Quick Service For a Forgotten Fiat Palio

[ss80]

I had mentioned about a friend of mine having a Palio 1.2 & that it is in really bad shape. My friend has returned from the outstation work he had & was shocked to see the condition of the car, he rushed to my home as soon as he saw the condition of the car & asked me to go ahead & do something about it.

Since I had my hands already on my M800 I had to ask him to wait for a few days, then now I got a news about my cars engine & the pathetic condition it was in. Now some over pistons has to be installed & lathe work has to be done, tinkering is still pending, so in simple words, my m800 is in garage for last ten days & it will be there for atleast 10 more days.

I had sleepless nights without a car in front of my house to greet me everyday & then I felt it is the right time to do something for my dream girl - PALIO I sent out an email to my friend with details of the costs & suggestions on what to do with his car. I will post a pic of the cost estimate I sent him. Also told him about the max resale value irrespective of condition of the car in today's Market.

He read the email & after 1phone call to him, I met his family explained about me, my interest in cars etc & convinced them for a partial restoration if not full.

So here is the work to be done in the next one week. Although I am not happy about the whole budget, but still I just thank all gods that I got an opportunity to work with the ITALIAN BEAUTY.

So, enough of typing, here comes tonnes of pics...

The caaaaaarrrr....


Here on is a series of pics to show the condition & what the issues are, although all will not be taken care of.

The front bumper broken


The headlights


dents on bonnet




One of the wiper was so bad, it scratched the new windhshield so removed it & tied a cloth for time being


Uneven gap near front windshield (some rubber strip)


Dent in wheel rim


chassy guard lose & not fit properly


The interiors begin, the centre console first














more to come in an hour

 

[charithao]

Re: Quick Service for a forgotten Palio

Hi ss80,

Looks like you got loads of work on this one. Good luck. Waiting for the updates of your work.

 

[350Z]

Are the damages limited to exteriors and interiors or include mechanical as well? The apparent condition still looks fair enough to restore it nicely if he is willing to do so.

Drive Safe,
350Z

 

[ss80]

350z:
There is oil leak from head gasket & the tappet cover gasket. I am yet to check the issue with my mechanic. Only he will be able to tell the depth of this issue. The clutch is also hard, may be bleeding the clutch pipe/hose should make it easier to operate.

The pictures continue...




The rear wiper blade is not available, the whole arm needs to be replaced - costs 700/- approx.




I have just sourced a used tail light as a replacement for this


wheel caps to be painted, as new ones dont come with the FIAT logo inside them, local ones have something that looks very cheap.


Rear bumper condition


Rust on boot door

 

[ss80]

Underbody issues




The mesh that Varun installed recently in his car, similar one is factory given in this car


Roof paint faded


The only two leaks in the car




Wiper arm hits bonner while trying to open it, may be I need to try stopping it at middle & then try to open it.

 

[ss80]

Shopping done :)

The spoilt gear knob (lose & broken inside), could not get the original one, so went with a plactic one as replacement


Emission test done


The old cabin lite


Got a easy install LED cabin lamp (no cutting, no wires etc)




Yesterday & today I spent hours in shopping or should I say hunting for spares, price differences between shops are ridiculously high, some original spares are so costly, no wonder this car not a mass hit.

Here are some examples - I just enquired about the prices, I did not buy everything in the list below

• Inner rear view mirror (day & time option) - 1100
• Front bumper - 4500/-
• Rear bumper - no stock anywhere (on order basis only - 1 week time)
• Headlamp Original - 3500/- each
• Headlamp local make - 1950/- each
• Tail Lamp Original - 2000/- each
• local make - no stock, no price
• Rear View mirror - original - no stock (not even on order! since they are no more manufactured)
• Rear view mirror (internally adjustable type) - local/aftermarket - 550/- each
• Rubber beeding on door side - no more manufactured - no aftermarket support, on gujri/ Fiast Service center (if they have some old stock left)

Some interesting points about Palio:

• Standard (roots/bosch/hella 2plug thing )100/90 headlamp wiring kit wont fit in this car, since the car has seperate bulbs for low beam & high beam, you need to buy a wiring kit called as H1/H7 - more about this later.
• Unlike most cars which are having 4 bolts for front seats, Palio has 6bolts (I will confirm exact number soon) that too 14"
• The rear drums have 2 holes for ventilation
• The complete underside of engine is covered by the plastic guard sort of thing (very similar to what we have on PUNTO)
• The central locking can be activated from both the driver & passenger side locks (inside & outside)- factory fit
• The stock silencer/exhaust setup is of the order 4:2:1
• The exhaust pipe is slightly closer to the stepney wheel well, still the heat insulation quality & size provided is better than what we see on 2013 swifts where exhaust pipe is given a patch work to keep the heat away from the plastic tank
• The Head of the engine reads - LANCIA (UK company I guess, closed long back)
• The fuel rail (I am not sure what its called) reads - Assembled in Italy
• The wiper spray nozzle has 3 holes each! Total of 6 jets for the front windshield alone
• If you lift the Bonnet a few times a week, it is good enough to be called a workout (Maruti car owners like me will be surprised for sure for the first time)

more info coming pretty soon...

Here are the groceries






















Gave the car a clean hand wash, with plenty of soap water & the jsut rinsed it with normal water, just to losen the dust so that tomorrow if I give it to the water wash guy, the pressure should clean everything.

 

[ss80]

Yesterday my Operating System in computer went corrupt, tried reinstalling everything & then power cut at midnight! Today I am having severe internet connectivity issues, after a couple of attempts only I managed to upload these many pics.

Today I tried all possible ways to try to remove the headlamp, so that I can get the outer plastic part changed (instead of replacing the whole headlamp) but then it struck me that this PALIO, there must be something special/ procedure to do before doing anything on this car.

How to remove headlamp from the car.
1. Disconnect the wiring behind the headlamp
2. Remove 2 ten size bolts on outside holding the headlamp in place
3. Remove 2screws on wheel well (driver side if you want to open the RH headlamp) which hold the bumper & the inner plastic lining in place.
4. You would find a few star type screws (T20) which are holding the bumper to the body/fender remove all of them
5. Remove the 3 10size bolts which are right behind the grill holding the bumper to the body
6.now gently pull the bumper towards front & then you will find a hidden 10size (3rd bolt) bolt holding the headlamp to the car. Remove that & success, you can take out the headlamp. To learn this it took me about 2+hrs as there is no indication of the 3rd bolt + I had assumed that it would be like the Ikon headlight (my mistake).

Then comes the Icing on the cake, I dint have the right tools to open one of the bumper screws, so postponed dinner & rushed to S.P.Road & grabbed a few tools for about 320/- then came home, had dinner, checked the locks on the car twice, placed a stone behind the wheel (I have to be ten times careful as it is someone else's car you see). Finally put my M800 car cover on the Palio (which looks like a mini skirt on it) & now updating TAI. 18hrs of absolute Fiat Fever.

 

[jarpickle]

Lancia is Italian and got merged with FIAT.It is still in business.

Most parts that you find will be common for FIAT, Lancia and Alfa Romeo.

 

[Varun560061]

Some pic's on behalf of SS80..

 

[SOOZ_PUNTO]

Great work till now Anand . DIY expert Varun is also involved in this !! Definitely the outcome is worth to look for. All the best guys to bring this beast into flesh.

 

[ss80]

The garage visit

Charithao; Thanks a lot buddy

Varun:
Thanks a lot for uploading the pictures.

Great work till now Anand . DIY expert Varun is also involved in this !! Definitely the outcome is worth to look for. All the best guys to bring this beast into flesh.

Thanks a lot, I have immense interest to buy this car sometime later. That is also one of the reason for the crazy amount of time I am spending on this car.

The update:
Today I took the car to our regular garage near Varun's home, got the oil changed, radiator coolant replaced, the tappet cover gasket changed. Also got to know that the AC is fine, its only the blower which needs some attention.

A few pics of the work so far..


I was driving in the middle of a few buses from K.R.circle till the Corporation signal, I was not scared at all as there is no way they cant see this car in their mirror, even if they do, the Bosch symphony reminds them.


The car at the workshop


Air filter changed


Tappet cover removed


tappet cover with old gasket


new gasket installed


fresh oil - so far only 3litres have been poured in. Will check for the right spec in manual & add more oil if required.


coolant drained, since there is no drain bolt in the radiator, the coolant hose pipe has to be removed to drain the coolant.


Engine is butter smooth, slightly better than usual. So far I have driven the car for about 60kilometers (only for this car related work) using roughly Rs.500/- of fuel which means it gives a mileage of about 9kmpl! which gives heart attack even for a Fiat fan like me. but this was all before the oil change, let me check once again before handing over the car later next week.

Any suggestions/links on how to clean fuel injectors? Will it make any difference in the smooth operation of the car, there is a little jerking only in lower gears rarely.

 

[jarpickle]

For injectors, remove them and get them serviced at BOSCH.Varun knows where its located, also get the spark plugs changed.

Try Platinum plugs, it will last longer and burn the fuel better.NGK platinum plugs are self cleaning as well.

Did you change the gear oil and the hydraulic fluid for the clutch and the brake?Get that done as well.

 

[ss80]

Jarpickle:
Thanks a lot for the suggestion, yes these are also in line in the next few days, if they fit in the budget. Any spec on what oil to be used for gear oil?

A request to all gurus:

I find there is a small jerking issue (as if fuel is not getting sprayed properly) so if you can provide some link/info on how to identify, remove & clean the fuel injectors in a Palio, it will help me a lot. Since I am too new to MPFi thing, please try to provide some info here. Some parts of Palio are scarily priced, hence not willing to damage anything accidentally that cant be replaced easily.

Also any precautions to be followed before removing the injectors? What's the worst that can happen incase the injectors are damaged by mistake?

 

[blackbeauty]

Nice to see the work getting done on the Palio. Spare parts are bit costly. you can try www.99rpm.com They keep most of spares. Have bought many spares for my Palio Stile.

 

[rakeshkn]

Hi good to see you guys getting serious and professional about cars., I am sad also because I cant join you in this such of works., Go ahead and waiting to see the final out put