Giulietta Berlina restoration

[Andrew]

brake pipes to remake

[Andrew]

Well, I made up new brake pipes to replace the three fuzzily pictured above. First time I've ever used a double-flaring tool, and it can take a few tries to get it right. Bought the 3/16" steel tubing from Summit Racing, and a flaring tool on ebay. With the help of a friend who had done all the tubes on his Fiat Abarth clone, and is in the process of doing them on his Giulietta Sprint, after a couple failed tries, I seem to have three good tubes that hold pressure.

See pic below. The curves are not perfect, and I will adjust some after it's off the jackstands. Also note the new axle straps I made out of shortened green 105/115 straps, several of which I had lying around. The old steel ones were both broken. I had one new yellow 101 strap, but I'm saving that for the Spider Veloce, as it has the matching one already.

With the tubes installed and finally not leaking, I filled the system with brake fluid and did a preliminary bleed. So far so good. I've been around twice, and I have about half a good pedal, so I know the MC is working and the system seems to be holding pressure. I'll bleed some more over the next few days and see what I end up with.

Andrew

[Andrew]

The picture makes me realize I may have mis-threaded the axle straps. I'll have to look closer.
Andrew

[Il Vecchio]

Looks great. David Swig said hi, BTW, at Monterey- he mentioned your driving their Berlina recently. Will await your report following your first drive in yours!

[Andrew]

Yes, I drove his very original Giulietta TI around the Sears Point parking lot on the last Berlina Tour in the spring. An incredible car. I don't expect my car to measure up but it'll certainly be better than when I got it.

Andrew

[PSk]

Looking good .

Would have thought 10 minutes or so with a hand wire brush to get rid of the years of dirt and surface rust (and maybe a quick paint) on things such as the rear axle, suspension, etc. would be a good idea ... over time the car would slowly return to how it once was.

Best
Pete

[GTD]

Now Pete, be careful what you wish for!
Andrew is enacting repairs on this car; he's not attempting a restoration.
It's a driver and as such will likely see useage and produce enjoyment while others are still tolling away on their projects.
Andrew, keep up the good work!

[Andrew]

You're right that there are areas I haven't touched. It's a slippery slope on something like this, knowing where to stop. I scraped 5-10 pounds of 50-year-old dirt/grease combo of each front suspension assembly, just to be able to see that the car still had brake adjusters and the like. And anything I actually remove, I clean up, paint, whatever.

But I'm trying to get this car operational, and I don't want to get overly bogged down in cosmetics that I can pretty easily deal with later with a spray washer, putty knife, wire brush, etc. You'll be surprised to hear, I guess, that I did do some cleanup on the axle; initially there was no aluminum visible on the center section. I agree the axle tubes don't look the greatest.

Similarly, the trans casing and the engine block both gave no hint that they were aluminum. Trans now looks great, and as I poke around the engine, I clean it more and more. Got the radiator out yesterday, mainly to see what kind of hell was inside it. Actual antifreeze came out, with essentially no oily crud, so I'm pleasantly surprised to assume at the moment that I don't have to change the head gasket. While the rad is out, I will clean it up and paint it, and I'm changing all the water hoses, routing around the heater for now so I can remove it, check it out, and paint it (it's blue at the moment).

Andrew

[Andrew]

Here are my current projects.

Got the generator out; what a greasy mess that area is. Tested the gen and it seems to work OK. Cleaned up that area, waiting for new brushes for the gen from Victoria British (same as MGA). Pulled out the radiator and it looked reasonably good. Cleaned it up and painted it. Removed all the nasty old hoses, and cleaned as much calcium and whatnot out as I could get too. Drained the block as well.

This morning, pulled out the heater unit. Some rabbit food was secreted in there, so I guess some animal was living in there at some point, but there was no nest or nastiness. Amazingly, heater fan works. Heater unit was removed, and taken apart for painting and probable fan repair at some time long in the past. I'll clean and paint the heater unit, and put it back in.

Pics:
1. Getting enough calcium? These bits came out of the upper rad hose.
2. Generator before cleaning, and upper rad hose with in-hose thermostat and the crap that built up behind it.
3. Generator mount area before cleanup.
4. Radiator on removal before cleanup.
5. Heater installed (driver's side from inner fender). Later Berlinas and TIs have it on the firewall.

More pics next post.

Andrew

[Andrew]

Few more pics:

6. Heater unit out of the car. Why'd someone take it apart and carefully paint it blue?
7. Heater cavity in inner driver's side fender.
8. Steering box area cleaned up. Box suprisingly was fully of 90W. Hey, it says ZF on it! You couldn't make out any detail before through the grime.
9. Radiator cleaned and painted. It's had repairs before, but seems sound and flows well.
10. Generator cleaned up, awaiting brushes, plus gen adjustment arm painted, and water pipe from water pump outlet that crosses over the the heater under the fuel pump and above the water pump cleaned and painted.

Andrew

[Andrew]

Not too much progress just of late. I've wanted to get the Cortina going, and I just haven't been that motivated.

I got the generator brushes and brake reservoir cap from Victoria British and installed them, and the gen is back in place. Still have to hook up the wiring. A few wires need sorting in the engine compt, including the brake light wires at the MC, and the headlight and horn wires going up the steering column. Both have worn through the insulation at the bottom of the steering box.

I was amazed to figure out today that the reverse light switch is on the steering column, contacting by the shifter cable as it moves to the reverse position. So cool.

Pics include the generator back in place, and for fun, a NOS Berlina instrument cluster, and shift linkage, both of which I got on ebay a couple months ago. I also have an extra column shift linkage coming, bought for a pittance. One I was given a couple months ago turns out to be for a Sprint, at least I think that's what it must be, from how short the vertical linkage is.

Calling sandblasting places today in prep for getting the wheels done.

Andrew

[Andrew]

OK, not the Berlina Register drive is over, and the Cortina is sorted (it led the Berlina drive admirably, if slowly), back to the Giulietta.

Still fighting with one brake line, which I cannot get to stop leaking after three tries. Enlisting Conrad's expertise to persuade line, or perhaps install a better junction.

Got the 101 4-2-1 headers installed, and discover that with the MC-mounted brake light switch in the way, cannot use a standard dual-outlet exhaust downpipe, so I plan to use the custom one that came with the car; looks cooler and it's now painted silver. We'll see how it all pans out; further changes may be needed, including moving the brake light switch up to a later style junction. Removed all the cobbled exhaust hangers and installed standard 101/105-style hangers with 8mm bolts. Originally this car had the early 750 thin rubber strap type with 6mm bolts (one partial one remained), but I don't think anyone sells those any longer, and the new exhaust doesn't have the mounting points for them.

Yesterday's big progress item was getting the wheels sandblasted at Coliseum Sandblasting in Oakland; $100 for five wheels. They came out looking pretty good. I will clean, paint them silver, and then get the Pirelli P3s I have installed. See before and after pics below.

Andrew

[series1gtv]

Lookin good, I can't wait to hear the next installment. What's left before the roadtest? Hope it won't be long til your Giulietta leaner is on road.
Jeff

[Andrew]

Left before operation:
* Install tires to wheels (planned for tomorrow)
* Finish installation of exhaust (begun yesterday)
* Install radiator and sort out upper radiator hose
* Fix a couple wires before radiator goes back in
* Bolt down front bench seat
* Plug ears (exhaust as installed will have no muffler til I get it to a muffler shop)

Andrew

[Andrew]

Put in a little time yesterday, and got the car running, but not yet driving. I finished the radiator installation, cobbling up a workable upper hose with the inline thermostat inside. Bolted down the car's original home-made collector on the exhaust (standard type fouls brake MC-fitted brake light switch; now I see why the standard collector wouldn't work when using a 4-2-1 101 manifold on this car). Filled it up with antifreeze/water, checked the oil, and after a fair amount of farting and stumbling, it eventually started and ran fine. With just the collector and no mufflers, it's unbelievably loud. Just like a GTA with 1/3 the power. No water leaks or major oil leaks, though the drain plug has been weeping since I first changed the oil months ago.

It appears I may still not be getting enough clutch disengagement to be able to shift properly, and I'm not sure why; new disk and TO bearing, pressure plate is fine and measures same as three others I have, flywheel step is same as three other flywheels I have. All this was done with the car up in the air. I will fiddle with the adjustments some, then put the car on the ground and see if I can get it in gear. More work may be required in this area. But at leat some progress. I will try to get a video/sound file of it running from my son's phone. Like having your own B-25 in the garage.

Andrew