1958 Fiat 500 Nuova America

[metalshapes]

I made new top hinges to fit the air intake panel, and welded them on.





I'm not going to prop it all the way open ( that would be too modern looking for this car ), but probably about this much.






I had an old Abarth badge, which I put where the original Fiat 500 one was.

And as a concession to driving in modern traffic, I put a NOS vintage truck clearance/guide light ( with red glass ) on it as a 3rd brakelight.
( I hated doing that, but getting rearended by a non caring distracted fool in a SUV is worse...)

Maybe its growing on me, I think it looks almost OK...

[jjeffries]

This is a superb thread, as was the Zagato body refabrication, such advanced skills/abilities/achievements. I consider these little FIATs to be jewels, and this one, that somehow got to the American Southwest, which likely made its survival possible while giving it a George Hamilton-like tan, is on another level. Is any of its history known? Someone, sometime long before the car found you must have been quite the enlightened and atypical Arizonian.
Do you ever see any 126's? A year ago I saw a Polski-FIAT version during business travel on Long Island, NY... not in pretty condition, but the only 126 I've seen in almost 40 years Stateside. Here's a common refrain on this excellent forum, "My Mum had one"... a white '77 DeVille with blue corduroy, light grey carpets and a fabric sunroof. Four winters led to its early and untimely demise, yet it was a true beauty. Hence 126's occupying a special, rather cozy little nook in my mind/heart. Best, John in Connecticut.

[metalshapes]

A couple of high dollar items for this car were the floorboards and the roof.

But I felt the car needed them to be right, and I was able to sell a couple of finned aluminum Alfa Romeo drum brakes to pay for them.

So since I was doing small stuff anyway I' thought I'd quickly put the roof on, and get one more thing off the list.


Yeah... Right...

Its nowhere near fitting correctly, so this will require a lot of work.

First of all the front part doesn't latch right, and after bending the tabs as much as I could I can get them to sort of latch ( but not unlatch without using tools )

Also when it is latched, it doesn't follow the contours of the car so the canvas will not either.



Several of the bows do not have enough bend in them to make the roof look nice ( it looked collapsed ).



It looks a little better when you pull it tight, but you get the idea...

These bows may have gotten bent while being shipped here from Europe.

And the rear most bow doesn't have the right angle in relation to the car, as well as not enough bow.









All in all very disappointing quality, specially for the amount of money spent.


OK, so now its a project...

Take the canvas off ( it was sent as one piece ), and see where we're at.

This leaves the frame in two parts, hinged in the middle with rivets.

The back part is bent and not sitting straight on the car.

Grind the rivets loose, unbend it ( or rather make symmetrical ), correct the angle of the rear most bow, and put enough of a curve in it

I think I can live with this.







I still have to grind down the metal right in front of the bow that would poke through the canvas, and order some of the little rubber bump stops that protect the car and for some reason were not included.

That leaves the front.

I'm still making up my mind about what to do here.

Do I try to correct what I have, or do I cut the entire front off and weld on the part of the old roof that was with the car?
( I only have part, because somebody was trying to convert it from a full canvas top to a 1/2 one.
and stopped when they found out it need more modification )

The OG front does fit a lot better...
















More later...

[metalshapes]

Thanks jjeffries .

I got a little bit of history from the seller, but no proof of any kind ( although he told me after the sale was done, so he was gaining nothing by telling me )

Apparently it was owned by the aunt of a internationally known singer who grew up in Tucson.

And another family member sold it , and other cars of the estate, after the aunt passed away.

He also told me it had been sitting in a barn for a very long time, and going by the condition of the car that looks like it checks out.

I do have the gauge, but the plastic is so opague I cant read the mileage.
I may take it apart to take a look later...

I doubt it was used for any kind of serious commute...



I believe some 126's have been imported, but only after they got EPA exempt by being old enough...

[metalshapes]

BTW, I did find this old pic of another Fiat 500 Nuova America ( not mine, a couple of details are different), that looks like it was taken in the Southwest.

[westbay]

Re high level brake light ... could you put a longer thin led behind the grill ? it will be less noticeable when not in use but still very effective when needed ... just a thought

[metalshapes]

@wesbay, that is a good idea.

It may not make much sense, but I used parts that were available back then because of the age of the car and trying to keep it kind of period correct ( kind of... because the engine will be too new, and it will have an alternator... )

[metalshapes]

@projectbobcat, sorry for the delay.

The rubberized anti stonechip coating I used is by Permatex.



            

[metalshapes]

I'm going to leave the roof for a bit, until I've got the car on its wheels, and I'll be able to get to it easier.


In the mean time, parts arrived for it ( actually, its the second box they send off, the first one is still in limbo somewhere...)

So I have new drums, wheel & master cylinders, shoes, lines and hoses, etc.
But I cant assemble all of it until the backing plates get here.

But I can make a start by putting the hardlines on.

I also got new throttle, E-brake, starter ( 500's don't have a starter solenoid, its cable operated with a lever which also operates the switch), and clutch cables.



I took the pedal assembly out, took it apart reassembled with grease so it moves nice and free, and I redid an old repair that had been done with a horse shoe nail with a good quality steel allenhead bolt ( the original pin that was there must have sheared off )

I bolted on the new master, and put it back in the car with the new hardlines.

[metalshapes]

I was going to replace the brake fluid reservoir with a plastic one ( meant for a Tilton clutch cylinder ), but then I found out how rare and desirable the original is.

Turns out that same reservoir was used on Racing Ferrari's of that period, which has jacked up the price of them to stratosphere levels.







So I decided to take another look at it before I'd replace it.

A day of soaking it in CLR cleaned it up really nice, inside and out and its good to go...

[metalshapes]

Couple of pics of the new throttle pedal and clutch cable.

[metalshapes]

Cooling on these cars is always a problem.

When I drove my '72 to school ( long time ago... ), I had a oil temp gauge in it.
And the highway top speed was determined by the engine oil temp.
( a finned aluminum oilpan would have helped, but when it was my daily driver I didn't have one )

These days you can buy a oil cooler kit for it that plumbes into the oil system.
But it is kind of expensive for what is there, and it puts more demands on a oil system that I think is already marginal.

So instead I decided to get a electric Tilton oilpump ( these are used in Nascar Racers, etc, to cool the rear axle gears. I'm already using one on the gearbox of my Capri, and it works nice).

No plumbing on it yet, but I plan to mount a cooler under the front bumper, with braided AN lines going to it.
The pump itself will be on a switch, which I'll turn on and off depending on oil temp.
I'll plumb in a remote oilfilter as well, and it will run completely separate from the regular oilsystem.

These things are supposed to be good for 1000Hr of run time between rebuilds, so that should work nice for me.

In the pic is also the new electric fuelpump.

[jamesd1972]

So I decided to take another look at it before I'd replace it.

A day of soaking it in CLR cleaned it up really nice, inside and out and its good to go...

[/quote]


On E-bay ?

Coming along nicely. Out of interest how many hours do you think are in this now ? Is it a full time project ?
Thanks for sharing.
James

[metalshapes]

Thanks jamesd1972

With various vintage Fiat specialists.

The highest one I found was a NOS one that was sold out but still on the site ( so I'm guessing that is what their last one sold for) for almost $750.

No idea on the hours.
One of the luxuries of when I'm working on my own stuff is that I don't have to keep track of them..

No, not full time.
I'm doing this inbetween other projects, and whenever I can steal a bit of time...

[tristanh]

What's CLR? God I love these cars, I wish I still had my 126...

[metalshapes]

Its a cleaner that takes off lime calcium stains, rust stains, etc.

Its sold at all the regular stores here, there must be something like it where you're at.



I could have gotten Muriatic Acid from a pool store, but that might be too harsh and attack the galvanic layer on the inside...

[metalshapes]

Steering is in ( not the tie rods or the column yet, because these will probably need mods).

[metalshapes]

Looking at the fueltank made me fear the worst of what it would look like on the inside.

But the inside is fine, no rust, no damage to the galvanizing.

But there was a caked on layer of what looked like very fine silt.

I bet this car has been driven on dirt roads a lot ( in the '50s and '60s, a lot of the Tuscon roads were still unpaved, and even today a bit outside the town some of them still are. Like the one I live on...)

So I guess it inhaled some dust with every tankfull that was used up.

I could have gotten the tank cooked and coated, but because it was so nice I just rinsed it out with water, and left it open for a couple of days to dry out.





This is great.

That tank is specific to a very early 500, and I'm sure replacing one would be expensive.


Most of the fuel line was clear plastic ( but dried up, rock hard & brittle ), some parts of it were hardline (mostly in the engine bay) but rust damaged.

So it all needed to be replaced.

I planned to put a return line in, because the much more modern Fiat 126 engine has one.
( I probably wont use the carb that engine came with, but I think I have a way to put one on the carb I do want to use )

Looking at the tank pick up attachment I saw that the tube had broken free of the mounting flange.
It also has the low fuel warning light sensor ( no gauge ), which means plastic parts and fragile electric parts.

I figured if I kept the heat low I could get a good braze while not cooking the plastic.
I was wrong.
I didn't get a good enough braze, but I did cook the plastic.

Cant run to the local parts store for a replacement, so I went to plan B.

I cut the pick up tube off the flange, and drilled a M8 bolt lengthwise.
After taking all the electrics off, I brazed the tube to the bolt.

I then modified a brake fitting to have M8 on one side and 1/8 Pipe on the other.
Now I have a bulkhead fitting that will go through the flange.

I made a second similar one for the return, and re-assembled everything.





Checked if the low fuel lever warning light switch still works.

It does, I may have dodged that one...





Back in place.





Hooked up with new hardline.

After I put the new hardline through the tunnel, I could put the shifter back in and the starter lever with a new cable.

[jamesd1972]

Could you get a banjo style fitting to replace the straight pipe fitting to turn through 90 so the pipes come out of the tank parallel ?
Oh and also wondered if you could use a thermo switch to turn on the oil cooler pump- takes the ape behind the wheel out of the equation...
Hope you don't mind my questions / musings - not trying to teach you to suck eggs - just interested !
James

[georgeb]

Loath to reply here, as it looks like I'm following jamesd1972 around. We obviously have the same bookmarks!

Back in the day when combustion engines were new-fangled, I had a Mini 850 with fuel gauge. A mate had a Fiat 500, with light.

His main complaint was that the low fuel light came on the exact second the engine died!