Lower if I sat any lower in the car I wouldn't be able to get out!

richit said:

I have seen a really nice red Fiat Coupe turbo for sale though.. I just have to think of a way of buying without my wife realising

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One of my favourite stories about my late father-in-law, who was a real petrol-head with a huge garage full of interesting cars that he tinkered with incessantly (Volvo P1800 & Amazon, Citroen CX, old Humber, etc), is that he once bought a Lancia Fulvia on a whim. Problem was, he'd promised his dragon of a wife not to add to his collection. So he didn't tell her, and kept it in a farmer's barn down the road. For months he left for work in the morning in his Volvo 745, swapped cars, and roared off to work in the Lancia, swapping over again in the evening. She found out eventually, and I shudder to think what price he paid. Top bloke!

I'm hugely relieved to say that my wife takes after her dear old dad!

That's a great story! My wife isn't too bad. She humours me most of the time but if I want a Fiat I tell her I want a Porsche, she goes crazy, then when I say 'OK, no Porsche, but maybe a Fiat' she agrees I can't complain, I have a great wife.

Yesterday I bought a pair of front seats from a Fiat Coupé in excellent condition - black leather with silver plastic mouldings that will go great with my car as it's a Naxos with lots of silver/alloys coloured parts. Can't wait to fit them!

richit said:

Yesterday I bought a pair of front seats from a Fiat Coupé in excellent condition - black leather with silver plastic mouldings that will go great with my car as it's a Naxos with lots of silver/alloys coloured parts. Can't wait to fit them!

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Good find, they sound like a perfect match for your car, look forward to the Photo's.
I am reluctant to exchange my seats as they are despite the miles my car has done, are in good condition & they are leather. So I have this mad idea of repositioning the runners, this I think will involve an angle grinder, loads of head scratching and blind faith that it will work. But also I will need a donor seat to experiment on.

just finished changing my heater unit , as i suspected it was very laborous, but it's done !

the old one and the replacement ! it is the same as punto !!

Hey JMSG! well done!! Big job, isn't it? You might find stuff rattling and squeaking now.. I found it took time to find one or two. I've been meaning to make a video about changing it... either too busy or bad weather. But photos are great..!

No doubt !! But i was counting on it . So i took 2 days off to make it easy with no rush , and it seems it payed off , i managed not to brake anything and replace all the tissue strips and secure everything on place with plastic strips i have been driving It for a wille and no ratling yet

Great job & photos. Is that the elusive pollen filter in pic No 7, top right corner? If it is, can it be changed from in the car without major dismantling?

No ! The yelow things in the picture 7 are the flaps of the unit that redirect the air flow .
The one on the rigth is conected to the handle that choses if the air comes from the outside (fresh air) or recirculates , the other one is conected to the temperature handle that bypasses the air from the heater if you choose cold or makes it pass by it in the same mesure you chose warm...
It does not have a polen filter... the all unit was very filty , i cleaned it up , and i am working in a solution for a replaceble filter , i think i got it ! If so , i will give news ...

polen filter aplication ...

it works , simple and replaceble ...

That's good! I tried with a Punto filter, cutting it up, but it wasn't great. What did you use as the filter?

An industry Filter tissue from "VILEDON"
You can search on the web it is a kind of cloth (blanket) that you can cut and mould to your needs , and there are diferent types of density depending on the size of the particules you want to filter ...
I just bring it from work where its used in the ventilation and a/c systems

THANKS! I have a friend that works with AC, I'll ask if has anything.

I don't want to start a new thread on this, but hope I receive a reply. My heater no longer activates when the dial/knob is turned. Is this dial connected physically to the heater box - or is it electrically activated? It always turned so easily I am thinking the latter.
If so, where would I start, to effect a repair?

the heat is turned on by repositioning a flap that redirects the air flow mayking it pass by the heater , this flap is physically conected to the knob by a wire cable it's a pure mecanic process not electrical.
it's possible that the cable just snapded or the plastic fit of the knob had broken !!? you should comfirm it by dismantling the knob and see if the cable it's still atached !!

Thank you JMSG ! - OK this means I have to remove the panel to get to the switch to see what has happened. I was thinking if there was a solenoid somewhere I wouldn't want to waste time doing unnecessary things! I will now remove the panel, thank you for your help!

Going down the same road - and I need some help. My car has air-con & passenger airbag.

Have already taken out the seats, center console, instrument pod and steering wheel.

1) Does the dashboard come out in one piece or two separate pieces?

Have taken out some screws here and there, including the ones inside the corner air inlets and the left side of dash feels loose already. The area on the right side of center console (=at the passenger airbag) appears to need further attention.

Don't really know how to proceed with the passenger airbag. Taking of the surface panel off was trivial. Read in this thread that some rivets must be drilled. There is a row of four rivets higher up which are painted yellow (=color coded for airbag, I guess) and lower down there are three slightly larger rivets which attach the bottom of the steel panel to the backing structure. Which one do I need to drill? I presume the dashboard is screwed to the car behind the airbag which needs to be removed.

I am sort of terrified about braking things so would appreaciate some help before I proceed.

Cheers, Kare

Edit: re-reading the posting by richit I figured out that the four rivets need to be drilled to remove the airbag. Will do that next. At this point it still looks like a never-ending nightmare, but on we go!

i there !
the dashboard comes out in one piece , you can see pictures of it out in barchettaparts online store .
i advise you to download the tecnical manual that is on the forum it has a chapter dedicated how to dismantle the dashboard and other related issues , it helped me !
the radiator is the same as fiat punto it cost me around 20 euros in after market part shop .
be pacient , and good luck with it