Sport Coupe Restoration Thread:

[italisti]

Wow.. I am reeally glad to see that I am not the only one undergoing all the painstaking hours restoring my coupe... two major questions for thechadzone, what kind of dye did you use on the carpet? And how are you fitting BMW wheels on your car? You must be using adaptors right?

[Redline]

Just a small comment on a previous post I missed a few months back. Although the opinion comes from a very knowledgeable person, I personally would think 8" wheels are just too much for the Coupe. Yes, they'll fit (depending on ET) but really the Coupe doesn't need that much, unless you are developing lots of power. I also think 225s are too much tire. I have a set of 7x13 CD66 replicas sitting in my cellar, but so far I can't bring myself to put them on because I'm having too much fun on the "wide" 185/70-13 tires (stock was 165/80). I'm tempted to pass on the CD66s to someone else who really wants them for tarmac rallies and get a set of 6x13 Revolutions; they look spiritually similar to the optional wheels on the American coupes (I forget what the 4-spokes were called). However, the CD66s just look so sweet I may still use them with 205s.

[thechadzone]

There's been progress! I've finally been able to get the Sport Coupe out of my brother's garage and into a space that will be kept surgically clean. My brother's organizational skills are nearly non-existent, and that intersects poorly with his tendency to hoard things... Still, he was cool enough to help with the move. I was able to talk my dad into giving me some space in his warehouse. He's so partial to German cars, I'm blown away that he's let something Italian in there.

There's a 15 ft ceiling in there with a joist that will support the removal of the engine & trans. I'm pretty confident that my bro & I can wrestle it out that way, and finally get the engine on its stand.

Here it is coming out of it's year long slumber:

[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/thech ... .jpg[/img]
Fiat Sport Coupe Restoration Thread by thechadzone, on Flickr[/url]

The borrowed truck & dolly were perfect:

[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/thech ... .jpg[/img]
Fiat Sport Coupe Restoration Thread 2 by thechadzone, on Flickr[/url [b]Here it is in its new home:[/b] [ ... .jpg[/img]
Fiat Sport Coupe Restoration Thread 3 by thechadzone, on Flickr[/url]

After getting it settled in its new home, I made more progress on it's left front fender with some metal working hammers & dollys. Considering that I started with the scissor jack wedged between the inner fender well & the area behind the fender, I'd say it's coming along pretty well:

[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/thech ... .jpg[/img]
Fiat Sport Coupe Restoration Thread 4 by thechadzone, on Flickr[/url]

I live 110 miles from where this project is taking place, but my trips from Portland to Eugene, Oregon will be about twice monthly, and I'm still hell bent on getting this car on the road.

[brad131a4]

Wow does that bring back some memories. First car I bought with my own money was a 71 coupe with a 1608. $350 bucks because the owner thought the motor was bad because it would barely get out of its own way. Got it home and found out the bushings for the throttle bar going into the fire wall were gone. So the secondary didn't open. Rebuild the linkage to the carb and woohoo she was a screamer. Had ten in my life with 6 being the most at one time. Sure wish I had them now. Keep it up and good job.

[thechadzone]

Thanks Brad 131a4. I'll soon be beginning the best budget hot street build I can do. So far I have a dual carb set-up and Abarth cams for it. My next performance parts will be adjustable cam wheels and a header. It's motor seemed strong and smooth before it was taken off the road, and I'm hoping that I can get away without too much work after inspecting its bottom end.

It's free of any & all rust, it's all original, and it's not too banged up. I love this car!

[thechadzone]

The engine and trans are OUT! My brother, nephew and I made use of a come-a-long and a ceiling joist to getrdone. I never noticed that the tabs on the motor that facilitate its removal were missing, but I was able to incorporate a chain that I hooked onto the motor mounts, and that worked just fine.

My bro at the ready:
[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/thech ... .jpg[/img]
Fiat 124 Coupe Engine Removal 2 by thechadzone, on Flickr[/url]

On its way:

[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/thech ... .jpg[/img]
Fiat 124 Coupe Engine Removal 3 by thechadzone, on Flickr[/url]

OUT!

[ur
Fiat 124 Coupe Engine Removal 1 by thechadzone, on Flickrl][/url]

On its stand:

[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/thech ... .jpg[/img]
Fiat 124 Coupe Engine Removal 6 by thechadzone, on Flickr[/url]

As it currently is:

[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/thech ... .jpg[/img]
Fiat 124 Coupe Engine Removal 9 by thechadzone, on Flickr[/url]

Another look at that insane remedy applied to the trans:
[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/thech ... .jpg[/img]
Fiat 124 Coupe Engine Removal 11 by thechadzone, on Flickr[/url]

Next is a motor clean up with some Engine Brite & carb cleaner before tear down. Can't wait to get rid of the spray painted matching BLUE on the motor... Any tips for prepping the engine bay for repainting? As predicted, I've decided on its original (F-ing) BLUE color as part of my commitment to do right by the car. That will also make it a bit easier to restore places like its engine bay. I'm intimidated by that cluster of god-knows-what on the left side of the engine bay, and I'd like to hear from those who have navigated this...

[italisti]

Stay on it man. I am soo glad I did. Still going through hard times with mine. . I towed it out to Austin Texas once I got mine together with the windows re-installed and got all the other issues taken care of like mounts, interior, and some electrical.
Once I got mine out here, I got the exhaust done and now it sounds great and drives even better!

The biggest problem I have is trying to find out where I should put it when I am not driving it!
I wish I knew someone around here with a garage!!
I will post pictures soon!


Robert Catania, the 124 Coupe guru put mine in the registry recently... these Coupes are so rare it feels good to be part of the documented survivors!

[kmead]

Any tips for prepping the engine bay for repainting? As predicted, I've decided on its original (F-ing) BLUE color as part of my commitment to do right by the car. That will also make it a bit easier to restore places like its engine bay. I'm intimidated by that cluster of god-knows-what on the left side of the engine bay, and I'd like to hear from those who have navigated this...

I would try and pull as much of the wiring back into the passenger compartment as one can and then tape up the remaining bundle of wires into as compact a mass as you can to make it easy to paint around and move to get behind it.

As for the cluster of god knows what, depending on what your local emissions laws are, you can remove a few things over there. Particularly the switches for the idle step up electro valve and so on. You could likely remove the brackets related to them as well. This will get rid of a fair amount of wiring and lots of vacuum hose etc. Going to a full mechanical carburetor would also be nice with a single plane manifold.

Some of the mess is actually needed as the wiper delay relay is mounted over there along with the relay for the air horns. Some of your charging relay, regulator and so on may also be over there. Mine is a 1438 with the distributor on the block and a resister mounted to the coil down on the left side so I have a number of other things your car wouldn't have. If you go to a more modern alternator you could adjust some of the regulator and related wiring. It depends on how OE you want to keep the car. Don't be tempted to change the oil separator and related stuff on the engine as it works and works well.

I would change a few other things as well. Get rid of the old style engine mounts with the springs and go to the solid type from the later cars. I would also change the accelerator connection to the carburetor to a cable arrangement instead of the bar mounted to the the body and the other end attached to the motor. I used a 131 cable on mine. This will improve drivability as the engine won't rock as much and the rocking will no longer open and close the throttle plates. You can keep the pedal mechanism and hand throttle arrangement on the firewall and add a simple bracket to hold the end of the cable and have the sheath of the cable ride on the existing black moving bracket. I used a later Spider part to hold the carb end of the cable with a straight pull to the carb.

Keep at it and I love the color

Is yours a 1608 or a 1592cc motor? The engine number will start with 125 if its a 1608 or 132 if its a 1592. I would expect it is a 1608 but just curious.

[thechadzone]

Thank you both for your responses and encouragement. I'm very lucky to have the garage space that I have for the Coupe. I live in a very populated part of Portland, and my car is two hours away in Eugene. Still, it's safe and dry.

I'm not looking forward to removing the glass of the car, but it seems pretty important to do so because so many Coupes rust in those areas. Tips for the removal of the glass are appreciated.

Thanks for the tips on the engine bay's left side. I'll be installing IDFs, so the electrovalve & tubing can go. I'm not sure which are the switches for the idle, but the Haynes manual might point them out.

I've verified the car's 1608 motor. Is it true that the 1608 cams are different? They're getting stored and upgraded either way. Although I'm still not pleased with the car's blue color, I like to think of myself as more of a custodian of the car, rather than its lord and master. That will likely maintain its future value. Lots of people seem to like the blue...

Bring a Trailer (.com) featured the BC Coupe that's on eBay yesterday. It's a very solid car, and it's very popular in BAT's Comments section:

http://bringatrailer.com/2012/01/02/war ... 124-coupe/

Tomorrow the engine gets a cleanin'. I'm currenty languishing in an Italian cafe doing some studying up on the 1608.

http://65.55.72.7/att/GetAttachment.asp ... oneredir=1

[kmead]

That is a nice car, far from perfect and getting way more expensive than it warrants but the market may be speaking. As I recall this car was for sale last year and didn't sell (ie meet the reserve).

The list of things I don't like about it is long. The nice thing is it really has most of the mechanicals sorted, though the exhaust is pretty mickey mouse. The interior is very disappointing.

The early cams are different but how different or advantageous its hard to say. They are relatively easy to change out in the future so you can pretty easily upgrade them later. Its clear you like to wrench on it anyway...

Keep in mind it is your car, you are its steward but if you do a good job I am certain you will find some sucker (me for example) who could be coerced into buying it. If you really want to change the color, change it, please yourself. I would suggest choosing a period correct color versus a non period metallic, they had lots of good colors back then.

[Zippy]

I've decided on its original (F-ing) BLUE color as part of my commitment to do right by the car.

The car doesn't care what color you paint it. If you are keeping the car, paint it a color that you like. If you are fixing it up to sell, paint it a more popular color to increase your pool of buyers. If your are restoring it to win the Concours d'Elegance, you have my sympathy.

What ever you decide to do, I think you are great for doing it. I have a special fondness for the coupe, having owned a 69(my first car) and a 72.

Al

[BEEK]

ive raced, destroyed and driven many coupes in my lifetime. i would like to find one again to keep this time. they used to be a dime a dozen.. now ?

[thechadzone]

I've thought a lot about the color for the car. I likely won't know for sure until I'm at the body shop. Regardless, it'll be a factory 124 color. I've never been much for a flashy metallic or a period incorrect clear coat. I'm tempted by Positano yellow, and Sunburst orange. The Coupe on eBay is not it's original color and it doesn't have it's original engine, but neither seems to be affecting its value. I want to make measurable performance improvements to the car, and avoid more subjective improvements like color. I'll likely keep the car for quite a while because of it's rarity, and because they're just damn fun cars.

I like the idea of changing the linkage for the carbs. I'm familiar with the linkage and motor mount issues from my other 124 (the '69 Spider). Some pics of the mod done on the '70 BC (and of the car itself) would be of interest.

I've also added the car to Rob's registry. It's the in the BC section under the name Chad Christensen, and it links to this thread in the Worldwide Restorations section.

[Fi8spider]

I'm currenty languishing in an Italian cafe doing some studying up on the 1608.

The 1608..One of Lampredi's best Chad. Beautiful bore and stroke, a perfect 80x80mm.

The one thing I found interesting when I was researching the same engine was that the Maserati 3200 GT V8 is actually a 3217cc with a perfect 80x80 bore and stroke too....It's like having a 1608 on each side of the VEE working together .

I like the way you respect your car and it's heritage mate, saying that you are it's caretaker is a very cool way of looking at it.

[124JOE]

id go orange for color