Back on the road .....

[simonandjuliet]

I have just returned from the UK after a few days fettling on my brother-in-law's 2nd ser Fulvia

He has owned the car for nearly 3 years, but due to one thing or another, the car has done less than 300 miles, and most of those were driving the car back from the previous owner's address !

The car has had a light restoration, the underneath is perfect because it was on the continent for many years. The engine has been rebuilt and is still running in, however there were a couple of irritations that kept her in the garage

First job was to replace the fuel pump (old one leaking) with a new one sourced here in France. I have been running a similar one on the Appia and they are very inexpensive and look good to boot.

I have also fitted a Facet inline , low pressure, pump on a fused, ignition activated spur on the spare dash switch along with inline filter. The carbs have the tank return hose and seem to siphon off the petrol (any cure for this ??). The Facet is great for refilling the carbs and is then switched off

All went well (apart from a blocked jet which was easily cleaned) until trying to restart after a long run. She was just not having it ..... on checking the leads, no more spark.

So when the nice AA man came out we managed to work out the probable cause - faulty electronic ignition !
I hadn't even noticed that it had EI , it is very discrete.

Unfortunately I didn't have points in the car so we were towed home whereupon I scavenged a secondhand set from a spare distributor. Unfortunately I didn't have a strobe or timing light so I set it up the old fashioned way, listening for the spark when rotating the dizzy. That was close enough to get her running and then with the dizzy loose, I got her timed the best I could. Later test suggested that she is a bit advanced ...... and that leads to another story.

I ordered a new set of points to be delivered and then we needed to find someone in Hartlepool or surrounding area to fit them for Mike and refine the timing using a strobe or similar equipment.

I spoke to 9 garages and they all (bar 1) could not fit a set of points. Some of the garages were well established back street shops, but all had not used the "old-school" equipment for so long that they had rid themselves of it. One 60yr old mechanic said that I was the first person to ask for points in 20 years !

We eventually found someone, but I was genuinely surprised that so much has moved to "plug and play", I suppose living in our little back-water, down here insulates us from the big, bad world out there !

We don't know much about the car yet, but she appears to have been a special order for the Swiss market, someone wanting a RHD, euro-spec car. Initially, I wondered if she was a SA car but I don't think so

Road tests have shown that she is a lively, responsive and delightful little car with an excellent 'box and brakes, now all Mike needs to do is use her every week .........

[the.cern]

Well done on getting her running!!! She does look absolutely lovely, such a shame that those little niggles are causing such a problem ... I suppose I should not be surprised, but I am!!

Good luck to your brother-in-law.

                                          Andy

[Parisien]

Indeed Simon, well done, she does look very smart, hope he piles on the miles after your efforts!


P

[stanley sweet]

That looks pristine. It is annoying when silly little things keep a car from being used. I'd suggest getting it thoroughly Waxoyled if it hasn't already been to keep it looking this good. I see it still has the sill trims. Nice and original but a horrible place to have drilled holes unless the inner sills have been treated.

[chriswgawne]

That's a really nice looking Fulvia Coupe. What is the total mileage?
 Our Fulvia GTE is rhd and was originally built  for a Swiss customer but with metric instruments.
Your story about the difficulty finding a garage with knowledge regarding points etc made me wonder how widespread this might be. Certainly in this part of Italy it's not an issue but back in Sunningdale I can't think of anywhere I could easily go to find this knowledge.
Yet another reason for old car owners to ensure they are hands-on.
Christmas

[stanley sweet]

Much the same here. Local garages are so used to Renault 4's and 2CV's still being used as every day cars they still know how a simple engine works. My Lybra developed a fault last year where I it was reluctant to start almost leading to me being stranded a long way from home. Returning on a Saturday afternoon my usual garage was luckily still open. He came out and plugged his gadget into the dash. Every time he switched it on it started. He explained that as it was working he couldn't tell me what was wrong with it as all the readings were right. That left me in the mad situation of a car I couldn't trust to get me anywhere. Luckily, it refused to start as I was trying to leave and he came running back out. Turned out to be a camshaft sensor.

[dannels]

I have a similar problem with tyre places - nobody knows (or is allowed) to fit tubed tyres anymore. I ended up getting lucky with the (older)owner of an independent tyre place - he hadn't fitted a tyre for 5years but did at least know what to do with an inner tube!

[davidwheeler]

You can buy a strobe light from Halford's or a motor factor for not very much money and set the timing yourself!

[HF_Dave]

Sealy have a strobe light for about 50 pounds, I bought one a few years ago and I have used it myself and gave it to my local mechanics for a lend , as they got rid of theirs .it works fine . Thanks David 

[lancianut666]

Simon  pinched mine when he was here but as I remember it is a bit awkward to see what the hell is going on so a brighter one will be most useful

[davidwheeler]

Modern ones are much brighter than the old type, I think they must use white LEDs not the old neon tubes.

[fay66]

Modern ones are much brighter than the old type, I think they must use white LEDs not the old neon tubes.

I'm not sure what my old one is as it's about 40+ years old and gives a red light, and you also have to hold it pretty close, but it works,
but even better in a darkened garage !
Brian
8227

[frankxhv773t]

I was trying to use an old one today to time the Y10 and it was useless in daylight. Things aren't helped by a radiator hose in the way making the only place you can get your hand in to hold the light exactly the same hole you want to look through to see the timing marks.

[the.cern]

I was trying to use an old one today to time the Y10 and it was useless in daylight. Things aren't helped by a radiator hose in the way making the only place you can get your hand in to hold the light exactly the same hole you want to look through to see the timing marks.

Life is like that Frank, especially in Lancialand!!!!!

[frankxhv773t]

Yep. Now the oil leak from the cam cover gasket is fixed I can see there is a water leak round the thermostat housing.