Yeah easy to just swap the cam housings. Valve clearances can be checked easily while your at it. Is your cam really worn out or just surface rust?

I like the blue rocker cover now. Keep it ?

I wonder if the selector fork is In the wrong place? There might be an inspection cover which might allow you to sort it out. Otherwise is the gear selector mechanism assembled correctly underneath?

Nice carb set up. Is there space to have the trumpets offset somehow to save altering the body? I guess not.

Are you going to paint that poor core plug to protect it?

The cam is pretty poor, but definitely not urgent.

Gearbox is still bad. The problem is it sometimes engages 2nd gear when coming out of Reverse. Still trying to get to the heart of the problem.

I'll think about painting it ;-)

Any luck with the gears?

I once fitted a gearbox to a Cinq sporting and couldn't get all the gears. First was in third position and third where fifth should have been with no reverse or fifth gear as the lever couldn't reach.

It turned out to be the selector fork which had moved somehow??? I resolved the issue by taking the top off the gearbox and could see the fork in the wrong place???



I guess the clutch fork must have moved and come out of place or something. Could somerging like this have happened?

Problem solved: Missed out the tiny pin the locks the other gates when in gear. So it's been out, apart, rebuilt and thrown back in. New throwout bearing too, so maybe it was half worth it...

Cut out the rear part of the engine bay and the trumpets fit! Bolted on the exhaust but I really dislike it. Any reasonable upgrades? Or shall I try and build one using a cherry bomb silencer? It'll stay for the time being at least...

So I tackle the electrics next after all the little plumbing bits are done

Pictures tomorrow (as usual it seems)

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/like/3318...3D710-134428-41853-0%26rvr_id%3D1102933307678

£1385 delivered??? Bargain!!!
(I don't think I've even spent that much on doing up the car...)

Longest link award goes to....☺

Well done sorting the gearbox! Takes some determination to re-do that sort of thing. Hats off to you!

I can't afford a nice exhaust. Just had my own saga with fitting a 2nd hand standard exhaust. Lesson learnt: Don't leave your exhaust outside to collect rainwater!!!! Plooms of smelly white smoke/steam everywhere! Mourning traffic jams! Not good combination. I thought the engine was suffering catastrophic failure at first!

After thinking it could be water that had got into it. I took it for a drive tonight and it fairly quickly burnt off. Phew!

http://r.ebay.com/lOHqzI

This one was available in stainless last week on eBay?

I'm on my third exhaust in 2 1/2 years... both second hand replacements though.

I am thinking about making my scrap one into a custom jobby...

Excuse the gun gum.... temporary repair which got blown apart when it backfired.

http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u12/1968s2/20160929_215409_zpsmar3cwhe.jpg

And this was inside

http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u12/1968s2/20160929_222302_zpskhg0ftyq.jpg

Concerning my about the gearbox above. It was the selector lever not the clutch fork.

And now my seicento has a seized alternator... I had two broken fiats for a second there!

Well it was a pain, but only took 20 minutes to strip as I knew it pretty well already..

What I'm thinking though is a generic cherry bomb silencer and weld together a 2" system to the manifold and tip?

Sounds like you've been through a lot with yours Jeremy, really can't wait to get this one back on the road though!

Couple more questions:
Ignition timing - US book says 5 degrees but I've always used 10?

Gearbox oil - Grade? And do you fill it up on the plug at the side of the diff housing?

Yes fill the gearbox so it's level with the hole. Got the right oil?

What US book do you have? I have Haynes manual which says 5 btdc for 1976 cars onwards

It says static advance of distributor is 10 degrees...

Went on a nice A road drive last night. One headlight out on main beam but it ran well

What is the right oil? I'll check the book

Yeah it's the Haynes one... 5 BTDC just seems really late, the US ones are 0 degrees for emissions... Was there a change in emissions regs in 1976? I'm guessing later timing gives better emissions stuff but also less power ultimately?

They're not too bad to replace are they? Probably not too bad though even with one out

As promised :

I know the exhaust is all 'classic' and what have you... But I really don't like it (plus it's really rusty and full of some horrible sounding stuff)

Looking good!

Yes the gearbox oil apparently makes a big difference and its not advised to use standard EP90 as the gearbox was not designed to use it.

The original exhausts are ok... i will get a nice stainless one too, one day... £££ I don't think many people would blame you for fitting a different exhaust.

The headlights are usually not great due to all the electrical contacts throughout the wiring harness being degraded with age. I have fitted a relay mod which I'm sure I've mentioned. The dipped beam was like driving by candle light with my car. If you haven't done this then its fairly straight forward and can be plugged into the car in minutes. Just takes time to source the connectors and build the relay harness indoors.

Regarding ignition timing, 76 was mid way through the 1300 production? so they probably changed something?... i don't know. US cars had fuel injection too so a different ignition system was probably something to do with the 0 degrees... I'm not the best on timing & ignition, as iv stuffed an injection engine in mine i don't have to think about it at all , plug n play - as they say...

Looks like your making good progress. Are you going to polish the paintwork with a machine?

I've heard people talk of the relay mod.... Can you enlighten me as to how it's done??

It has a lid!

Rigged up a choke for the new carbs and a half decent throttle cable. Started wiring the engine and I forgot how bad Italian wiring was...

The pedal box is in after being refurbed - Forgot how narrow they are, how do you guys not constantly hit the throttle instead of the brake?

Fiat pedals are all like that. It gets a little awkward if you try and drive with big worker boots though. It's nice driving in smart little leather shoes like a stylish Italian man would wear ? lol

Citroen saxo pedals are smaller and closer in my opinion.

The headlight relay mod... I will find some links for you when you get around to it ?. keepup the good work!

Need to start thinking about insurance annoyingly.

Not looking to insure it until I'm 18 but where the hell do I go? I'm not willing to fork out 5k a year so who will insure young people on classics?

Hopefully you'll be able to get a classic policy. It'll have limited milage but that shouldn't be a problem with an x19 ?

Which companies are worth trying? FMJ?

I just went through compare the market and use flux direct. There are also some which provide a discount if your a member of the owners club or fiat forum.

I think I might be a member of those ?

Thanks Jeremy, I'll start looking soon