Heyoo,

So we still have a 66 giardiniera in out shop. Its coming along nice, but were lookin to do a front disc brake upgrade and we need to deal with the tired suspension.


So there are a few places ive found that has the brake kit, I like the idea of the rebuilt kingpin ready to go stuff, keeping the stock steel 12" wheels. But if there is a kit preference please let me know.

And the suspension. This car was an EV conversion, I cant show pics as we have more work to do before its revealed to anyone. So the back is only a little heavier than before, but either way before the conversion it sagged in the rear a little. I know we have a stock tired suspension.

So suspension options. There are lowering kits, springs, reverse eyelet leafs for the front, coilover kits for the front and rear and even a front leaf delete. I dont wanna go far as a leaf delete I dont think thats necessary as its just an around town car, but making it a but more sprightly is the plan if were goin down this road. Leveling the car out I think is most important, not going lower so much so bring the rear up or the front down is preferable, then shocks, etc. What do people recommend? My thoughts were a reverse eyelet front leaf, new stock rear springs and shocks...

The Giardiniera was built using 600 brakes---remember that when you are up-rating things. From your comments, it would seem that you are really just trying to 'level' the car, taking into account the extra weight you now have in the rear. You can get lowering springs that have the end-eyes the normal way (i.e. NOT reverse)--it might be worth while finding out how much one of these springs lower the front vis-a-vie the 'reverse-eye' springs. With the extra weight at the rear, a pair of standard rear springs, matched with a set of "adjustable dampers" might be best way to go so that you can balance out 'bounciness'. Hope these early morning thoughts are of help to you.

I have coil overs all round and the ability to set the ride height + damper rebound settings makes it a very adaptable setup.
You may spend quite some time time and money going through various spring and damper purchases - when a set of coil overs will guarantee what you need....a different opinion....to the same problem

I have a 72 500L and I was going to change it to disc brake. But after fitting new shoes and adjusting properly I found the brakes work great.even the handbrake. When I apply fsirly heavily I can make the front dip about 1 1/2 inch.I even went as far as buying the adapter plates for discs, now they are left on the shelf .I have two more classics and they are all on shoes and work very well.

Good to know on the 600 brakes. So can I still just order a disc swap kit for the 500 and just bolt it on? Leaving drum brakes on the front is not quite what we do here, even if they are 'adequite' haha.

And as far as the suspension. Any advantage going a lowering spring (source for spring?) vs. a reverse eyelet? Bringing down the front to match the rear I think is what we are aiming for. Coilovers are not out of the question, but transferring the weight of the car from the spring pad to the shock mount in the rear I would assume require beefing up the arms and mount points. And for the front that also means deleting the front leaf, I feel thats a bit more than what we wanna accomplish.

Also using a lowering spring in the front how is that gonna effect spring rate front/rear. I would imagine the lowering spring for the front is going to be stiffer?

Also Since I haven't looked really yet, do the standard companies offer dampers? Id be pretty happy I think with a set of Koni yellows, or GAZ adjustible

For the Giardiniera I think that you will find that you will need to fit a '600 specific' front disc kit--as well as Ricambio, "Exotic and Raceparts" do a kit, and it is a bit cheaper than the Ricambio kit. These peoples (www.abarth-online.de) have some good gear. At the end of of 2012 they bought the American company "Scuderia Topolino" who made some VERY good parts for the 600 based Abarths. CHECK BEFORE BUYING.
With regard to dampers, GAZ are a good company to deal with (I have had good service from them). They make 'coil-overs' for the 500/126 cars--have a word with them, explain your problem and I expect that they will be able to come up with adjustable dampers for you, at a sensible price!
If you fit 'coil-overs' you WILL have to lose the transverse front spring, and possibly have to strengthen/brace between your top mounting points. When I was at 'Radbourne Racing' we had the front springs re-set by a specialist company as in those days (late 1960s) 'lowered' front springs were not available. There are companies out there who specialise in this sort of work (mainly for the classic/vintage market)--have a word with them and see if they could reset a front spring just a bit flatter for you. It is possible for the 500 to get slightly 'shallower' front spring alloy mounting-blocks--maybe these are available for the 600 spring (if that is what is fitted) to go onto the Giardy.
I would suggest that you have a word with Tony Castle-Miller at Middle Barton Garage---he will probably be able to confirm front suspension details of the Giardy

Thanks for the info hobbler. I just sent Middle Barton Garage and email. Ive heard the Giar has 600 parts on it, Im not familiar enough with it to know one vs. the other. Like the spring pack, being a giar it should have a 6 leaf pack on it, but it only has a 5 leaf (this is an original car too) And i wanna do a reverse eyelet as it seems to be the simplest way to bring the front down, but I dont wanna make it much stiffer if any stiffer as well roads here in California suck. This tiny car like my classic mini and bugeye sprite are not super comfy in the horrible streets and highways, so stiffer is bad.

Hopeufully Tony will give me some insight as to what is on the front of this car and the best solution for parts.

Should it be of interest I have a pair of KONI CLASSIC ADJUSTABLE SHOCKS that are suitable for the 500 & Giardi cars

No reply from Middle Barton. Im gonna order up the shocks, a reverse eye 5 leaf, and a disc brake kit for the 4x98 bolt pattern, cause thats what on the car. Also gonna do all the bushings and yank the steering box to see if the slop in it can be adjusted out.

Question about the front leaf spring, are there different reverse eye springs? I know there are 5 and 6 leaf springs there is an abarth spring too. Can anyone give me some insight as to the differences??

I think that you will have to ask the supplier regarding the difference between '5 leaf' and '6 leaf' front springs, although I suspect that the '6 leaf' will be stiffer. They will lower the front by a fair bit (about 1-1/2ins if I remember correctly)----I still think that having a chat with a spring specialist could be a sensible way to go, particularly as all you are trying to do is "level-out" your car. If you do buy a commercial spring, check the distances between the outer 'eyes' and the 'nobbles' on the top leaf--they should be exactly the same distance apart, side-to-side. There is a fair chance that they won't be, and if they aren't. you will find it very difficult to set up the front suspension correctly. If they AREN'T the same, contact me direct and I will explain the very simple, but slightly tedious, way to correct this mis-alignment. Whilst you are ordering parts, get a new pair of top wish-bones--you may have to modify them to get the front angles correct---again, simple but tedious.