General The MK1 Uno sleeper thread

[Louie Bee]

Rightio

I purchaced a MK1 a couple of years ago. It used to pound the streets of Canterbury up till around 2004.

Originally it looked like this.

Some of you may remember Unoturboted owned this car? These pics are from his gallery on the old TC site.

In late 2002 the car was re-shelled to give a new lease of life, becoming a bit of a sleeper. There were various finishing touches to the car and I think these are some if the last pictures Ted took.

There had been an oil leak with smoke bellowing out from the bay with an oil warning light on. The car was towed home and started up now and then but the battery eventually went flat. A 2-litter conversion was planned for this car but unfortunately never materialised.

The car was on the bay a couple of times but Ted would NOT sell to some nob who bid for the wheels and to scrap the car. Thank Fooook he told him to bugger off!!!!

I had seen this car on the bay not sell so I rang ted up. After a chat about the car, I did a deal then I tried another battery. After half a turn, the engine froze. Apart from the odd ding, this is pretty much the condition I got the car in.

I had the Uno tailored home and removed the head. The crank now turns freely but there is up and down play in pistons 2 and 3 – IE turn just past TDC, press down and the pistons will click down a touch.

I’m not sure exactly where the oil was leaking from but the O/S/F wheel has some oil on it. After removing the head, progress has more or less come to a holt and the car has been in dry storage.

In the meantime I've collected a few e-bay barging and a spare engine to drop in some time soon.

Some of you may know the donor car? Mark sold and delivered the engine to me after changing his mind. Looks like only done 77K.

As you can see the engine was cut out of the car - all the pipes have been chopped as has the drive shaft, exhaust down pipe and O/S mount bracket. I have since removed a few parts from this engine and will take it from there when I get rid of the MK2 shell. A good clean is the next step.

The rusty MK2 was purchased for the engine to drop into the MK1 but decided against it – hence breaking it.

Cheers!!
Louie.

 

[Louie Bee]

Little bit of an update here...

This explains the smoke bellowing from the engine bay that Ted told us about..

I treated a little surface ru$t

And got into it

may as well do under these too

Headlights off next me thinks :lol:

all in all, not bad for ru*t

Bigger pictures are HERE Click Click

Covering shiny metal where i have removed surface rust is locktight rust reverser for now.

Not sure what to use to paint it over with . hamerite for the bits out of view :chin:

Can't decide if I'm going to rewire the ECUs, coil and sensors when I put new connectors on :chin:

 

[Chas Uno]

Looking good Louie

I really like the idea of a sleeper turbo :devil: There's that other baby blue sleeper turbo re-shell on the forum too, so it must be catching. Those are really going to raise eyebrows at the traffic light GP

 

[oldskoolmk1unoturbo]

get that engine in mate! it needs the turbo tailgate arches and skirts, looks too basic

 

[Louie Bee]

Cheers Chas

get that engine in mate! it needs the turbo tailgate arches and skirts, looks too basic

All in good time mark - need to prep the bay and now is the best time IMO

Styling wise, I don't need the tailgate. it's not much if any lighter . the guy who sold it said he never fitted the arches and sill protectors as they hold in the water and speed up rusting Look at what they did to his red Uno

 

[Chas Uno]

Cheers Chas All in good time mark - need to prep the bay and now is the best time IMO

Styling wise, I don't need the tailgate. it's not much if any lighter . the guy who sold it said he never fitted the arches and sill protectors as they hold in the water and speed up rusting Look at what they did to his red Uno

Look at Jai's white Turbo thread too to see the damage caused by water collecting behind the arches and sill covers. I'm almost too scared to remove those on my 70SX for fear of what's underneath it.

And I can vouch too that the UT tailgate is barely any different in weight to the standard steel hatch. It looks good, but it's not the weight saving you'd expect it to be. The best thing is that being plastic it won't rust. The worst thing about it is that it cracks instead

Still, I think you could have way more fun with your UT looking like a sleeper Louie. Stick a 'Uno 45' badge on the back just to add to the confusion and leave all those Paxos eating Uno dust :devil:

 

[Emm]

Ive lost Louie to the garage in the evenings, hes in there agggggggges busy Uno-ing
Not sure where hes upto atm, think he may be rust spotting still What's everyone else use to paint over it?

Love this MK1 its right sexy and i cant wait for it to be on the road

 

[alexGS]

Louie - the work's looking great

For some of the removed steel items you may like to try 'tanking' them - leaving them immersed in a diluted rust-converter solution. I'm thinking of the AFM bracket, suspension strut tops, etc.

The battery tray looks like it might need a wire-brush in an angle grinder

Have you seen Dynamat (US-brand soundproofing) in Halfords etc.? Dynamat Extreme is foil-covered and I reckon would be a good substitute for the original bulkhead soundproofing (heat-proofing!) It's quite thin (thinner than the cardboard-like original!) and adheres really well. The extra clearance should make up for the fact that it's based on some sort of plastic material (softens with heat...) but is not bitumen-based (as cheaper products are).

LOL Emm... "what's everyone else use to paint over it", I think you've lead a sheltered life with your newer FIATs...

...because you can't really paint over rust, it all has to come off or the steel ground away... and then more steel going in its place... why not go out there and give him a hand with the sandpaper - or is Rosie keeping you busy?

Seriously, I find the coarse black fibrous paint-stripping discs are best, used on a mains-powered electric drill. Once the steel is shiny you can paint it with etch-primer as a quick aerosol-can treatment, but it does need to be finished off with proper topcoats to keep the moisture out.

Speaking of which, that metallic blue is my favourite Uno colour. Someone must have paid extra for that as an option, I don't think many 45 models came in metallic colours except maybe the 45S.

-Alex

 

[Emm]

Louie -out there and give him a hand with the sandpaper - or is Rosie keeping you busy? -Alex

no chance its bloomin freezing!!!

 

[Louie Bee]

It’s light surface rust But have a wire brush in the drill.

Emma babes, you’d be surprised at how holding sandpaper warms you up. If not, you could always use them hand warmers in the garage too .

Emma means to paint over where it was I’m just using rust reverser till I decide what paint to use so I can get on with something.

Can’t decide which pain to use. Don’t mind if brushed on and was thinking hameright, but will need to be able to take the pressure of the strut tops.

Used some of that sticky stuff on that hole which was much smaller than I remember

Cleaned up the flywheel

and the bell housing

On with the clutch kit

On with the box

What next Well can't paint till the weekend really as need the right amount of time between coats if using that stuff in the Tin

 

[TurboTipo]

looking good cant wait to see the finished product. ive always wanted an uno turbo but never been able to find a good one

 

[Louie Bee]

Cheers

nor can I


As delivered

Getting there externally

plenty to go at though

 

[3140tipo]

very nice uno turbo you hve, i love the blue

 

[Emm]

Yo Louie Bee get back in that garage!!!

 

[Unoturbo'd]

looks great mate
so whens the engine going in
let me know if you need any welding doing

cheers
troy

 

[Chas Uno]

Yo Louie Bee get back in that garage!!!

:yeahthat:

C'mon Louie - we're waiting for more progress results!

 

[Louie Bee]

But it’s cold in my garage




OK ok Off I go then,,

After a little clean in and under the injector cooling vent it’s back on

Turbo seems OK, don’t really know about the old one,

Fitted a new water pump, put back the heat shield and the intermediate shaft.

Just the Altanator round the back to do. Seems to be coming along nicely.

How many causes of white rust inside the inlet manifold could there be? I’m hopeing it’s the old turbo with an internal leak, but head gasket? Cracked head or block??

Also seems to be a lot of oil deposited inside the plenum chamber. I’m hopeing it’s the old turbo. Please not the rings!!!

Time will tell.


Cheers for the comments guys!

Did someone say the W work .

 

[Unoturbo'd]

have you thought about doing a compression test.

also look at spark plugs usually a good sign of engine condition

troy

 

[Louie Bee]

Was thinking of doing a compression test when the engine is back in the car.

Now the gear box is back on, I could hook the starter up, but not sure if it will fall over with nothing to hold the engine still

The plugs were black. how can you tell it it's piston rings or turbo bearing / oil seal that's letting oil past - oh yer the compression test LOL.

The more I think about the condition of the plugs the more I think the engine is cleaner on the outside than the inside which is clearly wrong

 

[Unoturbo'd]

were they wet black or dry. any signs of build up

plugs should be golden brown like ur toast lol