...even though I was warned about them!

I joined here in May, read ALL of the threads, stickies, search functions etc. Ad ignored it and bought a lightly modified Moon Grey "W" 20VT-6 at the cheaper end of the market / my budget. having removed and replaced the cone filter and 18" wheels, i'm a few quid back on the car, standing me at just shy of 4 figures, which was fine - until...

I've had it into my local indie for a fortnight, granted not a coupe specialist, but someone who's looked after 10-12 of my cars to date and knows a range of vehicles.

This seems to have beaten him though;

- gearbox is very, very floppy. Also, 5 and 6 cannot be selected. he's followed guides on here re: the linkage and battery tray and thinks all is in order down there. It looks like the issue is around the gear lever / gaitor, anyone any ideas? I've since searched and have to ask if the plastic ball is under all the insulation?

- theres quite a bit of corrosion under the car, granted, given its been stood for a while prior to me blindly leaping in. car presently has a full ticket but I would like this to be addressed sometime soon if i'm driving around in it.

- theres a lot of overspray under the bonnet, and the slam panel is a mess having been crudely painted. not major (I think) but i'm annoyed I didn't spot this and just need to vent!

- oil leak on crankcase seal, which I've asked to be followed with full belt / tensioner changes. But there's a bolt that cannot be shifted due to corrosion. It needs addressing but we're working on plan B at present.

- brakes needed attention, mainly a missing bleed nipple on the nsf brembo caliper.

- couple of minor things; rotted light cup at rear, damage to interior mirror, corroded door pillar, rotted scuttle etc. Hopefully all easy fixes but all add up.

- oh, and car is filthy and unloved inside and out. this should have been the biggest warning! this should mostly clay / polish up, though the arches are a little tatty - I think i'm lucky in that the swathe / slash lines allow for a natural line to paint to in the bodyshop.

I think i'm asking for advice on bullet 1 above. if this can be sorted then there's hope yet. otherwise i'm back to a carb/choke classic for a toy!

this was basically a blind purchase from the internet, not a lot of money in reality, so i'm split now on selling on or fixing and rescuing. a bit of a topgear-type gamble shall we say. and, to paraphrase jc, yes, you can buy a cheap coupe, but for the love of god, don't!

let the above be a lesson to you lurkers!

First of all, welcome and congrats on buying a VT6. My first, over two years ago now, was also a VT6 in Speed Red, which I flew up to Scotland to pay for and collect.


Before I was introduced to Joe at FCSS, I used a local "Fiat/Alfa specialist" to look at stiff gear selection. Note, this guy in Devon is not a Coupé specialist, but said he's looked after loads of them. So, battery tray comes out to give access to gearbox and the nylon component that needs removing, cleaning and regreasing.

It all goes back together and I pay the wonga and drive away. From Penn Inn roundabout at Newton Abbot, I drive onto the A380 in direction of Exeter. Gear change is now nice and smooth, so I accelerate through the gears, using all revs available......1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th!!!!......6000rpm in 4th, up into 5th and revs rise as front wheels almost lock up!!!!

5th has gone, only to be replaced by 3rd and as it turns out, 6th gear has also disappeared to be replaced by another 4th. Took it back and garage couldn't believe it until he drove it. No 5th and 6th gear, but two 3rd and two 4th gears. Turns out his mechanic hadn't reassembled the linkage properly.

If you take it to Joe at FCSS, or most likely any of the genuine Coupé specialists and they'll sort the problem in no time.

As for floppy gearbox, this is usually a loose bolt under the gear lever mechanism, which can only be accessed by removing the exhaust, but gear change is much better once it's done.


Mine, having come from Scotland, was very crusty underneath and would have required very significant spend to put right. In the end I chopped it in for a yellow Plus. I also bought a Wine red Plus from Scotland, only a few weeks after buying the Speed red VT6, which was even more crusty underneath and ended up broken. If I knew then, how few Plusses are left on the road, I never would have broken it, but it sounds like you could be in for a very significant spend putting right the tin worm.


Would never get cam belt done by anyone other than Coupé specialist. Wouldn't even trust a Fiat garage.


The rest of the problems sound like small potatoes. My first two were also blind eBay purchases. In each case Scotland was too far to go for a viewing.

Can't say what you should do, other than, no matter how much you trust your regular Indie, go to a Coupé specialist. If you were going to cut your losses, I would be tempted to help out, but I need serious therapy, as I'm currently on Coupés 3, 4 and 5 and my wife doesn't know about 4 and 5 yet.

Whatever you do, stick with Coupés; you'll love them.

Now, why would coming from Scotland cause a car to be crusty?

Due to the slightly less favorable weather, I believe more salt is used to keep things moving in winter. Don't know if it's really true, but out of the 5 Coupés I've owned, the two that came from and lived in Scotland, looked OK from above, but were well crusty below.

I empathise with the view about a crusty underside!
Not sure mine has ever been near Scotland but lots of (hopefully superficial) rust underneath which will probably led to the cars eventual demise?
Are there any posts on here related to sprucing up the underside?

Joe at FCSS offered to sort out my Speed red VT6 (my first Coupé), by stripping back under seal (lots of labour intensive wire brushing) and get back to metal, see where all the rust was, cut it out and weld in new, repaint and treat as needed.

But the car had done 150K and had quite a few other issues, so getting a grand for it in P/ex for my yellow Plus was the way to go. But for sure, Joe can do that sort of work for you and is not too far from Glocs.

Floppy gearstick is often just a busted nylon bush on the ball socket. A five minute job from the driver's seat if you know what you're doing - seriously, regardless of how experienced you guy is, these cars need to be looked after by people who know them...

I see, glad my Coupé came from England then.
I can be solely responsible for its crusty bottom...

No insult is intended to Scotland, or Scots, just that out of the five Coupes I've owned, the two that came from and lived a significant part of their life in Scotland, were well crusty underneath.

Most car dealers, garages and specialists that I speak to also say cars from Scotland are more likely to suffer from tin worm. Bear in mind that this is a generalisation and how well a car's owners deal with corrosion issues will be more important on an individual basis. We've all seen plenty of rust heaps that have only lived in England.

Plenty of owners in Scotland will have garaged their cars and perhaps only taken them out in the sunshine. I was just pointing out that, taken as a probability, you have more chance of getting a rusty car from Scotland, overall.

I hope that's not too controversial. Like I said, it's not meant in any way as an insult, just a reality.

Had this problem on one of my Coupes and you couldn't select gears at all, but at least it's easy to check by just lifting the gaiter on the gear stick. Even if it's broken, you could still have a loose bolt underneath.

Regarding the alleged rusty Scottish Coupes -

Is this not also true of any Coupe which has come from a seaside town, e.g. Brighton ?

True, but have a look at Scotland and see how many of it's towns and cities are by or near to the coast. Per capita, I'll bet more people in Scotland live by or near the coast, than in England. Also bear in mind much lower population in Scotland.

Trouble is, you can get statistics to tell you anything, almost.

My views are purely either my own (anecdotal) or from other anecdotal sources. Since I raised this, I started to look for any studies that have been done on this subject and so far could only find more anecdotal evidence.

Wherever you buy a car from, look at it closely and don't trust only what you see from the bottom of the sills upwards. Both of my Scottish Coupes had no visible rust. You needed to get car on ramps to find the rusty underbelly. Many cars that look great, aren't.

Fair comments, and well worth you pointing out

No offense taken here. I was just curious as to your reasoning, looks reasonably sound to me. Very good advice pertaining to getting a car up on the ramps too, always a good plan wherever it comes from, i've bought a couple of lemons in the past myself (i won't say where from ).

Apropos of nothing, just under 30% of Scotlands population is coastal.

*Mine* came from Italy. It said so on the receipt...

Still got a crusty bottom, mind.

And the car?

thanks for all of the comments guys, much appreciated. i fully understand points re: specialist care, and will heed this advice. shame i didnt heed the threads re: cheap coupe ownership...
i've driven it 50 odd miles this morning and the noise gives hope yet...

The gear problem could be a 50p fix - as mentioned above there is a nylon bush at the bottom of the gear lever which can split and cause exactly the problem you have described.

Do NOT take your beast to a FIAT dealer. The newest Coupes are 13 years old and no-one in a FIAT garage will have even seen one before. Good luck!

Tim

Couldn't agree more......your Indie will be better than a Fiat dealer, but specialist should always be first choice. Because, your Coupe is worth it.

If you're not prepared to put up with minor things when owning a Coupe, sell it now.

Even the best examples will always have irritating little things go wrong.

Seems a reasonable supposition!

Hopefully I'll get mine over their one day!
Somewhat apprehensive about the long list of things he'll find wrong with it though!!!

My gear stick went whilst I was fairly close to the only 'specialist' (in the loosest possible term) in the area and had no internet on my phone to research this problem.

Managed to limp the car over to them and had to leave it with them to fix. £350 later (!!!) it was all sorted.

It was only after I got home and searched the forum I realised it was possibly a 50p fix.

right, update for you all.

firstly thanks for all input.

however, the affair is coming to an end...

car is with an aforementioned specialist as we speak, and a heart (keep) Vs head (cut losses) conversation has been playing in my mind all weekend.

i'll be looking to cut losses on this car, so if anyone is interested in a challenge / donor / cheap VT6, pm me. Cannot run advert as still as newbie but will answer any questions.

and yes, I WILL be back with another one but only once ive licked my wounds!

Its not trust me.
Its not a nice job to do at all and the fiat supplied boss doesn't come with any bearings or sleeves.
Last one I did Was best part of a days job.