fiat500 said:

More of the same. Only very slightly off-topic.

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/ent...b8e4b01265268260d5?ncid=fcbklnkukhpmg00000001

Click to expand...

I can't see any metal strip?

The vent is a different more shiny color than the rest of the body. I can throw up a better pic later but I don't thing here's anything unusual.

Engine looks great.. show us some pics of the actual car!

Here it is. Not sure you you guys also see it upside down but if you click to enlarge it's come up proper.

No, that's fine for New Zealand.

The more I look on the car the more issues I have

Ive only driven the car maybe 3 km total since I got possesion and had heard some loud rattling/clanging/banging from the back a few times...First time it happened I expected to find a wrench on the engine bay or something like that. Found the problem finally...

Wiggling the rear drivers wheel top and bottom I could see daylight between the swing arm and brake back plate near the top bolt. I disassembled the brakes to get a better look and found the top right nut was loose, the bottom right nut was tight, the left bottom nut was stripped and the bolt was too short, and the top left bolt was missing...but luckily the nut was not, it was rattling around inside the drum occasionally getting jammed and making a racket

The brake cyl was also weeping...and one piston was seized...and I must of agitated it enough moving the piston reassembling everything and bleeding brakes to break whatever was left of the working piston seal because this morning I see this and the reservoir is totally empty...

I've got over 40 things in my shopping cart at mr fiat trying to go over everything and just make one order.

A few questions to help that...

- Are the bushes in the rear arms all the same? As in, I would buy 4 rear arm bushes?

- Someone pointed out my current gearbox mounts are 126 BIS units. I cannot find a supplier of both left and right...out of stock or no longer making is all I get. It appears my entire cradle is different and from a 126 BIS as well. Can I still get a regular 500 cradle and mounts with the gearbox I have or was it changed out of necessity?

I have a 126 gearbox in my 500, and it has a standard 500 cross-member and mounts. Both the bushes in each of the rear suspension arms are the same (so '4 of' will do both sides)--when you take the rear arms off, make a careful note of how many shims and where they go--rear wheel alignment is adjusted by these shims.

Thanks for this reply! Couple more items in my list then

Thanks for the reminder about the shims... however you are assuming the wheels are straight now

There are times when you have to 'just assume'--however, by putting thing back as they came out, you have a definite starting point

Haha true.

Couple more question...

- transmission appears to be seeping from the gear elector. I can't seem to find a seal for this? Or maybe it's some more common I'm missing?

- also, in same pic below there's a missing electrical connector. Anyone know what it is?

Here's the pic...

AndrewHarvey said:

The standard gearbox cross member has two holes in it. The bracket shown bolts through them and a new hole you drill into the floor in the internal inspection hatch and bolt through - it stops the power train twisting.

Click to expand...

Is this the single hole location for the gearbox stabilizing bracket you mention above?

Yes that hole looks to be in a similar position to the one I drilled.
The electrical connector is the reversing lights switch - as your car doesn't have reversing lights it's irrelevant

Sprockett said:

Haha true.

Couple more question...

- transmission appears to be seeping from the gear elector. I can't seem to find a seal for this? Or maybe it's some more common I'm missing?

- also, in same pic below there's a missing electrical connector. Anyone know what it is?

Click to expand...

The connector looks like a reversing switch and it might be there just to blank a threaded hole. That part of the gearbox, at least, is therefore from a later car (126); probably the whole gearbox is.

There is a thread all about this.
https://www.fiatforum.com/500-classic/422377-seriously-no-gearbox-fluid-leaks-3.html
The type you have has an "O" ring on the shaft inside the tube. You can obtain a later version which has a proper oil seal

Front steering knuckles had a ton of play so without doing enough research, I ordered complete replacement parts instead of trying to rebuild the king pin or anything.

When the knuckles arrived it became clear that what is on the car is not Fiat 500 knuckles. I have a front disc brake conversion and the knuckle appear to be from a Fiat 850. However, there appears to be some differences in 850 knuckles between the coupe/spider and the 'Special'...even though they look the same. Does anyone know what these differences are and how I might tell which I have so I might order the correct part?










Thanks
Ryan

Upon further consideration, it appears I would probably have Frankenstein knuckles consisting of 850 stub axles and a regular 500 upright? Perhaps a rebuild kit is my only option?