(G) Really dangerous Uno 45 - bought

Hello all,

My driveway once again shelters under the outline of a white five-door Uno converting rainwater to rust... this time, a 1990 '45' (but in New Zealand, that means 1988 or 89, so it's a Mk1!)

Actually, my friend James owns it. I've bought an Uno 60S which I'll collect this week - and that's a Mk2 (!) - but that's a separate thread

Anyway, the 45 was on our auction site Trademe (http://www.trademe.co.nz/Trade-Me-Mo...n-30885641.htm) and I drove it back from Auckland. It turned out that the license ran out in December - and the WOF at the same time - so it was a trip at the risk of a $400 fine (the car cost $180).

It supposedly had a broken gearbox mounting. I was more concerned at the distinctly 'low' appearance in the photo... now clearly, there is a time and a place for 'low'... but in real life, this was not quite correct... a quick feel above the tyre confirmed that one side had no spring at all

Please please please please PLEASE never ever ever ever EVER cut your Uno front springs... the result is that the wonky end of the spring comes off the bottom perch and twizzles down around the strut where it tangles with several minor items like the brake hose and the tyre.

The seller said that "you should be able to just jack it up and put that back on, shouldn't you?" Once jacked up, there was a good 5cm of total slack in the spring... it was difficult to get it to stay in place while lowering (the washer and top mounting all fell loose as well, the bumpstops were history) but I used the small drainhole in the spring perch to thread a cable tie through, that held the spring in place.

I did the same to the other side, but all the way home I could think of nothing other than what would happen when the spring end slipped off and stabbed into the tyre. Happily, this didn't happen, but there was another sinister problem in the transmission area...

A strong side-to-side wobble took effect immediately upon driving off. It was one of those 'do you really think you can drive this car?' wobbles.

Moving off from the first road junction, there was a tremendous BANG as the engine and transmission took a big jump. A close inspection showed that the gearbox end casing was cracked, and thus the front mounting was secured by the bottom bolt only. Most of the gearbox oil had converted into a thick stone-chip protective coating for the gearbox and mountings.

As I stopped for petrol less than a kilometre later, steam appeared from around the bonnet. The water pipe junction at the heater hoses seemed to be leaking this lovely bright green coolant. Quite a surprise that the coolant looked so 'fresh', though the radiator has just been replaced after a 'shunt'. The coolant poured out as quickly as we could pour it in. So, we needed to join the two pipes from the engine together. But, with what?

A 12mm long socket did the job perfectly - not as useful as a 13mm socket anyway - and of course it has a square hole through the middle, which lets the coolant through. No more leaks!

But the real problem (I believe) is the right-side driveshaft. It has a LOT of slack - feels like the inner tripode joint has perhaps become an unusual 120-degree 'bipode' design. James put his finger on the problem when, during a quick drive around the Manakau City Council carpark (huge) he decided the wobbling only happened during acceleration. Which made sense, if it was the driveshaft. And the BANG is when it pops out of (and back into) the diff...

I checked the tyres and wheels very carefully, and they looked fine (Michelin 155/70 Energy X tyres). So off I went again... the wobbling was worst as I ascended the Bombay hills but at least it managed a good 80-90km/h. I was still looking forward to that spring coming off again...

...and about 120 kilometres later, arrived home... what a journey, with the rain all the way and the roadworks, the bouncing about (the shocks are shot) and the occasional graunch from the gearbox, probably as the gears ate another needle roller from the driveshaft!

Oh and if you want to know about the condition of the car... well, the right rear door is rusty (a hole through the top and the bottom of the door). The rest of the car is good, no holes in the sills or floor etc. People used to say that if a car has rust in one place, it will have rust in lots of other places too. This isn't really the case with a FIAT. It's perfectly possible for one door to be completely rusted out, and the other three to be fine... Meanwhile, the side members of the engine bay are rather wonky, and one has been plastered with seam sealer (pictured). I think I'd better try and tidy this up a bit before sale...

This week, it's the turn of the Uno 60S, but you may be relieved to hear that I've arranged to borrow a car trailer AND a tow vehicle...

-Alex


PS. If you think it doesn't actually look 'low' at the front, consider that the neighbour's roof is supposed to be horizontal ;-)

:shakehead lol