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Title: Not a good day for me and my 131s Post by: simon131 on August 13, 2012, 11:58:29 AM Planned to attend the White Dove Classic Car Show yesterday - it's local and in aid of the local Hospice - so 'win-win' - or so I thought.
Got up early and washed and loaded the Abarth. All climbed aboard and turned the key to see ignition lights by no starter! :o I even hurriedly swapped the battery with a brand new one I intended for the yellow S but still no starter - what a brilliant time for the dodgy solenoid to totally pack up! ::) So, quickly loaded everything into the yellow S (after I started it ;)) and off we went to the show. The sun shone and my baldy head browned a bit 8) but on the trip back home the car tried to throw me into the central reservation crash barrier! :o :o A bush (don't know which one yet as I am still shaking!) has failed on the rear end suspension somewhere, making the car swerve badly particularly when lifting off after acceleration, but it effectively renders 2 of my three road-legal 131 useless! >:( :'( :'( Not a good day..... :-\ Title: Re: Not a good day for me and my 131s Post by: Rob 131 on August 13, 2012, 12:46:47 PM Simon
Days like this are sent to try us :-\ :-\ :-\. I've had a few of those recently :'( :'( :-\ :). At least you still have the Orange 131 working :D ;D ;D Title: Re: Not a good day for me and my 131s Post by: Thotos on August 13, 2012, 01:05:11 PM failed on the rear end suspension somewhere, making the car swerve badly particularly when lifting off after acceleration, I had the same problem with my 1600 131S on a trip to Germany many years ago. In my case it was the trailing arm bushes. A 131 with rear-wheel steering is a bit of a challenge! At the time the one-piece trailing arm bushes were not available and Fiat wanted to sell me complete trailing arms but I fitted the two-part 124 bushes which worked fine at a fraction of the cost. I think I might still have some 124 bushes but I'm sure Yagmur can supply the 124 bushes or maybe even the single-piece 131 bushes. Title: Re: Not a good day for me and my 131s Post by: jasonh131 on August 13, 2012, 03:25:51 PM Get your spanners out simon ,and get dirty make a two good cars out of the 3 cars,,, or look in the garden, loft garage there lots off spares there ...
Title: Re: Not a good day for me and my 131s Post by: kev131 on August 13, 2012, 04:02:36 PM Not a pleasant experience Simon...especially on the flat rather unsupportive seats on standard cars. :-\
Hopefully it will be a simple fix. Was that the longest run you'd taken it on? Title: Re: Not a good day for me and my 131s Post by: simon131 on August 14, 2012, 07:18:50 AM Not a very pleasant experience at all. :( Yes, it probably was the longest journey I'd taken it on but at least it's not a terminal problem, more a pain in the bum than anything.
After discussion with Mark at IRS we initially thought it might be panhard rod bushes but now I'm more certain its the trailing arms. :-\ I'll be getting my spanners out but not sure that I'll be stripping the parts I need from the green S, Ja. Think I'll be looking for new bushes or arms just so that I know(?) they are good. ;) Title: Re: Not a good day for me and my 131s Post by: Sev131 on August 14, 2012, 07:36:34 AM Another thing to check throughly is the shock and spring mount area. These corrode under the plastic/nylon cup where the spring locates on the axle. They are a bad water trap.
Title: Re: Not a good day for me and my 131s Post by: simon131 on August 14, 2012, 01:30:09 PM I'd be surprised if it were anything to do with corrosion on my yellow S Bobby as I don't think it has ever been out in the rain, but I'll check anyway as I know only too well what '70's FIAT metalwork is like ;) Thanks for the suggestion. 8) ;D
Title: Re: Not a good day for me and my 131s Post by: simon131 on August 30, 2012, 05:12:52 PM A pic of me and the yellow 'offender' prior to the incident mentioned above ;)
Oh and by the way, the Abarth starter problem was sorted thanks to the wonders of eBay and the car was used at the weekend to go to A&A's in Eastbourne as another thread shows. ;D Title: Re: Not a good day for me and my 131s Post by: Heini131 on August 30, 2012, 07:29:04 PM Wonderful car and a really nice colour :)
BEST OF LUCK WITH THE SOLUTION OF THE TECHNICAL PROBLEM ;) Title: Re: Not a good day for me and my 131s Post by: simon131 on August 30, 2012, 07:38:32 PM Thanks Heini. 8)
I miss using it actually as it was my daily driver for a while before the suspension started to fail. Hopefully it will be a quick and easy fix. ;) Title: Re: Not a good day for me and my 131s Post by: Phil on August 31, 2012, 06:53:37 AM The car looks fantastic Simon, hope you manage to sort the problem out soon.
Title: Re: Not a good day for me and my 131s Post by: simon131 on August 31, 2012, 07:09:37 AM Thanks Phil. I hope so too. ;D
Title: Re: Not a good day for me and my 131s Post by: Rob 131 on September 01, 2012, 09:05:03 AM An S Reg 131s in Yellow on a Summers Day is the Nivana of Car ownership :-\ :-\ ;D
Where did you buy the 131 Tee Shirt from. I need one :) :) Title: Re: Not a good day for me and my 131s Post by: simon131 on September 02, 2012, 07:29:29 AM The Tee shirt was a gift from Kev when we attended 3MA07, but they are available on eBay.
Title: Re: Not a good day for me and my 131s Post by: parrish on September 02, 2012, 09:43:53 AM http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/FIAT-131-Abarth-car-racing-legend-retro-t-shirt-/251131542903?pt=UK_Car_Parts_Vehicles_Automobila_ET&hash=item3a789b3d77#ht_1698wt_952
(http://i435.photobucket.com/albums/qq71/parrish_028/2012-07-07120438.jpg) Also available in Orange Steve Title: Re: Not a good day for me and my 131s Post by: Rob 131 on September 02, 2012, 04:11:11 PM I'll drop some hints to the wife as i'm 40 in a few weeks and it would make a nice present ;D ;D.
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