The Contessa

[lancianut666]

Hi Frank
I was wondering if the quadrants could be taken off and turned over so the unworn teeth could be brought into play...from your pictures it might be a possibility?
Clarkey

[frankxhv773t]

The majority of the wear is on the cog rather than the quadrant. The quadrant and cogs are all flush on one side and have a raised collar with the grub screw in it on the other side. Consequently turning the quadrant over would place its teeth about quarter of an inch away from even being able to touch the cog.

Swapping the cogs over top and bottom and trimming the bottom cog to fit at the top seems to have done the trick. I also worked the spindle coming out of the sender unit to free it up as that appears to be part of the cause of the wear in the first place.

[frankxhv773t]

Now the fun starts. It came out of that hole but how the devil does it go back!

There was lots of turning the unit through right angles and moving it a bit for the removal. Putting it back all the springy bits seem to flex the other way and jam. It would be so simple if the hole was 3 1/2" wide instead of 2 1/2" wide.

I'm beginning to think the people who designed Lancias hated the people who were going to have to work on them.

[frankxhv773t]

I'm back on the Flaminia after a month away playing at 17th century things.

I'd got to the point of fuel reaching the reserve switch over valve in the passenger footwell but nothing at the fuel filter/regulator in the engine bay. The obvious solution was blowing the pipe through with the air line but with solid copper fuel lines and soldered banjo fittings that's easier said than done. I eventually managed to get the switch over valve removed and blasted the relevant pipe. Getting the three pipe unions to line up for reattachment has been a full day's job because of the inflexibility of the copper pipes. In the end I had to cut one off to get the required articulation then splice it back together with a bit of rubber fuel hose.

[frankxhv773t]

It's taken me a long time to admit that I no longer have the mental focus nor physical flexibility to do what is needed to get my Flaminia running so I've bitten the bullet and  had Omicron take on the job. Andrew collected her yesterday. It's largely in the nature of a recommissioning job as the Contessa has done very few miles in recent years. Also the dash needs stripping out to replace all the screen wash pipes and my days of grovelling about upside down under a dash board seem to be behind me. I've also asked them to look at making seat belt mounts as the one time I took her out on the road I felt desperately vulnerable not being strapped in.

[Ferrit]

yay!  So maybe running in time for the summer?

M

[Kevinlincs]

I fully understand your position Frank, it is hard to admit to ourselves that sometimes we need help to get a project moving again. But in the end it will be worth it to get the car running aagin.
Also like you the days of crawling under cars aren't so much fun once we get some miles on our own clock so again I hear you there.
Take great comfort in the knowledge of all the cars you've saved over the years and sit back and look forward to the return and at last being able to get out in the car 

[frankxhv773t]

Yes, all being well I will have her up and running for the coming season. The following year we might have several berlinas for the Flaminia 60th.

[frankxhv773t]

The Contessa is home from Omicron with rebuilt fuel system converted to electric pump, overhauled brakes, freed off gear change. rehung exhaust, replaced tachometer drive, repaired instruments and an electric washer system that doesn't fill the front footwells with water.

I can actually drive her safely now and can get stuck in to all the little cosmetic jobs.

[Kevinlincs]

Great news frank!
Bet you're over the moon to have the car back and running, what an inspiration it must be now and spur you on to put the finishing touches in.
Great stuff. Be nice to meet up again somewhere this year and see the car in all its' glory.

[frankxhv773t]

There's plenty to do Kevin but now the horn has decided not to work and the wiring doesn't match any of my manuals. The horn itself works but there is no power in the supply. I suppose it's one of those problems of an old car that has seen too little use in recent years.

[frankxhv773t]

I have had one short outing in the Contessa to our local pub meet. Things are much better but driving without seat belts still makes me nervous.

The trip was not entirely without incident as I ground to a halt with symptoms of fuel starvation shortly before getting to the pub. Having opened the bonnet for a bit and given things a wiggle I felt the electric pump start to vibrate again and everything was fine for the rest of the trip. I suspected fuel vaporisation because the pump is to the side of the radiator.

Starting problems recurred next time I tried to start her which was dismaying after having sent her to Omicron to get sorted out. I eventually thought to check the fuel pump fuse which turned out to be blown so that was an easy fix. However the fuel pump still was intermittent but fired up if I wiggled it which turned out to be a loose earth wire that I had disturbed when installing a set of air horns inherited from a previous Berlina, the English Patient.

I decided against using the set of horns from the Birmingham Berlina because they are rather beefier and sound like they belong on a Canadian Pacific diesel locomotive!

[frankxhv773t]

I'm continuing with little trips out to the local pub meet to test reliability. The problem with occasional non functioning of the fuel pump seems to have been the angle it was mounted at. The instructions for fitting said it had to be vertical but it seems rather particular about being precisely vertical.

This week I couldn't find reverse gear to back into a parking space at the pub. It did give me the opportunity to explain to people how complicated the gear linkage is from the column change to the transaxle. I shall have a delve into the workshop manual to see if there is any specification for adjusting it.

I also managed to run out of fuel on the way home whilst registering a third of a tank so the fuel gauge sender is still not doing its stuff.

On the bright side she runs very eagerly so I have to watch the speed limit carefully. My mental arithmetic is improving with constantly converting KPH into MPH. A friend at the meeting who has a fascinating 1960s Panhard showed me his dinky GPS speedometer that sits in his dash top ashtray. I might be tempted to one.

[Richard Fridd]

Is the vertical plane of the fuel pump to allow air bubbles to rise to the outlet?

[lancianut666]

Hi Frank,
Not sure about the vertical mounting as my PF Coupe has the fuel pump in the boot at a slight angle, pretty cool in there. The position yours is in looks warm from the get go. I remember building a Dutton kit car where the spare wheel was mounted in front of the radiator and the car was overheating and my wife at the time pinioned that the spare wheel was in the wrong place but I insisted the manufacturer designed it to go there. You can guess who was right!
Clarkey