Technical cinquecento sporting shell swap

Currently reading:
Technical cinquecento sporting shell swap

lacinquecento123

New member
Joined
Apr 21, 2015
Messages
13
Points
4
ok so my cars shell is rotting like a corpse in micheal jacksons thriller. i am currently in negotiations with a guy about his shell which is apparently rust free. the problem i have is i need to know if theres any tricky bits which will make this jobdifficult. the biggest question i have is will i have to drop the engine out also has anyone done this before?? is there a guide on fiatforum or elsewhere pleaselet me know and thanks for your help

:slayer:
lucy xx
 
Guessing the new cinq has new engine then yes, the engine will have to come out. Difficulty depends on your experience and the tools and equipment you have available. Is the shell you are buying just a shell or does it have trim, suspension etc...? If it's a bare shell then obviously you'll need to strip your car completely. Won't be a quick job but opportunity to end up with a very tidy car.
 
So you are swapping sporting shell to sporting shell? Why?

If the two cars are the same, why not swap good bits from you're car to the other. To do a full shell swap is an involved task, even for something as simple as a cento. You will need to swap identities eg chassis numbers, engines etc.

Probably easier to buy another cento.
 
I think it depends on what you are buying? is it a rolling shell or what. It will be difficult to change id of the car. also unless it is a very bare shell it will have hidden rust
 
I mean, it would have to be pretty damn rusty before I would bugger about with the shell etc.

My first cinq had defiantly been used to launch a jet ski or small boat in salt water (not kidding, it had a rusty tide mark at an angle). I welded that back up.

Check out what I've done to the white cinq. A hell of a lot of welding there too.

Cheaper and quicker to mend yours, rather than re shelling.
 
problem is i dont ave te money or skills to weld lol te rust isnt that bad. the wheel well is gone and its spread a lil nto the boot. i cant fi it myself n t will cost alot to get it welded n stuff hence why i thought aout a shell swap lol. oh well the cars going in the classifieds i cant afford to fix her hope someone else can give her the love she needs cz everything else on the car is fine even the engine runs great.
 
I think that the cinqs are getting to the point now where you have to be a real enthusiast to keep them going. Although they were built with a very relaxed idea of quality and corrosion resistance, they are no worse that 25 year old minis or vw beetles. I mean my mini 1000 was 20 years old when I owned her and that had much more welding done to it than the cinq. To get that from scruffy to literally immaculate cost £750, with me and my dad doing all the work.

So to get a cinq with rust in the back up to a decent standard, you would be looking at roughly the same figure if someone else was doing it.

Look in a few classifieds and see what you can pick up for £750, that will get you a very tidy late model seicento.

But to me the cinq is the original and best of its breed. Hence why I am probably the best part of £1000 in on this cinq, spread over 7 or 8 years.

The option stands before you, to keep the cinquecento and spend on it until it is how you want it. Or to sell it for just over scrap value and buy something else. It is a difficult decision I know, but it is a decision most people on here have had to wrestle with.
If you sell it, are you still keeping to the small fiats?
 
Don't think the boys in blue are too keen on you swapping chassis numbers
Would you need to get a Q plate to keep it legal?
Not sure but it would be worth checking the legal side out to avoid having to answer any awkward questions st a DSA check point
I know my bottom would be a bit twitchy in that situation if I hadn't done the proper research!
 
The chassis no is punched into the rear boot floor so without major welding it would be very difficult to do but why bother ? just take on the shells id . But I agree they are of an age that to be honest most requre working and repairing on that is beyond the face value .
 
i would like to keep it but funds arent exactly high right now. i would honestly love to fix this car the scrapyard down the road has the bits i need but i cannot weld or afford to weld. i proz will stick to fiats i quite like the mk1 punto and i love cinquecentos this is my second one and im bit gutted that i cant finish this one cz its such a sexy lil car lol
 
Don't think the boys in blue are too keen on you swapping chassis numbers
Would you need to get a Q plate to keep it legal?
Not sure but it would be worth checking the legal side out to avoid having to answer any awkward questions st a DSA check point
I know my bottom would be a bit twitchy in that situation if I hadn't done the proper research!

You can swap numbers legally, you are effectively re shelling the vehicle. The fact the shell is second hand is nowt to do with it.

The easiest way is to cut out the vin plate and chassis number in the boot and weld them back into the other car.

But if you can't weld it's a bit pointless.
As stated, you may as well assume the id of the other car.
 
You can swap numbers legally, you are effectively re shelling the vehicle. The fact the shell is second hand is nowt to do with it.

The easiest way is to cut out the vin plate and chassis number in the boot and weld them back into the other car.

Check the current rules - you can't.

The only way a reshell will keep the original registration is if the shell is brand new to the same spec as the original.
 
Last edited:
You can swap numbers legally, you are effectively re shelling the vehicle. The fact the shell is second hand is nowt to do with it.

The easiest way is to cut out the vin plate and chassis number in the boot and weld them back into the other car.

But if you can't weld it's a bit pointless.
As stated, you may as well assume the id of the other car.

This is incorrect. Swapping vin numbers is illegal on (almost) all vehicles.

There is however i believe a grey(ish) area on older vehicles and 4x4's with a seperate chassis, you can bang whatever bodyshell you want on the top of it and always retain the Chassis/vin. If you replace the Chassis and keep (or replace) the body, technically you are meant to take on a new identity but most don't.

On monocoque type vehicles it's very simple, 1 vin stays with the vehicle for life and is non transferable under any circumstance (bar perhaps the above, with a brand new unregistered standard spec shell.... good luck finding one of them for a Cinq!)
 
Last edited:
I beg to differ there. The rules state that you can't interfere with the vin plate, not the metal around it. I have had several people do it to minis. One fella I know got the id from a mk1 Mexico and swapped it on to a standard mk1 shell. All was done legally and above board. Otherwise how can you re shell a vehicle. I know it is a bit irrelavent with cinqs because it wouldn't be worth it, but some Italian exotic, that has been smashed up would be worth doing, and you need to keep the original id of the car. It would be impossible to get a new id for an old Miura or 250gto.

Even swapping out a rusty front panel would mean you need to change the id of the car.
If I remember rightly my mate had to take his escort to Newport to get an inspection after it was done. No q plates or anything.
 
F#%ing b$¥tards, bloody dsa and government trying to get older cars off the roads. I stand corrected sir.
You could always get a q plate, then the car only has to meet standards set in the 70's. So no cat, straight through exhaust, carbs the size of drain pipes etc.

I think if you were to cut the front panel out complete, also the boot floor and weld it in a new shell, anyone from vosa or dsa would have a hard time proving it is a different car.
I know from experience with minis, you can still buy every body panel for them. So if you bought every panel and welded them together, you have a new shell, cost a fortune mind you.

I know it's not relevant for the op, because price was an issue, but all of our cars are getting older. We may need some way around the rules one day.

I wonder to what extent you could replace panels before getting into new shell territory. I know with modification it is 60% or more of the original chassis you need a q plate! hence why some kit cars carry a q and some have the donor plates. But if you replace panels one buy one over a few years, when do you need inspection.
 
Back
Top