The pic on the right shows the hole I had to cut to get to the captive nut. Since I still don't know how to post more than two pictures without them overlapping, the rest of the series will be in the next post or two. The view is laying under the car and looking straight up at the mounting point for the control arm.

As shown, the suspension went back together very well aside from the aforementioned broken bolt. Due to the positioning of the car in my shop, I couldn't get to the drivers side rear until I got the front end assembled. I removed the steering box and rebuilt it, bought a new idler arm assembly and a new pitman arm. I was all set to go----I thought. The taper joints on the tie rods would not fit in the holes in the steering arms. WTF! After a lot of research, I finally discovered the tie rods were from a Fiat 850. Rats! I ordered new tie rods for both sides. When they came in I went to install them and the hole in the idler arm was too big! Now what? I got on the phone with the vendor, explained my problem and he sent me another idler arm, supposedly from another supplier. It too had holes that were too big. I located a good used one from another Bianchina owner, blasted it, painted it and installed it in place, fits great. Mystery of the too large holes is still un- explained to this point. I could now move the car outside, turn it around, lift it up and start work on the drivers side.

The pictures above show the steps taken with the right rear brake and suspension parts. Of course I did not bead blast the bearings or races. I did clean them thoroughly and repack them using a high temp., low viscosity wheel bearing grease. As seen in the picture the axle shaft also was not blasted, it too was cleaned and lubricated. This process will be continued in the next post.

These are the photos of the front suspension and brake rebuild, they are pretty self explanatory. They didn't show up where I expected them to be but they'll work. I then moved to the rear and started removing the suspension and brakes from the passenger side. They got the blasting and painting treatment also. Along the way, I managed to break a bolt that screws into a captive nut that can't be reached due to being placed in between a double-walled enclosure. I had to cut out the section with the nut, replace the nut and weld it in then weld the whole section back in place using the suspension bracket as a locating guide. It too got the POR-15 treatment. For those who don't know what POR-15 is, it is a moisture cured very hard encapsulating paint. The POR stands for "paint over rust"When it is dry, it can be hit with a hammer with no effect. It stops rust dead. If you get some on your skin, you will have to live with it about two weeks until it wears off. It's great stuff. By the time this project is done, the whole bottom of the car will be painted with it.

I removed the relay rod and ordered a new one. That's how I discovered the tapered holes were drilled or reamed out. I couldn't figure out why at the time but it became very clear later on. The first picture shows the ham-fisted adjustment of the ball and socket joint using a hammer. The second shot shows the amount of wear in the joint, and it was still in use. Some people shouldn't own cars or tools. I didn't know whether to laugh or cuss. Cussing won! Huh!, guess I don't have this picture posting down pat yet. Number one is on the right side and number two is on the left. Number two is a pretty apt description come to think of it. The next picture is the welded coupler to axle joint. This is a sliding spline joint with about 1" of movement normally. Another ace repair! Well, shit! That didn't work right either but that is the axle on the far right. At this point I started dis-assembling the front suspension. Each piece was removed, bead-blasted, painted with POR-15 and re-assembled. The brakes were installed using new cylinders, shoes, springs, hoses, and all new steel brake lines with conversion fittings to American flare type. I then moved to the rear of the car and started removing the rear suspension. Each piece got the same cleaning, blasting and painting treatment as the front. I'm going to post this now and come back on with pictures until I figure out what I'm doing wrong.

Apparently I figured out how to post photos. This shows the arrival on January 2, 2009, roughly 4 pm. The car was placed in the shop and an inspection was begun. The first thing noticed was a clunking sound when the car moved. Further investigation showed that a previous owner had welded the sliding coupler on the axle to the axle severely limiting movement. After a few choice words that I can't repeat here, I placed the car on jack stands to further examine the underside. I noticed the relay rod was worn on the ball joint ends and the same previous owner (read moron) adjusted the clearances with a hammer. I put that on the list for replacement and checked the rest of the suspension. The pitman arm and the idler arm were both drilled out to a larger size with no regard to the necessary tapered hole. What the Hell? More parts to replace. Pictures soon.

Bringing it home

On New Years Day I traveled to Tazewell, Tn. to get this car. It was advertised as a running Bianchina in condition 5-6 on a scale of 10. One of my best friends in high school bought one of these brand new in 1959. Three of us went from Claymont, DE to New York City and back in it. It just so happened it was the exact same color as the one I bought. How could I not buy it?? On the way home we were caught in a whiteout snowstorm and had to leave the road for a while. 1/2 hour later we were in sunshine and had no other troubles getting home. After unloading and placing the car in the shop, it was time to evaluate what I had bought. It ran pretty good but I did notice several things that were obviously wrong. This blog will be an attempt to record the complete restoration of this little car. It will not be in real time in the beginning until I catch up and it will not be a daily post with any consistency, I'll write when time allows and the spirit moves me. Soon as I learn how to post pictures, I'll show the first day home.