Any pearl white plus always seems to generate a lot of interest, and this one is no exception, and I seem almost duty bound to start a "project" thread even though all I'm planning to do at the moment is get the engine fixed.

Some of you may know that I've been around a while and have owned my Porto 20vt for nearly 20 years, it is an ex FIAT UK press car manufactured and imported to the UK in October 1996 as part of the very first batch of 20v/20vt's in the UK. I bought it at auction in February 1997 with 1700 miles on the clock, no oil showing on the dipstick and noticeably worn tyres. I suspect it was not broken in gently and after 125,000-odd miles, the smoking engine needed a rebuild, which was carried out earlier this year. I kept the original registration P452 CCF on the car for a few years, being similar to many of the cars featured in magazine articles at the time, but around about 2000 I changed it to C1 UPE.

I also bought C11 UPE at the same time, thinking that it would eventually go on a black LE, something I had been thinking about ever since I saw my first one. Over the years I went to view several examples but for one reason or another, never bought one. And then along came this pearl white plus, and I guess I thought I should make it mine. I was the only person who went to see the car, and after the ebay auction ended and the winning bidder turned out to be a waste of space, I had a few more discussions with the buyer and the rest is history.

The low compression on cylinder one was stated in the advert and I bought it knowing that I would have to spend more money straight away on getting it fixed. Despite the temptation to do it myself, I decided to let Joe at FCSS do the work.

I have no photos apart from those in the original ebay advert, so I have saved them and here are a few just for the record.



It needs some new oil cooler pipes and some other plumbing attention, plus new wiper blades. I will also upgrade the instrument panel lights, I forgot how dim the lighting is normally on the Plus dials (I have Plus dials on my Porto with upgraded bulbs). Also the gear change feels very sloppy to me, especially 2 to 3, I guess I have got used to short shift on the 5 speed Porto, but might look to put a short shift on the Plus as well.

It also needs an undertray that has been missing for over 10 years, and the coveted boot floor cargo net is missing I think, but apart from that it all seems to be complete and is in generally good condition, far from perfect, but certainly worth "saving".

I plan on keeping it standard as far as possible, but with a few useful mod's. It has dipped HIDs and I think one main beam bulb has blown. I quite like the look of the latest LED upgrades, so I may look to fit them, the headlights could do with a refurb anyway.

Comments here please - clicky

About time for an update, having picked up the car just over 2 weeks ago from FCSS. I've not driven it much but I'm getting used to the sloppy/wide gear changes, although I still stuggle to remember 6th gear is there, and sometimes can't remember what gear I am in (is that early onset something or other?) Although the suspension is a little tired accordiong to Joe, compared to the Porto with Billies/Eibachs, it's still quite OK for me, for now. Brakes squeal like nothing I've ever heard before, a change of pads hasn't helped, will need to look at this a bit more, after 200k+ miles an overhaul may be needed.

The engine repair was relatively simple, piston no. 1 was cracked as suspected, so replaced with a good used one with known history, plus new oil control ring since old one broken too. Apart from the usual gaskets, new belts and tensioners (the bolt from one of which sheared off when tightening), one engine mount needed replacing, and the dubious plumbing around the oil cooler and coolant vent pipe were fixed. New OE oil cooler pipes are now fitted, I knew that spare set would come in handy!

The OE Clarion head unit really is an awful design and not much better sound, but the ioPlay amp that connects via Bluetooth for music and phone isn't too bad at all. I may put in a Kenwood KIV-700 head unit the same as the Porto.

LED headlights will be fitted soon, as well as LED sidelights to match.

I'm waiting for the registration transfer to come through, along with 5 (five!) corrections that were needed on the V5C, including model type (it was down as a 20V), date of first registration, body type (saloon!), engine number (not recorded) and even the VIN number had a digit missing! I had to pay FCA UK for the privelege of a headed letter confirming what can be easily checked via ePer, but hey ho, the Homologtion Engineer might be able to help some of those LE owners whose LE's are not shown as being LE's on their V5Cs?

More updates once I've managed to do some proper cleaning and some nice weather comes along...

Not much to update, apart from now the DVLA have issued a new V5C, with 4 out of the 5 corrections made (date of first registration is still date of first UK registration) so quotes for insurance and parts will correctly pick up that it's a 20vt plus.

The car will be on show at the NEC 30 March - 2 April if you're nearby and fancy seeing it in the metal

I haven't written much on here about the Plus, but then again I haven't done much, apart from these few little jobs:

- Fixed the "always on" heater by removing the actuator on the air direction flap (but seems to have unfixed itself )
- Fixed the loose gear knob by removing the cat, dropping theframe and tightening the 3 bolts (but still plan to fit a short shift)
- Replaced the original Clarion head unit with a used Kenwood KIV-700 (same as fitted to my other Coupe)
- Fitted a Toyosports stainless cat back system, very cheap and good quality but a poor fit on the cat. I cut down an adaptor pipe to create a "sleeve" insert to fill out the gap, but that made it a too tight fit so that the tailpipe protrudes out the back a bit far now But OK for an MoT

Talking of MoTs, I realised the other day that the previous one expired some time ago, oops So I went to get a fresh one, knowing it would fail on the airbag light (had been able to reset it previously, but now it doesn't want to know) but it failed on brakes due to a burst front hose that happened on the MoT ramp. So a few more little jobs to be done...

I changed the airbag clockspring for a spare I had bought the knowing that eventually the fault might not clear, and it works OK, it took quite some effort to get the steering wheel off, spraying release oil and waiting eventually worked. I was tempted to fix the non-cancelling indicators but all the pictures have gone from the How-To and I'm not sure which bits of plastic need building up...