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Some days, a spare is better than a strike...
The Problem
The standard
spare tire mounting in the Scorpion engine compartment is very retro looking and reminiscent of something out of Chitty Chitty
Bang Bang, three rubber straps in tension holding the spare to a tilted tractor seat looking platform mounted to the rear
shelf behind the engine. The straps are a known point of failure over time, and
should one strap come loose, the tire is then free to slide rearward off the “tractor seat”. Damage to the rear
unobtainium plastic louvers is a common result. Strap deterioration and failure
is likely caused by engine heat and simple aging of the straps.
More
Fiat parts in your Lancia!
My solution was to adapt the spare tire mounting set-up from
the Fiat 128, which also mounts the spare in the engine compartment, nearly over top of the transaxle as does the Scorp (so
did my Renault R5 “LeCar”, but that’s another story). The 128’s
spare tire arrangement has the weight of the tire taken by an integrated sheet metal platform with a threaded rod centered
to pass through the hub hole with a large plastic wing nut screwed in place as a hold-down.
I actually
took the spare tire the threaded rod from a scrapped Fiat 128 Sedan for use on the Scorpion’s tractor seat spare tire platform so I could have the benefit of the stock hold-down wing
nut. Using the Scorp’s spare as a guide, I marked center on the sheet metal tractor seat and drilled a hole to the size
of the outside diameter of the threaded rod. I then mounted the threaded road
in the hole with a nut and large fender washer. That was pretty much it. I like that looks as if it could have been a stock, since it actually was, just in
a different car!
John O.
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