Mk2 Uno Turbo - The Long Road

So this is my new Project car.  It is a 91 Uno Turbo in Graphite Grey.  I picked up the car as a part complete project from Bradford.  Clocks are showing 136000 miles.
So far as I can tell, she has had a fair amount of work done t her already as follows.

Engine rebuild – I do not know to what extent, but it pulls really well through every gear right to the red line.  Its running standard boost which holds at 0.7 bar through out the rev range.  The engine has been fitted with the ultimate chav accessory – a dump valve and K&N filter.  There is a bleed valve loose in the car but its not fitted so not sure how it has been treated before now.

Welding work – Looks as if all of the suspension tops have been welded up and to be honest quite tidily.

Front and rear strut braces have been fitted
Suspension kit has been half fitted!! Koni shocks and springs have been fitted to the front but not the rear although the rear dampers were in the boot.  Clearly this is a second hand kit as the rears have definitely been fitted to something.


Having started the project properly now I stripped the interior out to get a good look at floor plan.  This is what I found

Front  floor pan had been plated previously but badly there was a small plate on the passenger side which had been tacked in but not properly attached to the bulk head metal.  The same was true on the drivers side with the addition of a small plate along the inner sill which was not even lipped up the sill.  Two plates had been put at the base of the door pillars in the rear, but these have been done well so I left well alone.



After stripping the car I found that the drivers sill has already been replaced.  The passenger side appeared ok on the outside but the inner sill was shot and none of the joints to the floor pan were in tact.


This meant the only way of rebuilding this and making it strong was to take the outer sill off to allow access.  




Whilst cutting the outer sill off I was gutted to find that other than some surface rust inside, it was in very good condition.  I managed to get a replacement for only £13 so not really the end of the world.
Then the serious problems started.  I had to cut the floor pan a good 200mm inside the floor to find good metal and by the time this was done there was not a lot of strength left in the car.  



After 4 or 5 welding sessions, we managed to build the floor pan back up and set about constructing a new inner sill lip.  

I knew this was never going to be pretty, so don’ judge  what it looks like on the mid way photos.  Getting the inner sill to a point where it met the outer naturally, was a very fiddly job as it is not a straight floor pan.






Some other small repairs required to the inner wings



I was pleased to see that the top mounts were still in pretty good nick and didn’t need any welding.



Took advantage of the hot weather to get some hamerite into the inner wings.


Eventually with the welding completed (photos to follow), I felt that I wanted to do something which didn’t involve the risk of slicing my fingers off at every move, and so decided to tackle the rear beam bushes.  This was partly out of a need for  a change of work type and also because the box and bright purple bushes kept frustrating me every time I looked at them.  The old bushed came out easily, worryingly easily in fact.  Getting the new ones in……
Was not the same story and involved lubricant (steady) a car jack and lots and lots of swearing.  I find swearing helps in most situations.




And so, eventually the old girl was back together and off to her first track day at Castle Coombe



Unfortunately after an entire winter of standing still, the first time the engine was started was to load the old girl onto the trailer. The good news was that the engine started first time.  The bad news was that there was a terrible whine from the fuel pump.  I took the car for a shake down session and did 6 laps at increasing pace, and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised.  Unfortunately I began to get fuel starvation which got progressively worse and called an early halt to proceedings.
 This little bugger was part of the cause


If you can find this fuel filter on the net then you are doing well.!!

Love this! A bog standard (except wheels) looking Mk2 uno turbo! A rare sight nowdays!

Nice to see another mk2, mostly mk1s on here.

Amymore plans to restore? Or just use it on track?

Keep up the good work

Dunc

Dunc, thanks for the comments. She will be as close to standard as possible. I plan on using her for fun track days, nothing serious, and summer driving. Believe me after all the rot I cut out, I have no intention of letting her see wet roads.

Caspian wrote:[/url]

If you can find this fuel filter on the net then you are doing well.!!

http://www.ebay.it/itm/FIAT-UNO-TURBO-FILTRO-CARBURANTE-FILTRO-BENZINA-PREFILTRO-7563164-FIAT-/171196941030?pt=Ricambi_automobili&hash=item27dc2202e6&_uhb=1

Great work on sorting the rust, and properly too.  Not many have the nerve to take on such work (including me!)

Ok good find but that is one pricey filter. I got hold of a Sierra Cosworth one which has same in and out diameter for £19.

Top work on her mate, cutting the filthy rot out and making good of what you had.

Looks a good Uno now   

i used to own this, i bought it off Dom on the old TC site but sold it again as it needed to much work for me.
it's good to see it being sorted out now.
Dom told me it had a highbrid turbo on it too.

doody wrote:i used to own this, i bought it off Dom on the old TC site but sold it again as it needed to much work for me.
it's good to see it being sorted out now.
Dom told me it had a highbrid turbo on it too.

INteresting! Could you drop me a PM with anything else you know about it. Cheers
Matt

Anyone know who Dom is? Want to find out a bit more about my car

i've Pm'd you mate but i think he is registered on the fiat forum

Wow, just found this thread, how out of date is this now, better get typing

Nice apart from punto wheels imo. And good to see mk2 alive

Any more updates ?