duncanmartin
Club Retro Rides Member
Out of retro ownership
Posts: 1,320
Club RR Member Number: 70
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Jun 23, 2013 20:31:35 GMT
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Coffin spokes are hardly cheap, are they? Gorgeous though. Glad you're thinking you might keep the Fulvia - while sorting it and then moving on is a good thing, sorting out and then getting it exactly how you want it and enjoying it has to be better. :-)
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Jun 23, 2013 22:03:32 GMT
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Replicas should be affordable!
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Koos
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Jun 23, 2013 22:16:37 GMT
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Read through your thread over the last couple of days, love the work and effort your putting into this little car! About your concerns to do with modifying it, from what I can see you have probably saved it from going to the scrappy, you can do what you want with it! If it means that you enjoy it more, surely that is the most important thing?
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Last Edit: Jun 23, 2013 22:17:06 GMT by felix2566
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Jun 24, 2013 15:14:10 GMT
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The other cars you are talking about are really in a different category. Much more modern, they have their own appeal but will never have the charm of a vintage Lancia. I know plenty who have regretted selling a Fulvia . One more bonus is that Fulvias are appreciating nicely now, modified or not, so I vote for keeping it.
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Last Edit: Jun 24, 2013 15:15:03 GMT by nmretro
1987 Alfa Milano/75 1979 Alfetta Mille Miglia 1976 Alfetta GT race car 1970 Lancia Fulvia 1.3 Rallye S 1968 Fiat 850 spider
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Jun 24, 2013 17:18:19 GMT
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Hi, I have read your thread on the Fulvia with interest, you have done some great work with limited facilties. I used to restore these and other Lancias for a living and I think I have read all your writings on oil leaks and might be able to help you. Many Fulvias I worked on had been to garages (not Fulvia specialists usually) who had replaced lots of gaskets and they still leaked. There is usually nothing wrong with the gaskets, or the water pump, but if the oil filler metal mesh is clogged, the whole engine will pressurise and blow oil out of everywhere! I used to always uncrimp the top of the oil filler neck steel 'bottle' and remove the usually solidly clogged steel mesh, clean the 'bottle' out and silver solder the top back on. This is also necessary on competition cars as the breather pipe was then removed from the airbox (and the hole plugged) and the pipe was routed into a regulation-sized oil catch tank. I built Simon Park's Historic Road Sports championship-winning (in its first year out!) Fulvia 1.6 HF first series 'Fanalone' car and it had this mod and clean out. The 1.6 engine in his car was built quite 'loose' - with its original pistons and some new Asso rings, carefully gapped. In a leakdown test it would show massive blow-by but when running, the gas pressure pushed the rings out against the bores nicely and it used very little oil and showed 96 hp at the wheels on a rolling road, with carefully degreed-in standard HF cams (the first series engine and some of the second series have vernier cam wheels, Fiat removed this on later engines to save money, also putting in a lot of 'Fiat' marked fasteners). The car also had a Group 4 exhaust manifold made up from our pattern by Mike the Pipe in Wallington, Surrey; this requires cutting away of some of the alloy front crossmember though... 96 hp at the wheels probably equates to 115-120 at the crank as the Fulvia gearbox saps a lot of power, particularly when run with the standard mineral 80/90W gear oil. Using a synthetic thin gear oil makes a big difference to the power and the gearchange! Simon's car was very effective in the wet and he once or twice ran around a Lotus Elan, before they were outlawed in the championship (they won everything and made it dull). Incidentally, degreeing-in the cams brings them to exactly the standard timing marks! They knew how to build engines in those days! And late series 2 and Series 3 1.3 cars have the 1.6 HF cam timing and duration and lift (I am pretty sure) as standard, so you have the best 'roadable' cams as standard fitment.
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Last Edit: Jun 24, 2013 17:23:45 GMT by slimlavud
Lancia Fulvia coupe S3, 1976, daily driver, rolling restoration...
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Jun 24, 2013 18:37:07 GMT
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Group 4 wheels, anyone? 15x7 any offset, pcd and colour. (£282.00 (inc VAT) each or £354.00 (inc VAT) each Better expensive than not for sale...
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Click picture for more
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Jun 24, 2013 19:21:43 GMT
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Some top info right there from slimlavud!
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goldnrust
West Midlands
Minimalist
Posts: 1,880
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Jun 24, 2013 21:04:16 GMT
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Cheers for all the thoughts guys I agree that the Fulvia is very different to the cars I was looking at replacing it with, and I suppose that was kinda the point, to have a totally different driving experience. Currently I'm still thinking keep the Fulvia, I've had a good couple of drives recently, and I think once I start making it my own a bit more rather than pure restoration it'll fill in the gaps I'm missing from my sports cars. Thanks for that info Slimlavud! I'll check the oil filler mesh. It does seem to try and leak from every seam possible. I've stopped most of the engine oil leaks now, but I've gained a gearbox oil leak. Input shaft seal must be shot on my replacement box. I checked all the bearings before swapping boxes but didn't think to check seals... Got the seal here, just a right pain in the to change it! I'm already running modern synthetic oil in my box, and it shifts smoothly and easily into all gears, not even a hint of a crunch into 2nd when cold I've heard before that a decent designed exhaust manifold released lots of extra horses. I'd like to try and make my own sometime I think. be a good challenge! Good god Ettorebugatti, that's just not fair to post such nice but expensive things to tempt me with! I do like the first wheel you linked to. In fact I'd been thinking of looking out for some Hayashi Streets, not even realising they were a Campagnolo copy! The replicas of the 4 spoke Campys on that blue Fulvia on the previous page are a similar price though ,and if push came to shove, I'd have the 4 spokes! It's business as usual for the Lancia this week. She's decided she doesn't want to indicate left. Think the contacts are just dirty in the stalk. I try to take stalk out. Turns out to get to the electrical connectors I've gotta take the clocks out. Cue the spanners! With the stalk out, the contacts were indeed dirty, and I forgot to take pictures. Anyway, cleaned it up, stuck it back in the car and we have left indicator! Go for test drive and i've intermittently lost the right indicator. A bit more careful analysis of when it's not working and, ah-ha, when I press the brake pedal the indicator stops. SO I figure we've got a short somewhere. Little bit of digging and I find melted wires, that's a likely shorting location. That would be my fault then... They were tucked right into the corner of the inner sill, and I think I welded to the other side of that corner a couple of weeks ago! So chopped some bits out and fixed that up, but alas it was not the problem. I guess I must have disturbed something behind the clocks. So it's dashboard out again time.... Sigh. Damn you little Lancia! Also the choke light has been putting itself on after a run on a bumpy road, think the choke cable just needed adjusting. Lancia people, is this a normal Fulvia choke set-up? It looks a little under engineered for Lancia! Excuse the mess that my engine bay is in! It needs some attention really. I looked much nicer than this 10,000 miles ago. I'm considering going for body colour cam cover while I've got the paint out, and then satin black in the engine bay. I did the same on my rx7 and was always pleased with how it looked. Anyway while messing with the choke/carbs I noticed that once again the accelerator pumps were adjusting themselves, so I thread locked them in place. Hopefully that'll help keep her running sweet
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eurogranada
Europe
To tinker or not to tinker, that is the question...
Posts: 2,552
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I hope that you decide to keep the lancia, I would very much support that decision!
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Jun 25, 2013 10:12:42 GMT
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Been lurking on this thread since the beginning, and based on the standard of your work, I vote keep it and make it your own, as I know it'll end up looking fantastic whatever happens!
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Jun 25, 2013 11:04:24 GMT
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Go for test drive and I've intermittently lost the right indicator. A bit more careful analysis of when it's not working and, ah-ha, when I press the brake pedal the indicator stops. SO I figure we've got a short somewhere Sounds like a problem I had, I needed uppulling the whole dash and loom apart a few time, turned out to be fuses, Clean the fuses, the fuses connectors and the spade connectors where the loom connects to the fusebox, if that doesn't cure it then I owe you a cold beer. That is the standard setup for the coke alright, cokes are still a mystery to be, I just pump the accelerator three times and she fires up like a champ. Can't say how impressed I am with your body skills, I wish I could do half as well on mine. Was actually emailing the guy selling the blue gp.4 Fulvia in the pic. The stellones that is on are 13in which I was told wouldn't fit girling brake calipers but there you go, and the 13in replicas are half price compared to the 14in, I contacted Ronin the company who makes them and they do cheaper prices for group buys, I'll dig out the email they sent me.
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Jun 25, 2013 14:07:35 GMT
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I registered to this forum just to tell you how much I have enjoyed following your thread.
I would absolutely love seeing what modifications you might be doing to your fulvia to make it perfect. Once I have found the time and money to do so, I would probably also follow that route on mine..
PS: I have also spent hours dreaming about the pictures on targaflorioclassics…
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Last Edit: Jun 25, 2013 14:08:17 GMT by fulvia75
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Jun 25, 2013 14:50:42 GMT
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The choke mechanism is standard except it looks like the arm between the two carburetors is backwards or upside down, the nut should be farther forward so you don't have that bend in the cable. Not sure how to add a picture or I'd show you mine.
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1987 Alfa Milano/75 1979 Alfetta Mille Miglia 1976 Alfetta GT race car 1970 Lancia Fulvia 1.3 Rallye S 1968 Fiat 850 spider
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goldnrust
West Midlands
Minimalist
Posts: 1,880
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Jun 25, 2013 20:38:37 GMT
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n1ght28, the round's on you then Had a quick look at lunchtime today and traced the indicator problem down to a poor earth at the rear light cluster. The previous owner had painted the rear panel and not taken into account the fact that the rear lights earth through their mounting points. I've driven over to my girlfriends now, 25 miles away and the indicators worked flawlessly on the way Also had a quick look at the oil filler, the breather is fine and unblocked but the gasket seemed huge and could have potentially blocked the breather itself. So I've trimmed it back a bit, will have to see in time if it effects the oil leakage. Thanks for the choke info My cable isn't long enough to put the arm on the other way round, so it'll have to do for now. Easiest way to add pictures is to upload them to flicker/photobucket/other online photo site and copy the link over here. If its a warm day, or I've driven the car anytime earlier in the day then I don't bother with the choke, just a couple of pumps of the pedal and off she goes. First drive of the day if its a bit cooler, I find 20-30secs of choke just enough for it to stop missing as much seems to help. And when it was winter then I did find that it needed choke for a good few minutes, full choke for 30 secs or so then dropped down to 1/2 till the temp gauge moved off the stop and started reading about 40. Weather looks promising for painting tomorrow, and I've got a morning of meetings lined up then can make some time in the afternoon by working through the evening. So we are go for painting! Wish me luck.....
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Last Edit: Jun 25, 2013 20:40:03 GMT by goldnrust
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adam73bgt
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 4,939
Club RR Member Number: 58
Member is Online
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Jun 25, 2013 21:47:43 GMT
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I've been following this thread for a little while cos I really like the Fulvia and yours looks very good indeed it sounds like I've been having a similar dilemma to you recently over whether to modify my MGB or to buy something faster, had some close calls with buying other things, especially over winter as 70's coupes arent the warmest/easiest to live with cars for winter driving but now that summer is (occasionally) here, a nice warm day, a good B road and I forget all about wanting to buy an MX5 or an MR2, you just can't beat the character of these old things good luck with the paintwork (i need to tackle some myself) and good luck with making it faster
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Jun 25, 2013 21:51:59 GMT
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But you can't put the roof down on a Fuilvia...
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Koos
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adam73bgt
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 4,939
Club RR Member Number: 58
Member is Online
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Jun 25, 2013 22:10:23 GMT
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you cant on a B GT either
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Jun 26, 2013 19:05:26 GMT
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1987 Alfa Milano/75 1979 Alfetta Mille Miglia 1976 Alfetta GT race car 1970 Lancia Fulvia 1.3 Rallye S 1968 Fiat 850 spider
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Jun 26, 2013 19:06:23 GMT
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Well that didn't work as intended, yet you can see it if you follow the link.
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1987 Alfa Milano/75 1979 Alfetta Mille Miglia 1976 Alfetta GT race car 1970 Lancia Fulvia 1.3 Rallye S 1968 Fiat 850 spider
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goldnrust
West Midlands
Minimalist
Posts: 1,880
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Jun 26, 2013 22:37:23 GMT
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Cheers for that photo. I'm guessing at some stage my choke cable has been broken and someones flipped the arm in order to keep using it, as its definitely not long enough for that routing. (On the right of the photo in your link is a box with 'links to this image' copy the one labeled IMG and paste it in here and it puts the image into the post As you say Adam, it is the character which makes old cars like this. I've been out in my mums mx5 again while the paint drys on the Lancia and now the novelty of RWd and faster is wearing off again, it certainly is lacking some of the 'special'ness of the Fulvia. I think something may have clicked in my head recently about getting the most out of FWD, as today I real noticed I was driving mums MX5 differently and I've been enjoying the Fulvia more and more. I think it's approaching corners quicker and turning in on a closed throttle which gets the front of the Fulvia really stuck down and lets the back move around a bit before waiting to see the exit and getting back on the power. I think I'd spent so long driving RWD cars (and motorbikes for that matter) slowing down for bends then turning in and instantly getting back on the power, even if only a bit to settle the car, then powering through the bend. Anyway... paint, it's been a bit of a mixed bag. Here she is, all masked up and ready to go. The weather was about as good as you get for outdoors painting, but obviously that's still not as good as indoor painting. So it was time to bite the bullet and fire up the compressor. The base cost went on fairly well, being a flat colour it covered really well. But as soon as it went on, I was a bit worried about the colour. On some panels it seemed to match well and on others not so well, with a car with a patchy history like mine I'd not really stopped to think that it may have had partial re-sparays before and already be a couple of different shades blended, then theres' always fade from the sun. Some of the sections near the rear of the car matched well, but on the drivers door and scuttle area I could see it wasn't matching great. Not much I could do now but carry on though. As I could see it wasn't going to blend well in those areas, I didn't bother, and figured this would need a rethink at a later date. Anyway on to the clear coating. I was really pleased with how this went on, I thinned it a bit more than usual and it's much smoother and will require less rubbing down. In this photo you can see one of the areas that matched fine. Theres a join from old paint to new about halfway along that rear wing.... But removing the masking from the car once it was all done, showed that up front there was definitely a colour issue. The lack of blending obviously highlights this, but once I realised that part of the colour problem could be sun/age related fading I figured there was little point trying to blend new paint to faded paint. I've got plenty of paint left so what I will need to do is rub down the rest of the drivers door and the scuttle, so it's as good as can be, then repaint it with the blending. Had a quick go with the rubbing compound on the door and it made quite a difference, so fingers crossed it can be rescued. I feel kinda stupid that I didn't even think about the condition of the paint on the rest of the car, I was so wrapped up in fixing the obvious problem areas. Hopefully I can sort it without ending up doing a complete respray... I really can't be bothered
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