Post some pics of the rust hole, we don't get any over here.

Isn't it amazing how small the rear drums are?

Yes, especially when compared to huge discs on neighbour's Merc! Sorting out the cooling system this weekend. New radiator, thermostat and hoses. Don't know what the previous owner used as antifreeze but old coolant was a sort of pale ale colour! Refilling with genuine Paraflu but hope I don't get the problems you had with air locks. Decided to take off front bumper while I was at it and found lower part of side brackets at front of wheel arch rusted away. Fortunately, have some galvanised steel strips that I took off garage doors years ago and think I can cut these to bolt on to solid metal higher up. By contrast, everything at front of car is very sound with no rust apart from some surface stuff on rad support beam.

What are your plans for the Teapot, will it be a daily driver or something else?

I've managed to get my front bumpers all secured now on mine,... well good enough for what the car is and does. Yes those tower structures do rust away to nothing so the bottom bolts on each side are useless, but if the upper side pegs clip into the towers then the bumper and arch linings sort of tie themselves into a fairly solid structure. I think the metal parts are available if you really look, the same applies to the Bravas and Bravos.

bluejohn125 said:

Yes those tower structures do rust away to nothing ...

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In the yUK, not here.

Definitely my daily driver, albeit fairly gentle use mainly locally. Teapot hopefully now well up to this for the foreseeable future.

Have cut out bottom third of original structure and bolted on new galvanised plates, angled at bottom and bolted through original hole in bumper with s/s fixings. All zinc sprayed and waxoyled. Bumper solid as a rock now and am happy with result for a quick and dirty DIY solution. Also well pleased with cooling system after overhaul. Temp gauge now climbs quickly to just under 90 mark and no longer fluctuates wildly.

Has anyone modified wiper operation to give constant 2 speed wipe rather than the rather annoying variable interval fast speed which I think is one of the few bad features of the car?

Iggy64 said:

Has anyone modified wiper operation to give constant 2 speed wipe rather than the rather annoying variable interval fast speed which I think is one of the few bad features of the car?

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I'd like to slow the wipe speed down so that the blades don't whip across the screen, but all attempts at modifications have failed so far.
Low speed should be something akin to the rear screen wiper, IMO, slow and gentle.

Yes, the erratic wiper action certainly caused bewilderment and alarm to my front seat passengers on rainy days.

jonti said:

Yes, the erratic wiper action certainly caused bewilderment and alarm to my front seat passengers on rainy days.

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It's not erratic, per se, just too damn fast.

Now I have the A/C up and running, I might have another go at modding the wiper unit on one of the spares I have in stock.

I think the wiper action is one of the interesting features of the car.

Full on is quite a fast wipe, but the half-way intermediate gives you 3 speeds depending on the column switch setting.

Quite funky (like all the controls and displays), but went conventional and boring for the Brava / Bravo replacements.

I can go with quirky and different as per most older Italian cars but just find the fast intermittent swipe a bit annoying compared to a slower continuous wipe. The Alfa 145 I once owned had the same feature and controls but with really dreadful one piece wipers. I think these were used on some Tipos but fortunately not mine. Looks like there is no easy mod but thanks for replies guys.

I'm not convinced it's an "interesting feature," as much as a really bad design fault.

And yes, Iggy, referring to it as a "swipe," as opposed to a wipe, is a perfect description.