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Tipo (Classic) Tipo restoration H346 LEY

Introduction

O.k guys, so my name in Michael Dranfield, I am a electronics engineer by trade and I fell in love with Fiat cars in the 80s when I had a Fiat 128, I am no expert mechanic, if it takes a garage 2 hours to do a job it will take me 4 , however I like playing with cars, I always have done.
For the last 25 years I have had a Fiat Tipo , I bought it in 1991 when it was 1 year old, its a Red 1.4DGT G204XBC, with parts getting harder to come by 3 years ago I saw a silver 1.6 DGT on e bay and we struck a deal at £300 , the intention was just to use it for future spare parts use, however when I got the car back , some 60 odd miles from Ellesmere port to Buxton in Derbyshire and after having a good look round I realized this car is a minter with huge classic potential and far to good to use for spares, so I decided to stip it down bit by bit , replace anything that could be bought brand new and microscopical de rust any metal parts right down to bare metal and re paint.
Here are photos of the car as it is now, I have been doing this for 3 years now on and off between my work, so dont expect any quick updates !
My workshop is so big I can park several cars inside so during quiet periods I can play with the Tipo.
First job was to start at the back and remove the rear subframe , I took this to pro strip in Nottingham and had it dipped as it was too large for me to do myself, I had it E coated by them and painted it in black hammerite.

So far I have replaced all bushes, springs, shocks, bearings,anything that can be bought brand new has been replaced, new drums just arrived today and I need to re make the brake lines in cupro nickel. All new parts have also had a coat of hammerite .

As you can see the rear subframe was in very good condition to start with , it only had surface rust, I dont think this car had ever seen any winter road salt.
 

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Looks great...it's a nice feeling when you sit back and look at an assembled clean rear subframe....


I look forward to reading the rest....
 
Rear quarter panels removed, the petrol filler side had only surface rust behind but the one on the other side had been patched with filler in the bumper corner mud trap, I do have new panels but may try and weld new metal in to the old one , not quite decided yet.

Engineering shop down the road made me up some stainless steel petrol tank straps as the old ones disintegrated when removed.

Every spot of rust under the back end has been removed with bare metal rust remover, inspected with jewelers eyeglass to make sure there was no rust left in any of the pitted metal,painted with zinc galvanizing paint and then top coat of black hammerite, this is a photo of underneath wheel arch.
 

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This is the before and after photo of the bracket that holds the flexible brake hose from the swinging arm, I de rusted the small parts myself using first a water/electrolysis dip and then finally into a shop bought bare metal dip for a deep clean, this part has just come out of the dip ready to be re painted.

I am also dipping every nut ,bolt and washer rather than fitting brand new ones for the simple reason Fiat has selected these for a particular tensile strength so I want to keep the same, in the subframe photos the nuts in grey paint will be painted in hamerite as soon as they have been torqued to the correct figure as specified in my main dealer service manual.
Leaving them grey reminds me that they have not yet been torqued up.
 

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Thanks for the scans Michael and good luck with your restoration.
 
Here are photos of the car as it is now, I have been doing this for 3 years now on and off between my work, so dont expect any quick updates !
My workshop is so big I can park several cars inside so during quiet periods I can play with the Tipo.[/QUOTE]

Many thanks for this update. Great job your doing there. That's a fine specimen. Nice to see these inside wing shots, please give us an update now and then.
 
I take my hat off to guys like you, but at the same time I feel very sorry for you all.
I was born in the yUK and lived there for 49 years before moving to SE Spain in Jan 1990 and I've almost forgotten what rust is.

You lucky man!
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I've seen many Tipo's here in the Netherlands but the rust pictures I see here sometimes are really horrible. Looks like in GB they are rusting more than in other countries....
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. The older manufacturing years types are doing better than the newer years. By lots of them they forget to give them the zinc procedure I think sometimes...
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You lucky man!
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I've seen many Tipo's here in the Netherlands but the rust pictures I see here sometimes are really horrible. Looks like in GB they are rusting more than in other countries....
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. The older manufacturing years types are doing better than the newer years. By lots of them they forget to give them the zinc procedure I think sometimes...
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The main problem in the yUK is salt that's used in icy conditions, plus the fact that it's surrounded by sal****er.

At an educated guess, I'd say that the zinc coating procedure is carried out automatically and not left to someone to forget.
 
Road salt is as you say a major contributor to rust in the UK but also don't forget the tipo model is over 20 years old and was the first Fiat to be made of 60 percent galvanized steel hence its longevity.if you bought a Ford in 1990 I doubt you would still have it now !
 
Road salt is as you say a major contributor to rust in the UK but also don't forget the tipo model is over 20 years old and was the first Fiat to be made of 60 percent galvanized steel hence its longevity.if you bought a Ford in 1990 I doubt you would still have it now !
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60% galvanized steel is not correct;
It is about only 25% of the car which is treated galvanized steel. In general
only the foorpanel and wheel arches and some few other bottom parts are treated. Mainly only parts which are in direct contact with outside climate.
This caused an extra weight on the Tipo off approm. 70 kg.
In 1988 the Tipo was the first (Fiat) car properly treated against rust after FIAT (and many other brands also!) delivered many rust disasters for too many years...
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In 1989 the Tipo became European car of the year.
 
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I would imagine Michael is right that about 60% of the outer panels were treated (by area ?)but there were notable exclusions such as most of the floor-pan. Spacebird I agree I think the later cars probably rusted more and from what I can gather on Alfa forums mfg's may reduce dip times and other variables according to production needs at any given time resulting in some cars having a less thorough treatment than others. Towards the end of a model run also mfg's claims re. corrosion etc are arguably under less scrutiny and production short-cuts are implemented.
 
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Hi Guys , finally got the rear drivers side wing fitted , this was relatively rust free which is very unusually because the Tipo has a built in mud trap on both rear wings, however on this car the rear wing was rust free due to the fact it had not been sealed properly in the factory, the bottom edge according to the body repair manual should be sealed with panel adhesive and there should be a small water exit hole in each corner, on this car the whole bottom edge of the panel had no adhesive on the drivers side, these panels usually rust from the lower mounting bolt as water and mud builds up here , well below the exit hole.
I have now painted the inside of the wing , applied panel adhesive and bolted it back up, its now ready for a respray, however I plan to do the whole car.

An important thing to note if you are going to wax inject these panels after restoration , when you look in the boot there are two holes , only the big round hole gives you access to the whole of the rear wheel arch/rear wing , if you were to wax inject into the small rectangular hole this will not run out behind the rear wing because it goes into a sealed cavity where the rear door striker plate is .
 

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Great pics - thank you.

How easy was it to remove the wing? I see where the bolts are- all accessible except the one under the bumper. But what about the sealer, particularly around the base of the small window? Did this need any heat or is it a case of careful use of a sharp knife?

My Sedici has repair work required on both sides - the drivers side may be fixable in situ sot I am looking to tackle the passenger side first as I have a good replacement panel .

Thanks MIKE
 
No problem , this is slow work for me as I am doing it in between my job !

To remove the rear wing I cut round the adhesive with a brand new snap off knife , the ones you get at the pound shop in a pack of 10 as deep as possible , as you say its not possible to cut the top without removing the rear glass but on the Tipo this does not matter, when you have cut round the 3 accessible sides grasp the bottom edge of the rear wing and pull it towards you and then fold it upwards , the adhesive is quite soft without heating it up .

As you say, to access the bottom bolt the bumper has to be removed but you can forget undoing it , the back of the captive nut comes out on the back of the wheel arch and will be covered in rust and mud and the captive bit disintegrates when you try to undo it.

The rear wings appear to be fitted before the body is dipped into the primer coat at the factory so the threads are covered in paint and are quite stiff to unbolt so take it slowly as the captive bolts I am told are no longer available, I bought the last 21 !
 
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