Fiat 1280DT Rust Repair and Engine Upgrade

we love threads like this here, greendragon used to keep us in awe of his work but this is as good as anything i,ve seen

Yeah I love the thread he has on the 110 90 she turned out a beauty, better than this 1280DT did. But I suppose mine was alot rustier starting.
 
we love threads like this here, greendragon used to keep us in awe of his work but this is as good as anything i,ve seen

Super work there. :Thumbp2:. You haven't been , nor wont get bored for a long time. It must be as frustrating as trying to weld netting wire together.
The engine.... I think most of us would have thrown the spanners out of the pram when the issue with the gears popped up.
keep it coming .:weld:
 
Great work going on there, looking forward to more pics. It takes great dedication to stay at a job like that cab as progress can be painfully slow, you could spend a whole night doing a very small corner. :Thumbp2:
 
And then it was time for paint, sprayed several coats of Lowe rust primer (great stuff). Thinned it 10% i think with regular white spirits. Used sparex Fiatagri Terracotta, great stuff would highly recommend it. Thinned it also 10% roughly with standard thinner. Had a electric heater going where i was spraying (oh and also 2 hairdryers-one broke due to ingesting too much paint) to keep it at a balmy 20 to 25 degrees. It was in April so still chilly outside. Anyway pics!
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You must have been on a first name basis with your steel supplier. Was it hard get all the different types of steel you used?

Really wasn't hard to get the steel. Got a 8ft x 4ft sheet of 3mm, 2mm and 1.5mm. All of which were in stock. The box iron is very common too. Steel for the project was dirt cheap, it's the labour thats a killer.
 
Mighty work. You've the patience of a saint..

I've the same job to tackle now in the next week or two on a 90-90.

One question - How do you cut and fold your steel? Do you have access to a guillotine?
 
Mighty work. You've the patience of a saint..

I've the same job to tackle now in the next week or two on a 90-90.

One question - How do you cut and fold your steel? Do you have access to a guillotine?

No fancy tools like that. Just the 5 inch angle grinder with a 1mm thick disc following the line as accurately as possible. As for bending I just clamped the steel in the jaws of the vice and bent it by hand or with a mallet or hammer. I just used whatever I had at hand, long bends I clamped the sheet to a piece of 9 inch channel iron and tapped it slowly with a mallet. I have a miter gauge for woodworking for transferring the angles.
 
No fancy tools like that. Just the 5 inch angle grinder with a 1mm thick disc following the line as accurately as possible. As for bending I just clamped the steel in the jaws of the vice and bent it by hand or with a mallet or hammer. I just used whatever I had at hand, long bends I clamped the sheet to a piece of 9 inch channel iron and tapped it slowly with a mallet. I have a miter gauge for woodworking for transferring the angles.

Fair Play - that's talent and dedication
 
So a bit more info on the project for those that are interested. So why did I bother taking on such a project? Well, I suppose I always liked fixing up machinery. It was a big undertaking but well worth it. I started the project in November 2017. I was in leaving cert at the time in secondary school, 17 years old. That meant that I hadn't much time. I usually spent 6-9pm weekdays at it. I spent all of The Christmas holidays at it, and sprayed The whole lot over Easter holidays. The cab didnt come off until the 12th of February. The tractor was back together fully at the start of May. I decided to do her up because I always liked Fiat tractors. We just basically jumped on the opportunity to buy the engine, then I decided to give the bodywork a hand when it was off. It would have been easier to export it and buy a newer tractor but we've some sort of a sentimental attachment the the 2 fiats. I think we like the hassle and needless stress associated with doing up old yokes. As for the tooling I used; 9 inch angle grinder, 2x 5 inch angle grinders ( flap wheel or knotted wire brush on one and cutting disc on the other, saves loads of time switching attachments) a 6 inch random orbit sander, mig welder .8mm wire(sip hg2300mp - no amperage steps it's infinitely variable), a cold cut chop saw for cutting the box iron, 200l compressor and suction fed spray gun with a 1.8mm nozzle. For marking out I used a special pen kind of thing. It's called a markal silver streak. Really good job it's super accurate leaves a about 1mm wide silver line great for marking on rust. For measuring it was just rulers and vernier callipers.
So yeah that's about it so I'll include a little about myself. We're plant hire contractors here in west Clare. I did the leaving cert there this year, probably wasn't the best idea to go restoring a cab on the run up to the leaving but I got what I wanted anyway. I'm doing mechanical engineering in Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT). I like it. Dad said I wasn't to go at the diggers because there's no money out of it!:scratchhead:
 
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So a bit more info on the project for those that are interested. So why did I bother taking on such a project? Well, I suppose I always liked fixing up machinery. It was a big undertaking but well worth it. I started the project in November 2017. I was in leaving cert at the time in secondary school, 17 years old. That meant that I hadn't much time. I usually spent 6-9pm weekdays at it. I spent all of The Christmas holidays at it, and sprayed The whole lot over Easter holidays. The cab didnt come off until the 12th of February. The tractor was back together fully at the start of May. I decided to do her up because I always liked Fiat tractors. We just basically jumped on the opportunity to buy the engine, then I decided to give the bodywork a hand when it was off. It would have been easier to export it and buy a newer tractor but we've some sort of a sentimental attachment the the 2 fiats. I think we like the hassle and needless stress associated with doing up old yokes. As for the tooling I used; 9 inch angle grinder, 2x 5 inch angle grinders ( flap wheel or knotted wire brush on one and cutting disc on the other, saves loads of time switching attachments) a 6 inch randie orbit sander, mig welder .8mm wire(sip hg2300mp - no amperage steps it's infinitely variable), a cold cut chop saw for cutting the box iron, 200l compressor and suction fed spray gun with a 1.8mm nozzle. For marking out I used a special pen kind of thing. It's called a markal silver streak. Really good job it's super accurate leaves a about 1mm wide silver line great for marking on rust. For measuring it was just rulers and vernier callipers.
So yeah that's about it so I'll include a little about myself. We're plant hire contractors here in west Clare. I did the leaving cert there this year, probably wasn't the best idea to go restoring a cab on the run up to the leaving but I got what I wanted anyway. I'm doing mechanical engineering in Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT). I like it. Dad said I wasn't to go at the diggers because there's no money out of it!:scratchhead:
With that kind of skill you will go far :Thumbp2:
 
So a bit more info on the project for those that are interested. So why did I bother taking on such a project? Well, I suppose I always liked fixing up machinery. It was a big undertaking but well worth it. I started the project in November 2017. I was in leaving cert at the time in secondary school, 17 years old. That meant that I hadn't much time. I usually spent 6-9pm weekdays at it. I spent all of The Christmas holidays at it, and sprayed The whole lot over Easter holidays. The cab didnt come off until the 12th of February. The tractor was back together fully at the start of May. I decided to do her up because I always liked Fiat tractors. We just basically jumped on the opportunity to buy the engine, then I decided to give the bodywork a hand when it was off. It would have been easier to export it and buy a newer tractor but we've some sort of a sentimental attachment the the 2 fiats. I think we like the hassle and needless stress associated with doing up old yokes. As for the tooling I used; 9 inch angle grinder, 2x 5 inch angle grinders ( flap wheel or knotted wire brush on one and cutting disc on the other, saves loads of time switching attachments) a 6 inch random orbit sander, mig welder .8mm wire(sip hg2300mp - no amperage steps it's infinitely variable), a cold cut chop saw for cutting the box iron, 200l compressor and suction fed spray gun with a 1.8mm nozzle. For marking out I used a special pen kind of thing. It's called a markal silver streak. Really good job it's super accurate leaves a about 1mm wide silver line great for marking on rust. For measuring it was just rulers and vernier callipers.
So yeah that's about it so I'll include a little about myself. We're plant hire contractors here in west Clare. I did the leaving cert there this year, probably wasn't the best idea to go restoring a cab on the run up to the leaving but I got what I wanted anyway. I'm doing mechanical engineering in Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT). I like it. Dad said I wasn't to go at the diggers because there's no money out of it!:scratchhead:
Can I ship a 90-90 over to you !! She in a sorry state,
 
So a bit more info on the project for those that are interested. So why did I bother taking on such a project? Well, I suppose I always liked fixing up machinery. It was a big undertaking but well worth it. I started the project in November 2017. I was in leaving cert at the time in secondary school, 17 years old. That meant that I hadn't much time. I usually spent 6-9pm weekdays at it. I spent all of The Christmas holidays at it, and sprayed The whole lot over Easter holidays. The cab didnt come off until the 12th of February. The tractor was back together fully at the start of May. I decided to do her up because I always liked Fiat tractors. We just basically jumped on the opportunity to buy the engine, then I decided to give the bodywork a hand when it was off. It would have been easier to export it and buy a newer tractor but we've some sort of a sentimental attachment the the 2 fiats. I think we like the hassle and needless stress associated with doing up old yokes. As for the tooling I used; 9 inch angle grinder, 2x 5 inch angle grinders ( flap wheel or knotted wire brush on one and cutting disc on the other, saves loads of time switching attachments) a 6 inch random orbit sander, mig welder .8mm wire(sip hg2300mp - no amperage steps it's infinitely variable), a cold cut chop saw for cutting the box iron, 200l compressor and suction fed spray gun with a 1.8mm nozzle. For marking out I used a special pen kind of thing. It's called a markal silver streak. Really good job it's super accurate leaves a about 1mm wide silver line great for marking on rust. For measuring it was just rulers and vernier callipers.
So yeah that's about it so I'll include a little about myself. We're plant hire contractors here in west Clare. I did the leaving cert there this year, probably wasn't the best idea to go restoring a cab on the run up to the leaving but I got what I wanted anyway. I'm doing mechanical engineering in Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT). I like it. Dad said I wasn't to go at the diggers because there's no money out of it!:scratchhead:
i was going to ask you was this your way of making a living and how many years have you been at it but i,m gobsmacked that you,re only after doing your leaving :speechless:, you,ve restored my faith in the youth of today lad well done :Thumbp2:
 
That is some work to be truthful and to learn you were at it at 17 and took that sort of time and effort is brilliant. I see some of the things I was at when I was 17 and I could cry, I certain wouldn’t put pictures here. Thinking about it I wouldn’t put pictures of my current work beside what you have done!
Well done and I cannot wait to see the next one, fancy a 574?
 
Where did you get the engine from, is there someone sells that type of stuff in Ireland, or was it just a lucky catch from donedeal
 
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