I said I would never buy another Fulvia Berlina......

[chriswgawne]

Well today was the day that this lovely original 33,000 dry miles car was back ion the road again after 28 years + off the road.
There is absolutely no trace of any rust anywhere and all the paintwork is original. The interior had seat cover (now removed) and the clear plastic door coverings are still there.
There was a last minute problem with the mechanical fuel pump appearing to fail even though I had run the engine in the workshop for quite a few minutes on and off over the last week whilst attending to other last minute niggles another of which was a 'stuck closed' water stat.
Today I suspect that one of the one way valves in the fuel pump  stuck with debris having accumulated there so rather than try to fix the pump the quickest thing to do was to fit an OE FISPA reconditioned pump off my shelves. I had a new repro Fulvia pump as well but I had fitted new valves and a new membrane to the old FISPA one ( as well as a few others I have ) which I prefer so I went with that.

Its nice to see good oil pressure and a quiet engine having rebuilt it and the Dellorto 35s don't seem to be too big for the 1231cc engine.

Its a lovely taut car to drive with slightly lighter steering than our GTE for some reason even though its on the same tyres and pressures. Also very quiet as its has a standard 40mm centre section exhaust unlike the GTE which has a modified Coupe 50mm dia centre section and the previous owner of the GT had fitted an electric fan removing the mechanical one. I have left this in place for the moment to see how we get on with it. I don't like the thermostat arrangement on the car - the fan and stat were made by an obscure English mfr  - so I might well change that for a Kenlowe stat and control.

The niggle list now is very short and mostly trivial so we will drive it each day checking everything is OK after each drive until its clear that all is well.

A couple of iffy photos are attached which hopefully show how original is it inside and out and also under the bonnet.
Chris

[Justin McArdle]

Looks great, Chris. Congratulations

[chriswgawne]

Thanks Justin. Very kind.Ref my earlier post on the moving dunlop wheel cylinder sleeve, here is a photo of the offending item.
I should be able to sort this out with the earlier advice I received.
So now, apart from further minor niggles and tidying up I have a spare 818.202 1231cc GT engine to build. The block has been lightly honed and there is no 'step' at the top of the bores or any sign of bore damage and the bottom end looks afine so I will fit a set of lightly used standard pistons using new small ends and new standard piston rings (which I ordered last Monday and received the following day from Cavalitto).
The head for this engine looks fine with good unworn cams, chain cogs etc and I have a set of new springs so I imagine I will refit the old valves having reground them in of course unless there is any appreciable wear in the valve guides and valve stems.

Not sure whether to go the whole hog and bolt the head down, fit the distributor and timing chain and time it or leave the head loose? It will be a nice small winters project anywhich way round. I dont foresee any situation where I will end up using this spare engine but one never knows.
Chris

[Parisien]

Looks great, Chris. Congratulations

Another little gem, and its found its way into the right hands, am sure once completely fettled to your very high standards it will be another source of enjoyment, keep up the good work.

P

[fay66]

Interesting  and useful PM response to the brake sleeve problem using a Loctite product which appears to have been designed for just this sort of issue.
Well done the forum.
Chris

Which one Chris,
I'd have thought bearing fit would do the job.
Brian
8227 

[chriswgawne]

I am going to use Loctite 638 Brian with excellent shear strength for the tolerances my cylinder appears to have been machined to.
Chris

[fay66]

I am going to use Loctite 638 Brian with excellent shear strength for the tolerances my cylinder appears to have been machined to.
Chris

What a beauty Chris, I hope you have many years of pleasure with her.
I'll look up Loctite 638, I haven't heard of that one.

What is the yellow cable across the top of the carburettors that is connected to the water manifold?
Brian
8227 

[chriswgawne]

Thanks Brian.
It's the temperature sensor for the electric fan. The control is under the dashboard with a manual override but I don't like it and I haven't proved it works reliably although the fan itself seems fine.
I have a Kenlowe stat and control somewhere so when I remember where I put it I will fit that.
Your eagle eyes will also have seen the extra red cable on the lhs. This is a switched feed for an electric fuel pump which I have removed as it was a little untidy and not necessary in my opinion.

Chris

[DavidLaver]

http://www.loctite.co.uk/loctite-4087.htm?nodeid=8802627616769

[Sebastien]

Chris,

Your new Fulvia looks beautiful, compliments! It is so nice and rare to see an unrestored, unmessed with Fulvia Berlina in perfect condition! Especially the underbonnet shot, with all those clean painted surfaces shows the condition of your car well.

Do you intend to keep the "just out of the dealership" look, or will you take off the plastic protection of the door panels? And will you keep those rear view mirrors? They are certainly useful, but ....

I look forward to your driving impressions, especially with the Dellortos, and a comparison with the braking behaviour of your GTE (which if I remember well has a Servo).

Sebastien

[chriswgawne]

Thanks Sebastien,
Interesting comments from you and thank you.
As you know I don't believe in pristine cars - they are meant to be driven after all  -  so the plastic door card coverings will be coming off just like the seat covers which were in place when it arrived.
The brake pedal feel is slightly different to the GTE as its servo leads to increased pedal travel and a certain softness whereas the GTE's pedal is firm with short travel. The brake master cylinder in the GTE is 19mm internal diameter whereas the GT's is 18mm internal diameter - these are as they were when the cars were built.

It will be difficult to give a balanced view on the Dellorto 35s I think but I am pleased to have used them even though on the face of it they are a little large. I have fitted jet sizes recommended for the 818.302 1298cc Fulvia engine and am prepared to downsize them a little. If I cant get them to work to my satisfaction I have the option of fitting them to the GTE and fitting a virtually brand new pair of correct Solex 32s on my shelf to the GT.


The rear view mirrors are actually a bit of a problem which I only realised when the car arrived here. On the GTE I have a pair of ARCA mirrors which I really like and which sit well forward but very much on the 'outside' of the wings so they are useful whereas the mirrors on the GT are definitely not to my liking stylewise and  more importantly they are fitted 'on top' of the front wings so ARCA mirrors (which I have) will not really work.
This is another problem on my list to solve at my leisure but the main thing now is to drive the car around locally to prove everything is working properly.
Chris



 

[fay66]

Hi Chris,
I agree with you on the positioning of the mirrors on top of the wings, they're much too far inboard to see a lot!
Back in the 1960's one of the OEM Manufacturers of wing mirrors had a wing mirror the you could undo a screw at the back of the arm, that allowed the arm to be rotated so you could extend the mirror itself outwards, so it being fitted on top of the wing wasn't a problem, but to move these onto the side of the wing means filling holes in a prominent position, so perhaps better to live with them.
I know many owners have changed the series 1 mechanical fan for an electric fan, as the electric fan is more efficient and makes less noise! However I've never been tempted as I think the series 1 pillar and fan are such a lovely work of art, and to be honest I've never had a problem of it not doing its job, even climbing the Alps or the Pyrenees.
Just wondering if Dellorto 35's are a bit big for the 1231cc engine, or did it have 35 solexes as standard?.
I fitted 32 DHLB's to Fay about 15 years ago and they are so much nicer than the Solexes, purely from being better built, there's never been an improvement in performance, but Fay runs so much nicer on them, and I can't remember the last time I had to have them tuned.
My Eagle eye missed the wire for the electric fuel pump, but it did notice the missing fipsa sticker on the air cleaner😲.
I have an electric fuel pump just for priming, otherwise the engine churns over forever before starting, while if I prime the carburettors first, she starts first time, unlike most pump isn't visible and is mountedcc adjacent to to fuel tank.
It's also handy to have it as backup in the fairly unlikely event of a problem with the mechanical pump.
It may just be a coincidence but my engine was totally rebuilt at 28,000 miles when a Piston ring broke and scored a bore, however when the engine was stripped, there was also an oil leak between the crankcase and block adjacent to the oil filter, where the oil passes through the gasket to the head, on early cars, Fay was built halfway through 1965, the oil pressure could push the gasket sideways causing an oil leak.
Lancia brought out a modification to the crankcase face to add a roll pin at this point which allowed the oil to be fed up through the hollow pin, but the pin stopped the gasket being moved by the oil pressure, I have a copy of the bulletin for the modification and I think, without looking, that another pin was added on the other side as well.
While the engine was being rebuilt the modifications were carried out.
I would have thought that by the time your 1231cc engine was built that problem would have been long gone, but you never know.
Once again Chris it is beautiful and I'm very envious.
Brian
8227
 

[chriswgawne]

I had the same block/crankcase gasket failure on the GTE which was remedied by the modification you mention Brian and on the GT engine there were rollpins already there on disassembly.
The Dellorto DHLB35 carbs I have were originally sold and jetted for Fulvias with the 1298cc  818.302 engine but I have reduced accelerator, slow running and air corrector jets as marked on the attached original carb labels and running around in the car this morning - my second drive in it! - it seems to be fine.
Regarding the electric fan, I am going to fit a bulb type thermostatic controller but I might well go back to the original fen belt driven electric fan as to my mind, it is less likely to give trouble in the future.

The wing mirrors are beginning to grate with me already but I think they will look slightly better rotated through 180 degrees. Perhaps round mirrors in the same overall style would look more appropriate or maybe I just fit the ARCA mirrors and accept the fact that they might look better but they wont actually improve rear vision?

Chris   

[chriswgawne]

Forgot the Dellorto labels.

[fay66]

I had the same block/crankcase gasket failure on the GTE which was remedied by the modification you mention Brian and on the GT engine there were rollpins already there on disassembly.
The Dellorto DHLB35 carbs I have were originally sold and jetted for Fulvias with the 1298cc  818.302 engine but I have reduced accelerator, slow running and air corrector jets as marked on the attached original carb labels and running around in the car this morning - my second drive in it! - it seems to be fine.
Regarding the electric fan, I am going to fit a bulb type thermostatic controller but I might well go back to the original fen belt driven electric fan as to my mind, it is less likely to give trouble in the future.

The wing mirrors are beginning to grate with me already but I think they will look slightly better rotated through 180 degrees. Perhaps round mirrors in the same overall style would look more appropriate or maybe I just fit the ARCA mirrors and accept the fact that they might look better but they wont actually improve rear vision?

Chris   u

Chris,
How about a angled wedge under the base to project the arm further over,? Then round mirrors with an offset pin so the mirror itself project's further out, might not gain you a lot but it might make them acceptable to use.
Round mirrors will look better than the current wedge shape, if any of this doesn't sort the problem to an acceptable level, then I'd fit the ARCA mirrors rather than start on the body.
Brian
8227