"Page still under initial construction"
23/10/08
I had been thinking of going back to a Fiat Coupe again for a while and had decided that if I was to, I'd like another Speed red Limited Edition... So I went on the look for one and spotted this one on the FCCUK website. The guys and Girls on the Fiat Coupe Site all know their stuff so normally everyone knows the cars that are for sale. This car was no exeption and after the owner sent me 50 photos of the car and answered al my silly questions, I jumped on a plane this morning and went over to England to bring it home.
Boy am I pleased with it. Tom the owner couldn't have described the car any better so I had no worries.
The interior of the car is in almost perfect condition which is brilliant considering it's a 10 year old car with 110K on the clock.
And the dash has the nice little touch of having chrome rings fitted to the heater controls, clock and speedo/rev counter.
Oh and in case your wondering what the little guage thing is, it's a Blitz electronic boost controller for the turbo.
The engine has had a lot of work carried out on it over the last few years with the head being re-built at 55K.
As you can see it's very clean indeed and a lot of things have been replaced in it. Most of the work on the car has been carried out by PowerFiat and Autointegrale, both well known specialists. The specs as follows..
Garrett GT28rs (0.86 housing)
Evo 6 FMIC with hard pipes
Gtech 2 high fuel chip
Powerfiat/Pipercraft single box stainless exhaust system with decat (cat included)
Blitz ID111 Electronic Boost Controller
Aquamist Water and Methanol injection
K&N Panel filet with drilled airbox
Forge DV007 Recirculating Dump Valve
Timing belt and ancilleries all changed in March this year.
In fact while I was going through the bills and history of the car I found a rolling road result for the car. 
I wasn't expecting the result.
The only part of the car I can complain about is a few little problems with the bodywork. All stuff that I can put right as I go along. The worst of it is a dent on the rear passengers side quarter panel.
There's a dent on the corner of the bonnet,
A mark on the rear bumper.
And the wheels could do with a lick of paint. but that's pretty much it.
24/10. The first thing I've done is put the kat back on. I don't need all that power using the car everyday and to be honest the noise without the kat is a bit to much for my liking. It only took about 10 mins to get back on and has quietened things down nicely.
08/11. First little thing I've bought for the car is the Fiat badge that goes on the rear as the original one is done.
11/11. Called in to see my mate about stuff for the lancia and parked behind Mark who works at the mates Coupe so couldn't resist a photo.
29/11. The new Eibach springs and Monroe dampers arrived today from Alternative Autos. They are Fiat Coupe specialists and really nice people to deal with.
I decided to get stuck in early today and get everything changed. The plan was to have everything done today and the car on the road for first thing Monday so I could get the tracking checked. So car jacked up and secured I removed the front left damper first. It's held onto the hub by 2 19mm nuts and bolts. First thing to do though is unattatch the wires and brake pipe from their carriers on the strut.
Next remove the 3 13mm bolts that attatch the top mount to the car body. Once done the whole spring/damper should come straight out in your hand. About 15 mins should have it out.
The spring/damper out.
The top mount has to be removed and from experience I know only to well to use spring compressors to stop the spring taking off across the room.
Top mount now off.... And that's as far as I got. Since the car was using coilovers the bearing that the top of the standard type spring fits into below the top mount has been done away with. So I can't fit the spring without it. So I had to make a call to my local Fiat dealer to order new top mount bearings, while I was at it I ordered new plastic damper protectors. They won't be here until next Wed so I had to put the coilover back in. It's as well I started on the front first otherwise the car would have looked silly sitting higher at the back. Oh well I may go work at something else.
05/12. My new top mounts arrived today from Alternative Autos, Fiat Coupe Specialists.
07/12. Changing the suspension time. I've been looking forward to this as the front end was getting very bouncy and was ruining the ride quality. As before (see above) I started with the front left damper. Interestingly when I got the coilover out it had a new covering of oil on it and once apart it was clear the damper has seen better days.. Anyway, New damper, spring and top mount bearing put on and to get the top mount screwed on spring compressors had to be used. Incase anyone reading this has never did it do make sure that you put the compressors on equally either side so there's no bending in the spring. This reduces the chance of one of the compressors popping off and you really don't want that to happen.
Next fitting it to the car. To give me as much space as possible to get the 'unit' into the wheel arch I tightened the spring with the compressors as much as possible. There's not actually a lot of travel in the lower wishbone so once in I got the top mount in place I secured one bolt to allow me to move the 'unit' around but to help me having to hold the unit entirely while manuvering the bottom bolts into the stub axle. Even with the spring wound up as tight as possible I still had to use a prise bar to lower the bottom wishbone enough to get the boltholes lined up. It takes a bit of giggling and a few swear words. Oh and you need to be very careful working around the brake line from the caliper as it's a soid pipe. Below photo is of the unit bolted in but with the compressors still wound up tight and then with one spring compressor released.
Next onto the rear end. Even though I have new springs for the rear I've decided to leave the FK springs in but change the dampers for the new Monroe ones. This should have been an easier job than the front end but turned it took longer.
The bottom bolt for the damper on the drivers side was ceased solid and the only way I could get released was by using a blow torch. My woes didn't finish there though. the top bolt is a 16mm that is only accessible through a hole in the chassis rail. That's it in the photo.
Now it looks straight forward but and it's a big BUT, if you lose grip of the bolt it falls into the chassis rail and because the hole is only big enough for a 16mm socket it's a nightmare to get it out. Yes I dropped the bolt as I was putting it back in and it took me over 40 minutes and I had to make a tool out of tin to get it out. It was a real pain and had me wondering how many Coupes are running about with bolts in their chasis rails I didn't make the same mistake on the passenger side because I filled the socket with copper ease so the bolt head would stick to it as I threaded it through the hole. It worked a treat and the new dampers were in. To my joy I don't have to do anything with the rear ride height as it all lined up fine. At least one thing went right then. By the time I got the car out of the garage it was dark and down to -2 outside. perfect weather for laying on the ground working on a car. I took the car for a test drive and the setup is perfect for what I want. It's firm but on the right side of comfortable. I'm very pleased with the result. And the ride height as said is spot on.
08/12. Mot ran out today so I took a chance and put it in for mot today without doing anything to it apart from getting the headlights checked and getting it washed underneath. I had to go to 2 places before I found a ramp that could take the car due to how low it is.
The Mot was at 7.55 PM but I arrived over early at 7.30 and they took me straight away. That was a first. The Mot woman opened the bonnet (and honestly I'm not being sexist here) her face was a picture when she looked at the engine. Without even looking at me she said "Um, there's a lot in there". You had to be there. She drove it over to the lift after the initial checks and got out with a big smile. "I like this" was the comment.
Up the car went and if I'm honest she only took about 10 minutes under it. Clean bill of health for another year. I'm very pleased to say the least. The last owner Tom had said it would pass the mot no problem and apart from the front dampers being knackered he was spot on.
24/12. The cars decided not to see me on the road over Christmas by the look of it. Did a message in it this morning and all was fine. Washed it at lunchtime so it would at least be a bit clean on Christmas day, but when I went to take it out in the afternoon it refused to start. I think it must be something to do with the alarm because it hasn't worked since I bought the car and now it's flashing on the dash and indicators constantly. I won't have time to sort it ontil during next week.
30/12. well I was working at the car trying to find the alarm to see if I could disconnect it but no joy. A mate who's a spark came round tonight to see if he could find the fault. He worked on the car for almost 3 hours but had no joy even finding the control box for the alarm even after taking most of the dash out! so we got no-were really apart from getting very cold.
I had been talking to a mechanic mate earlier in the day and he was convinced the car not starting is the crank sensor. The Spark phoned a Fiat mechanic tonight who confirmed that the Meta alarm fitted by fiat has nothing to do with immobilising the car and he to thought it more likely to be the crank sensor. The alarm staying on is probably a coincidence. I'll have a look for the alarm box in the morning again but ordered a new crank sensor from Fiat to be sure.
31/12. Found the control box. I'll not say were it was but we were about an inch from it when we were looking last night and couldn't get to it as something else was covering it. Oh well roll 2009 to I get the car back on the road.
05/01/09. Got the crank sensor today from Fiat £101 I hope it works. If I get time I'll fit in in the next day or so. Here's hoping.
