A short history of the vehicle:

I used to live in the UK until 2005 during which time I owned a 1997 Nuvola Blue 20VT.

http://www.tipo16v.co.uk/coupe/coupe.html

In 2005 I moved to Canada and took the car with me. I drove it around Alberta for 5 years and even went on a road trip down to Las Vegas. While in Canada I had the engine rebuilt twice. In 2011 I moved to the USA and put the FIAT into storage in Canada. I wasn't sure if I'd be staying in the USA and also the car wouldn't meet the DOT and EPA standards to import it.

Fast forward to 2023. I'm still living in the USA and the car is now 25 years old so no longer needs to meet the USA DOT and EPA standards. I found a shipper who would transport it down to the Houston where I live. I found a import specialist who filled out all the customs paperwork for me.

The car was shipped down to Houston in an enclosed container and arrived on 5th November 2023. I had hoped that a simple cambelt change and service would be enough. However when we checked the conditions of the pistons through the spark plug holes we noticed scoring and what looked like impact damage to #1 piston. I remember that when I put it into storage it had very low oil pressure and I was grateful it made it to the storage facility. My friend has a large workshop so I set about removing the engine and tearing it down. I discovered that the pistons were the wrong size for the bores and slapped from side to side. The bearings were also the wrong size and that is where I'd lost the oil pressure. The turbo bearing was also shot, probably from lack of oil pressure.

I took the engine to a reputable race engine builder here in Houston on 4th December called Faerman Racing Engines. The current pistons were the wrong size for the bore and rocked from side to side:

https://youtu.be/i6mfSnrKnfg?si=ybG-dFCjUQag7p6E

They said they could tell it had been re-bored already but it was okay for them to be taken from the current 83.5mm to 84mm. They have ordered another set of custom JE pistons. Unfortunately these will take between 6-8 weeks to be made.

The crank will be re-ground as well to the first undersized amount. They can get main and journal bearings locally at the correct sizes they need.

Fast forward nearly 5 months and on 26th April 2024 the custom JE pistons have finally been made and delivered.