General 1988 uno 70 sx

[unosareace]

Hi all, my first post but have been browsing the forum for a while now.
I`ve owned my 5-door Mk1 for ten years now and still get a real buzz from it. Nearly 150,000 miles on the clock and running like a turbine ( Lampredi was a genius ) and no rust on it , except......
Yes , the sunroof surround. Does anybody have any suggestions as to how to hold it in check, or better still get rid of it ( the rust, I mean ,not the roof !)? I`ve had the headlining out twice, the glass,frame and rubber trims out, and done everything imaginable to kill the rust. It`s now started bubbling up again after being treated wth Naval Jelly, zinc oxide and two coats of Waxoyl. Not an MOT point, true, but it`s getting slowly worse. I have no intention at all of getting rid of the car ( just done a 2000 mile trip to the french alps and back without a hitch ) but would very much like to hold the corrosion in check.
Also, as it`s twenty years old it suffers from saggy-seat syndrome. Any thoughts as to what other Fiat seats might fit in ? Punto perhaps....


Anyway, hope somebody can help, many thanks,
Richard

 

[Jai]

hiya richard, ah the mk1 70sx, the finest of them all. good to see another still out there, where abouts are you based? young chas, who is usually in here, had a similar issue with his 70sx, and has sorted the issue with some inventive chicanery. no doubt he wil be along soon to explain all

saggy seats.....i think one of the guys stripped the seat covers off, took out all the foam, and re-packed it with fresh stuff, i think i'll be doing something similair with my tub soon, the side bolsters are starting to dig in a little, into my portly ass and thighs!

 

[unosareace]

Hi Jai, agreed wholeheartedly, the 70 SX is a great little car, fast and fun. I`m in Cornwall, just west of Plymouth so if there are any other forum members near here, hallo !
Thanks for the reply, am keen to get the roof rust properly sorted before it starts munching away any further.
Been a fair amount of work carried out on the car over the years, will do a resume of the changes and repairs when I can work out how to post some photos of it. Me and computers go together like custard and mustard.
Refoaming and recovering the seats sounds favourite but where do I get the tan/beige alcantra fabric needed? The original, especially on the driver`s side is looking distinctly threadbare and our local Fiat shop just gave a hollow laugh when I asked about it a while back.
This Fiat forum really is excellent, I`m looking forward to joining in.

All the best,
Richard

 

[jjhepburn]

Two things...

To kill to rust you need to remove it, use a wire brush or a paint stripping disk. Once its removed you need to paint the area with etch primer (an acid based primer that bonds really well to the metal). Then you can either replace the holes by welding in shaped pieces of steel, or using a fibre reinforced body killer.

The sagging seats are easy to fix. There are two types of seats on the Uno. You can tell which one you have by feeling underneath it, you will feel wire or a sheet of metal with a few big holes in it.
If you have wire then you can fix the seats by pulling the cover off (there are four long plastic clips on the bottom which can be pried off). With the seat apart you then make up a piece of carpet or some other material to go under the foam. The seats sag because the wire springs cut through the foam, placing a piece of carpet under the foam stops it being pushed through the springs. The metal based ones shouldn't sag, but if it has then I would recommend finding another uno seat and removing the foam from that and putting it into your seat.
As for making replacement foam, I think its more trouble than its worth, as all uno seats (other than the turbo) have the same foam in them.
When it comes to re-covering, just go to your local car accessories shop and buy some seat covers.

Good work keeping an uno going, and welcome to the forum.

 

[alexGS]

Hi Richard - welcome to the forum :wave:

You already had some great advice there from the master of nine Unos

If you can find another 70SX with the same seats, you will be able to transfer the passenger's seat cushion to the driver's seat, thus sorting out the wear problem, as they're symmetrical. Have fun with the search...

The rust around the sunroof is something that you need a SKILLED welder for (I'd never try to weld a roof myself, having seen what's happened in the past - the sheetmetal distorts easily and is very noticeable) - so, I suggest that you should take it all apart yourself, then get it to a decent panelshop or even classic car restorer - once you find one that doesn't laugh, you know they'll do a good job. The less filler that ends up in the roof, the better.

When I say 'take it all apart', I mean to remove the headlining and unbolt the 'cassette' that contains the sunroof - it has a ring of bolts securing it to the roof.

It goes without saying that the seats and interior must be covered up well before welding takes place.

You'll probably want to re-trim the headlining yourself using 'modern car' foam-backed headlining material and spray contact adhesive. It's one of those times when the 80's nastiness is impossible to reproduce... (the original material is so hideous that I always thought it must have been made from recycled materials...)

-Alex

 

[Chas Uno]

hiya richard, ah the mk1 70sx, the finest of them all. good to see another still out there, where abouts are you based? young chas, who is usually in here, had a similar issue with his 70sx, and has sorted the issue with some inventive chicanery. no doubt he wil be along soon to explain all

Bit of an old thread this, but have been offline pretty much the last few weeks so haven't had a chance to answer.

Firstly, I do hope Unosareace will come back! Always nice to have a fellow mk1 SX owner onboard

Jai mentions that I had similar issues with my 70SX. Except my 70SX doesn't have a sunroof Pay attention Jai!

My mk1 45S does however have the factory fitted tilt and slide sunroof assembly. Amazingly it had no rust on it all all, though it did leak a bit. I ended up removing the entire sunroof asssembly to solve it. It comes apart as Alex mentioned - remove the headlining, remove the glass (four Allen bolts then lift the glass from the TOP of the car), then disconnect the four drain pipes and unbolt the sunroof securing nuts on the underside of the roof. Have someone hold the sunroof assembly in place as you undo the last bolts as it will be pulling away from the roof due to gravity. If it does this you risk distorting the frame. Once all the nuts are off and the drain pipes disconnected the sunroof assembly will lower down into the car and can be removed.

Once removed you will find the seal is pressed onto a flange on the underside of the roof (the sunroof assembly effectively clamps this in place). It will have sealant on it, but can be gently pulled away revealing the metal flange.

With this done you will now have full access to the roof panel and can tackle any areas that need sorting. To deal with rust it's best to cut any areas of rot completely out otherwise the rust will return. Any holes need to be filled, preferably by welding. However, beware as Alex says as the metal is very thin and easily distorts when welding. Alternatively glass fibre can be used though it's not the best solution, especially if any repairs are being done on the flange itself.

The roof flange needs to be cleaned up even if no repairs were needed. What I did was to paint it along with the underside of the roof with zinc primer and also Smoothrite. This should hopefully go towards preventing any chance of rust getting a hold.

Assuming the seal isn't damaged it can be cleaned up and the old sealant removed by carefully scraping it from the seal channel. Then get some decent silicone sealant, squirt into the seal channel and press the seal back onto the sunroof aperature flange. You may need someone to hold this in place if it doesn't initially stick (which it probably won't!)

Now you need to put the sunroof assembly back in place as this will clamp the seal in position. Re-assembly is the reverse of removal, but once done you should have a better seal and have reduced the chances of rust coming back.

As Alex also mentioned the roof lining interior panel is likely to be in poor condition and will probably turn to dust when you remove it. Re-covering with some aftermarket material will probably work wonders and can easily be done with it out of the car.

So there you have it! Hopefully Unosareace will see this post and it will help him with his sunroof dilema. The factory sunroof is quite a nice addition if kept in good working order and rust free, and a little bit of maintenance can go a long way to making it last a good free years more.

Chas

 

[unosareace]

Hallo again and a big thanks for the advice re; the rust on the roof. Been offline for a while due to a changeover of ISP but hopefully now sorted.
Well, the little beastie is approaching it`s 21st birthday and is also just a few miles short of clocking up 150,000 miles so I reckon it`s about time the various repair jobs needed got started.
I have already spoken to a few local panel welders who all agree that the sheet steel of the roof is too thin to weld without running the risk of buckling and distortion. The alternatives offered up ranged from using glassfibre as a repair medium to sticking a load of duct tape around the perimeter ! Yeah, thanks....

Recent maintenance jobs have included;
New cambelt and tensioner.
CVJ`s and boots on both sides.
A better condition handbrake lever as the old one had lost the edge to it`s ratchet and kept releasing without warning. Also had the locating lugs welded up.
A new Weber DMTL as the old DMTE kept suffering from jet blockage problems. Have had the new carb set up on a rolling road so if anybody is interested in the jet sizes fitted let me know. It`s made an amazing difference to it`s smoothness and driveability but the economy is about the same as before; 35 - 38 mpg around here ( hilly part of Cornwall ) and around 50 mpg on a run.

One of the many things I love about the old Uno`s is the ease with which you can work on them. No electronics, microprocessors or chippy things to screw you up. And the dashboard is an ergonomic work of art - has any other manufacturer produced anything as user friendly ? Ca`nt think of one offhand.

Will be starting on the roof when it`s a bit warmer so will try to send progress report piccies. If I can work out how !!

Also is it worth trying to eradicate the various rattles and groans from the dashboard by stripping it out or do we just live with it ? Had a look in Haynes and it looks doable but fiddly.

Anyway, take care all,
Richard

 

[Chas Uno]

And the dashboard is an ergonomic work of art - has any other manufacturer produced anything as user friendly ? Ca`nt think of one offhand.

Older Citroens The Uno dashboard, especially those switch pods, was very much inspired by Citroen models like the GS and DS.

Also is it worth trying to eradicate the various rattles and groans from the dashboard by stripping it out or do we just live with it ? Had a look in Haynes and it looks doable but fiddly.

Anyway, take care all,
Richard

Dashboard is easy to get out when you know how. It's the two located lugs at the top corners of the dashboard that are a pain but there is a technique that I used that gets it free without causing damage. I did a little guide for dashboard removal if you do a search (I'm at University right now so have to come offline in a moment).

As for the rattles and groans, well, it's an old Fiat and all part of the character! I just installed a decent stereo and crank up the volume to drown out the dashboard noises