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

[simonandjuliet]

Very nice - want it !

[Jai Sharma]

That looks very lovely indeed!

[chriswgawne]

The GT picked up a couple of paint scratches in transit from Portugal to the UK in the artic where loose body panels and/or packing obviously rubbed the lower half of the drivers door and also the leading edge of the bonnet.
For jobs like these I use a very local Carrozzeria run by two cousins and they were happy to sort these oput whilst we were on holiday in Tuscany last week. The car is Lancia Blue, a Max Meyer colour according to the sticker in the glove box and the paint appears to have not faded over the years. However the bodyshop had trouble matchi8ng the colour particularly getting the correct quantity of red and green in the mix!
We agreed that none of us wanted the bonnet completely repainted so just the leading edge was done  ( there are no rust issues with this car whatsoever - its like new) but the whole drivers door was painted as the scratches were below the trim but there was a small dent above the trim.
The new paint is indistinguishable from the old original paint so we are all happy.

The rear stainless steel bumper had picked quite a dent in the area of the lh bumper iron sadly because of careless handling here (by the new owners)  on arrival from Portugal and whilst there were perfect used bumpers in the spare parts which accompanied the car, I had already sold them to fellow S1 Berlina owners in the UK before the damage was done.
New OE bumpers are always available for around €250 so it wasn't the end of the world and my experience of trying to reshape damaged SS bumpers is that this are very difficult because of springiness.
However the cousins said they would try. They removed the bumper them removed the iron and straightened that which was relatively easy. Then they unwelded the brackets which are part of the bumper, straightened the bumper with hammers then polished it, rewelded the brackets and refitted it. There is now no evidence of any prior damage.

All of this work was done really well, pleasantly and economically.

Having driven the car a little more, I find it is a taut very responsive car but I am unhappy with the apparent play in the steering particularly when lifting off the throttle when the car changes direction. I know this is ususlly the idler (which I have a new one of as well as a set of steering arms) but I cant detect any play in it and becuase th car has only done 33k miles I find it hard to believe that either the idler or steering box for that matter is sufficiently worn to cause the problem.
So as soon as I have the time, I will investigate this further and report back.

The electric radiator fan which is a 1970s model has a wierd thermostat and controller (and a manual override in the passenger compartment) which I dont trust so I have bought a more modern thermostatic controller with a bulb which sits in the tophose which I will fit after the weekend but to be honest unless I am 100% happy with this setup I will go back to the somewhat noisy belt driven fan which I have ready on the bench in anticipation.

And the only other o/s job I am aware of at present is the need to remove the ugly brackets in the wheelarches where mudflaps were fitted. These will leave some holes which I will be able to plug neatly and disguise with schutz.

Further updates to follow.
Chris

[fay66]

Chris, thank you for your very interesting update, especially for Series 1 Berlina owners
How unfortunate that you damaged the bumper after selling the spares, ( currently sitting in my shed awaiting collection in August by new owner), wish I had someone like your men, as they seem to be very skilled, the bumper being made up of a centre and two ends welded together can't be the easiest thing to work on, Fay came with one end dented and eventually the end fell off!
I've never had the heart to remove the lovely, work of art, the mechanical fan and it's pillar, even though it is noisy!
It must be lovely to drive an unrestored  low mileage Berlina, although Fay only had 27,000 Miles on the clock she'd stood for 21 years, and needed restoration, so my first experience of driving her would no doubt have been different to yours.
Brian
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[lancialulu]

Re steering issues , perhaps it could be a rod end which can present same symptoms?

[chriswgawne]

I know we all like pictures so here are the 'after' photos of last weeks excellent local bodyshop work. Unfortunately I only have one 'before' photos which is of the bonnet abrasion taken on June 30th ..... probably because I was a little upset by the 'in transit' deep scratches on the door and even more upset about the self inflicted rear bumper damage. The only good news is that the car didn't hit Jacky on its graceful roll into our solid boulder wall!
The bumper damage was very deep and the bumper iron was very distorted but the bumper itself didn't touch the paintwork.
Chris

[chriswgawne]

Regarding the sloppy steering issue, today I removed the 3 steering arms and ascertained that neither the steering box nor the idler box have any perceptible play (which is what I expected and of course hoped for not wanting a big job in the current heat which is in the high 30's from 10.30am till around 6pm).

I have always found it a little difficult to identify degrees of play in steering joints and I well remember a story  in the 70's about a Fulvia, one of whose steering joints either broke or popped out going over a hump-backed bridge at speed resulting in quite an accident with severe damage. And this car had been services and MOT'd the previous week!! The badly worn sealed ball joint was missed when the suspension was hanging and also under load.
So I replaced all 3 arms with NOS spares which I have on the shelf and the problem has completely disappeared I am pleased to say. I am not sure why sealed ball joints should wear out after only 33k miles.
We now have a car with precise, unweighted steering with no pull accelerating or decelerating around bends just as a Fulvia should be.

The new brake pads and discs are beginning to bed in nicely and as the car is on new tyres and Konis (but with standard Berlina springs) its quite chuckable.  Certainly a Fiat 500 Nuovo tried to keep with me round a large roundabout locally and got a shock earlier this afternoon.


I still have a to-do list but its getting shorter and the car will be being driven daily now by us both. My test driver, Jacky, is truly excellent at identifying what isn't right when driving an old car ( which can actually be a little annoying on occasions as you might imagine) whereas I tend to drive around the problem so between us we get things sorted properly in the end.
Chris

[GG]

Pretty sweet. Thanks for the updates.

[Jaydub]

 Hi Chris
"www.holden vintage and classic" sell a good range of mirrors and stems with curved/angled stems that would move the mirror vision outwards.

You might find something suitable.

John

[chriswgawne]

Thanks John,
I already have one nice period ARCA mirror and have just sourced a 2nd one so I will fit those and see how I get on.
Today I have driven a about 30 miles in the GT and all good. The engine seems to pull exceptionally well ( I fitted new valves and built the head up carefully) and there are no leaks although I have fitted a temporary inline fuel filter between the tank and the mechanical fuel pump because when I looked at the fuel opump yesterday there was a little rubbish in its filter. I hope to remove this inline filter when I change all the flexible fuel pipes to semi transparent blue tint CAVIS plastic pipe with spring clips in a week or two.
Chris

[stanley sweet]

Are there any advantages to the blue fuel lines over rubber or do you prefer them for an original look?

[chriswgawne]

There are two reasons which make me want to NOT use rubber fuel lines on the Fulvias Stanley.

The first is originality - as far as I am aware they fuel lines in the engine bay were green tinted transparent plastic secured with neat wire clips which are removed with pliers. Over time the plastic hardens and discolours but I have never had any leaks from old pipes. I have ordered some new wire clips and I have new CAV Fuel pipe....but blue tint (as Alfa Romeo of the 60's?) so when I am certain that there is no more debris being picked up my the disposable inline filter I will remove it, change over all the pipes and just rely on the OE FISPA inline filter with repaceable filter which is fitted in the engine bay on the rh inner wing.

However the main reason I want to remove the black rubber fuel pipe is that over the last 10 years I have had 2 instances of fabric covered 'proper' rubber fuel pipe (which I had fuitted less that 5 years earlier) cracking and spraying fuel out when under pressure. You couldn't see the cracks because of the fabric covering and I presume this is all to do with modern fuels and their additives. In both cases the offending fuel pipe was on an Aurelia with an electric pump and correctly adjusted Malpassi pressure regulator/filter and in both cases the fuel was spraying onto the rh exhaust manifold and spark plugs.....so not good.

I obviously don't want plastic pipe on our Aurelias so these days I use a 'naked' thick wall rubber petrol pipe and I haven't had any problems with that but I do inspect the engine bay fuel pipes regularly and carefully for deterioration which of course if there will be coming from inside the pipe, not the outside.With this sort of rubber pipe I dont use jubilee type clips (because they are ugly, non-original and cut into the pipe) but rather either the rollpin type (as fitted OE by Lancia and FIAT and Mercedes of the period ) or the flat fuel pipe clamps which have a nut and bolt for tightening and which dont cut into the pipe when tightened.

Chris

[stanley sweet]

That's interesting stuff Chris. I don't trust fabric covered either or the type with the flexible woven metal covering.  I have straightforward plain rubber at the moment which I check regularly. I did have the clear pipe linking the cards originally until I was offered a totally rebuilt set of cards for free - an offer not to be turned down. Can you provide any links for the pipe and various clips?  I know Simon Ingman had trouble finding roll pin clips at one point.

[chriswgawne]

The petrol pipe came from the following :
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1-METRO-TUBO-BENZINA-TIPO-CAVIS-7x12-EPOCA-7886/312149969066?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649

And the clips for the pipe came from Highway Motorcycles in the UK.
Chris

[fay66]

The petrol pipe came from the following :
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1-METRO-TUBO-BENZINA-TIPO-CAVIS-7x12-EPOCA-7886/312149969066?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649

And the clips for the pipe came from Highway Motorcycles in the UK.
Chris

Chris,
I see on ebay there is a green 7x12 hose that says although not cavis, it is of same quality,
Brian
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