My Second Fiat - The Runner

[stefhahn]

Jaime,

you don't need to remove the tank to get the second bumper shock out, you can lift it with a car jack while all lines stay in place, this worked for me.

ciao,
Stefan

[wachuko]

Jaime,

you don't need to remove the tank to get the second bumper shock out, you can lift it with a car jack while all lines stay in place, this worked for me.

ciao,
Stefan

Stefan,

I will give it a try. Thank you for the suggestion.

[FatherG]

Dear Stefan

Could you please give me more detailed information on how to remove the bumper shock with out removing the gas tank?

ciao,
Eugenio

[boogiedude]

I also wanna hear how to take out the shocks without removing the gas tank. I went to go have a look in my trunk to see how it would be possible and couldn't figure it out

[wachuko]

I was just removing the gas tank from the parts car (finally the last part to remove! all an empty shell now...), and I can't see how it would be possible to remove that bolt by lifting it with a jack without loosening the lines.

Anyway, beside emptying the tank, removing the tank is not a difficult task. A few lines, 4 - 13mm nuts, loosen the lines and voila!

I will remove the tank to tackle that bolt.

[wachuko]

I have been working on getting all the parts out of the parts car so I can dispose of the shell... but I had to do a little something to this one...

[boogiedude]

you should be able to get away with just taking off the filler hose at the base. The breather lines and in/out of the sender unit should have enough slack to let the tank lift and slide on the floor of the trunk. But those are all cake to take off/on. The real problem is the filler. Which is why I have my front bumpers off, and my rears still on

[stefhahn]

You can remove the tank, sure to be safe, Well, I did not want to remove the filler hose as I had still some fuel in the tank - and as the filler hose is made of rubber this will give you the flexibility to take a piece of wood on top of a car jack (something like this one http://www.ors-pulheim.de/picture/Wagenheber.jpg) and lift the tank high enough so that you can reach the bolt holding the damper.
I did not believe this works out - but it does.
ciao,
Stefan

[wachuko]

You can remove the tank, sure to be safe, Well, I did not want to remove the filler hose as I had still some fuel in the tank - and as the filler hose is made of rubber this will give you the flexibility to take a piece of wood on top of a car jack (something like this one http://www.ors-pulheim.de/picture/Wagenheber.jpg) and lift the tank high enough so that you can reach the bolt holding the damper.
I did not believe this works out - but it does.
ciao,
Stefan

OK, got it, the filler hose will flex enough to allow the tank to be raised to reach the bolt from under the tank. Just for the fun of it I will give it a try and post photos along the way. Thank you again Stefan.

[wachuko]

Also updated the first few posts with photos of the good, the bad, and the ugly. And updated the list of mods wanted.

[Europa]

Jaime, what did you do to clean up the car? Did you compound it? Or is it just polish/wax?

[wachuko]

Jaime, what did you do to clean up the car? Did you compound it? Or is it just polish/wax?

No man! That was just water and soap Polish and wax to be done next weekend!! I am lazy, I will fire up the orbital and be done with it quickly.



Reason why I was asking in another thread about the washers for the luggage rack (I will remove it to polish the car). Now that the car has no emblems it is the best time to polish it completely with all that out of the way.

[Europa]

No man! That was just water and soap Polish and wax to be done next weekend!! I am lazy, I will fire up the orbital and be done with it quickly.

WOW!

BTW, your convertible top looks different? Did you look into it? Is the frame OK? (Or, is it my eyes/picture?)

[amsiegel]

[quote="Europa"][quote="wachuko"]
No man! That was just water and soap Polish and wax to be done next weekend!! I am lazy, I will fire up the orbital and be done with it quickly.

Jamie

Your not lazy. I am thinking of dropping my car off at your house and letting loose on it for a few days.

The car looks great. Keep up the good work.

[wachuko]

No man! That was just water and soap Polish and wax to be done next weekend!! I am lazy, I will fire up the orbital and be done with it quickly.

WOW!

BTW, your convertible top looks different? Did you look into it? Is the frame OK? (Or, is it my eyes/picture?)

I have not had a chance to look at it well. Will know after next week. Plan this week is to get the engine back into shape. Basically looking if I can install the used aux shaft, seal the crack in the block, do the timing belt, plugs, oil, filters, etc. If not, out it comes and in goes the spare engine. I want it back on the road first and then will tackle interior and top.

I did notice that the front part of the parts car top is rusted in one corner (driver side). This is the front piece where the latches bolt to. So I hope that part at least is sound in this one...

After work I am also picking up a dash like this one (but with black rims):



The plan is to use the gauges since the ones in the car look like crap, and the ones in the parts car have that wavy sticker in the speedometer... and I really want a normal/round clock instead of the electronic one in the parts car... that 6 gauge cluster looks cool.

Another option is to use the best looking gauges from all three, put those in the '83 dash and remove the digital clock from the center console and replace it with the round clock... my head is spinning...

Here a lousy photoshop of what that would look like:



Seeing that the sheet metal is different means that there is a lot of work if I want to make the '83 setup work in this car. Not sure what I will end up doing. At this time the focus is getting the engine back in shape.