Tools I would like to have

[Tim StevensParticipant @timstevens64731]

Well, that has been interesting. Thanks to your comments I am now about £25 lighter and some square sockets and a BA gauge are lurching towards the front door.

And you alternative ideas, while not all 100% practical, lifted a few spirits I'm sure.

Regards, Tim

Edited By Tim Stevens on 25/10/2016 17:49:48

[John Stevenson 1Participant @johnstevenson1]

Practical on this forum ?
Give over, you are having a laugh.

[Speedy Builder5Participant @speedybuilder5]

FIAT – I thought it stood for "Fix It Again Tomorrow."

[MuzzerParticipant @muzzer]

Three of us drove down from Harrogate to the Glastonbury festival and back in a Fiat 127 (must have been 1982, judging by the set list). The steering WAS a bit vague, it has to be said. A couple of weeks later, it was due for its MOT and I discovered that the only thing holding the offside front wheel on was the brake disk – in the absence of the large hub nut. Probably a good thing it didn't have drum brakes. Quite a nippy little car if you revved it…

[Involute CurveParticipant @involutecurve]

Id like to have one of these………..

**LINK**

Shaun

[Nick WheelerParticipant @nickwheeler]

Posted by Speedy Builder5 on 25/10/2016 18:09:16:

FIAT – I thought it stood for "Fix It Again Tomorrow."

Why would you do that when you could "Frow It Away Today"?

[John Stevenson 1Participant @johnstevenson1]

Does anyone know who owns FIAT after all the p*ss taking ?

Edited By John Stevenson on 25/10/2016 19:08:05

[Rik ShawParticipant @rikshaw]

"Does anyone know who owns FIAT ?"

I'll bet nobody has the nerve to own up

[MuzzerParticipant @muzzer]

Chrysler are a pretty good match for them – similarly crap vehicles and quality. Certainly a much better bet than Mercedes – just what the Germans were thinking about god only knows. You'll notice there are now some bizarre looking vehicles in the UK that are badged as Chrysler and look remarkably like a Fiat…

The most bizarre sight, though, was the sight of Mercedes Sprinter vans rebadged as (Chrysler) Ram a few years ago in the US, to appeal to the Mercan market. Why have silk when you can have cotton?

[Ex contributorParticipant @mgnbuk]

LASER-6058-TAP-SOCKET-SET

It would have made my life a lot easier had this been posted a couple of weeks ago, as I had to tap 6 off awkwardly placed M12 threads in a steel plate last week using an adjustable spanner – my hands have almost recovered now. A set is on order for next time – thanks for the link.

If your pockets are deep enough (and the part warrants the cost), hard chrome plating works well for recovering worn shafts. Not a DIY operation, but I have read of people using the home electroplating kits to put on a couple of thou of nickel plate to build up slightly undersize parts.

Nigel B

[Ex contributorParticipant @mgnbuk]

"Does anyone know who owns FIAT ?"

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, also known as FCA, is an Italian-controlled multinational corporation^[6][7] and currently the world’s seventh-largest auto maker.^[8] The group was established in late 2014 by merging Fiat S.p.A. into a new holding company, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V., which is incorporated in the Netherlands (with headquarters in Amsterdam) for tax purposes. The holding company is listed on the New York Stock Exchange and Borsa Italiana in Milan.^[9] Exor S.p.A, an Italian investment group owned by the Agnelli family, owns 29.19% of FCA and controls 44.31% through a loyalty voting mechanism

As a Fiat owner (Ducato motorhome), I would rather have a Fiat than a Transit or Sprinter. Probably just as well, as Fiat have something like 90% of the motorhome base vehicle market.

Nigel B

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Posted by Nigel B on 25/10/2016 20:03:53:

As a Fiat owner (Ducato motorhome), I would rather have a Fiat than a Transit or Sprinter. Probably just as well, as Fiat have something like 90% of the motorhome base vehicle market.

That's because motorhome converters buy up all the unsold vans cheap

Neil

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Posted by John Haine on 25/10/2016 07:49:48:

My first car, an original style Fiat 500, once broke down in the rush hour at some traffic lights in Harrow. A retaining pin in the throttle linkage had fallen off. It so happened that I was stopped outside an estate agency so I popped in and scrounged a paper clip from a bemused lady. That got me going again and was never replaced by the "proper" item.

I converted a VV carb on a Cortina MkV Estate to manual choke (a standard mod in the late 80s early 90s). Somewhere on the west coast of Scotland north of Ullapool and along way from nowhere else a linkage to a little vacuum sensing piston went awol and the engine became very unhappy. A paperclip saved the day that time

I fitted a twin-choke Weber off a transit later, and turned it into the fastest car up to 30mph in the West Midlands

[Gordon WParticipant @gordonw]

Used to have a Fiat van, never much trouble, these had completely different horizontal twin engines. A bit gutless but reliable. After that a Fiat 1000cc van which was nice to drive but slowly dissolved into the ground. Now have a Fiat 4×4 ,so far a brilliant little machine. Point of all this is all motor manufacturers seem to be tied together these days, eg, my Corsa van has the same engine as wife's Fiat .

[Tim StevensParticipant @timstevens64731]

Much the same thing (multiple users of one engine) happened in the past, too. My 1928 Lea Francis has a Meadows engine, as also used by HRG, Frazer Nash, and others. Also, MG cars used Morris and Wolseley engines. One thing that does seem to have changed is the specialist engines only makers (such as Meadows) no longer play a big role, the main multi-users rely on engines from within their group (as in the MG examples).

Cheers, Tim

Edited By Tim Stevens on 26/10/2016 10:43:45

[vernon stuttardParticipant @vernonstuttard64763]

The De Dion- Bouton engine was licenced to 150 manufacturers but that was even before my time

[not done it yetParticipant @notdoneityet]

Specialist engine suppliers? Nobody heard of Perkins? Still going but now owned by Cat. Not exactly just thinking cars, here though.

[John Stevenson 1Participant @johnstevenson1]

Specialist engine supplier ?

Google VM Motors.

Never heard of them ?
One of the biggest small diesel engine manufacturers in the world and supply all over the world.

Oh nearly forgot, they are wholly owned by FIAT

[OuBallieParticipant @ouballie]

Tim's third item of need, and no it's staying put

Obtained this years ago.

Geoff – In zombie mode due to bad night.

[Sam Longley 1Participant @samlongley1]

Do the group that own Fiat also own Ferrari ??

[duncan webster 1Participant @duncanwebster1]

Posted by Speedy Builder5 on 25/10/2016 18:09:16:

FIAT – I thought it stood for "Fix It Again Tomorrow."

 

the electric power steering packed in 3 times on my wife's Fiat Punto, fortunately the second time less than a year after I'd paid a shed load of money for the first repair, so I got that one free. I traded it in the third time, seems they never bothered to sort out the problem, just keep fitting the same rubbish and hope it lasts more than a year. This for a potential safety feature as you needed to be Charles Atlas to steer it with the power assist gone. Even the sun visor had a generic fault, according to various forums I visited, don't bother looking for one in a scrap yard, they all break. Need less to say I won't be buying another Fiat.

Edited By duncan webster on 26/10/2016 16:52:35

Edited By duncan webster on 26/10/2016 16:53:20

[JAParticipant @ja]

I have never owned a Fiat because I used them as hire cars from work. They were all awful. I remember two well. One had a black gloss fascia, the dashboard bit below the windscreen. I was expected to drive it west for over a hundred miles on the M4 into the bright setting sun. The trim of the other, a Punto I think, disintegrated in one's hands. In addition it was blown sideways every time one passed a lorry. Again this was over a 100 miles of motorway fun. Both these cars were new.

This thread seems to have drifted quite a way from the original posting.

JA

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

OTOH Fiat Pandas were really good if utterly basic, especially the 4×4 version.

I'd love an old 4×4 Sisley!

Neil

[peak4Participant @peak4]

Posted by Neil Wyatt on 26/10/2016 20:26:40:

OTOH Fiat Pandas were really good if utterly basic, especially the 4×4 version.

I'd love an old 4×4 Sisley!

Neil

For an older 4×4 I've always like the idea of a Citroen 2CV Safari, An engine at each end, so if you need 4WD, just start the other motor.

FWD, RWD, or 4×4 as you wish, with a spare engine to get you home if one packs up.

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Posted by peak4 on 26/10/2016 22:25:33:

Posted by Neil Wyatt on 26/10/2016 20:26:40:

OTOH Fiat Pandas were really good if utterly basic, especially the 4×4 version.

I'd love an old 4×4 Sisley!

Neil

For an older 4×4 I've always like the idea of a Citroen 2CV Safari, An engine at each end, so if you need 4WD, just start the other motor.

FWD, RWD, or 4×4 as you wish, with a spare engine to get you home if one packs up.

Only Citroen could fit a car with two engines and still only get 24hp. Mind you expect any more would have pretzeled it.

Neil

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