Appia furgoncino - A fettler's voyage

[chriswgawne]

I meant to mention that I have a used one of these Carello 18535 switches in working order if anyone is stuck.
Chris

[simonandjuliet]

2nd back door fitted - anyone spot the deliberate mistake ?

[lancialulu]

Exhaust tail pipe (?) waiting of a fish tail extension trim???

[SanRemo78]

Handles on the wrong sides? The one with the lock should be on the right hand door?

Guy

[chriswgawne]

Does it have rear bumpers Simon?
Chris

[mikeC]

Yes, I'll go for the locking handle on the wrong door,too.

[lancialulu]

seems I should have done my homework.... although this one has windows.....

[simonandjuliet]

Yes , well done !

Handles on the wrong way round ..... photo shows the cranked,inside door handle next to the lock-lever. Fortunately there is no trim so it took 10 mins to change. I just got covered in waxoyl - I was a bit heavy handed with it

Chris, as you saw, there is a "bumper" - I have been looking at this today. The first set of mounting bolts that I made were not strong enough so I will need a re-design. The metal flange distorted when I tightened them so will need heavier gauge and more profiling I think

Tim, mine will have windows on Wednesday ...... and maybe a "fishtail" soon - waiting on some photos from one of our members

Just putting the passenger door together - hope it keeps raining !

[lancialulu]

Thought you wisely left the windows out just in case the lock jammed and you had to open from the inside....

[simonandjuliet]

Tim, that did go through my mind especially since the Fido guard is in place

Handles correctly displayed

Passenger is re-assembled and ready to go on once I have wheels back and painted so the van can be turned around. Wheels hopefully back from the paint stripper's tomorrow

The order for re-assembly that I used was

1/ Clean everything
2/ Fit inside window trim
3/ Fit wind deflector
4/ Fit outer, lower trim
5/ Fit furry channel
6/ Slot in glass - front edge first
7/ Move glass to bottom of door and fit the winder mechanism (in low position)
8/ Move glass/winder mechanism into channel - nb remove the screw from the bottom of the leading channel
9/ Fit winder and replace channel screw - nb screw length is critical esp the top left (or top right on other door) - if it jams , this is likely problem
10/ Make up and glue in the weatherstrip
11/ Wind up and down to test !

This side was quite a lot more difficult than the driver's side, for some reason (ie I don't know why ...) the wind deflector glass didn't go right up to the frame. It was very close, but it meant that I had to shave 1/2 mm off the lower frame to make it fit

[simonandjuliet]

Dog had a couple of hours this morning to help fit the the rear windows and spray underseal on the rear wings

We have had new rubbers made for the rear doors and they fit very well. I have still to fit the infills, but that's tomorrow's job after pruning - rain has stopped !

The first window took 15 mins to fit using the drawstring-alone technique, but the second only took 5 minutes. Because the radii are quite tight, the new rubber creases slightly, so we found that pushing the rubber with a plastic spatula at the crease point greatly improved the fit

The slightly scary photo of Dog hopefully demonstrates this revised technique

The spray sealant that we have been using gives a good approximation of the original underseal, and now I can fit the rear wings definitively.

Lastly, the wheels have been stripped , so I will collect them tomorrow

[stanley sweet]

Just noticed the nice shiny UK reg plate you've taken the trouble to fit. Is it just there until it's registered in France? Nice to see fresh underseal going on - keeps reminding me I should Waxoyl my Fulvia again. This Furgoncino now has many driving years ahead of it thanks to your efforts.

[simonandjuliet]

Stan - I did register the van in the UK to help with French registration, all in my name and up to date V5 and so on. I was helped in that process by the change to MOT for pre-1960 cars. Because an MOT was no longer required it enabled me to get a V5

Interestingly (and not wanting to restart the MOT or no MOT discussion !!) the French have just re-introduced the same requirement.

That is from 24th Feb 2017, pre 1960 cars with Carte Grise de Collection (Historic vehicle V5) are no longer required to pass a Controle Technique (MOT). So I am now wondering if I can register my car before I get the CT (see below !). The big advantage to this is that I can fully insure the car for driving to the MOT station, because I can only get limited insurance on UK plates. Plus it means that I can start the whole process now because it can take a while. I have been in touch with the prefecture to ask if I can do this , but they don't know because I am the first to ask !

Re CT, I will do a CT on the van (although not required) to sanity check and verify everything that I have done. Another interesting point is that the FFVE (Federation Francaise de Vehicules d'Epoch) have been working with some CT stations and insurance companies to introduce a CTV (Controle Technique Volontaire) for pe-60 cars.

It will cost 40 euros and the insurance companies involved have agreed to reduce premiums by 8 euros /year for the 5 years that the CTV is "valid"

Back to progress ! I am now at a block. I can't do anything else until the wheels/tyres are back on, so it means that I can upgrade my mountain bicycle (moving from 3x10 gears to 1x11 gears for those who are interested !) and start the interior and roof on the Cabrio

But  a couple of finished jobs are the rear window in-fillers, bars and central door rubbers

The central rubbers were a potential issue because the rubbers that I thought were correct were not ! However with Koen's (plus thanks for the photo below) help I was able to identify the correct rubbers and find them tucked away in a box of cast off "rubbish" that came with the furgoncino and more importantly clean them up and re-use them.

They are very slightly different to the set up on Koen's car, but as far as I can make out were those fitted from new. Now we just need to find similar sections to help out other van-owners

Lastly, I have swapped the rear light lenses from Carellos to Bellus because the Carellos are very delicate and stick out on the corner. They are at great risk of being bumped and broken and are hugely expensive if you can find them. So I had a pair of (to my mind, more attractive) lenses that I have fitted instead. The are redder, thicker and more squat so will be much more resilient day to day, so until she is properly on the road these will do

If anyone has a spare Bellu (or indeed Carello) lens 03 565 220 I would be interested !

And very lastly (!) a big "Thank you" to Stan who has been responsible for our wine's artwork and that includes this wonderful magnetic sign that will adorn the van - still needs a slight trim !

[lancialulu]

love the mag sign (writing)!

[Jaydub]

Likewise, love the sign and I have to say what a fantastic job you are doing Simon, it looks so good and will be a great advert for your business.
I am always impressed by the workmanship of Lancia owners, who I guess for whom restoration is not their main occupation. Fantastico!