I said I would never buy another Aurelia.........

[impaw]

Looks good Chris!
That’s a beefy manifold!
When will the car be on the road you think?

[chriswgawne]

I fitted the complete exhaust system yesterday and everything lined up very well although I did have t0 shorten the IMASAF straight pipes (under the passenger compartment floor) by about 20mm.
I havent tightened everything up properly just yet but I am very pleased so far.
As to a date for the car being on the road Torstein perhaps you should ask Jacky!!!!  When we bought the car the plan was to have this project finished in 2021!!!! That was the deal with my wife at the time.
Lots of things have conspired to push this back including Covid, Brexit rules and most recently my ' THB holiday' in the Royal Brompton Hospital in February!
Once good weather appears I tend to not want to work on any garage based project as I would rather be outside to be honest.....and we have a couple of thousand vines + many fruit trees to look after
Today I would say that this autumn is a realistic target - all i have to buy now are some new door and bumper rubbers from Cicognani.
Today my plan is to finish cleaning the B12 block and then hopefully refit the crank, rods and new pistons before returning to the UK tomorrow for a few weeks of cardiac rehab exercise.
Chris

[impaw]

Sounds good Chris!
No need to rush things , enjoy the journey etc:)

[chriswgawne]

Sounds good Chris!
No need to rush things , enjoy the journey etc:)

I have taken your advice Torstein (!!!!) but feel now that I am almost on the 'last lap' with my beautiful ( in my eyes)  B21S project.
The exhaust is all bolted up, I finally found the correct route for the speedo cable and I have fitted new steering arm joints as the originals, whilst not exhibiting much wear were a little notchy.
All the electrics are working correctly including the wonderful horns and the final mechanical job ( for now) is to tighten the steering column,/steering box  joint.
A really tricky job which tbh I had been putting off for months was fitting the new door aperture rubber seal and its 'C' section holder. The factory original C section was aluminium held in place with tiny self tappers but of course this has corroded badly, particularly along the sills. The replacement C section sold by Cicognani is plastic which one can bend and shape to a degree using heat but its a devil to get right as when bending it, it tends to twist and close up and this C section is effectively in 3 planes in the rear wing area. I had been thinking about it for ages and then in May  Jacky offered to help as long as I kept my cool if it went wrong. well, using patience, 2 pairs of hands, lots of masking tape  and Tiger Seal ( which one cant buy in Italy - why not?) we managed to fit it all in place. Having left it alone for a month, when I came back to it the RHS was pretty perfect whilst the LHS needed some adjustment but this was relatively easy. Its one of the trickiest jobs I have ever attempted.
So that's all done now and the next thing is to put all the requisite liquids in the car and try to start it.
I doubt this will be before October due to family holidays here 9 as I write)  and our own holiday on Elba at the end of August.
One of the strange things I have become aware of though is my reluctance sometimes to push on with this project and finish it........this can only be because its my last one and I don't really want it to end! Or am I just being lazy?
More news soon I hope.
 Chris

[impaw]

Well done Chris!
You would not have a link to the C-section sold by Cicognani ?
I might have to do something similar , yikes!

Looking forward to the report onthe first start up👍🍾

[Parisien]

Chris, do I recall someone using a container of hot water to make it more pliable as you worked along it's length?

Also can you further detail the tightening of the steering column/box joint, particular reason for delaying or just last thing on list?

Thanks

P

[chriswgawne]

Well done Chris!
You would not have a link to the C-section sold by Cicognani ?
I might have to do something similar , yikes!

Looking forward to the report onthe first start up👍🍾

The aluminium /plastic C section and its rubber referred to above are only used on the outer door surrounds on Aurelia Saloons ( and Appia saloons I think?). So you wont have the problem Torstein. I will put some photos up tomorrow morning. The other tricky door rubber job is the sizing of the vertical pieces which very slightly overlap between the 2 doors on each side - i.e the trailing edge of the front door and the leading edge of the rear door.. A very sharp knife and a very steady hand are needed!
Chris

[chriswgawne]

Chris, do I recall someone using a container of hot water to make it more pliable as you worked along it's length?

Also can you further detail the tightening of the steering column/box joint, particular reason for delaying or just last thing on list?

Thanks

P

No reason for delaying at all but my steering column went missing during the bodywork and surfaced later so there was no real reference as to its original orientation. Also I rebuilt the steering box along the way.
Its a 5 minute job now to tighten up the lower joint and then I can fit the steering wheel & horn push.
Chris

[impaw]

Well done Chris!
You would not have a link to the C-section sold by Cicognani ?
I might have to do something similar , yikes!

Looking forward to the report onthe first start up👍🍾

The aluminium /plastic C section and its rubber referred to above are only used on the outer door surrounds on Aurelia Saloons ( and Appia saloons I think?). So you wont have the problem Torstein. I will put some photos up tomorrow morning. The other tricky door rubber job is the sizing of the vertical pieces which very slightly overlap between the 2 doors on each side - i.e the trailing edge of the front door and the leading edge of the rear door.. A very sharp knife and a very steady hand are needed!
Chris

I see!
Thank you Chris!

[williamcorke]

 The other tricky door rubber job is the sizing of the vertical pieces which very slightly overlap between the 2 doors on each side - i.e the trailing edge of the front door and the leading edge of the rear door.. A very sharp knife and a very steady hand are needed!
Chris
[/quote]

The original rubber seal where the doors meet was much thinner and more flexible that what's currently available, so as designed, the two pieces happily overlapped with the rubber of whichever door was most recently closed 'on top' i.e. on the outside. Try doing that with the new ones and you won't be able to open the door whose rubber is beneath. Hence Chris' need for a scalpel and a surgeon's hand!