Aprilia Cabrio - here we go again

[simonandjuliet]

I've been a bit quiet on the garage-front, although Dog has painted all the last bits apart from the front wings which need the trim fitting before finishing and painting. The chap doing this has been confined in Spain for 9 weeks !

But the wheels are lovely and currently basking in the sun before the tyres are fitted (Michelin X's)

As an aside - when did you ever see so many "Aurelias" and "Appias" in one place ...... we have just bottled our Aurelia Rosé and new Appia red? We are making a shipment to the UK so if anyone would like to be included on our mailing list to find out more - please let me know !

ps Thanks to Giuseppe Rampello, from the LMC, who has done much of our design work following the sad death of Stan Sweet last year

[fay66]

Simon can you me please.
Brian

[DELTONA]

...you are very welcome, happy I could help out.

[simonandjuliet]

Long time since I've had time to do anything on the Cabrio, but with vendanges (harvest) arriving very soon, I need access to the lift.
I wanted to replace one wheel bearing that had a bit of movement on it - you could only feel it with the wheel on and the wheels were away being painted when I rebuilt the axle !

Plus the spring needed to be fitted before I put the car back on the ground

I've shown the fitting of a spring before, but it's always a scary process because it is so strong. If you use a well designed spring compressor it is quick (30 mins) and straight-forward

Back on the ground now, riding a bit high, but that's OK because half the back-end is still not back in place (bootlid,spare,bumpers etc)

So back to vendanges and the Carignan for the "Aurelia Rosé" will be picked next week

[DavidLaver]

Wow.  Am sure the compressor has been on here before but all the same seeing it fresh...WOW.

Anyone remember any names to do with "if you can string the bow of Blah you have the right to blah blah blah".  I have both a poor memory and was reading Haynes manuals from the library when the "well read" sorts where at The Classics.

Anyway...what an impressive bit of kit...

[Jaydub]

Blimey Simon, that is one SCARY spring! I wouldn`t fancy wrestling that in place on a trolley jack! Well done, great job.

[donw]

LMC used to have an ex Alperton spring stretcher that looked very similar.

[lancialulu]

LMC used to have an ex Alperton spring stretcher that looked very similar.

The club does have a spring compressor to loan out for Aprilia. Not sure it is the Alperton one, but it is too heavy to post out!!

[simonandjuliet]

Things are calming down again here so I have finally had some time to get back to the Cabrio. All the grapes are in and fermenting nicely, so it is now over to Juliet - she just needs "muscle" from time to time , like tomorrow when we press the Syrah (long day) !

I have been working on brakes - not always easy on an Aprilia restoration because there are soooooo many variations, and if you are sourcing parts from different places they are not always what they appear to be

I am not an expert on all the variations, so please chip in if I make an error

Generally, S1 cars have Lockheed (Imperial) 1" brakes - master cylindres / wheel cylindres and the nuts/bolts/unions that go with them and S2 cars have SABIF (metric) 25mm brakes

Parts are easier to find for the imperial sizes

However, whilst having cylindres rebuilt (Past Parts) I have come across imperial and metric Lockheed 1" . The unions, mounting bolts , bleed nipples are all corresponding imperial or metric.

The front flexis seem to be the same for all models, so the adapter between the cylindre and flexi is either imp/imp or met/imp

I have recorded all the thread sizes and variations if anyone is in need or indeed interested !

A couple of pictures to summarise, plus the rear brakes are back together and I have one driveshaft to rebuild before the backend is finished

The photo with the backplate shows the handbrake lever pulled all the way forward so you can fit the backplate after the pivot/lever/spring assembly has been fitted. I find it much easier to do it this way round.

There is also a picture of the diff-bearing-retainer tool, it is very thin so you can just lift the lock tab out of the way whilst you tighten the retainer

[DavidLaver]

The metric / imperial switch over was new to me.  Interesting what you find when you look!

[welleyes]

To David Laver,

I only just noticed your August question...
"Anyone remember any names to do with "if you can string the bow of Blah you have the right to blah blah blah".  I have both a poor memory and was reading Haynes manuals from the library when the "well read" sorts where at The Classics."

It was Oddysseus who accepted, in the guise of a beggar, the challenge from his wife Penelope to string the bow. None of her odious suitors could do it. Forget your schoolday cribs and read T.E.Lawrence's bloodthirsty translation.

Lawrence would have enjoyed a fast drive on country roads in an Aprilia.

Stuart Tallack

[DavidLaver]

Thank you !

[simonandjuliet]

I think you are correct, Lawrence would have loved an Aprilia - right up his street

Bit more time to finish the drive shafts and fit them. There are a lot of subtleties about the best way to fit the spiders and greasers etc. A couple of suggestions - mark the split pin hole, fit the spider so the pin fits in at right angles to the bearings, make sure that the un-drilled lugs on the back of the drum spider are next to the fixed bearing etc etc

If anyone is remotely interested, drop me a line for the full (and very boring) version !

But , suffice to say that after a bit of trial and error they are rebuilt, repainted and refitted. Sorry purists, I have used 30mm HT bolts (13mm) and nylocks. I expect to take them on and off a few times before everything has settled and hiccoughs sorted and they are soooo much quicker !

Moved onto the front axle so more later

[DavidLaver]

Beautiful.

[simonandjuliet]

Thank you ! The rear suspension is a work of art

Front suspension - I dropped the front axle and finished dismantling it. Some time ago, I made a stirrup brace for taking the front springs apart and this was relatively easy with the axle clamped in the vice.

It still needed the induction heater and 2 x 4' long levers to separate the lower guide, otherwise all very easy

Like Chris G, I like looking for the casting and date stamps, this time the dating mark was on one of the mounting hole seats - 1937 - so the right age for the car, it had been fitted with an S2

All the bits are in degreaser for the night and the axle itself has been stripped and primed ready for Dog to 2 pack-black it along with the other bits. I have measured and checked everything, so far so good. Some wear as expected but I will probably rotate the friction surfaces by 90° so the wear is evened out