My 124 CSA

[Donaldyk]

Hello, these are some detailed pictures of my recently acquired 124 CSA. I found the car on the internet three months ago. It was for sale in Switzerland and the price was very reasonable. The car was described to me by the owner as being in "good" condition, with no hardtop, no rollbar and a dead 3rd gear synchro. I took my chance and went to Zurich with my trailer and the money and agreed to the sale by phone. When I got there the car looked better than on the pictures and, even though the engine was running kind of rough, it was running. The rear muffler needed to be changed. On the paperwork it showed that it failed the last Swiss MOT 6 months before for a broken left rear schock. Back home I took a more serious look at the overal condition of the car and was positively surprised. Although the floor panels had been repaired at several places the critical areas of the body are in good condition and all the panels are straight and rustfree. Lucky me! The engine was very rough with a lot of sputtering and backfiring. Took me some time to figure out that the curlpit was the distributor. There is some sort of a resin-like coating on the distributor plate that became loose, impairing on the springs and weights' ability to operate properly. I found a brand new distributor and could for the first time drive the car as it was designed. The engine works very well, with no smoke whatsoever. Very powerful 1800cc...The 44 idf give loads of high end power way over 7000 RPM. The third gear synchro does need attention though. I was also lucky enough to find a hardtop and the original rollbar from Guy Moerenhout. Regarding the shocks, believe me or not, I figured out that they were still the originals, with "Abarth" engraved on them.....Amazing. I put two reasonably secondhand schocks on the car and got a much better feel of the rear end The rear differential also seems to have been recently overhauled. Now, I am ready for a reasonably easy restauration. I will have the left and right floors changed for new ones, drop the G/B and fix the synchros, get a nice paint job and all the bushing replaced and be the proud owner of a very good CSA. Oh, I forgot. Those nice megnesium Cromodoras will get the rigth color too... Talking about the remanufactured floors for the 124, any good source to recommend? I will definitely keep you posted when I start the restauration.

[horiap33]

Hello Mr.Dykmans
My name is Horia and I want , first of all, to congratulate you for your new car. In my opinion is one of the most exciting in it's category. I have look very attentive your pictures and I think a light restoration work is the best in this condition(like you said; very impressive the differential; looks like brand new). I have enough experience with this car and I know , despite it's simplicity, that if you start to fix every little detail is hard to stop yourself , and finally you finish the job two years after... Regarding the body spare parts I think will find at Del Priore Company what you need. Personally I did myself all body parts respecting the original one.

I see that you have also the greatest "enemy" of Abarth on rally battlefield: Alpine 1600 S. Another icon too. My best friend just bought one (as a matter of fact I choose the car) from Austria three weeks ago but unfortunely is an 1300 engine. Since I want to transform the car in a 1800 version I would like to ask you to send me some picture with cooling details in front of the car and in water pump area if you have time and is not so difficult.

I try to put some pictures with Abarth restoration process and Alpine first and now but seems I am not able to do this.

Best regards
Horia


(GC Note: Horia hi - I have now resized and put up the 124 CSA restoration photos you sent to me, tried on the Alpine engine bay but it seems out of focus, just trying to help..)

[horiap33]

Seems that one picture is possible to attach. Anyway , 124 have an extremly strong body (I never saw in a car such strong structures). If I am not mistaken your hardtop seems to be an 124 spider option , not a genue Abarth part but is very similar

(GC Note:
H - I have put your picture 029 above already in smaller more manageable size, you can find us some new ones, OK?)

[Guy Croft]

Fun and Games with photos between Horia and me, normal service will be resumed shortly!

Horia - do you have any good photos of the 124CSA before the strip? Mine are very poor quality.

GC

[Donaldyk]

Horia, I will get you all the pictures you need. I will also create a post specific to my A110. Herve

[horiap33]

Thank you Herve
If you don't want to put all the details pictures because are too many on Guy's site , he (Guy) know my personal e-mail adress. Anyway I espect the A 110 pictures with great interes.

[Donaldyk]

This is a regular Spider Pinifarina hardtop and yes, there are subtle differendces with the real CSA one. I'd be interested in a CSA hardtop (no chrome gutters and macrolon window) if someone has one FS.

Regards

[Donaldyk]

Dafnos, did you make the floor panels yourself? Is this the wayt they look like originally?

[dafnos]

mistaken person don.
you are refer to horia i guess...

[pastaroni34]

great suspension pictures! This gives me tons of ideas for the IRS conversion on my coupe! :)

[CoupeFan]

Jason,

It would make a great tech article. I'll put it up on the Coupe Registry if you do it.

[pastaroni34]

"if" .. thats a funny little word ;)

[horiap33]

Yes Herve, there are made by me(my worker) respecting original dimensions. Yours are so damage?

[ricardoblack]

Hi Horia
Curious about the pic of your front wing.There seem to be 3 additional metal plates stregthening the top rail just before the suspention turret that I do not recognise on my standard 124.
Are these repairs or do you think these are standard CSA reinforcement?
The reason I ask is I am restoring my car and it has received crash damage to the front which has pushed up the suspention turret in this area.
Maybe this is a spider week point that could do with reinforcement.
Are both wings the same eg with these three additional plates.

Great to see the detailed pics by the way.I think I will Add weld to the rear as indicated in your pics while I'm at it especially around the top of the rear shock turret I think as standard there are only 4 spot welds.

Have you spotted any other areas where the CSA has been beefed up?

Do you have a pic of the mounting holes for the roll over/crash bar where it attatches to the rear bulkhead I would be grateful to see if you do.

Many thanks

Rick :?:

[horiap33]

Hello Rick

No these three plates are made by me because the force vector didn't "flow" well in my opinion toward the rear main mount (the door one) wich is link with silbord. Any way all these parts in CSA are extremly strong, welded in very close points and CO2 cordons as well. Tell me what area do you want to see in my car and I will do for you pictures. But is better to try to use more common words because is hard to understand some of them. Maybe is better to show with pictures taken from your car.