Stories & Photos: My brothers R16 -67

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Look how happy my brother Stefan is!
It is his first real car, not counting an Autobianchi A112.
The R16 was for sale because had been involved in a small crash with a truck. We had noticed this car previously, even then in 1988 the old R16's 65-67 with the first type of hubcaps was a rare sight. I actually don't think I have seen any other R16's from 65-67 in Sweden since.
We actually fixed up the old dented wing
Here I'm helping him sanding it before hand painting it
Here it is looking quite decent again. We didn't paint the new bonnet because we were planning to do complete paint job later on.
It's amazing how much old Michelin tires can smoke!
Actually old Michelins looses a lot of grip. I once had some 15 year old Michelins which still looked decent, but with no grip at all.
The bumpers were removed before painting the car and my brother liked the looks of the R16 with no bumpers. The bumpers has been removed for 10 years now.
The badge on the boot lid was replaced by the text GORDINI.
Well, with 1470cc and 59 hp it was a bit of a lie, so he had to make some adjustments to the engine.
The old engine was slightly tuned and fitted with a 2 inch exhaust which actually made a lot of difference on higher rpm's.
Later on my brother decided to go one step further and put in a TS engine.
Here you can see the cylinder head parts. My brother was a little irritated because when he bought new valve springs he got 7 dark green and 1 light green.
With the extra power he had to fit the newer type of brakes and suspension.
A lot of the parts was new.
The new engine had to have a beautiful place to sit in!
It's hard work to clean and remove paint in an engine bay with all details and corners.
Stefan is making the last preparations before starting up the engine first time.

Magnus Bjelk (magnus@r16site.com)

Last revision 1999-09-15