turbo124.com

Good stuff Gill.
Keep going with it. You've got 11 months to get it ready

Yes I've had issues with ball joints before.

When I was 18 I was showing off to a mate how fast my newly purchased 124 CC could go round a particular 55kph corner between Bathurst and Lithgow, and just on the apex of the corner (at 125kph) the out side lower ball joint snapped . The wheel then pivoted 90 degrees and jammed itself up into the guard sideways. The car then went into an uncontrollable slide but miraculously parked itself off the road and out of harms way.

The only damage was a totally shredded Pirelli p6 and a ruined Cromodora. Oh yes my ego was in tatters as well. The Torana loving fraternity at the power station where I worked laughed uncontrollably for weeks…bastards.

The Corner in question doesn’t exist any more because of the road upgrades but I still think about it whenever I past the spot.

So I always ensure the the suspension is spot on when I get an older car. Lesson learnt!

Power station people can be real teasers cant they!!!

You appear to have taken a huge bite into the CC, do you plan to have it a the Nationals 2010?

Yes I'm working hard to have it ready by the Nationals. There is no way I'm sitting on the fence and watching this time.

Hi,
your post on 1 of 5's 124 got me thinking on the rust in cmack124 and mine.
I removed a couple of cups of damp earth in the cavity in behind the bottom of the front guards.This gets in the gap between the wheel arch and inner front guard.Unfortunately the
40 year old seals dont anymore.
As the coupe has the guards pumped out further than the sedan there is a removable panel
that fills the gap.There are studs attached to the panel and held in by large washers and nuts.
There is a seal as well.This allows entry to this enclosed cavity.Some of the very last cc had
plastic liners.The nuts,washers are covered by under body seal.


Regards A.S.

If its no trouble could you please take a photo of how much the wheel's stick inside the guard the next time your working on it please.
The wheels look fantastic on the car

Thanks Jordan, When i get front end back on I'll take some photos. I'm just waiting on a set of Konis

Hi mack124,
The longer threaded tie rod ends were fitted to early 124 sedans and 124 ac coupes,with shorter length adjuster tubes.I think they also fitted 850's.Good to see the progress on the 124cc.

Regards A.S.

Thank for the FIATSPYNQ, It makes sense now. I'll check to see if they fit my sons sedan and if not I'll put then up for sale on the forum or on ebay or something.

Hi mack124,

I have checked the tie rods on my 124S sedan and they are the later short threaded ones.My compliance date is 12/70.Still check yours though as they may have been changed.
I have always fitted the later rod assys to my cars.

Regards A.S.

Great work mate, so this thing going to be at the Nationals or what?

Fantastic Gill. It's nice when you start seeing the progress isn't it!

looking very snazzy Gill, i see the shocks cleaned up nicely. Keep up the good work.

Yes the shocks came up well thanks fiat2nv for them.

fiatsk8r131, yes it'll be at the nationals even if I have to push it all the way

The biggest job now is to prepare the body for painting in the 1st two weeks of the Christmas school holidays then its just reassemble the interior and put the glass back in.

Oh I forgot the exhaust. I've gat a friend designs stainless steel mufflers and exhaust systems so I'm waiting on a "Mates Rates" quote at the moment. Interestingly enough I won’t be going for the usual 2" - 2 1/4" system that everyone seems to go for. I've been doing quite a lot of research on exhaust design and I’ve decided to keep the size down a bit. There seems to be absolutely no need for anything bigger than 1 7/8” for a four cylinder producing less than 150 hp. Mine would be lucky to make 135 hp so any bigger is just a waste and harder to keep quiet.

Gill keeping a Fiat quiet is a criminal act!
HTH

OK! Why didn't anyone tell me I had the stub axles on the WRONG SIDE!!!

Left hand thread right side- right hand thread left side. Correct?

Gee, I'll let any idiot work on my car won't I? Now I'm going to be paranoid and check everything to see if it's in the right spot...again.

The race is well and truly on then Mack

May I ask where you got the steering rods (between the tie rods) from? They look nice and shiny...

Just a quick update...IT'S BACK ON IT'S WHEELS

Great stuff mate! You'll be ready with time to spare at this rate.

Should of taken it out of the car park and up the road (if you get my drift ), as that section of road up there is quite fun!

Great work, can't wait to see this baby at the Nats.
btw is that a green 124 sedan I see in that pic?

I've started to remove the paint now. I've done the left hand side and the bonnet & Boot.
There are a few little blemishes that have been previously repaired and I think I’ll leave them except maybe for the front guard. Nothing too scary.

My only concern is that rust does not re-appear. I’ve been experimenting with different processes to stop rust but I’m not having much success. Both the Protec and the Septone products seem to get a rusty tinge faster than I can get an undercoat on.

I've now removed 99% of the paint. Just the sills and door jams etc.

The body has no nasty surprises so I'm extremely happy

just read your question about rust stop.

Have you tried the POR Metal Ready?. I just wipe it on with a rag - no more rust.

I pressed the wrong button....So more picys

I LOVE THE MUSTANG!

The Fiat had it's new Stainless Exhaust system fitted today.

They even got the shape of the tailpipe right

Finally I can here the webers. They were drownd out a bit before.

I'ts amazing how much better a car goes with a exhaust system that isn't full of holes.

Awesome stuff mate, looking foward to seeing her seeing her at the Nats, will the sedan be coming along as well?

Thanks sideways, Yes the sedan will be along as well. I'm also working on my brother, he has a 131 Panorama with a BC 124 engine in it. A bit of a sleeper actualy.

yer it should be good to see how the 132 gose, the new exhurst is in the form of a heap of mandrel bend, 2.1/4 pipe and 2 high flow straight through mufflers and the fiatorque extractors on the back seat. should all be welded up tomorow. but anyway nice work and id love to see this thing at the nats, should be awsome. keap up the good work mate.

I got to be honest I think those wheels suit that current color so bloody well I can't wait to see it finished Do you plan on lowering it?

Jordon, I'm hoping that the car lowers itself when all the bits and pieces are back in but I'm not holding my breath. It should settle though. I would like it lower than standard but I got scared off when everyone start going on about bump steer, and anyway with my ample body weight a bit more suspension travel will save the spine.

Ben-brt19x, The next performance thing on my list is a set of fiatorque extractors. I was lucky the guys at HiTech Mufflers took the time out from making exhausts for Ferraris and Porsches so they could do something interesting.

Just a quick update....Nothing seems to happening fast. Every time I go to do something constructive on the car I get side tracked by something. The latest is, when I put the 2ltr motor in, I didn't realise the sump was sitting on the cross member. (Explained a few funny noises though) To fix it I put slightly taller engine mounts in. This meant that the motor was sitting higher and consequently the air cleaner hits the bonnet in several places. So I decided to do a little relief work on the underside of the bonnet. So after a few days of hammering the crap out of the bonnet…it still didn’t fit, so I modified the mounting flange of the ram tubes. They are original 3.6 mm thick but they now taper from 3 mm to .75 mm from the back tube to the front tube. This slight angle as dropped the front of the air cleaner so that I’ve had to make a small recess in the timing belt cover to accommodate the snorkel bit of the air cleaner. So now the engine fits and doesn’t hit things when I stick my foot into it.

While I was machining the ram tubes I also decided to bore out the inside of the tubes to try and obtain a better taper and a smoother, more rolled entry for the air. I don’t know if it will improve air flow but it certainly shouldn’t make it worse…I hope.
I’ve found a couple of small rust holes that I hadn’t notice before. Mainly in the front and back window frames, but they have been fixed now.
So hopefully now, I can start to put some undercoat on and get the paint sorted. Here’s hoping

The body work is Done!!!
I'll let the primer harden up for a week and I'll top coat it next Tuesday or Wednesday.

Well done!! Couldn't agree more

An update on the Coupe, IT'S GOT NUMBER PLATES
Check the smile on the face


I think it might have to make a visit to Fiatorque though to get it running true,

Top stuff Gill looking forward to seeing it.

Well Done Gill you have earnt the smile.

Wow... nice work, well done

Thanks Guys,

The pictures do make it look slightly better than it is. There is still a few blemishes in the body work that I just didn't see when I was doing it and as soon as I got the clear coat on, all the bits I missed showed up.

Hopefully over the years to come I'll whittle a little bit more at it and get it all perfect. The next step it to either find some nice bumpers or have these ones reconditioned. Then I'll have a look at getting the interior fully reupholstered. (I’m thinking RED leather)

Gill - quick question, is the mustang's colour "highland green"?