OTAS 0015

Maybe because you're secure in your manhood?

And you have no need to compensate with some jacked up pickup truck.
 
Hoses 'n' stuff

On another note, I never liked the drier duct heater hose.

Me neither, especially the type like this that screams "Hey! Look At Me! I'm Drier Duct Hose!". :laugh:

I saw this same kinda thing when I was around the 750 Abarth (Zagato/Allemano) cars a lot in the 1980's-'90's, as they have a similar cardboard-like tubing/hose in the front trunk for the dashboard fresh-air vents. A $40k-$70k "restoration" job finished off with basic clothes drier plastic vent hose - not even painted black or brown to disguise it, either! :doh:


Also, the jack fits up there. I have not tested it yet but it seems it will rest on the hose.

It may or may not, depending on how close the heater hoses are routed to the trunk wall with the toolbox strap hooks on it?


Any photos of that installed?

The only clear (distinguishable) photo I have of this area is (I think?) from Haz Neuman's car, which I simply got off the internet. But even in this pic it's difficult to see that particular spot.

Lombardi-Grand-Prix-1970-11.jpg



Who's car is this? Any idea or just an old file photo.?

I saved a bunch of photos of the black Giannini "Monza" car that were posted (somewhere?) a few years ago. The photo I posted was a cropped version of their photo that showed the trunk area; it was the best (largest/clearest/least-obscured) photo I have showing that other bracket.

I might be heading over to my friends house this weekend, & if I can remember I'll take a peek at his OTAS (#0048) to see what his heater hose routing looks like.
 
Re: That missing bracket!

Could be, there are no holes for it. Maybe they left it off this one. There are only two on this car. The other bracket is on the underside in front of the radiator.

I stumbled across this while looking for something completely different:

http://www.fiatplus.com/CLIP-0004105304N.html

4105304.jpg


Can't really go wrong for $1 + (hopefully reasonable) shipping, eh? :)

I also found the upper radiator mounting springs (original Fiat 850 part #4061033 from my parts book) that you'll need to mount the 850 Sedan/Coupe radiator (once finished) in the OTAS - you'll need 2 springs:

http://www.fiatplus.com/CLUTCH-PEDAL-RETURN-SPRING.html

4061033.JPG



And the lower right side radiator mounting bracket rubber bushing (the metal spacer-tube #814489 that goes inside this is shown as "out of stock", but you can easily make one):

http://www.fiatplus.com/RADIATOR-RUBBER-MOUNT-BUSHING.html

814488.jpg
 
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Some pretty good progress this past weekend. Lots of trials and tribulations but the end result is the motor is in.

Probably nearly 30 years!


Before I could do that. the Starter and Generator wires needed to be replaced. The insulation was hard as a rock.




I also got it sitting on the floor for the first time this year!

 
Update

I have been really pushing towards the finish line the last few weeks. Last weekend I discovered a leak in the heater core, so pulled it out and soldered it up, back in, filled it with coolant. No leaks! I put about 5 psi on the system to double check the system. Sprung a leak in a tube on the Radiator. As you all know I put a lot of work into this particular radiator. At least none of my work failed. :hmm2:

So we are on a search for another one. Carlisle for the Otas is out. :sigh:

We will likely end up running the Buick down there anyway. It will be a good shake down for that car. Picking up an Aluma Trailer this week as well.

Lots of ups & downs.
 
Did anyone see the OTAS body shell that was for sale on Phoenix Craiglist last spring?

Yes it was talked about quite a bit. They are not an easy car to restore as they were a cheap, hand built and rare.

Neat cars though and all basic 850 mechanicals so easy to work on.
 
Does anyone know what happened to the shell? I have an OTAS that runs but the body is rough and I hate rust repair!
 
Hiya x heads! It's been a while hasn't it. I figured that I owe this sight a follow up on the last six years. Let me start by saying that the car is completed (as completed as these projects are) and was shown at the Fiat Freak Out this last weekend.
I will cover the trials and tribulations over the next couple of days.

 
This car was beautiful at FFO this year and clearly one of the crowd favorites. I fell in love the minute I saw it on the trailer. Really well done!
I voted this as the car I most wanted to take home. You should be very proud and deserve all the praise you received at FFO. Thanks for sharing it with us at FFO.
 
As I look back at this report I see so many things that have been replaced or changed. Let me start with a correction for all the previous photo’s.
Th coolant system has given me a lot of trouble removing the air. At the rear the line coming from the bottom of the radiator is the lowest point in the system. At the front is the heater core which has a bleeder plug that is nearly as low as the line at the rear. From the rear the line goes up slightly to the tunnel where it connects to a pair of steel lines. at the front of the tunnel they travel up in elevation where they connect to a rubber line the goes vertically through the bulkhead. Once in the trunk they travel down to the heater valve then back out to the return route. Lots of ups and downs. The high point is at the bulkhead where I installed a pair of bleeders.



The accelerator pedal presents some challenges. In The Otas the seats ar placed in the rear passenger foot well. The pedals are moved back from the original location. The brake and clutch pedals are a Lombardi built unit. The accelerator pedal is stock with a tab welded on the connects to an 1100R plastic hinge pedal. I needed to connect the two. This is meant to be adjustable.







In the previous engine shots you will see a Giannini alloy oil pan and a Nardi exhaust that are pretty cool period correct hop up parts for the 817/843 motors.





Unfortunately the pan has no baffle and was a carry over from the 600 which sits at a different angle than the 850 engines. This could cause oil starvation in certain situations.Our other choices are a 5 qt Abarth sump that my Dad purchased from Al Cosentino back in the day.



Or a stock 903 alloy sump. As my Father points out, Otas was a partnership between Lombardi and Giannini, a competitor to Abarth. For that reason it wouldn’t be right to put the Abarth pan on the car. The baffling in the Abarth and stock 903 pans are comparable. Except for the added capacity there is no advantage to the Abarth pan. We decided to go with the 903 pan.



This required a different exhaust as the 903 pan is wider and is not compatible with a 843 exhaust. An OMP Abarth replica was sourced from Chris Obert.

Some of the early photo’s of the suspension sow some upside down yellow shocks. These are monroe Mazda RX-7 shocks that are listed in the Greg Schmidt tips and tricks as a heavy duty shock. On the first test drive it was evident that these were not going to work. They are too big and hit the a-arm. Besides at around 1400lbs the Otas just dosn’t need it. we have a set of Koni’s but they need to be rebuilt. A set of new shocks from Midwest Bayless was purchased to keep this project moving forward. I would like to get the Koni’s restored at some point in the future.

As you can see from earlier photo’s, the Steering wheel covering looks a bit amateur. We opted to get it re-done professionally.



This brings us up to the winter of 2018-2019 where another line was drawn in the snow. Carlisle Import show 2019 or bust!
 
This car was beautiful at FFO this year and clearly one of the crowd favorites. I fell in love the minute I saw it on the trailer. Really well done!
I voted this as the car I most wanted to take home. You should be very proud and deserve all the praise you received at FFO. Thanks for sharing it with us at FFO.
Thank you Tom. That is very kind.
 
What a delight it was to see this car at FFO. Thanks for bringing it and answering all my questions.
 
Carlisle

In order to get the car to the Carlisle Import show a number of things needed to happen. The car had no seats or interior installed, the rear bumper engine bay and trunk all needed to be sorted. And the car had not been driven outside of the yard. Also my tow vehicle, a low mileage 1996 Buick road master wagon needed some tlc.



The door panels were installed. The challenge here was getting all to the panel clips lined up. Unlike most Fiats where the clips are plug and play, 850 clips can swing 360 degrees about a half inch away from the mounting hole in the door card. All ten or twelve clips must be positioned before the door card can be snapped into place. I did this by making a paper template.





Next up, the carpet. This had been made up fifteen years or so before back when the seats were reupholstered. I dyno-matted the rear shelf and fire wall down to the floor in an fort to keep the heat down. Remember, the windows only go down half way!. The seats were installed.







Installed and wired the engine service light, and painted the engine lid.





The rear isn't sitting right and the rear camber is off but we are running out of time.


Almost forgot, NOS jack, and the wiper.

I was able to disassemble the Armon wiper blade and transplant the rubber from a Bosch wiper.


The trunk is sorted. As it turns out much of this will have to be redone in the future. Those heater lines need to be tucked under the hot air tube to make the spare fit but no time for that now.


The rear panel and bumper were another set of challenges. The bumper supports were bent and needed to b replaced. I sourced the metric all thread from Mcmaster carr, cut them to length and machined and threaded the mount holes.




The panel, which is fiberglass, is removable. The reverse light and plate light need to be easily detachable. I'm not sure how Lomardi did this but I sourced some Honda motorcycle connectors and got to work.


Here you can see the evidence of Lombardi's aircraft construction experience in the engine mounting panel.



Next up window felt.

This was a project all it's own. I'll spare you the details.

It came out really well.


I got these cool LED headlights from Matt at Midwest-Bayless.



I got a winch from tractor supply installed on the trailer.


I test drove the car about a 1/4 mile on a town road behind the house. and did a final check over.

The car didn't like to idle, the brakes were spongy and the steering wheel was crooked. Close enough. Trailer test ride!



The next day Dad & I are off to Carlisle.
Spoiler alert, we made it.
 
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