Hello..
Some of you may have noticed that there's a newbie asking a few questions around, talking about a full restoration, who didn't present himself yet nor shared any photos of the actual car. So, to fix that, i've decided to open this new thread to tell you a little bit more about myself, and to keep you all updated on what's going on with the car.
I'm Ricardo, 30, from Coimbra, Portugal, living in Bratislava, Slovakia.
I've had this idea of having a classic 500 since i was a little kid. The looks are awesome, and i've used to pass by a few on the way to my grandparents village.
Anyway, recently i bought a house, and as i wasn't planning to use the garage for any of our cars, decided to get a 500, to restore, and force myself to a new hobby, in which i could learn something new for me - mechanics. The 500 seemed just perfect for the purpose - the garage isn't too big, and the car just seems simple, being a good choice for beginners.
Needless to say: i'm alone on this quest (the fiat 500 club here in Slovakia has around 30 members, and just one seems to speak English), i don't speak slovak, and finding tools or stuff to get this started was a challenge. I think i've the essentials for now. (just waiting for the manuals, but in the meanwhile i'll be using the pdf versions)
The car is a 500R, working, no big signs of rust (at first sight), but in need of some serious attention overall. I've been working on it, very slowly, for about a week, and i've noticed a few things:
1. the car seems to have been in some sort of accident, as the front panel supports are bent;
2. the sills are a rusty mess (couldn't see it before as the paint didn't really look too bad in there);
3. the side panels around the wheels look like they all got an extra amount of that paste to cover imperfections on the metal (i don't know the name), that really seems a lot more than it should (maybe i'm wrong);
4. radio and alarm, installed by the previous owner (removed already, if eventually i'll want to put something like that, it will have to look good - after you see the pics you'll see what i mean);
5. oil leaks on the motor/gearbox/driveshafts;
6. exhaust has a fair amount of holes in it;
7. the seats are needing foam and new covers;
8. the console is broken;
9. some of the switches in the front panel just don't work;
10. the little manual pump to clean the windshield needs replacement;
11. the brakes.. don't really brake much..
And the list goes on..
This is about it. Any hints and tips are very welcome, i've no plans on the date to end this project, but i'm sure it's going to be a hell of a ride. :slayer:

What about the photos? I've posted some on my fb, which i'll be linking here. If there's any problem with them, pls let me know and i'll attach them on the forum.

Your car looks better than many do, before restoration and I wouldn't worry about the mechanical and electrical problems;they are relatively easy to sort out.
I think the car body has had corrosion repairs in the past. What you can see is where the front wing/fender has been attached.
I would remove as much as possible of the interior and exterior trim, and have a really critical look at the bodyshell structure. It is going to need new panels welding in. Get that challenge out of the way and the rest is sort of easy.?!

yes, it think you're right. I was a bit picky on getting a car that wasn't too roten, and I was aiming for one working, as I really don't understand much about mechanics. A friend of mine who restores old VWs told me that I should worry more about body corrosion than mechanics as that's usually simple in these old cars.
I do agree with you about the body work. On the photos above I just started it as I wanted to test the new tools I bought for the purpose. But didn't keep it going because there's a lot to come out of the car yet. The motor (is out of the way now), seats, gas tank, seats and so on.
Today I took the engine off. Took me about four hours to get this all done, but it came out really well. I'm very satisfied with it. (Four hours might sound quite a lot, but consider I was doing it alone and it was the very first time I've done something like this. Every step was calculated a hundred times.)
My garage is getting too tight for all this, but can't wait to get that body all checked under the paint..

EDIT: the photos of today:

Looks like you have taken on a full blown rebuild like most of us here.
At first its easy to think I will do a bit at a time whilst using it, but we all end up getting carried away and pull the whole car apart.
as the old saying goes "in for a penny in for a pound" or in most of our cases a few thousand plus all those lovely tools we buy along the way to enable the repairs to be done.


Keep it going, and don't be afraid to ask questions as there are a fair few Fiat 500 nut jobs on here who have plenty of experience & knowledge.

thanks!
Yes, I've chosen the longest path.. The car didn't look too bad and it was actually working, but I wanted to do a decent restoration on it, so, I didn't even take it out for a spin, came from Italy straight to the garage. The only thing I regret so far is the underestimation on the space needed for this kind of thing. And well, the rust is making me feel a bit down, as i thought the previous restoration was done better.
Today I'm working on removing all the rest - seats, cables, windows, everything.
I've been staring at the suspensions/brakes and so on wondering if I'm going to be able to put all that back in place.. But it has to be taken off anyway. I'll probably do those tomorrow.
Question: I've seen on the manual how they take the windows off and I'm afraid of breaking them. Isn't it better to just cut the rubbers with a knife before applying pressure on the glass?

Yes the best way to remove the glass is to cut the rubber with a Stanley knife or box cutter first. Just trim the rubber off on the outside down to the glass and it will pop out with a bit of pressure.

Make sure you have something soft it can fall on if you are doing it yourself, so it doesn't break if it accidentally pops out a bit too aggressively.

Tony

I actually thought cutting the rubbers would make it easier to take the glass out but it wasn't. Mine came out with very little effort just by manipulating the rubber and pressing out the glass. BUT BEWARE! Mine didn't have any sealant securing the rubber to the metal. If yours does it could take some shifting. I guess if you're going to replace the rubber then cutting is the way to go. Try one and see how you get on. Either way best to have an assistant, one inside pressing and one outside stopping the glass from falling

Sonds like a good idea to have some help on that. I tried on the front one with no knife, but im not sure what's too much pressure, and I'm afraid of breaking it. So, yes, will give them a go with a knife, an old blanket and someone holding them on the outside. Thank you for the tips!

Work of today: remove the remaining electrical components (missing the cables mess because they're connected to the steering column which is still in the car), remove seats, seatbelts, speedometer. Found a nasty/rusty surprise under the matt, specially on the passenger side.
The photo of the gearbox was just out of curiosity, I won't be playing with the mechanics anytime soon.

having learnt the hard way I would also go for cutting the rubbers and fitting new ones.
I broke my front screen, it had sealer all round the rubber and also the corrosion around the screen was also gripping the rubber. It was 95% out when it went pop. To be honest I was going to get a new one as it was rather scratched from old wipers so no problem.
Also best to inspect the rubbers and see if they are hard or perished, if they are cut them out.
One of the jobs on my list is to remove all the black sealer from the rubbers and soak them in boiling hot water to supple them up before refitting - that's if I don't decide to renew them first.

What's the effect of the boiling water on the rubber? Makes it softer?
My front one is a bit scratched from the whipers too, but I think it gives it character.. Maybe I'll change my mind over the restoration process and I'll end up getting a new one, but I'd like to keep it as an option. But the rubbers will be cut for sure, some of them look fine, but some are just too dry and broken. It will probably look better to replace them all.
The sealent is just normal silicone, or is there something special for the purpose?

No pics of today's progress, as I had to stop to rest. (About two years ago I broke my right elbow, and ever since it happened, when I do a bit more streght with the arm, it really hurts.)
Anyway, today I got the windows out (the method of cutting the rubbers just made it super simple - even did it alone), removed also the front suspension and, guess what - managed to break the front left shock absorber trying to unscrew it). Also removed the buttons and lighter from the dashboard. Not really sure how to remove the tunnel where the handbrake and all the levers are, but didn't put too much effort on it.
I'm now reading the manual to figure out how should the steering be removed. Hope you're all having a nice Sunday..

ricardoreis said:

Not really sure how to remove the tunnel where the handbrake and all the levers are, but didn't put too much effort on it.

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I would leave that bit in, major structural component, not usually removed.

H A

I mean the covers, not the whole tunel. I see it is welded to the body - won't touch that. But next to the throttle there's a cover that doesn't come out for nothing. And I don't know how to get the gears lever out.. Tomorrow I'll give it another try..

The tunnel cover comes off with the removal of two screws if I remeber correctly. One forward and one in the middle.

There were two screws on each side of the tunnel, near the throttle, also two near the gear shaft but the cover doesn't move.. I put some wd40 on its sides but didn't try again. Tomorrow it'll probably come out easy..

That's all you need to remove - it will just be jammed in place

AndrewHarvey said:

That's all you need to remove - it will just be jammed in place

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......but it may still have the hand throttle attached. It is secured by a very awkward clip. It's cable may also be attached to the floor. The easiest thing is to just cut the cable off. Make sure the little shelf is out of the way.

The throttle is still in. The cable is probably attached too, because I still didn't remove any of those cables from the tunnel. The shelf is out. Can't wait to go home and get that tunnel checked..

So, the tunnel covers came out pretty easy. Also removed the fuel pipe, the speedo cable, the shifter and the choke. Was going to remove the break and clutch pedals when I noticed some rust on the inner sills are totally destroyed with rust, again, under a thick layer of paint and something that looks like asphalt - or whatever it is. Got pretty mad at this. What looked like a car in pretty good shape is turning into a rust nightmare. I really hope that the rest of the panels are OK under the paint.. :/ my mood got a serious hit today.