1994 Fiat Punto 55 EL 6-speed. Don't call it a comeback..yet

Cheers!!

I wish the roof was as easy to change but I'll leave the paintwork for another day

Certainly made a lot of differnce for now at least, still got to fit that wing so that's a job for me to do soon.


I've been having a look through my wheeels and got these a little while ago from a Tipo, I reckon refurbished they'd look good on the Punto for now?



I'll see what's about as imagine stuff from Punto GT's would be interchangable, so hopefully can find some cheap lows that way.

I would love a mk1 Punto.
Strip it out. Lower it. 15" wheels with sticky tyres and a highly tuned 1242 8v on tb's.

I did think about a Punto 75 8v 1242 cc engine as an potential upgrade, with my 6 -speed box as read about some guy on another forum from easten europe who'd done that with his!!

Interior isn't great anyway, so maybe some racing / bucket seats etc.. might be an idea if I'm going to use it for motorsport.

As for wheels, might go with some 13's rather than the original 14's that are on it now as the 13's being smaller would be great for tarmac Autotesting / Autosolo.

Picked up these Borbets for a bargain price, just need a quick refurbish and some wheel bolts and there good to go.





Then should I do a grass autotest or track day, then can fall back to some bigger wheels for grip/ height


Least that's the idea anyway, looking forward to getting stuck into this project now some other ones are out the way!

Ah nice one your Punto looks lovely especially in that colour great to see one getting the attention it deserves!! Like all the genuine accessories you've added, really add's to the car definitely keep up the good work.

My old Punto 75 ELX in metalic red had the same cd changer as I recall happy days, think I put the half mudflaps and Punto 1.6 sporting alloys on it looked fanatstic.

Likewise you inspired with yours to try and do justice with the Punto, apparently only 6 EL 6 speeds left licenced and a further 7 on sorn.

Cheers yeah if you do find one of the car of the year stickers, and get some made let me know I'd be happy man!!

I had a 57 plate panda 100hp a few years back, Running gear is punto based on the 100hp, Used a 1.4 16v 'fire' engine and 6 speed box, wonder if you could get the 16v lump mated up to that box, Might be the same box code ? ?

I thought it had been a while since I posted up about the Punto, but hadn't realised it's been nearly a year already!!

In that time I bought another two cars, sold one of those and recently bought another... as you do.


Anyway after the last post I decided to put the car through it's paces at a local Autotest, which was back in November so had plenty of time to prepare the car.

Which for me involved washing it, changing wheels over to the smaller Borbet's and that's about it... oh and changing the rocker cover gasket as that was leaking.

Plus a bit of respray on the roof, as the previous owners attempt was a bit shocking to say the least. My neighbours were highly amused as I spent over week on it, so was everyone else who came past the house. Looks okay, the photo's didn't show it looking any better so you'll all have to take my word for it


First event out in the Punto I did ok, car felt good out on the track and apart from a spin.(woops) Hitting some cones and making that crack on the front bumper a little bigger.. sorry car Despite my off I was pleased, and the Punto's gearing seemed to be well suited.




















Wheel spin was a problem with the small wheels through first and second gear, at least the bit of tyre smoke was a crowd pleaser

So off the back of that, with another event in December I thought I'd try the car with the standard 14" inch Steel wheels.






I must of done something right, won best Novice on my second event in the Punto!! Felt good to win something, haven't done many events and hopefully can improve the car a bit more. Looking to get a few more Autotests under my belt, and maybe have a look to compete on some venues a little further from home.


After that I was feeling a little euphoric about my win, so as my car is a winner the MOT in January is nothing to worry about right? Errr.. Wrong!!

Had a poke around the car and found out my drivers rear floor pan was doing a good job of rotting, strange as it had appeared quite solid barely 6 months before so was a bit deflated by this point.

While I started stripping out the interior, I soon discovered a unrelated niggle. Ever since I had the car had been a clinking noise from under the gear stick, I soon came across the problem. An this piggy banks worth of coinage was the cause..





And the total amount...




...well not enough to retire on but that paid a couple of quid towards hopefully fixing the Punto at least.


The photo's from the inside don't do any justice as to how bad they were, believe me if I stamped hard enough through the floor I'd put a lovely hole right through it!!











Mk1 Punto's are a little notorious for rotting there, particularly where the strengthening plate for the front seat rear bolt is mounted. The two pieces trap moisture, road dirt & salt etc.. and the rot does the rest.

The rust was quite bad, I asked a few places locally about doing it and a couple of mates but got the same reaction. "It's really bad mate, it's only a old Punto ain't worth doing" even though I was more than happy to pay for it as I can't weld. And didn't have the time to start learning unfortunately, but wasn't sure I'd have a choice... hhhmmm..

Great so a rusty car and no one willing to fix it, no idea how to weld and I wasn't sure where to even get a rear floor panel from?

Then by luck I came across a company that imports repair panels from a Danish firm, who do the much needed floor panel and seat mounting plate








Result and only a two week wait, and thanks to my brother I even found somebody to weld it!!


So two weeks later I had a call, my panels were ready so I agreed to pick them up on the Saturday and drop the stripped out Punto to the welders on the same day.

That involved going to Malvern from Aldridge, collecting the panels. Back to Sutton ColdField to get the car, bolt the drivers seat in and drive it to Leicester. Was a long day, but was good to be getting the car on the road to recovery.


A week later the car was done have to say it was an excellent job, and after a bit of spray inside got the floor pan looking better than new.




I seamed sealed all the join's underneath, as per factory and primed the floor pan. Before a coat of paint, topped off with stonechip for maximum rust protection

Wasn't much fun doing all this outside in the January weather, still I was in this far may as well finish it now!! In fact I got so cold and fed up, I didn't take any pictures of the underneath.

While I was on a rust busting mission, I sprayed some clear waxyol into the sill's. And other hard to reach places that I could access while the interior was out, as I don't fancy paying for anymore welding.


Then after a weekend of head scratching and a few swear words, the interior was fitted back in place ready for MOT.


Pleased to say it passed, that's twice now this car has escaped the scarp yard so hopefully I can get back on track. No pun intended!!



Also got a car of the year sticker from fellow RR member puntosimon, really pleased with it as it's excellent quality so hopefully will be one of the finishing touches.




I did carefully peel off one from a scrap Punto recently, so I'll keep the new one for when it get's a respray.

After it's MOT victory I decided to treat the car, as it's been looking a bit unloved and generally rubbish.



Splashed out on eBay and bought a set of wheel's I'd been after for a while, some 15" Punto mk2 Abarth accesory alloys.





Looks way better :)unfortunately as it doesn't have power steering parking it was a work out!!

Maybe just the tyres as they are all old not sure, so we'll see for the meantime I've had to resort to the steelies again




Anyway crammed in a years worth of work hope you all stayed awake long enough after reading that lot, hopefully the long promised new wing and respray will be the next job. There again the car likes to keep me busy, as this happened the other week...




Had to laugh.. so a new exhaust first.

The 6 speed box in these is ace, much better gearing than the later 6 speeds.

I got them from here, www.carz2.co.uk/fiat-punto-94-98-16252-c.asp


Really good quality & they was very helpful, you'll need both the floor panel & the seat bolt strengthening plate.

So for the offside rear floor for example you would need...

www.carz2.co.uk/fiat-punto-94-98-body-floor-repair-panel-right-rear-width-cm-48-length-cm-60-sheet-strength-mm-1-kk2022762-93921-p.asp

& right rear outer seat bolt strengthening plate that goes onto that..

www.carz2.co.uk/fiat-punto-94-98-body-floor-with-holder-repair-panel-right-front-length-cm-13-width-cm-12-sheet-strength-mm-2-k-93923-p.asp

But they do the left side, and a load of other panels for the Punto too. Even if you don't own a Punto it's well worth a browse on there site, as they panels for all sorts of cars.


The only thing I would say is the seat belt strengthening panel has a different bolt thread on the new part, compared to the original so you either need to save that nut from the old panel and re-use it to keep the old bolt.

Or if your not bothered, just replace the bolt with a different one of the correct thread for the new panel.

My welder was very complimentary about quality of the panels, and of my car as well

Saving something that most people say isn't worth saving is always a great and very enjoyable thing to do!