Everyday Appia

[stanley sweet]

Wheels look great - very classy. Just masking them up must have taken an age, getting the tape down into the gap and sitting properly. Well worth the time and effort.

[simonandjuliet]

The wheels took over an hour to mask up. We started with a length of 2 inch tape folded over on itself, leaving a narrow sticky bit, we slid this into the groove and attached to the centre, then carefully completed the rest of the middle.

For painting them, I found a large sheet of perforated steel which was perfect because it greatly reduced the paint "bounce" and kept things cleaner

Anyway, to complete the circle , as it were, a couple of photos complete with tyres and on the car. We had a bit of blue paint left in the gun so Dog "trusted" me to paint the rear wing just to see how it looked (it will all be sanded off again) !

The wheels are so pretty, Juliet doesn't want to fit the hubcaps.

Finally a picture of a towbar, I think from a Renault, which I hope to adapt for the Appia. I found a picture of an Appia 3rd ser on the 'net with a towbar but have been unable to contact the owner for more pictures of the mountings. A UK registered car sold to someone in Belgium ........

[DavidLaver]

If its nice without hubcaps it will be brilliant with...

David

[simonandjuliet]

I will let J decide !

A few minutes this morning before the girls got up, petrol tank out and cleaned. What a mess ! The bag of rust/silt must weigh 2lbs. The float mechanism may be beyond renovation, it is rusty and seized and the aluminium is very corroded.

I degreased the tank and then cleaned inside and out using the pressure washer, pushing water through until it ran clean. The inside is lovely and clean now, but I will further degrease and "Slosh" it. Not everyone likes doing this, but I have done several and have always been happy. The Aprilia is now on its 3rd year following the treatment.

Everything is quite sane under the back of the car and with the tank out I have access to try out the towbar .......

[simonandjuliet]

Started fitting the towbar - the rear bumper is so tired, the best thing is probably just to weld a ball-hitch to it ......

However the trusty Peugeot 504 (found the ref on one of the arms) towbar is taking shape. The ends have been cut off, new holes drilled and bumper irons cut and welded. I don't feel too guilty about sacrificing a couple of irons, they have been welded up before, so were not pretty to start with ! The rest of the bumper fits without further mods. The new towbar fits inside the bumper with the plate hanging below.

I need the new exhaust (ordered today) to be fitted and the fuel tank replaced before I can finalise the position of the bottom triangulation bar, which I anticipate will be bolted to the battery box.

Apart from the irons, the whole thing can be removed without any lasting damage ......

Pillar drill is an early 20th century cast iron beast that I found in a garage, but works very well, albeit slowly

Second picture is the basic frame in place, before the irons were welded on. Final pic is with the bumper and ball in place

[DavidLaver]

Holiday photos:

An Appia rear main and its housing.

The boot lid is heavier than he's trying to make it look, but perhaps a quarter the weight of a Vignale which takes attention just to open...

I really liked the way the bumper is fitted round the body.

David

[simonandjuliet]

Started the engine rebuild today. First job was a major clean and de-dust around the bench then fitted the new rear main to the housing. It took about 2 tons of pressure to remove it, but putting it back was really easy !

Bearing in the freezer for an hour and the housing in the oven (sorry Juliet) at 120° for 20 mins (medium rare)

It is vital that you get the bearing in the correct position because a pin locates it and you must line up the holes - and you only have one go at it before everything warms up and is unmovable ! The second picture just shows the end of the pin

PS the bootlid wasn't heavy until I filled it underseal and waxoyl - Back end has been been cleaned and "Schutzed" - only had 2 litres, so not finished yet, waiting on further supplies .....

[simonandjuliet]

Crank-shaft and cams in. The rear main housing is very tight in the crankcase so in order to minimise the risk of damage to the new rear main, I fitted it vertically and also fitted the bearing/housing to the crank, held it in place with the flywheel bolts and spacers (note the fibre washers against the thrust surface) and then lowered the combined unit into the crankcase. A combination of pushing and , I will admit , gentle tapping with a rubber mallet,  pulled it into place with 3 nuts on the threads.

The cams are very roughly timed. I marked everything before taking it to pieces, so hopefully final timing SHOULD be easier !

All turns over very smoothly, with no initial "sticktion" - Old Harry word !

New timing chain. This one is not split, so you have to mount all 4 pulleys at the same time and slide them into position. I suspect I will cover timing in more detail later ........

I took the rest of the coreplugs out and fitted new ones. Firstly I cleaned up the seats and then smeared them in Hylomar blue jointing compound , tapped in the new ones (domed side up), seated them with a suitable socket and then gave them a good whack in the middle with a large pin-punch.
Hopefully they will neither leak, nor fall out

Finally started the process of cleaning up the pistons. 2 of 4 rings seized . The before/after shot doesn't really show how grotty and gunged up they were.

[stanley sweet]

That's a real little jewel of an engine. No wonder Lancia had a reputation for quality.

[DavidLaver]

Its even nicer in the metal than pictures.  A surprise was just how small it is next to an Aprilia engine.  Perhaps Simon could indulge us (well at least me...) with "side by side" photos. 

It would be an easy guess as to who could do side-by-side-by-side Augusta, Aprilia, Appia, Ardea.  Perhaps one year at the NEC forget the cars and just do bits?

David

[simonandjuliet]

Block on, 2 pistons cleaned up, rings and bearings in and fitted. Rear oil seal in place, flywheel cleaned and refitted. Just an excuse to post some piston-porn for David !

The ring grooves took some cleaning, The bottom rings were stuck and most broke coming out, but I used a piece of the broken ring to clean the grooves - I don't have one of those nice groovy things form Frost's . Polished the pistons, gudgeons and conrods  with a Scotchbrite pad  All nicely oil up and pistons move nicely.

Tank resin-sealed and ready to go back in and the new exhaust arrived today. Slightly different to the old one, so we'll see how well it fits. Very good price and arrived from Turin in less than a week from ordering.

[Parisien]

That exhaust is like an anaconda whose just lunched........




P

[the.cern]

Its even nicer in the metal than pictures.  A surprise was just how small it is next to an Aprilia engine.  Perhaps Simon could indulge us (well at least me...) with "side by side" photos. 

It would be an easy guess as to who could do side-by-side-by-side Augusta, Aprilia, Appia, Ardea.  Perhaps one year at the NEC forget the cars and just do bits?

David

David, I am with you all the way there!!!!  Just do the bits!!!!!!

One of the great strengths of the Lancia brand has been engineering quality with innovation. How best to show this off? With just that on show! There are various ways of doing this, as you suggest with let us say engine evolution, one year could be the narrow V4s, from Lambda right through to a 16HF. Or maybe the sliding pillar front suspension, Lambda to Aurelia. What about monocoque construction, Lambda and Aurelia berlina shells on show. (I picked the Aurelia Berlina as the last of the pillarless saloons, am I right there?)

One downside of this is the huge amount of work and dedication it would require from individuals to provide finished engines/axles or whatever, either from a project or as a spare. Of course a uniform display would be required with items mounted in exactly the same way. This would be necessary to emphasise the engineering/innovation of the units. That in itself would be a major task.

I am up to assist in this if it were to be pursued and if I have any of the units required.

I think it was Don Cross who suggested a complete power unit and drive train for a car be used as a display. A brilliant idea.

The Show at the NEC attracts enthusiasts from right  across the spectrum of age, affluence and marque loyalty. there is one thing that unites them and that is their love of cars. All the club stands show immaculate cars, I think we should consider setting aside a good proportion of the stand to showing off what Lancia did best, not necessarily every year, that would be too onerous, but from time to time.

What think you?

                              Andy

 

[lancialulu]

One of the great strengths of the Lancia brand has been engineering quality with innovation. How best to show this off? With just that on show! There are various ways of doing this, as you suggest with let us say engine evolution, one year could be the narrow V4s, from Lambda right through to a 16HF. Or maybe the sliding pillar front suspension, Lambda to Aurelia. What about monocoque construction, Lambda and Aurelia berlina shells on show. (I picked the Aurelia Berlina as the last of the pillarless saloons, am I right there?)

My feeling is you only really start to understand this engineering excellence when you have worked on lesser stuff. BMCites just would not see it until they played with it. No harm in trying though.

[DavidLaver]

What year did Don do the Aurelia chassis?  He had a spare gearbox of mine for that.  Anyone got photos?

David