Fiat 1280DT Rust Repair and Engine Upgrade

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

Just a lucky catch really. It was on done deal alright yeah we bought it up in Navan. The man also had a big Cummins I think it was out of a water pump also. 300hp I think it was. These Iveco engines are in a lot of things. Original 1280DT engine was an Iveco 8065.24, the replacement is an Iveco 8061.25. Similar engines to these are fitted in the Iveco Eurocargo trucks. The esb used have them so you might find one with low mileage. They're also fitted in generators, boats, and of course water pumps.
 
Is it bad I keep looking for updates!!!

Updates on Monday sorry my internet is sh1t at home here so I can't upload pics. Internet is unreal fast in Dublin.

Fair play lad. That’s some work you’ve put in!

Thanks yeah it's a share of work alright but it's worth it. Nothing worse than a leaky cab and a wet seat which means a wet behind!
 
Update time as promised :tt2: I forgot to mention that before I sprayed the cab I sealed up any seams that I could not access to weld with seam sealer. I used Wurth seam sealer for this. I also got the steel top fuel tank (there are 3 tanks two plastic ones either side of the gearbox and one steel one below the back window) brazed as there were a few rust holes. Some were big so I made up some plates to braze on over them. I used some sort of 2 part putty that hardens as hard as steel (supposedly) to cover any brazing that looked porous. I would have got a replacement tank off a scrapped one except the one youd get would likely be worse than my own.
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I very lightly power washed the headliner of the cab. There are a few oil stains on it from hoses on the valve chest of the stone cart bursting. It didnt remove these but took the dirty look out of it.
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Then I repaired the rear fibreglass mudguards. I made steel supports for each side from 1.5mm steel. I used Isopon P40 to patch the missing fibreglass. I sprayed them with a spray can, acrylic plastic primer first and then matt black acrylic paint.
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Then it was time to lift the cab back on, I put in the front window first though along with some sealant
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I also sealed the cab down to the wings on the exterior with some Wurth windscreen adhesive. Used this to stick the original rubber seal to the bottoms of the doors where there was no holder left (it rusted off)
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Then it was time for a repair on the battery tray, 2mm steel welded in.
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Then it was just a matter of reassembly. Washed out the lights before I put them on, did a little wiring (as some cnut decided to rob the spotlights years ago and cut the wires, they were never repaired properly only twisted together. Lights were found in a bag in a ditch) and fitted all new bulbs.
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We got different rims, tyres and rear centres. Got the wheels off agri spares trading in the UK. The front wheel centres had to be modified to suit the bolt holes on the new rims. Cut the pieces out of 50 x 10mm flat bar with an angle grinder, and shaped the curve with a flap disc.
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I still have a few bits to finish, like get a new front nose cone (that one didnt turn out great), new front grilles, paint the front axle and weight block, make a grille guard, 2 flashing lights, front mudguards etc. I must get it washed some day and take some proper photos, I havnt washed her since before she was sprayed. Tyres are 650/65/38 and 540/65/28 Kleber Gripker BTW :Thumbp2:
fin10.jpg fin11.jpg Pity the lift arms arnt on her in this picture, looks way better with them on...
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Great work there, good thinking on how you repaired the fibre glass mudguards. Fair effort in those wheel centres too.:Thumbp2:

Thanks! Yeah I was happy with how the fibre glass repair worked out, I did the same thing with the mudguards on the other fiat 2 years ago. Yeah the centres work well, I forgot to mention that I also had to fill in the original holes with round pieces of steel welded in and rebored the holes in a slightly different position.
 
I still have a few bits to finish, like get a new front nose cone (that one didnt turn out great), new front grilles, paint the front axle and weight block, make a grille guard, 2 flashing lights, front mudguards etc. I must get it washed some day and take some proper photos, I havnt washed her since before she was sprayed. Tyres are 650/65/38 and 540/65/28 Kleber Gripker BTW :Thumbp2:
View attachment 59557 View attachment 59558 Pity the lift arms arnt on her in this picture, looks way better with them on...
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lovely job but i think the exhaust takes from the look of her in my opinion , even a longer straight pipe would be better , not being critical mind just my tuppence worth :smile: whats the next project ?
 
lovely job but i think the exhaust takes from the look of her in my opinion , even a longer straight pipe would be better , not being critical mind just my tuppence worth :smile: whats the next project ?

Yeah I agree with you in that, but we couldn't get the exhaust elbow off the old engine and a new one was like 150 euro so I made that out of some pipe we had paying around, didn't have enough so it had to end up that length. I will at some point get a 4 or 5 inch stainless steel or chrome pipe to go up cab height, it would look lovely. Although the stainless pipes go a crappy brown colour after a few heatings. Next project? Well I'll do the few more bits with this soon hopefully. No more cabs or any of that soon really I don't have the time. Few bits to do with trailers and digger buckets but nothing this interesting. When I finish college I will do up a 1976 Massey Ferguson 1200 we have. Not a fan of Masseys now but I'd like to do her up. She's not that rusty (although she was left out for a number of years when vintage wasn't really a thing, and you couldn't give them away), and she's complete so it shouldnt be too bad (famous last words). Started her up last year and she runs fine, oil pressure good. So yeah that would be the next big project.
 
Yeah I agree with you in that, but we couldn't get the exhaust elbow off the old engine and a new one was like 150 euro so I made that out of some pipe we had paying around, didn't have enough so it had to end up that length. I will at some point get a 4 or 5 inch stainless steel or chrome pipe to go up cab height, it would look lovely. Although the stainless pipes go a crappy brown colour after a few heatings. Next project? Well I'll do the few more bits with this soon hopefully. No more cabs or any of that soon really I don't have the time. Few bits to do with trailers and digger buckets but nothing this interesting. When I finish college I will do up a 1976 Massey Ferguson 1200 we have. Not a fan of Masseys now but I'd like to do her up. She's not that rusty (although she was left out for a number of years when vintage wasn't really a thing, and you couldn't give them away), and she's complete so it shouldnt be too bad (famous last words). Started her up last year and she runs fine, oil pressure good. So yeah that would be the next big project.
Just read the whole thing there. Turned out really well. What do you reckon there worth now?
 
Just read the whole thing there. Turned out really well. What do you reckon there worth now?

Thanks. Hmm that's a tough question. 1280DT'S are kind of unloved in Ireland I find. They're would be much better go for a 110 90 for example. Although saying this out in the continent these are selling for strong money. I would expect the wheels to raise there price quite a bit. The rims for the 180hp one cost 1500 roughly. The new tyres were about 4000 less the vat and cashback. So that should add a few thousand onto the price. I'll say 15,000+VAT with those wheels. The 130hp one has the same rims but we got those at a bord n.a. Mona auction for about 1000. The tyres are about 60% grip. She's got a grammar air seat that cost 700. 13,000+VAT. Now I'm not sure there's anyone to give that money or not but I'd never sell them anyway. Even at that money it definitely wouldn't pay to do all that work.
 
Just got to read the thread , didn’t see it till now. Great job on the rebuild. Paint work turned out great. Lovely shine to it.


Thanks! Yeah I was pleased with how it turned out. It was my first time spraying and I sprayed the paint a little thick so it ended up a tiny bit textured. I did this as I wanted a good thick coat of paint and didn't want any runs. She's no show tractor now though and regularly goes in narrow bog roads where the bushes nearly meet in the middle of the road, so Im not too worried. The shine wont last long with furze and sally bushes scraping it:scratchhead:
 
When you are welding in a section. Do you have to weld every bit of the circumference of the new piece with the mug or just do spots around the edge? What disk would be using then on the grinder to file the weld back to even?

It's a great skill to have. Would love to do a nightclass in something like this. Cutting out rust and welding in new bits. Were you using anything particular when it came to bending the new metal to shape?
 
When you are welding in a section. Do you have to weld every bit of the circumference of the new piece with the mug or just do spots around the edge? What disk would be using then on the grinder to file the weld back to even?

It's a great skill to have. Would love to do a nightclass in something like this. Cutting out rust and welding in new bits. Were you using anything particular when it came to bending the new metal to shape?

Well Id start by tacking the corners of the new piece onto the panel. Then I would do very short welds at alternate edges of the piece. This is done to avoid too much heat building up in the one area, which causes warping. I would continue until the whole circumference of the piece was welded in yes.
To grind down the welds i used a 40 grit angle grinder flap disc sanding wheel. This leaves no grinder marks and only requires a little sanding before paint.
Yeah its a nice skill to have as a hobby but I doubt I could make money out of it, definitely not a weekly wage. Its worth it but very time consuming. Yeah nightclasses would be useful. I just learned it through trial and error and watching youtube videos. At this time I had never got any formal instruction in welding (even in Engineering class in school, our teacher was poor). Thankfully now in college I am being instructed by people who know lots about welding.
For bending, nothing more than a bench vice and a hammer. Bigger pieces were clamped to a channel iron edge and bent with a hammer. A press brake would have been nice!
 
Two clean looking Iveco engines for sale there in Monaghan at the moment. Fitted on Armstrong water fire pumps. Mine was a Clarke fire pump. 56 hours on them. These are like engine above but with a rotary injector pump and non turbo. Pity he didn't give he engine model number, but must be powerful to pump 5300ltrs/min.


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