I have just returned from the UK after a few days fettling on my brother-in-law's 2nd ser Fulvia
He has owned the car for nearly 3 years, but due to one thing or another, the car has done less than 300 miles, and most of those were driving the car back from the previous owner's address !
The car has had a light restoration, the underneath is perfect because it was on the continent for many years. The engine has been rebuilt and is still running in, however there were a couple of irritations that kept her in the garage
First job was to replace the fuel pump (old one leaking) with a new one sourced here in France. I have been running a similar one on the Appia and they are very inexpensive and look good to boot.
I have also fitted a Facet inline , low pressure, pump on a fused, ignition activated spur on the spare dash switch along with inline filter. The carbs have the tank return hose and seem to siphon off the petrol (any cure for this ??). The Facet is great for refilling the carbs and is then switched off
All went well (apart from a blocked jet which was easily cleaned) until trying to restart after a long run. She was just not having it ..... on checking the leads, no more spark.
So when the nice AA man came out we managed to work out the probable cause - faulty electronic ignition !
I hadn't even noticed that it had EI , it is very discrete.
Unfortunately I didn't have points in the car so we were towed home whereupon I scavenged a secondhand set from a spare distributor. Unfortunately I didn't have a strobe or timing light so I set it up the old fashioned way, listening for the spark when rotating the dizzy. That was close enough to get her running and then with the dizzy loose, I got her timed the best I could. Later test suggested that she is a bit advanced ...... and that leads to another story.
I ordered a new set of points to be delivered and then we needed to find someone in Hartlepool or surrounding area to fit them for Mike and refine the timing using a strobe or similar equipment.
I spoke to 9 garages and they all (bar 1) could not fit a set of points. Some of the garages were well established back street shops, but all had not used the "old-school" equipment for so long that they had rid themselves of it. One 60yr old mechanic said that I was the first person to ask for points in 20 years !
We eventually found someone, but I was genuinely surprised that so much has moved to "plug and play", I suppose living in our little back-water, down here insulates us from the big, bad world out there !
We don't know much about the car yet, but she appears to have been a special order for the Swiss market, someone wanting a RHD, euro-spec car. Initially, I wondered if she was a SA car but I don't think so
Road tests have shown that she is a lively, responsive and delightful little car with an excellent 'box and brakes, now all Mike needs to do is use her every week .........
