Not a good day for me and my 131s

[simon131]

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!    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  but on the trip back home the car tried to throw me into the central reservation crash barrier! 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.....

[Rob 131]

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 

[Thotos]

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.

[jasonh131]

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 ...

[kev131]

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?

[simon131]

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. 

[Sev131]

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.

[simon131]

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.

[simon131]

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.

[Heini131]

Wonderful car and a really nice colour 

BEST OF LUCK WITH THE SOLUTION OF THE TECHNICAL PROBLEM 

[simon131]

Thanks Heini.

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.

[Phil]

The car looks fantastic Simon, hope you manage to sort the problem out soon.

[simon131]

Thanks Phil. I hope so too.

[Rob 131]

An S Reg 131s in Yellow on a Summers Day is the Nivana of Car ownership 

Where did you buy the 131 Tee Shirt from. I need one 

[simon131]

The Tee shirt was a gift from Kev when we attended 3MA07, but they are available on eBay.