Way too many years have passed since we received this white Fulvia s2 coupe. The car was purchased in Gauteng and actually made it all the way to Cape town on its own steam. Then it was parked for many years in a moist garage in Rondebosch, with very detrimental effects. Brown color was showing through the white paint. Hence the car had to be resprayed again. We did suggest to first look at the mechanical, as it is uncomfortable to do mechanical repairs on a newly sprayed vehicle. This is is how the story started.

 In the following we will give some photographic highlights of what we found. Virtually everything we opened was broken one way or another and needed attention. Most of the damage however did not come form the ages but was man made. I will start with the current issue. The bush in the gear shift shaft had all but vanished completely. I have no Idea how the gear change even worked. I was very reluctant to remove the gearbox or lower the drive train. Our son Litha, who is only staring with Lancia mechanics has actually managed to get the part out despite a very tight fit, and dome removal of a sub frame brace. I how the new part will go in the same way

As you can see on the other side the reverse gear lock was missing 

Let us continue with the rear axle. As you know Lancia employed propitiatory nuts that were supposed to be opened with propitiatory tools. Now this one has been converted 

In side everything was rebuild 

Sadly this was not the end of the story: The handbrake lever was badly manhandled. On only was the actual lever bend, the mounting plate was broken and had to be welded. 

Disaster can strike in the most unlikely places: The pedals are a part of the car that never receives any attention, and what for ? But what happening here ? The grease in the medal shafts had mutated int he last fifty years from grease to glue, and the pedals were so sticky, it was not acceptable. A sticky brake pedal can even be dangerous, as it keeps pressure on the mastercylinder and will block the opening to the reservoir. I first considered to fix this in situ, but eventually i listened to my wife and ripped the whole thing out and overhauled the complete unit: 

On the above picture we can see that the bolts for the steering column are missing, they are sitting on a support bracket to enable assembly: all gone. I had to make new pieces for later. 

The result is convincing, smooth mechanical function in Lancia style. 

Some time ago we dod the complete heaterbox and the controls. While often considered an unncesssary accessory, the heating system is actually a legal requiremnt to operate the wwindscreen demister 

The engine had only a minor inspection, considering the car drove down from Gauteng it could no have been too bad, never mind the surprise I got to find the lappie under the water pump. How it did NOT get caught in the chain escapes me. 

>Not that the cooling system looked any better 

While the top of the car is now coming together, and it starts to look like a Fulvia, I am painfully aware that more disaster linger in the deep.... like the very badly bend control arm. 

One of the easy things: The clock only needed a service and is now happily ticking away....

A major area of concern were the rear light. While the lenses were ok, the plastic base plates had completely disintegrated. To build those things up is an absolute pain and not even very successful. By sheer coincidence we got in a set of lights that are "as new" so they are fitted now. 

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A stupid issue that wasted an hour of my life: when trying to fit the center console I noticed that from the 3 captive nuts on the top rail only one was present. To find the 2 missing ones I had to remove the WHOLE dash section which is a rather elaborate job. That is how you learn to hate the previous mechanic. 

 

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We got this Fulvia S1 car form the steel worker, who did some major repairs to the body. Now the car is supposed to go the the spray painter to be covered in Lancia blu. I am supposed to do the final checkup. The client has a simple requirement: he is happy if I am happy. Now lets have a look what is missing for my happiness:

 

The floor looks all very happy, neat strong and clean.. but stop... where will the throttle pedal go to ? Unlike the Beetle or the Porsche it is not hanging from the top, but mounted on the floor.

looking around the will also does not look particularly perpendicular

Very reluctantly I apply the grinder to the new floor. It turns out that the floor has got 3, not only 2 layers of metal, the rust is already trapped in between.

Now we weld the layers together again .

Note the square holes in the floor that will accommodate the captive nuts used to hold the pedal.

 

Now finally we can fit the throttle pedal in the appropriate manner:

 

 

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It was bad enough the the whole filler cage came loose from the wing. After I re-welded it properly I realized why this was premature. If you look at the center of the image you see a shine put, that is where tank filler drain is supposed to be, yeas a hoe, but look, there si no hole at all

Everything was properly brazed up, the brazer was clearly in the zone and closed any hole he could find. Before long we suddenly had way to much hole :(</>

I was lazy to make a panel, we I jsut used a round washer to find the drain pipe.

Not easy ot weld it all iin the the brazing the welding don't really gel :(

One of my main worries was the dent in the rear panel. Did the car some some accident ? but how was the panel dented like that. it did not make sense. Now we take the tape measure and what do we find ?

 

As you can see, one side is 26mm high, the other 27mm high. At some point the body was squeezed down. There we are: we just have to reverse the process:

and all is well again

But now I can to deal with he shape of the llip of the bootlid which also had taken a knock. A few cuts wiht the grinder will allow to reshapoe this again.

>Now we fit all the beadings to make sure it all fits together fine. then it all has to be re-welded

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An often overlooked part of the car are the hinges, of which the car has got 8. Non of them has been serviced int he last 60 years, so they do get rusty, especially the boot hinge. But you will not notice it, and you have a large leaver. The force will dissipate into the boot frame, which will gradually weaken and finally crack, letting the water in which will speed up further cracking. Eventually the whole thing comes off as it has happened with this car. Now all 8 hinges have been disassembled, cleaned and greased. The offending boot-hinge had to be opened with an air chisel, a real butchers toy.

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Now the fitting holding the right wiper assembly was rusted away. it was solidly put back into place, but sadly way too low 

We bought a fancy metal hole-saw in the right diameter to cut the piece out again. The tube did get damaged and needed repair 

Then we got all the bits together and but the whole assembly together. Now all fits well, the tube is in the right place, but stop...... we cant weld it on as it is covered by the bezel.  

Here it needed a plan. We had to sacrifice a bezel, and cut in 2 windows though which the welding could be done. 

And voila, it is all back together and is guaranteed to fit in the final assembly 

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The battery tray was rebuild very solidly, but with a solid floor, which did not look nice. To make the cutouts with the jigsaw was however a bit tricky.

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The bonnet is from aluminum, we dont have the means to weld that. The repair for the front section was problematic as it was not possible to fit the cage nut. To go in with the dremmel was not pretty,l but he only way to do it. 

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Next, the left door, yes we know, the door is always the worst in terms of fitting. The door line was not acceptable, so out comes the door. if we look with the straight edge, the bottom of the door is not straight. For the sake of sanity, I had to employ a cowboy repair. All in all the door had to be removed twice and refitted, which takes forever every time, but in the wend the door fitted well and I am happy.

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