Story so far series 1 resto

[lancianut666]

Hi all
The pistons are all out cleaned, oiled and ready to go back in, I have cleaned up the 2 location holes in the head. The bores have been cleaned up and we just need to clean up the crank and put the pistons back in. So far no further problems have been found apart from some sticky rings that have responded to cleaning in paraffin and a rinse in petrol.

[lancianut666]

An 8mm drill was used to clean up the location holes and I will get the airline out tomorrow and blow out any swarf that has fallen in to the oilway.
Clarkey

[lancianut666]

Working full time is not what it is cracked up to be as I don't have time for anything so I made a determined effort to get some work done on the Appia this weekend. I have been in touch with a trimmer who will have a look at the seats and give me a price. So the seats have come out so I can drop them off. The engine still needs sorting so looking through the manual there is a section on inserting the camshaft and getting it to mesh with the oil pump/distributor drive whilst keeping the dizzy drive at right angles to the cam shaft so that is where we will start. Also purchased a new wiper arm bit pricey but it fits.
Clarkey

[lancianut666]

I have been negotiating a price for the retrim and to keep the costs down the trimmer asked if I could take the brackets off the front seats. As it turns out the bottom of the backrest where it hinges onto the base is one piece so would not strip down further but what a lot of work the old seat was inside very impressed...hope the trimmer can do them justice but he has been in the trade for 30 years and is presently working on some Aurelia seats so fingers crossed.
Clarkey

[lancianut666]

Bit of an update on the retrim...just had the seats measured up for the new cloth and he estimates 7 + 1 metres the extra metre being in case of emergencies down the line. I will have to measure the door cards add 2" all und and then decide if you can get one or two door cards per running metre on the 54" wide cloth...we shall see the door cards are not very big.
Clarkey

[lancianut666]

****** STOP PRESS ******
Everything comes to he that waits...or something like that. Anyway I had given myself a week to get the engine started and had spent three days moving cars and stuff around to get at the S1. So we did all the usual stuff new plugs, fresh petrol etc but to no avail. I decided to do a bit of research on the subject and decided that despite doing the valve timing half a dozen times i was not doing it right or how else would the engine be trying to compress two cylinders at once. So reading the workshop manual again a thought occurred to me that on the exhaust valve the clearance to be checked was on the closing of the valve not the opening. Armed with this thought I checked the closing up of the clearance as the valve was closing around bdc, removed the dowel, turned the crank to TDC, replaced the dowels, did the ignition timing, put the plugs back in, reconnected the leads, spun it over and it started on all 4 cylinders! WOWSER!  It had to be switched of fairly quickly as the timing chain cover was off. The next jobs will to be plumb in the radiator and heater, put some oil in as most of the sump contents are sprayed round the floor, put some water in and see if it will run OK.
Relieved of Redcar

[simonandjuliet]

Now that is progress .... great !

[lancianut666]

One step forward 2 steps back...Busy day yesterday, I pushed the S1 and the S2 outside as I didn't fancy running the S1 inside with just a downpipe for an exhaust plus daylight is always better to see with. Terry my mate came over as he was bored so we filled up the radiator with a mix of anti freeze and de ionised water, but we both remarked how little went in Hmmm, Any few spins over and it started, we checked the oil pressure on a fast tickover and it was between the '25' and '50' mark on the gauge so OK. After we had switched the engine off I looked in the radiator and the level had not gone down much Hmmm. So we opened the drain tap on the bottom of the rad and a bit of water came out then stopped Hmmm. So we took the alloy casting off expecting a torrent, no nothing came out. So out came the radiator with still no water coming out even though it was still full and the only way to get the water out was by tipping it upside down! So another radiator was put in that looked as if it might have been reconditioned as it was very black and shiny and in a plastic bag. We got it all plumbed in nipped up a few drips and went to fill it up when Terry said it's got a hole in it! sue enough it was leaking badly about a third of the way down. Undeterred I started it up as I was determined it would move under it's own power after years but I was unable to get reverse so had to be content with a foot or so of forward movement. The plan is to reverse flush the first radiator and see what comes out as it was reconditioned about 5 years ago and has probably only had water in once. If that fails I will have a look at patching up the first reserve one. In addition we will have to check the gear linkage for selecting reverse. On reflection the engine and clutch seem nice and smooth (if a bit noisy with no exhaust) so progress at last.
Relieved of Redcar AKA Clarkey

[lancianut666]

Managed a bit of time with our favourite baby Lancia so I gave it a little engine warm up just to keep it happy...seats etc are at the trimmers due back the end of the month.
Clarkey

[Mitka]

Exited to see how your seats turn out!! Admire your tenacity 👌

[lancianut666]

Hi all
The house move is ticking along nicely and now I am officially retired I have a bit (lot) more spare time. This being the case I decided the Appia project needed a boot up the proverbial so I have insisted the car trimmer I have to actually do some of the re-trim. The theory is this will force me to get on with the bodywork and paint so I can fit my nice new seats when they arrive. Now if only that Flaminia engine wasn't in the way...
I went to see him last week and to my amazement he said "Just the man!" turns out he was concerned about the colour of the piping and vinyl bits of the trim as he knew we had discussed Navy but he is very experienced and not knowing the final colour was concerned that dark blue trim would not be as good as a lighter blue.So the good news is later this week he may of actually done the door cards, we will see.
Clarkey

[lancianut666]

Rear seat back from trimmer...
Clarkey

[lancianut666]

Looks a lot better in real life...honest

[lancianut666]

Hi all
I took delivery of another front seat cushion yesterday and possibly today I will collect the rear seat back. Next week I am promised the two front seat backs and sometime in November we should see the doorcards, sun visors and other bits of trim. The idea I had of getting the seats done is concentrating my mind on progressing this project as I will probably order the body roller for delivery after we have moved as I will be 5 minutes walk from the workshop.
Clarkey

[lancianut666]

Oh how car trimmers do lie! mine said don't bother coming over for the front seat bases as he will drop them off a 40 mile round trip...still waiting. I will go and see him next week. So far we have the front seat bases, the rear seat base and the rear seat back cushion. So I am waiting for the front seat back rests with the grab handles, 4 doorcards, the sun visors, the parcel shelf in vinyl, various bits from around the back doors and the inside of the glovebox.
Clarkey