1974 Fiat 128 Sedan for the Bride of Burrito.

In reply to Burrito:

Back when I was actively writing articles for GRM, I did a long piece on the 128. Got a bunch of 128 guys together at PIR for a photo shoot. Some of the raw photos can be found here. Thought maybe some of the photos would prove helpful.

http://subrew.com/library/fiat/index.html

My 1,500cc Yugo is at the bottom. Big valve head, twin 36DCNFs, 30/70 cam, headers etc. I had that car from roughly 1992 til 2004. It sold to a GRM person from Arizona. Never heard from it since.

Also, some shots from one of the ORFiat events years ago. Literally the week I bought the 128, so it was a bit cluttered and dirty in these photos. I simply threw on the 13x7 Panasports with oldish 215/50-13 Kumho V710 I had laying around. Grabbed 2nd overall, less than a second behind the red GP X1/9 on Penskes.

http://subrew.com/library/fiat2006/index.html

And a few more photos after cleaning it up, and running in various TT and race events in NorCal.

http://subrew.com/library/brick/index.html

ssswitch wrote: An 80s Fiat Panda 4x4 should be legal for import to the US by now, shouldn't it?

I didn't need to know that.

Got the parts all cleaned up and coated in my favorite faux Cast Iron powder.

And installed on the passenger side, but not before a quick lick of primer to protect the bare metal.

very nice.

could the FP issue be due to junk from the tank gumming it up?

bluej wrote: very nice. could the FP issue be due to junk from the tank gumming it up?

That's my assumption. The tank pretty much drains directly into the fuel pump, so all of the heavier deposits have a straight shot at the fuel pump inlet. For now, to test this theory, I'm just going to put a 100 or 200 micron fuel filter with a large bowl between the tank and pump and see what happens.

The carbureted rabbit pickup I drove through high school ate a cheap Facet fuel pump every 2 months or so until I put a pre-filter in line. Hopefully the same will be true for this thing.

Ok I like the camber adjustment top you've made I just have one concern about the strut tower. You know as well as I, or anyone who has played with a fiat before, the metal is not the strongest or the most rust resistant out there. Since now that there is a solid connection on top and streets are a whole lot bumpier than a race track. I'm a little concerned that the metal on the tower will tear if you hit a good sized pothole. Have you thought about welding some more support on the top and sides?

In reply to brad131a4:

I'm honestly hoping to avoid that, and here's why:

The stock strut mount still resides in its original location, right? As far as I've been able to work out (keeping in mind I'm no engineer and it took two tries for me to pass a 200 level physics course), the forces being placed on the strut tower are the same as they were in stock configuration. The strut mount was being pushed up, now it's being pulled up, but the force is still going up. Right?

I have arguably weakened the strut tower with the litany of holes and by removing the small lip on the topside. The holes will be filled back in soon enough, so they should be a non-issue. It would take some work, but I could reestablish the lip going down instead of up. However, I don't think it would be worth the work. The best bang for my buck would probably be a small fishplate that mounts between the lower strut mount piece and the bottom of the strut tower (it would fit just inside the faint circle you see in the picture above).

I can absolutely be dead wrong though. Any engineering types care to chime in?

If I am viewing it correctly, the forces were spread out a bigger area before. Now all the force is spread on however big the bolt heads are. I cant really see the underside, but maybe place a ring underneath to spread the force more evenly.

Great build by the way!

I think I'd skin another layer of steel over the area, and down a ways into the shock tower. That's how dodge did the front strut towers on my acr, and neons aren't known for cracking there.

Another layer on the circle there would be ideal, as you are now putting the weight of the car through that little triangle. the holes should have no effect.

I've got to chime in and say I think this looks great as is. What we have is sheet metal that has had the rolled edge of a circle removed, but reinforcing this area, the stock ring, and what, a 1/8 or 3/16 plate on top? My opinion is another plate welded to the same thin sheet metal would be exactly as strong as that sheet metal. Now, wrapping the tower would strengthen it, but I wonder if it is needed. Please take this 2 cent opinion for its full street value.

If strengthening were needed, again, in my opinion, a plate mimicking the top hat's thickness for the bottom should be more then adequate.

Not to mention, there is a strut tower brece in the works, yes?

In reply to wheelsmithy:

Think of the compression loading, the car is suspended by those 3 bolts, the plate on top has no effect on tower strength, nor does a strut brace (in that direction).

Definitely no interest in a p'ing contest, but the ring has rolled edges strengthening it considerably. If in doubt, overbuild is fair enough in my book. Not my car, haven't seen the parts in question. Cheers!

Looks a little sketchy to me...probably is not going to last more than 10-15 years.

No pissing contest here, just an engineering discussion. Yes the edges are rolled, which do make that plate stronger (it was the stock part after all), but that's not my concern. My, and I understand it, Burrito's, concern is the that plate is what the car "sits" on. Every time you hit a bump you're hammering that triangular plate against the bottom of the strut tower, and we've upped the shock loading there considerably with the spherical bearings (rather than a mount full of rubber), stiffer shocks and stiffer springs. Thus the top part of the strut tower will flex more(up and down), possibly enough to lead to stress cracks and failure. Which is why I support the proposed circular fish plate covering the area the E30 mount covered.

You can rarely go wrong making a chassis stiffer.

Kenny_McCormic wrote: You can rarely go wrong making a chassis stiffer.

Agreed.

Well, that pretty much settles it. A small fishplate on the bottom side of the strut tower. Probably 16-18ga, depending on what I can dig out of the scrap bin. Easy enough.

I put a filter inline between the tank and the pump late last week (just before leaving town for the weekend) and as soon as I hit the key all of the ancient cloth covered fuel line began leaking like a sieve. I'm guessing the 10% ethanol blend ate it up from the inside out. In order to replace all of the old lines, I have to drop the tank. So, I got up a few hours early today and hit the shop before work this morning.

So, while it's out we will do all new soft lines, fix or replace the fuel level sender, and paint the outside of the tank. I will possibly flush the tank with muriatic acid and hot water, but that depends on what I find inside the tank this afternoon.

At least you figured it out now. Out of all the ways for a fuel line to fail that was probably one of the safest.

The sender might just be gunked up with garbage if it's the rheostat-and-a-float kind. A pencil eraser works better than you'd expect for cleaning the contacts.

Burrito wrote: Well, that pretty much settles it. A small fishplate on the bottom side of the strut tower. Probably 16-18ga, depending on what I can dig out of the scrap bin. Easy enough.

Me and the Molvo thank you. An obvious solution to a design issue that had eluded me until you mentioned the word "fishplate".

In reply to NOHOME:

Awesome. Glad to help. I'm $63.47 an hour and have a 2 hour minimum. Please remit payment at your earliest convenience...

Nothing exciting happened tonight, just played with the gastank situation and fixed my multimeter.

The wiring for the fuel level gauge and dummy light are good (both work work when grounded), which means the sending unit itself was the issue. I tried the eraser trick that ssswitch mentioned above, but it wasn't enough to cut through the detritus on the carbon sweep. A little red scotchbrite fixed it right up in the end, though. It took a little fiddling and a lot or cleaning, but both the fuel level gauge and dummy light work when I move the float through its range of motion. Good news considering I couldn't find a new sensor for sale.

After that I moved onto the tank. It's surprisingly rust free on the inside, but there's a pretty good layer of varnish in places.

Whatever is in there turns to dust when it dries. After drumming on the tank for a few minutes and shaking it over my head like Brendan Fraser in Encino Man, I managed to free a decently sized lump.

I guess tomorrow I will fetch all of the necessary stuff to clean/etch the inside of the tank, some more 5/16" fuel line, and some wee little hose clamps.

ewwwwww......

I would mount the thing in a rotisserie or something that spun it. Load a bunch of chain inside with some TSP or Vinegar and spin it till clean. The consensus is that Muratic will be too aggressive and leave the tank prone to flash rusting unless you immediate seal the inside.

You could do an experiment with the crud you have to see what dissolves it.

Burrito said: Whatever is in there turns to dust when it dries. After drumming on the tank for a few minutes and shaking it over my head like Brendan Fraser in Encino Man, I managed to free a decently sized lump.

I also would have accepted Sand People.

*This is one of my favorite build threads!

NOHOME wrote: I would mount the thing in a rotisserie or something that spun it. Load a bunch of chain inside with some TSP or Vinegar and spin it till clean. The consensus is that Muratic will be too aggressive and leave the tank prone to flash rusting unless you immediate seal the inside. You could do an experiment with the crud you have to see what dissolves it.

Oddly enough I had a dream last night where I cleaned the tank with CLR...

You'll never guess what I did this morning.

I bought a gallon of the stuff when I brought the Scirocco home and it's just been hanging out under the sink since then.

After a few minutes we had a fizzy brown cup of sludge.

I knocked as much of the loose powdery stuff loose and hit it with the blower on the shop vac before dumping in about a third of the gallon. I'll grab some large lock washers on my way home to give it some tooth.

Five minutes in and we've gone from this:

To this:

CLR works great, just don't spill it on your garage floor like I always do.

Turns out the "L" doesn't stand for "Lawesome."

Sorry the eraser didn't work out, I guess it was just too many years of gummed up crap. It's how I generally clean Subaru fuel sender rheostats.