fiat500 said:

Joe and Tony know what they're talking about as they have done it before. It's a contortionist's job and if you want to show off just how flexible you are then leave the engine-lid on and save yourself five minutes up front to lose half an hour in doing the job.
If your car has been properly restored then you will have an under-tray, which is why there's no point jacking it up; in any case the air duct inlet is angled in such a way that you need to get at the nut from above and behind the engine.
I would find it a bit of a challenge and if I had the problem I would take out the engine as suggested by Tom.
Even with the engine out of the car it's hard to tighten the nut to a satisfactory torque because there's nothing decent to get a grip on to stop the dynamo spindle from turning; there will originally have been a factory tool for that.
I use a new nyloc nut with Loctite on the threads and secure it using a pneumatic impact wrench...not something I could do in situ.

Click to expand...

Vitesse said:

I can get a socket on an extension bar on the end of the fan spindle through the air intake housing and with my right hand and a spanner on the pulley end with my left hand to tightened it up. As it’s a nyloc, as you say last time I applied a bit of loctite, it should stay nice and tight.

Admittedly I am pretty wedged in there with my head tucked in behind the air filter housing but it is possible if you are small and bendy enough!!

Click to expand...

fiat500 said:

Joe and Tony know what they're talking about as they have done it before. It's a contortionist's job and if you want to show off just how flexible you are then leave the engine-lid on and save yourself five minutes up front to lose half an hour in doing the job.
If your car has been properly restored then you will have an under-tray, which is why there's no point jacking it up; in any case the air duct inlet is angled in such a way that you need to get at the nut from above and behind the engine.
I would find it a bit of a challenge and if I had the problem I would take out the engine as suggested by Tom.
Even with the engine out of the car it's hard to tighten the nut to a satisfactory torque because there's nothing decent to get a grip on to stop the dynamo spindle from turning; there will originally have been a factory tool for that.
I use a new nyloc nut with Loctite on the threads and secure it using a pneumatic impact wrench...not something I could do in situ.

Click to expand...

ACB said:

This is what’s under the engine lid - you could eat your dinner off it!

Click to expand...

Luxe said:

ACB,

I was just thinking, is there any play in your dynamo? A simple thing to check, just grab the dynamo behind the pulley and give it a wiggle. If it moves you might have a broken dynamo mount causing the fan on the end of its shaft to oscillate. It might not necessarily be the problem, but easy to check. This happened on an episode of wheeler dealers and believe it or not me too. My mount was broken in two places. Good luck!

Click to expand...

gordinir8 said:

You can rise the car and secure it first. Then get under it (secure it first), remove the duct and then use a socket and an extension to tight the nut. I used a 1/4 extension bar between the dynamo studs (i had removed the pulley first) to secure the dynamo so i can tight the fan nut and ofcourse the dynamo studs were bend:bang: So better use a a spanner as ACB mentioned before me.

Thomas

Click to expand...

gordinir8 said:

Besides the facility's do you have the ability to do all this? Because if you can you can then go buy a small crocodile jack and a pair of jacks for 50-60 euros most and do the job. Besides this is a very basic must have equipment that you are going to use many many times in the future.

Click to expand...

ACB said:

I don’t have the facilities to get under the car safely. I spoke to someone yesterday who owns a garage and has had 500s and 126s who said if the engine needs taking out and the fan replacing it could be between £400 and £500. I have another contact and will email him today.

Click to expand...

El cargador said:

£400-500 how much do they charge an hour? The engine can be out in less than an hour.

Click to expand...

Toshi 975 said:

Sounds like you are doing it with the engine in, a bit of a fiddle but the way I would go as I have done it before. As for locking up the Dynamo to tighten the nut on the fan. I had a think about that and used a piece of rope which I wrapped around the dynamo pulley a few times , tied up the other end. Bit like the way ships are moored and the harder you tightened the nut on the fan the tighter the Dynamo locked.

Click to expand...

ACB said:

Dunno hopefully that kind of cost has been averted.

I’ve just spent £450 having a new leaf spring and front shocks supplied and fitted on the 126. Everything is expensive.

Click to expand...

kennyrayandersen said:

I guess the previous point being made is you could have bought every tool you needed 2 or 3 times for that. I've saved literally thousands over the years working on my own cars. My dad (heart of gold) wasn't much with a wrench, so I've had to learn along the way, but now with all the forums and you tube and whatnot, it's never been easier! If you are going to own an older car (especially Italian!), You'd better dig in now and start our it's going to turn out to be an expensive proposition!

In my case there isn't a shop within 50 mi anything would even look at a 500!!

Click to expand...

ACB said:

Um...yes and no. Half of that cost was parts anyway and fitting the leaf spring would have been impossible without some serious equipment.

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

Click to expand...

F123C said:

If you had a small trolley jack and axle stands as gordinir8 has suggested in post #29 ) plus a basic socket set (or even a few ring spanners (double box end wrenches for the U.S. guys!) (see, I'm bi-lingual you could have fitted the new leaf spring and shocks yourself.
There was a recent thread where the owner was worried about refitting the front spring, thinking it would be too difficult. Several members responded with a variety of ways to do this job at home. OP tried it and managed just fine.

Most people learn how to work on cars by trial and (frequently!) error. Give it a go and if things do go wrong or you're not sure about something, just call out on this site and we'll all try to help. Every little accomplishment in maintenance/repair encourages you to try more complicated things plus it makes you independent of mechanics/garages and more confident in undertaking journeys in an old car - knowing from experience that if something does goes wrong, you can probably fix it yourself!

Al.

Click to expand...

F123C said:

If you had a small trolley jack and axle stands as gordinir8 has suggested in post #29 ) plus a basic socket set (or even a few ring spanners (double box end wrenches for the U.S. guys!) (see, I'm bi-lingual you could have fitted the new leaf spring and shocks yourself.
There was a recent thread where the owner was worried about refitting the front spring, thinking it would be too difficult. Several members responded with a variety of ways to do this job at home. OP tried it and managed just fine.

Most people learn how to work on cars by trial and (frequently!) error. Give it a go and if things do go wrong or you're not sure about something, just call out on this site and we'll all try to help. Every little accomplishment in maintenance/repair encourages you to try more complicated things plus it makes you independent of mechanics/garages and more confident in undertaking journeys in an old car - knowing from experience that if something does goes wrong, you can probably fix it yourself!

Al.

Click to expand...