1600 Sport recommissioning.

[ben]

My initial road runs revealed the following issues:
           Failure to idle when slowing at a road junction;
           Steering vague on a straight road.
           Clutch bite very high on the pedal.
           Gear change very heavy.
However apart from increasing the idle I decided I could live with these issues but did a final proving run including a 10 mile stretch of motorway at up to 70 mph. During this run I became aware of a fresh concern regarding some vibration which manifested itself at the gear lever (waving about).
However I was distracted from this and the previous issues by a new discovery when I set out on this run .Having spent the previous week installing relays to get the electric windows to work (amongst other things of course) I raised the passenger side one to enjoy a modest success where-upon I heard a light click and on rounding the next right hand bend the passenger door flew open!! It could only happen with a Lancia I thought. Fortunately the cure was simple With the door panel off it was evident the little bolts that clamp the lifting cable to the channel at the bottom of the window glass were too long and caught the cable that connects the inside door handle back to the latch.
So Friday dawned and Niki and I loaded the car and set off.
We reached the tee junction at the top of our road but I became aware of a tendency of the brakes to drag so took off with a few extra revs and there was a loud bang!! Followed by a complete loss of drive!! Followed by a short but exciting drive back home on the end of a tow rope with Niki learning how to do the honours.The experience was like a horizontal bungee jump but it at least showed the front subframe is sound.
At this stage I decided the car was telling me it was not ready to be exposed to Tim's FFFEA Rally.I had a quick look under the front nearside wheel arch from whence some crashing and banging had emanated during the tow and could see the driveshaft had detached at the inboard end.
So we opted for the easy life and set off again in the Polo.

       TO BE CONTINUED.   HOPEFULLY WITH PICTURES 

[davidwheeler]

Eeeeek.  Fulvia drive shafts are supposed to be bomb proof too.

[Scott]

Amusing prose. 
Not so amusing issues. 

I hope you can get these things sorted! 

[ben]

Picture test. Hi

[simonandjuliet]

seems to work !

[ben]

Hello again
Sorry to confuse you all but am having trouble uploading pictures using MacBook Air so thought I would try from my phone.
It worked albeit very slowly.
And the photo I used for the test was the line-up at Castle Coombe at the Autumn Classic last Saturday——in the rain.
We really were a bunch of drowned rats.
Watched some good racing however.

Ben

[ben]

So---back to the Sport saga---

On further investigation the loss of drive was due to the bolts holding the drive shaft inner joint to the gearbox output flange probably not having been tightened as four had wound right outdone had sheared off and one had undone and bent.This created the main difficulty in fixing the failure as I had to saw the head off to remove it.

[ben]

I think they had not been tightened because it requires special tooling---as shown!   And it was in 2014 that I assembled them!

My next test run was much smoother but again ended in crisis as the brakes started to get hot and locked on when I stopped to investigate.
I opened a bleed nipple to relieve the pressure and drove home just using the handbrake.
There have been posts concerning this problem in the past and shortening the rod between the pedal and the servo has been suggested as the cure.However as the car has been laid up for so long I decided to strip the servo and check its condition.I had the master cylinder apart relatively recently so felt it unlikely that the problem would be with that.I had also opened up the servo and checked the diaphragm but not looked any deeper.

[ben]

At this stage
I phoned Omicron to see if seal kits were available and learning that they were I ordered one and proceeded with the strip.

[ben]

Those last two pictures are in the wrong order which is significant because I probably would not have done the complete strip if I had known that the seal kit did not include the main internal seal or the filter. When I challenged Omicron they said that was all that was available.
Anyway it meant that I chose to just clean it all up and put it back together using all the original parts.Which wasn't easy!! Similarly reconnecting the servo to the pedal is very tricky.
Details can be provided if anyone is interested----including the "special tools" that I made.

One important aspect is that the rod length can be adjusted (within limits) to alter the pedal height.As was reported in an earlier post you have to virtually stand on your head in the footwell to access the rod. Then you shorten it until it lifts the pedal away from its limit stop and further shortening lowers the pedal rest position.
I found it best to set it to match the clutch.

The good news is that having done all this I refitted the master cylinder and refilled it (I had emptied it with a syringe before removal) and found the brakes work straight away without having to bleed them!!!

So I am ready for further shakedown running.

[ben]

And a final shot of the m/cyl ready for reconnecting.
Note the various hydraulic pipes are all tied back to give clearance when reinstalling the servo and m/cyl.
Also I found it easier to screw the servo back onto the pedal rod with the top one of the two mounting studs removed---using two nuts locked together.