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My 124 Special T - recently purchased

Posted: January 18th, 2015, 8:40 pm
by Lee67
Hi all

Thought I would share a few pics of my 124 ST bought recently from London.
Its covered just 33,500 miles and was Waxoiled and undersealed very early in its life hence very little rust, just a few scrapes and bad paintwork! It's been lightly modified using mainly 124 BC/BS coupe/spyder bits such as suspension, steering wheel (I've now removed the plastic padded steering wheel cover!), gearbox etc. It also came with a lovely pair of Weber 40IDF's with waffle manifold and the original airbox, all of which will be fitted quite soon along with my Strada 105TC big valve head, all mildly ported and polished to GC spec. It was running Cromodora CD11's but the owner wanted to keep them so I fitted my steels instead, I think they really suit the car having a deeper rim than the standard Fiat steels but in fact are only 5x13's.
Future plans include getting the paint sorted, new front springs/shocks and getting the seats back to the original spec as it has had a retrim some time with some odd patterned fabric.

The last picture was taken on January 1st this year at the vintage Stony gathering in Stony Stratford.

Re: My 124 Special T - recently purchased

Posted: January 18th, 2015, 9:13 pm
by miro-1980
Hi Lee!

Very nice car , certainly worth a small investment to be kept on a road and used to enjoy driving a real automobile ( not a computerized hybrid!)

There is nothing like a car like this to rally give you a true driving pleasure.

Congratulations and jeep us posted on your progress (with pictures) !

Rgds

Miro

Re: My 124 Special T - recently purchased

Posted: January 18th, 2015, 9:26 pm
by Will01
Be interested to see where you steer this project. Keep us posted

Re: My 124 Special T - recently purchased

Posted: April 29th, 2015, 6:08 pm
by badlyworntoy
That's probably the last one left on earth, look after it.

Re: My 124 Special T - recently purchased

Posted: April 29th, 2015, 7:15 pm
by Guy Croft
yes, agreed, so very rare...

Re: My 124 Special T - recently purchased

Posted: February 21st, 2016, 5:43 pm
by Lee67
Not been on the forum for ages so thought I'd just post a slightly more up to date photo...Now running with the Cromodora's and 185/55 tyres (for now). Number plates changed for pressed black and silver ones and front indicator lenses swapped for clear instead of amber. Plenty of polishing has brought the paint up to an ok-ish standard, it looks acceptable from about 20 feet away!
My next project is to get the IDF's on and lose the distributor to a Megajolt/Edis setup and invest in one of the Russian Quaife copy LSD's.
For now though I just love driving it at any opportunity...
11144075_10153785859437571_865790464188886550_n.jpg
11144075_10153785859437571_865790464188886550_n.jpg (124.5 KiB) Viewed 28051 times

Re: My 124 Special T - recently purchased

Posted: February 21st, 2016, 6:37 pm
by Guy Croft
good to see you back Lee!


GC

Re: My 124 Special T - recently purchased

Posted: February 21st, 2016, 7:28 pm
by Piotrek125p
This 124 looks amazing with this Cromodora rims.

Re: My 124 Special T - recently purchased

Posted: July 23rd, 2016, 8:47 pm
by Lee67
Just a quick update on my 124 Special T.
Now running on gold Cromodora's with slightly taller 185/60 tyres. I've always admired the 70s Ferraris/lambos/Lancia Stratos etc with gold finished wheels so thought I'd see how the look would be suited to a 124, I think it works, wasn't sure at first but i'm getting used to them now.
Also managed to get hold of an original set of Special T seats in black vinyl/dark red velour which really set the interior off nicely.
Just fitted my Weber 40IDF carbs today but not complete yet so have no idea what performance difference there will be, if any! One thing for sure though is that they sound really good!

Re: My 124 Special T - recently purchased

Posted: July 23rd, 2016, 9:56 pm
by Will01
Gold wheels look good. I did toy with silver outer and gold inner for the wheels on my project.
The wheels themselves as far as design also look really good

Re: My 124 Special T - recently purchased

Posted: July 24th, 2016, 2:22 pm
by Spider 1969
Hi Lee,
I always enjoy the boxy lines of the 124. The cromodora's look excellent. Did you install the 105TC head yet? Would you be able to share some pics of your engine upgrades?

regards,

Charles

Re: My 124 Special T - recently purchased

Posted: July 24th, 2016, 6:08 pm
by Lee67
Hi Charles

Not fitted the 105TC head yet, will wait til the winter time now I think and may look out for an 1800 bottom end and build that up.
Just fitted the 40IDFs this weekend but need to sort a few things on the linkage. Biggest problem I've had is that the aftermarket IDF manifold I'm using doesn't have any waterways and unfortunately the gasket hasn't sealed properly around the hole in the centre of the head between No2 and 3 inlet ports so its been pulling a small amount of water into Nos 2 and 3 cylinders and running badly with symptoms similar to a blown head gasket. So now I need to order another inlet gasket and use more sealant this time!

Re: My 124 Special T - recently purchased

Posted: July 25th, 2016, 11:54 am
by Will01
Just a quick one on the manifold seal, i take it the manifold doesn't have any cracks or scores or anything that is allowing it not to seal 100%?
Also is it completely flat?
Just a reaction to you stating you would use alot more sealant next time, sometimes too much can be as bad as too little.
Are the bolts torqued correctly i.e. the correct torque or are they just FT.

I have had a few gremlins with unlike materials not sealing properly and have normally found it is due to one of the above.

examples,
Capri had exhaust leak aroud gasket due to slight crack in manifold and if you put a nut on it it would open the crack and then cause more leakage.

Old Riley we have has water leaks around thermostat housing where dissimilar materials mate and they have a paper gasket, but the original block face is very scored from 60+years of servicing.

The gasket sealant type aswell can have an affect

Maybe something to think about unless you have already covered?
Good luck with the fix
Will

Re: My 124 Special T - recently purchased

Posted: July 25th, 2016, 9:33 pm
by Rallyroller
Hi Lee
Great little car. Re adding 40 IDF's - I did the same mod on my old ST . Small increase in performance- but driveability and torque seemed to improve. Certainly pulled better on up hill stages. See picture of times gone by.

Nigel.

Re: My 124 Special T - recently purchased

Posted: July 31st, 2016, 8:07 pm
by Lee67
Hi Will

Thanks for the advice and info much appreciated - as it turned out it was nothing more serious than a lack of sealant around the central waterway hole in the head, new gasket fitted and touch more sealant and all is good now thank you.