Lancia Motor Club

well its been too long without my gussy on the road, it ran out of mot last year and its been buried in the garage with too many other jobs in its way!!! finally i got her out this week turned the fuel on, turned the key , pressed the pedal and she burst into life straight away, not bad concidering its basically been ignored for over 6 months. i new the rear spring bushes were knackered so replaced them, put 2 new tyres on it today, fingers crossed she's in for mot on friday so i'm hopeing to use her over the weekend. drove her around the industrial estate today bringing back all the memories of driving my dads car to turin, as sad as it sounds i've really missed driving A REAL CAR!!!!!!!!!!!!! definatly no other car feels like a sliding pillar lancia ;D

aaaarrhhh!!!!! failed the mot on 2 brake flexi hoses.........not a problem, happened to have some nos hoses in 1 of the stores so fitted them and she sailed through the mot on thursday ;D, anyway as my father was driving her back from the mot suddenly he lost 3rd gear, well not exactly lost it but couldn't select it ???, 1st and 2nd as normal but trying to get in or out of 3rd litterally needs both hands on the leaver to force it in or out of gear yet once in nuteral it goes in 4th as normal , anyway that blew my plan of driving her to tatton park this weekend :( as much as i hate cars arriving at shows or events on trailers as cars were made to drive i'd promised that i'd take her so on the trailer she went, glad i did to as i won a prize off the organisers for best lancia on sunday which shocked me as its a bit of a shed at the moment!!! anyway back to plans my dad has been busy all weekend stripping and rebuilding another gearbox for me which i'm hoping to get in this week. hopefully then it will be mechanically sound and its time to tidy her up new wings and fabric on the roof and a re paint.........sounds simple when you say it quick!

finally she's done!!! my dad rebuilt a gearbox this week and i'd planned to stay back after work and change the box, started at 12.30 ish and drove it back out my unit at 1.45, why cant all cars be so simple to work on! i'm glad to report all gears pressent and correct, took it out for a blast around our usual test road (lots of bends ;D) loads of fun glad to be back on the road.......thanks dad ;)

Well done James - good to know she's back on the road.

Presume that 'Dad' is on to the next job now - a Dilambda piston. What would we do without him?!!

Robin.

problem with your pistons is that its 90% thought and 10% doing the job.............which is still a big job! therehas been an awefull lot of thinking in the parry household this week let me tell you! but never fear mfp is here and i'm sure they will be sorted soon ;D

James. Are the family going to oulton park this weekend, vscc  racing meeting? Regards Roger.

i hadn't planned to go, my dad says doubtfull but if we change our minds we will let you know

took the augusta for its 1st major run out a few weeks ago, my friend invited me to buxton on a tresure hunt organised by a local lotus club, needless to say i was in the oldest car ! anyway disaster struck when the poor old girl couldn't cope with the derbishire hills and boiled repeatedly untill i could find somewhere where i could find mobile reception to firstly phone my dad for advice (again!) and then finally the RAC, had her recovered home as it was giving all the symptoms of either head gasket or failed water pump, once home compression was tested all seemed good, water pump was removed and inspected and again was perfect, radiator investigated and my god it was choked!,my dad stripped it and with the header tank off cleaned every tube out by hand, rebuilt the rad and painted it and put the car back together for me,whilst he was in the engine bay he rebuilt my engine mounts as i was getting terrible vibration through the car at 45>50mph, this has mostly been cured by bringing the engine back up to its correct height and angle, he also set the valve and ignition timing, tappets, he also found the carb had come loose, tightened it back up and set it up, anyway sunday i took it on a 25mile run over some serious welsh hills on a scorching hot day and gave it as much right foot as possible to see how the temperature coped. all was good and it reached a maximum of 88c and averaged about 65c, main differance is how the car goes now, it pulls harder than my fathers car and goes really well for an augusta, to say i'm pleased is an understatement i cannot believe its the same car,
All this excitement has made me get on with sorting out its correct wings which i am hoping to fit in the next few weeks,a full repaint is in order, roof needs recovering as do interior door panels, theres alot of work to do and i cant wait to get her finished...........but then again is a restoration ever finished?

can't wait to see her at some point :)

hoping it will be finished in time for next years agm, gonna sell my evo 1st to fund interior and chrome :( but you cant drive them all

anyone interested in seeing pictures of the car as i go through it? just got the wings into prima after shot blasting ,repairing, hours of knocking dents out and filling up and blocking back, the they were sprayed with polyester spray filler (not prima) all blocked by hand ....again!! and finally into prima on sat afternoon, i'm hoping to put spray sealant on the inside of them this week then prima and colour, then its time to get the car in and make sure they fit ok before painting the outside of them

Yes please!

Ok then, had a few other yes answers by email so this is a picture of the car as it is now, main problem is the front wings are off a standard saloon.......WRONG!!! car was restored probably 20 yrs ago and is scruffy round the edges, my thanks to brin edwards for selling me the car and for selling me the car at a really decent price, totally genuine guy and i'll be forever gratefull

and for those who don't know what the wings should look like............

i'll take some photo's of the wings that i'm restoring and post them later this week, thanks for the interest

Nice one James,
Keep them coming please ;D

Brian
8227 8)

wings this morning, will post some more of underneath them as they get painted

can't seem to post any more ???

Hi James,
Not surprised considering the size of each photo! you've obviously exceeded the KB limit, try reducing them to about 100Kb each, that would be more than adequate.

Looks like you're doing a good job ;D

Oh for a garage to work in :'(

Brian
8227 8)

 

We've hit the upper limit on the attachment directory again!! I'll need to put it up to terabyte capacity.  ::)

Keeping photos to about 100KB would be great for this sort of attachment. Photos or scans of text will need to be larger, of course. Ta.  :)

erm........bear in mind i'm a total dunce when it comes to computers so how do you make the pictures smaller? ta ???

stand further away when you take them.... ;D

thats my play area in the corner of my unit hehe.......A LANCIA ONLY ZONE!!!!.......anyway made good progress today and put the spray sealant on underneath the wings and the prima and the colour, amazing stuff modern paint ;D anyway how do i make these pictures smaller?

I use Adobe photoshop elements 2, once into the program go to "file"-"open"- find the photo you want to reduce, click on "image", then "duplicate image" (which gives you a copy to work on without affecting the original) rename this as reduced copy.
While still in image scroll down to "resize", this will then show
-"image size", click on this. In the box that appears change the width size to 800, the other boxes will change to match, then click on -"OK"-go to "file" -"save as" -"save"-the box that opens, Jpeg options, shows at the bottom the new size of the photo in KB's, the box next to this shows @ what download speed, if it says 56.6kbs and you're on Broadband click on the down arrow and change this to 2 Mbps. click on "OK" if you are happy with the new size and it's then ready to post on the forum at the reduced size.

Sounds complicated but it's not at all.

Brian
8227 8)

Ha Bloody Ha ;D ;D ;D

THINK I'VE SUSSED IT!!!

yippie :D here's some more

last but not least, this is easy

just so you understand the photo's, the outside of wings were primered 1st, then underneath were spray sealed with wurth sealant then 2k prima and body colour, the strange wooden frame is a buck made for making new wings on or repairing damaged wings (my dad made that too!!!!) the wings have been shelved for the time being so i can do minor cosmetics to my evo so i can sell it to fund interior and chrome :'(

My idea of "minor cosmetics" is clearly a bit more superficial than yours ;D

an evo looks even meaner without the front bumper !

yeah they always look menacing, love the car to bits and really don't want to sell but i never use it and its getting no better sitting around, it is only cosmetic but i want the car to be right when i sell it, there's a few scabs around the windscreen and a few small dents and stone chips amazingly its on its origional sills that are still perfect, there is no rot anywhere just a few minor scabs

Yeah some people do say i go "over the top" but i want the car right before i sell it and make sure its next owner is as pleased with it as i am ;D, i get this problem when i start tinkering and think ooh i'll just do that as well and then i spot something else an it goes on and on and on.............if you get my drift

Great photos but more like major work in my book :o can I suggest James, that a picture size of more like 50kb would be advantageous ;D

Brian 8227 8)

i cheated with the photo's..............my dad found a feature on the camera so i selected the smallest setting on it will use the middle 1 next time, this is all new to me so bear with me ::), augusta is fairly easy restoration , well me and my dad wish his car had been so straight forward!! grale will take about 2 weeks of spare time to sort, its only just had mot and like i said its honestly only minor bits n bobs, prob is if you have a dent the size of a 5p the repair becomes the size of a 50p the prima becomes the size of a £20 note and with a metalic colour you cant just paint 1 panel you have to blend into the panels either side so the job will always look bigger than it really is......believe me........i'm a tyre fitter :D

hows these then? its almost ready for prima,

That's just about right, large enough to see, good quality and no need for viewer to have to adjust the picture to see all of it, great ;D
What camera are you using? sounds a good feature to have.

grale looks fun!

Brian
8227 8)

OLYMPUS C-350, quite old and out of date now only 3.2 mp but its what i use in the garage, i think its about 4>5yrs old but it has got allsorts of usefull options in its menu, basically it take a photo at full spec, then you can reduce its size and it stores the reduced size version also so that you still have the origional picture, i understand the camera far more than i do the pc  :D Grale is coming on well shouldn't be in here too long, need to get an idea of its value so i can put it up forsale any ideas? winner red leather koni's fe springs, powerflex bushes allround, 17" th2 + standard wheels, shell was fully strengthand and seam welded about 7yrs ago as it had started to suffer with the usual stress cracks none have re appeared, it also has blue flame ss full exhaust system, k&n, tarrox 40groove disks allround, just had service incl belts and clutch + new drop links, car will be mint when finished so any approx valuations would be appriciated as i have absolutly no idea, its had alsorts done that i have just forgotton about such as recon gearbox and goodrich hoses , i've owned the car 7yrs and you tend to forget everything that you have either done or had done ???

James, no idea on the value : I assume Evo1 (mileage?) ... Winner Red is pretty rare too ...

Problem with price matrixes I've seen is that they are a bit out of date and the CLS "For Sale" or Walkers Garage would only give you an asking price.

yep evo1 111k , looking at some of the asking prices on evo1's in average condition with alcantara and straight red they seem to range 7>10k, so i thought with all the history leather colour and sensible mods that its had 10>11k , bear in mind it will be mint when done and millage is still low for its age, unsure though so will try walkers for ideas .........or do you think thats too dear or about right?

That sounds about right ... I guess you're not in a hurry to get rid of it so can afford to wait

Have to say though, as I do look, integrales do seem to be thinner on the ground that the used to be (just looking at Walkers there are only a few for sale at any one time).

what about with no doors!!!!

Don't do things by half do you james ;D

Looks pretty sound.

Brian
8227 8)

cars really solid but will benifit from a propper repaint door shuts etc, waxoil down the sills and inside the doors etc then it should be good for another 16yrs ;D...........think i should have started a seperate thead on the delta section ::) hopefully i will be back on the gussey soon ;D

UPDATE ON GRALE

Well after looking at john turners gussey at the weekend its motivated me to finish my lusso wings off as they are just gathering dust, will keep you all posted on progress ;D

made progress today, all 4 wings , running boards and the plugs for the front wings have finally gone into colour ;D. I need to paint the headlamp bowls and brackets, therostatic shutters and underneath the running boards, hoping to get all this done before the bank holiday weekend so it can all be fitted over that weekend, so fingers crossed will post some pictures this week

AS PROMISED MORE PICS ::)

Looks like a nice bit of quality spraying ;D

Brian
8227 8)

i think the best part of the whole thing is the prep work thats been done, i've got a fri/sat boy "OWEN" who is only 15yrs old, he wanted to learn how to do body work so i've taught him, most of the prep work was done by him prob 90% of it anyway, some parts he couldn't get right as he hasnt the experience yet but concidering the size of the repairs (the whole wings end to end in filler!!) he's done an incredible job, he also dry sanded the polyester spay filler and wet flatted the 2k prima before paint, dont get me wrong they are not 100% perfect but i'm not trying to achive concours with this car i'm just trying to make it a tidy usable augusta, owen is the little guy in the pics of my ardea, unfortunatly he's heavilly into austin mini's!!!!.......i am in the process of curing him "brain washing" to the lancia way of thinking, hopefully in the near future he will be as normal as me  ;D, bank holiday weekend is looking promising to fit all of this, off to Don Williamsons tonight to "borrow some parts "of him "thankyou Don", need to get the lamps painted next and a few other bits n bobs, the wing swap isn't a straight forward job......... as far as we can see my car has had a bump on the n/s front at some point and has moved the front axle back, someone has then welded up the rot without straightening the car first ???, so i want to repair this "properly" while the wings are off, will keep you all posted and thanks for your interest

made a bit more progress, painted the shutters, headlamp bowls rear lamps and running board brackets, all the wing piping and runningboard strips have arrived this morning along with the moulding for the roof (another job ::)) its coming together slowly so hopefully bank holiday weekend it will transform ( fingers crossed  ::) )

MY GOD AN AUGUSTA'S A STRONG CAR!!!! stripped the car of its wings today+ rad shell and bonnet, removed fuel tank and gauge, cut out all the rubbish that had been previously welded into the bottom of the chassis leg and measured up to see how bent the car actually was, anyway it was 35mm at the top of the sliding pillar and 10mm at the axle mounting point/chassis leg. the car we thought had been wrotten and lightly bumped then welded up afterwards ::) WRONG!!!! we think at some point its been propperly snotted and had the font axle changed then cowboyed to get it back on the road, even after cutting out the intire bottom of the leg out and the outer skin the axle wouldn't pull more than 4mm forward, time to rethink, bear in mind the back axle is strapped down to my ramp with 15ton rated ratchet straps, the cars wieght is supported on the ramps jacking beam, front wheels are off and sylvester chain block (ratchet type) around the front axle and anchored to the front of the ramp, when under tension the axle would just pull to its correct position but as soon as the pressure was released it would spring back, the augusta leg is 3 layers so next we attacked the center membrain with basically a cutting torch to heat the leg up whilst under tension, result!! we got down to 14mm set back pretty easily, as for the next 14mm now that was a challenge, i wont bore you all with the full story but more cutting, more heating then more cutting , more heating then..........think you get the drift, brief account of the day, complete car on ramp at 9.30 am, by 10.30 all 4 wings and running boards lamps radiator shell and lamps removed! by 11.30 fuel tank + gauge removed car strapped down, bodge work cut out etc, by 7pm tonight the car is finally STRAIGHT!!!!, all thats left to say is with all my years experience as a panel beater i have NEVER seen a car so strong and so hard to pull straight! gives me huge confidence if the car was ever involved in an accident!!so back to the unit in the morning to start welding (the tank) back up, hopefuly i'll still get it finished this weekend, thanks to my dad again, giles and owen for all their help today (yes it took 4 of us!) i've took pictures of the whole job , cant be bothered to post tonight as i'm knackered but will post over the weekend if i get to come home  :o

Well done !!   ...and what reassurance to the rest of us...

Am looking forward to seeing how those legs go togeather - when John Turner came to see my project he pointed at what I thought was the only bit that DIDN'T need attention and said to have the covers off and make sure the axle was attached to something solid.   Apparently not uncommon "back in the day" for those big beautiful brakes to spin the axle out of its mounts.

David

just for those of you out there who haven't judged my sanity yet, it is now 10.50 pm........i'm at my garage.......putting the 1st coat of colour on the inner wings  :o, made great progress today, got all the welding finished, succesfully burnt out a grinder  ::) spray sealed the inner wings and sills and am now painting them, hopefully tomorrow i will get sum paint on the bulk head or maybe flat and polish the wings before i fit them on monday, will update you soon, anyone out there able to lend me a hammock for the garage?? ;D

You're mad, properly mad  ;D

Keep the story going...........excellent stuff!

thankyou for your kind comment i aim to please  ;D, finished at 12.15 am, went home and spent the rest of the evening with my girlfriend  :D , to be fair she's been very understanding about my madness but i was told (sunday we're having a family day + the grass needs cutting), had to do a bit of a re-think so i was back in the garage early this morning to rub down the bulkhead and front axle, my aim was to get it all finished by lunch time, anyway 11.30 came and after a brief phone call i was allowed another hour to save going back tonight to finish the job off( lads its a good threat that works  :D) by 1.15pm i was at home mowing the lawns, bit of a result that i'm pretty pleased with, so fingers crossed the wings will be going on in the morning. my dad has been busy today trying to remove the fuel sender from the tank, for those that dont know they are made of mazzack and over the years corrode and expand nicely making it impossible to remove without breaking, as my sender is broken but complete we are (my dad) is trying to save it and repair it, he is cutting around it ( removing mazzack ) to hopefully free it off, will keep you all posted on his progress, anyway here's some more pics

more.......

James,

Fantastic! I’m full of admiration and a little envy - I think!

Colin

thanks colin, there is alot of work to do on it to bring it up to scratch, i'm not going full blown restoration but i want it tidy, i'm pleased with the way its coming along and eventually i'll repaint the outside of it too, more pics to follow when the wings go on

what a day!!!! :P 12hrs to fit the wings and still not finished!!, needs wing beading as i dont like the stuff that we have been sent, needs bumpers , running board treads, electrics (lights) , fuel tank painting etc, hopefully get most sorted this week, anyway here goes see what you think, honest opinions on the change please

not sure about the wheels and moulding either, i'm thinking of painting them a much darker blue, not quite lancia blue basically the same colour of the sides of my dads augusta......opinions please as i cant make up my mind and i wont be offended ;D

I want one......... ;D



Think i have enough cars for now though.....maybe ;)

I like the darker blue myself.............has a bit more "attitude" I think.

yeah i think the blue on it now just looks tacky and i cant see it would ever have been like it is now, thats why i thought of the darker blue ???

Absolutely lovely James - well done!

The colour would not be my choice but suits it very well - except for the wheels IMHO! They always look better black to my mind.

Keep the momentum up and the pictures coming. Some of us know for sure what you're going through!

Robin.

Am loving the photos...

Colour?   My instinct is to try and forget about it for the moment (easier said than done!!) and concentrate on getting it all screwed back togeather.   Once its out in the sunshine, once you've driven it about a bit, once you've seen it in different places and different weathers "you'll just know".  

If you don't then take some photos to match those you've got of other Augustas and cut-n-paste some variations onto it.

David

My father always said pick your colour then go two shades darker!

Don

When we got to painting the Dilambda Will How produced a number of schemes on a drawing of the car which was most helpful.

I'm with Don's father too, I painted a 2000 saloon green on one occasion and it turned out disappointingly lighter than I would have liked.

Robin.

this is a genuine alperton press photo dated 1935, don and robin said 2 shades darker, 2 shades darker than lancia blue is black, comments please

If you want opinion and instinct:-

The Cambridge Blue stripe over cream looks really lovely - if it was my car I'd be reluctant to change it. 

If I was starting from scratch I'd have gone for black wheels but until I'd seen it on bright and dull days, parked by a kerb and from a distance, I'd hold off making a change.   Its not the biggest job in the world to change the wheel colour.   Its also an easy "cut and paste" to do with a pair of pictures of your car and another car.  Could you swap a pair of wheels off your dad's car to eyeball it?
 
Personal taste again - I like alloy drums gleaming through the wheels.  On an Augusta they're a thing of beauty rather than something to hide away in the shadows.   It could be I'm incorrect and like a bit more bling than most.  Again could "colour in" a photo with a silver pen and see how it looked - or given your skills and facilities do just one and see how it looked.

The other variable is the fabric roof - for which I haven't a clue...

David

Up on a ramp looking up under the wings the proportions and balance between colours is completely different to looking from above with shadows.  The gap from tyre to wing will look different and the proportion of tyre to wheel will change as well.

I can't wait for the pictures outside !!

David

James - I dont envy you trying to keep the under wing parts clean.

David - brake drums should be matt black as Vincenzo found it helps to disipate the heat. Also IMHO polished drums are as naff as polished rocker boxes original black is best!

David

Missed your comment on roof colour assume you mean the fabric panel on berlinas not convertibles.

I have never seen any colour other than black as a roof panel.

Don

Don - were the "underwings" always body colour or sometimes black?   Is there a "correct" scheme for wheels?

James - are the drums matt black or the same gloss as the axles and bulkhead?

looking at the alperton photo the wheels should be black, however "there is no such thing as a standard lancia" when it comes to pre fiat cars! this is not meant nastilly about the fiat influence just the cars were less "mass produced" so anything was used! people say my dads car has the wrong door handles even though they are its origionals as lusso's had chrome handles ....RUBBISH! lancia used what was available at the time, this is even seen in appia's so there is no right and wrong on things like this, the cars were painted in the uk so anything could have happened depending on the clients spec, drums and cam box should be black, the augusta suffered terrible with brake fade and fluid boiling and this was done in an attempt to stop this happening, with modern fluid the car wont suffer this,my drums are gloss black my dads are bare alloy, matt black is correct but my personal choice was gloss as i felt it looked better than matt , i think alloy looks nicer but they should be painted, all my aim is with this car is to make it look better than it did before as it just looked tarted up and wrong!!, again looking at the alperton photo under the wings are definatly body colour, batters your head all this doesn't it  :D i personally feel the wheels look terrible in the colour they are but also feel black wheels and a blue moulding will look wrong too!, i'm really open to suggestions on colour for these as i feel they should be the same as each other to look "more correct" however........i maybe wrong! :o thankyou all for suggestions so far tho

...and then there's the slats in the grill...   :-\

As my four year old would say "how about rainbow?"   

I wonder if any ended up like that in the 60's  :o

David

painted them already, same colour as the car, more progress tonight, got the fuel tank, its strap, radiator brace bar, rear bumper mountings and rocker cover all painted, fingers crossed it should all be back on fri/sat and running again! at the moment it doesn't run (no fuel tank) and no brakes ( need bleading ) not much fun pushing it out of the unit everyday, will post more pics of progress near the end of the week

Sorry James,

 it won't do any longer, you've got to change your handle to Super Chugga  :D

Brian
8227 8)

lol atleast its better than some of the things i've been called  :D

Other names for Chugga Boom were "The Bulletproof Bomb 7" and, perhaps more apt here, "The Roaring Plenty".

David

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wacky_Races#The_Ant_Hill_Mob_in_the_Bulletproof_Bomb_7_.28Chug-a-boom.29_.28the_Roaring_Plenty.29

well i thought i'd better live up to this new name of mine an do some work.........
and i'm staying back to blead the brakes after work!!

realising that i havent got any before pics of under the bonnet i found this on the net
http://www.oldclassiccar.co.uk/photos-cars5/lancia_augusta_52.htm

improvement??

James - an improvement for sure!!    Is access to the battery as much of a fiddle as it looks?   Do you have the "under the dash" and "under the bonnet" fuse boxes as well?

Everyone else - got any photos of a rear mounted petrol tank?   Someone once mentioned a bare chassis at a Motor Show...

David

ATLAST!!!!!!! she starts ....runs....moves under its own power and STOPS TOO!!! thank god no more pushing ;D, brakes sorted just needed bleading after all the dismantling and repair over the bank holiday,hoping to finish the wings on saturday after work wing piping headlamps and hopefully grill and shutters, having a day off on sunday but i assure you all i will be cracking on again next week, gotta finish it soon i have a pickup to build!!!

David,

I've got a rear mounted tank to hand (from my Belna).  What do you need to know - dimensions perhaps?  If I get time this weekend, I'll take a photo of it for you. 

got a bit more done today, built up the shutters and shell, the shell isn't the 1 off the car as the origional 1 is missing its center bar and starting handle hole :(, don williamson provided a much better 1, as with most things over 70yrs old it needed work but was in fairly good condition just mostly out of shape, SUPERDAD TO THE RESCUE!! he straightened it and repaired the cracks in it, the funny part about it is its actually the origional shell off my fathers car! whilst repairing it he noticed it had the same fowel metalic green paint on it that his car had been painted in, anyway back to the plot we built the shell up and fitted it, then we moved onto fitting the wing piping, its amazing how all these little jobs improve the car, i'm actually pleased with the way its coming together, see what you think

not much progress to show you so far, all the running board treads are cut to length and we have made alloy trims for between the front wings and running boards, these are all being fitted hopefully thursday night, i've bought the paint to replace the mid blue on it, hopefully painting the moulding and wheels this weekend, i've managed to rub down and prime the corroded corner on the moulding, hopefully tomorrow someone will be coming to rechrome the bonnet hinge using a technique called  "brush plating" the hinge is not removable so apparently they can do it in situe  ??? we will see, more photo's when there is some progress

Hmmm....more progress in forty eight hours than I have made in thirty years buggering about with the Weymann.  I am intrigued by the idea of 'brush plating' and will be interested to see how you get on.  The early Lancias had solid nickel hinges which means that you can polish right through to the pin and is fine as long as the rest of the car, like the Lambda, is nickel plated but doesn't look quite right on the Augusta.

progress report: brush plater came to see the job, he's going to send me a sample of hinge and then wants to collect the bonnet and take it away to do, so fingers crossed  ::), managed to fit all the running board treads, painted the moulding and wheels, i like the look of david lavers wheels on his chassis so thought i'd try a set on mine too (see what you think) :D sorry david, headlamps are built and fitted , colour is very dark blue , kind of lancia blue , hard to appriciate on photo's looks far better in the flesh or should that be in the steel ???, anyway see what you think, comments please......

a few more......

Must say its scrubbed up nice...

As for my wheels these photos painting them are Feb 08.  Not the best job in the world, but will do until the wheels become the part that is letting the car down.   Just looked at the pic of your wheels all done, other than a bit of tyre black what's in it ;)

David

Round here "two pack" is when I tip the dregs of one tin into another.  As for Wurth stone chip, I don't think it really is Wurth the time and trouble pebble dashing it just yet...

David

my my david, bit of a dark horse , working on it and no updates on your topic, bit sneaky  :D, good to see progress on it , anything else to report?? anymore desisions on body style yet?? think you should build a pickup so we could have our own comercial section at the AGM :D

The wheels were done before the tyres, the tyres went on before it came out of its lockup, and if you look closely (and know what to look for) can make them out on this thread.

http://www.lancia.myzen.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=1033.15

The wheel painting pics were before the Aprilia engine strip thread - and then the Augusta Special thread started a while after that.   The wheel painting was a bit of history that never made it to the forum...

Progress of late is shifting the set of Riley wings on ebay.  They were stored on the chassis rather than in the loft (with the Augusta wing you're after) so having got them out the way I've been able to have a couple of sneaky five min sessions wire brushing.   They could have been made to fit, but very distinctly "Riley" to look at and suit 19in wheels.   Getting the fronts to fit would have been a lot of fiddle and seemed wrong to split such a good set.  The rears were a pretty shape for all I don't like the slab sided nature of them.  Anyway - gone now...   Can't keep all the options open forever or nothing actually gets done.

So there's been 2x5mins wire brushing.  I remembered how the bristles turn up in the oddest of places, forgotton how quickly a brush wears down, but delighted that a lot of progress can be made in ten minutes.   While getting it sand or soda blasted is the conventional way to go not having access to a trailer and not being able to open the cheque book a couple of sessions with the wire brush is what it will be.  I've got various rust killers and zinc primers in hand.  A tin here and there in with the "domestic" paint purchases to get it under the radar ;D

No progress on the engine - other than keeping that bench reserved for only that engine, keeping access to walk up to it, and unearthing the ultrasonic cleaning bath in the loft the other day and getting it down to the garage ready to start cleaning the little bits and bobs.

Was looking at Mr Cundy's DTI with envy - but sometimes its probably better just not to know how sh*gged the engine is before putting it back togeather.  I'll give the bearings a chance, they're intact, hone the bores, and call it "race tollerances".  Aprilia engines have the reputation of refusing to die - I had an Alfasud with zero oil pressure and a death rattle on cornering (G-force drained the top end of oil) that just got quicker and quicker with every mile...   As with the hand painted wheels, when oil consumption becomes the biggest problem with the car it can come apart again.  The engine will be given a chance to run "as is".

As for a pickup body - why not eh?   This chassis is going to have a wardrobe - and the way its going maybe even a choice of early and late front ends. 

Another bit of "will do to be getting on with" progress is a seat set, believed to be from an A40.   The price was right - free - and the fronts look the part balanced on the chassis - and the rears can come apart to be narrowed - and easy enough to recolour.   In time be nice to restore the original seats, but they're as big a project of themselves as knocking up a basic body or getting the engine back togeather.

David

with regards to blasting etc, yes it is the best way but as you say costly, my fathers car wasn't blasted nor his astura, the best way we have found to treat it is grind /sand off 1st then believe it or not dulux bare metal prima, then their undercoat then top coat, lasts for years, can be brushed or sprayed, i'm dubious about rust cure products, we painted my dads augusta axles and belna axles at the same time many years ago, using the above treatment however the belna axles were done with a rust cure product also, the belna axles microblistered within a yr or 2 where as my dads are still perfect sum 10+yrs on, try it though its good stuff, some people laugh but good old oil based paint never really dries hard like 2k paint so is therfore more flexable and less prone to stonechips , ideal for underneath chassis etc

Dulux is always the temptation...   The second hand machinery dealer locally strips then brush glosses with no primer and it lasts a decade indoors and comes up like a filled and sprayed factory job.  What's great about Dulux - and other "consumer" products - is that they put so much time into making it idiot proof.   As I've found to my distress with child safe and water based paints if the moon is at the wrong phase it goes wrong on the last coat, takes a month to cure, then has to be sanded off again.

The wheels got Jennolite "double act" because I had a load on the shelf and then smoothrite which is not what it used to be.  I can remember of old you must never recoat after an hour unless you wait a full month - the new formulation is a much more conventional "two thin coats" with a drying time between.   Being paint-paranoid I read the lable every time as I know they change stuff on you and phoned the help line and its to do with VOC regs.

I've also got stock of Bilt Hamber Electrox primer, Deox, and Hydrate which always seem to ace the Practical Classics tests.  Have also got something called Fertan which I've yet to try.

http://www.bilthamber.com/hydrate80.html
http://www.fertan.co.uk/

To go with the random orbit and belt sanders and the various wire brushes this gizmo does what it says on the tin.  Works a treat on stuff like a pitted propshaft where you don't want to grind half the thickness off.

http://www.paint-stripper.co.uk/perago.htm

I came across the company looking for an aluminum safe paint stripper for items I'm not wanting to clean up mechanically.

http://www.paint-stripper.co.uk/removall_paint_stripper_aviation.htm

The plan became (as always subject to change day to day) was to use all of the above paints on OTHER cars, and to stick to this range below on the Augusta.

http://www.craftmasterpaints.co.uk/

They couldn't be more helpful on the phone and you can just tell that they've been there, done that etc etc.  For all its a canal boat painting company he's got at least one Lancia and several Alfas and has supplied "big names" in car restoration as well as us "blokes in sheds".   Somewhat reluctantly he'd even find me a brushing etch primer for aluminum that's been tested within his "system" of paints if I really wouldn't put up with a spray can.  I really do HATE spraying indoors and half the year its too damp to spray outside...

It was a happy day I first made contact with them - and I like his "long lasting red" as not all the pigmants behave over time but the one that does is a lovely shade that nothing on the web site does justice to.  They also supply the masking tapes, brushes, and abrasives they've graduated towards in their own work.

http://www.craftmasterpaints.co.uk/aboutus.htm

If I've learned one thing with paints its to stick to "a system".  If its going to be Dulux, its the full set of Dulux products.

On the subject of paint here's a fun link - a high quality finish using a roller "the fifty dollar repaint".

http://www.rickwrench.com/index79master.htm?http://www.rickwrench.com/50dollarpaint.html

David

Words of wisdom from that link on the fifty dollar repaint:

"I've come to the conclusion there is no middle ground with auto painting. Either go as cheap as possible, accepting the limitations and flaws and enjoying the feeling of doing it for nearly nothing, or, go all out. Anything in between is going to be a disappointment, no matter what. There is no such thing as a satisfactory "mid-level" paintjob. "

David

well the main secret to good paint jobs is the preparation, painting itself is easy its just about being concistant with coverage and getting enough paint on, if you flat hell out of it after then polish hell out of it after that then you have a good result, even oven paint jobs get muck in the paint and has to be flatted after, the main expence with a profesional paint job is the prep, people dont realise how much work goes into prepping a car for paint especially something thats battered!!, i once painted an escort van (in my youth) with black dulux and a roller, alot of orange peel but acceptable, and far better than brushing it, long story it was a shed that i was running for 2 months while fettling my rs turbo (yes another escort i hear you cry  :o young and foolish enough said!!) must say thogh i was impressed with the 50 dollar paint job though ;D

car is coming along nicely, too well......... so in my wisdom i had a bright idea

bit more......

basically the moulding and roof panel was tatty, i thought simple refelt and new vinyl new moulding and result make the car a bit more tidy, anyway after stripping off the old roof there aint much left underneath to hold the vinyl down!!!, got my work cut ou this weekend, removed the headlining too as it wasnt fitted very well, plenty to do now, door panels  have been removed to go to coachtrimmers just hope all this is finished by the end of the month for tatton park........fingers crossed

....or drive round Tatton Park with the boy-friday standing on the rear seat taking the salute...

...or a sheet of perspex...

What I find reassuring, having a platform chassis, is that the roof can't be adding a great deal to the torsional rigidity, and with it being pillarless as well.   Do the top corners of the screen ever crack on these?  Am thinking of the front twisting one way, the back the other, and what that would do to the shape of the roof frame.  Do the doors ever fret at each other on a poor surface?

David

I don't understand what all the fuss is about regarding renewing Augusta/Belna roof fabric.  In France for example, the Belgians can be seen replacing theirs while they stop for fuel!

............and later...........having to do it again back at the hotel !!!!!!!!!!!

you may think its been along time and why no updates ???, well thats because we had a disaster with the roof!!, when we actually came to fitting the mesh it was too weak and flimsy so that kinda buggered up our plans to get the roof finished last sunday, anyway getting back to the plot monday morning came and my dad went on the hunt for stronger mesh, eventually finding some in our local builders merchant, he then continued working on the roof in his own time at his house (we moved the car sunday my god it was drafty!!)
the pictures below show clearly what he has done and in all fairness it looks fantastic, i'm hoping to get some paint on the repaired area's and moulding tomorrow fingers crossed......

a few more pics, + how to park 3 augusta's in a tight space  ;D

You'll get there James! - but it would be easier if you didn't have quite so many projects!!!!
But seriously the Gussy is looking good!

more progress, coach lines done, side lamps fitted, rear lamp and number plate mount made and fitted, dor panels and front kick panels recovered piped and fitted, my dad recovered the interior pull handles that were missing each 1 taking over an hr each!!! hand stitched each 1 !! all the door tops removed and re piped, headlining removed and fitted correctly seats cleaned ready to go back in blah blah blah blah

also fitted a new security system to 1 of my vans in the process see attatched photo

more.......

interior finished, car polished, drove it to my dads for him to finish the electrics off tomorrow and hopefully the front bumper and bonnet latches, been busy working on warby's appia today also will post that seperatly

I hope you didn't have the "as seen in Classics monthly" trousers on. 

You're going to have to scrub yourself up now.

David

i did indeed!!! ;D  they had a good soaking in petrol today not by choice just when matty's fuel tank decided to empty its contents over the pair of us! but they have suvived for another day  :D

Those trousers again............well...........I blame his parents!  ::)

Well its going to have to be the tartan rugs over the seats then...  It was a while before I realised my Grandpa's car didn't ALWAYS have rugs over the seats, but only when he had no alternative way of moving his sticky grandchildren from A to B.

In fact for YOU maybe a bit more than the tartan rug - they make them with wax cotton "backings" but I suggest the wool side goes on the seat and you sit on the ground sheet.

http://www.thehampershop.com/images/ProductImages/PER_wax-and-wool-rug.jpg

I sympathise - and my mother dispairs.   Wool seats are gorgeous but I could never imagine having a "Sunday best" car.  For the other scruffs I think this is the sound deadening material I used in the Aurelia.  I stuck it on the back of rubber mats so it was a job of moments to pull them out to clean or to strip for competition.  I remember it as a closed cell neoprene that didn't soak up water and wouldn't burn.  I put in early Fulvia seats that took the abuse and wiped clean.

http://www.woolies-trim.co.uk/c-129-sound-damping.aspx

Jason and Louise have smartened it up the interior a bit in their "care" - even if they are keeping "maintainable" paint on the outside to avoid tears with every scrape.

David

well looks like chugga an hovis (gussey & appia) shud make tatton park  ;D dads been working hard on the gussey today, we now have front and rear lights that are functional ( electrics are his department!!), he dropped off my front bumper mountings after he'd repaired them for me today so i stayed back late to paint them so they will be dry for the morning, he's fitted the front bonnet catches that needed modifing to fit since new wings have gone on, got a few jobs to do tomorrow , final clean, put her on the trailer and drop her off with stan tomorrow night as i have work on sat , cant stand people trailering cars to shows as cars are meant to be driven!! but the gussy has had to go to tatton on the trailer the last 2 yrs, last year with a blown gearbox, this year because i'm not staying with it and need to get back home in the trusty ducato the appia will hopefully go under its own steam ( my friend is following in convoy), so there we go target almost reached, havent had time to flat and polish the parts i've painted yet so i'm a little dissapointed with the overall paint finish on the wings but hopefully i will get time to finish off my last few jobs like these before the agm and DRIVE IT THERE!!!

got the cars there tonight ;D, cant believe what a differance fitting the front bumper has made, the car now looks complete, thanks dad!!! your an absolute gem ;)

well the gussey's first outing went exceptionally well, i won best lancia at tatton park today, really pleased and thankyou to whoever decided to give the award to chugga  ;D

Interesting to do the "before and after" side by side.

David

passed its mot again!!! we had some fun getting it ready though!!! weren't really happy with the bodge that had been done on the handbrake cable so decided to route them back through the rear chassis legs as lancia had intended, the problem was that most of the origional cable was still in the conduit hence why it had been hashed about, anyway sorted that relitaverly easy but the handbrake was still poor, anyway superdad to the rescue and he rebuilt the rear brakes and cylenders as they were weaping, sorted out a few electrical bits n bobs while he was at it and after the mot had been rescedueled due to the extra work needed she flew through, we have also fitted the correct fuel filter and tap and in all fairness for an augusta she goes well! took her to a village carnival and got held up by a few moderns on the way home  :D loadsa fun hehe, i have no intension of doing anymore to the gussey for a while now just enjoy driving it for a change

No need to say "I have no intention of doing any more".   We know that already - you just leave it to dad  ;D

But then when Warby rolls in to the unit with his Appia you know you're going to have to accept that what goes around comes around...

David

done a few more jobs today, re-set the rear shockers as they were doing virtually nothing, whilst it was up in the air i'd bought a stainless exhaust about 3yrs ago and never fitted it so thought it was about time i did, will be doing more to the old girl the next few wks so will keep this topic alive  ;D

few more jobs done today, rebuilt the handbrake, fitted new propshaft couplings that my dad made ( what would we do with out dads  ::) ) painted the prop while it was off , undersealed/waxoiled underneath, fitted new pedal rubbers (available through jai sharma) which look excellent when fitted, fitted new number plates, new headlamp rims correct augusta type not the stepped bosch type that i had on, fitted re-furbed fuel cap and made a new seal for it , fitted the door seals to the bottom of the doors as mine were missing, and finally i had a much better dash board off john turner so i've welded up a couple of extra holes that were in it and i'm getting it ready for paint, i've dug out a spare stering wheel which is well and truely knackered so that i can fit it to my car while i sort my wheel out, all in all a busy weekend, took the car for a little run with warby as co (test pilot) and we can report that we saw off a few modern cars on the winding welsh roads, both of us crying laughing at how well it goes around corners and how much better it is now that the rear dampers actually work!!!!

more.......

more........

...............the last few pictures of the number plates may look a simple job however they took me nearly 2hrs to fit!!! the rear one needed the brackets modifying and the plate cutting to clear the porkpie lamp, next weekend im hopeing to paint under the rear arches and eventually get the rear axle off and paint that too, hopefully i can paint the dash the same time as rear arches and get that in and back to standard with speed plate and fuel shut off pull etc fitted, still need an ignition or turn signal warning lamp if anyone can help  ??? like i said before i have the lamp but no cover not bothered about lense doesnt matter what you have its better than what i haven't got, any help would be grately appriciated

forgot the pic of underneath partway through undersealing, starting to look better under there

Looking good.

David

Looks immaculate, but why the strange spacing on the number plates? My MOT bloke wouldn't like that, although I got away with mine! Regards, John

hi john, its far from immaculate but its improved!! i've got too many projects to justify ripping it appart and starting from scratch,number plates i've no idea, i'm going to buy another set this yr but thats just how they came through, cant say i like them myself but they look better "condition wise" than the bent ones that were on it, i agree though its a very strange way of spacing the numbers  ???

A little more done the last few days and still in progress, decided the rear arches looked a little ratty compared to the fronts that i'd already done last year , heres some pics.......

more...............

.........anyway whilst i was under there i decided the rear axle looked a little shabby too so heres whats happened yesterday and today

more........

.....................fingers crossed it'll be back on in the morning  ;D

bit more done today.......

more..............

a little more progress, don williamson gave me a steering wheel for my belna that was pretty badly damaged but you cant complain for free  :D , general opinion of others was to send it away and have it re manufactured this was not my opinion, i used fibre glass resin to repair the cracks after it was shot blasted, let this cure over night then used a very fine body filler to repair the rest, this was then etch primed to adhease to the plastic, then 2 pack high build primed, then coloured

more............

the black dust coat is called a guide coat for rubbing down, any imperfections stand out when flatting off so you keep flatting until all the black has gone

Great stuff, very impressive finish!

An impressive transformation.

Is the wheel now black?  It looks brown in the photo but it could just be picking up a reflection of something large like a roll of brown paper - or Warby just off the sunbed.

David

i did it a very dark brown, when i did my dads wheel i painted it black and it looks fine on his car with a black dash and door cappings etc, my origional wheel seems to be dark brown so i sent some old bakalite radio knobs off to the paint man and got him to match the colour, personal preferance just thought the brown would suit my car better than a black wheel, i am pleased with the overall finish and paint finish myself its turned out well concidering the wheel was basically scrap and it didnt cost me £400 to repair which is apparently how much it normally costs  ;D

Are these for your other (one of your other?) Augustas?   Chance of a new thread for that one?

I repaired an Austin 7 wheel with the pink fibre/filler, could be 20 years ago now, and its still fine so I've every confindence your repairs will hold.

Just looked at my Augusta wheel - not having your skills am still minded to split plastic covering off and cord bind.  I also like that look.  Something for the "project in its own right" department as and when...

David

no these are both for this augusta, my wheel is a bit tatty and the dash is a mess!! i bought the spares for my belna so rather than take mine off the road to sort its dash etc i thought i'd repair these parts instead making the swap over quicker and the car off the road for less time, dash is painted now so hopefully i will get them all fitted soon, as to repairing your wheel david what i've done to this wheel is really not hard, if you do decide to break all your plastic off let me know as i have a wheel with no plastic on it and would do you a deal  ;)

My wheel is some sort of after-market Carlos Fandango thing - I'll take a snap next time I have the camera out. 

Quite similar to the MG Bluemells wheel here:

http://www.steeringwheelrestoration.co.uk/car_steering_wheels_gallery.php?p=7

David

Well done.  My Aprilia is sporting a Gussie wheel (I've forgotten just how this came about but I think they are very similar)  I have patched it up crudely but now I am inspired to do a better job.

with tatton park looming up yet again (i always leave things till last minuite!!) i thought i'd better get the dash underway, i've stripped out the instruments so that the pointers can be re painted and fitted to the new dash, i've also moved the ammeter  and temp gauge to a seperate panel that will be mounted under the dash to keep the dash standard and eventually sourced the correct blue dash lamp for the indicator warning  ;D , hopefully by next weekend i'll have the columb painted and new dash etc fitted , sounds so easy when you say it quick!!

after a few months of motoring in the gussey the rear axle just all of a sudden developed an oil leak, 1st impressions where that the oil seal had gone in the half shaft end and that oil was coming out of the drain tube, however after a little investigation it proved to be coming from the spring mount  ??? on the spring is a metal pin that locates into the axle casing, the recess in the axle tube is welded in from the factory and after 70yrs of use the weld had cracked all the way around and started to leak, i ground it off and put a suitable sized drift into the hole and moved it back into its correct possition with ease the re-welded and ground off again,

..............anyway after the repair all seems to be fine, next trail was a wedding , my friend was getting married and his wife wanted to use the augusta, wedding went well , photographers were impressed with car especially with it being pillarless

Soon you'll have the matching pickup for the bride's mum.

David

Really love the colour scheme, suits her very well.

Brian
8227 8)

i took this photo on my phone also......

gutted to miss the agm, however chugga did get put to good use once again

Now that is a good car for a bride to be getting in and out of !

i think any lancia is better than one of those beuford things that most people use, one of my friends used my dads astura for the brides maids and my integrale for the bride , she is a real petrol head and wanted to arrive in syle! somewhere i have a picture of the evo  with ribbons on outside chirk castle with the bride and groom stood next to it , if i find it i'll post it up

Our son Alex got married last Saturday in Devon and we were lucky enough to have Mike and Jacquie Guest (and their Lambda) there. The car was used to take Alex and Emma from the Church to the reception and was spectacular. I feel a new topic coming on here - 'Lancia Wedding Cars'.
I will post a photo when I have them.

Now that is a good wedding car!! cant get much more style than that, would be a good topic , interesting to see

another wedding to do and the old girl needed a little pre wedding TLC, last outing was with Andy Tate and the head gasket was "on the way out" unfortantly I just haven't had time to sort it until yesterday afternoon and this morning, changed the chain tensioner at the same time, all running smooth as silk once again, test "lap" of the local roads made me realise "how good" an augusta is, massive grin on the 3 mile circuit, so much fun I had to go for a 2nd lap, came back into the pits to check the timing as it felt a little retarded, I was correct and reset the ingnition timing and took it for another lap  ::) , very hard to stop having fun but unfortunately it doesn't pay bills! photos clearly show the discolouration of the steel on the rear cylinder due to poor head design, even when de-coking the pistons the carbon on the rear left piston top was so much harder than any of the others

Two "open engines" in a morning - what a treat.

Why so many turns on the fuel pipe? 

David

if you look at the pipe carefully you will see it attatches to the filter housing rigidly , then its clamped with a p clip to the engine block and eventually to the carb, with engine movement and vibration and no flexi in the pipe it will eventually fracture, the original and correct fuel pipe had the big coil with loads of turns to act as a flexi and reduce the risk of pipe fracture, the more turns = the more flexible

chugga made it to the ball

Wonderful....................:)


P

I forget just how good the interior is on that car.  Hardly in the spirit I know, but any photos without dresses etc in the way?

David