...

 

 

 

[Ben_O]

Lovely stuff.

 

I can really appreciate the amount of work that goes into a quality restoration.

 

Ben

[cort1977]

Loving that 'Climatizzata' badge on the back of the 132.   Everything sounds better in Italian.

[vulgalour]

There's so much detailing porn here.

[Vin]

The colour is 'Fjord blue'. It is not as dark as Adriatic blue. 127 Fiorinos also came in Fjord blue.

 

 

Update...

 

I've had this week off work and have been pottering about putting bits back together...

 

I made up rear brake pipes. I put new brake shoes and pistons in and fitted a new handbrake cable. It now has a working handbrake.

 

I also fitted the driveshafts with new boots at either end, put in a new clutch, mated the gearbox up with the engine and it is now in the van!!

 

I did take the exhaust off and the rocker cover and dizzy to aid with the fitting process.

 

It's in but it hasn't run yet as I still have pipework and ancillaries to connect up...

 

 

Engine in place...

 

 

I will probably connect stuff up sometime over the weekend...

[vulgalour]

Where on earth did you find that blue fuel line?  I've never seen coloured fuel lines before.

[Sudsprint]

Epic restoration