more of the same

Spent a bit of Sunday afternoon grinding the last of the roll cage stubs out - in total its taken 7ish hours to get the old cage totally out - which is about half as long as it takes to put one in.... do not try this at home!

(do what I did - use someone else's garage - its a messy job!)

 

Pulled the head of the Super Ritmo Cabrio engine - these were the hottest SOHC available to the public - 1600cc and rated at 100hp as apposed to the super 90 Strada - head is dated 1983 and has bigger everything compared to my the 1500 head... off to the engine doctor to get a diagnosis - I just hope he can do something for this patient.

 

applied paint to the garage at home - hmmm patchy white is much better than black and gray timber....

w

make haste slowly

No much going on in the lair of the #67 Fiat at the moment -

 

cut the roll cage stubs down for final grinding (nasty horrible job) seam welded the wheel tubs where they failed when the old roll cage came out.... came up nice.

Threw a bunch of nasty little dabs of weld in the corner of the left A pillar - and then ground it back to look almost kinda just about not quite sick making.... its going to get a skim of filler to make it smooth - I just cant get a weld bead to come out good there - too much braze and seam sealer close to the joins... oh well! add in another 3.5 hours

 

Another two weekends should see it ready to slide back to my own garage - yay!

 

From the other weekend I have a bunch of  photos from my trip to Auckland plus a very gratefully received 1500 ported and milled head many thanks to Carl and Bob Hayman - the photo below is of Carls 1500 block with 88mm bore for 1560cc and IAPEL Pistons - looking forward to seeing this back in the #888 car  along with the big and beautiful Lynn Rogers Tipo Head for the Leisure Time series next year. Just hope the gear box hangs in there! on a personal note I am sorting out the cost of the engine for next year just so I have a total to aim for.

 

Cleaned out the garage at home ready for painting the walls and running the lights hopefully will be done by Christmas.

 

So empty it echoes

friggen roll cage - did you know that it takes one bloke 3.5 hours armed with an angle grinder a hacksaw and a big hammer to remove one fiat 128 roll cage - and not completely f*%k the rest o the car.....? and its not and easy 3.5 hours either - its hot - dirty - smoky - loud and generally antisocial. In fact it sucks.

 

but the cage is out - the rear section was 48mm steam pipe and must weigh about 30 kg plus on its own - to big too heavy and really ugly - the front section weighed less than half that and it had more tubes.... removing the cage also meant a few wee welds on the right rear wheel tub went ping - so a bit of welding is in order... see below

 

now for the bad news - due to the fact the new house needs a new kitchen - and that needs $$$ the car budget has been frozen while management decides *when* we can logically chuck 2.2k at the 128 for a jungle gym... but that just means I get to drag the thing into the new shed at home base and sort out all the inside mods that I was going to do after the cage went - plus a few I just thought up - since its going to be easier now to do that. so basically the list looks like this:

• make transport frame
• Pedal box and drivers floor area - new panel
• Exhaust tunnel (rear passengers floor area) - new panel (and if you have been keeping up that leaves the front passengers foot well and a tee shape in the middle of the car as the only Fiat floor left!)
• windscreen pillar - finish off nasty little patch
• various cracks - weld
• remove all extraneous bolts and brackets - more sparks
• patch firewall - brake booster hole etc etc
• tidy parcel tray remains - (did I mention I cut that out as well?)
• fuel cell frame
• beat out rear towers for shocks
• tidy engine bay and boot
• new front strut mounting plates
• Finish the seam welding in couple of hard to reach places
• wire brush underside and arches - seam seal and underseal including wheel arches
• prep for paint - and prime/seam seal etc
• paint interior and inside roof
• fabricate a throttle pedal

plus a bunch of stuff I haven't thought of but not much that costs real money.... i.e. a good few weeks of solid work - so say about 5 months at warwick speed?

 

later

 

w

 

 

lazy sunday afternoon

been selling surplus stuff on trademe the last couple of weeks - amazingly have managed to pay for the new shocks - wonders will never cease! still have a bit left over just rats and mice...

 

Spent a happy afternoon on the 67 car fizzing some patches on to the front valance - in the vain hope that it adds some support  and helps the front suspension mounts hang together. - applied some filler - and bobs your aunties live in lover - Just bear in mind this is *not* a restoration project, its just a rebuild of an old race car that was once an even older road car assembled by people ho saved money by *not* painting the backside of any panel!! - I also used the opportunity to measure up the car for its new cage - the original concept has to be revised per new Motorsport Manual 33 - i.e. no Larry and Garry bars (windscreen X bars) and for some reason there has to be a gap in the door opening - go figure! will draw that up this week.

 

that's it really - will shoot out to the shed after work on Tuesday to sand the panel filler while its still kinda fresh.

 

add another four hours

 

latter

 

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Left wheel tub - prior to uderseal and painting

right wheel tub - the flash makes it look untidy

Left and Right wheel tubs and new drivers seat tray - if you look closely you can spot the odd hole in the floor pan from the spot weld removal - I didnt dust that day!!