Styling Quarantine Stilos

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Styling Quarantine Stilos

StiloCZ

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Nov 19, 2019
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I know there's a members motors section, but it's a bit outdated now in 2020 and there's only a handful of us on this forum regularly nowdays anyway ...

And since most of us currently have a bit more time on our hands and I for one am certainly craving interaction - how are your Stilo's doing?

Show off your cars so we have something to enjoy!

Attach pics, tell us what you've done, your plans and how things are going [emoji106]

I'll add my car tomorrow, it's going to be a lovely day so I'll hopefully get some nice pics.

Hope you are all well.
 
StiloCZ, well during quarantine time I was thinking why should I not try fixing my sky window on my stilo, it didn't worked since I've bought the car two years ago, what I did I dismounted the whole unit, cleaned rails than i realized that also that rotation knob that activates functions of sky windows is not working properly I replaced that for 5 euros, and now after two days work everything is working great, attached you will find some photos.

Best regards,

Stay Safe !

https://www.rapidshare.com.cn/GMwg3PI
 
Looks great! Good work with the sunroof, wish mine had it... What colour code is your car?
 
Quite an old pic, but she still looks the same.

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I'm rather knackered .. :D I have my car where I live, in The Land that Time Forgot... whereas my tools and facilities are round at my old mum's garage... and I can't go to visit her because she's 86 now and has a heap of "pre-existing conditions" that a spot of the Miley would make quite serious.

But if/when I get the chance, my next jobs will be (in order);

a) Fit the summer wheels. Steelies can go back into the garage for the next 7 months.. :D And I have some new bonnet and tailgate gas struts - since my old ones are the Fiat factory 2003 ones and the bonnet keeps dropping on my head whenever there's a mild breeze, while the Tailgate smacks me if there's water on the glass, or some extra weight on it when it's open... :D

b) Replace cam-belt and water pump (I've got all the pieces, just no tools or facilities).

c) Replace DRLs. I had some aftermarket ones that used to live in the bumper but were shot to bits by the road. I have the lamps (although I may have misjudged how many watts I needed.. they might be powerful enough to become driving lamps... :D ) and I'll order up some alu' mesh to keep the stones off them. Bumper-off job anyway...

d) Fit a new air-con condensor (at the same time as the bumper-off, above) to see if that fixes the A/C which only ever worked for three days (when I had it gassed/until it leaked out).

e) Clutch and flywheel (Dual Mass doodah) which I'm really looking forward to.. Ahhhh Ahhhh

f) Apart from that, I have some new rear springs to fit (old ones been mentioned on the MOT as rusty). But I need my axle stands and they're currently holding up the Younger Mrs S's Cinquencento.. :eek:


Ralf S.
 
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I'm rather knackered .. :D I have my car where I live, in The Land that Time Forgot... whereas my tools and facilities are round at my old mum's garage... and I can't go to visit her because she's 86 now and has a heap of "pre-existing conditions" that a spot of the Miley would make quite serious.

But if/when I get the chance, my next jobs will be (in order);

a) Fit the summer wheels. Steelies can go back into the garage for the next 7 months.. :D And I have some new bonnet and tailgate gas struts - since my old ones are the Fiat factory 2003 ones and the bonnet keeps dropping on my head whenever there's a mild breeze, while the Tailgate smacks me if there's water on the glass, or some extra weight on it when it's open... :D

b) Replace cam-belt and water pump (I've got all the pieces, just no tools or facilities).

c) Replace DRLs. I had some aftermarket ones that used to live in the bumper but were shot to bits by the road. I have the lamps (although I may have misjudged how many watts I needed.. they might be powerful enough to become driving lamps... :D ) and I'll order up some alu' mesh to keep the stones off them. Bumper-off job anyway...

d) Fit a new air-con condensor (at the same time as the bumper-off, above) to see if that fixes the A/C which only ever worked for three days (when I had it gassed/until it leaked out).

e) Clutch and flywheel (Dual Mass doodah) which I'm really looking forward to.. Ahhhh Ahhhh

f) Apart from that, I have some new rear springs to fit (old ones been mentioned on the MOT as rusty). But I need my axle stands and they're currently holding up the Younger Mrs S's Cinquencento.. :eek:


Ralf S.
Sounds like a heck of a list, but about right for a Stilo now... What DRL's were you/are you still using? How many miles is your car on now?
 
I've been busy over the past few weeks (before Corona). After securing a set of Schumacher front and rear bumpers thanks to ZeeWulf's heads-up I got them sprayed and fitted to my car. Also fitted a new set of 17" wheels (bought them as a new unused set sometime last year) to use for the summer and have decided to retire my standard speedline blades for winter use. They have some minor knocks and bruises and I need to get new winter tires for this year anyway. I hate steel wheels, they make the car look so plain imo... And we get pretty long winters here so driving around half the year with steels is a big eyesore.

After getting the car back, Corona really hit and I got some time off so I decided to do some things I've been avoiding i.e. deep cleaning the interior. Took out all the trim, disassembled the seats and properly scrubbed everything out. Finally dealt with the squeaking seats as well.

Plans for the future. Need to change the timing belt and water pump and some more minor maintenance - change the exhaust, top up the AC, ....

I've got a set of abarth dials to fit as well and a facelift front grille somewhere in the post... Hope it comes soon.

My car is a 2005 one owner 30k miles garage queen (only did 10k miles in 13 years) so nothing much wrong on it. My uncle bought the car new believe it or not as an "Italian exotic" and only used the car a few times a year for special occasions. When he passed away his family weren't really appreciative of a garaged Fiat so I bought it off them due to the condition and memories I had of him with the car.

He was crazy about it. Shoes off was where it started, plastic protection on the seats at all times, yearly service. Some people really love these cars (me included).

20200406_214004.jpeg20200406_213833.jpeg20200406_213637.jpeg
 
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Even have the original soft top cover. He bought it with the car.

When he was choosing the car, he test drove all the engine variants and picked the 1.4 as his favourite. Equipment-wise he was an older man and couldn't get the hang of the sat nav so he went with the normal radio and also the manual AC because the digital one was too complicated for him.

But he was in love with the 698 Grigio Tecno colour. He loved the metallic effect of it and waited months for his car to be made.

Nice memories :)


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I'm waiting the arrival of a pair of Track Rod ends.

Okay figure this, I put it in for an MoT with the Crystal Clear Instruction that if it passes then please track it, or if it fails on something other than steering/front suspension, then please track it.

I pick it up, they charge me for tracking, and on the MoT sheet under 'advisories' it says "Track rod end ball joint has slight play Nearside front". W.T.F. is it me or am I dealing with a bunch of ***ts :bang:.

So we agreed that I'll buy and fit a new pair of ends, and they will re-track it for free :D.

It's the place I've used for the last 8 years for MoT's, but it was taken over last year, and the new bunch aren't impressing me (n).

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I'm waiting the arrival of a pair of Track Rod ends.

Okay figure this, I put it in for an MoT with the Crystal Clear Instruction that if it passes then please track it, or if it fails on something other than steering/front suspension, then please track it.

I pick it up, they charge me for tracking, and on the MoT sheet under 'advisories' it says "Track rod end ball joint has slight play Nearside front". W.T.F. is it me or am I dealing with a bunch of ***ts :bang:.

So we agreed that I'll buy and fit a new pair of ends, and they will re-track it for free :D.

It's the place I've used for the last 8 years for MoT's, but it was taken over last year, and the new bunch aren't impressing me (n).

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Reminds me of my local Halfords.. the previous manager was a bit more sympathetic to my creaky old war-horse and didn't give it too much of a hard time.. but the new management needs to just become a bit more "joined up" with the sales area.

I had some worn shoulders on my rear tyres so I ordered new tyres. The Big H. was only £5 more per tyre than the cheapest cheap place I found, so I thought for an extra tenner, it saves me faffing about.. and Halfords can fit the tyres and then MOT the beast.

I paid for the tyres and MOT on line.. they sent me an SMS when the tyres arrived and so far so good...

So... imagine my surprise (! :D ) when the beast failed on "worn rear tyres".. even though they kindly fitted my new ones after the MOT, so I wouldn't have to drive it home in a "dangerous" condition.

"Luckily" (for Halfords.. otherwise I would have burnt their shed down in the night) the car also failed on a couple of other items; the ABS light wasn't coming on... or rather it was, just a previous owner had stuffed a tissue in there presumably to get past an MOT failing "light fails to go out" that was later sorted out.... and the headlamp height adjusters weren't working... so I needed to fix it a bit anyway... but I was impressed with Halfords workshop coordination (not).


Ralf S.
 
=> my front speaker are clearly failling .. (autoradio is aftermarket) I need to open one door to get what to buy !

=> My climate control actuator are 3/4 dead, I need to access them (I changed 1 once ..) and I need to dismount part of the dash :(
 
Sounds like a heck of a list, but about right for a Stilo now... What DRL's were you/are you still using? How many miles is your car on now?

It's a tiny list really... :D

The DRLs were some cheap Chinese LEDs that were just the right size to fit on top of the plastic radiator panel inside the bumper and poke into the bottom slot of the bumper air intakes.

But they had plastic lenses and not "100% waterproof" (hardly surprising at £3 each) so they quickly got punctured, the lights filled with water and the LEDs started going out.... :D But my main purpose was to wire them in and get the installation done, so I was less worried about the lights themselves.

The new lights are more robust looking (more waterproof and I will put them behind a mesh) so could be a better long-term prospect. They're a bit bigger than the slots in the bumper so maybe won't look so tidy... and they're 48W.. which could turn them into driving lamps rather than DRLs.. :D but I'll fit them as a hobby, so it's not desperate if they're too big/too ugly or just too bright - I can convert them into reversing lamps. :D


The rear springs are original and the coating has fallen off, so they get noted as "rusty" on the MOT advisory. They passed the last two tests but I have new springs ... just need to get my stands out from under the Cinquecento so I can change them. The rear beam makes it "impossible" (I'm sure I could do it if I really needed to) when one wheel is still on the floor. I have two jacks, so that might be an option. Anyway... not urgent.


The cam-belt is just "due".. the last one went on in Paris when I suffered a massive water loss in the summer 2017 heatwave. I found a Fiat garage who were fully booked but the guy spoke Italian, so I managed to explain what was wrong and they phoned a back-street garage round the corner and explained to them in French what was wrong. Everyone thought it was "le pompe a eau..." but when they dismantled it, they discovered that it was "le radiateur". €1200 lighter, I managed to get home/catch the ferry two days later. That was lucky then... :D

Anyways, the belt/pump (and le radiaeur) have done 66,000 miles now, so it's due a change. I can't remember if 60k or 72k is the interval.. but I'm in the zone for sure.


The AC has never worked while I've had the car... which is ironic since it's an Active "Air" model - "Air" being a more expensive option for the original owner who bought it. I had the system re-gassed a few years ago by a rough looking garage who was running a special offer (I didn't know at that time whether the system worked at all, so I needed a cheap way to find out) and it worked for three days until the gas leaked out. Later I took it for a "free air conditioning check" to be properly diagnosed and the guy discovered there was a fairly big leak in the condensor (so first garage shouldn't have filled it up really).

Anyway, I have my eye on a condensor on eBay.. :D It's a Nissens job and not a bad price (£70) so I'll buy it nearer to when I can fit it, in case there's a problem. No point to buy it now and send it back in 8 months time, if I discover it's damaged/broken/doesn't fit etc. :D

The clutch is the nasty job. It's been moody for a very long time and I think the problem is the dual mass flywheel. The clutch itself is probably "okay" but the last time I changed it was at 125,000 miles. The CSC was leaking, rather than the clutch being completely worn out... I'd have said the clutch plates would have gone to 140,000 miles) but I left the old flywheel in there, since it was okay.

But now the flywheel rattles and rumbles, so the whole kit needs to be changed again. The grief is the labour (since I'll do it myself) so I'll replace the whole thing and the input shaft oil seal too, in case that's leaky or about to become leaky. I don't want to change the box ever again.... :D Which is why it's annoying that I'm stranded from my tools since now is a good time to do it (picture the work taking 2 or 3 weekends).... :D


Anyway, it all keeps the old beast running. It's on 205,000 miles now and otherwise in not-bad condition. I can't think of anything that doesn't actually work (touch wood) apart from the A/C... :)


Ralf S.
 
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Wise move on the driveshaft oil seal, often overlooked, and when its all back together the effort of stripping back down enough to change it, is always a pain :cry:

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=> my front speaker are clearly failling .. (autoradio is aftermarket) I need to open one door to get what to buy !

=> My climate control actuator are 3/4 dead, I need to access them (I changed 1 once ..) and I need to dismount part of the dash :(

I've just remove my dashboard few days ago to repair my climate control actuators. This is not very difficult but you will need to be methodic becose there is a lot of screws and wiring.
Only the 2 last screw ( maintining HVAC to crossmember) are really hard to remove!
Still waiting parts to reinstall it...
 
Since getting a new Tipo in March I have nothing to do!. If I still had my Stilo I would be changing the front pads and discs but for now I am trying to get a 1964 Moto Guzzi Dingo moped to start. Yesterday I succeeded in getting a spark at the plug so I am nearly there.
 
Hi I agree, iv had 4 Stilo Abarths now.I sold my last one 3 years ago changed to Audi A4 3.2
Iv just bought another Stilo Abarth 4 door with 14000 on clock 2003 would anyone know of a lower mileage one out there
 
I have my 2006 1.6 Active SW which has been sat awaiting attention to keep me busy during the current situation. Brought locally last year as was looking out for a cheap estate car, although I shouldn't have as it's a Estate in a State!

But I felt so sorry for the Stilo when I saw it, that I brought it anyway after a test drive. Amazingly this has only done 48,000 from new. I reckon it's likely genuine as driving wise it feel's pretty decent despite it's look's.

The interior is pretty well destroyed and was disgusting to sit in before and smelt horrible too. Headlining is torn and dirty. The nearside front door card was the wrong colour and smashed. The car has previously had poorly repaired damage to the nearside, mainly the rear door. As it's mostly filler and the nearside front door and sill has been dented again by the previous owner.

The Roof is dented above the offside door's, how someone managed that I don't know. Also the offside had a smashed rear light and bumper.

Plan's are to get it looking tidy again as best I can, although being a SW mean's finding decent used trim is proving difficult. As most have been used as cheap workhorse [like this one] and get run into the ground.

With help from my Brother. I've already fitted a used rear bumper and light. Replaced x3 Door cards and the rear Boot carpet all brought before the lockdown. An fitted new number plates.

I've made a start this week on trying to cut back and polish the bodywork as best I can to remove the scratches etc.

I'll try and add some photo's soon to show how it look's now. The photo's I've hopefully included were from when I collected last year.
 

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