126 luigi.....by gadge

so with the leaf spring all in place, on went the hub and caliper assembly without too much drama

ahh thats not to far weekend job

Bring your passport

jatkinson said:

were you live its only fuel and ill be down to help

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I'll come and make the tea, if you want...!

gadge said:

Bring your passport

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...and I'll bring some biccies, too. (As an exiled Lancastrian, I resemble that remark, though....)

homeward said:

......As an exiled Lancastrian, I resemble that remark, though

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Hehehehe quality! Cheers lads, might well take you up on that one day can't say no to biccies and tea! ...... The passports you let you all back in or else you'll be stuck here forever!! And there's like 4 different accents down here in the midlands!

ok with the other hub and caliper assembly refitted it was on with its wheels on off its axle stands for the first time in about four years! ..... and with the bonnet on its now starting to look more like a car and less like a wheelbarrow



the tracking and camber is well out and its currently sitting very high - partly down to the new shocks needing to settle in and the fact that its doors, windscreen and interior have been removed so he's a little light at the moment

another mile stone reached today, after freeing off a seized rear brake I was able to roll luigi out side for the first time in FIVE YEARS . Getting him out enabled me to not only give the garage working area a good sweep out but I was also able to stand back and have a good look at the car to see where to go next with it. I loosely fitted the new (old) doors so I was able to look at how good the new wings were when the doors were on and amazingly they are perfect! so on went the kettle to celebrate


looking very multi coloured luigis new wings have lined up well with the doors


might well look into getting some spacers for the front as the disc brake conversion has left the front axle looking a little narrow


the rear camber has also settled in slightly although not as much as I would like - the front is also a little high.


the insides gonna need a bit of a tidy up too!

with the front looking like a car again I thought i'ld turn some attention to the rear and have a crack at the only real rotten part of the car - the n/s rear arch.


at first glance it all looks good with just the outer skin of the trailing edge of the arch which is shot however appearances are deceiving.......


......and so as I feared, it wasn't skin deep as when I cut into it the rot had spread to the inner section of the body to. luckily not to difficult to sort with just two patches that needed to be fabricated before the repair panel can be fitted. also not that I purposely cut more metal away because I wanted to do away with the raised section that mounts the bumper brackets as this car will have chrome bumpers fitted

I was only talking to you a couple of days ago at the Leicester MI meet about your 126 (luigi) slowly getting there mate! Can't wait to see finished product! Makes me want to get one more and more!

Yeah me too mate, it's comming on slowly

just stumbled across this thread.. Good work, its really coming along

Thank you blu

Admire your work - great stuff...

Ok it's time for a major update and it's not good news ....... It's with a heavy heart that I've decided to throw the towel in on this project and scrap luigi . It really wasn't an easy decision so I'm really gutted to say the least and quite upset given the time and effort I have put into it. Problematic bodywork issues, poor pattern panels, rust, over optimistic plans and poor welding skills all had their part in this decision

I bought him way back in 2006 as a project to sink my teeth into. I'm a huge classic car fan so always wanted a project to restore and the 126 was a perfect start - mechanically simple and small enough to work on in my garage it was ideal. I set a plan of 5 years and I was to do all the work myself except for the interior retrim. However with a house to rebuild and a wedding to plan I never got round to giving it 100% and now were in 2014 and it's still now where near finished and to add to the misery my spraying skills are adequate at best so I had to add on at least £1500 for a respray I couldn't even start it up because the starter motor packed up! :bang: but the final straw came when I spent hours repairing the rear arch only to find that a small little hole on the other side wasn't as small as I thought....... A prod with a screw diver revealed a hole big enough to fit your hand though and because of its close proximity to the jacking point the only feasible way of fixing it properly was to remove the sill, repair it and the weld a new sill on. I put the kettle on and had a good think about the future.

I had a glance on the interweb and found plenty of 126s for sale - with an MOT for far less than it would cost to rebuild luigi so it became a lost cause it's not so much the money but it's the time! 7 years of it! However it's not all wasted......... I've bought another one

So meet luigi II a 1988 BIS. So it's the end of one chapter and the start of another lol

Gadge! Its pretty awesome but i cant imagine you driving it lol!

I can't wait bud it's gonna be great fun!

blimey such sad news and happy news in one post, steady on Gadge! haha
Eklipze3k will says its the wrong type of 126 lol but looks awesome to me

It IS the wrong type, but still cool, always a shame when you're forced to scrap a car through no fault of your own, the new one looks good though

Yeah was pretty heart breaking but I could go on. I just want to drive one out and about and given the cost and effort involved in getting this one going again its just impractical....... Basically I'ld bitten off more than I can chew

I nearly bought an AC but I had a wealth of BIS parts so it just made sense plus I love the hatchback

Please tell me you didn't scrap it!!!!
I do hope someone off the forum too Luigi under their wing and repaired him