Bravo (Classic) Bravo hgt daily driver

[bluejohn125]

Yes but I think they will have come with longer / different bolts than the ones fitted to my later car with later alloys. So I want to know what bolts the earlier cars with earlier alloys came with. And I'd be interested to know if anything extra needed to be done to fit the Coupe alloys mentioned.

 

[wrightyHGT]

FIAT part number 13228224....fiat alloy wheel nut. Fits hgt,coupe and such like.

Quoted £20 for set of 12 nuts and 4 locking nuts today from local Fiat dealer.

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]12x1.25mm Thread, Overall bolt lenght 55mm, lenght of bolt to Tapered shoulder 30mm & Uses a 17mm Socket/Wrench[/FONT].

 

[Adrian Bravo]

FIAT part number 13228224....fiat alloy wheel nut. Fits hgt,coupe and such like.

Quoted £20 for set of 12 nuts and 4 locking nuts today from local Fiat dealer.

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]12x1.25mm Thread, Overall bolt lenght 55mm, lenght of bolt to Tapered shoulder 30mm & Uses a 17mm Socket/Wrench[/FONT].

Ive never seen a 17mm head on any of my bolts, all mine have been 19mm original or aftermarket.

This is what I have on my car;
Thread pitch: 12x1.25mm
Thread length: 30mm
Seat type: Taper 60 deg.
Head size: 19mm

 

[CFREITAS]

i think Adrian is right, they should be 19mm heads on the wheel nuts, even my aftermarket Abarth nuts are 19mm

blue john the wheels were fitted to my Marea Weekend using the standard nuts 12x1.25 55mm

 

[wrightyHGT]

Gonna attempt headgasket at home....thinking bout manifold and the welded downpipe.

Had a quick look and only welded at the front.....so thinking the manifold to downpipe join has studs on the manifold end and they've snapped the studs then welded up join......gonna run grinder over weld and seperate them, with regards to the studs can i grind them off and fit bolts instead, or am i really being tight and should fork out £85 for secondhand manifold. Hoped i didn't have too

 

[bluejohn125]

Thanks for all the feedback on the wheelbolts... I checked with Fiat and they definitely listed both 19mm and 17mm for the Brava / Bravo, unfortunately at £5 a throw...

I'll probably go for 19mm with length 53mm +, though I'm still not convinced that they are exactly right for OE wheels.

 

[wrightyHGT]

Ordered new downpipe, relevent gaskets plus manifold and rocker cover gasket. 5ltrs AS G101 degreaser due to arrive so give it a good clean while at it.

Found a s/h alternator for £40 local and ordered new gates belt but need advice from you guys.....

My hgt is not aircon so alt belt short belt but looking at the car need to remove PAS belt to take it off so suppose be best to buy a new belt for that too?? any tensioners that best to replace while at it...

My misses offered to buy me some tools for xmas and was looking at cordless impact wrench's, would the above job be something that i could use it on....and does anyone else use them on regular basis on their cars?

 

[Neverth]

Never needed impact when working on my 155 marea, been welding it, changed timingbelt+tensioners (new PAS + alt/aircon belt), changed alternator couple times + starter, dropped rear subframe (used 3/4 set with 2m extension + a whole man on it to take the TA nut off, a good 1/2 pneumatic impact had nothing on it) + other small stuff.

Once borrowed a cordless makita impact to take off a towbar at scrappy, but it had no power for the job as it had some rust. A proper pneumatic might have had a chance. Grinder is your friend

 

[mike_bravohgt]

I've got an FC chip btw, thats open to offers! Mike

 

[mike_bravohgt]

Is the magnex available for sale?

 

[wrightyHGT]

Is the magnex available for sale?

Nooooo i bought the Magnex to replace the Sportex it had on when i got the car. Also got the fc chip at same time....

Was gonna do bottom arms tomorrow but trying to snow here at mo, so don't fancy freezing my nads off all day....

 

[wrightyHGT]

Started on the bottom arms today......drivers side came apart easier than expected, but getting the rear mount bolts back in what a job that was...:yum: all done but had issues with the new track rod end.

It has what seems to be rubber bits in the thread from manufacturing and not able to wind it on, b*ll*cks, so had to put old one back on and collecting replacement in morning.

Passenger side arm tomorrow, but know what to expect now so hopefully be a little bit quicker.

Thought i did alright for an inept mechanic.

 

[wrightyHGT]

N/S bottom arm and drop link fitted.....yahoo, went in so much easier than drivers side. The bushes were well and truely knackered, just fell apart when i took the arm out and drop links were even worse.

But a simple thing as a track rod end being a problem.....O/S this is, old one came off easily, counted turns, new one put on but got tight after 5-6 turns off and on again same problem.
Checked thread and lots of black rubber in the threads tried to clean but ended up returning to shop and asking for exchange part. Picked up new one today old one off and this one got to 10 turns then solid, removed checked threads on inner arm seem fine and old end easily threads on and off by hand. Tried new end again 10 turns solid so put old one back on and returned to shop and asked for refund (make was moto something or rather).

Popped to Fiat and they wanted £76 plus vat for one track rod end !!!! what is this for real....pair of drop links and bottom arms from them didn't cost that much.

So ordered a pair of Delphi ?? ones from somewhere else, not arriving till tomorrow

Thought i was gonna struggle with the bottom arms but turned out to be something simple like track rod end that puts a spanner in the works.

 

[wrightyHGT]

New track rod ends fitted without issue....wound straight on. Tracking done.

Had to order a new thermostat today too......temperature gauge not going above the C until standing in traffic then rises but drops when moving again...presume stuck open.

Can't wait to change the downpipe and new Lambda, alternator, aux belt plus tensioner.
Got parts already just not had the time to do yet. Pads and discs up after that.

Once i'm on top of the mechanicals i can get stuck into freshening the rest of the old girl up.

 

[Adrian Bravo]

Glad you got the track rod ends sorted, Not all of these aftermarket parts are upto standard it seems.

Talking about brake discs and the quality of aftermarket parts. I had some cheap unknown branded discs and pads fitted this time last year. Right away the passenger side was making a horrific squeel on the slightest touch of the brakes. I tried different pads that didnt help it came back a few miles later. So i changed the discs for Brembo (around £60) and another fresh set of EBC pads, that sorted the problem and that combination has a really good feel compared to everything ive had in the past.

Next time i change discs im going to try Brembo Max they have a black protective coating.

 

[CFREITAS]

Dont go for the cheap ones like these
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Fiat-Brav...Car+Make:Fiat|Model:Bravo&hash=item45eeb57111


had a bad experience were they heated up so much under braking they warped, only 20mins round Brands Hatch

 

[wrightyHGT]

NOTE to self.....remember to get jubilee clips before taking battery and oil catch tank out before realising i would need some.:bang::bang:

 

[wrightyHGT]

New thermostat fitted and no issues with bleeding the system.....good to have heaters again.

Also been doing some little bravo winter jobs....removed half of autumns leaves and some good quality compost from the drains under the scuttle panel, the plastic trim that covers it was broken and siliconed onto the windscreen so i fitted a good nick s/h one.

The sunroof drains were also cleaned out with a couple of long cable ties and the seals wiped with baby oil. Will see if Fiat still stock new seals for the sunroof.

Need to check under the boot trim as no rear squirter....read the problem of hose coming off so will check.

Arranging for a mate to come and help change the down pipe this week so that will be good.

 

[wrightyHGT]

Some more jobs ticked off the list.

Had the time to tackle the exhaust manifold and downpipe.....
Gave the manifold studs a good soak with penetrator for a couple of days before starting and surprisingly there were no issues with removing the manifold......

Out came the grinder and luckily the p/o when they welded the downpipe to manifold did such a **** poor job that it was easy to seperate. cleaned up and no obvious problems.....so i'm still miffed as to why they were welded together, studs were fine,surfaces flat and no damage anywhere.....god knows.....still think maybe too tight to put a new gasket in at some time, i mean a couple of quid for a new gasket does break the bank.

It was a pain in the arse cleaning exhaust paste off every surface it could have been plastered on, i always thought never put paste on anything before the Cat...but maybe i'm wrong.

Lambda cleaned and swapped into new downpipe. Manifold and downpipe bolted back on....job done.

Struck the old girl up and sounds so much better, will check on the studs in next few days.

 

[wrightyHGT]

Well popped to Fiat today to order some new bits and guy behind counter told me my car is old.....how dare he . So dont stock the parts i need , no longer available.

The Intake sleeve (No-3) has split through the flexi part and currently repaired with some guttering pipe slid in to stop pipe collapsing and some tape...i know cringe worthy but it is sealed. Did get a VIS one but the MK1 has a sensor in that section (No-16) that VIS doesn't so couldn't use it.
So if any helpful upstanding pillar of the forum (if there is such a thing ) has one laying round from any version of 147 will take it off your hands.

Did wonder if one of the silicon hose specialists would be able to reproduce a new one??? anyone have dealings with a Samco dealer or other source???

Also came across some missing supports when replacing the exhaust downpipe.

Numbers 21 and 7 are missing so trying to source these as well.

Rubbed down and painted heat shield this morning which it also didn't have.

Aux belt and tensioners this week and weather permitting will clean window runners and fit the Marea handles.

Update on howmanyleft.com has dropped 17 cars to 111, trying my best fellas to keep one on the road and seem to be keeping on top of it.....but cam belt yet to be attempted but may have a cunning plan.