Technical My wife's Cinquecento Sporting resurrection...

[blu73]

wowza, that really must have sentimental value, did you own it from new?

And tbh these comments on it never being safe ever again.. I understand the concerns people have but anything is fixable, anything. I'd not be surprised if done properly by hand by a single person who loves it and does everything properly with close attention to detail that it wouldnt end up stronger than your average brand new cinq back in the day, let alone all the ones left now hiding rot in invisible places.

And lets not forget all the cars that havent been crashed but left to rot somewhere that have been restored the world over, I seen so many projects over the years where once finished basically have nothing left of the original bar vin plates - i dont see how this is any different and noone gives them people crap or says they are wasting their time or that the resulting car is unsafe. End of the day a shell is just a 3D jigsaw puzzle of different parts of metal, theres no reason anything can't be fixed.

And ignoring all of that, a cinq is not a safe place to be in a crash period. A brand new one, an old rusty one, a modified one, a restored one... They all totally not the place you wanna be in an accident. I've crashed a seicento in my time, didnt even scratch the car i hit but utterly destroyed the sei. If you worry about safety then just dont get in a cinq/sei, simples.

So you carry on chap, its clear this is a forever car and I applaud your commitment to it. Please do keep this updated as you progress and we'll try keep you upbeat and positive about it when your feeling overwhelmed which is gonna be inevitable.

 

[maxinou]

wowza, that really must have sentimental value, did you own it from new?

And tbh these comments on it never being safe ever again.. I understand the concerns people have but anything is fixable, anything. I'd not be surprised if done properly by hand by a single person who loves it and does everything properly with close attention to detail that it wouldnt end up stronger than your average brand new cinq back in the day, let alone all the ones left now hiding rot in invisible places.

And lets not forget all the cars that havent been crashed but left to rot somewhere that have been restored the world over, I seen so many projects over the years where once finished basically have nothing left of the original bar vin plates - i dont see how this is any different and noone gives them people crap or says they are wasting their time or that the resulting car is unsafe. End of the day a shell is just a 3D jigsaw puzzle of different parts of metal, theres no reason anything can't be fixed.

And ignoring all of that, a cinq is not a safe place to be in a crash period. A brand new one, an old rusty one, a modified one, a restored one... They all totally not the place you wanna be in an accident. I've crashed a seicento in my time, didnt even scratch the car i hit but utterly destroyed the sei. If you worry about safety then just dont get in a cinq/sei, simples.

So you carry on chap, its clear this is a forever car and I applaud your commitment to it. Please do keep this updated as you progress and we'll try keep you upbeat and positive about it when your feeling overwhelmed which is gonna be inevitable.

Hi,

Thanks for your words, you had resume better than I coud done the way I see the things, thanks!

To answer you, this car my wife bought it in 2010 with almost 147.000 kilometers, but for several reasons, for her the sentimental value has no prize so it wait to move into a new house with enough room to work properly on it.

Of course, I'll update this thread as the restorations begins but you must still wait for some months, sorry... as soon as we'll move into Belgium (or maybe the Netherlands) I'll start to work over the Cinq. And restoration will be planned in several years, not a 6 weeks work, so this thread will evolute very, very slowly...

Thanks to follow it and have a nice evening!

 

[maxinou]

Hi guys,

It's time to update my thread.... so... new life end 2019 moving from France to Belgium, so new house, with a big garage for 6 cars + 2 Vespa + all tools and spare parts....

So in February Cinque left its small French garage and make a trip to Belgium...

Now the place is bigger than in the old French garage

So it's there, before my Renault Alliance cabriolet waiting that works starts...

Fortunately, I finished my moving some days before COVID-19 pandemic knocks hard in Europe and cross borders were still open... I've been so lucky in this way :worship:

Next months were at home, in home office and no much free time to work at car, that was in stand-by, but I started to disassembled it in order to analyse the damages and start to work in while my summer holidays (at these moments)

The trunk lid has moved frame to the right side, I'll fix it too.

So finally, mid July I start my 3 week's summer holidays and I had free time to work in the car, the goal is to get back the shell completely at it's original place and size before to drill weld points and cute damaged parts in order to weld new ones. After study of damages I realise that is better to keep as much as original parts of frame, so probably the only part I'll replace will be the windshield frame (and maybe I'll keep the original one, I'll study that):

I used a laser cross level to align the shell in a completely vertical and horizontal axis symmetrically way.

Slowly all part became closer into their original place...

Left side gaps are now OK

Roof and right side goes well also...

Mounting a right side door to check gaps...

And trunk lid now is centred:

Right side gaps are almost well, but some works is still needed:

And left side gaps are still OK:

The first results after 1 week's work with a basis of 3 hours per day:

Some works is still needed for windshield frame, but first I must verify all dimensions and gaps with a real windshield glass:

The trunk lid will be replace today:

But the gaps are good, they will be checked and adjusted with the new part.

Left side door gaps are also OK, but I'll completely adjust door with frame and front fender later:

Placing a windshield glass to check and mesure where and how many distance is still necessary to fix the frame:

The laser cross line level shows that shell is now completely symmetrically, only final adjustments are needed:

And testing the windshield with its rubber seal, red colour is a rust protect primary:

And that's all, this week I'll install 2 new front fenders, headlamps and trunk lid to fix and align all gaps. After that my summer holidays will be finished and works will be stopped for some months because I have no much free time, small works will be done in autumn and winter, but big steps will be only possible every year in summer season....

Greetings for you all guys, and stay safe in those hard days!

 

[Jamieboy]

Dear Maxinou - it sounds like you have been unbelievably busy. I'm sure the folks on here (including me) would love to see some pictures of your hard work.

It is also great to have such a focus in these times.

Kind regards, keep up the great work and greetings from Scotland.

 

[maxinou]

Dear Maxinou - it sounds like you have been unbelievably busy. I'm sure the folks on here (including me) would love to see some pictures of your hard work.

It is also great to have such a focus in these times.

Kind regards, keep up the great work and greetings from Scotland.

Dear Jamieboy,

Thanks for your words, I'm sorry because I discovered that my pictures seem not to be visible, at least from Android phones app.

It's strange because they're hosted into the forum directly, not on a external host...

Tomorrow I'll try to fix this.

Thanks again and greetings.

 

[maxinou]

Well, I can't edit my post to fix the broken pictures, so I'll do a copy / paste here, with new good links (I hope) for lost pictures, thanks to Jamieboy who prevents me that links were broken because in my laptop pictures were visible yesterday (?)... mysterious of computers...

Below you'll read the good post:

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hi guys,

It's time to update my thread.... so... new life end 2019 moving from France to Belgium, so new house, with a big garage for 6 cars + 2 Vespa + all tools and spare parts....

So in February Cinque left its small French garage and make a trip to Belgium...

Now the place is bigger than in the old French garage

So it's there, before my Renault Alliance cabriolet waiting that works starts...

Fortunately, I finished my moving some days before COVID-19 pandemic knocks hard in Europe and cross borders were still open... I've been so lucky in this way

Next months were at home, in home office and no much free time to work at car, that was in stand-by, but I started to disassembled it in order to analyse the damages and start to work in while my summer holidays (at these moments)

The trunk lid has moved frame to the right side, I'll fix it too.

So finally, mid July I start my 3 week's summer holidays and I had free time to work in the car, the goal is to get back the shell completely at it's original place and size before to drill weld points and cut damaged parts in order to weld new ones. After study of damages I realise that is better to keep as much as original parts of frame, so probably the only part I'll replace will be the windshield frame (and maybe I'll keep the original one, I'll study that):

I used a laser cross level to align the shell in a completely vertical and horizontal axis symmetrically way.

Slowly all parts became closer into their original place...

Left side gaps are now OK

Roof and right side goes well also...

Mounting a right side door to check gaps...

And trunk lid now is centred:

Right side gaps are almost well, but some works is still needed:

And left side gaps are still OK:

The first results after 1 week's work with a basis of 3 hours per day:

Some work is still needed for finish windshield frame, but first I must verify all dimensions and gaps with a real windshield glass:

The trunk lid will be replace today for another one in good condition:

But the gaps are good, they will be checked and adjusted with the new part.

Left side door gaps are also OK, but I'll completely adjust door with frame and front fender later:

Placing a windshield glass to check and mesure where and how many distance is still necessary to fix the frame:

The laser cross line level shows that shell is now completely symmetrically, only final adjustments are needed:

And testing the windshield with its rubber seal, red colour is a rust protect primary:

And that's all, this week I'll install 2 new front fenders, headlamps and trunk lid to fix and align all gaps. After that my summer holidays will be finished and works will be stopped for some months because I have no much free time, small works will be done in autumn and winter, but big steps will be only possible every year in summer season....

Greetings for you all guys, and stay safe in those hard days!

 

[maxinou]

So now it's time to update with last works.... a trunk lid (used) and two front fenders (NOS) arrived and I could continue the works with the shell

First of all I mount the trunk lid and check the gaps, they are good

Now it's time to clean the old sealant mastic to test and adjust line and gaps between engine bay, front fender and bonnet:

Then I check both suspension supports are at same height (-69 MM outside and -71 MM inside below laser level reference line) so they are OK and well levelled:

Outer right side:

Inner right side:

Inner left side:

And outer left side:

First results with front fender:

Gaps from trunk lid are fine:

It's time to install the windshield, here it will be better protected than in a box in a coin, and I can verify if windshield frame is completely at its place:

The rubber seal goes perfectly in all windshield perimeter:

Checking gaps with right door, OK too

And some general pictures to see the global result:

And as holidays are finished works will be almost stopped until next summer, in winter I'll work body panel dents with a spotter and other works but time will be very limited so no big progress will be attempted until next summer.... so.... that's all folks!

 

[purf]

That is impressive! Well done!

 

[icheatatscrabble]

I wonder if he has finished it yet...?

 

[maxinou]

That is impressive! Well done!

I wonder if he has finished it yet...?

Hello everybody, thanks for update this thread, since last time I wrote here not much changes, because after 3 years living in Belgium I realized that live in France was better than in Belgium, so I changed my job, and in January 2023 I came back in France, and Cinquecento too...

The new home has a small garage stairs-down, smaller than Belgium one, but driest than Belgium garage, thaw was really wet, so first thing to do it's to study how to park the 6 cars and 2 Vespa scooter....

During 2023 I basically register in France all vehicles that were in Belgium or Spanish plates, that took me almost all year.... Cinquecento waits but it's runs sometimes to keep the engine in service

Laptop is as vintage as car, almost ;-)

So basically 2023 has a year where I found some pieces not so easy to find, as:

An NOS bumper for Sporting version with air conditioned:

A NOS airco condenser + dehumidifier bottle + hose that was broken into the accident:

Heating radiator:

Complete front face + both radiator support to replace the damaged one:

4 Bilstein B4 news

And some accessories like:

A couple of old NOS rear mudguards:

A NOS Fiat Lineaccesori original alarm system for Cinquecento

A NOS Fiat Lineaccesori rear spoiler (the Zender spoiler from kit Abarth)

A 6 speed gearbox from a 1.2 80HP Punto Sporting, that is now opened at my garage to check / replace bearing, synchro and seals:

I make also the spacers that avoid wheels to touch the gearbox in bronze:

I'm working actually into my other cars and deal is to start again works into Cinq before this summer, in order to try to finish at summer of 2026, as it's 30th birthday.

Even if works seems to be paused, really now I have almost all pieces to restart again the restoration in some months.

I'll keep this thread updated as soon as works restarts.

Greetings from France !

 

[icheatatscrabble]

Looks like you certainly know how to source the parts! Finding spare parts is almost like a hobby for me. Years and years ago I had a Renault 11 Turbo, phase 2. Lovely car, just ate Turbos.

 

[maxinou]

Looks like you certainly know how to source the parts! Finding spare parts is almost like a hobby for me. Years and years ago I had a Renault 11 Turbo, phase 2. Lovely car, just ate Turbos.

Thanks, I like a lot also to look for the rare spare part, looking for all the pieces were broken for airco system lets me to found also the rear spoiler, the mudguards, the alarm and even the front bumper.....

I put myself the deadline in 26 months, to finish the car for it's 30 birthday (summer 2026), so next months I'll start the second big works from summer 2020

Nice you had in the past the 11 Turbo, mine still has original turbo (I think) but I changed in 2008 crankshaft and pistons because they were out of dimensions. I have actually big carburettor problems, so it's one of the reasons I doesn't start yet big works into Cinq. I'm removing the engine of my Renault Alliance convertible (replacing old 1.7 litres for a 2.0 litres of Laguna) those days, and working in the turbo carburettor, then I need to change front wheel bearings of my 1973 Alpine A110 and repair one of my Vespa scooter..... after then, the works into the Cinq will restart.