I said I would never buy another Aurelia.........

[chriswgawne]

Just a short note on engine matters.
The crankshaft is in good condition with no scoring or appreciable wear so I am fitting new white metal big end bearings as the existing ones have started to lose their bearing surface. These new bearings come in undersize and so have to be bored to give the correct clearance to the crank journals and I will collect the conrods and crank Monday week from my local engine machine shop on our return from Sicily.
The existing main bearings are fine as is the crank and the clearance and end float is within Lancia data sheet guidelines so I am refitting these.
The new standard 72mm Cavalitto pistons look lovely and interestingly they have a Teflon coating and the small ends are all fine. My next job is to fit the new cylinders pots and I will set them standing 0.2mm proud of the block.
There seems to be some disagreement over this with some experts saying they should be flush and others that they should be > 0.2mm proud but that is what I have always done and I have never had a head gasket fail. Mind you I only ever use the old fashioned copper/asbestos/copper sandwich gasket soaked in water for 24 hours before fitting.
I mentioned camshafts a couple of posts ago - attached are a couple of photos of the new Cavalitto standard cam and also the one which has come out of the engine ( which is the more pointy one). My general impression of the car is that it hasn't done a huge mileage so this camshaft may well be the original?
Both cams have the same lift @ 5.0/5.1mm and the lobes on the used camshaft are consistent so there seems to be no appreciable wear on the used one. The valve timing on each cam looks visually to be virtually the same (apart from the profile - the new one is a more 'modern' profile I am told to reduce wear) so little to choose between them.
My sole remaining new Holbay 'fast road' cam has 5.5mm lift and different valve timing and the very effective race cam I used had 6.4mm lift with more extreme valve timing ( which needed v careful setting up with regards to clearances between valves and pistons, pushrod length and touching  valve gear).
I cant decide which cam to use just at the moment. 
Chris

[chriswgawne]

By the way - spot the error!
I mounted the new big end bearings the wrong way round to take the photo - the slotted bearing shell should be in the other half and vice-versa.
Chris

[Parisien]

A little more progress on the project here in Italy. I have ordered and paid for a complete set of materials for the internal trim including the rear carpets and this should be delivered to the trimmer ( via Simon - thank you again) in a couple of weeks so he can get on with various bits of work until he receives the painted car in January.
I seem to be unable to find new correct chrome slotted domed head self tappers these days ( I cant remember where I bought the ones I have in the 90's) but I have a small stock of these and I have plenty of stainless screws, some of which  have a good polished finish. There are no cross head self tappers anywhere on the B21S by the way - It looks to me as if the factory started using these during the time of B12 production in 1954 round the inside windscreen trim and the chrome door kick plates although the trim screws are all slot head as the B21S
The original countersunk washers ( numbers 1 & 2)  are smaller than any I can find available today but I have some of each of 3,4 ( which I am happy to use) and 5 ( which is just too large).
Chris

I've a box full of B12 screws, washers, small nuts, bolts etc Chris if any would be of use?

P

[chriswgawne]

Thanks Frank - but you will surely need them if they are good enough to be reused?
all I am really after is some good unused small countersunk washers like '1' or '2'.
Chris

[Parisien]

These are a box of spares I'd gotten specifically and separately, I've have all my originals, nearly all re-usable from memory. Will check at weekend through them and put up a few pics.

P

[Parisien]

Thanks Frank - but you will surely need them if they are good enough to be reused?
all I am really after is some good unused small countersunk washers like '1' or '2'.
Chris

Had a ferret, the only ones I have are like "B", 8mm diameter, 5mm across opening, 6 of, 3 need cleaned up.

P

[Jaydub]

Hi Chris,
For small domed screws, countersunk washers etc, I use www.spaldingfasteners.co.uk    They will sell you small quantities of all those type of fastenings.
John

[williamcorke]

Thanks Frank - but you will surely need them if they are good enough to be reused?
all I am really after is some good unused small countersunk washers like '1' or '2'.
Chris

Chris, I have a spreadsheet with B10 fasteners and suppliers listed. Some might be out of date but I'll PM it to you in case.
The people I used for these washers (various) was Bresco:
https://www.bresco.com/cgi-bin/ss000001.pl?page=search&SS=No4+cup+washer&PR=-1&TB=O&ACTION=Go%21
Willliam

[chriswgawne]

I am feeling a certain amount of pressure as I realise the time I have over the next 3 months or so which I can give to the mechanical parts of the restoration is somewhat limited. We are still on course to receive the car back here painted and trimmed in early February so I need to get a crack on.
The body of the car is about to go into primer and the inside trim materials are about to be delivered to the trimmer.
We have no olives at all this year in our area generally so that has freed up some time but there will be some pruning of various fruit trees to do early in the New Year. We have just bottled our oaked Merlot ( 2017 wine went into our French oak barrel in May 2018) and its really lovely so we need a new label which will be very much in the style of our Pinello and Cabernet labels.

The weather at the house here is very rainy at this time of the year so I can easily escape to the garage having just had a week in the sun with high 20s in SE Sicily. 
I have fitted the main bearings and then the new water tubes + interference fit end caps  followed by new pistons & liners again with new white metal bearings which were bored to suit while we were away.  I had new 22mm crankshaft plugs which I thought were correct but my crank uses 18mm plugs so they are winging they way here for Monday - thank you Enrico. They can be fitted after everything else so that hasn't delayed me. I also fitted new bungs at either end of the crankshaft as it had a really good clean out.
Tomorrow ( breaking my rules of weekend car working! but only if its raining) I will hopefully fit the Holbay camshaft with new timing chain and cogs  and the oil pump and collector so I can refit the sump.
Then its the heads which should  be easy and I can do the valve timing. I have previously rebuilt the water pump and distributor and at the moment I am keeping the original cast aluminium oil filter assembly.
Some of the brake & clutch parts for the original transaxle went walkabout but I now have those so I can also hopefully virtually finish that off by the middle of next week when we leave here for a month.
My OE Metron dashboard instruments are fully functional but a little sad looking so I am taking them apart and sending the inner flat glasses with the numbers and characters printed on them to a firm in Monza who say they are happy to redo the print and for me to do the re-assembly. You can see what happened when I tried to clean up the clock! I actually also have a full set of the lovely green and gold Metron instruments in good condition (clock photo attached  - I have these instruments in my 1st Series B20 as well) )  if I am not happy with the results.
Chris

[DavidLaver]

Impressive pace, even if not "working to rule". 

Any photos of a complete dash in that style?

[Tony Stephens]

Chris, I have a Solex 30 AAI with a manifold, and no home to go to, but I am pretty certain this is what you are rejecting as too small. If it's something you want, just let me know. It has sat about for 40 years to my knowledge, so the chances are that it has not seen too much work.
Kind regards
Tony Stephens

[chriswgawne]

Thank you very much Tony. I will drop you an email later this week if I may.
Chris

[chriswgawne]

Not much progress to report as we have been away travelling but certain things are dropping into place quite nicely, one important of which is that our recently bottled oaked Merlot is lovely.
The B21S timetable still seems to be on course and no one is anticipating any issues now with the bodywork or trimming.
My engine rebuild has stalled as I don't have the correct rocker gear studs  - B12 studs have a larger thread into the head than B21 - and these are missing although I think some good used ones might be on their way from a friend in  Belgium.
I have also acquired a complete B12 engine for rebuild if we find we need a little more power once the car is on the road.
Regarding the inner instrument glasses, I have had one redone as a test and it looks very good......but almost too good and bright!
In the meantime another Aurelia friend has sold me a complete set of correct instruments with good inner glasses which I think will look much more in keeping. I do also have a complete spare set of the lovely gold and green Metron  S1 B20 instruments as a fall back.
I still have to assemble the clutch and fit it to the transaxle but nothing will really happen now till after the family leave us after Christmas when I should  have a few clear days before we go off in the New Year.
Chris

[chriswgawne]

Just a quick update ref Instruments.
Attached are a (poor) photo of the perfect newly printed glass, a photo of the original B21S gauge where most of the print is missing and a photo of my newly acquired gauge from which I will remove the glass and insert it in my original.
The 'new' glass is just a little too perfect for me but I am very pleased to have found someone over here who will do the work well and for a reasonable price so I may well still proceed with getting the rest of the poor quality glasses redone, particularly as the supplier has been so helpful.
Chris

[chriswgawne]

Ooops. Forget the photos.
Chris