New start

Yes, the reconstruction of a human engine is somewhat different from that of a car. Changing or altering parts is relatively easy, the adaption of the whole machinery to the new parts is more difficult. And then there is the recovery of the mechanic intervention at all. Now it's been 9 weeks and my machine is working fine, somewhat low in power sometimes, but that'll come back in time.

I even managed to work on my Bleu Lord. A little spot on the tailgate caused waterintrusion in the boot (the car was outside and I wasn't able to put it in). So I had to detect the whole in the body and repair it.
It seemed to be an old repair badly fixed. Apparently there was some corrosion in this corner and it was welded kind of clumsy. It is a tricky corner, yes, but the repair wasn't quite good. For now I had to fill the whole and since I'm not a welder, I used polyester putty. In this special corner it wouldn't be visible, when the tailgate was closed. My main concern was now to prevent water to come inside.

This was a light exercise in bodywork and a good revalidation exercise for me too. It was a pleasant alternation of my 007 James Bond replays or my Tumblr posting.

A good portion of polyester putty on the difficult corner and sanding till the metal comes through. 

New putty and sanding again till the surface is somehow smooth.

After sanding I sprayed the corner black base color

And a good layer of bleu over and over.

After drying I sanded the edges and used the commandant 4 polish again, 

to let the corner emerge in its natural environment

Result

Result

 Looks nice, doesn't it?

The new part is brighter than the old part on the tailgate. 

Commandant 4 has to be put to work again to bring the parts together. 

It'll be a good exercise for my muscles on my chest.

Another exercise was the polishing of the windowedges, which were worn out by the sun.

I used the cheapest "wonder"blocks of the Aldi to polish the plastic (partly rubber) framework.

Wonderful stuff, with some water polishing the rubber parts it works wonderful. 

But it's not the toughest sponge, it's gone in a swirl.

Cuore sportivo

Having my 33 restored (even the clock works again), my own cuore sportivo gave signs to need an upgrade. After 50 years and some patchwork left and right, overhauling seemed to be inevitable for my human engine.
The human engine functions by the grace of its own pumping; it does not work like a mechanical engine, were the aggregate is a separate machine in a system set up. The hart as a member of the system has to obtain its own energy out of the 'petrol' system klinging around this pump, the arteries filled with oxygen.
In an automobile it would be like the engine was stocked with tiny carburators around it, to make the the whole engine work as a combination of thousands of little engines and carburators. These smaller parts all together would combine in all their special tasks to let the engine work as one machine. If there would be a failure in providing petrol to these carburators, parts of the engine would stop, with disastrous consequences. The petrolprovision in my system failed on a critical spot, just at the branche of the petrol line. So artificial plumbery was needed after doing some essential bodywork on my hood.

After the main repair some changes in the engine run can be felt: in idle run I can feel my heart beat like a boxer engine. By opening the heart arteries, the mechanics had to open the pericard bag around the heart. That bag is normally filled with fluid to protect the heart. This mantle also silences the sound and the beats of the beating heart. Now this silencer is broke, it feels like my engine runs without struts. Like an idle running boxer of the 33.

So my work is stopped, once again. Just before I wanted to finish the project by getting a registration. Now I may not drive for 6 weeks, even not on a bike...

(very angry)

Clockworks

This is what my tachimetre does. By starting the car, the clock starts running and when not stopped by pushing the daytripcounter, it stays all the way "behind the nill". When driving ths clock again starts running upwards. When it is stopped during the drive, it displays the speed seemingly properly.

I'v checked the cable, the sensor (for what it's worth, it's a closed unit) and the contacts. All seems well. I figure the clock itselves picks up a signal that's not right. So I've to dismount it again and check the contacts inside.

Rain came over the garage. So I drove it on blocks

This is snice working, but with wet tires not easy to use.

the sensor and the cable are looking good.

The contacts also are really clean

During my (fairly illegal) testdrive a 156 Sportwagon came up behind me and followed me in my street. I know the guy, he lives a few streets away and drives, beside the Sportwagon an Alfetta chromebumper in the same color as the Bleu Lord. So I guess he was as surprised as I was when I saw his bleu Alfetta. And that in his own neighbourhood.

A similar Alfetta. By the way, this one is for sale

This is what I want

No words this time, just sit and watch

Happy

Sometimes you win, sometimes you loose. Now I am a winner. I have fixed the bleeding problem of my master cilinder. It appeared to hold too much air in it, that couldn't be bled by simply pushing the brake pedal. My man at the part shop APR suggested that bleeding the master ecilinder ewas easy, just by pushing the pedal. That is not true in every case, especially not when you're installing a brandnew one.

Since the bleeding by the brakes didn't work I decided to mount the cilinder on my vice and bleeded it "virtually". Although my expectation in this method weren't very high, it did work. All of my work bench, the vice and even my floor under the bench were full of spilled dot 4 braking fluid, but there was enough in the master cilinder to let it work airless. What a bleeding mess!

Because of the greasy matters of this job I haven't taken any photographs. On the internet are numerous exemples of How To's about bleeding a master cilinder, the video of my favorite automotive V-blogger Eric the Car Guy is here.

Job done, at last. Happy DIY mechanic!

Morris, my own car guy, confronted me with a new to do list, after he inspected the bleu one a few weeks ago. The brakesjob was the trickiest. Now the headlights have to be properly adjusted, the flaring brake control light (probably the loose padwear detector cable), and the adustment of the carbs are to be done.

It might seem crazy what I'm 'bout to say...

Time management

My new jobs consumes time. The Bleu Lord lies in my garage patiently. The last check up in late May wasn't good for my confidence too. Heij, is this blog about cars?

My constant search for interesting cars never leads to any new buys. But I cherish a certain satifaction in searching the odd classic. For I was given a iPhone by my boss and the train journey to Maastricht takes at least half an hour to and fro I installed the Autoscout24.de and the ebay app and the pleasure is on.

My absolute favorite for this time is the fabulous Fiat Campagnolo. It looks that original like it comes from the Eritrean desert right away. What a simple and functional vehicle. Just the four wheels, two seats and a big room for our Bracco. The front window can be layed down, ideal for our kind of temperatures today (+30 degrees Celsius). I love it.

Fiat Campagnola, archaic jeep for the desert

Simple and rational design

front window folded down

Sturdy 2 ltr engine

And the story of my Sportwagon continues. Braking is essntial and I'm not getting it done. Must I call for help of the professional?

The brakefluid reservoir over the mastercilinder

The box where the original NOS mastercilinder came out

the Ate Alfa stock mastercilinder, wrong type

Pretty costly exercise for a "pomp": € 208 ex vat

Meanwhile I ordered two new master brake cilinders and still the system doesn't do what is has to do.

Again today I fitted the second master cilinder, because the first wasn't the appropriate size. The bleeding of the system lasted and lasted. Happy me to have a daughter that played footbaal, so she has quite strong legs. During the bleeding we actually had time to follow the Prologue of the Tour de France in Utrecht.

Any way. It seems the right front wheel is not to be bleeded. Still some air comes out of the brake line, and I can't figure out what is is. I even doubt now wether the first master cilinder I ordered was just good. What a mess. For now I can only come to the conclusion that the master cilinder must hold air, so the brake line can't get any oil. Tomorrow I'll be able to do some more research.

To be continued.

New status

OK, today was a bit of a deception. The Bleu Lord was in the workshop of my aquiantance Morris.


This was my test of the pudding. I asked him to check the car for an APK (general periodical technical inspection for the registration for the road, MOT of TüV). Well my checklist is now a little longer again.

In my former posts I mentioned some problems bleeding the brake system. Still I didn't succeed to make the brakepadal firm. It remained spongy and uncertain. Today Morris declared my main brake cylinder officially dead. So this was the reason the little light on my dashboard, calling "brakes" after the last bleeding was lighting up. Also the fan for cooling the radiator did not ignite. I figure that is related tot the failure of the clock that still popped up by starting the car. Probably a question of good earthing of the electrical system. My pall Henk gave me some tips. Now I have to check them down too.
The adjustment of the carburettors hasn't been done because the failing brakes. What a mess!

So my new list contains:
- installing a new main brake cylinder, and hopefully dimming the brake warning light;
- checking the earth of  the car
- cooling fan,
- tachometre clock problems.

- before the registration of the car the carburettors have to be provisionally adjusted to make the drive to the registration office possible. After a go from the registration office (RDW) hopefully getting a license plate, so I can insure the car and then Morris can drive the engine hot and adjust the carburettors properly.

Quite an organisation, he?

This night, when the streets are quiet I'm gonna fetch the Bleu Lord for a five minute drive from Morris's workshop to my home. This weekend, I am going to be stuck in my own garage.

By the way, I ordered some coprimozze by eBay in Italy. These little wheel caps were to fit on the Speedline rims with the Pirelli tires. I got them after I drove the car to Morris. So tonight I'm checking the looks of it.

The FIAT still has an oiladdiction, it consumes oil like an atlantic coaster. Dreadful. tomorrow I'll check the internetfora if this is a common problem of the Punto 176 1.2.
While driving the FIAT in my garage for the first time in it's life in our family, I checked some leakage on the engine, but found nothing. Only a gasket that was broken while fitting hte airfilter. I ordered a new one at Bosman's, the only place where these rare parts are available.
When the Bleu Lord is ready, the FIAT will be officially declared 'wintercar' and stowed away in our garage. That my wife won't like.