Our (very sick) 1967 FIat 500.

[j4cko]

Long time lurker, not posted much, just generally log on to marvel at the skills and persistence shown on here to bolster my own enthusiasm.

So, this is our second 500, I say ours but its my wife's, not really my thing but I have a small, grudging soft spot for it, the first one went when we had kids and this one was bought three years ago with an MOT but turned out to be a nightmare, needed all sorts despite having 8 months mot and 100 miles since..... welding, driveshafts, brakes, wheel bearings and much more, eventually I got it through an MOT and she got some use from it but it was very unreliable, since then its had a battery, voltage regulator, tyres and its still a bit rough but she enjoys it, well she did until the engine detonated itself yesterday on the entrance to the airport tunnels at Manchester airport and had to be recovered, I pushed it out of the road as it was very close to getting splattered by the 100 mph Posh Off Roaders as their owners were too busy on their phones, or because people refused to give way due to the obstruction.


So, bit stumped at the moment, we have a spare unit of unknown quality so will dig that out but would prefer to put a 126 unit it, trouble is they seem to be expensive on Ebay and we cant afford to spend much on it, will probably rebuild the existin gone iff a 126 unit doesnt show up at the right money, not paying a grand off Ebay !

Anyway, have some pictures and marvel at our folly.

[GingerMutts]

Thats one very pretty 500!
i am sorry for your loss she's now in a better place happily chugging around

just to play devil's advocate, have you considered slapping a bike engine in? ;D
Hope you can find an amicable replacement

[j4cko]

Cheers, would love to put a bike engine in, don't really have the funds or skills to do that, wouldn't even need to be that powerful it only has 20 bhp ish so a modest 500 cc bike engine would probably do the trick, my aim is just to get it working again for the wife to use, she doesn't want concourse, just a reliable runner, in fact she quite likes it looking slightly ratty with its bogged up arches and slightly ripply paint which as a temporary job after we did the sills.

[luckygti]

Well, it looks good to me, and I agree, it wouldn't need much for power hike Good luck with it.

[ditchdigger]

I don't know enough about 500's. All I know is that I do indeed need one. Some quick searching of my favorite FIAT suppliers shows that rebuilding that motor to 600cc could actually be done pretty inexpensively.

Pistons and cylinders
mrfiat.com/part.php?item=Cars/Fiat/Fiat 500/Engine/Fiat500600cm3CylindersKitNew.html

New head as it looks like yours is a goner
mrfiat.com/part.php?item=Cars/Fiat/Fiat 500/Engine/Fiat500R126600ccCylinderHeadNew.html

These are in the US so I am sure there are better deals to be had on your continent.

From there a set of valves and if your bearings are still ok you should be good to go for a few more miles. Once you add in new bearings and paying the machine shop to resize your journals you are getting near the price of dropping in a complete 126 engine and if you are going that far you might as well pop in the 126 gearbox and get the more modern gearing and synchros.

[tomasz151]

Where are you based? I think i have a complete 126 engine knocking around. I certainly have pistons and a couple of heads. Drop me a PM if you are interested, I wont be asking as much as ebay prices!

[Waxoyling Lyrical]

Wow, that's a spectacular valve meets piston catastrophe! How many miles had it done?

I had a 1973 Fiat 126 with the 594cc engine and caned it everywhere (well, you have to!) yet it somehow survived, mind you, it was low mileage (17,000) when I first got it. Saw an indicated 80mph out of it flat out down a motorway hill once or twice!

[j4cko]

Mileage is about 74,000 miles but who knows on a car of that age that has changed hands a few times, the engine got rebuilt a fe years back by the previous owner, doubt it has done more than 2000 miles since, suspect he re-used all the old parts, maybe new rings.

[maxkia]

good mate has just turned his into as it is affectionetly known The korean fiat by fittng a 2008 hyundai atoz motor into it has now done 35 000km since the transplant and not one breakdown but is not welcome at fiat owners club lol

[col]

if it where me i'd fit a 450 dirt-bike motor. about 3 times the power and a tiny engine so it should be a pretty straightforward transplant. those singles are torquey little buggers too.

[j4cko]

Got the spare engine back and it was full of water ! was tucked up in a dry outbuilding, guess it cant have been that dry, so its not going in as is as was locked solid, good news is that I salvaged the head, a piston and conrod.

The head was wet and a bit crusty but the valves still open and the seats look intact, think the carbon and oil has protected them, the piston was stuck into the bore but came out and it looks ok, a new set of rings and I may be ok.

I got the old motor apart tonight and the broken piston and a very bent conrod attached, am hoping the crank is ok and the conrod and piston took all the damage, the big end bearings still looked new so the previous owner obviously did rebuild it.

So, going to mock it up, get it all inspected and make a list of parts,

New valves
Head Gasket
Exhaust Gasket
Sump Gasket
Oil
Oil Filter
Plugs
Piston Rings
Big End Bearings

[Waxoyling Lyrical]

Well, best of luck with that, j4cko! At least it chose a good time of year to go pop - warm weather is a great boon for having to rebuild engines.

[j4cko]

Cheers, though it would only be this time of year as it hibernates in a box full of straw under the stairs over winter, well at the in laws in a barn but you get the point, not really viable for winter use sixties Fiats, a combination of it crumbling away at the first sign of water, no grip, curse word lighting etc etc means its summer only.

[Waxoyling Lyrical]

Sure. I remember with my Fiat 126, winter driving was treacherous as the feeble demisting took ages to kick in, so you'd have to be scraping ice off the inside of the windscreen as your breath froze!

I don't recall a lack of grip though - it was nigh-on impossible to wheelspin mine even in the wet, except on loose gravel!

[j4cko]

Lack of grip in the wet when trying to stop mainly and it will do a kind of drift, sort of a lurching, impending doom type drift, not to be trifled with !

Anyway, my dad works for an engineering firm and kindly took a load of parts for cleaning and inspection, the head, piston and rod scavenged from the spare unit turned out to be serviceable though one valve seat has a little roughness so he says I need to get a valve seat cutter and then lap it in properly. He also cleaned the bits he took away and I gave the block a good clean, important due to the amount of metal deposited in there from the piston and valve.

Rang to order the parts from Motobambino, my usual supplier but was told I would have to wait until Monday as he wasn't in, will forgive as they are very good and it doesnt slow me up as wont get chance to build it until next weekend, going to get a full set of new valves as insurance following the original 44 year old one snapping and causing such destruction, I suspect that length of time in an air cooled engine doesnt do them much good and potentially new ones may well be better quality.

So, fingers crossed, might be up and running this time next week.