Hi
A few weeks ago I bought myself a mk1 turbo. Car looked alright apart from a rusty passenger door. Car has never been tuned, one owner between 93-07 and only 75.000 km's on the clock. So far so good.



looks nice under bonnet:


First thing i did when got it into the garage was to remove all the carpeting.
There i found a hole to the left of the drivers aswell as passengers feet along the sills. Sills itself were ok. Oh yeah rear wheel wells were just crunch.



When carpeting covering the rear struts were removed, well it didnt look too nice.. Also rusted through along the edge tower/boot floor.



I also removed inner fenders front, looked all god there, front towers seem in good shape Took of the bumpers, front and rear, wich were a bitch to remove. Those special bolts that should stay still in the bumbers just spun as they were very rusty. Had to angle grind all 8 of them off.

I have a question, I bought these repair panels for the rear towers. From memory, I think the reinforcement piece on the inside is longer on the car, than on these new bits? Wont this be a little weak? I mean wasnt there a reason for making them as long as they did? Or am i wrong? Check the picture! I mean the heavier reinforcment sheet metal with the ends bent up.
Anyway the car is going to be looked at by a welder on monday..


Lastly, a picture of my really nice Novitec spacers. Came with longer bolts too:

Doesn't look that bad, thats where they all go, have a good poke about in the inner rear wheel arches as there prone to rust, get it all cleaned up, and i see you have a copy of the bible in there he he Ant!

yes the rear wheel arches are bad, needs replacing.
I think the bible are a little vague in some of its descriptions, dont tou think?

Hi Uno80,

Congratulations on your new project!
The weather looks even gloomier than I remembered England - I can see why you'd need the headlight wipers - then I saw that you were in Sweden! How come you guys write such good English?

About the rear strut repair panels: I can see what you mean but I think that it will be plenty strong enough like that, especially relative to the rusted version that you have installed at the moment!

If you lift the door rubber seal strip, I think you'll find more rust holes to deal with. I see you've already removed the soundproofing from under the carpet. The front soundproofing is a curious brown colour - usually has a black coating. Also the leather steering wheel has me intrigued - must have been a late 'special edition' - and the trim material is an interesting chevron pattern. I'm pretty certain that those mirrors are not standard, though!

Also, what is that on the roof - it's either a special (but small) roof box, or maybe it looks like the driver's door trim card with pocket attached?

From the engine bay photo, I think you have another 'rare' Antiskid model , judging from the ABS sensor connector near the alternator cooling pipe (at the back of the engine bay). A few of these Antiskids seem to be popping up! I personally think it would be a worthy system, since it's electronically modulated like 'modern' ABS although only two-channel (left and right). FIAT was making several cars with ABS at the time (e.g. Croma Turbo, Lancia Thema) and my experience of those is that the ABS works well. The most likely fault is the corrosion/splitting of the toothed rings. I reckon it would be worth restoring, since it has to be a good thing if the front wheels of the Uno don't lock in a panic situation.

Anyway, keep us updated

-Alex

thanks alexGS, and thanks for commenting my english. Although I wish you wouldnt cause now I have too keep it up all the time

Yeah sweden sucks in the winter. Rusty cars from all the salt on the roads.

I can see why you mention the door rubber seal strip, but, believeit or not theres no rust under them (apart from surface then ). Thought so too myself when I saw that. Have seen pictures here on the forum of rust under those rubbers.

Thats not a skiing box on the roof! The first two pictures were not taken by me, they were from the ad were I found the car. That is like you thought, the door card, litteraly ripped out by previous owner trying to get the electric window to roll up. Sadly, the door side panel were in better shape before he got to it. Here in sweden seems a uno isnt worth beeing nice to.

That's really interesting that you say I have antiskid! I have no idea, when I think of it I havent even slammed the brakes on the car.
Still cant see though what component in the bay you're refering to, but I'll look the next time I'm in the garage.

check your log book (car id papers) and it may state antiskid, they use the uno for ice racing in your part of the world, take a pic of the other side of replacement panel as i would trim it down and piece it in like original and no one would ever tell Ant!

Hi,I havent been to the garage yet but my pappers dont say anything about antiskid. Never really heard about an ice racing uno, seems people prefer rwd for that matter?
Anyways.. Today, hopefully, I will get the car to the welder to see what he says.
Heres a pic of the otger side of the panel:

oooooo another uno turbo resto project

looking nice in the first place, but good luck with getting it rust free, doesnt look too bad to be honest!

whats the overall plans for it? are you goingto up the BHP? change the alloys etc?

keep up the good work!

Dunc

To be honest you didn't need to buy that repair panel as ther not realy that bad if anything trim it down, eg drill out the spot welds and remove the tower section and just use what you need, ie keeping the original look, not like a patchwork quilt, get cleaning the rust up i use a whizz wheel on a grinder, like a wire brush that spins but deadly!! "antsuno2"

Dunc Uno Turbo said:

oooooo another uno turbo resto project

looking nice in the first place, but good luck with getting it rust free, doesnt look too bad to be honest!

whats the overall plans for it? are you goingto up the BHP? change the alloys etc?

keep up the good work!

Dunc

Click to expand...

Hi, overall plans right now ist to get rid of the rust! But since I'm not a welder by any means, it's not that easy when has to have other people to do it for you.
Took the car to have it looked at by a welder today, but took it back again.
Didnt feel comfortable with his methods. As for the towers he wanted to cut the old ones out and lay the new ones, overlapping at the edges and just tack-weld it all together. I dont think thats what I was looking for.
Basically he said he would tack-weld everything. No thank you!
So, back to square one. Need a new welder, hope I'll find one.

Other upgrades I have in plan is 60mm lowering and shocks. 13x7 compomotive wheels (Ilike small wheels )
Some type of performance exhaust.
That is to start with. Offcourse I might be forced to a new paintjob, in that case it'll be original. Want the car to "appear stock" , well sort of.

Anyways I'm gonna give this guy a call that I know is really good with a welder, I'll see if he wants to take it on. If not then I dont know

Oh yeah, Dunc. I know from your thread that you did a reshell.
Since I have a absolutely mint 60's mk2 for a daily driver, I cant help playing with the thought of using it as a reshell for the turbo.
What was the hardest bit?
I dont know, guess I'm a little confused about wich way to go right now. :bang:

antsuno2 said:

To be honest you didn't need to buy that repair panel as ther not realy that bad if anything trim it down, eg drill out the spot welds and remove the tower section and just use what you need, ie keeping the original look, not like a patchwork quilt, get cleaning the rust up i use a whizz wheel on a grinder, like a wire brush that spins but deadly!! "antsuno2"

Click to expand...

Yes I know that buying the whole panel was a little overkill, but like I said I dont know how to weld so I had a hard time judging the damage. And someone told me it's easier to change the whole bit than to patch it up? I dont know.

Yeah those wire brushes for angle grinders are great, but it aint nice when those wire bits com flying at your face.

btw: those pics look great!

Hello Uno80...

...nice to see another original late '89. There aren't many left these days. And silver is a pretty rare colour too. I've never seen a MkI with headlamp wipers before, that's got to be a bit special. From what I can see it doesn't look like an antiskid though but worth investigating. As antsuno2 said it should be on your logbook if it is.

I found mine about a year ago and it had rust in pretty much the same places, but don't worry though 'cos it's easily fixed. Just make sure you have loads of waxoil and black sealant once the welding's done so that you can coat everything. I replaced all the sound deadening material and underfelt too which made a big difference.

How's your interior? The years normally sees the seat foam go powdery but again it can all be repaired. A good service covering all filters, belts (cambelt bearing) and fluids will quickly sort engine longevity too.

Hope you intend on keeping it as standard as possible as in that state they are definitely in the minority.

Good luck and keep posting, looking forward to seeing the process...........M.

electricmice said:

Hello Uno80...

...nice to see another original late '89. There aren't many left these days. And silver is a pretty rare colour too. I've never seen a MkI with headlamp wipers before, that's got to be a bit special. From what I can see it doesn't look like an antiskid though but worth investigating. As antsuno2 said it should be on your logbook if it is.

I found mine about a year ago and it had rust in pretty much the same places, but don't worry though 'cos it's easily fixed. Just make sure you have loads of waxoil and black sealant once the welding's done so that you can coat everything. I replaced all the sound deadening material and underfelt too which made a big difference.

How's your interior? The years normally sees the seat foam go powdery but again it can all be repaired. A good service covering all filters, belts (cambelt bearing) and fluids will quickly sort engine longevity too.

Hope you intend on keeping it as standard as possible as in that state they are definitely in the minority.

Good luck and keep posting, looking forward to seeing the process...........M.

Click to expand...

Hi!
My interior is ok, not torn anywhere. Perhaps just a little around the speaker holes in the doors. Drivers seats side padding is pretty much gone, you can feel the metal bar under the fabric.
As for the headlamp washers, all mk ones in sweden were fitted with them, not the mk2's though, they just had spray nozzles on the bumper.

Well i just need to find someone that can fix the rust in a serious way. I'm a bit pissed now, thinkin bout that guy that would tack-weld the car together. Fookin looser. If I cant find anyone willing to take on the job I'll reshell it, then just spray the mint shell inside and out in silver.
btw, seen pictures of your car here on the forum and I must say, I think its one of the nicest I've ever seen. Nothing looks as good as aan original car with subtle upgrades.
Regards

the rust on your car isn't bad and easily repaired not worth reshelling, stick with it, visit a few of your local garages/bodyshops. i did all my own work on the ut from start to finish Ant!

antsuno2 said:

the rust on your car isn't bad and easily repaired not worth reshelling, stick with it, visit a few of your local garages/bodyshops. i did all my own work on the ut from start to finish Ant!

Click to expand...

Hi Ant!
Yeah right now I'm like I'll stick with it then the next minute I'm thinkin reshell..
Do you have a resto thread? so i can look at more pics of your car? looks nice!

There all over the place try turbo collective, members uno's 34 35 40 45 ish pics of uno's have a good look about loads of uno's here's a link oh and dont forget tc's finest Ant!http://groups.msn.com/turbocollective/antsuno2.msnw

antsuno2 said:

There all over the place try turbo collective, members uno's 34 35 40 45 ish pics of uno's have a good look about loads of uno's here's a link oh and dont forget tc's finest Ant!http://groups.msn.com/turbocollective/antsuno2.msnw

Click to expand...

Thanks a lot! Now I'm off to the garage. Will upload some pics later tonight, probably nothing too exiting though..

Today I concentrated on sorting out my garage, getting rid of lots of rubbish and trying to bring order. If i squeeze the other cars together maybe an other uno could be squeezed in


Swedish slogan for Fiat, translates "Big enough to buy a small car".


Not very funny pics but a little more tidying up in the garage and I'll have a nice place to work on my project.

Why can't I have a garage like that.....only got a single. Got yourself a good project there.

Based on the amount of rust I can see in the arch I'd just weld a plate in, fairly easy to do even for an amater welder like I am and since it's hidden you need not worry about getting it perfect.

Ant, Would be good to see some shots in between of repairing the wheel arch, I've got something similar to fix on a strada but have concerns about cutting out the arch and welding a new one in, making sure it is alligned correctly etc.

I'l have a look for more pics! post a pic of your strada wheelarch and repair panel as theres a few ways depending on the level of rust, as you can see i only used the minimum amount of the repair panel as you get virtualy half a quarter panel and some people weld the lot on (not required) also some pro tools help ie nibbler (cuts, trims down the panel with no distortion) ,airsaw, beltsander,etc get your camera out! ant!