I had heard they were rare but not that rare! come to think of it I've never seen another 75sx on the road before.

I'll do some investigation and a bit of thinking over the next few months on underbody sealing etc. as it's not a winter job anyway, could potentially tackle it myself in the spring.

In other news, while driving the Punto this last week:

- Actually enjoy driving again even though the Punto is probably slower than my boring 16v Fiesta, probably because I have the back seat full of odd car parts and a sub in the boot (which leads me on to.....)

- Since getting the Punto back my choice of music while driving has definitely become more...bassy (Dazed & Confused by Led Zeppelin sounds especially good :slayer: , as does any hop hop )

- Exhaust leak on down pipe/flexi section (caused by scraping) is probably sapping power from the engine (due to lack of back pressure?). Car sounds very 'raspy'/'spitty' out from the underside of the car. Also have to open windows etc. when sitting in traffic as it gets a bit fumey in the cabin (a BIG no no!). Have seen replacement sections online for around £40 but have contacted local exhaust centre to maybe get it repaired custom so that the exhaust doesn't hang as low. Also bought a semi-poly exhaust hanger for the back section to replace my botched rubber + jubilee clip mess (still holding though!)

- After being convinced the above issue^ was making the engine run rough on acceleration, I was nearly empty on petrol on the way home from work so filled the tank, and the car (seems to) run much smoother now, especially under load. Anyone ever experience this? did some Googling but could be a number of things (sediment from tank getting through when low, less pressure in fuel line as there's less head of fluid behind it, ECU trying to reduce consumption to preserve fuel etc.)

- when setting off and accelerating through the gears fairly enthusiastically, the whole left hand side of the dashboard or firewall area seems to/sounds like it vibrates at certain revs, quite loud. The car has always done this but thought it's about time I should actually look into it, had visions of it being the clutch slipping but unlikely?

- Brought Punto for a hand car wash this week, usually do it myself but all car wash gear back at my parents. was going to warn them about the patches of peeling lacquer on the bonnet but didn't, and instantly regretted it when I arrived home with a big patch about A4 size of bare base coat, and it looked like they sponged parts of the bonnet with bloody 400 grit sandpaper. Not toooo bothered though as the bonnet was always in pretty bad shape anyway. Have ordered some clear lacquer spray to touch it up for the time being, may do a full respray or maybe do it black with wrap or blackboard paint for the hell of it.

- Parallel parking is an absolute workout compared to the PAS in the Fiesta

Think that's everything for the moment, sorry for lack of pictures but will get some at the weekend!

EDIT: Also, 100th post! (God this is dragging on a bit....)

Led Zeppelin, Moby Dick - there's a song to test your speakers. Heavy bass, immense drums and a sweet riff.

If the world had great speakers Metal would be much better understood! Crappy speakers don't do it justice

how long has the old fuel been in there, probably just needed some fresh fuel, it doesn't last forever...

Leaky exhaust wise, this whole back pressure thing is an urban myth, no engine wants back pressure period. This has come about because whack a huge fat exhaust can lose power but its naff all to do with pressure, its to do with flow. In the most simpliest terms it goes like this...
If the pipe is too thin it restricts the gases, causes back pressure, is bad.
If the pipe is too big the gas travelling down the pipe can go slower, is also bad.
If pipe is right size gas is not restricted, gas go super fast down pipe, is good.

You can look at intakes the same way, kind of... in that the longer the intake runner the faster the air is going when it goes through the valve into combustion chamber, it gives more torque. But i big fat short pipe is not that bad either on intake depending on what you want, but generally speaking short fat runners = high power but lower torque and long thinner (but not too thin!) runners = less power but more torque.

Having a leak in exhaust can do some funny stuff, particularly if its anywhere near the lambda sensor - which can then get a false reading and then the fueling will be off as well. Defo work sorting anyway.

I too have been driving my 75 a bit recently in prep for MOT and can sympathise with you about the steering, have arms like Popeye now.

Good fun though

SB1500 said:

Led Zeppelin, Moby Dick - there's a song to test your speakers. Heavy bass, immense drums and a sweet riff.

If the world had great speakers Metal would be much better understood! Crappy speakers don't do it justice

Click to expand...

Good to see a youngster with taste: far too many young people worship the talentless mainstream garbage that pollutes the charts!

SB1500 said:

Led Zeppelin, Moby Dick - there's a song to test your speakers. Heavy bass, immense drums and a sweet riff.

Click to expand...

Know it well, one of my favourite songs to drum to :slayer:
Like the idea of people seeing a chavvy-looking Punto drive past but it's Jimi Hendrix or Black Sabbath blasting out instead of Drum & Bass (but that's fun too sometimes )

blu73 said:

how long has the old fuel been in there, probably just needed some fresh fuel, it doesn't last forever...

Leaky exhaust wise, this whole back pressure thing is an urban myth, no engine wants back pressure period. This has come about because whack a huge fat exhaust can lose power but its naff all to do with pressure, its to do with flow.

Click to expand...

Yeah before the first fill-up the car had been sitting with fuel that was nearly 2 years old, so this would make sense. The next time the tank is nearly empty I might drain it completely by disconnecting the fuel filter, then pour more petrol in at the same time to really flush it out. Also tempted to install a see-through filter on the fuel line under the bonnet so I can see what's going in, good idea?

I'd tend to agree with you on the exhaust theory, any fluid dynamics stuff I did cover at Uni was usually geared towards velocity of flow, rather than pressure which was seen as a bad side effect caused by excessive friction in the pipe. I have always wondered, would the best exhaust be no exhaust at all? ('straight outta cylinder head')

pic of exhaust section (sorry for crap photo)


ingenious botch exhaust hangar (think this is actually a rubber hanger for the centre section)


hmmm lovely rusty exhaust juice


and corroded boot floor


didn't manage to get good photos of the recent welding, light and space was too tricky and didn't have time to get the car up on jacks.

new tires for the rear alloys though!


need to sort this patch out, previous owner's handy working coming undone


the biggest patch of the new lacquer peel on the bonnet


new Osram Nightbreaker headlight bulbs (left of pic) as existing ones I put in were ebay specials and kinda dim (right)


and finally, found this bast*rd waiting for me leaving the Aldi car park, big nope!

yeah i wouldn't worry about draining the tank tbh, if you filled it right up then it will be plenty diluted to be fine.

exhaust wise.. they don't normally hang much lower down than the actual sump - i wonder if its actually a poor fitting aftermarket jobby and thats why its so low....? Maybe its just the angle but seems to be way lower than normal compared to the engine to me...

you could be right, I also think the joint just 'up stream' of the flexi bit is rusted through quite a lot causing the whole section to sag downwards, so maybe just getting a replacement OEM downpipe and new hangers would solve my issue?
e.g. one like this, cheap as chips really:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/191536354083?_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

yeah i would just replace it.... you may want to start spraying some pentrating fluid on teh bolts now and repeating a few times a few days apart, particularly manifold to downpipe ones, i'd go as far as wire brushing them (or wire brush on dremel) the threads and then apply plusgas (or gt85/wd40 if don't have plusgas) liberally. If you snap them its not the end of the world but its a massive hassle having to drill out the snapped bits compred to taking steps now to not break them

What are the alloys off? Suit the mk1 well

they are off a punto mk2b if i am not mistaken.. like ones that were options on a lower spec mk2b rather than what just came as standard on say a sporting.

yeah i've got some 'rust dissolver' spray somewhere back home but will spritz the bolts with WD40 throughout the week while I'm away (if I can reach them all). there's a 30 day return policy on that exhaust section so will bite the bullet and see what happens.
Same section from another seller looks different however, so not sure which one would fit/would be better:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1x-OE-Quality-Replacement-Front-Pipe-BM70010/131377304627?_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851&_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIC.MBE%26ao%3D2%26asc%3D39060%26meid%3Dd3124d909c434bb6aee050c8bcc06193%26pid%3D100005%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D4%26sd%3D191536354083

thanks for that on the alloys, both the compliment and where they came from. I picked them up off eBay so never knew what car they were actually from, or even if it was a Fiat as the centre badges might have been changed and never even seen them on another car!

they are pretty much the same, they are probably stock photos anyway but if we go by the photos alone i think the 2nd one looks a bit better, more flat along the bottom edge and the flexi looks like its longer... but six and three two's really.

Euro Car Parts were/are having a sale so picked up a new Radiator Fan & Motor assembly for £42, and a can of PlusGas for £3.77 , realised it's simply the bearing/motor for the fan that's stuffed, as it requires a bit of force to turn the fan by hand at the moment and couldn't see any other obstructions. Couldn't go wrong for that price!

Also ordered that section of exhaust, from a different seller in the end as they including a 'fitting kit' with any bolts/nuts/gaskets I'll need which is hand, £35 for that lot.

Exhaust bolts are tricky to get to with the car on the ground but managed a few sprays of PlusGas in the ECP car park, have heard rave reviews so hopefully will ease any future headaches

plusgas is a purpose made dismantling fluid. Defo works better than wd/gt85. I have been using it for several years and its great. I do still snap old crusty bolts though lol - most recently took the gear selector mech off my panda, bolted through the floor with 4 fastners... snapped 3 of 4 of them even after leaving them to soak in some plusgas for 20 mins first I bet if I had been more patient i could have got them off.

I find WD40 is great for melting rust away so on stuff i know will be tight and crusty i spray with WD and then wire brush them a bit, then clean it up and apply plusgas liberally and leave to pentrate for a little bit.

doing Plusgas and WD every couple of days when I can, they're not easy reach though!

Changed in the radiator Fan assembly in the car park at work during the week, had about 40 mins to kill before 5-a-side and managed to get it done (bit rushed though)

my workspace


old assembly removed


broken section where bracket was for the wiring (was heavily rusted in and screw rounded off, so ended up just ripping it out with pure force, powered by FiatRustRage TM)


old motor, probably coming on 20 years old


piece of the old assembly still attaching to wiring, will remove and re-attach properly at some point but it's hanging out of the way


exhaust should have arrived in the post by now, but may not have time to fit it this weekend anyway

This is a really good little project, but personally I think your tyres are a bit tall for a Mk1, and the extra width has given you heavy steering! If you've just bought 2 new ones for the rear I guess you're stuck with them now...

After your top end refresh you should probably check your valve clearances and adjust them (with shims) if necessary... with an older car that has been skimmed and had the valves redone some will probably have closed up. It's quite involved but ultimtely rewarding, you will need a Fiat tool to remove the shims for swapping and a selection of shims too (often they can be moved from one valve to another...).

Keep it up!

yeah they're the same size (165 70 R14) which came on the alloys initially, at the time I wouldn't have been confident enough to get different sized tyres (or wheels), but they're only 5mm wider and a little taller than the stock tyres from what I remember.

Doing the valve clearances/shims was probably next on my long-term list of stuff to do already, and the engine has been very 'tappy' since the weather's gotten colder so I'm going to do an oil change in the next week or two as well.

The following paragraph can be ignored after I found the following link, but just thought I'd leave it in as all my questions have been answered haha:

(Obviously should have done it back the the cylinder head was off, I assume it's not possible to do with the head still attached and just the cam shaft removed? My plan would be to check and record all clearances with a feeler gauge, then put everything back together and calculate what shims I need to order, rather than just buying a bunch and hope I have the right ones.
Also, does that special 'fiat tool' help remove the shims from inside the 'bucket'?)

http://fiat-punto-cars.info/routine-maintenance-and-servicing/34-valve-clearance-check-and-adjustment-24-000-miles-or-2-years

Good news then, will pencil in a weekend in the next few weeks to get the ball rolling on this (after some more research of course)

so a few hurdles in the last few weeks, had the downpipe exhaust section replaced at a local place with the part got off Ebay, fitted fine but as I expected it still hangs down a bit low and scraped on the speedbumps in the work carpark, no matter what speed I go . It is much quieter up front now though, definitely an improvement.
Pictures of new section:





the day before I had that fitted, I noticed a hissing leak in the top of the radiator after a long drive. they let me know of the leak at the garage as well, and after popping to Lidl afterwards there was a nice puddle under the car. :bang:







Panic stations at that point and ordered a new rad (again off a store on Ebay) for £25 brand new. Popped to Wilko in the meantime and bought some Holts RadWeld as a quick fix, and after using it on the system full of tap water I've had no problems since :slayer:

So I have the new radiator constantly in the backseat of the car, haven't got round to fitting it but will have to soon before the weather gets cold (or at least put antifreeze in the system before the whole engine goes solid)

oh and finally got a photo of the welding that was done for the MOT


will try and keep things up to date, I've also been trying to figure out out to test that the new radiator FAN I put in actually (still) works. it was fine for about a week with temps ok, then I got this leak, followed by overheating due to air in the system. Have tried unplugging sensors to force the car into 'limp mode', as well as direct 12V power to the fan with wires from the battery, but not sure I'm doing it right. Any pointers?

did you trace exactly where it was leaking?? Could just be a faulty rad cap... No point not fitting the new rad though as you have it I suppose.

Can't say I am a big fan of radweld but I shall not start with the lecturing haha. but i do advise doing a damn good flush when you drop the water and fill it properly, i'd go as far as getting some proper flush additive as for 1. its only a few quid and 2. coolant is not only for freeze protection but also rust protection. Proper flush will help get all teh debris from the radweld and rusty crud out - they all have different instructions but drop the water full of radweld out first and fill it with fresh water and the flush then no matter what the instructions are I tend to just run it for 10-15 mins at high idle - say 3k rpm. Then drop it all out and fill with fresh water again and run for a min or 2 before draining again until its all coming out nice and clean and clear, then fill up with your coolant. Takes a bit longer but may as well do it properly