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Sept 18, 2020 19:42:17 GMT
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Hey all, This is my first post on here after lurking for a while! Here is Vinny, my 1982 fiat 126 'brown edition'. Its an aircooled 650cc.  The car has changed alot from standard, in a previous life it had been rattle canned in the two tone brown, fitted the chrome bumper, added the wooden side panels, fiat X1/9 bertone wheels, slightly lowered and fitted abarth punto sabelt seats with harnesses. Before I owned it, a good friend of mine had it for 2 years where it sat in his garage doing nothing, and the guy he got the car off also had it for 2 years where it sat ready for a bike engine swap, but being completely solid and too good of a shape he decided to sell instead of butchering it. So, since I've had it all I've been doing is try to get it running. In around 2 years, having covered around 200 miles, 5 trips out and 3 break downs out of the 5. The last trip out I decided would be the last before undergoing a major transformation. The engine was taken out, and it went a full rebuild. This is what I started with, standard fiat 126 650cc engine, I previously installed a Dell'orto FZD 32.28 carburetor but having no other modifications it was a little over kill.  Once the engine was stripped, I had everything aqua blasted, the tin ware was blasted and powder coated also. I had the head skimmed, ported and larger inlet valves fitted. Got an abarth spec 35/75 camshaft. Also got an abarth 3.5ltr alloy sump to aid in cooling and an abarth alloy rocker cover. Finally this is the end result...  The engine is back in and running absolutely sweet!  I managed to find myself a set of original seats (rare as poor quality wobbly children's play pony doo doo) in Holland and got them sent over. So new seat rails welded in and the seats installed and we're pretty much done!  I'm going to just enjoy it for a while now, then when I can I'll be upgrading to a stainless exhaust and a decent electronic ignition system. Also I wouldn't mind having the carburetor properly tuned on a rolling road. Alex. |
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Sept 18, 2020 19:58:34 GMT
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Big grin here.
Love the,different, and uncommon.
Smart looking ride.
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Sept 19, 2020 16:57:37 GMT
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Very nice eye catching
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Sept 19, 2020 17:52:58 GMT
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Quite smart, though I'd be inclined to lose the planks on the sides.
My first car was a 1973 Fiat 126, with the 594cc 'powerplant'.
What did the Abarth/Sabelt seats look like?
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60six
Posted a lot
(╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻
Posts: 1,657
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Sept 19, 2020 18:51:05 GMT
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Love the look of the engine removed - Always nice when they can be placed on a flat surface like that. My saab engine just looks a mess out of the car - That fiat lump looks like something you could put in a display cabinet!
also Love the X1/9 alloys!
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Some 9000's, a 900, an RX8 & a beetle
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Sept 19, 2020 19:03:38 GMT
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 And this was the first car I've ever driven... |
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Sept 19, 2020 20:16:58 GMT
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Quite smart, though I'd be inclined to lose the planks on the sides. My first car was a 1973 Fiat 126, with the 594cc 'powerplant'. What did the Abarth/Sabelt seats look like? They were way too big for the car, also too modern. Surprisingly the original seats are alot more comfortable also!    |
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Sept 19, 2020 20:26:41 GMT
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Love the look of the engine removed - Always nice when they can be placed on a flat surface like that. My saab engine just looks a mess out of the car - That fiat lump looks like something you could put in a display cabinet! also Love the X1/9 alloys! It was quite nice having the engine in the spare room to work on, also handy that it's small and light enough to carry up the stairs! I did consider trying to find another 126 engine and just having the bare shell as a little display ornament, pretty sure the misses would throttle me for buying another engine and taking up the spare room for another 11 months haha. Here's what the engine looked like without the fan cowling on, this is what I would of liked to have on display.  |
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Sept 19, 2020 20:34:52 GMT
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Great looking engine, with all the cowling removed!  Which Punto were the Sabelt seats from, and do you still have them? (I recently bought a 2008 Abarth Grande Punto, which has similar-looking ones fitted). |
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Sept 19, 2020 20:44:43 GMT
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Great looking engine, with all the cowling removed! Which Punto were the Sabelt seats from, and do you still have them? (I recently bought a 2008 Abarth Grande Punto, which has similar-looking ones fitted). They were from the abarth grande punto, I managed to sell them to buy the original seats and pay for half the engine work! I had an abarth grande punto, probably the best car I ever owned!  |
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Sept 20, 2020 11:04:53 GMT
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Yes, they are pretty stonking little cars - yours looks great, in black (mine's red).
I gather those Sabelt seats are worth a pretty penny! Mine just has the normal (non esseesse) ones, but they're certainly comfy enough.
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Sept 20, 2020 14:01:41 GMT
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Yes, they are pretty stonking little cars - yours looks great, in black (mine's red). I gather those Sabelt seats are worth a pretty penny! Mine just has the normal (non esseesse) ones, but they're certainly comfy enough. Pretty sure you can buy them new from TMC for around £1200... each! Sold mine as a pair for 800 as one of them had broken. The standard abarth grande seats are far more comfortable than the sabelts! |
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Sept 20, 2020 18:33:41 GMT
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Yes, I gather they can also make life rather awkward for access to the back seats. What sort of average fuel economy did you see out of your AGP, and did you have any major problems with it?
I recently bought one at around 112,000 miles (my first car with a turbo!) and it seems to be pretty good so far.
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Sept 20, 2020 19:22:47 GMT
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Great looking car, and good work, I love these little Fiats!
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60six
Posted a lot
(╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻
Posts: 1,657
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Sept 21, 2020 11:14:20 GMT
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Love the look of the engine removed - Always nice when they can be placed on a flat surface like that. My saab engine just looks a mess out of the car - That fiat lump looks like something you could put in a display cabinet! also Love the X1/9 alloys! It was quite nice having the engine in the spare room to work on, also handy that it's small and light enough to carry up the stairs! I did consider trying to find another 126 engine and just having the bare shell as a little display ornament, pretty sure the misses would throttle me for buying another engine and taking up the spare room for another 11 months haha. Here's what the engine looked like without the fan cowling on, this is what I would of liked to have on display. That engine is a work of art. I would love to get hold of one of those as a display, and hook it up to a motor to make it move! those damn italians - they have to throw style into everything! |
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Some 9000's, a 900, an RX8 & a beetle
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Sept 21, 2020 17:57:19 GMT
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Yes, I gather they can also make life rather awkward for access to the back seats. What sort of average fuel economy did you see out of your AGP, and did you have any major problems with it? I recently bought one at around 112,000 miles (my first car with a turbo!) and it seems to be pretty good so far. I drove mine around 60k miles in the two years I had it,the only issue i ever had and i know they're a little prone to, is a seized rear caliper. I never once paid attention to the fuel economy, it was such a fun car to drive that I had a rather lead foot while in it! |
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Sept 21, 2020 17:59:30 GMT
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It was quite nice having the engine in the spare room to work on, also handy that it's small and light enough to carry up the stairs! I did consider trying to find another 126 engine and just having the bare shell as a little display ornament, pretty sure the misses would throttle me for buying another engine and taking up the spare room for another 11 months haha. Here's what the engine looked like without the fan cowling on, this is what I would of liked to have on display. That engine is a work of art. I would love to get hold of one of those as a display, and hook it up to a motor to make it move! those damn italians - they have to throw style into everything! It was a real shame to cover it up with the fan cowling! |
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Sept 21, 2020 20:41:53 GMT
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I drove mine around 60k miles in the two years I had it,the only issue i ever had and i know they're a little prone to, is a seized rear caliper. I never once paid attention to the fuel economy, it was such a fun car to drive that I had a rather lead foot while in it! Indeed, while in the previous owner's hands recently, the offside rear caliper seized, and had to be partially replaced, for a silver inner section, to enable the pads to be changed. I painted it in red high temp paint yesterday, to match the others. Mine seems no worse on fuel than my R50 Mini Cooper 1.6, or even the Minor Traveller, when driven 'normally', though it is tempting, as you say, to drive it with gusto. |
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Sept 22, 2020 17:26:52 GMT
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Vinny went for his mot today, passed with flying colours!   |
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Sept 22, 2020 17:53:24 GMT
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