Everyday Appia

[stanley sweet]

Well done. Looks like the type of job that needed lashings of cold alcohol afterwards. I wouldn't fancy being responsible for fitting the only windscreen available. I should think there is now a dwindling number of people able to do this outside of the classic car specialists.

[simonandjuliet]

You are right about the number of people who will fit a screen and rubber. Carglass , the biggest supplier/fitter here had never fitted a screen with rubber and filler strip so wouldn't take it on !

[chriswgawne]

Interested to see that you fit the filler strip before fitting the screen to the car. I have always done it the other way round.
Never easy and quite stressful especially when refitting an old brittle front or rear screen. I have a 4th Series B20 project which has tinted glass all round incl the screen and Jacky is already looking forward to the front and rear screen fitting!
However I tend to take the view that if someone else can do it, as long as I have the tools and am patient I will get there in the end.
Chris

[simonandjuliet]

Chris - with the nice, new, supple rubber, we thought that it would be feasible,  I have had trouble getting the chrome strip "go home" fully on previous screen fits. Personally, I would do the same again next time

Good luck with your screens .....

Today , the girls were away and all the vineyard work has been done for the week, so I got a day in the garage.

Dog came round and took the dashboard bits to paint, Juliet went out to find some new vinyl for the dash because the previous vinyl had been painted and I can't clean it up. And I have been cleaning everything up.

The roof lining was absolutely filthy, the photos don't really show it. I borrowed a steam cleaner and set about the various bits - lining, side trims , visors etc. The steam works very well and now it just needs a wipe over with vinyl cleaner once it is all back together

A lot of the chrome was also very poor, especially the ashtrays and visor brackets, so I removed the old chrome and (primed and) painted the bits with silver wheel paint. Not perfect but looks OK until I can find decent replacements one day.

The inside of the ashtrays was quite a challenge ...... probably explains why the roof lining was so dirty !

The rest has cleaned up nicely and just needs refitting.

Still to do:
Clean and check wiring
Fit discrete iPod charger
Wiring for radio
Clean and paint air vents
Tidy behind dashboard

[simonandjuliet]

Next up has been to tidy up behind the dash. I took out the heater and air vents, rubbed them down and painted them. I've not gone over the top, it is more a case of protecting it and making it look nice!

For the same reasons I have painted the bulkhead with black rustproof paint. It is not original , but hopefully will prevent any future water damage - not that there should really be any .....

The heater comes to pieces quite easily and as with most 3rd series units, the rubber elbows were hardened and cracked. The Appia consortium has sourced new ones which fit perfectly. My toilet-roll repaired tube is still holding up after 18 months use.

The method of holding the flap open is ingeniously simple, a ridged piece of metal crimped to one of the vent holes - simple but effective.

By the way, I am missing the handle for the vent - if anyone has a spare ??

I reckon the heater cowl and tubes would make a good cyberman mask ...... just paint it gold

[simonandjuliet]

Most of the "behind the scenes" is painted and back in place. Very simple except for the top bolt attaching the heater controls to the side of the heater box. More so with my size 10's

Lancia design is usually excellent, but when it goes wrong , it is awful ! By making the bracket about 5mm taller, replacing this bolt would have taken 2 minutes not 42 minutes ......

The last thing to do is clean/paint the steering column and tidying up the wiring before refitting the dash.
The repainted dash parts should be back from Dog this afternoon

[lancianut666]

The consortium has NOS ashtrays still in their little boxes

[simonandjuliet]

I guess that I will need to put my name on a couple !

[the.cern]

I guess that I will need to put my name on a couple !

Me too please ..... one of mine is a Duckhams 20/50 can top screwed to a cork!!! At a glance it does not look at all bad!!!

                            Andy

[simonandjuliet]

We had interesting visitors today - a '66 Mustang Convertible and a '72 long wheelbase HY van.....impromptu classic car show

No picture of the Mustang, sorry !

Dog finished the dash and screen frame last night so I started fitting them today. They are beautiful !!

The 2 pieces are clipped together so instead of fitting them as a combined unit (as I took them out), I am trying to fit the bottom, painted section before clipping on the vinyl covered top section. The big plus is that it gives much better access for my size 10's to connect everything up.

I painted the column satin black because 1. I can do it myself 2. Dog was too busy 3. it means that I can carry on on .... 4. it looks very smart !

First though was to refit the chrome strip, dials, glove box lid and ash trays. Once in place the wires were connected up, but still need to be checked. Plus I have found the rear speaker wires and a live feed for the radio.

Oh! and I have managed to get the ceiling light to work correctly when you open the door

Small details that will make the car more enjoyable and usable

Maybe get it finished tomorrow, but I need to do an extra vineyard treatment in the morning. Difficult conditions at the moment - heat, showers, wind, sun - repeat several times per day ..... perfect for mildew !

[the.cern]

It does all look very smart, excellent!!

                           Andy

[lancianut666]

Andy...did you get that gearbox from Don?

[stanley sweet]

That dash does look very nice. Can't beat sitting behind old style dials and a few bits of chrome. Shame the Fulvia doesn't have chrome rings around the dials. Always been a fan of the HY - a kind of no-nonsense Ju52 for the road.

[the.cern]

I regret not yet, I was thinking about it this morning and moved it up in the list of urgent jobs!!!

Thank you for getting it down to Don, I am feeling guilty now!!!

                      Andy

PS How is your father? On the way to a full recovery I hope.

[simonandjuliet]

Electrics checked over and couple of small mods done, including new earths etc and dash refitted. Plus I have started to replace all the horrible pozi-drive screws with proper Phillips - All looks much smarter !

The dash does go in in 2 parts - but not that easily. The difficult bit was getting the top piece to slide under all the clips at the same time, so I ended up making some wooden wedges to hold the clip open whilst I pushed the top piece home

The cowl is attached to the main piece with 2 beautifully turned brass nuts - this is why Lancias were so expensive to build - 2 small nuts would have worked .....

It does mean that I need to finish the rest of the interior now