131mirafiori forum

I'm sitting in my hotel foyer in Caen writing this having driven 900kms today from Zurich where I picked up a series 3 Supermirafiori 2000. This is what I have always been after and have been in negotiations with the seller for over a year. I saw the car last year while looking at a 132 but couldn't agree a deal. Patience won through and we agreed on a price of about 60 % of the original asking price. Plus it's had ?2000 spent on it for preventative maintenance since then so I'm happy with my deal.

It's not perfect and needs some work but it is a very good and solid base to bring it up to standard. It will be a perfect 3ma car once I'm finished with it while keeping my Sport for special occasions. Anyone want a 1600TC?  :)

It's been a fairly uneventful journey until I got to Paris late into rush hour traffic. Paris has a ring road but anyone who has used this will know the kamikaze motorcyclists who weave in and out of the traffic thinking that having their hazard lights on will grant them immortality and absolution from normal traffic rules! Anyway as the heat rose, the traffic slowed and became more congested, the temp gauge inexorably rose towards the red zone! For some reason the cooling fan didn't want to come on so a dash across 3 lanes of frustrated and impatient drivers while dodging the motorbikes was necessary. A quick stop at a junction allowed things to cool down but then after pulling away it didn't want to continue running whenever the foot was taken off the pedal. Quite a few pedestrians on zebra crossings got a fright as I continually revved the engine. Next the gauges died on me which is the ultimate fear in hot conditions. Amazingly they came and went 2 or 3 times before once back on the Autoroute everything returned to normal. It never failed to start - just kept cutting out when hot! It was a very stressful time trying to practice enough French to avoid being lynched by Paris drivers if I broke down and blocked a main arterial road!  :)

Owning a 131 is never dull!!!!!! ;D

Looking forward to seeing the pics ;)

If you have a piece of wire or a thick paperclip you can short out the fan switch so the fan runs all the time (assuming the motor is OK)

A 30 year wait for a S3 Super 2000/TC Kev  :) can't wait to see the photo's of this one  ;D Best of luck with the sale of the S2 1600/TC ;)

Congratulation again  ;)

On your message i received today i couldt not see anything  :( don`t know what the problem was but knowing the advert of your car I can`t wait to see your pics :)
WELL DONE!

Well done kev ,,
I am sure it's a beauty..
safe journey home ... and get some pic's up for us soon ..

Congratulations Kevin, finally you have it. Great colour and good condition. Now looking for the good grille and lights ;)
Have a good and safe second part of your trip home!

Albert you sound like you know more than I thought you did! I though Heini was the only one to work it out!!!!  ;D

Pics soon and yes I'll be looking for the right lights and grill.

Thanks Dave. Another 131 in Ireland. It'll be sinking under the weight of them soon. Actually on that point has anyone seen the back page of REtro Cars (July issue)? Apparently there will be an Irish 131 article in AUg featuring a known red Abarth from the North and what looks like a well known rally modified Racing (red/yellow) that was for sale for ages.  :o

Kev

I find the Taxis on the Paris Ring Road to be the worst thing  :o :o

Another 131, superb.

What happened to the S2 Super. You don't want it anymore. I thought you had garage space for 4 131's.

I bet you'll be having a few pints on the ferry to get over the stress.

Well done Matey!!  8) ;D You'll never look back.

I got your picture-text. Love the Alpine buildings in the back ground!  :D

Fiat 131s rarely let you down, and as Dave says, a paperclip and piece of wire usually fix most electrical woes! :o ;D

I love the excitement of driving an unknown 131 half way across Europe when you've just purchased it. :P It's rather a Bapitism of Fire, but is certainly the best way to get to know your new ride. :)

Have a safe and enjoyable journey home. can't wait for the pics and the full story.

Ha  - I'm on my 6th 131 now and every single one has driven differently. I think they must have something in common with women. They all have the same equipment but they all perform differently!!!hope that's not too sexist!  ;D

Just doing a "Theo" and having an afternoon coffee in MacDonalds and availing of their free wifi. Will be checking in at 5pm local time and sailing an hour later. Crossing takes about 17 hours and with a cabin the time goes quite well. My first pint of Guinness in a week will help too.  :)

Having power steering for the first time is a bit disconcerting. Quite nice around town and not as light as I feared on the highway. The driver's seat is surprisingly supportive, better than the Sport I think and the lower noise levels are very welcome. I measured the first petrol refill and it worked out at around 10 litres for 100 kms. I think that's about 30 mpg in imperial .... take off 10% for the optimistic Fiat speedo and 27mpg for sustained autoroute cruising at an indicated 120 to 130 km/h isn't at all bad.

Have a good trip. You can't beat Brittany Ferries.

I recall one mad dash in 2006 to Caen which is in some respects best forgotton :-\ :-\

We had sailed into St. Malo and had 2 weeks in the Southern Vendee :) :)

We were sailing back from Caen and clueless ??? ??? me didn't really study the map until it was too late thinking it was about the same distance as St. Malo. We were late leaving (the wife) although having a baby and a four year old at the time made it difficult.

When I swung on the motorway to Caen and saw the distance, I panicked. I had recently bought an ex-demo 320iSE and it was now time for it to perform. It did sort of :-\. But nothing like the 330i Sport I had part exchanged it for and with the time I needed 330i Sport Performance :o :o.

My baby daughter must have felt the stress and did what babies do best. We had to stop and it was like an F1 stop.

We then did an extra loop of the Caen Ringroad (blame the map reader and the lousy sign) before screeching up to the ferry just before departure. I won't bore you with the rest of the journey, but docking in Portsmouth about 10.00pm and then travelling to Chester was not too much fun ;D ;D

Great Kevin, good you are almost home.

Of course I knew more from Heini ;) but I also knew from you that you looked at a 3rd series Super in Switzerland and they don't stand on every corner..................

Good luck with the car!

I hope you find space and time to save the red 2nd Series too!

congrats Kevin and the best of luck with the new motor  :)

Congrats Kev!

Awaiting pictures.

Congarts also from me Kevin !! Great to know you've found one you like !

Dirk

Thanks for the comments guys - Sometimes we all get moments when we question whether spending hard earned cash on things like these is justified, but being among a community of like minded enthusiasts... those thoughts are fleeting.

Here are some pictures of the trip home. Zurich to Limerick is just under 1300 kms in case anyone is interested! Aside from the special welcome that Paris had for me the trip was uneventful....if you don't count the three successive uncomfortable beds! :)

This is the garage where the car is maintained. In November it had over ?2200 spent on it replacing all belts, fluids and a full service. The guy was a Fiat specialist as can be seen by the other cars in the workshop.

(http://i766.photobucket.com/albums/xx305/kev132/P1160836.jpg)

Some views from day one which was 900kms long...

(http://i766.photobucket.com/albums/xx305/kev132/P1160846.jpg)

(http://i766.photobucket.com/albums/xx305/kev132/P1160847.jpg)

(http://i766.photobucket.com/albums/xx305/kev132/P1160848.jpg)

Quick stop...

(http://i766.photobucket.com/albums/xx305/kev132/P1160851.jpg)

Food on the go...

(http://i766.photobucket.com/albums/xx305/kev132/P1160856.jpg)

Hot bother in Paris...

(http://i766.photobucket.com/albums/xx305/kev132/P1160877.jpg)

The American War cemetery in Normandy...

(http://i766.photobucket.com/albums/xx305/kev132/P1160898.jpg)

(http://i766.photobucket.com/albums/xx305/kev132/P1160889.jpg)

(http://i766.photobucket.com/albums/xx305/kev132/P1160902.jpg)

(http://i766.photobucket.com/albums/xx305/kev132/P1160909.jpg)

Home with it's compadres.... :)

(http://i766.photobucket.com/albums/xx305/kev132/P1160922.jpg)

(http://i766.photobucket.com/albums/xx305/kev132/P1160932.jpg)

Real eighties speakers - 150watts of Pioneer extravagence!

(http://i766.photobucket.com/albums/xx305/kev132/P1160933.jpg)

Photo's at last ;D looks clean :)

WOW Kevin, another 1300 Km.

This year you already did a lot of Km with 131  :o

Nice to hear you had a safe trip home!

Looks like a wonderful example and I am sure it is otherwise you wouldt not have bought it  ;D

Hi Kevin

Great pictures. A fantastic looking car and IMHO the best colour for a S3 Super.

You just need either a S3 132, or a S1 131S to complete what is becoming a great collection.

You are not short of Sport Grilles and Lights.

I assume you will be changing these on both Supers for the original item.

I'm mulling over the headlight options Mike.

I want to get new (or really good secondhand) RHD headlights and Sport ones are almost impossible to find now. I have a new nearside square headlight but still need an offside ...so still unsure of what option to go for. ???

I think :) if the grille's were grey and not black ! They would look good.

lovely looking car kevin... really nice colour .. i would stick with the sport grill .. i wouldn't be a fan of the big square head lights..
best of luck with her

hi kevin, your latest 131 looks very well indeed, the sport grille looks well on the supers imho. look foreward to seeing the car in the flesh at some time in the future.

Great car, you know I prefer the original option. Top colour combination for a series 3!

So this is the car the chrome strips of the grille, you bought from me, will be fitted to  :) Personnally i think that it will look better then the Racing grille. It just doesn't belong. I go with Albert and choose for the original setup.

Congrats Kev!

great found, and i think Sport/Racing grill looks very nice.
enjoy it.

Saluti Enzo  ;)

Kevin,

Congrats on your purchase. The car looks great! :o

I would also leave the the sport grille, gives better light ! Even looks a bit more agressive.

Dirk

My, ;D we have been busy Kev..i think you must have made a killing on cashing in all them  Punts all those years ago 8)

Nice find there Kevin!  :o

nice car, can you tell me the name and the code of this blue paint? The upholstery is that from july 1982, unfortunately of lower quality than previous herringbone velour.

Congrats Kevin, you have a beautiful treasure and I hope you will enjoy using it for many years to come, I look forward to seeing it in the near future and I expect it will be the main attraction at all future meetings all best wishes Joe.

Blu Met 452.  :)

I was pleased to get these three dimensional rear speakers with the car but on closer inspection they are too big for the space...and a bit ostentatious so out they came within a few days of getting the car home. I wanted a more discrete set and bought a pair of 17cm Pioneer flush speakers at the weekend. Paired with the existing JVC 4x45w stereo that came with the car the sound is astonishing. Far better than any of my modern cars with loads of distortion free bass. As my dedicated 3MA car a good sound system is a must and the head unit will be replaced shortly with a DAB radio with all the modern input options. The best door speakers I can find will also be fitted and on the basis of the rears alone, I'm really looking forward to the result.

Oh and a new aerial (Theo's favourit model) replaced the unusual existing set up. Strangely it is much easier to hold a station now!  ;D

(http://i766.photobucket.com/albums/xx305/kev132/P1160952.jpg)

(http://i766.photobucket.com/albums/xx305/kev132/P1160953.jpg)

(http://i766.photobucket.com/albums/xx305/kev132/P1160975.jpg)

(http://i766.photobucket.com/albums/xx305/kev132/P1160977.jpg)

(http://i766.photobucket.com/albums/xx305/kev132/P1160954.jpg)

"The best door speakers I can find will also be fitted"

I hope you are not going to cut holes in the door cards of this Super Kev ? like you did in the white Super I own now ! It's a sin to cut door cards that have lasted almost 30 years with no holes butchered in them.

If discrete is what you wanted you should have used my Trevi 'hidden speaker' method  ;D
http://www.betaboyz.myzen.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=395.msg1574#msg1574 (http://www.betaboyz.myzen.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=395.msg1574#msg1574)

(http://i801.photobucket.com/albums/yy292/Thotos/Trevi/P1060248s.jpg?t=1256419596)

I was so pleased with the result that I used the same method for my Gamma

(http://www.gammaconsortium.com/images/GammaRestoration/f.JPG)

The problem with the 131 is that the fuel tank filler tube takes up valuable 'speaker space' so any speakers on the rear shelf are too close together to offer descent stereo spacial separation.

That aerial under the seat would never work! When my Gamma was being restored I had the aerial hole in the rear wing welded up as I don't think aerials look nice (especially little limp rubber things) and I created a hidden aerial in the A-pillar. I had to use an aerial amplifier but it works quite well and now nothing spoils the beautiful lines of the Gamma   ;) ;D

I need to find a photo, or even better a video, of your Sport at speed Kevin so you can see how silly that floppy bendy rubber thing you call an aerial looks  ;D ;D

A roof aerial is my preferred option.

That's a neat job Theo. Are the high frequency sounds not dampened or muffled a bit? I do like to see my speakers so will stick to my plan thanks. The front speakers in the location Fiat intended them to be will take care of the stereo separation. The primary role for the rears is bass which as you know is location neutral.

I've driven more than 35000kms in 131s over the last 6 years (and hope to do the same over the next 6) and a good sound system is very important to me.

Do you remember the 6 foot long bendy aerials that were popular in the 70s.? Great wern't they...?  ;)

If my rubber aerial is bending with the wind it's performing as expected and not generating much wind strain like you get with the chrome telescopics. Anyway I can't see it... so it looks like it's only bothering you for which I sincerely apologise!!  ;D

A thought that occurred to me the other day was one from my early days as a car owner - That the car stereos were worth more than the cars they were fitted to!!  :)

If you cover the shelf with acoustic cloth or carpet then the sound passes through. Sub bass isn't directional but quite quickly as you go up in frequency you do start to notice where it's coming from. Anything above about 80Hz and it starts to drag the sound backwards.

I always advise people to get the best components they can up front and just go with a sub in the boot. It's harder on a car like a 131 as it's a saloon and the tank is between the boot and rear seating area.

When I had my Alfa 164 the subs fired through the ski hatch which worked well as a compromise.

It's hard but it is possible to get a free air sub mounted in a 131 back shelf. I squeezed a 12" in there once ;)

It's so rare now to see door cards that have not had speaker holes cut in them. This is why I don?t like door cards with holes in them, when you cut the cards you cut a big hole in the plastic protector at the back of the door cards that stops the wood getting wet, after awhile it will rot and the door cards will warp too.

Please Kev don?t cut holes in them.

Has anyone got a set of door cards the same as Kev's with the speaker holes in them and help save these uncut door cards ?

Some photo's of the plastic protector with a big hole cut in it.  
(http://i739.photobucket.com/albums/xx34/minicacj/131doorcards003.jpg)
(http://i739.photobucket.com/albums/xx34/minicacj/131doorcards001.jpg)

Every 131 I have ever had (all UK RHD cars) has had front speakers fitted to the door cards. As far as I know they were standard fitment on UK cars.

All the Irish Fiat's had the radio's, speaker's and aerial's fitted by Fiat Ireland or Fiat dealers they came from the factory with no radio's, speaker's and aerial's.  

It was always the distributor's that would decide if the car's were sold with the radio's or not.

I am happy to have Racing doorcards without holes, and they stay this way ;)
Oh, I also have them with holes

Speaker holes really don't bother me. They still retain the factory look. Would be different if someone had hacked them about in different places I guess.

If I was going to fit bigger speakers I would probably make up a set of door cards to save hacking original ones about.

Not if proper acoustic cloth is used (which I did  ;)) That's the same stuff they use in front of speaker cabinets.

The problem with 'my method' is that the speaker is in fact fitted behind the baffle to be flush with it and that does tend to affect high frequencies which are directional. That's why manufacturers made three dimensional speakers like your old ones so the tweeters are facing forward to direct the high frequencies into the cabin.

Sub woofers in the boot can sound good but not with cars that have the fuel tank behind the rear seat like the 131. Plus they take up a lot of boot space. In the Gamma I have a sub-woofer with built in 120W amplifier under the passenger seat  ;D

 

Subs can work even in saloon cars like the 131 with the tank in the way. A big part of the job is getting significant bass up front. The biggest and best components you can get well mounted and well powered.

Subs really just add a bit of bottom end. I was surprised when I listened to a top team Pioneer competition car how little the subs actually did. Listening to this car helped me to choose what components to buy.

Ended up with Pioneer PRS components in my W126 Mercedes mounted in the front doors. There are no stock speaker locations in the doors on these cars so custom fabrication was needed. They were powered by a Helix A2 competition amp with about 150 watts RMS per channel.

As for the sub it was a JL audio 12 W7 powered by a Phase Linear Opus 1 (about 800 watts RMS at the 3 ohms the JL runs at)

The bass is never going to be as 'loud' as in a hatchback but it did the job in the Merc ;)

My 131 Sport like all others was noisy, and the Panasonic Radio Cassette had to be really turned up to drown out the engine and wind noise.

Is a S3 Super much quieter then a Sport.

Dave, please allow me to correct you for this. If you ordered SA 810 (stands for "Sonderausstattung"), you got an 8-speaker system with speakers in the front door cards of the Mercedes W126.

Kev, stick a set of twin carbs on her and you don't need any music  ;D

  ;D I am in complete agreement  ;D