Been looking for a fun, cheap project car

[Blarg]

Well, I got the car home safe and sound. The brakes are a little scary after modern anti locks. It doesn't really stop, it just comes to a slow.

I hand washed all of the shop grime off of everything and took my wife for a run around the block. All fine until I look down and the fuel and temperature guage is dead. I get it back into the garage and find the running lights don't work, neither do the tailights or brake lights.

All are run through the same fuse but the fuse isn't blown so now I get the fun of trying to trace where the short is. This is a brand new wiring harness with all new relays and switches. One of them is bad and is killing everything because they are run in series. Stupid Brits.

I may not be driving it to the show.

[Tank]

did you get it figured out, blarg? and was it affecting the brakes as well?

[Blarg]

She is a stubborn garage queen. No, the electrical issue is unresolved, it will require new parts to replace old relays that are not working properly. The brakes are a completely separate issue and probably just requires them to be bled and the rear drums adjusted so the parking brake works.

I went to the show in my Mercedes and left the Spit to take up space in the garage. Sadly it was a great day for a drive and there was only two Spitfires there, mine would have been one of the best looking cars by far of the Triumph paddock. I tried to pry some info from the other owners but since my car is it's own narrow production they had no help to resolve the electrical problem.

 

[Vegas Halo Fan]

 

Dreams come in different shapes and sizes. The car that I have wanted for more than 30 years is probably few people's typical dream car: the original Volvo Bertone Coupe, originally designated 262C, made from 1978 through 1981. I came very close to buying one this weekend from a seller in Portland who has advertised the car on eBay. He has a reserve price, which he told me was $4,000. The car has some cosmetic flaws, but he says that he had meticulously maintained the car mechanically and has the receipts to prove it. The car didn't meet reserve and it has been relisted. There is another car in Boise for which the seller is taking offers of $2K or less, but it's a non-runner that would need complete new upholstery throughout and who knows what mechanically. A third car, also nearly immaculate, is attracting offers at or near $5K, but it's in Montreal and trying to bring a car in from Canada would come with its own set of issues. I once owned a 1976 265DL wagon, so I have some familiarity with the drivetrain. I prefer the four speed with electric overdrive (what my wagon had) to the automatic, and they are much harder to find. All three of the cars I have mentioned are stick shifts. For the first couple of years they were all silver with a black vinyl top. For 1980 and 1981, they came in gold, black and light metallic blue with no vinyl top.

So far I have resisted because I don't really need a third car, and I have nowhere to store one at present.

 

What the wife would like is this, an Alfa Romeo 164. Made from 1987 to 1998, this is the car that was built to save Alfa from insolvency when the company was crashing, and many believe that it is the most solid and reliable car to ever wear the Alfa name. There are a lot of cars around in various states of repair and maintenance history, and this is a car that can get away from you quickly if not properly maintained. It has an interference engine, and the timing belts have been known to break well short of the recommended 50K mile change interval. I drove one years ago, but I don't remember enough about it to make a decision without refreshing my memory.

[Blarg]

Shit. One wire out of place and poof. You would have thought a fuse would have blown. 

[Blarg]

The tale of the wiring harness is a warning to anyone that wants a classic and ends up buying a model change year car.

My 1969 Spitfire MK3 is a second half-year production car that they decided to switch from a center console instrument cluster to a more standard dash with tach, speedometer, turn indicator lights, etc, all over the steering column. They also added one item, the hazard switch and upgraded the wiper motor to a two speed switch that was not part of the start of the year production cars.

That means not two but actually four different wiring harnesses' for the same model since they produced both right hand and left hand drive cars. The only way to order the proper harness was by it's production number, in this case an FDU rather than VIN which cars are issued now. And it's important that you are clear it is a FDU (U for USA) not just FD which is the Euro designation that could be right hand drive and the older dash arrangement.

So I did some research and picked a company in Pennsylvania that specialised in British Wiring. Except they weren't really that exacting when it came to my cars specific harness. After being unable to trace their wiring with the wiring diagram they provided, not being able to match it with other wiring diagrams for that particular year, we went with trial and error tracing with a volt meter. We thought we had it right but obviously one hot lead went to the wrong post and the results are pictured above.

I should have known we were working with some Frankenstein harness when three of the instrumentation lights were the correct plug while the forth wasn't. It looked so professionally wrapped we just forged ahead with it.

So after the meltdown I called the supplier to ask where they got the wiring diagram from to make the harness. The response was, we don't make them from a diagram, we pull the harness out of cars and recreate them. That's when I informed them their model harness was modified and not even for this model built during the FDU number they claimed it was from.

No apology, he says I can buy the color coded wires and make what I needed to repair, and modify the harness that isn't compatible. Thanks for the help, jerks.

Monday, after a longer discussion of the proper harness from Rimmer Brothers in England, we sorted out exactly which one I needed and ordered an entire new one for about half the cost of the failed harness. Yay Brexit, the English pound dropped enough that buying from England is cheaper and a better chance of getting the right part.

So, buy that classic but get some boring standard model production that has been using the same parts for five years. 

[Jay]

On 5/15/2017 at 7:46 PM, Vegas Halo Fan said:

What the wife would like is this, an Alfa Romeo 164

A buddy of mine had one of those. Really nice car. This was almost 20 years ago so I imagine his was one of the earlier models. It wasn't aging well for him. Quirky electrical problems and some cooling problems if I recall correctly. Anyway I would be looking at the very last couple of years of that model if I were you.

 

[Vegas Halo Fan]

13 hours ago, Jay said:

A buddy of mine had one of those. Really nice car. This was almost 20 years ago so I imagine his was one of the earlier models. It wasn't aging well for him. Quirky electrical problems and some cooling problems if I recall correctly. Anyway I would be looking at the very last couple of years of that model if I were you.

I will, for electrical, mechanical and other reasons. The later models were less prone to electrical problems as well as premature failure of the timing belts (which generally take the engine with them when they break, since the 164 has an interference engine). In the early models, Alfa recommended a change interval of 50,000 miles, but some had belts break as early as 30,000 miles. The engines in the later models (last 2-3 years) were a lot more durable and had a lot of the bugs worked out.

[Vegas Halo Fan]

On 6/21/2017 at 1:09 PM, Blarg said:

No apology, he says I can buy the color coded wires and make what I needed to repair, and modify the harness that isn't compatible. Thanks for the help, jerks.

Sounds like a company to never do business with. No support for the customer, and they are apparently just winging it.

[Blarg]

Hey @nate how about picking up a Pacer and have it customized like this.

[nate]

I have been helping my neighbor with his '72 MG Midget, I will have to get some pictures of it.

Ironically, electronics are one of the few things working well on it.

[nate]

@Blarg I remember you talked about a Fiat 500 Abarth once.  https://portland.craigslist.org/wsc/cto/d/classic-1970-fiat-500-abarth/6358389000.html

[Blarg]

My friend owned a 1300 Abarth that he completely restored and sold for pennies on the dollar. He's weird that way.

[nate]

Unless the engine is so big they have to weld the hood open, it is not worth it.

[Blarg]

Where do I begin? 

I tried in vain to get the new harness to work properly. I'm no electrician and even the guy helping me that was couldn't figure out what was causing so many dead lines. 

Finally threw in the towel and had the car towed to Brea Auto Electric where they sorted out not only the electrical but hooked up the wipers correctly, fixed the rear toe on but removing to leaves from the rear spring, flushed the gunk out of the engine, got the heater motor and valve to work and synced the carbs properly. 

Driving it home today it has managed the first 12 miles without incident but there are still some issues. 

Fuel guage is finally working but needs calibration, it reads a little less than a half tank when it is filled to the brim. 

There is a definite driveshaft noise that is screaming new u joints needed. 

Haven't drove stick in years and the trans shift pattern is a little sloppy. Keep missing second gear on down shifts when I first took off but I've gotten more in tune with where it wants to be rather than where it should be. 

One last stretch and that is a section of freeway from temple to the Via Verde off ramp during rush hour. This should be exciting. 

[Blarg]

That short drive was interesting. I got it up over 75mph and the front end started shimming. Everything on the front end was replaced so I'm going to see if it is a wheel balance issue. 

Plenty to tweak before the Sunday car show. 

[Tank]

glad to hear it's up and running. does it still need to be painted?

[Blarg]

Nope, all body work and paint is done. Still need some trim work and a toneua cover. 

Had the wire wheels spin balanced which helps the shimming problem. Taking it in to get that fuel guage working properly and get the warm idle correct. The rest of the rattles and clanks we will deal with after the show. 

[Blarg]

I spent yesterday clay bar and waxing. Tonight I took care of all the rubber and plastic with Armor All. Need to pick up some leather cleaner for the seats, ran out. 

Drove it a little today around the neighborhood but it was cold and looked like rain was coming so I parked it in the garage for the day.

[Blarg]

So after a week of testing the Spit on all sorts of conditions, city, highway, stop and go Friday traffic jambs, I finished up the last of the show prep by cleaning the seats and door panels before turning off the lights last night in the garage. 

This afternoon I go to gather up car wash materials for out other cars and find I have a flat tire. 

After some creative jacking I got the car up high enough to take off the wheel and replace it with the spare. That's when I find out the spare wheel doesn't fit the hub. Crap. 

So I took the flat and spare down to the tire shop and had them switch the tubes and remove the tire from the faulty wheel. 

Now I'm heading out tomorrow to the show with no spare but a freshly painted wire wheel to sell. 

Somehow I feel like a flatbed is in my future. 

 

[Blarg]

The Queens English car show went very well. I had several people take interest in the car, mainly because I had the only Spitfire there that was factory original and the only MK3. The wheel it turns out was correct for my year and model. Only one 13 inch wire wheel was made at the time and was fitted on almost all British cars of that wheel size. A young guy from Moss Motors name Lief showed me the problem was the inner splines were damaged, instead of triangular in shape they were squared so it never would have fit without ruining the hub. I got a 10% discount on a new painted replacement and it is now on the car.

After three weeks of driving the car and two car shows I've had three flat tires, two due to tube defects and once from a screw that I picked up on the road. Last Sunday I drove it down to Fullerton for a family gathering and on the return trip the right rear drum brake went to hell in a very noisy metal on metal way. I managed the last four miles with only needing to use the brakes twice and coasted it into the garage. Some time this week I will tear it apart and see how much damage there is and order parts accordingly.

The minor problems have been silly stuff like the hinge that holds the bonnet (hood for you rednecks) up keeps rattling because the bolts that were put on don't have sleeves or lock nuts. I remedied that at the local ACE Hardware in downtown San Dimas. I park out front and take different parts out to the car to see if they fit, then return to pay for them. The lady at the counter smiles every time I come in, knowing I'm parts shopping at a hardware store for a classic car. 

Another problem was the mirror fell off. Again, the nut holding it on rattled itself off while driving but as luck would have it the mirror landed gently on the pavement... in front of the ACE hardware store. It's now held on by a shiny new .86 cent chromed locknut, what should have come with the mirror when I bought it.

ACE also supplied me with some great white lithium grease in an aerosol can that I sprayed on the old jack that came with the car but was frozen in place. After a days soak I used the vise to hold the screw end and twisted on the base back and forth until it gave loose. It has been used once already to jack up the car to remove the wheel with the screw in it. 

I had never installed the center console that is supposed to house a radio and also provide support for the dash. I dug through a parts box for the reconditioned one I spent plenty on only to find out the supplier doesn't know a Spitfire MK3 console from a GT6. It didn't fit so I stripped down the old one to bare metal, attached foam padding and then wrapped it in some leftover seat fabric. 

I had to take out the passenger glove box to install the console that requires a rubber hammer to bang it into place. It's supposed to be screwed to the base of the transmission cover but it is wedged in so tight I haven't bothered. Then I tried re-installing the cardboard origami they call a glove box and found it's almost impossible to screw it back into place with the console in place. But you can't put the console in with the glovebox in place. A scrapped elbow and three hours later I got it locked down after redesigning where the anchor nut goes on the console side. I really wonder how they assembled this mess in the factory. No wonder they went bankrupt three times. 

 

[nate]

My dream of a fun cheap car turned into a boring expensive car as directed by the wife.

Taking delivery of a CPO 2016 E350 4-matic Friday after the dealership details it.

[nate]

So helping my neighbor with his MG and his '79 Jeep will have to suffice until I get a bigger garage.

[Blarg]

The insides of the rear brakes were a mess. There was a missing cotter pin that was supposed to hold the top of the right side in place and the left brake was disintegrating. I ended up buying a complete overhaul kit from Rimmer Brothers. 

First inspection there was grime, possibly brake fluid and brake dust everywhere. 

The pads themselves are crumbling away. 

There was a missing cotter pin. 

And the springs were mounted incorrectly, the bottom spring is supposed to be mounted on the rear not front. 

Add to this the master cylinder was flopping back and forth, the clips that hold it in place were gone and the new brake line I had installed by the shop was crimped. I'm surprised they worked at all and pretty grateful they didn't fail in an emergency stop. 

I have some serious work here to do. 

Edited May 9, 2018 by Blarg

[nate]

The springs being mounted incorrectly kinda defeats the purpose of drum brakes