turbo boost on

We've been offically accepted for the race, and I've started working on the car in earnest. I got it out of storage this morning and pulled it into my garage (displacing the poor Mercedes), and filled up half the big trashcan with junk I've pulled out of it. I need to remove the AC system, and re-install the gas tank, install new fuel lines and filter, and the new pump, and then get a battery for it and oil the cylinders and try to start it. It looks like the previous owner was having a little trouble with it - there's a bag of nearly new spark plugs in the trunk, the plug wires are new, and there's a few loose relays rattling around in the back with notes taped on such as "Might work", "Works but intermitantly [sic]", and other encouraging phrases.

It's still blazing hot outside so I've knocked off work for the afternoon.

tar

Erroll came down for the 4th of July weekend, and we started ripping things out of the car. After we got the back seat and carpet out, we realized the original color had been quite a nice shade of Italian red - it's a shame how that disappeared under a few coats of Maaco. We got most of the rear trim out (choking on dust likely infected with bubonic plague), found the floor pans to be in excellent shape, and turned our attention to the gas tank. The tank is mounted in the trunk, against the front firewall, but for some reason the fill tube passes through the rear compartment above the rear deck on its way out. So we're going to have to reroute that, and weld over the holes on the parcel shelf to isolate the tank from the passenger compartment. I disconnected the fuel lines, and as I pulled the bottom one away from the tank, a long thread of tar stretched out between it and the tank fitting. We got the tank out, drained the stinking tea-water that was left instead of gas, and started spraying the inside with dish soap and the pressure washer. Great gobs of tar started coming out - we piled them in the street next to the curb where the sun melted them into little shiny tar puddles. We sprayed, and soaped, and sprayed, until the great raggedy pieces of tar became small gravel-sized pieces, then ceased altogether, and water flowed from all the orifices. A look inside showed the tank to be in pretty good shape, with some bits of tar stuck here and there (looked like it had been parked with about half a tank of gas). We sprayed a bit more, and then left it in the sun to dry and cleaned up all the tar puddles with an old dustpan. The fuel line is clogged, so we'll have to clean those out somehow - paint thinner and compressed air possibly. I found the extra fuel pump from the Spider, and I'll install a cheap clear fuel strainer in the line just out of the tank so if any chunks come through, we can easily clear the line. The fuel sender was a rusted mass, so either we'll have to get a new one or just guess at the amount of fuel remaining.

for posterity

I've started taking pictures.

unstoppable

One of the major problems with the Brava is that the brakes are physically present, but completely comatose. The pedal goes directly to the floor, not passing GO and not collecting $200. The return spring exhibits a weak influence, but that's it. Fortunately for me, brakes are exempt from the $500 cap for LeMons (and are one of the reasons I did the chicken dance of joy when buying this car), however, we are still of course under our bare-boned racing budget of about $50 for parts and walking street corners for the cost of the roll cage.

Under these circumstances I was pretty happy to find a set of NOS (although not Fiat OEM, but hey) rear brake cylinders on Ebay for $17. I find Ebay has gone way downhill after my selling heyday on it in 1998, and haven't really looked at it in quite a long time, but just on a whim I had a look for Brava pieces with this result. The front calipers can be rebuilt pretty easily and cheaply (I have experience with this from the Spider, lucky me), and we'll likely need a master cylinder, new hoses, and possibly the rear compensator. Fiat brakes have a really awful reputation, but from my experience they are pretty good if done properly.

My timeline calls for the Spider to be running in a couple of weeks, and the long long July 4 weekend should see us cleaning the fuel system on the Brava and getting it started.

not a dry heat

Nothing to report except that the Lemons folks have the Lemons forum up now, which makes interesting reading. I haven't touched any of the cars for a week. I need to check on the Brava before a thunderstorm hits - the stick holding up the driver's window (which has a loose regulator) isn't doing a very good job. However I have decided on a solution for the in-car camera system if we ever make it to the track. (I know where my priorities are.)

Interlude II

Some encouragement occurred today from Jalopnik - one of the contributors, Murilee Martin, who I hear also helps judge the LeMons, started this thread, where I semi-announced our Brava entry. Murilee replied:

"If you show up with a Brava- or, better yet, a Strada- in Texas, you'll be an instant legend."

So that makes me want to hurry up and finish hooking up wires on the Spider, so I can move it around, and get the Brava out of storage and running. In spite of (so far) the lack of a firm team, there's no reason not to start work!

De Fiati

Getting a team together is proving to be rather more difficult than I had at first conceived. I had thought everyone who heard about this project would be beating my door down to participate, but the level of ambivalence (likely due to cost) has been surprisingly high and at the moment I have only one more or less confirmed team member besides me. To complicate the problem, I've decided to try for the October race instead of next March, in spite of the chance that I'll fry in the broiling heat on the track. I have several people left to ask, so more on this later.

I've gone over the car in a little more detail, and all I can say is I am going to get what I deserve. It is in terrible shape, and I'm not dressing this up for the benefit of any future judges who might read. It sat in a field for several months after having been pulled out of another field. The registration I believe was last valid in 1995. The fuel system is as nearly completely ruined as possible: gas tank full of tar, fuel pump seized, fuel lines rotted. Luckily I have a spare fuel pump from the Spider, and I've cleaned out a few of these Fiat tanks before with a pressure washer and much patience. The engine looks OK, albeit with all the standard Fiat twin-cam oil leaks, and the transmission and differential at least rotate. The AC is all there and will be removed and sold (no freon). The interior is completely trashed (and full of maps from all kinds of state parks), but that's OK since it will be coming out. The dash and its funny little sliding glovebox is badly cracked, and the gauges are cloudy. The driver's window was down when I first saw it, and from appearances it had been that way for a while.

The brakes are present but completely nonfunctional (but that's OK too since brake costs are exempt). The power steering (the first I've seen on a Fiat) is present and full of fluid. The rust is not too bad - I haven't had a look at the floorpans yet but given the climate in California (where I think it originated) and here I don't expect anything terrible. It started off gold, and was painted red and then green over the previous color, so where the paint has peeled or pieces of the car have fallen off all three colors show through. Soon the ripping out will begin!

Next Chapter: The Fellowship of the Ring-Brava