Bangernomics car of the week/day part III

kupus wrote: »

Maybe the metal was not treated correctly (in other words cheaply)??

I know for heavy construction machinery metal needs to be forge treated and left for a few months and not days/weeks.
THe difference is huge as I see it with Chinese machines usually breaking a lot quicker under stress compared with American machinery.

The chinese only leave treatment for a few weeks which means metal becomes more brittle later on in its life span.

So i,m only guessing that it could be the same for Fiat. Get the cars out as quick as possible and worry about the consequences further down the road.

Im not sure if its true, but with the x1/9 the shell was stored apparently stored outside without any treatment, and was then just painted over when it was time to spray them.
Im sure DGT will be along shortly to inform us what the reason was.
They definitely did get soviet steel on the cheap and if it wasn't treated properly, then theres the culprit

I suppose it depends on the climate. Generally in that era Fiat used rubbish steel and the body was never treated properly. No underseal we'll have you know! Can take pics if one wishes.

There are 2 in the garden, one is beyond recognisable these days, the other is a lhd Italian regged car here since about 1986 that's stood the test of time quite well (rust here and there but thats expected) as in the body is intact (apart from the bits hacked off)

Restoring the X1/9 in the garage showed us the earthing points rotting too, leading to crazy electrics down the line if left long enough. Must ask himself if he had any bother electrically, think it was just rust and a gearbox (and not enough seats when I arrived )

The Regattas were much better protected but after a while the doors would go followed by the wings. Tempra always had rust on the quarterlight for some unknown reason but it's galvanised/treated and it shows