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Multipla The Smurf - was The Toad

Introduction

Think this is quite a famous car on here. Originally it was violated by Emdee, who did a build thread here:-

https://www.fiatforum.com/members-motors/274616-toad.html

He bought it as a respectable family car

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After much abuse and going up and down like a whores drawers I bought it looking like this....

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.....on the proviso from our lass that I painted it. Stuck her on the Montana colour chart and she picked this embarrassingly boring shade called True Cyan.

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Nuclear bright.

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I then violated it additionally over the Winter. It went everywhere - through 14 foot snowdrifts, green laning, wading up to the bonnet in water. Never missed a beat.

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Anyway, I eventually got bored of the nosebleeds. Chopped springs and a set of Abarth Claws sorted that out.

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I've done about 14k miles in it now, mainly either ragging the living daylights out of it and/or loaded up with ridiculous amounts of tat. This was a 5.7 V8 engine, large automatic gearbox, big american axle, few wheels and some other bits and bats.

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I also pikey'd in a boost gauge as when I bought it the turbo was whistling.

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And when visiting my daughter in hospital (born 11 weeks premature so gonna be in there for a while) it blended in well with the new cars in the car park.

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Bought some new wheels, 18x7.5jayjays Kei Racing, which will have 225/40 R18 tyres and 30mm spacers.

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And then the clutch went. Well I say went - slowly started slipping more and more. Car never actually broke down but I was really having to grandad it to get anywhere (done 1000-odd miles since it started).

So began plan "Annoy BMW drivers".

- Ported and Rebuilt Head & New Gasket
- New Cambelt/Tensioner/Water Pump
-Welded DMF (or SMF if I can get this Fiat Coupe Turbo one to work) with new but stock clutch (for now, at £65 might aswell see how it copes rather than splashing £300-odd on a uprated one)
-Rebuilt Turbo with 360 degree thrust
-FMIC fitted
-Custom downpipe and bumper exit exhuast
-Custom Remap

That's the plan. I've got all the bits already just need to sling it together, so yesterday I did this

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And today I did this

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Engine is now stripped, head in pieces and having a soak in petrol to clean the carbon buildups off. However when I dropped the gearbox off the engine I discovered it was FUBAR. I don't really want to part with a sizeable chunk of cash for another JTD gearbox that i'm fairly sure will go bang with the power I want to run. I had a Coupe 20vT gearbox sat around doing nothing, so thought i'd try it on assuming it wouldn't fit (googling turns up nothing). So far i've got it bolted to the engine, starter motor fits, the coupe centre driveshaft seems to fit (with new multipla sized support bearing pressed onto coupe shaft), clutch is hydraulic so easy, gear linkage works in the same direction as far as I can see. Just need to fanny about with flywheels and clutches to get a working combo. If it doesn't work it's not cost me anything apart from 12 quid for the bearing, so no big loss, and worth the effort for a stronger box with LSD.

Bye for now.
Bit more done.

Fiddled with a cat. Seems legit.

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Made a water rail to go inplace of the EGR cooler.

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Fits here.

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Started working out the intercooler piping. Gonna run it like this as i've got some kiln liner to wrap it in which will mean it'll not heat soak whatsoever. However the straight section before the U bend to the turbo was unnecessary.

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So I modified a pair of mole grips to make a bead roller so I could cut the pipework down.

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Which leaves it like this, about 6-7" saved which could make all the difference to lag.

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Cheers
 
Didn't get much time last night, my girlfriend was tired so I came in and looked after our daughter so she could sleep.

Finished up the last few bits on the gearbox. Tempted to quickshift the linkage whilst its easily accessible.

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And then squirted my goo into some dirty old bush. They were pretty loose but after I squashed my goo in with my finger it's tightened them right up.

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Next lot of progress.

Mated engine and gearbox back together and bolted the rest of the bits on.

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3 hours later it had traversed the assault course of my garden and was nearing the car.

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Started lifting it in, then the strap holding it broke. Luckily my mate James broke it's fall, luckily causing no damage to himself or the engine.

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And IN

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Next up - FMIC. Started trimming.

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Still didn't fit.

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Trimmed a bit more. Now it fits.

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Added some thick walled box section to the resulting hole to put some strength back in. Drilled a couple of holes in the bottom surface.

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Holes correspond with the mounting bolts for the intercooler. Sandwiched some rubber pipe underneath the bolts so they push fit into the holes in the crossmember. Easy.

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Made some brackets.

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Welded them onto radiator support.

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And then once all was positioned correctly I dropped everything out of the way, fully welded the crossmember in then boxed in all the gaps.

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Intercooler now fits like this, then once it's painted the rad support and go back in and hold it up (straight too, its dropping out of the O/S mount in the pic as it's not supported.

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That's where we're at as of an hour ago. Going back out now to lash some paint on.
 
I love this car. Quality engineering to get the inter cooler in too.
My 4yo likes coming in the garage too, but most of the work needed for my Beta is welding/cutting, so she can't join in with that...
 
So where were we - oh yeah the maiden voyage. This was only partially successful. Engine seemed to run OK, gearbox seemed fine, but the charge light was flickering and it was registering faults faster than I could remember them. Tested the battery with the engine running, varying between 9v and 17v. That'd be the alternator knackered then. I googled how to change it and read a load of horror stories about dropping subframes, moving driveshafts etc. Anyway I dropped the exhaust off of the downpipe, undid the connections and bolts and it came straight out of the gap between the rear engine mount and subframe. Took about 20 minutes.

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Luckily my dad was on nights so he picked me up and we went to the shop of a guy he used to work with who does recon alternators/starter motors. He sorted me out with a reconditioned alternator and new clutched pulley. He's not particularly cheap, was £120 for that, but I know he does a great job and they're a lot better quality than the cheap crap coming through the bigger autofactors.

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Took about 40 minutes to get it back on. Took it for a test drive, did about 300yds, heard a bang and a load of flapping so shut the motor down. Popped the bonnet and the brand new crank pulley i'd fitted had fallen to pieces, wiping the aux belt out in the process. Obviously kicked off at the parts shop, and got a new crank pulley, tensioner and aux belt. This all seems to be fine.

Finished engine bay - the airfilter setup is ****. Going to be changing that soon.

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Added a more fitting badge.

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Went and had the tracking done as I fitted 2 new track rod ends whilst it was apart.

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Went to ASDA

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And finally today I bolted the pikey chopped bumper on. Gonna spend time getting my spare bumper right.

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And that's the major work done for now. Gonna run round it in for a couple of weeks to make sure it's reliable then take it to my mates place and get a decent remap on it. Then it'll be put back into winter mode ready for (hopefully) some more fun in the snow.
 
Quick update - done about 1000 miles now. Engine running really well, pulls like a train on the motorway. Gearbox works fine but the sealant I used to seal the casing (Granville Instant Gasket) that says suitable for gear oil on the pack errr.....isn't, so its wazzing gear oil out everywhere. In the next couple weeks when the number of ****s I can give has risen again i'll pop the box out and stick it back together with some proper stuff (Three Bond/Hondaseal/Yamaseal etc). Only other issue i've got is the sikaflexed rear engine mount is making the whole car vibrate at idle, so i'll change that for a stock one at the same time. Remap will have to wait until after that - tempted to buy the cable and stick a generic map on for now then tweak it myself.

Other news - won a 147 JTD engine for 99p on ebay. It's a complete unit apart from the turbo so handy for spares, but luckily it's still got the driveshaft centre bearing support on so I can use it as a jig to get this Coupe Turbo box on and working. I'm also gonna do another head/inlet manifold and go a bit more mental with the porting, and also use it to build a new exhaust manifold to hook a bigger turbo up to (not sure which yet, got a 2052V and a 2252V in stock).
 
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