So here we are... The Re-shell

So as many know I've spent the last 4 or so years swapping engines around in my old imola cinq, first it was tuning the original 1108 8v.. then i went to a 1.4 16v that turned out to be a bit of a dud engine.... so i swapped in a rather leaky 1.2 16v with 6 speed box, basically i got bored of fixing oil leaks and then filling it with oil so that subsequently went bang....

That leads us to where we currently are.... a high boost 1.2 8valve turbo :yum::yum:

Originally the engine was built for my imola shell with the intentions of getting the turbo engine running, reliable and iron out any issues and then to strip it all back again and have the shell refreshed, then to rebuild it all and enjoy...

That was until i had an enthusiastic drive down some local B-roads... totally my fault and it ended badly (not that badly) to cut a long story short i hit a brow of a hill going WAAAYY too fast... took off... bottomed out... snapped the turbo manifold and shortly after regretted it :bang::bang::bang:

So this is where we are at.....

I collected this cinq on the 7/09/16... that in itself was a weird one... driving 3hrs after work.. collecting the car at 11pm and then driving home, getting back at 3am and going into work 3 hours later....

Anyway... here we are... The obligatory petrol station/travelling home shot




Shell Mods list so far

Full yellow Strongflex bush kit on the wishbones, trailing arms and front anti roll bar

Full LED light conversion inside and out inc dash and interior lights








Team HEKO wind deflectors



Single wiper conversion

Spax 40mm Lowering springs







Fingers lower strut brace




Uno turbo front calipers with MTec drilled, vented and grooved disks, ebc ultimax pads and HEL braided front brake lines (i have rear lines but not yet installed)

Genuine Fiat Headlight protectors



Half tinted rear sporting lights

Before (half way through)



After




Re-trimmed door cards and A-pillars in faux suede

Before



After












Sei Mpi rear parcel shelf with speakers (yet to be wired in but shouldnt be a problem)

Aftermarket Fiat Numberplate plinths, i need to get some new plain plates made up but theyll do for now



I also have ready to fit..

Full 80mm wheel bolt to stud conversion kit with open ended wheel nuts

Momo Steering wheel boss (currently looking for a dished wheel i like)

Seicento PAS steering rack with new rack ends and rod ends

Full early cinq black dash

Fiat coupe leather seats

OMP upper strut brace

As well as the entire turbo conversion that i will go through as i get around to swapping the engine into the new shell...

watch this space

Okay ladies and gents...

The yellow cinq is now off the road currently stuck outside my mothers house until i can clear space in the garage to pop it in....

So the story continues... the current plan is to prepare the inside of the yellow shell for two reasons...

1) because the engine is still currently sat in the imola shell... sat in a garage somewhere in the a$$ end of norfolk

2) because ive always gone with the engine and suspension mods first... this time i want to finish the interior

oh and 3) the turbo, mani and down pipe are currently 4hrs away in ilminster with @TheBlackBox having a replacement stainless steel tubular manifold and downpipe built...



so progress....

pictures....

these were destined to be the seats of choice



but in usual cento fashion and funnily just like my imola shell... the drivers seat had been bodged in at some point...






this makes me want to rage... the seatbelts are anchored to the seat!!!!!!

and to top it off, whoever bodged this in with the soft metal "show" bolts also cross threaded and rung the head off of the bolt... and that was before said person had screwed the bolt all the way home....


Anyway.... on to the positive stuff.....

the seats were in but they just weren't... perfect...

so i had a look around online for some bucket seats and came across the sparco Revs, after much umming an ahhing and asking around a few friends i decided against them purely on the fact that they were very snug around my hips and i wanted to still be able to sit comfortably as well as have the support around my shoulders.. i done some research and came across these...

Cobra monaco sport.. basically the same as the monaco pro but without the fia approval...
so i bought two of them



And the red TRS harnesses with the quick release buckles had to follow.....


(i have no idea why the pic is sideways i cant seem to flip/rotate it...)

i also got a set of reinforcing plates for the lower anchor points of the harnesses... and i spoke to Rob and had another set of plates sent to me for the harness bar as i wanted to get rid of the scrawny M8 bolts and replace them for a set of M10 high tensile bolts with nylocs, Hopefully a little stronger in the event of an accident...


moving outside again.. the uno turbo calipers and disks were removed from imola and fitted with the braided lines and topped with a set of 80mm studs with the 10mm sei abarth spacers on the front... note the uno turbo calipers have 6mm of spacers behind the disks to bring the disk inline with the caliper



and the rears had the same 80mm studs with the 2mm abarth rear spacers (not pictured)



and fitted an upper brace to go with the lower......



i also purchased a QUAIFE LSD from rallycinq (cheers again ) ill be on the search for a crown wheel for it soon


next up was the swap out for the black dash... so the engine bay body loom had to come out.. apparently this is a hell of alot more effort when theres an engine in the way



but it was out in no time....



engine bay in a rather nasty state... this will be rectified when the engine comes out for the swap...

and the old grey sporting dash out .....


and the loom swapped to the early black dash, these were only ever in the L-reg cinquecentos and then for some reason they swapped to the grey dash..



not a difficult job and pretty straight forward when you have the loom on the floor....

i also modified a spare centre vent for the 3 gauges, oil temp, wideband and oil pressure, it turned out pretty well..



and finally back where it belongs... minus all the center dash switches...




i also had a go at this window tinting malarky.. just a cheap roll from ebay



i didn't want to go too dark as i don't think limo tint on the yellow cinqs look all that great... so i went for the 50%, pretty subtle and standard looking but still with the desired effect, nowhere near perfect but it'll do for now...



i also figured it was time to think of security a little.. so i bought this little setup, Remote c/l with alarm and immob fitted.. i've had 3 different hawk products and have always been really impressed, this one has r/c/l with ultrasonic sensors.. a tilt and shock sensor as well as engine immobiliser... just the small job of wiring it all in now




I guess that's about it for now... i'm still collecting bits and bobs to add to the build but as yet ive not got the time or the space to fit any of it properly...

Im currently re-laying the loom in the engine bay to get the car in a drivable state again, also i'm still removing bits from the imola shell, when that is complete i can get rid of the old imola shell and move the yellow one into the garage... and then the fun can really begin :devil::devil:

Thanks for keeping us updated, it's nice to see bits of progress on these things now and then and to see people still getting joy out of their Cinqs

It's a shame about seats as they don't look too bad, I hope they were fitted like that AFTER the MOT, and it hasn't somehow been passed in that state. Surely they were rocking and knocking back a forth a bit?! Perhaps mistakenly dismissable as the flip-forward mechanism until the anchor points are actually looked at.

How's the rust, the only bit I remember on my Imola was the tiniest speck where the front wings meet the sill, and a couple of pin holes in the boot in the rear corners.

Rotated picture might be because your phone didn't properly detect it had been turned around and thought it was still being held in landscape, mine does that sometimes.

BlueDan said:

Thanks for keeping us updated, it's nice to see bits of progress on these things now and then and to see people still getting joy out of their Cinqs

It's a shame about seats as they don't look too bad, I hope they were fitted like that AFTER the MOT, and it hasn't somehow been passed in that state. Surely they were rocking and knocking back a forth a bit?! Perhaps mistakenly dismissable as the flip-forward mechanism until the anchor points are actually looked at.

How's the rust, the only bit I remember on my Imola was the tiniest speck where the front wings meet the sill, and a couple of pin holes in the boot in the rear corners.

Rotated picture might be because your phone didn't properly detect it had been turned around and thought it was still being held in landscape, mine does that sometimes.

Click to expand...

I have no idea about the seats infact i dont actually know when the mot is due... ill reg check it later ... however i plan on remaking the floor mounts for the seats anyway so they wont be a problem again...

the rust is worse than originally thought so but thats not a problem... i recently spent out on a nice new welder thatll help me sort that.. usual places being the rear arches and the rear chassis rails/beam mounts.. nothing thats not an easy fix... the exterior of the shell is immaculate and surprisingly straight for a 20year old car.. just a single ding on the o/s/r quarter panel, a single exposed stone chip on the bonnet and a badly touched in chip on the bonnet and one exposed stone chip just above the drivers door in front of the b-pillar

im so excited to get this car on the road..

To me it sounds like your offspring will be walking before the car rides with the turbo Good progress nevertheless

woj said:

To me it sounds like your offspring will be walking before the car rides with the turbo Good progress nevertheless

Click to expand...

sadly you could be right but its coming along slowly..

however.. i did reg check it and its mot'd until the 26th july next year so hopefully itll get to a few shows under turbo power and then it can come off the road for the welding to be done properly.. hopefully by then ill have a concrete pad in my garden so ill have somewhere to weld her up

I would have liked to have had a look at it today mate if I'd had a bit more time. Currently welding mine up with the subframe off, hence the need for the inner arch protectors. ??

Im sure at some point we can arrange to meet up or take you for a passenger ride

so loads has happened recently...
seats are now in..
harnesses are fitted..
anchor/spreader plates fitted, they just need a couple of tacks to make them captive but that can wait until i can get it on a ramp...
dash is back in and all wired up as is the engine loom so she now starts runs and drives..
new cinq side repeaters fitted
rear 3 window tints are in...
alarm, immobiliser and remote central locking is all in and in the process of being wired up..
i think ive sorted the water leak that was getting into the drivers footwell..
ive also fitted a set of 899 rear lights with just tinted indicators


So the current To-Do list is...

-Fit interior carpet
-Finish wiring in the alarm and rcl
-Finish fitting the harness bar and get it powdercoated
-New front and rear shocks
-Completely renew rear brake shoes, drums, handbrake actuators, slave cylinders, back plates and bearings and fit new handbrake cable
-Fit battery relocation kit
-Find a fiat 500 crown wheel and fit quaife diff
-Fit new check-strap pin in passengers side door
-Fit tow bar
- Wire in wideband controller, boost senders and oil press and temp gauges

Then for the actual conversion i need to..

- Source and buy an oil catch tank
- Source and buy a set of oil cooler pipes and fittings
- Poke Rob in the eye and hope he will get my manifold and downpipe done in the next couple of months
- Order a replacement chra for my turbo or just order a new one
- Fit the low compression engine into the cinq
- Mount intercooler
- Mount oil cooler
- Cut out the grille blanks in the front bumper

And a bucket load of other things i've probably forgotten

so there's a distinct lack of pics this update because i havent been taking any.. ill get some pics tomorrow and maybe post up a 'photo update'

i trial fitted the AEZ wheels over the holidays and im not convinced...

i want your opinions guys and girls... yay or nay??



Or do i stick with the steelies and have them banded to 7j or something??



Or do i have the sei abarth wheels refurbed and fit them??




Or last but not least.. do i go for the total stock look and go with 13"cinq sporting wheels and just put a decent set of tyres on them???


And just because i took it and it uploaded by mistake.... this is the current fleet



the cinq currently mildly modded with the 1108
the yaris currently my daily wit just a blitz induction kit
and the missus near on totally boggo clio 197 (always broken)

Lecook said:

so loads has happened recently...
seats are now in..
harnesses are fitted..
anchor/spreader plates fitted, they just need a couple of tacks to make them captive but that can wait until i can get it on a ramp...
dash is back in and all wired up as is the engine loom so she now starts runs and drives..
new cinq side repeaters fitted
rear 3 window tints are in...
alarm, immobiliser and remote central locking is all in and in the process of being wired up..
i think ive sorted the water leak that was getting into the drivers footwell..
ive also fitted a set of 899 rear lights with just tinted indicators


So the current To-Do list is...

-Fit interior carpet
-Finish wiring in the alarm and rcl
-Finish fitting the harness bar and get it powdercoated
-New front and rear shocks
-Completely renew rear brake shoes, drums, handbrake actuators, slave cylinders, back plates and bearings and fit new handbrake cable
-Fit battery relocation kit
-Find a fiat 500 crown wheel and fit quaife diff
-Fit new check-strap pin in passengers side door
-Fit tow bar
- Wire in wideband controller, boost senders and oil press and temp gauges

Then for the actual conversion i need to..

- Source and buy an oil catch tank
- Source and buy a set of oil cooler pipes and fittings
- Poke Rob in the eye and hope he will get my manifold and downpipe done in the next couple of months
- Order a replacement chra for my turbo or just order a new one
- Fit the low compression engine into the cinq
- Mount intercooler
- Mount oil cooler
- Cut out the grille blanks in the front bumper

And a bucket load of other things i've probably forgotten

so there's a distinct lack of pics this update because i havent been taking any.. ill get some pics tomorrow and maybe post up a 'photo update'

i trial fitted the AEZ wheels over the holidays and im not convinced...

i want your opinions guys and girls... yay or nay??

Or do i stick with the steelies and have them banded to 7j or something??

Or do i have the sei abarth wheels refurbed and fit them??

Or last but not least.. do i go for the total stock look and go with 13"cinq sporting wheels and just put a decent set of tyres on them???


And just because i took it and it uploaded by mistake.... this is the current fleet

the cinq currently mildly modded with the 1108
the yaris currently my daily wit just a blitz induction kit
and the missus near on totally boggo clio 197 (always broken)

Click to expand...

Looks good mate. Fair bit of work left to do. Wheels are always a personal choice, I'd go Standard with good tyres.
But you have enough options to swap and change them whenever you want anyway. Unless you were going to sell the spare rims.

Steels keep the steels

Love the black 14" Abarths!!

Crashtest33 said:

Love the black 14" Abarths!!

Click to expand...

i must admit i do like the abarth wheels... they do need a good refurb though


in other news... heres a few pics i promised.. nothing massively impressive but progress is being made...

im still unsure of these wheels... i have left them on hoping theyll grow on me...




A quick one of my home tinted rear windows... they are by far perfect but the tint cost me £20 and an evening that i would of otherwise spent bored (or even worse.. at the inlaws)



Rear lights... these are a set of 899 rears that were in A1 condition so i ordered a tin of spray tint and these were the results.. i quite like them.. however blu73 has recently given me an idea i might try... im stil also unsure on whether to loose the badges or not.....



also... the seats and harnesses are in.... im pretty happy with the results theyre comfortable and they look great im yet to decide whether to remove the front belts as theyre a little more convenient for when things like... your parents... or non car people come in the car.. however i will have to find a way of mounting the seatbelt clasp to the seat bracket and move the bottom b pilar mount for the harnesses....



some pics of the harness mount points..

Drivers side lower harness strap bolted in the standard seatbelt anchor point





Shoulder straps wrapped around the harness bar that Rob made.. Note the m8 bolts will be going, i have some high tensile m10 bolts and nylock nuts as well as a 4mm backing plate to mount in this location to anchor it all in place

Drivers and passengers inner mounting points are via two 6mm spreader plates mounted in the exhaust tunnel



and again the passengers lap strap anchored in the standard factory belt anchor point




i have two spare spreader plates if i do decide to keep the standard belts...

The black dash is in as is the momo boss and sparco steering wheel (this is to be replaced with a new one soon)



the eagle eyed will have spotted the white dust in the drivers footwell... this seems the only way to try and track this damn water leak... talcum powder in the footwell... im probably going to regret this at some point but it seemed like a good idea at the time..


ive also been doing some research into fitting the quaife ATB lsd and im hoping the crown wheel in my mk2 punto 6speed box is going to be a bolt on one so i can pinch it for the LSD diff.. ill order new bearings and seals for when it goes in and then ill try and find someone to set the preload and fit it all to the 5speed that is currently in the cinq...

thats all for now..

i'd leave the belts in mate, i know you not really ever intending this as a daily but when you wanna move the car short distance having to harness up will just be annoying! that said, if you wanna sell the red belts.....

Lecook said:

ive also been doing some research into fitting the quaife ATB lsd and im hoping the crown wheel in my mk2 punto 6speed box is going to be a bolt on one so i can pinch it for the LSD diff.. ill order new bearings and seals for when it goes in and then ill try and find someone to set the preload and fit it all to the 5speed that is currently in the cinq...

Click to expand...

You'll need the matching output shaft to match the bolt on crown wheel won't you? Unless you get very luck with the 5speed box

Brooky said:

You'll need the matching output shaft to match the bolt on crown wheel won't you? Unless you get very luck with the 5speed box

Click to expand...

I have no idea lol.. i was under the assumption that the 6speed crownwheel would just bolt straight up and then i was going give the diff to a gearbox guy to set the preload.. im a tad confused exactly how this all fits??..
Maybe i need to do some more research

There's a few different final drive ratios and it's changed by the number of teeth on the output shaft & crown wheel.
Worth checking as I'm sure someone on the quaife thread found the output shaft gear diameters to be different to fit the number of teeth.
I've not fitted my yet. Hoping to get lucky with the two gearboxes I have lying about and find a bolted crownwheel

blu73 said:

i'd leave the belts in mate, i know you not really ever intending this as a daily but when you wanna move the car short distance having to harness up will just be annoying! that said, if you wanna sell the red belts.....

Click to expand...

Looking good lee and yeah hopefully on mani end of this month quiet ATM so time to do it
blu73 if your after a set of red seat belts message me I'm sure I have a set or two for you to choose from!

Lecook said:

the eagle eyed will have spotted the white dust in the drivers footwell... this seems the only way to try and track this damn water leak... talcum powder in the footwell... im probably going to regret this at some point but it seemed like a good idea at the time

Click to expand...

Have a poke under the battery and the wiper motor. Nice place for water to sit and make some nice holes

Brooky said:

There's a few different final drive ratios and it's changed by the number of teeth on the output shaft & crown wheel.
Worth checking as I'm sure someone on the quaife thread found the output shaft gear diameters to be different to fit the number of teeth.
I've not fitted my yet. Hoping to get lucky with the two gearboxes I have lying about and find a bolted crownwheel

Click to expand...

Yea ive just had a read of said thread.. it seems early cinq/sei boxes came with bonded/shrunk on crown wheels and later (2003 onwards) were bolted.. also it seems that the 6speed mk2 punto boxes came with bolted crown wheels as well.. i wonder how compatible the 6speed c/w would be with the cento 5speed box as this is my intended setup...