Punto (Mk2/2b) A grey and hopefully colorful daily driver Punto

[KaiserPingo]

New antenna to arrive soon
Needs to bleed the cabin heatersystem again, as it "gurgles" a lot, when I start the motor.

Doing a quick list of things to do after winter...

Exhaust. Most likely gonna make my own, as the one on the car is already welded all the way.
The cat is ok !

Timing belt and waterpump.

Undertray. Primarily to protect the sump from the environment !
Maybe already this autum... ?

Restoring the aloy wheels and new tires.

"Normalizing" interior colors.
Painting front bumper and reparing craks.
Removing scratches from around the car...

Would love a soonroof !
And then vinyl on the roof, as its not that pretty.

Heated sideview mirrors.

And welding the area on the underside.

 

[KaiserPingo]

Well, might just as well publish my "little" project-list...


Up and comming:
Wheelchange for wintertyres (because the present tires are CRAP!) (2016).

Extra rustproofing of rear wheel arches.
Mounting front mudflaps.

Mounting protective sleeves for the driveshaft sleeves (winter-thing...).

New headlight lamps (Philips X-treme Vision Plus).

New bulbs in the centerconsole.
New antenna.
Homemade leather for the gearstick.


To come:
New homemade exhaust (old one is welded from the cat and all the way back) (I want it to be SILENT !)

New left front wing.
Repair the car bottom (passengerside about 15cm x 20cm, cut out, weld in)

Repair and paint the front bumper and mounting a small rubber-splitter.
Assorted paint repairs and one dent in the rear left fender (it's ok to be patinated :-D ).
Restoring alloy's.
Mounting towbar.



Pondering about...:
Mounting a dark tinted glass electric sunroof (!) (Never done that before ).

Mounting vinyl on the rest of the roof (the paint is really not good looking).

Heated sideview mirrors
Rebuilding a/the centerconsole (Moving radio to the ashtray section and mounting GPS/Mobile console in the present radioslot, bigger cup-holders)

Bigger loudspeaker consoles for the front doors, and loudspeakers.
Sporting or HGT stearingwheel (obs: two-stage or one-stage airbag ? !!!).


And still not sure about the clutch, so it could also be a point on the list.



More will turn up ! :devil:

 

[KaiserPingo]

Been sick for two days, so I'm a little behind :yuck:

Sunday was a warm and sunny day (the past 14 days have been the warmest and most sunfilled days,all summer. And it's autum... !!! ).
So had to change wheels, as the rubber on the aluminum rims was dangerously worn and gave a bad ride.
Doing so, I also bled the brakes.
Now I have fresh brakefluid throughout ! :slayer:

Next summer I'm gonna renew brakes allaround, including new brakedrums.
Springs and dampers looking a little..., not absolutely fresh.
But they feel like they are doing ok.
Not up to Hydropneumatik standards, but fine for a Punto.
Hangs a little at the rear I think, but the car has never had a towbar.
Hopefully I can maintain my self, and wait until 2018 with new springs and dampers.
Going for standard at the back (gonna get a tow bar !) and a 30mm drop at the front.
But thats gonna come later.


While the front wheels were of, I mounted some mudflaps.
Never seen this kind of mounting before, and it looks od and not pretty.
But they seem to stay i place, and I like the soft rubber quality.

Then I would mount the new antenna.


What a piece of crap !!!
When I mounted it with MY FINGERS, the antenna broke internaly.


The little top-part with the yellow wire, should be a part of the oval metalplate !
Look at how flimsy it was welded on at four little points
And the mounting of the yellow wire was equally stupid and bad and with literally no real connection.
I'm gonna solder it properly another day, but didnt have my equipment with me.
So was forced to make a temporarely repair-like repair, so I would'nt have to drive around with a big hole in the roof.

Never buy cheep crap from China !
To all manufacturers: Dont have your stuff made in China, if you have any pride in what you produce. It's cheep for a reason.
Buying from Germany, doesnt mean its made in Germany.
Lesson learned, and I get to do some soldering.

Driving experience with the 14" steelwheels.
Stearing is very lighter, very !
Ride comfort is really nice

Still have a thumbing resonance at about 100km/h

Oh, and new headlights.
Now I can see in the night
And I can see the dials in the centerconsole, with new happy little bulbs inside
(Now I think I need more light in the upper hazardbutton section, but they are soldered on types...? )

 

[brinker]

Lowering front only, you might face problems with getting the correct headlight adjustment. My fogs are too low and can't go higher, because my front is dropped more than I probably should - but handling is great

Resonance at 100kmh could be wheel bearing or exhaust - maybe a small hole?

 

[KaiserPingo]

Lowering front only, you might face problems with getting the correct headlight adjustment. My fogs are too low and can't go higher, because my front is dropped more than I probably should - but handling is great

Resonance at 100kmh could be wheel bearing or exhaust - maybe a small hole?

Tried listening to the wheel bearings.
Only heard a small squiiicky sound from right rear breakdrum, when i turned it backwards (?)
But the exhaust is a good guess, so will look in to it.

Regarding the lights !
I dont have fog lights.
Will get fog lights later, but it includes a rebuild af the headlamps.
(WHAT ??? )

Yes, I will move the indicator lamp (the little light in front of the full beam) to the fog lamp position.
And then mount some descent fog lamps in the lower part of the front bumper, where fog lamps works a lot better.
I dont know what kind of fog they have in Italy, but in Denmark or in the dark forests of Sweden, fog lamps works a lot better, when mounted at a lower position than your dipped beams :slayer:
At the same time, I was thinking about some different headlamps all together, so not having that orange goo-looking thing in the otherwise beautiful eyes of the Punto.

 

[Brendan W]

Don't forget the timing belt.
Quite a number of 16V owners here have lost the belt soon after taking delivery of the car.
If you are not sure of the history or you are sure it hasn't been done to schedule, then put it at the top of the list.
Nice looking car

 

[KaiserPingo]

Don't forget the timing belt.
Quite a number of 16V owners here have lost the belt soon after taking delivery of the car.
If you are not sure of the history or you are sure it hasn't been done to schedule, then put it at the top of the list.
Nice looking car

Yes, absolutely !
According to the cars history, its due next year, well ahead of 80000km's.
From my thread about "Preemptive Head Gasket Actions", it means I'm gonna change timingbelt, waterpump, headgasket, as you know
Just changed the thermostat, so thats gonna be ok.
Engine runs fine, with no misfires or difficulties and no strange smells and milage is perfect.
All fluids are new and everything has been bled.
The clutchproblem has turned out to most likely be a mastercylinder problem.
But there are no leaks, so will see if it can survive the winter, and then go for changing the master- and slavecylinder and the clutch.

This weekend, I'm setling with brazing the :bang: antenna !

 

[Brendan W]

You just like fixing things

 

[brinker]

If your rear brake drums doesn't scrape a tiny bit when rotated by hand, you need to adjust them.
Yeah, FGA was a little silly with the fog light positioning on a couple cars - same story on the Alfa 147... Luckily not the case on the mk2b!

 

[KaiserPingo]

Oh ****, oh ****... :'(

I've really damaged the Punto...

I'm the one to blame...
Shifting lane, looking over my shoulder, looking straight ahead again..., and the car in front had done a complete stop !
Applying full breaks, ABS active, hit the Hyundai in the rear and heard a terrible cracking sound.
Very low speed.
Not even a ****ing scratch on the Hyundai, but look at my little Punto :'(
I'm so sorry.
And so sad.
Headlights pointing to the ground, and front flap bent and not closing properly and the bumper is more broken than before.
The upper crosmember is damaged.
I dont know the details of a Punto front, but I hope its easy to dismantle, so I can bring the crosmember in to a better shape, and also the front flap, so it closes better and I can remove the big gaps.
And get the headligts to point correctly ahead again.
I'm sad and angry and confused..., and angry..., at my self.
Been having some very stressfull weeks at work, and must admit that my brain was occupied with speculating desperately, while driving and thats most likely what was behind it all.
Now I have one more point on my stress-list :-(

Anyone done a repairjob like this ?

Was gonna replace the bumper anyway, but now I have to replace the bumper AND the front flap.
My worry is, that its difficult to take apart, roadside.

 

[KaiserPingo]

The front seen from the side.
Damage more vissible.

 

[flisko]

thats nothing, just body damage

only thing i would do here is get headlight mounts welded back and hammer top cross member back to original position

 

[KaiserPingo]

Done a lot of work on the Punto today.
The bumper mountingpoint on the left wing are both broken.
A bad fix with a small aluminium plate keeps it in place, some what...
Turns out the lower cros member is badly damaged, but I can only get to fix it by removing the front bumper and the top cros member.
Regarding I also need two new headlights and a front flap and a new left wing..., and a front bumper, it'a two day operation once I have all parts.
I can mount a new lower crosmember and correct the top cros member.
Have to wait for time and parts, so most likely spring 2017! (?)

The work on adjusting the headlights took 3 hours !
Because they can only be adjusted by bending parts of the crosmember.
Ordering new lights ASAP (angle eyes now I have a reason for changing the lights).
Yesterday, driving home in the dark for the first time since the accident, I only had light about 5 - 10 meters in front of the car.
Not good !!!
Driving home this night, the light was much better, close to perfect.

Cant find any leaking fluids, but a bit afraid that I'm loosing coolant.

Feel I've failed bigtime against my little Punto. It didnt deserve this.

 

[KaiserPingo]

Does anybody have a photo of a mk2, without front bumper and bonnet ?

 

[varesecrazy]

Does anybody have a photo of a mk2, without front bumper and bonnet ?

Yes. But more bent than yours..

80 kph into a stationary vehicle..

 

[KaiserPingo]

Yes. But more bent than yours..

80 kph into a stationary vehicle..

Sounds like a really bad experience

I would prefer a photo, without much damage...

 

[flisko]

Sounds like a really bad experience

I would prefer a photo, without much damage...

 

[KaiserPingo]

Great, just what I needed. A photo of the cross member that on my Punto, has a deep bend in the middle.
Thanks !

 

[KaiserPingo]

Apart from wrecking my little Punto, it all of a sudden startet producing a very high pitch squeaking sound.
Almost like if I had a person playing a note on a wineglass (checked in the boot, there was no one there :-D).
Only at complete standstill it was silent.
The slightest movement, in gear, out of gear, clutch in or out, different loads..., the sound was there.

Immediately I feared it to be something expensive.

Jacked the car up in front first (the most expensive end of the car :-D ) in order to find the source of the sound.
Turned the wheel and listened.
Nothing but a light "whiiiish" from the brakepads.
Everything OK in front and all my fear about driveshafts, joint and so on disappeared.
Jacked the rear up.
Just a slight turn of the wheel and the high pitch "squeeeak" was there.
Removed wheel and breakdrum.
Shoes really, really worn .
When I sligtly rotated the wheel, the sound came from behind the brakeshoes (?).
Turns out it was i little spring from the handbrakesystem, that was in contact with the ABS ring, and made the spring produce that annoying sound.
Cleaned it all up, adjusted a little and greased the little spring.
No contact any more and no sound
Have to wait 12 days to fit new brakepads.

When I bought the car, I was promised the brakes all around had been renewed (pads and shoes).
Clearly a lie