back on the road ..........fingers crossed

[chugga boom]

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

[chugga boom]

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 , 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!

[chugga boom]

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 ) loads of fun glad to be back on the road.......thanks dad

[Dilambdaman]

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.

[chugga boom]

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

[rogerelias]

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

[chugga boom]

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

[chugga boom]

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?

[sparehead3]

can't wait to see her at some point

[chugga boom]

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

[chugga boom]

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

[ncundy]

Yes please!

[chugga boom]

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

[chugga boom]

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

[chugga boom]

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