I did it again ... this time it's a 1972 Lancia Fulvia Coupe

[Cees Klumper]

This popped up on Los Angeles Craigslist a few days ago and I just could not resist - one of my all-time favorite elegant cars, rare in Europe and rarer still in the US. It needs a lot of work, body as well as mechanical and interior, but it's basically all there and in decent shape. 5-speed, narrow-V 4 cylinder 1,298 cc and around 1,000 kg, 'quick and nimble'. Well it should be once I finish the restoration, hopefully in the next year. Parts are scarce!

[Jordan]

Cees, I picked up mine last August from a guy that was moving back to Scotland.  Mine is a '69.  I am getting it repainted back to its original Jamaica Blue and restoring the interior.  Hopefully by the fall.  Most parts can be had in the UK and Italy.

[Benz Dr.]

Kind of looks like a Alfa-Romeo  GTV.

[Garry]

You used to see them occasionally here in Australia.  Cool little car but had a bad reputation for rust here even though we dont use salt on our road.


Nice buy Cees

[Cees Klumper]

Yeah Dan, my very first car ever actually was an Alfa Romeo 1750 GTV, great little car. Paid $300 for it when it was only maybe 10 years old. Nowadays they go for tens of thousands of course.

Actually I just hit a snag on the transaction: the seller realized the title has a transposition error in the VIN ('63' instead of '36'). Title is from New Jersey - bills of sale from dealer (with the incorrect VIN) to 'my' seller. I went to the DMV to ask how this would play out, but at 3.30 PM they were already closing down for new 'walk ups'. Appointments are apparently months into the future. I am not too optimistic about this as these kinds of bureaucratic issues can become a headache (as I think we saw with a recent thread here, of someone trying to import a Pagoda into France from Ireland, with paperwork issues). They might say the car needs to go back to New Jersey to have them correct their title before California will get involved. Who knows. I think I will ask the seller to sort all of this out first, I have no appetite to spend hours and hours in line with the DMV, only to get non-committal information.

[MikeSimon]

There was a "Wheelers and Dealers" (not my favorite) episode a while ago where they flipped one of these. Did some minor resto and repaint. Looked quite cool at the end.
Regarding the Alfa GTV, there was a pristine one in racing trim at the Vintage Grand Prix at Mid-Ohio two weeks ago. I talked to the proprietor. 40k could not have bought it.

[Benz Dr.]

There was a "Wheelers and Dealers" (not my favorite) episode a while ago where they flipped one of these. Did some minor resto and repaint. Looked quite cool at the end.
Regarding the Alfa GTV, there was a pristine one in racing trim at the Vintage Grand Prix at Mid-Ohio two weeks ago. I talked to the proprietor. 40k could not have bought it.

Wow.  I remember a time when you could barely get a bid on one. Most of them were fixed up but still rough cars.

[Peter van Es]

- one of my all-time favorite elegant cars, rare in Europe and rarer still in the US

I'm not surprised. The roofline and thin A and B pillars have some similarity to a Pagoda with hardtop. By the way, I would love to own one too...

Peter

[PSB]

Hi Cees ,

Great cars , good luck . Rust can be an issue .
There are always a handful for sale in portugal ( just checked a few listed now)mostly in the 20k euro range .  Spares are also frequently  advertised here as often  these cars were parted out rather restored but prices started to go up in recent years .
So if you see any spares down this way and need any help with contacts or language let me know.

Regards
Pedro

[Raymond]

When I bought my Pagoda and had it shipped from Washington state to Florida, the Washington title and registration actually listed the serial number as 280SL- other numbers similar to the VIN.  I took the car to our local Tax Collector's office.  The fellow came out and looked at the car, read the number off of the plate and changed it to the correct number when issuing the new title.  It was not a big deal and that's a bigger difference than your transposition.  New Jersey must have seen mistakes before.  The seller should, for a small fee, be able to get his DMV to fix it.  Good luck!

[Cees Klumper]

Many thanks Pedro, for the kind offer of assistance with finding parts. I will gladly take you up on it once I figure out what I need. Most obvious for now are two correct front seats (it has one non-original driver's seat now).

@ Ray, yes, I think it you are right, that it should be ok when I present the car to the DMV here, it is clearly a simple transposition. Moreover, I can show the inspector that these cars' prefixes always started with the VIN on the car, never with the prefix that is on the title.
The seller meanwhile is working with who he bought the car from, to try and get this rectified that way, but in the meantime I agreed with him I am buying it irrespectively - so it's my gamble now but I am confident this will be sorted out one way or another. Worst case scenario I will need to take it back to New Jersey to get the title corrected - a cross-country road trip with my son (21), that he is already looking forward to (me too)!

Here's a few more pictures:

[hauser]

One recently sold on BAT for 25K.

[JamesL]

Cees,
You are not alone. Lovey cars and this one is v nice > https://www.ddk-online.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?f=43&t=66866

[Cees Klumper]

Thanks James, that one is nice indeed.
Funny thing is my car has those same steel wheels that the owner in the linked thread immediately replaced. I am looking at doing the same.
Meanwhile I sourced two seats. These are not correct for the car, but at least they are black leather Lancia seats in great condition, from a '79-'84 Lancia Beta, that I think will look o.k. Longer term, I plan to take this car to France where spares are more plentiful, and I hope to be able to source two original seats and sell these. There are reproductions of the original seats available, but those are offered here in the US for a bit shy of $4K. I'd rather have originals.
The car is being transported to me from Santa Monica to our house here in Long Beach tomorrow afternoon. Can't wait!

[WRe]

Wheeler Dealers Lancia Fulvia: https://www.dplay.co.uk/show/wheeler-dealers/video/1972-lancia-fulvia/EHD_178267C.
...WRe

[Jordan]

Cees, finally had some time to sit down and put this together.  Here are a number of suppliers for parts:

In the US, https://www.lalancia.com/

In the UK, https://www.omicron.uk.com/parts/fulvia/  This one you need to e-mail for prices.  They will often have new or used parts that can't be had anywhere else.

In Italy, https://www.elvezio.com/it/lancia/lancia-fulvia-coupe.html, https://www.oldlanciaspares.com/fulvia/carrozzeria.php, https://www.ricambilanciafulvia.it/en/76-accessories-body-lancia-fulvia, http://www.cicognaniguarnizioni.it/Lancia-132/fulvia-coupe.-132-g70

In France, https://www.pieces-fulvia.com/spares-fulvia-1300.htm

You really need to shop around as prices can vary quite a bit fom one supplier to another.  From Italy I have ordered from the first and third one as well as the one in France and the UK.  The last one listed in Italy makes most of the rubber gaskets and seals and supplies the other suppliers but is not always the cheapest oddly enough.

Two forums to look at are:

http://lancisti.net/index.php?login/&url=http%3A%2F%2Flancisti.net%2F and
http://www.lancia.myzen.co.uk/forum/index.php?PHPSESSID=ukfkfkef39huju7fr2sahthnp1&board=10.0

The first one seems to be more active but either will generally get you a response if you have a question or problem to sort out.

Good luck with your purchase.  Lots of fun to drive.

[Cees Klumper]

Many thanks for all this valuable information Marcus!
The car arrived yesterday. Started tearing it down a few hours ago. There's a lot to do. It seems the car was imported from Sweden some time ago, as there are stickers in Swedish on some of the controls (e.g. on the lights and wiper stalks), a Swedish make fire extinguisher, and a Bosch wiper fluid bag with Swedish text. Would love to know the history of the car, but there was 0 paperwork with it. It was repainted it seems once in its life. Someone had a go at making it driveable again recently, as there are new tires, brake hoses, coolant hoses and also the coolant and brake fluids are fresh, according to my little test strips. But, just about everything else needs attention. The plan is to take out the engine, tear it down to check all key components and also replace all gaskets (oil leaks ....), inspect all other components such as starter, generator, suspension, brakes, wiring, do the necessary bodywork, and repaint in original color, within the next 9 months, so it can be back on the road end of Q1 2021. We'll see. I will do the repaint myself here in my garage.
I like the access to everything and the relatively straightforward construction and mechanicals. The seller had purchased a reprint factory shop manual and, combined with the help from the communities you pointed me to, I should be able to work it all out. Yesterday I started the engine and it does run, but not too well. This morning I already saw the intake manifold rubber gasket is torn, so false air is coming in - no wonder it doesn't run right. Also the engine and ignition timing may be off. Well, to be continued.

[Jordan]

The engine will come out with the front axle.  There is a rebuild thread in the forum from the first link I posted.

Are you sanding it down to bare metal for the repaint?  The original colour should be evident when you remove the dash or the door cards.  That is how I found mine.  Or if you are lucky there will be a colour code in the glove box.  My interior was in pretty rough shape so I'm in the process of replacing it.  You should be able to find just about everything you might need.  There are a number of other suppliers in Italy but some don't have much of a selection.

[Cees Klumper]

Thanks again - there is in fact a label with the color code in the glovebox, it's hard to read but now I am extra-motivated to figure that out.
According to the shop manual the engine can also be removed from the top, unbolted from the subframe + transmission, which is how I am going to attemt it first. Already took off the carburetors and intake manifolds. Fun to work on for sure.

[Cees Klumper]

Update on the Fulvia project. The original color is in fact Rosso Corsa (racing red).
I took out the engine from below, complete with the subframe, and complete drivetrain (it's front wheel drive and essentially everything bolts onto the subframe).
Have proceeded to take everything apart and it's now mostly a pile of metal parts waiting to go to the powdercoater's. Only thing left to disassemble are the driveshafts from the hubs. They are secured with a large proprietary nut for which I have fashioned a socket, by grinding down a 35 mm one, but I need a large impact gun to pursuade it loose. Transmission is out and am working on that, taking off a few pounds of accumulated grease from over the years. The subframe had been reinforced by a PO on the left side, and on the right had a crack in it that I have addressed by cutting and shaping some 16 gauge metal plates to size and welding them on (yes, I bought a MIG welder at Harbor Freight and have started to teach myselfm it's going ok but will require more practice before getting into the sheet metal). Yesterday I welded up a small crack in the otherwise in-good-shape exhaust system - $450 saved for the time being. I dressed up the brake calipers, the rears will need new seals and cups but the front ones had already been rebuilt recently by a PO.  I have dropped the rear axle but, in order to remove it, will need to either buy or make another special large socket to remove the brake discs so I can get to the handbrake mechanism.
Lots of work to do, but it's progressing well, and I am enjoying it!

[Cees Klumper]

The 'divorce' (opposite of what we call when the engine and chassis are mated together)

[Cees Klumper]

Here's a link to the ongoing project on the Lancia forums in case anyone is interested:

http://lancisti.net/wbb/index.php?thread/11303-1972-fulvia-coupe-in-long-beach-ca-restoration-thread/

Some more photos of what I've done so far / am up against (rust - no worries, I am confident I will tackle it just fine):

[zak]

Wow very impressive Cees. Lancia's are very well engineered cars and always ahead of their time with their engines, suspensions and handling.
Good article on the Lancia big six cyl coupes in this months Classic and Sports Car mag.
I recall seeing many Fulvias bombing around Italy back in 83/84/85.
I dated a girl in college named Fulvia too.

jz

[Cees Klumper]

Thanks for the encouragement. Some more pictures, tackling the body issues one area at a time. Driver's front side almost done (except the fenders, have repair panels coming in for all four corners from France that I will need to cut and weld in place carefully - the job I dread doing the most) - the passenger side is in similar shape:

[franjo_66]

That's great commitment from you Cees !
Nice to see that another unique car will be back on the road soon 

[Cees Klumper]

Today's progress - repair a section of sill that has rusted through in various places. 'Before, during and after pics':

[Cees Klumper]

more:

[Cees Klumper]

Making good progress, I figure I am about halfway this complete restoration. I welded in the driver's side fenders (my biggest apprehension, as I have never done this type of work before) and it came out very well. Rebuilt brake master cylinder, lots of chassis parts cleaning recoating, R&R'd the fuel tank, radiator and heater core, and did lots more bodywork/rust repairs. Primers & fillers, paint booth filters, sandpapers, sanding blocks, compressor, extra air tank, paint guns, mixing board - all is in and I am starting to think about the painting prepwork, and getting the original 'rosso corsa' paint mixed. Hopefully in another month or two I will have painted the car, and can start putting it all back together. I also found a nice set of alloy wheels that should fill out the wider wheel wells nicely, with some spacers.

[Leester]

Nice work!! Will be a beautiful car when finished.

[Cees Klumper]

A lot of work has happened since my last update, almost a year ago. Not as much as planned, surprise surprise, but that was also due to taking on several other cars: my 411 Volkswagen, that I restored and repainted in the meantime (see other thread on that, soon to go onto BAT) and my son's Datsun 240Z which needed some rust repairs and mechanical issues to sort. That, and other projects such as replacing the cylinder heads on my '90 Bronco II, the roof liner on our modern Volvo C70, and our house's underground sprinkler system that had developed a serious leak. And we spent two months in France this summer.

Anyway, I am back on the Fulvia and since returning from France 3 weeks ago, have completely cleaned, wirebrushed, rust-repaired and coated the underside (first two coats of epoxy primer, then 3M rubberized undercoating):

 

[Cees Klumper]

Next projects were the trunk/boot and the engine compartment. Same process, but finish coat for the engine compartment is in the new color (well actually the original color, Rosso Corsa):

[Cees Klumper]

Last week rebuilt the rear brake calipers. All 4 pistons were stuck and it took a lot of manipulation and compressed air to get them out. But inside they were in good shape, so after some polishing with 3000 grit and new seals, they move as they should once again.

All four calipers have now been rebuilt, and I am replacing all brake lines and hoses. So far I tallied over $10K in parts purchases alone:

 

[Cees Klumper]

This weekend it's the cabin's turn for a recoating. Hours of wire wheeling, manual sanding, vacuuming, degreasing and then two coats of epoxy primer/sealer, to be followed today with seam sealer where needed, and then a coat of the Rosso Corsa. Once that is fully cured (I'll give it a month at least) will spray the chassis cavities with rust preventer, then cover it all up with Eastwood's version of Dynamat for heat and sound insulation:

With as light as the car is, I am happy with its exceptional rigidity. No discernable flex whatsoever when I lift the body at any single point. I did weld the inner to the outer fenders, when from factory they are only seam sealed together, which does make a difference.

[kampala]

Cees

Very nice!  You get stuff done - that’s for sure. 

[Cees Klumper]

Thanks Aslam! You must be either in France or an early riser ...

Last week I expanded the filtration system of my makeshift paintbooth by about 50%, it now covers one entire side. It 'breathes' easier now and with the overspray that's never a bad thing:

[kampala]

Early Riser.   In LA.  Want to see the action in the flesh.  Lunch on me this time. 

[Bonnyboy]

Very nice - something satisfying about seeing vice grips holding metal in place getting ready for welding.  Its like a new beginning.

[Cees Klumper]

This is what I am going for, sans the matte black parts. A tribute to the 'Monte Carlo' version that was in turn a tribute to the Fulvia's wins in this rally classic. And a nice review of the model in Hemmings, 2005:

https://www.hemmings.com/stories/article/1963-76-lancia-fulvia

Lunch anytime Aslam, it's a date!

By the way if anyone knows of a garage space available for when my wife and I move back onto our boat in Marina del Rey / Venice in about a year's time, so I can continue this hobby, would much appreciate any leads. There are hundreds of thousands of garages around but I can't find one for rent (other than for 'strictly parking').

[Cees Klumper]

And the color is now on - two coats of single stage urethane, $230 for the gallon kit from TCP Global Corporation (a gallon of paint plus a quart of hardener):

[Cees Klumper]

Have made good progress on the body in the past few weeks. After having first done the painting preparations on the hood, doors and trunk lid (all aluminum just like on the Pagoda) I moved onto the body. Ran into a couple of issues here and there (holes in the front valance that a PO had made to mount fog lights, a couple small rust spots) so that slows down a bit, but I got it all taken care of. It seems the car was painted over maybe 3 times in its life, and that meant a lot of sanding with a DA with, eventually, successively finer grits.

Then last night it was finally ready for 2 coats of (white) epoxy primer and this morning I added 3 coats of (grey) urethane primer. Next will be block sanding that back with 320 grit on a variety of firm and soft blocks to reveal any highs and lows and I hope most will not require more than a thin skim of 2K glazing putty, which I had good success with on the doors.

I am slowly but surely figuring out the painting process. I decided to get me a decent paint gun, an Anest Iwata LPH400 with a 1.4 cap. It atomizes great with only 14-16 psi inlet pressure, it's LVLP (Low Volume Low Pressure) so my compressor keeps up fine.

 

[Cees Klumper]

The cosmetic correction work on the front valance:

[Cees Klumper]

And after glazing putty application.

I expect to be able to apply the actual paint within the week. Bit apprehensive, will practice a bit first ...

[Pawel66]

I have never had enough patience for these kinds of jobs...

[Cees Klumper]

But Pawel it's my hobby, so I can never wait to get back to it!  People are so different 

Before a couple of years ago, I did not understand why some guys would buy a basket case, restore it, then once it was done sell it and start all over. Now I have been bitten by that same bug ...

[Pawel66]

Nice bug to be bitten by!
I can do all kinds of jobs on the car, not always correctly, but I enjoy it. But this kind of job - you do the preparatory work that is an exercise to patience, you think you got it ok, you apply primer and you see what you did... and have to do it again. And again... chassis work is not for me, I guess.

[kampala]

Cees,

I bet it's great to see it all in one color.  I know that was a big milestone for me.   However, once in one color, you will find the subtle lows/highs that were not easy to spot.   Since I have seen your work-in-progress in the flesh, I can say --- amazing job!

You will be glad you did different color epoxy vs the sanding primer.   Use that guide coat and  have at it.  Like you, I loved this stage.

[Cees Klumper]

Hi Aslam - yes, great to see the transformation from old to new ... indeed very practical to have the epoxy in a different color from the primer, let's me know when it's time to stop sanding and start filling the lows. Got about 2/3 of the car done today, meaning block sanding, identifying the final correction spots and filling those, then sanding back down the filler. I will need to apply some more primer to the fenders and sand that back again, and that should be it. I had to order additional primer and reducer today and if that arrives in time I should be able to apply the topcoat on Friday or latest the weekend.

[Cees Klumper]

Started applying the actual paint today. I decided to only do the trunk lid, so if something went wrong I could correct it relatively easily. Fortunately all went well, and the panel is curing as I type this. Over the past few days I made sure everything was dead-flat: 3 coats of urethane primer, sanded back, lows filled in with 2K glazing putty, recoat with primer, sand back again with 320 grit, address just a couple final spots, then sand with 400 grit, clean, degrease, wipe with tack rag, and after building the positive pressure paint booth back up (plastic sheeting) onto the single-stage 'tractor red'. Tomorrow will paint the doors and the hood, then once that's cured will paint the body:

[Jonny B]

Looking good!!

[hauser]

Nice job!

[Bonnyboy]

Awesome work - I am jealous that you have the time to play.   I admire the work you have done.  Well done.

Back when I had just got out of University and went and got married (early 90's) a buddy of mine had a neighbor with a back yard full of Italian cars.  The neighbor had passed away and the widow asked my buddy and his bother if he or his friends would like any of the cars before she had them towed away.     

There was a Lancia Fulvia in need of rust repairs,  a relatively new 4wd Lancia Delta that rolled and was missing the windows (but had a roll cage) and a pristine Alfa Guilia (4 door).   All free for the taking.    Damn I wish I had storage space then.   The Alfa ended up sitting in his parents back yard for 4-5 years and finally he gave it away.    I don't know why but I wasn't interested in any of them at the time.   Fast forward 30 years and what would I give for any of them.    Especially that 4wd Delta.  I'm sure I could have straightened it out / painted it white with a few stripes..... 

[Cees Klumper]

Yes Ian, we probably all have memories of cars now very desirable that we could have bought way back when. I had a Alfa GTV 1750, my very first car, that I bought for the princely sum of $250 when it was less than 10 years old (already leaked a lot of oil though).

Well I just spray painted the shell - armed with more tips from a member of the Lancia forums and my extensive experience, having painted the Volkswagen 411 earlier this year and then the various Fulvia parts where I made a few mistakes, I managed somehow to avoid those and I am looking at an almost perfect paint job 'straight out of the gun' now curing slowly. I ended up using the entire 5 quarts of Tractor Red paint on this little car, so it's definitely enough. I have just a few small runs but those I should be able to remove relatively easily. I have 3M's 'one-step' system for wetsanding and polishing on the way, so after some more elbow grease I expect to have a really, really nice result. All in all in materials (paint, primer, reducers, sandpaper, masking paper and tape) I spent about $500:

[Garry]

Great job Cees. Nice colour.
 I just love that model of the Lancia.

[Cees Klumper]

Since the paint went on I've enjoyed the 'cleaner' jobs of installing many new parts, mainly all light fixtures, grill and various other assorted bits. Also got the  front and rear winscreens back in place and dismantled the entire engine. I checked and measured everything against the technical data specifictations and earlier this week ordered all the engine parts I need from a supplier in France - they are on their way. It does not need much: new valves/springs/guides, connecting rod bearings, oil pump, piston rings but the pistons themselves, still standard spec, are in great shape and so are the bores, the crankshaft and the main bearings. Also installed all the trim, the rear side windows and window seals. I did have 3 head bolts shear off and had to get those drilled out by a specialized machine shop.
It's coming along well, I have still a lot of jobs to do but there is light at the end of the tunnel for sure. Getting the paint on so well was a big milestone.
Also had the magnesium wheels straigthened and powdercoated. One of the photos is just to get an idea of what it will look like once done.

[Cees Klumper]

Some more pics:

[114015]

Absolutely awesome, Cees!

[DaveB]

That's high-quality work on a neat-looking car. I like the faux woodgrain dash!

[Cees Klumper]

Picking up the engine rebuild parts tomorrow. Meanwhile have been addressing the many smaller jobs that need doing, like removing surface rust off the many suspension components and then repainting in 2K satin black, fitting new bushings, ball joints, CV axle boots and so on. Refitting the doors and the door-related mechanisms, locks etc. This coming weekend I hope to pass a milestone, which is to get the car back on its wheels - fitting the rear axle, springs, shocks, brakes etc etc, many components new:

[Pinder]

Cees you mentioned tracker paint. what type of paint system is that. is it enamel or single Stage AU ? does it need any catalyst? Really nice work you do.

[Cees Klumper]

Thanks Pinder!

The paint I used for my 4 cars is single-stage urethane from TCP Global. I get the gallon-kit which comes with an additional quart of hardener - so the mix ratio is 4:1. I usually add reducer, around 10-15%.

Here's their webpage. There's other suppliers out there but I have been very pleased with this paint:

https://tcpglobal.com/pages/acrylic-urethane-paint

[Pinder]

Nice.  get it from them too.  I like the fact I can order online.

[Cees Klumper]

The engine is back together, timed, with the head totally redone and everything else that was needed, including new piston rings. Plastigauged the bearings, measured the combustion chambers, the works.
Hopefully today the whole sub-frame assembly with the engine is going back into the car. On the home stretch:

[Peter van Es]

Looking really good...

[Cees Klumper]

Thanks Peter/

Much progress to report - had it not been for a defective fuel pump, I could have had the engine running for the first time since the rebuild yesterday. New pump on the way ($55 plus shipping from Atlanta) and today I wrapped up the electricals (all of the lights, fuel gauge, fan, warning lights, interior lights - so many electricals on a car!). Had to troubleshoot here and there, fix grounds, install new bulbs and so on, but now everything works. Even the clock, that was not running when I got the car so I opened it up, cleaned and oiled it and so on, seems to be keeping good time now. Over the past few days I installed all new coolant hoses and fuel lines. Still some more work to go but it's almost there. Fingers crossed on that first start-up ...

[DaveB]

I see you got what I presume is a factory-correct body colour overspray on the underside, like the pagoda.
It would be great if you can film your startup, I'm sure it'll sound good. And will be a very engaging driving experience.
You might be sad to see it go, but you'll have a good profit as recompense.

[Cees Klumper]

Well heading for a bit of an anti-climactic pause to this adventure. We are moving back onto our boat at the end of June so I am losing my workspace/garage, and the Lancia is almost, but not quite, finished. I first ran into weeks of delay on the carburetors that were not functioning properly, so I had to rebuild them, get an ultrasonic cleaner for them, and so on. But once I sorted that out, the engine was not building oil pressure. So now I am looking into the cause of that - must be something really simple, but in any event it is looking exceedingly unlikely I will get that sorted in time to have the car inspected and titled/registered by DMV here in California. So yesterday I rented a garage in Santa Monica where I will store it until I can locate a new workspace (a friend and I are looking for one to start restoring cars for fun, around Culver City/Inglewood.

Meanwhile here a video of me cranking the engine and trying to prime the oil pump:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97ysYKjmCC8

Today I finished the second-to-last job on the car, installing the passenger side window regulator, window, doorcard and related hardware. Only thing left now is the front brake lines and hoses. Then off to the slumber lounge in Santa Monica ...

[neelyrc]

Cees,
Today the Mare-Monte Rally for pre 1991 cars and motorcycles was held here in Italy. The Rally runs from Chiavari on the sea to Bedonia in the Apennines near my home.  We watched the participants arrive and had the opportunity to look over the vehicles later.  There were two Lancia Fulvia coupes participating.  I only got a a picture of one, a 1968 model. 

Unfortunately there were no Pagoda participants, Mercedes being represented by a single 190SL and two 107s.

Enjoy!

[Cees Klumper]

Very nice Ralph, thamks for posting. Lovely Series 1 and in a nice color also.

[Pinder]

Really amazing quality of work.

[Cees Klumper]

Short update on the Lancia restoration - Saturday a week ago I moved the car to my new workshop/garage, where I am restoring the '61 Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint, in order to address the remaining couple of issues. The two most important ones being that the brake master cylinder was not building pressure despite me having fitted new seals (= bad), and no oil pressure on starting up the rebuilt engine (= also bad). It turned out the root cause was similar - both pumps had to be primed in a specific manner.
As for the brake cylinder, I took it all apart again, cleaned it with brake cleaner and then reassembled but with plenty of brake fluid inside the bore and on all the seals. Then bench bleeding, and this time it started to work. Installed it on the car, bled each of the four corners and ended up with a nice firm pedal. Job 1 done.
Turning to the oil pressure situation, I first disassembled the oil pump. This is mounted inside a housing at the front of the engine and it can be removed by jacking up the engine a few inches (of course, this requires removing two of the three engine / transmission mounts and some other items). To my surprise, the pump was bone dry - no oil whatsoever. I then dropped the oil pan to see if the pickup was properly sealed against the bottom of the engine block (or the pump would be sucking up air), but that was all good. Following a tip from who I bought the Lancia (as well as the Alfa) from (and the owner of the garage/workshop) I poured oil into a fitting on top of the engine that, according to the workshop manual, routes straight into the pressure side of the oil pump. After verifying that indeed the oil was reaching the pump, so there was no obstruction inside the engine that could cause problems, I poured in about a quart of oil, then filled the crankcase until the dipstick showed 'full'. This afternoon, after installing a new torque starter (1.8 HP) to replace the rather worn out original Bosch unit (0.8 HP) I hooked up an oil pressure test gauge to the engine and after some cranking the gauge returned a very healthy 35 PSI of pressure. I could also see plenty of oil was making it to the top of the engine, on the camshafts etc.
So now that the two most important remaining issues have been resolved, it's onto a few minor remaining niggles, putting in fresh fuel and starting to enjoy!
When I get to that stage (still need to finalize the California registration process) I will take some more pictures and post some driving videos. Can't wait, the entire restoration has taken about 18 months if I don't count the '21 and '22 summers we spent in France.

[Cees Klumper]

First start yesterday, today hopefully finetuning the carburetors (synchronizing/idle/mixture). First 'drive' was out of the garage, reverse back into it with the tail pipe out the door so we can tune it withoug suffocating:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5li5QDjABg

Almost done. New seat belts on the way from Germany.

[kampala]

Motor sounds great on the YouTube link.  Nice.

[Cees Klumper]

Thanks Kampala!

More fiddling this week with the carburetors, it's been a very long time since I had to deal with that technology. It turns out the new intake manifold came without a necessary notch for the throttle linkage, preventing the butterflies from closing sufficiently. I corrected that and this afternoon re-synced the two carbs, set the 4 individual mixture screws and the overall idle. Now the engine runs very smooth and revs happily:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VO-d0JxJt8&t=13s

[Cees Klumper]

Finally got the car inspected by the local DMV and CHP (California Highway Patrol) - since it carried a New Jersey title, with an incorrect VIN to boot (transposition error: 818.360 instead of 818.630) it had to go through a lot of scrutiny. But, this afternoon, I received registration and license plates, so now it's off to the races, I can finally start enjoying! I've covered about 80 km driving to and from the DMV and CHP on one-day operating permits and through it all, negotiating Los Angeles traffic, it's been driving great, pulling strong, shifting well, braking well, keeping good coolant temperature and absorbing the road bumps. All in all a joy to drive. It does need a front-end alignment, since I had it all apart and replaced most of the suspension and steering components but once that is done I will look for some of those famous canyons around LA ...
Now I can re-focus my attention on the '61 Giulietta Sprint.

[rwmastel]

It does need a front-end alignment, since I had it all apart and replaced most of the suspension and steering components but once that is done I will look for some of those famous canyons around LA ...

https://media.giphy.com/media/VIfE4DE7vY49i/giphy.gif

[Cees Klumper]

Quick pic: