flaminia

[Richard Fridd]

A letter with supporting documentation should be sent to the 'chief executive' at swansea.this apparently  advances the process by two steps according to a soon to be made redundent  aquaintance who by good fortune works within my local DVLA office.meanwhile my PF is now ready to vacate the welding/fabrication bay having received repairs to the underside including a n/s front footwell.the PF seems to be looking forward to being back on the road and is now starting instantly and driving around and about the forecourt.its new home is being prepared over the weekend for delivery on monday where all being well will move to the brake dept.at this rate the PF will be replacing my s2 sedan sooner than expected!best regards richard

[LanciAlan]

Sounds like good progress. Well (weld) done. Onwards and upwards. It will certainly make an unusual everyday classic. You need to update us with some pictures. What did you do about the roof?

[Richard Fridd]

Thank you Alan,I do have pictures on my blackberry but none which are terribly interesting.that intimidating rust hole in the passenger footwell turned out to be only a minor challenge which was replaced as if by magic in the time it took me to walk up to the workshop and get changed into my overalls although some of the innocent looking smaller rust holesturned out to be more fiddly.I am indepted to my best friend  and  local welding hero once again for the five days spent in the pit!one detail I have yet to reinstate is the lockwiring to secure the subframe bolts.as for the roof what looked like a lot of work disappeared once the roof was stripped to bare metal.for the time being it is painted with primer and lancia blue with a matt finish.the lovely original welds are just visible through the paint as no filler has been used.next jobs-refurb parking brake pad carriers and fit the best of my stock of 175 tyres.also  wheel stud reqd from the stores as one is partially stripped despite the use of brass wheelnuts.best regards richard

[Richard Fridd]

And so to brakes.does anyone have experience of 'past parts'who are mentioned on page 288 of C+SC april edition and claim to be the only firm in this part of the world with the necessary expertise( coming from australia where  'resleeving is the norm')couldn't make out if the sleeve /casing leaking reference was a warranty claim or referred to the item  which was in for repair

[B20B24]

Yes Richard I do. I used them for a brake master cylinder rebuild on a Bonaldi for an early Maserati Indy - good service and not too dear. However, shortly after fitment of the recon part the car developed a one off (thankfully) foot to the floor brake failure. This may be unrelated to the master cylinder, and investigation continues....

[Charles]

Hi Richard, you might be interested in my experience with the brakes in my Flaminia. The servo had been overhauled by Omicron shortly before I bought the car but I was never that happy with the way the car stopped.  After discussing with other owners, a story of the unreliability of the Flaminia servo emerged.  In particular, David Wakefield told me that he had experienced repeated problems until he finally upgraded to a modern servo.  I decided to follow his example.  There are not that many dual circuit remote servos being made today but Frenos Iruna in Spain do one (available from S-V-C in UK) for about £300 which is less than half the cost of getting the original overhauled. I made up a couple of mounting brackets that used the original mounting points and installed the new unit with no trouble - see picture - except that I had to fit a hydraulic brake light switch as the new unit (unlike the original) does not incorporate one.  Result - the car now stops like a modern car and the performance can be exploited with no worries about stopping.  More important, the unit has been totally reliable.

[Richard Fridd]

A lovely looking servo!what's not so lovely is the condition of my PF's front roll bar centremost bushes so will add those to the  list of jobs for the MOT inspector

[Richard Fridd]

A warm day here in kent which prompted me to strip and inspect the pair of  front suspension units which came with the PF as spares.all components were found to be in good condition so presumably low milage with coil springs of equal heght and appearance and thankfully every thing coming apart very easily.also I did notice some jaw marks on the track rods-could these be the fabled hardness test marks?best regards richard

[Richard Fridd]

The spare suspension units have yielded a replacement track rod + ends   which are now installed on the PF.the ball joints needed some grease and one brake piston assembly is now off  to remove the seized nipple and free the piston.replacement may be reqd.the nipple is sufficiently hard  to resist HSS and S/S bits and brittle.In the course of this work I was wondering the best method for balljoint replacement.advice welcome incase this needs to be done in the future.best regards richard

[Richard Fridd]

The stubborn nipple has been removed.the visible part had become harder than my bits including s/s bit but once half way down as soft as would be expected.  anyhow the assembly is past its best with pitted bore etc.so before investing in new dunlop piston assemblies all round has anyone found suitable alternatives as suggested by our local custom  enthusiast who is helping progress with his invalueable  experience of the motortrade spread over 50+ years.also the parking/emergency brake has now been made to work properly.there are 3 different types according to the manual-early mk1/late mk1 and self adjusting mk2.some  retension plates  are  handed.the clutch now has some free play which will hopefully stop the reported slipping .the PF now has s/h  175/400s  on each corner + the new spare instead of a mixture of sizes. next job radiator tank!best regards richard

[Richard Fridd]

Brake cable-tried to modify last post( without success)  as I failed the mention the pully wheels on the transaxle casing.the angle of these and their respective bronze cable guides seem to be fixed at a less than ideal angle in relation to each other meaning that the cable doesn't address the wheel or the bore of the guide as I would expect and there appears to be no adjustment available.advice welcome as always.richard

[LanciAlan]

The stubborn nipple has been removed.the visible part had become harder than my bits including s/s bit but once half way down as soft as would be expected.  anyhow the assembly is past its best with pitted bore etc.

tried to modify last post( without success).advice welcome as always.richard

Yes I tried to reply too but my reply was deemed "unacceptable". I am unqualified to advise in this matter as I never got in that far myself.

[Richard Fridd]

So does anyone know how to solve the problem of the'unacceptable'message appearing when attempting to reply or edit?in the meantime I have been unsuccessful in resoldering the leak on the 'tank'seam.advice welcome regarding the method of removing the tank to retin and resolder to the core(I don't have a spare rad so need to get it right without excess heat reaching the core.richard

[Richard Fridd]

A further thought on brakes-would it be cost effective to fit drum brakes and associated parts if available  until the funds materialise to buy the dunlop piston assemblies(1300quid +)advice welcome.richard

[DavidLaver]

When I went to collect a book from Richard aside from nearly buying his Fulvia Berlina...

http://www.lancia.myzen.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=5143.0

...we also got a look at his Flamina.  He said it would be ok to share some photos. 

David