Aprilia Diary

[simonandjuliet]

Rather than post lots of topics about various bits of rusty metal, I thought I might do a diary of sorts. I suppose they are called blogs in modern parlance, but this is as much a reminder for me as anything else !

If this is the wrong place to share this I am sure the editor/moderator/you will let me know......

I am lucky that PGY is a very sound and original car that needs a few things tidying and sorting to make her a reliable and usable "weekend" car, so I am starting with the "what needs to be done" before moving on to the "nice to do"

So please read on (or not) and comment as you see fit

Fuel System

This was the major cause of problems on the way here, and as we know you cannot start one job without creating several others !

The boot area has been cleaned and the surface rust on the floor treated, the paint colour is the nearest I can get mixed in a "hammerite" paint.
I dismantled the complex fuel gauge, cleaned and rebuilt it. It was very rusty and seized. The tube I cleaned with a flexible hone and everything else was washed in acetone before re-assembling.
All the lights work on the dash so it waits to be seen if it works with petrol in the tank .

 

[the.cern]

I don't have an Aprilia, but it always good to see what other people are up to and hints on how to tackle generic jobs.

Good luck, keep up the good work and keep posting.

                       Andy

[rogerelias]

Re last picture, must be one large and long starting handle to go in that hole   looks much better though

[simonandjuliet]

One of my favourite jobs - removing 65 years of underseal and grime - although these were not too bad !

First a scrape, then wire brush, then small wire brush on the airdrill. Finally wash down with degreaser, I tend to use acetone because it is very effective and makes my latex gloves last longer. White spirit, petrol etc. rots them in about 30 secs

Instead of just spraying over the whole lot with underseal I decided to clean off the muck and repaint in a colour similar to the body colour because the inner wheelarches were originally body coloured (original paint still visible under the bitumen) Not sure what I am going to do with the main floor yet, underseal or paint ......

First,  primer on the rusty bits and then my hammerite-equivalent over the top. Quick spray with waxoyl and it should last a bit longer. It's not perfect but will do until I have to take the wings off one day.

The torsion bar markers I cleaned in petrol so as not to dissolve the paint (rotten gloves!) and then used a silicon polish to brighten them up and protect them before refitting.

All looks much brighter !

[simonandjuliet]

Picture of offside - instead of 2 x nearside

[DavidLaver]

There's a lot to be said for just paint in arches and on floors, if you have the pressure washer handy and trust yourself to keep an eye on it. 

David

[ColinMarr]

Simon,

Keep on with the photos, but I have to say they are making me increasingly envious! The drive shafts look like the long original Italian ones rather that the short and sometimes clonky Hardy Spicer shafts fitted to most of the Aprilias that I ever came across. Oh lucky man! Keep them well lubed.

Colin

[simonandjuliet]

Mathilda "andjuliet" away for a few days so lots of garage and blog time !

Rear bumper and brackets removed, brackets rubbed down and repainted. With the tank out it meant I could reweld one of the captive nuts for the brackets. All the bolts are too long hence the spacers - short metric-fine bolts on the Christmas present list

The bumper was a bit oxidised so I took off the rubber strips and used 000 wire wool on the outside and wire brush on the inside to clean up the bumper. Fortunately all the nuts holding it together are brass so no problem dis-assembling. I found an aluminium primer for the inside before repainting with silver hammerite.

The old stickers took some removing !

The rubber strips were cleaned up with a rubber and vinyl cleaner before refitting with new brass nuts and washers

The bumper without brackets is incredibly light - I didn't weigh it it but you can easily lift it with your little finger. Juliet came into the garage shortly after I had cleaned it and I passed it over to her , pretending it weighed half a hundredweight and she nearly threw it over her shoulder ! Looks pretty, but not much use as a bumper.

2 Controle techniques (MOTs) tomorrow so not sure how much Aprilia time

[BlueSky]

Simon,
What you have done so far is looking great.
You'll find lots of 8mm and 10mm 1.0mm pitch nuts and bolts used. I'm regularly turning up ones to replace the odd imperial one that's slipped in and going back to the original 14mm hex heads on 8mm bolts, we have a very experienced colleague that frowns when you take out a 13mm socket or spanner!
I agree with Colin re the Italian half shafts, I have the clunky Hardy Spicer things and don't like them much.
If you've never caught up with my web site about my Aprilia have a look at the restoration notes, although it could be a little scary!
Noel

http://www.narrywoolan.com.au/home/Lancia_Aprilia_-_1070.html

[simonandjuliet]

Now that's what I call a website - fantastic and a great reference source ! I am going to remove the back axle unit next winter because of a leaking nose bearing so it was useful to see the photos. Thanks for the link, I hadn't come across it before.

I remember from trips to Oz years ago that there are some wonderful Lancias like yours out there

Re drive shafts, fortunately they are in perfect condition and the first job once I got back here was to grease them properly along with the rest of the rear suspension. The only slight pain is that I am missing one of the grease nipple/nuts holding the wire hanger carriers so to grease it I have to remove the one from the other side !

So that's on my Christmas present list as well (list getting very long) !

[fay66]

Noel,
thank you very much for the link, I never realised the radiator and the water pump were attached to the engine, my only question is why? I know Lancia overdid the engineering, but this seems to be complication for complications sake, do we know if there were any advantages to mounting the radiator & Water pump where they are? I'm not an engineer, but off hand I can't see any, although I'd love an Aprillia complications and all.
I was interested to read the that original purchaser lived in Acton Lane, which in itself isn't a million miles away from Lancia in alperton.

Brian
8227

[simonandjuliet]

Whilst waiting for the petrol pump, filter and braided pipe to arrive, I have been doing some nice jobs

First was to make a shelf for the boot to carry a delightful, old, leather suitcase which Juliet's father took to war ! It has a label "Captain TD ......" on the inside and he was demobbed in '47 so it is exactly the right period.

Then cleaning up the brass wheel nuts and re-marking the LH threaded ones. As you know LH threaded nuts have a notch on each of the corners of the nut but over time these have been lost by over-enthusiastic tyre-centres undoing them the wrong way. I used a small disk on the dremel to recut them. Lancia stamped the wheelstuds "s" and "d" as a reminder , but it was not always heeded (sorry, poor photo)

Finally, putting together a toolkit from various Lancia epochs (and a bit of Renault). The wheelbrace I think is Aprilia or Aurelia, the 17/19 spanner is from a Fulvia, as is the wheel nut tool. The 2 allan key spanners are 60's Lancia, maybe earlier. The toolbox is Fulvia but fits perfectly in the frame inside the boot. Finally the jack is late 60's Renault 4 but the Aprilia starting handle fits perfectly.
The grease gun is possibly Lancia.

I have a toolkit list for a 1st series Aprilia but not a second so if anyone can help - either with offers of tools or a list of what to look for I would be grateful.

I also took the carb to bits and re-assembled it but I will post that later.

ps both R4's passed their CT's (MOT) so it was a good day !

[Sliding Pillar]

With reference to Brian's comment on Aprilia radiators, the radiator on an Aprilia has to be fixed to the engine because the dynamo that runs through the center of it and the water pump that is fixed to the bottom of it have to have their pullies kept in a constant relationship to the crank pulley on the engine. It is also very heavy!
This has its benefits, it keeps the power unit very compact and the whole engine/gearbox/radiator can be taken out of the car as one unit. See attached photo, sorry about the quality, it was taken 23 years ago.

Simon, your 'grease gun' is for oiling the front suspension on the 1st series cars. I'm not sure what system you have on your car, it should have a remote oiler, either like the Aurelia or a foot operated pedal under the dash.

[BlueSky]

Here is the 2nd series tool tav and list. The wheel brace is Aprilia, although I'm not too sure about the nasty looking spike on the handle! Do you still need the suspension oiler for the bottom spring section?
Radiators weight either 16 or 17 kg.
Noel

[fay66]

With reference to Brian's comment on Aprilia radiators, the radiator on an Aprilia has to be fixed to the engine because the dynamo that runs through the center of it and the water pump that is fixed to the bottom of it have to have their pullies kept in a constant relationship to the crank pulley on the engine. It is also very heavy!
This has its benefits, it keeps the power unit very compact and the whole engine/gearbox/radiator can be taken out of the car as one unit. See attached photo, sorry about the quality, it was taken 23 years ago.

Simon, your 'grease gun' is for oiling the front suspension on the 1st series cars. I'm not sure what system you have on your car, it should have a remote oiler, either like the Aurelia or a foot operated pedal under the dash.

Thanks Ade,
I had realised the radiator was attached to the engine to keep everything in alignment, I was just questioning the reason why Lancia chose that route, but looking at your smiling youthful face and the complete assembly close by, all is now clear, I didn't realise it made the engine / Radiator/Gearbox assembly that compact.

brian
8227