Appia furgoncino - A fettler's voyage

[simonandjuliet]

As many of you already know, I became the proud owner of a beautiful Appia furgoncino C80 S earlier this year and said beast, because she is a beast, arrived last week.

Previous owners Alan and Claire Wesson delivered her last Thursday.

She is complete , albeit in pieces (all the important furgoncino bits are there including the 5 speed 'box , but I am sure I will have to raid the Appia consortium for one or two other bits ....)

I have never owned an Appia before, although I did a lot of work on a Zagato when I was a teenager, but I think we can discount that since it was some time ago ..... Consequently, the arrival of the body and so many boxes has been thought provoking, more of that later !

Briefly, the furgoncino is a 1959 car, LHD hence the C 80 S I presume. She has done 59,000 kms and has the original Italian log book to back this up. Some time in the early 60's she blew a head gasket and was laid up for 40 years in a field in Aosta, before being discovered by Alan in the early noughties.

Despite 40 years of fresh air, she is in amazingly sound condition. Some bodywork has been done, particularly around the back quarters, under the "bumper" and a bit behind the front wheel arches, but amazingly the floors and sills are all there and perfect - NO welding to do ...... The doors and bonnet are aluminium and are not showing any oxidation, the interior is complete and undamaged, rear doors are perfect .......

I am sure to find some horrors, but I'm still in the honeymoon period

So what to do ?

I cannot be as laid back as David L. and say it will take as long as it takes - I quite like targets (previous roles in sales and marketing probably account for that !) and need goals ..... so I have been wandering in and out of the garage, been sitting on my garage chair - removed from the Aprilia bay and placed in front of the furgoncino and stayed awake at night trying to work out how to tackle the project !

I still don't have the answers or indeed a plan, but at least I am planning a plan ! The most obvious thing is that this is a 'conservation' project, not a 'restoration' project, although I realise these boundaries can be blurred - but for example, I am not intending to do anything with the inside of the car - just dismantle, clean and refit. No paint, just scratches ....

Here goes .......

[simonandjuliet]

A few bits started this week

Everything removed from boxes and catalogued. Interior removed, cleaned, repaired and stored. The only damage was a broken spring on the driver's side of the seat which ripped the cloth underneath. Both repaired . Also I had to retack the piping to the door panels. The panels are slightly water damaged, easy to change if I am not happy with the fit later on. But as I said above, I want to keep as much original as possible even if it is not perfect

Seats have come up really well after a good scrubbing and reconditioning

Now tucked up nice and warm in the house !

ps can anyone read the seat tag ? I have enhanced it but cannot read the script .....

[simonandjuliet]

The next thing I want to do is have a rolling chassis that I can push in and out of the garage, move between bays etc, so to that end I want a car with steering ! Not absolutely necessary, I know, but it's easier when you are pushing on your own....

Also I don't want to redo things so I want to remove, clean/repair and refit only once so I have completely dismantled the rest of the engine bay and dashboard along with the pedal mechanism. The idea being that I prepare and paint the engine bay before refitting the steering column, but that means preparing the column change mechanism, and while I'm at it the pedals, master cylindre etc ....

This plan of action was formed whilst stripping the LH wheelarch and LHS floors and it seemed a good idea at the time !

Incidentally , they have all come up nicely and the floors are perfect and need no welding which is a relief

The column change linkage is a work of art and cleaned up pretty well. I have taken a touch of slack out of the ball joint at the bottom of the column and also the ball joint which forms part of the final link to the 'box. However I have taken care not to overtighten them, because I am sure it could cause too much sticktion and make a horrid gearchange ! Everything else has a smear of grease and already I can tell the action is smoother

The pedal system is typical Lancia over engineering, magnificent castings, bronzes bushes with helicoidal greasing channels and all built to last. Good job really because the greasing tube was empty and it was covered in road grime which took several hours to clean prior to painting ....

Need to finish prep'ing the engine bay so it can be painted - maybe some time next week

[simonandjuliet]

More photos

[DavidLaver]

What are you using to strip, and what are you using for paint?

David

[fay66]

Simon, just as well you took photos of how it was before you took apart the gearchange mechanism! looks really great though.

Brian
8227

[simonandjuliet]

Brian, my camera is as much part of my toolkit as a 14 mm spanner ! The only downside is the size of the screen when you are putting it all back together - super-tolerant wife will not let me use her iPad ....

The gearchange mechanism is amazing and frightening at the same time. I must have taken 20 photos from various angles.

David, re cleaning. I have an armory of products!

The wheel arches and floors had any loose underseal removed with a scraper, the more resilient with a heat gun and scraper and then a run over with a 2 inch Roloc-type stripping disk on the airdrill (brilliant on anything rusty) before final wiping down with white spirit and a final clean with acetone before painting

For cleaning bits I use a similar range of attack starting with a degreaser (diesel/paraffin via white spirit to acetone ) and scraper, then rubbing down with the stripping disks or delicate things with wire wool. Final degrease with acetone .

The alloy castings get a coat of acid etch primer before topcoat or a coat of "rustol" if they are being left bare

The topcoat is my new favourite, a satin black, spray acrylic which covers and dries quickly, leaving a very original looking finish , which has proved very resistant to hot water, oil, petrol, abrasion etc when used on the Aprilia. The one I have been using is made by Autoglym. I used to use Hammerite Satin black (still do where I have to use a brush) but I find the new one much more user-friendly and you can reassemble much sooner

Probably a longer answer than you wanted , so just choose the interesting bits !

[Parisien]

Thats a useful list and breakdown of what you use and where, cheers, will use some of those products


P

[the.cern]

Simon, I think you have a gem there and you are exactly the right person to take it on.

The photos of the gear linkage are a revelation, I have been struggling with that area as i pursue the awful noise with my berlina. It was so helpful to see the linkage, both in place and stripped, as, with the engine in place, all I could get were glimpses of different parts, but could not get the whole picture. Do watch out for the bushes in the yoke adjacent to the bell housing, in my car both slipped out very readily.

As for the list of cleaning products and equipment, very comprehensive and some good tips, thank you.

Good luck with everything and please continue to keep us posted.

                                        Andy

[DavidLaver]

Simon,

Is this the paint?

http://www.autoglymprofessional.com/product-proddetail.asp?v06VQ=LE&Range=3

I'm assuming this is the sort of stripping disk you mean:

http://www.frost.co.uk/drill-stripping-disc.html

A bit more gentle than the twist knot wire brush I like...

http://www.frost.co.uk/cup-brush-65dia-1-50-for-single-hand-grinders.html

I need a new flat one, the cup is still going strong.

David

[the.cern]

David, I much prefer the stripping discs to the twisted knot wire brushes. The former are faster, quierer and much more forgiving when you snag an edge. I use them in ana ngle grinder and find them superb. Jim has recently been stripping some large areas and starts of with a heat gun and a scraper to get rid of the bulk and then finishes off with the disc. The advantage of the heatgun/scraper method is that it is quicker for thicker paint layers, quieter and makes no dust !!!! It really is a matter of try everything and see what suits the particular area on which you are working.

Whichever method is used there is a huge satisfaction in seeing the polished base metal appear out from under the dirt, paint and filler. Very therapeutic!!

                                              Andy

[simonandjuliet]

Spot on with the paint

The stripping disks I use are more like this

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/290774403351?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649  

because I can flip between different heads quickly and the airdrill is small and flexible and can be made to run slowly enabling you to hold something and clean it safely at the same time .....Very staged shot, but it shows what I mean !
You can see the other heads - grinding disks, scotchbrite disks for polishing and a thing that looks like the underside of "pied de mouton" mushrooms which is a more intensive rust remover.

I was introduced to this system by Dog who is a SMART repair specialist, I'm sure the manufacturers didn't see it being used to clean up brake pedals !

The twist metal things I find can be quite harsh and I usually reserve them for the very worst cases ......

[DavidLaver]

Wire brushes you "save for the very worst cases".  Welcome to my world...  I'm not sure if I need to paint it or plaster on boat antifoul.

Andrew - I'm sure I've got some of those disks...somewhere...maybe a case of quicker to buy more than find them    I'm being VERY careful not to snag edges for fear of zipping the car apart.  For all I got it home in one bit there's less and less metal there day by day.

Simon - chance of an even more staged shot of the complete range of gear?  Does that paint go straight onto bare metal?

David

[fay66]

Simon,
Never too much information it's all interesting, keep it coming please!

Brian
8227

[simonandjuliet]

Picture of the range of bits I use, although currently looking for some small polishing heads in the same range.

I use the paint with or without primer depending on the piece to be painted, if it is just being used to brighten something up that is fairly sound, I don't use a primer, but anything bare, I tend to. But the acid etch primer is in a spray as well, so a thin coat, dry with a low pressure gun and you can topcoat in no time !

A couple of pictures of the completed pedal assembly. As you can see, the bronze bush is toothed and is a tight fit in the aluminium casting. The brake pedal arm is first slotted over the bush , then it is then gently pressed into the casting by hand. Once in place you slide in the central rod ,before rotating the bush in the casting. There is is a bolt on the side that locates a cutout on the bush, so this needs to be carefully lined up before you tighten the bolt !

The clutch arm just bolts in place , there being a groove in the rod to position it. The actuator arm that connects to the clutch release arm at the other end also has a groove to position it. This actuator arm has a silent block in it which on mine is cream-crackered and needs replacing. Andy, have you checked yours - I'm sure mine would have rattled, because it was metal on metal ?

ps thanks for your comments about the brass bushes, I made sure they were not loose !