Cinquecento Idea

[WillCarter]

I want to build a Fiat Cinquecento in the vein of the Abarth cars of the 60's and 70's. Now as some of you know, there is such thing as a Cinquecento Abarth, but as far as I know all this is, is a Sporting with a fancy bodykit. Infact it seems anything with the Abarth name these days is just the 'Sporting' spec model slightly tarted up. So here's my basic outline, find a cheap Cinquecento, strip it down, cage it, fit a high-spec 1100cc from the Sporting once i've researched where to get the right parts (they are out there, just take some hunting down.) Get the suspension sorted with some coilovers, uprated brakes, some proper racing alloys, although not decided which yet and of course, sprayed White with Red trim. So what do you reckon? Any ideas, links, pictures would be appreciated.

-Will

[autohausdolby]

Good idea

[lordyoung1980]

Why not fit an Uno turbo engine and realy wipe the smile off someones face ;D

[akku]

good plan. A mate of mine had a Sporting years ago (I think it was supposed to be his girlfriends' car but he drove it mostly). It was a dandy little thing. I'd go for the Sporting and just up the power.

[st182]

turbo it FTW!

theres a few hairdryering around with garret T2's strapped on I think!

Not a bad idea, will certainly be interestin

[jizzy gillespie]

i think even the bog standard 1.4 fire motor is a right little go-er, especially in something as light as cinq

[twinspark]

The 1.3 / 1.4 Turbo lumps are a complete PITA to fit. Believe me, it's not worth the effort - you need to chop away large chunks of the front end of the car to get it in.

1.2 16v is easier to fit, but still not a straight swap - bonnet clearance from the twin-cam rocker box is the big issue here. You could always bulge the bonnet, though.

1.2 8v fits fine and can be run from the original ECU - which is good, 'cos the keys are coded to the ECU and Fiat charge 600 quid for a new ECU and matching locks.

Novitec do a turbo kit:

novitec.net/com/cinquecgal.htm

Around 100bhp - I read a review of the first one - it was on standard gearing, so would hit 60mph in under 6 seconds, but topped out at 115mph or so.

As far as I know the Punto 'EL' gearbox is a straight swap - giving you 6 gears ;D

For inspiration on cosmetics..... look here:




I miss that car - they look just right slammed to the deck like that. Helps the handling, too - but limits your choice of wheels and tyres - I stuck with standard wheels on slightly higher profile (read: cheaper) tyres.

I also fitted a front strut brace (Sparco) which tighened things up nicely - but the combination of the lower (48mm) and stiffer springs with the strut brace made it a tail-happy little beast.

[avtovaz]

yes 6 speeder fits, but you have to limit the lock on when turning right as the wheel hits the end of the box.

[WillCarter]

Is the Novitec kit for the 1100? I've discovered a company called Hormann/Hoermann Motorsport who do a range of performance parts for the 1100, but they are pretty expensive, so part of me is thinking you pay for what you get and the other half is saying just fit a bigger engine. Hadn't even thought about gearboxes yet but the 6-Speed does sound interesting. I wasn't keen on the idea of the Uno turbo engine tbh, aren't they a bit fragile?

Your old Cinq looks/looked like an absolute minter twinspark, when they're looked after the black ones are so smart.

www.tuningshop.co.uk/acatalog/The_Tuning_Webshop___Fiat_Cinquecento_181.html



That was my old one, R.I.P

[twinspark]

I can't remember the company in London that does FIRE tuning and turbo kits.

There was a guy in ClubCento called Andy Ellsom who was quite heavily involved with them as I recall. His website is dead now, though.

Have a look Clubcento on the 'net - they have a public forum which might give you some ideas.

Don't know what Clubcento is like these days - it used to be a bit of a laugh, but most of the people I knew from it moved on to bigger Wop cars (myself included) but some of the founders are still involved - so it should still be a decent club.

As for mine - it wasn't quite as mint as it looked! - oh, and it was only about 4 years old in the photo! - I'd crashed it and had to have the whole of the driver's side pulled, filled and sprayed.

I'd love another, but have nowhere to put it.

<thinks>

Actually, they're so small I'd get one in the garage with the bikes.

<thinks>

But the wife would kill me - even though she loved it to bits.

[Anglia68]

Last year me and a mate talked about building a Cinq with a Z1000 engine in the back and a Kawasaki bright green paint job.That would have been fun but we've both since started other projects.Maybe one day.

[surprisingskoda]

tremor63 said:

Last year me and a mate talked about building a Cinq with a Z1000 engine in the back and a Kawasaki bright green paint job.That would have been fun but we've both since started other projects.Maybe one day.

might have to steal that idea akshullii

[twinspark]

The grasstrackers have taken to chopping out the boot floor, installing a cage and slinging 1300cc Vauxhall OHC lumps in the back.

[avtovaz]

twinspark said:

But the wife would kill me - even though she loved it to bits.

tell her its for her then, just don't let her use it

[twinspark]

Nice idea - but she has an Alfa 156 these days.

Don't think she'd actually *want* a Cinq again - not when she has the Alfa 75 for when she fancies a change.

[Bioshock]

Just make sure you get the suspension sorted! ;D

[DarrenW]

Yes, I know there's a Seicento in here ;D

[WillCarter]

Think id be going for a similar look to the Matt-Black one, just in white if that makes any sense.

Thanks for all your help so far twinspark, will look up ClubCento in a bit. Been given the go ahead to have my mums garage in two months time, so not that long to work begins.

[Dorset_Clive]

A friend of mine used to Enduro rally a Cinq. The biggest problem, which someone above hinted at, is wheels and tyres. IIRC they're a really odd size and not used on any other car, so you're very limited in choice and by extension they're expensive.

If you're interested I can contact my mate and get any info he had about what he did - cage, suspension, brakes, sump guard, etc.

[twinspark]

Ahhh, that's why you change the standard tyre size - ISTR the standard size is 165/55HR13 - I was running on 165/60HR13s as I recall.

Whatever they were - they were half the price of the standard tyres and more readily available - I ran mine on Coopers at about 32 quid each, fitted. Grippy and didn't wear too quickly.