I said that I would never buy another Fulvia ....

[frankxhv773t]

I was thinking the same Guy. My 1978, pre first facelift S2 Beta Coupe had closing panels in the rear of the front wheel arches with a strip of rubber stapled to the outer edge where it met the wing. In that case the wing was a bolt on item so the rubber strip created a seal no matter how the wing sat. Perhaps there was something in the construction process of the Fulvia that made panel fit vary from car to car.

[roddy]

Hello Simon.  All your work is looking very good indeed.  A very small point, however :-  the photo of the L/H spring rear shackle shows the spring eyebolt with the head to the inside and the nut to the outside.  Once the exhaust silencer is in place, you might find it impossible to remove the shackle bolt from the spring eye in the event of you needing to remove the spring again (?).   I would suggest that you have both the upper and lower bolts fitted the same way, with the nuts and split pins to the inside, on each respective side of the car - on the R/H side the fuel tank pipe can present a similar sort of problem.

Regards - Roddy

[Jaydub]

The boot looks good with the Stone guard Simon. As ever, great attention to detail.
Keeping notes for my 1600 HF resto.

[davidwheeler]

Having said all that, I am trying to find the formula for Rosso York and cannot - I can only find Lancia code 126-178F and according to what I have written on the garage door my car is Fiat Rosso Nearco anyway - Lancia no 108.    Anyone had some paint made up recently?   I need to do a bit of respraying.

David

My Gamma Coupe is Rosso Nearco. I have the formula (attached). Also a pic of my car - is your car darker?

Tim

Difficult to say, there is less sunshine oop North.  I shall ask the chap who did the top coat.

[simonandjuliet]

Thanks for comments (v pretty Sport by the way !)

The weather has returned to normal and is as David predicted, sunny and cold , especially in the mornings. My LMC overalls are great for keeping the middle warm

Regarding the spring, I used the transmission jack under the middle and raised it with the foot pedal whilst pulling down on the silentbloc, it probably needed to find about 4 inches of extension. And this leads to Roddy's point. I had to fit the lower bolt in that direction because I couldn't flatten the spring enough to have the hangers vertical (ie so the bolt can be fitted from the gap behind the wheelarch). Having said that, I don't think the hangers are long (or short) enough to clear the bodywork.

The bolts came out this way round and the only way I can see them being fitted as per Roddy's suggestion is to fit the hangers to the spring first - which I can try easily enough, but will probably need an extra pair of hands. Are other people's bolts fitted the same way around or opposite like mine ?

Norm, there was only one rubber strip - on the opposite side to the filler , like yours. Re the stapled rubber, same with mine, but it had caused the edge of the boot floor to become frilly so I made a new plate , leaving a gap to the bodywork and then filled the gap with a good thick flexible bead of tiger seal / Sikaflex. The original rubber seems porous and sponge-like,  ergo - disaster !

So it isn't exactly as it was, but hopefully it will be more water-tight

[nthomas1]

Thanks for that information Simon.  Funnily enough I was able to pick up a couple of metres of the flange rubber strip at Malaga Retro show yesterday.  With regard to the boot corners I'll look to do something similar to you with the sealer.  I won't know how big my gaps are until I get back from Spain in ten days or so. 

It is great to be able to benefit from your expertise.  I'm glad you bought another Fulvia!

[roddy]

Hello Simon.  Apologies, I have been confusing you, and possibly others - my memory is playing tricks - the bolts are fitted as you detail.  I do now remember the problem of the fuel filler pipe preventing the complete removal of the bolt, and I had to remove one shackle arm to slide the spring and bush off sideways.  A long Melco tyre lever, blocked between the spring and the chassis rail allowed the eyelet to slide as the spring was released or straightened on refitting.

Regards -   

[simonandjuliet]

Thanks for clarifying Roddy

A silly job this afternoon whilst waiting for UPS to deliver a parcel ......

The leather straps that hold the spare wheel and jack in place were looking a bit tired and dirty. The strap that goes over the spare had a broken buckle connection and the loop had snapped , so I shortened the strap, cut a new eye for the buckle pin and resewed it. I cheated slightly with the loop - I went in search of a piece of black leather and when I came downstairs with one of Juliet's "old" handbags to cut up, strangely she got upset and returned with an old leather belt instead ! So it's not quite right but works and is J's contribution to the rebuild.

The other straps needed a good clean, feed and polish (good old Kiwi shoe polish)

Oh and UPS never turned up !

[simonandjuliet]

It's raining again - part of me is happy, part less so ..... we have bought another vineyard and I want to get cracking with it - anyway bit of garage time !

The other wheel arch has been stripped and rust-converted (still wet) and I have started to dismantle the rear axle and other spring.

More heat required to dismantle this spring , but the bushes came out easily, so it's ready to be cleaned up.

With the axle, I thought I'd have a go at stripping it on the floor (plus I had an extra pair of hands) so I bolted a long bar to the spring mount, fitted the 3 pronged tool, fitted a T-bar - then long lever on one side and gentle taps with a lump hammer on the other and "hey-presto", both sides came apart.

After backing off the adjusters the hubs pulled off without any fuss, so now there is another large pile of rusty bits in my "to do" box

As David will confirm, more rain due tomorrow so hopefully I can get with the axle and paint the wheel arches

[lancialulu]

Good idea to lever the axle. Who was the other pair of hands?

[simonandjuliet]

The other pair of hands belong to Merv, we were due to attach vines and lift wires today but because of the rain I got him to strip the wheel arch - Poor lad !

I have spent all day cleaning bits and undersealing the wheel arches. It was much easier this time, I have bought a nice new Sealey Schutz sprayer and turned the air pressure down (plus warmed the underseal in the oven) on the regulator. The one I used the other day wouldn't switch off properly so I got a bit of spatter.

On to de-rusting. Anyone used a needle-gun ? Great for holes and tight spaces. I didn't want to split the hub and disk just to clean it and this works very well. Once the hubs are dry, I will paint the non braking surfaces with HT paint

I stripped the axle completely and have cleaned up some of the bits. The backplates were quite rusty, but only deep pitting and surface rust, they have cleaned up nicely. The axle is fiddly and took a while - the identity plate is quite tarnished, but with a bit of cleaning and a magnifying glass it was eventually possible to read and record the number

Can anyone take a photo of a decent i/d plate so I can repaint it correctly please ??

The springs and other brake shoe bits have been derusted and sprayed with WD 40 ready for re-assembly

All in all , coming on

[stanley sweet]

What's the blue colour on the brakes? Rust stabiliser?  Great work as usual. All those pristine painted parts look like a 1:1 scale Tamiya kit.

[DavidLaver]

I like seeing the rug in the background.

[stanley sweet]

Where is the identity plate located on the axle? I can't see it in the other photos. It was only recently in another thread that I discovered there are identity plates located there.

[acalex]

you might be referring to this post on Dec 10:
Whilst cleaning and tidying up at the back end of the 1600HF I noticed a well worn alloy plate, with just decipherable stampings:
818.630 and (I think) 018400, the latter presumably the production number

On the front face of the casing, r/h side is the same 818.630, and a longer number, maybe the part number, 2273702

Its on the rear of the offside of the casing, towards the hub/disc assy