Hi. I am going to start fitting a 126 rack to my 500 L.Can anyone give
me the actual measurements for the placement of the mounts. I am at a
stage where I am going to take off the old steering box system and I am going
to take note of the angles of the cotrol arms etc. But any help would be great.

Thanks Bryan

Bryan

I have also requested this information- but without luck.
All i could find were a few photos
I hope you are more successful. ......i look forward to your thread.

phoenix1 said:

Hi. I am going to start fitting a 126 rack to my 500 L.Can anyone give
me the actual measurements for the placement of the mounts.

Click to expand...

Bryan, you could try asking this on the 126 forum.

Just taken old steering gear off and looks to be obvious where the brackets
seem to go.They are not in the best position for drilling the holes ,I will have to see if I can borrow a right angle drill. When I got the rack I stripped it down ,but counted the number of threads on each end and rebuilt as same and it seems
perfe ct .Thats it for now. I will put some pics on when I start drilling.
I thought all 126s were fitted with a rack but may be wrong.

phoenix1 said:

I thought all 126s were fitted with a rack but may be wrong.

Click to expand...

Early ones had a steering box.

I would think it easier to fit a 126 box rather than a rack.


https://www.buycarparts.co.uk/general-ricambi/7824143

I found it near impossible findimg a RHD steering box . I couldn't
adjust out the almost 2 inch play and.I managed to get a RHD rack from ebay for
£35.

I bought a right angle drill converter for £5 on ebay.

As Peter has said, the early (594cc) 126s still used a 500 style steering-box. It was changed to rack-'n-pinion when the 652cc version was introduced. You must be careful when you fit the column as I believe that it needs more support and knuckle joints (2).
A couple of companies who I know have done this conversion are:- kelvyne Baker of 'Latifa International' in Somerst (01934-843970) and Steff Proietti (www.fiat500.cc). Another company who might be able to assist with measurements is;--Lucasz Reszczynski of 'LP Garage' (Sudbury, Suffolk). Lucasz regularly tunes up 126s, including fitting bigger (water-cooled) engines! Alain Mengoli, (Abarth695--about 2014 period) who used to be a regular contributor to this forum could at one time supply very well made (by an engineering company in the UK) rack mounts. This conversion is NOT a 5 minute job!

Today I have taken off the old steering gear ,first lookimg at the angles of the
steering arms which must be equal.I then offered up the rack with the spindle shaft pointing down so as not to foul the bulkhead. Before I did this I put the
steering rack in a central position by putting mole gips on the shaft counting the number of turns then halving it.Up to now I have found I may have to cut away some of support that goes across under the brake master cylinder.Anyway I am still trying to borrow a right angle drill.When I am ready I am going to do a temporary fit by putting two bolts on each bracket then fitting the wheels and trying it on my drive. I'll let you know how I go on.

Bryan

I'm not familiar with the layout of body panels etc of where you want to drill these holes.

Maybe you could mark the position of the holes using a short centre punch and the side of a hammer head, then drill the holes from the other side using the centre punch dimples as a guide?

If you don't have access to a right angle drill maybe you could rig something up depending on what other tools you have to hand. E.g. weld a shortened drill bit into an old socket and turn it using a ratchet handle or an air ratchet, or shorten a drill bit, grind the shank end to an approximate square and turn it with a tap handle. Some cheap bit sets include some small drill bits with a hex end to fit cordless screwdriver/drills, These could be turned with a small socket and ratchet handle, then open the holes out to the larger size required with a step drill turned manually.

Just tossing out some ideas, hth,

Al.

Bryan
As you know im also to undertake this work
Would it be possible to ask for the measurements- when you have completed the task?
Im very interested to see how complex this mini project is.
I have turned my car into a fully independant suspension setup - and would rather get the rack fitted now - so a full suspension setup is only required once - but the £1000 fitting for the rack from specialist is miles away......

As the Hobbler said this is definately NOT a 5 minute job.Up to now I have done a tempory fit using two bolts on each mount and one of them is not in a good place.on the bulkhead.as far as uneven metal goes.I think you have to be careful to keep the angles of the steering arms equal so you are tied to where you can mount.My car is RHD so any diagrams will have to be reversed.I will put everything on here when I get a bit further.I dont know what we would do without these forums.

Bryan
I look forward to reading your experience of this work.
Good luck!

Sorry guys been laid up and not been in the garage for a week.While I was literally laid up I was toying with the idea of removing the strengthener between the front and main body (adding temporary elsewhere )This would make it far simpler to get the correct position for the rack.It would also make it far easier to service the rack.The strenghthener can go back in a slightly different position.Its a shame because it will spoil my (expensive) underseal.
Now a different thing has anyone converted their clutch to hydrauIic. I know you should keep some of the foibles but with what I am doing and engine changes,disc brakes etc .It wouldn't be hard at the gearbox just take some thinking about at the pedal. Just a thought.

Hi Guys I am nearly there with this .I have heared that you need an extra support for the steering shaft.I have the old top one and the bottom half of the 126 but they are a different diameter so may have to go to a machine shop/So if anybody has come across this before please let me know

Thanks Bryan

This matches my research.
Apparently the "done thing" is to pin AND weld the join.
Then fab a midway bracket bolted through the bulkhead necessitating the fuel tank removal.

What I was really asking was why the extra support when the standard 500 dosn't

As the conversion utilizes a universal joint - the column requires additional support????

Sorry I must be thick (I must be} The standard set up uses two one neat the bulkhead and one under the steering wheel.Does the conversion use an extra one.
I know it needs to be a bit longer than standared 500. You may correct me the 126 may have three u/j s but I have never seen a full 126 set up .

Sorry about this Bryan

The images and info i have show a setup with a 126 rack and 126 UJ connected to a 500 column allowing a standard 500 steering wheel
1 UJ only....i will post up images tomorrow