Hi Ryan,
Welcome to the forum.
Nice Uno!
Actually any Uno that's rust-free is a good 'un, and yours is in a nice colour as a bonus. Keep it smart and it will be something to be proud of.
I liked the bit before where someone asked about your spanner-ability and you said "I've never actually tried welding..." - personally I absolutely hate trying to weld, and since I bought an expensive 180A MIG-welder, that's really embarrassing! Take it from me, welding is tricky to do nicely, and then once it's all stiched up you still have to fill/paint etc.
Spanner-ability is totally different; a couple of hours and you can have ANYTHING removed or replaced on your Uno. These cars are easy to work on. If you're anything like me, you'll enjoy figuring out how it works (or doesn't work) and it'll be running sweet. It shouldn't need much work (but you never know with cars!) and this forum will be handy (especially with our superb moderator Louie
)
As Chas (1986Uno45S) says, it's not going to burn off anything except another 1.0L car... for that, you need something like Dunc's Uno Turbo (or my Uno Turbo, for that matter
)
When you get the chance sometime over the summer (so the car's fully dried-out) go over the bodywork fully, lift carpets etc. and spray with Waxoyl or whatever guys here recommend - this is intended to keep the rust from the sills, floors, etc. The Uno does have a reputation for rust, but since you have a good 'un, you should be able to keep it that way.
In the meantime, just use and enjoy it as much as you can
BTW you made me laugh with your comment about 'understeer'. The proper use of this term is very technical. It relates to something called the 'slip angle' of the tyres, though this term is also confusing since the tyres do not have to slide for there to be a 'slip angle'. The 'slip angle' means the angle the tyre is pointed at relative to the direction of travel. So, the moment you turn the steering wheel, there is a 'slip angle', which reduces as the car changes direction to follow the angle of the tyres.
Cornering force relates directly to 'slip angle', so there is also a 'slip angle' acting on the rear tyres, as the car's mass tries to move off at a tangent to the curve (and the rear tyres are instead pointing in line with the curve).
Hey I could talk for hours about this
but the definition of 'understeer' is when the front tyre slip angles exceed the rear tyre slip angles. Obviously, this will always occur at least momentarily, because the front tyres can be turned into the corner by the steering (and the rear tyres cannot). 'Oversteer' has the opposite definition: when the rear tyres have a slip angle exceeding that of the front tyres - when the back end of the car is sliding outside the line of the curve.
It is said that front-heavy cars like the Uno will naturally understeer - a safe and stable condition - while rear-heavy cars like the Porsche 911 will naturally oversteer (though of course modern electronics prevent this possibility and keep idiot drivers safe).
Actually, cars like the Uno can produce either understeer or oversteer, depending on what you do as a driver. i.e. jam on the brakes mid-corner or even just lift the throttle too sharply, and the understeer quickly converts to oversteer! You may find this out in due course, but in the meantime I suggest you aim for neither understeer nor oversteer...
Personally I prefer this definition: Understeer is when the driver is scared, oversteer is when the passenger is scared.
-Alex
