New Flaminia owner

[lancianut666]

Hi all.
I have never been over impressed with Pininfarina quality having owned a Flavia Coupe and now the Flaminia Coupe, perhaps the interior finish with the painted steel and aluminium dash and door cappings, and visible screw heads was not a problem in 1960s Italy. I will probably get to see the quality of the welding later. Also did Pininfarina expect their cars to be still in use 60+ years later?
Clarkey

[Richard Fridd]

 Looks very exciting despite the delays.
Can't say the same for the rogue welding, but I have heard that the purpose visible screwheads is to give a hand- built appearance. As for the metal dashboard and door cappings, I rather like those. What are the alluminium brake parts?

            A lot of work going into this car obviously,  very impressive,

                                Richard

[frankxhv773t]

I once saw an Aurelia Spider with its front wing off at Omicron. I commented that somebody had been in there before and made a right mess of the welding only to be corrected that the "right mess" welding was totally original.

The standard of interior fittings on a Flaminia are a completely different culture to British cars of the period. At our local classic car meet there is a 1960s Wolsley 6/110 with leather seats, wool carpets and walnut veneer everywhere. It puts my Flaminia to shame despite the Flaminia costing three times the price when they were new.

[DavidG]

Re. aluminium brake parts -

As all my brake pistons were seized solid, I have replaced the rear ones with aluminium parts from Fosseway performance. But the real weight saving comes at the front, where I opted for their replacement 4 pot calipers. These are all aluminium, so the weight is significantly less overall. Although they should offer a significant performance boost, the cost was not much more than replacing the dunlop style pistons (plus all the associated hardware) not to mention the work involved in renovating the carriers and making new linking pipes. I will hold on to all the old parts, should a more original restoration be preferred in the car's future.

[lancianut666]

Any chance of any pictures?

[DavidG]

A standard front calliper weighs over 4kg, whilst the replacement aluminium one weighs under 2kg.

[DavidG]

A few more jobs that have been done.

The pedal box has been stripped, painted and reassembled. What a lot of bits for 2 pedals! and 2 grease points!

The steering box and idler have been cleaned and painted. Neither required any repair but I replaced the oil seal in the steering box. I tried initially to remove the arm with a hydraulic puller but it would not budge. It would not fit in my small press so I ended up at my friend Jeff's, who has a 15 ton press. We had to fabricate a substantial fixture in order to use the full capacity of the press. It let go with a very loud bang.

Straightened up the wheels with a bottle jack, with them mounted on the rear axle. Now waiting with the rear springs to go to the powder coaters.

I was missing one of the heater ducts that fixes to  the engine bay wall. I have been unable to find a replacement - I imagine they were not often removed when a car was broken for spares and most  ended up in the crusher. My solution was to 3D print one in 2 parts. I then finished both original aluminium and 3D printed ducts with Upol gravitex stonechip protector, which I applied by dabbing with various sponges.

The subframe is now complete and ready to fit. I plan to reduce the height of the trolley it is sitting on so that I can wheel it under the car.

[Richard Fridd]

Superb

[DavidG]

Thank you, Richard. I am starting to feel like I am getting there.

[lancianut666]

Top notch stuff here well done. Out of interest how did you get the cold air intake boxes out of the car, I tried when I replaced the heater hoses but gave up.
Clarkey

[DavidG]

Do you mean these ones or the ones at the front, behind the grille?

In both cases they were already removed from the car when I bought it. These bulkhead ones (or rather the one I had) had a foam gasket to seal to the bulkhead. In some images I have found of bare engine bays, they seem to have been sealed around the edges as well. Whether the sealing is original or an addition, in response to engine smells entering the cabin, I don't know, but it seems like it would be difficult to maintain a good seal with foam alone, given the number and spacing of screw fixings. I haven't decided, yet, how I will seal mine - possibly with butyl rubber strip.

The front ones are a mystery. I haven't spent a long time experimenting, but it seems almost impossible to get them back in. I may well resort to cutting the brackets off and making new ones that can be screwed into position after fitting the ducts.

[DavidG]

Rear calliper assemblies ready to fit.

[lancianut666]

Lovely stuff, how do they compare price wise with the original type?






























































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[DavidG]

They are roughly comparable in price to reconditioned original pistons but have a more modern design that should be more durable.