Progress on the Flavia

I posted some pictures of the Flavia post-paint and got some pleasing feedback (thanks Hugh and others) so here is a brief update.

The car is back on its four wheels (painted Lancia cream as dictated by the factory) and sits well on its rebushed suspension. The characteristic nose down attitude of these cars is a result of wear and a spirit level along the sills tells me it is now level. It may even be nose up with a full tank. The long battle with the chrome plater (name supplied if you ask me) concluded with the return of the front bumper, grill surround and sundry small parts after almost four years. Most were poorly repaired and the plating on the headlight surrounds is bubbling already. Pattern replacements for these parts are now available for the first time but the price will make your eyes water. I purchased another grill surround from Italy but it was little better than the one I have so both will be traveling to Timaru where another plater will pick the best one and repair it properly.

Having the engine on a subframe is useful when undertaking major repairs but the downside is much of the minor stuff is inaccessible when the engine, gearbox and wheels are back under the car. Simple things like the position of hose-clamps become critical when you want to tighten them but find they are blocked by something that was nowhere near it when you last looked. Much grunting and wriggling on a cold garage floor was required to get close to final assembly, along with fabrication of missing and damaged small parts. Stripped threads in the alloy engine cases only become obvious when tightening something up and it is too late to pull the engine again.

It is brakes next. The four wheel discs of the Flavia were state of the automotive art in the early '60s. They are a Dunlop system split into dual circuits and controlled by a fiercely complex servo that required a separate factory manual to set up. I have undone one old major bodge which saw an alien master cylinder replaced by the genuine article while the servo has been checked and fitted with a new seal kit. The lines to and fro are running at crazy angles and my sense of order tells me these must be replaced with ones that can be gathered back onto the firewall and go logically to their natural places on the calipers. Easier said than done I suspect. I found a great outlet in Dunedin called Automec that sells all forms of hydraulic fittings as well as copper nickel tube. Working on the theory that anything made by man can be remade, I will be making wire patterns and bending tube long into the night.