Discussion
In 1987 I owed a 2 litre twin cam fiat 132 , it was at a time when everyone was in fast fords and I wanted something different !! The 132 is a 4 door version of the 131 and has the same 2 litre 8 valve twin cam engine and it was brilliant !! Bits fell off it and it rusted around me even though I kept it in a garage ! I loved it it was fast , handled well and was different .
For 4 years I thrashed it around and met my wife in it , she loved the mustard coloured crushed Valor interior
At the time I was starting my business and was skint I wanted to buy an engagement ring and having a van and a car seemed a waste so my awesome fiat was sold to raise money for the ring .
Roll on 25 years and still happily married my wife asked me why I sold the fiat all those years ago , when I told her the story she insisted we needed to buy another one !!!!!
Now Fiats in the UK have long since rusted away and I spent a year looking , found a couple of 3 speed autos but I really wanted a manual , through my hunt I found a guy in Ireland that brings in old fiats and fords from Malta , he vollenterred to have a look about and see if he could find one !!!!
Here is a picture of my 1987 car .
Roll on 6 months and Gerard informs me he has found a manual car it's a bit tatty but solid with very little rust , the photo's show nothing really so at £1800 it was a bargain !!!! Well here is where it gets fun , Gerard is in Ireland so not wanting to go there to fetch it I agree to collect if from the delivery Larry in a Lorry park in Essex !
I have to pay the driver in cash so we find ourselves sat in a Lorry yard waiting for a car transporter to arrive from Malta !!!
Cash is paid car has no paperwork and there is no way I can reject it
Wife confirms I'm mad !!
We load the car on the trailer and head home !!
If anybody is interested I will carry on with the story ?
For 4 years I thrashed it around and met my wife in it , she loved the mustard coloured crushed Valor interior
At the time I was starting my business and was skint I wanted to buy an engagement ring and having a van and a car seemed a waste so my awesome fiat was sold to raise money for the ring .
Roll on 25 years and still happily married my wife asked me why I sold the fiat all those years ago , when I told her the story she insisted we needed to buy another one !!!!!
Now Fiats in the UK have long since rusted away and I spent a year looking , found a couple of 3 speed autos but I really wanted a manual , through my hunt I found a guy in Ireland that brings in old fiats and fords from Malta , he vollenterred to have a look about and see if he could find one !!!!
Here is a picture of my 1987 car .
Roll on 6 months and Gerard informs me he has found a manual car
it's a bit tatty but solid with very little rust , the photo's show nothing really so at £1800 it was a bargain !!!! Well here is where it gets fun , Gerard is in Ireland so not wanting to go there to fetch it I agree to collect if from the delivery Larry in a Lorry park in Essex ! I have to pay the driver in cash so we find ourselves sat in a Lorry yard waiting for a car transporter to arrive from Malta !!!
Cash is paid car has no paperwork and there is no way I can reject it
Wife confirms I'm mad !!
We load the car on the trailer and head home !!
If anybody is interested I will carry on with the story ?
Ok guys , so once home it was time to asses the damage , body wise it was not too bad , solid underneath ,bottom of door had gone rusty along with various dents and faded paintwork !! In reality while it looked bad it was actually pretty good !!!
The most urgent task was to get a mot so I could register the car in the uk !! My mate runs a garage so they set about listing the problem . Mechanically it was a mess !! Engine sounded ok but oil pressure was very low and I had been warned protecting the crank was a must as they are as rare as hens teeth !!
Main problems seem to be bent suspension parts and worn out steering , thankfully EBay Italy has loads of parts for sale so bits are not too bad to get !!
The interior is full on 70's class with blue velour and chocolate brown carpets and dash board !!
Fantastic !!!
The most urgent task was to get a mot so I could register the car in the uk !! My mate runs a garage so they set about listing the problem . Mechanically it was a mess !! Engine sounded ok but oil pressure was very low and I had been warned protecting the crank was a must as they are as rare as hens teeth !!
Main problems seem to be bent suspension parts and worn out steering , thankfully EBay Italy has loads of parts for sale so bits are not too bad to get !!
The interior is full on 70's class with blue velour and chocolate brown carpets and dash board !!
Fantastic !!!
Thanks guys , so mot arrived pretty easily and registration papers were filled in , took about 2 weeks to receive registration documents , I had also asked for a age related plate , first drive was a experience !!!! Pulled heavily to the left when you braked , gearbox would not go into 4th and any sort of damping disappeared about 1990 !!!! Bloody great fun
Plans consisted of a full mechanicals rebuild so in September last year we got stuck in .
First job was remove engine and gearbox , strip engine so it can go to Knight Engibe services for inspection ect .
Once the engine was out she was stripped and inspected , bores looked ok but crank shells were knackered , the oil pump pickup at had some state been broken off and was laying in the sump !!!! Looks like they had over filled it with oil to raise the level to get some oil pressure
Good new was crank would only need a polish bores would need a over bore so off it went to Dave Kinght while I concentrated on other bits !!!
Tux
Plans consisted of a full mechanicals rebuild so in September last year we got stuck in .
First job was remove engine and gearbox , strip engine so it can go to Knight Engibe services for inspection ect .
Once the engine was out she was stripped and inspected , bores looked ok but crank shells were knackered , the oil pump pickup at had some state been broken off and was laying in the sump !!!! Looks like they had over filled it with oil to raise the level to get some oil pressure
Good new was crank would only need a polish bores would need a over bore so off it went to Dave Kinght while I concentrated on other bits !!!
Tux
Nice. My cousin had a 131 with the same 2.0 twin cam engine as your original. Looks like a lot of the other parts were similar between the 2 models aswell, including the wheels.
I was only checking out 131's just the other day. Seemed a lot were coming in from Malta and starting to command strong money. For sure the 132 will get dragged up price-wise once the 131's go 'out of reach'. Will be interesting to see how you get on with her. If she is anything like as nippy as my cousin's 131, she should be a good drive
I was only checking out 131's just the other day. Seemed a lot were coming in from Malta and starting to command strong money. For sure the 132 will get dragged up price-wise once the 131's go 'out of reach'. Will be interesting to see how you get on with her. If she is anything like as nippy as my cousin's 131, she should be a good drive
That's a great story not seen one of these for many years - I had one of these back in 1987 in silver with blue velour seats, the same wheels as your green one. What I really wanted was a 131 sport but this came up as a p/x at a local dealer so I bought it anyway ( same 2.0 engine and fancy low profile tyres!).
Used to love sliding it around in 2nd gear when it was wet and was very easy to control - the oil pump failed in my one and it got sold for £200 - which was how much I paid for it in the first place so no big loss.
I remember the year lever used to come off in your hand if you were aggressive on the gear changes!
Used to love sliding it around in 2nd gear when it was wet and was very easy to control - the oil pump failed in my one and it got sold for £200 - which was how much I paid for it in the first place so no big loss.
I remember the year lever used to come off in your hand if you were aggressive on the gear changes!
Edited by rallycross on Sunday 9th October 10:53
Edited by rallycross on Sunday 9th October 10:54
I liked the Fiat 131 and the 132 back in the day but I have to say that your statement that that the 132 is a four door version of the 131 is completely wrong, The 131 was available as a 2door, 4door or 5door estate, the 132 is a much bigger bulkier car than the 131. Im not wishing to start an argument, anyone who thinks Im wrong just google images of 121s and 132s. The internet is a good thing but its responsible for a lot of misinformation.
Good luck with the car anyway.
Good luck with the car anyway.
No worries happy to be corrected. I know very little of the history of the marque .
Whilst the engine was away I sorted a replacement fully reconditioned gearbox along with lots of other parts .
A brand new front grill and lights came up on eBay along with a clutch cable !!!
One thing I wanted to sort was the cooling , the std brass radiator weighted a ton and whilst it did not leak it looked in pretty bad shape . Radtec are part of the Time Attack circuit so I new there stuff is good so I approached them about making a replacement , I also asked for a engine oil cooler to be built !
To say they got a bit carried away was a undestatement
The front suspension was fully stripped and rebuilt with new bushes , everything was painted ect . Some of the bushes were in pretty bad shape !!!!
Whilst the engine bay was stripped out I had it glass blasted to remove all the crap , it was then red oxide , primed and painted silver , pretty pleased with the results !!
Whilst the engine was away I sorted a replacement fully reconditioned gearbox along with lots of other parts .
A brand new front grill and lights came up on eBay along with a clutch cable !!!
One thing I wanted to sort was the cooling , the std brass radiator weighted a ton and whilst it did not leak it looked in pretty bad shape . Radtec are part of the Time Attack circuit so I new there stuff is good so I approached them about making a replacement , I also asked for a engine oil cooler to be built !
To say they got a bit carried away was a undestatement
The front suspension was fully stripped and rebuilt with new bushes , everything was painted ect . Some of the bushes were in pretty bad shape !!!!
Whilst the engine bay was stripped out I had it glass blasted to remove all the crap , it was then red oxide , primed and painted silver , pretty pleased with the results !!
So the good news from the machine shop is the crank is ok !!! Dave has also found some high compression pistons and the bigger valves have gone in the head !!
Std dampers and springs are going to be dumped for a set of coil overs , plan is to make it handle as well as go !!!
Things are coming together nicely , back axle has been stripped and rebuilt , amazingly I have been able to find wheel bearing kits off the shelf !!!!!
Bought a nice momo steering wheel :-)
H&H rebuilt the distributer , lovely job !!
Engine bay is starting to come back together :-)
Std dampers and springs are going to be dumped for a set of coil overs , plan is to make it handle as well as go !!!
Things are coming together nicely , back axle has been stripped and rebuilt , amazingly I have been able to find wheel bearing kits off the shelf !!!!!
Bought a nice momo steering wheel :-)
H&H rebuilt the distributer , lovely job !!
Engine bay is starting to come back together :-)
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