General My New (OLD) Uno

[UNO-MK1]

Hi all , I am new here , but not new to Fiats at all.

In the 80's I used to race a 128 for a few years , and have owned a couple of 124 sports (AC 1400 and a BC 1600) , a few 125 specials , and perhaps seven or more 128's over the decades. I keep coming back to them for their simplicity and reliability.

I am semi retired now , but my work was race car engineering supplemented by rust 'restoration' work. Thats 'restoration' , not patching over with plastic filler.

Now a gray-blue '83 Uno has fallen into my lap.
It was owned by an 87 year old guy who bought it new , drove it for a few years and then garaged it. It has never been in an accident , has no rust at all , and has 42,000kms. Thats 42,000 , not 142,000 or 242,000 :-D

Unfortunately it has the 903 engine, hardly a speed machine. Not that I would really know as I haven't even driven it myself. It is just sitting in my car garage . I do sometime go and sit in it.. In the seats that have no wear on them.

Ahh ,, maybe I need to make up a 200hp turbo engine and waken the beast within.

Regards gW

PS , I was making fast turbo 4's back in the old days when people didn't think it was even possible.

 

[Jai]

hello and welcome, hope to see some photos of your new aquisition and its progress

 

[UNO-MK1]

I sure will post some pics ,and likely a few YouTube videos as well.

First step will be wiping away the years of dust covering the shiny paint and starting it up.

Yes , I bought it without even hearing it run.

gW

 

[Jai]

Yes , I bought it without even hearing it run.

join the club my white one was a total non runner on buying, that's where the gold is

btw: whereabouts are you?

 

[UNO-MK1]

Yep , its a bad sign when you DON'T push your new Uno home.

I am from Western Australia originally but now I am in Finland.
Out of the fire and into the freezer.

gW

 

[alexGS]

Welcome, gW :wave:

I think I'd be inclined to keep such an early Uno as original, 903cc and all. You might have the oldest Uno on the forum!

The early cars had better-quality trim than the later ones, in grey rather than brown or black. I presume it's a 3-dr as well, since the 5-dr was a slightly later introduction (1984) and also the 5-dr was only available with 1116/1301cc engines at first.

I reckon you should make a 200bhp turbocharged installation for one of your 128s, preferably a 128 saloon for best effect. I'm not sure how you're keeping 128s on the road in Finland, as I think they're far more rust-prone than the Uno!

Anyway, best of luck and let's see some pics?

-Alex

 

[UNO-MK1]

Thanks for the welcome in.

All my 128 's are now gone.
They were all sold off before I left Australia 4 years ago.

Actually , the '72 128 2 door sedan racer , he was sold off in about 1992 , a really regretfully sale that one.

I found the car several years later , different paint scheme and stripped of all my mechanicals.
It had been transformed from a competitive racer into a dung heap.

I tried to buy the body back , but the guy wasn't interested , at any price.

My most recent 128 sedans (never bothered with the coupes because of their weight , but my father had a 3P) should still be around somewhere.

One was an EX group G rally 128 (not a 128-Rally) , which I had just restored the shell , and the other was a low mileage Red 4 door sedan '74 which had been hit on the side and rear.
That one had been repaired 'professionally' (= crap job) prior to my purchase so I redid the repairs , dug out 3cm of body filler from the rear wing and stretched and shrunk it back into shape.

The only filler needed was a thin film to cover to metal work marks. (1/3mm max)

I sold that with an not yet run road-race 1300 X19 engine, which should have made about 120HP on the street with good reliability and life expectancy.

I did the head myself and it featured Oval shaped inlet ports and a revised throat shape to promote swirl.
Camshaft if I remember correctly should have been good from 4,500 to 9,000rpm.
It was a custom made cam that I got made with Cosworth lobe profiles.
I think it had 320 degrees duration which is only even seen on the track.

It also went with a factory spoiler and flare kit.

Don't know what happened to that if the new owner finished it off, I hope he did.
That would have been one neat 128.

Perhaps he is even in here on the fiat forum somewhere.


Other 128 's in my past included a Red '70 1100 (nothing exciting) and a baby vomit light green '74 128 4 door. (even less exciting).

128 's aren't very common here in Finland.
One 128-Rally did come up a few months ago which I was interested in , but it was unregistered , average condition and $3,500.00.

So I skipped on that one and went with the UNO for a bit less than 1 grand.

gW

 

[UNO-MK1]

 

[Chas Uno]

My Uno 70SX as bought in Jannuary 2008

 

[UNO-MK1]

I guess my 26,351 miles beats your 35,915 miles

gW

 

[Chas Uno]

I guess my 26,351 miles beats your 35,915 miles

gW

Ah, bugger. I missed the km reading

Mind you, a couple of months back there was an '88 70SX on Ebay with only 25K miles on the clock

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI....m=130242326455&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=003

 

[UNO-MK1]

--there was an '88 70SX on Ebay with only 25K miles on the clock

It seemed to have quite a few parking lot dents on it for the LOW K's.
For such low KM's I would still be expecting to find a greasy car salesman somewhere.

Mine has two blemishes on the otherwise perfect and original bodywork.
One shopping trolley dent on the hood (not significant) , and a slight crushing of the drivers door rear edge from reversing into something with the door left open....(the old guy is in his 80's and almost blind , who knows what the freek he was doing

I haven't seen that model UNO with the stripe down the side like your has here.
( I saw your pics, its nice)
All the UNO's here are quite plain to look at with skinny wheels and no striping.

We do have a large percentage of UNO turbos here with the majority of those being highly modified.

I will try and get some pics up in a couple of weeks.

gW

 

[randomspeedfreak]

This picture makes me very happy
:yum:

 

[Chas Uno]

This picture makes me very happy
:yum:

:yeahthat: