1993 FiAT Uno MkII - RiP 14/3/11

Good to see you too Bruce
So now you have posted up to date shots of the FuCT FiAT I guess I need to retrospectively fill in the BiG GaP
You can see how it started
You can see how it now looks
You can see what the plan was
and it all went to plan [pretty much]
Just a few gLiTCheS on the way
So this is a retrospective thread . . .
To show how I got to where we are NoW!

OK asked a few questions on both the FIAT Forum and the Sporting FIATs Forum about whether or not a '89 999cc carbi'd FIRE engine [block+head] would work with the SPI [injection] of a '93 Mk2 1.0i.e FIRE

I have done head gaskets [HG] on alloy head FIATs before and had them fail again a few weeks later, even after skimming the head, which can also upset your cam timing a little, if the head has got warped it can also be pinholed or cracked as well

So not knowing how bad the 86k miles Blue MK2 had overheated to knacker its HG and knowing the 60k miles engine of the '89 RedMk1 was running sweet my plan was rather than bother doing the HG insitu in Blue2 . . just drop the 60k miles Block+head of Red1 into Blue2

Some were unsure
Some said it couldn't be done
Some said the compression ratio would be different so the SPI would not work properly
Then when I said I thought it could be done without removing the gearbox, dismantling front suspension or disconnecting the driveshafts some said I was WRONG WRONG WRONG

HA! I like a challenge

Red2 Engine Donor.......


Cannabalism.......


Engine out of the Donor.......


999cc of FIAT 4 pot that the neighbour was amazed that I could pick up with my bare hands.....!

Managed to get it out with just a trolley jack and no engine crane
Even left the dizzy insitu.. so that I didn't need to waste time retiming the ignition [it turned out this was a silly idea in the end...but more of that later]

Managed to also get the engine out of Blue2 with just a trolley jack, leaving the gearbox insitu
The trick is to remove the cast arm of the drivers side engine mounting to be able to move the 999FIRE engine far enough over to the drivers side to split it from the gearbox insitu
You can also move the gearbox quite far towards the passenger side with all the suspension and driveshafts still connected

HA! proved those FIAT Forum & Sporting FIAT KeyBoaRDwaRRioRs wrong
So then got a bit T00 cocky
Thought I could get the Red1 engine into Blue2 without a crane/hoist
NO CHANCE
Just not possible to get the engine and box lined up for the clutch to align perfectly with the inputshaft with the engine balance on just a trolley jack on your own
Though I reckon two people together could manage it...one to balance it and the other to shove it

However I was working on my own
BUT . . . No worries
Hire shop just round the corner
Wheeled the engine hoist down the street, much to the amusement of the Hire Shop Bloke


You can see in these two progress pics that I didn't even disconect anything off the SPI unit
I just rested it on the drivers-side inner wing out of the way


An hour after collecting the hoist the engine was in and started first time


Ran rough as a dog at first because of my school boy eRRoR!
The one thing I did disconnect and forgot to reconnect was the servo vac hose to the inlet manifold
At first I didn't spot it and was gutted thinking the FIAT Forum boys were right
SPI does not work on carbi Block+Head

BUT cup a tea
a bit of a think
Realised the mistake
reconnected the vac hose and it has run really sweet ever since ;D
FIAT 999 FIRE - '89 Block+Head+Dizzy mated to '93 Single Point Injection+coil+electrix . . . .WORKZ!

At that point it still used the CAT and full exhaust from Blue2
As it would need that for an MOT test in October [more on that later]
BUT I'll eventually use the salvaged Red1 exhaust system to fabricate a side exit pipe to follow the kinda RaLLy RaT theme I've settled on

The other thing I slapped on it while I was at it was a K&N as I found one dead cheap on the net
[for once! . . . it came all the way over from Ireland . . . WTF?]


I also modded one of the two airboxes I had to get rid of the thermostatic flappy thingy

that gives a warm air feed from the exhaust manifold in cold weather
Standard airbox on the left of the pic below


Pic below of the full modded airbox that is currently fitted that now has two cold air feeds instead of one cold and one warm

This helped the motor run really well with quite C00L water TemP in the HeaT of Spain and Portugal in August/September

HaHA
Next episode . . . HERE is the next retrospective installment

Of course the original front grille just looked boring



So I thought I could replicate the better looking and more agressive grille of a FIAT Tipo
As well as allow more fresh air to the rad by chopping the grille about
But as back then in July/August I had the likely prospect of selling the car back to its previous owner after our run to Portugal and back I wanted to keep the original grille intact so I could put it back on at a later date
I found a really cheap grille on eBay
it was white as well which suited the two tone theme I already had in my mind for the whole car,
based on the 70s & 80's FIAT logo being white letters on a blue background
So with the white grille I chopped the middle sections out roughly with a junior hacksaw for it to look like this for our banger run



Then before we did the run I used a self cut stencil
[clear plastic film cut by hand with a scalpel to a printed paper template]
and matt black rattle can to add my 'FuCT' logo to the grille having already painted out the blue background of the FIAT logo already on the grille



Next thing I didn't like was those standard boring amber indicators



So on eBay YeT AGAIN
Took a while for some to come up
But I got two front clear indicators and a set of spare headlamps in one auction for an absolute song :tu
So with the bonnet painted in white emulsion with a foam sponge roller
[fastest/cheapest way to paint whole panels rather than rattle cans]
AND my self cut stencils and matt black rattle can to do a BANKSY style bit of signage
The front passenger side corner of the car looked like this before the start of the Banger Rally when we were on the Dover to Calais Ferry at the end of August




You can also see in the above photograph that I had bolted the original numberplate onto the bonnet for the banger run.
This lasted until day two of the charity run when in Northern France where we got pulled over by a pair of motorcycle cops.......at this point


"We have stopped you because we cannot see your registration"
"Oh I see"
"You did this?
"Yes, I moved it there to cut holes through the bumper for extra cooling air to the engine "
"You cannot do this in France, is this legal in your country?"
"In the UK we have different regulations that let us put our registration plates in various places"
"In France it MUST be visible from the front of the car"
"OK it is simply bolted on and I can move it back to the bumper"
[/b]
I moved it back to the bumper there and then and we didn't get an on the spot fine or even a ticking off for having been speeding when they spotted us.
All the time one cop was talking to me the other was walking round the FiAT checking it out.
I'm sure the fact we had four brand new tyres, hi-vis waistcoats tucked into the front seat headrests, the first aid kit and fire extinguisher clearly visible in the front passenger footwell meant that other than the dodgy Reg Plate we appeared to be pretty compliant with the French regs of the road [sort of]

More to follow . . . .

ooo exciting stuff...it sounds like they just wanted to pull you cos ur foreign, if u ask me the number plate is clearly visible from the front! can you not just jam it all on at once? I'm getting desperate to see the rest now haha

Thanks Matt, like the look of your 3 door Mk1, those FIAT steelies need to be MaTT BLaCK though


AND here is the next installment about our Mk2:-

The idea I had was to call it FUCT FIAT and make it look like a fake, rough, rally/race car . . .ish!!
Having owned a few FIAT X1/9s in the past I had some cruddy looking old X1/9 alloys lying about
So they would cost nothing, but would they fit?
Only one alloy had a 185/60 13 tyre on it
[standard x1/9 tyres were 165/70 13; the Uno 1.0ie had puny 135s on steels]
so I test fitted the one alloy with the 185 to see how it would look


Looked so good it just had to be done
Problem being it would mean extra cost for 4 new 185/60 13 tyres!!
[more about that LATER!]

After I posted the pic below on the Sporting Fiats Forum there was a bit of debate about a need to fit Uno Turbo plastic arches
[Uno Turbos use 175s tyres as standard] or pay money to roll the existing wings/arches
All to cover the rubber and be totally legal


I did neither
just kept the arches as they are
and I've had the 185s on now for 4 months
driven to Portugal and back, passed an MOT and not been pulled by the cops for those tyres.... ;D

Next thing was that it needed to be decked
Again much debate on the Sporting Fiats Forum about this
I suggested just cutting the springs
Glad that one of the more technical guys on that forum suggested NOT to do this
Uno springs are a weird thing with tapering coils that are all spaced different distances appart



So best way forward would be a set of TUV approved lowering springs
You can easily get -60mm or -35mm
Problem being that on FLeaBay these go for £90 to £120
No way could the BaNGeR BuDGeT stand for that
Sucata cars are meant to cost sub £250 . .
ALSO I wanted to go -60mm
BUT was informed on the Sporting FIATs forum that I would bottom out on so much as a house brick if I did that....
-60mm would also need shorter shocks [more expense!]
Not a good idea when driving all the way to Portugal and back, on possibly really rough roads

I'll have to stick to standard height and blow budget on those tyres or so I thought
THEN these came up on the FIAT Forum Classifieds

£25 for a brand new set of Apex -35mm Uno Mk2 springs
The guy had bought them new
He didn't know how to fit them himself
He couldn't afford to get someone else to fit them so stashed them away
Months later he sold his Uno
Then months after that he rediscovered the springs in his parents shed
No longer any use to him, so he sold them off CHeaP
BARGAIN ;D
Also he lived near my folks in the midlands, so no delivery costs either..

So when doing the suspension I chose to also use the virtually brand new rear shox off RED1


Went back to my local hire shop to get a spring compressor for a day



Later on I found a left over matt black B-B-Q paint rattle can
and used this to black-out the alloys
Its a curse word quality picture I know [below]
Taken at 5:20am waiting to get on the Ferry in Dover
But it kinda gives you an idea of the result of the -35 springs and 185/60s tyres just after they were fitted

As for the mention earlier about tyre costs...
I bought a set of four 185/65/13s off eBay from Ears Motorsport in Macclesfield for what I thought was a good price
BUT when I went to get them they stung me £40 for fitting/valves/balancing
As it was the the day before we set off for our BanGeR RaLLy I had little choice but to just swallow hard and pay the price......
always read the small print in eBay LiSTinGs huh

OK Day one of our BanGeR RaLLy
Rouen to La Rochelle
Meant we could visit.........

love the insulation tape idea! altho i hate artists who come up with these ideas and get paid for it...fuckers haha but the car is looking kool with the white and blue

You'll love this bit then
The floor that was done in insulation tape for the Tate Liverpool Exhibition was actually done by the Museum Staff

Apparently the 'Artist' came up with the idea
and then simply issues an instruction booklet of how to do the design on the floor of any gallery.
With the simple instruction to choose the colours randomly yourself...
from a preselected group of colours the 'Artist' has listed in the booklet
Oh if only I could get paid to do stuff like that

not very impressed at ur parkinsons disease style painting on the boot! uv got it all over the rubber window strip lmao

i like the photos when ur moving! il hav to tell the mrs to strt doin stuff like tht cos shes an artist haha

Sucata Run Day Three

Vitoria-Gasteiz to Salamanca by 2pm

View of Team Panda Power in front of us on a very long highway in Spain



Overtaking Team Panda Power



COOL tunnels




HOT in Salamanca



Saw a cool wedding car in Salamanca



Then another one