Getting Ready for the 3MA (2)

[kev131]

Like Theo I have some jobs to do to my 131 before the big event - I guess.... who dosn't?

Yesterday I took the car to Advance Tyres to have headlamp deflectors fitted. As the car is LHD the "yaw" on the beam pattern is illegal in Ireland and as a cheaper and more achievable alternative to sourcing new RHD headlamps I have had these fitted as a temporary measure. They are not that noticeable but need to be in place for Sunday week when the car is booked in for it's NCT (MOT, Controle Technique, Revisione, TUV).

I'm fairly confident about the rest of the car as it had a TUV just before I bought it. In addition because of it's age there will be no emissions check. And the really good news is that once it passes this time, no more NCTs as it will be 30 years old before this NCT expires in 2009.?



After the NCT I will get the brakes done having sourced the parts from a variety of sources (thanks for the discs Chris). Thats booked in for 7th April and if everything is still holding together I'll have the alloys fitted shortly after.
I expect to get the remaining two wheels back today and it's an effort of self control not to go off and get them fitted straight away!



I also have the California door mirrors to fit but the fittings are not co-operating!? I'm getting used to the look of the rectangular ones though and they are more practical.
 
Lastly I may get some time to get the wing damage sorted out - I need to get some recommendations as to who is up to the task.

[kev131]

Last week the car failed it's NCT (MOT) on a single point - The brake pedal had excessively long travel. I sort of half expected this and had the car booked in for the brake work to be done today.

New shoes (properly adjusted this time) along with fresh discs were fitted in a leisurely 2 hours along with new brake fluid. The braking effort engages at a much higher stage now...although strong braking now produces early lock up on perfectly dry roads. Not sure if this is correct or whether I have been spoilt by 4 large ventilated discs with ABS. Maybe I just need to adjust my driving style ... What does anyone else think? Maybe the shoes are TOO near the drums??

Here is the evidence of work as usual.









The new pads that I had expected to fit turned out to be for a Fiat alright - But not a 131? so we rubbed down the originals which had plenty of meat left and refitted them. Quick stop off for a photo opp on the way home. This renovated out-building around the corner from home strikes me as the perfect basis for a multiple classic car garage if properly damp proofed.?



While chatting to the owner I discovered that not 2 miles from where I lived resided 2 Fiat Dinos, 2 Lancia Fulvias, and 2 Alfa GTVs. Plans for Saturday afternoon changed suddenly.?

[Thotos]

Good to hear you have brakes on your car again Kevin. Also good to see your mechanic using a block of wood and not just putting the trolly jack straight on the chassis rails.

Assuming that the dry road lock-up is on the front wheels only, then that's quite normal on the 131. Fiat 131 brakes are 'over servoed' according to a lot of motoring correspondents at the time. You simply need to learn how to drive an old car again without ABS and with (unfortunately) insufficient 'feel' to the brakes.  However, if the rear wheels are locking up before the front ones, then you need to adjust the load proportionating valve that controls the amount of fluid pressure to the rear wheels. They never go wrong though so I think it must be the front wheels that are locking up. Whatever you do, don't release the shoes and set them further away from the drum as that will give you excessive petal travel again.

[simon131]

Kev, is that you under the front wheel arch in one of the pics? Blimey - I never thought I'd see the day! Excellent!

That round metallic thing is called the front brake disc, and is the part of the car used to stop it! There are lots of other parts needed to do this too, but I don't want to confuse you, so lesson two will follow soon!

Never thought I'd see you in a boiler suit thought, and getting your hands dirty too..........Only teasing my friend!?

Yeah, as Theo says, don't worry about the front locking up. As yu say, much too used to ABS me thinks! I'm guilty of that too! You'll have to learn to drive more slowly or push the brakes more gently - neither iof which are easy in a 131 Sport!!! (Why would you want too?)

Has it passed it's test now?

[kev131]

More progress to report today (I'm going to be a gentleman and wil neither acknowledge nor react to the ribbing about my lack of mechanical knowledge).?

(1) NCT (MOT) retest passed today - ?27.50 for 60 seconds work. At least I have another of the 3 badges required on my windscreen that proclaims my entitlement to use the public highways.?

(2) - New alloy wheels fitted - And boy am I happy!! - I had a nagging feeling that orange was the only colour that looked better with dark wheels than alloys but the reality of having silver wheels fitted proves to me that the investment was worth it. I love them and I feel that it lifts the car's look from being ponderous looking on dark wheels to be being sprighlty on alloys -? "Yeah right" I hear you say!

(3) - Thread from hub stripped from two sockets while refitting wheels.? Dont know how this happened and I cant prove that the mechanic did anything wrong but I now have an undrivable car - And just 4 weeks before 3MA!

Options that seem open to me are to try to source a replacement hub or to have the socket re-threaded - Dont know how achievable or long lasting this is. I think I may have sourced a replacement hub on loan. If anyone has any to sell permanently please let me know. Andy - Any chance of one from your stripped Sport?

The garage suggested that it would be OK to drive home on just two bolts (not diagonally opposed!) but after half a mile I got cold feet and called the breakdown service for a ride home. It's booked into the garage for Monday and I hope to have the loan hub tomorrow.

Pics attached.

[curt]

Hiya Kev - sorry to hear the dramas over that nice looking 131 -as for the wheel hubs -rather than replace them why not just fit helicoil inserts in the originals - a lot easier and a lot less expensive than new hubs -easy to do as well -its just an idea but the new helicoils that are out there are as strong ,if not stronger than the original threads 
It may help to get you out of a hole 
Strange that a garage can strip 2 bolt holes at the same time
Still thats life as they say 
 
Good luck 

[chris131]

hi kev, what hub do you need and I'll check if I have one. I should have hubs lying in the shed somewhere.....

let me know and I'll check.

chris

[kev131]

Hi Curt and Chris - Thanks for the speedy offer of assistance.

My preferred route for now would be to have replacement hubs (and possibly drums for the rear). The reason being that now that I have a replacement hub (on loan) when I partially screw in an old Fiat bolt and a new after market chrome version to equal depths, the new chrome one rocks!!?

Our conclusion is that although so far the problem is localised to one hub, the other sockets may just be biding their time before letting go. And the Healy pass on the 21st May is not the place for this to happen!

So yes Chris if you have two good hubs please let me know. I may be able to source drums more locally but if you have them as well that would be great. Here are pictures of the hub that I have and also a pic of the chrome bolt with some of the stripped thread sticking to the end.

[curt]

hi there kev - i would guess that if you have a decent replacement hub and you have tried both types of bolt as described-than if the new bolts are rocking in the threads and the old bolts do not- than you definitley have the wrong thread on the new chrome bolts
Having not owned a 131 for some years now i cannot give you the correct thread size for the bolts-i have thread gauges to measure but without a bolt i cant help-so really pretty useless 
i would definitly try to confirm the correct thread before trying any more bolts-or you may end up killing more hubs-this could be why the garage had some trouble stripping threads 
Sorry i cant be of any more help-wish you all the best 
curt

[kev131]

Hi Curt. - I have not discounted the helicoil suggestion and I will mention it to my mechanic tomorrow but as you said replacement hubs are probably the best solution.

I still have the original Fiat bolts and will refit them - All I am losing out on is the cosmetic effect of having bright shiny chrome heads to complement my new wheels. I bought them from Ebay and will attempt some sort of recourse with the seller.?

I see you have had 4 131 Sports. Would you like to begin a new thread and tell us some details/history/photos/etc??

[curt]

would love too-i only have 1 picture of my first 131 in arrancio racing(same colour orange as yours-it was the official italian designation for this colour)
its very grainy but i will try to scan it and post in a new thread
As for other photos my girlfriend/fiance of 4 years attacked/burnt/destroyed/kept-all remaining pictures-and all those of the lombard RAC rallys we attended together (you know the saying 'a woman scorned' !!
But hey ho ! life goes on and i miss my sports
Dont ever be tempted to sell yours youll end up like me !!!
All the best
Curt

PS if my ex girlfriend /fiance ( I know i bought you a ring !!) happens to be reading this - please send back my photos-especially the one with stig blomquist !!!!

[kev131]

Hi Curt

I know I suggested some "history" but I hadn't bargained on that angle.? ? Strangely, that's not the first time I've heard of some woman thrashing Fiat related items - Think I saw something about a Strada Abarth being crushed on the instructions of a jilted ladyfriend.

I wonder is there any process that can be employed to test for the presence of this destructive gene in the early stages of a relationship.?

Thanks for the no sale advice - I intend to follow it if all possible! The car has no value in financial terms to me? A blank cheque (within reason of course) would not part me from it!

Looking forward to some 131 stories from you.

K

[Thotos]

Kevin, it certainly sounds to me that you have used the wrong bolts! You have too much faith in eBay sellers!

I've NEVER heard of hub threads being stripped. If a bolt is miss-threaded it damages the bolt thread and not the hub. The chrome bolts must be the wrong size which is why they rock and have stripped the thread. Please don't try to use them again! You can always have the heads of your original bolts chromed but I wouldn't do that either, just buy some chrome paint or chrome plastic cups that fit over the bolts, they are surprisingly effective.

You shouldn't really need drums (unless the thread is damaged in those as well) but  I have a pair of used ones if you want. 

[kev131]

Hi Theo - Welcome back from your other Fiat group themed weekend!
Thanks for confirming our suspicions.

"To much faith in ebay sellers".

With a new seller it's always a shot in the dark and there are ways to help form an opinion like the feedback section. This particular seller sells these wheel bolt sets regularly and he has loads of positive feedback on them so that re-assured me. I suppose the main mistake (with hindsight) was to fit a non original part in such a critical area of the car. But look on the positive side - This is some seriously good consumer testing to help others from making the same error!?

You can see that I'm not feeling too bad about the situation now (not like yesterday!!? ). With all the offers of help (both on here and elsewhere) it looks like whatever happens, 3MA should not pass me by!?

Do I need new drums - Dunno until we take the wheels off and look at what has happened. It might be a few rogue bolts and the others are OK. Whatever, they are all coming off never to be used by me again and the heads of the old bolts have been rubbed down tonight in anticipation of being returned to their rightful place.

Chroming the heads? Would that withstand the effects of a wrench at puncture time? Maybe the plastic heads will be the best bet!

Cheers

[Upprcalypse]

I've NEVER heard of hub threads being stripped. If a bolt is miss-threaded it damages the bolt thread and not the hub.

Well I had the same problem on the front of my Croma turbo. It is correct that miss-threaded bolts usually damage themselves and not the hub, but if you drive with not correctly tightened bolts they start "eating" the thread in the hub. With a used car you never know what a previous owner did with it.. 

(In my case I wanted to check if all bolts are tightened at the side of the road as I heard some strange noise - later identified as the CV joint loosening itself! - and ripped out 3 of 4 threads while doing that...  )