It appears to be almost finished! Keep your fingers crossed...I'd like to get my car back tomorrow night.

I hope it has all gone well. You will have to keep us informed when you get to the US.

With any luck I'll get my 500F back from the bodyshop in the next fortnight and then begin the reassembly. I'll start a new thread and keep anyone who's interested updated with photos.

Chris

yes...put up some pictures.

The motor gets a little closer to the car everyday! Aligning the flywheel to the timing marks.

Great pics - thanks for sharing!

Me and Sebastian. Motor is installed and running. Mechanic says he'll let it run for a few hours, then take down off the stands, let it cool and adjust the valves. I should be able to drive it home tomorrow morning....

Your mechanic is obviously a 500-man. There is a yellow Bambino in the background.

Chris

There's a bicycle shop down the street. Cycling is HUGE in Italy. The owner of the bike shop, Fillipo, owns that yellow 500. He had the entire car rebuilt...much like you're doing to yours. He also has two in his bike shop and a old Mini Cooper. My mechanic also has a 600 that's been in his shop for several months. Seeing Fillipo's 500 in Sebastian's shop is one of the reasons I brought my car there.

She's home! Drove around the Sicilian countryside with my mechanic today and did some tweaking to the timing and carb. The motor runs fabulous!

Tomorrow, I'll go back and have my hand-brake cable installed. Then, she'll get shipped off to America on Tuesday. Kind of a bummer I only get one day to drive her and then won't see her for a month and half!

A couple of photos...one at the shop today for some last minute adjustments and one at home.

A few more photos of some motors and cars laying around my mechanic's garage:

A Fiat 600, A Fiat 500 with it's rebuilt 650cc and a 499cc motor...

Sigh - classic Fiat heaven .....

Chris

How much does a nice 500 run in Sicily?

usafstud said:

How much does a nice 500 run in Sicily?

Click to expand...

try this website:

www.subito.it

click on a region (I usually start in Sicily, since that's where I lived:

on the next page there's a drop down list near the top that reads "tutte le categorie". Select auto from the drop down list. Several more drop down lists will appear. Click the list that reads "Modella anno da" and select "1980 o piu vecchio" (which means 1980 or older.)

In the field on the left type "fiat 500" and in the field on the right you can leave the search region Sicily or click the drop down list and select "tutta l'Italia" to search all of Itay.

Click the "Cerca" button to start searching.

enjoy

Rode my Vespa to go check it out. Made a deal on Friday. It'll be my on Tuesday. Taking it back to the states in August.

usafstud said:

Rode my Vespa to go check it out. Made a deal on Friday. It'll be my on Tuesday. Taking it back to the states in August.

Click to expand...

That's a good looking 500! I like the bumpers on the L models. How much?

You're in Aviano, right? Did you find it on Subito? I paid €4,000 for my Giardiniera, btw.

I had a look at the Subito site - over 3000 pre80s 500s for sale in Italy.
You'd be lucky to get a handful in Australia and they are commanding increasing sale prices.

Nice looking 500L too. Congratulations on the purchase.

I like the Vespa as well. When we were in Italy, my wife was quite taken by the Ape50 (bee) delivery vehicles. I believe these are also built by Piaggio and use many mechanical components in common with the Vespa.

Chris

It is a 1970 500L. Got it for 3800 euro. Not the greatest of bargains, but seemed fair compairing to the prices on subito. I on that site everyday looking for toys since a year ago.

The Vespa was a christmas gift from my wife in 08 and I spent much time and money rebuilding that thing. My wife was hinting to me about getting me an Ape50 for our catholic wedding gift.

I have an Ape 50, they are brilliant fun, but very slow. They have the same basic engine as a Vespa PK50, except they have a differential.

Isnt this all going a little :Offtopic: the off topic police will be around !!!

Panda Van said:

Isnt this all going a little :Offtopic: the off topic police will be around !!!

Click to expand...

Such is the capricious nature of conversation .....

Happy Easter