Hi All,

Bit of an update on my £250 project Grande Punto Sporting.
Its now driving and I should have it on the road Monday.

Jobs I have done;
New boost pipe from Poland £40 delivered
Oil and filter change - I had to chisel the the drain plug off! It would appear the drain plugs are made of cheese or made in China :bang:
Air filter changed.

Coolant changed mm that was a mare! system appeared to be full of rust so I have flushed out best I can, I have got rid of the bloody awful pipe clips and replaced with jubilees, while bleeding up I snapped off the plastic bleeder near the rad, took it apart, drilled out enough to get a self tapper and a fibre washer in place - its worked, used proper Fiat coolant

Rear lower engine mounting renewed - good price from Fiat £38 plus vat, its the one attached to the gearbox - Billy the bodger had been in previous, its all done now and very little movement on the engine.

Renewed all the rotten self tappers holding up the undertray

Work to do, I have an airbag light and previous owner said it was the slam panel crash sensor so looks like I am going to invest in ECU scan thing
I also need a new N/S inner wing plastic cover.

Happy days :slayer:

Job for today - Pollen filter change and mine is manky tbh.
I have removed the glove box to try and make it easier - there is a youtube video on how to do it, on right hand drive cars just take glove box out.

Looks like a bit a squeeze getting new one in.

GPSporting2009 said:

Oil and filter change - I had to chisel the the drain plug off! It would appear the drain plugs are made of cheese or made in China :bang:

Click to expand...

Many years ago, "My Mate" turned his sump drain plug the wrong way. Righty tighty lefty loosey. Oh Yes!. Except its the other way around when looking from above. D'Oh. Monster size pipe pliers from work got the thing off and a new plug was fitted.

well...... The little Sporting goes very well
On the road and all legal - its bloody quick too.

I was a bit worried as the temperature gauge was hardly moving!! so pulled over and let it tick over, temp gauge went up to 1/4 mark - great, set off again and gauge went down - looks like the thermostat is missing.

Next job - look for the the thermostat

very very slight drone when driving so I am not sure if its gearbox or maybe wheel bearing, looking at some posts and gearbox is a weak link, drone does not increase noticeably, jack up front and check wheel bearings first.

Onward

Re thermostat
reading some posts re this cooling problem, looks like it is stuck open and not missing - guess I would have a few leaks if it was missing
Also just renewed the coolant mmm

Stuck or missing thermostat amount to the same thing. Just replace it. Check the cooling system closely for leaks. A new rad is much cheaper than a head gasket repair.

Fronts are a hassle, but rear wheel hubs are £30 each all in. Change the pair and be done with it. Check the rear subframe for rust while under there.

GPSporting2009 said:

well...... The little Sporting goes very well
On the road and all legal - its bloody quick too.

I was a bit worried as the temperature gauge was hardly moving!! so pulled over and let it tick over, temp gauge went up to 1/4 mark - great, set off again and gauge went down - looks like the thermostat is missing.

Next job - look for the the thermostat

very very slight drone when driving so I am not sure if its gearbox or maybe wheel bearing, looking at some posts and gearbox is a weak link, drone does not increase noticeably, jack up front and check wheel bearings first.

Onward

Click to expand...

Junk tyres do this too..

Thought mine was a wheel bearing
But fitting newer tyres made quite a difference..

Swapping around ..
corner to corner is a cheap test

Thanks for input.

New tyres fitted very recently and no wear on them tbh
The car has 40mm lowering springs fitted, will this be upsetting the gearbox/diff?

Cheers

GPSporting2009 said:

Thanks for input.

New tyres fitted very recently and no wear on them tbh
The car has 40mm lowering springs fitted, will this be upsetting the gearbox/diff?

Cheers

Click to expand...

Lowered grandes knock out cv joints

Wont do the ride any good either

It's great to see this car being given the attention it needs to live again

It's a pity that the values of these have dropped so low that many good cars may not survive developing minor faults.

I think the Grande Punto is also one of the best looking cars in the last 20 years, especially in 3-door form (and the 5-door is still smart). Even more so now there's so much fussy styling in fashion. The GP has simple, clean lines that will age well.

Hope you continue to enjoy your car

Thanks for that.

I don't think they stack up against old un's, new un's are far too complicated with electronics - my opinion

But I agree they look good in 2 doors and they drive great, handling with the lowered springs is bloody awesome, I am looking into replacing the struts complete if I can get em delivered.

I still need a new flexi joint and thermostat fitting

Onward

On the good looks front, the Mk2 (not 2A) Punto two door is also a great looking car.

As I am stuck at home I am going to wash the front seats.
I have waited until we have some fairly sunny days.
Been in the car the last few days and it is warming up inside the car.

I will take some pics before and after

Cheers

I have had a good browse around and found this on the net.
Its a good site as I am looking for certain parts - this may save me bothering my local Fiat dealers parts department, they have been very very helpful though to there credit - thank you Richard Hardies in Ashington Northumberland

The sit is:

https://7zap.com/en/
I just put my VIN in and found my car.

Cheers

If you post your developments in a
Members Motors thread..tagged Grande Punto

Your posts will be far easier for others to see

Youre doing really well there

The seats in the car I bought in Dec also need a good clean

Ive never had airbaigs in seats.. so will be careful with fluids..and pressure

Charlie

You will have to explain how to post in members motors, I have a pic up in there, is that the correct place?
So how do I go about it?
I am useless at navigating forums, I do find this one most difficult to be honest.

I have Land rovers and those sites are much easier.

Cheers

GPSporting2009 said:

You will have to explain how to post in members motors, I have a pic up in there, is that the correct place?
So how do I go about it?
I am useless at navigating forums, I do find this one most difficult to be honest.

I have Land rovers and those sites are much easier.

Cheers

Click to expand...

Not too complicated:

Open members motors

Blue tab top left- New Thread

Prefix..scroll down to Grande Punto

Then put in the title .- mj project car etc

Then add the opening line:

Dead brilliant.. faster than my morris minor .. etc

Submit

YOU ARE DONE

You can edit for an hour..

Then anything later just goes into the next box in the thread..
either you adding updates.. or others telling you of their jealousy

varesecrazy said:

Dead brilliant.. faster than my morris minor .. etc

Click to expand...

Oh come one everybody knows the Moggy Minor came with a V6 option




However, the V8 version was a bit less practical.

DaveMcT said:

Oh come one everybody knows the Moggy Minor

Click to expand...

Cool rad (man..)

I always wanted a V8 Moggy 1000.
When I was young in my early teens a local eccentric fella had a Ford Anglia, it had been lifted and it had a tuned 3.5l V8 (maybe it ran on a Land Rover chassis) it sounded awesome.
The car and the fella looked like an extra out of Mad Max