Hi gholian ,
>Thanks 1986UNO45S, it's good to know it can be removed. Now I know I have a fighting chance of stopping the rust.
Yes, it's not that difficult to remove though can be a little fiddly and time consuming.
>I have got to ask, how do you manage to have no rust on a 86 uno?.
I guess I was just very lucky. I bought my car in April of 2003 with only 62,000 miles on the clock, so it has a very low mileage for it's year. It also only cost me £46 off Ebay! It passed it's MOT last week with nothing more needed than a dodgy earth corrected in one rear light unit. Mileage is now 76,000.
I was exaggerating a bit when I said it had no rust. I meant it has no rust on the roof or round the sunroof, which is lucky. That's why I took it all apart to sort out a leak and used anti rust paint and Smoothrite to make sure it wouldn't rust ever!
When I bought the car it had the usual problem of rusty door bottoms, the first place that Uno's tend to go. I got lucky on Ebay again and found a rust free passenger door in the same colour (for £11!), though I'm still trying to find a rust free drivers door.
The rest of the car is remarkably rust free. There is one small spot inside the tailgate where the window seal meets the frame, but that hasn't got any worse. However, I have a Turbo tailgate I picked up (off Ebay again!) for £10, in the same colour and will get round to swapping them over. Apart from the natty little spoiler, the mk1 Turbo tailgate is made of plastic so it won't ever rust! They do have a habit of cracking instead though.....
There is the odd rust spot here and there, but considering the car will be 19 years old next year it's pretty amazing for such an old Fiat. It may have had new front wings at some point, but as there is no rust in the inner wings or joins maybe they could be original. I've seen many different early 90's cars rusting away like crazy so Fiat must have done something right to banish their rusty reputation with the Uno.
Fiat's Tipo was one of the first production cars to be fully galvanised which is why you hardly ever see a rusty one. And I think all models from the Cinquecento onwards are galvanised, though doubt if this was the case with the Uno (mk1 and 2).
>The MK1's are particularly bad for rusting.
Actually, I've found that the '86 to '88 mk1 Uno's seem to resist rust far better than some of the later Uno's. '83 to '85 models ('Y' to 'B' reg) seemed to rust badly, and you never seem to see any of them on the road anymore. But I have still seen some nice 'D' to 'F' reg mk1's still trundling around. Mine is on a late 'C' plate, about three months short of the new registration letter.
I also did a post a few months back asking what age Uno people on the board owned. Turned out mine was the oldest, so perhaps my assumptions aren't entirely correct!
Fiat made a big deal about advertising the Uno as being protected against corrosion when it was launched, and my suspicion is that the early cars weren't any better than all the other manufacturers at the time. So I reckon they really pulled the stops out from the mid 80's onwards which is why you find some of the later mk1's still in a reasonably rust free condition. Compared with mk2 Fiestas, mk4 Escorts, Vauxhall Novas etc. of the same era, Fiat were much better.
However, I've also noticed that the early mk2 Uno's rust far more than the later mk1's. Once again, the later mk2's seem to be better, though why Fiat dropped standards for the facelift I don't know. Perhaps they switched production somewhere else with lower quality control? There are some very nice late mk2's around, but some dreadfully rusty early mk2's. They seemed to rust just about anywhere.
>I underseal mine, keep it garaged when not in use and still got the rust. It's not at all bad but it's best to treat it now before it gets out of control.
Yes, prevention is better than a cure. Catch rust early enough and it can be dealt with. Leave it for too long and you have big holes to deal with!
Also helps for those living in cold and wet climates (i.e. UK in winter) to make sure the underside of the car is washed whenever possible, especially when salt is used on the roads. If you allow salty mud to build up under the car, the slightest bit of exposed metal will rust with frightening speed. Salt rapidly speeds up the rusting process which is why it should never be allowed to collect anywhere on a cars body work, especially underneath and in the wheel arches.
>I also had a leaky sunroof but stopped it with windscreen sealant. That is a scary price for the sunroof seal but I had best replace mine also. Did you get yours from a fiat dealer.
I didn't replace mine in the end. £43 + VAT would end up costing more than I paid for the car! And yes, that was the quote from a Fiat dealer. I tried everywhere else to see if I could find an after market seal but drew a blank. My seal was ok, it was the bit that rests against the edge of the sunroof aperature that was a little bit stretched. I just used some industrial exterior sealant to seal all the gaps.
>Thanks.
Glad to be of help! Got to keep those Uno's on the road!
Chas