General New addition car to family

[Michael Dranfield]

My daughter recently said she would like to have driving lessons , so I thought what a perfect excuse to buy another Fiat as you do , and I bought this 2003 seicento which had only just passed its MOT a couple of months before for £350. with a stack of service history and only 53,000 on the clock.

However after a couple of days driving I found no end of faults, knocking from the rear end, hand brake not working very well despite there been an invoice for £40 from the mot garage for freeing off the rear handbrake lever, stiff clutch, ETC.
so far I have had a new clutch and cable, replaced all the rear end, new shock absorbers, new drums, new swinging arms, new handbrake cable, new handbrake levers,new shoes and springs, the parts bill was more than I paid for the car and I have still not finished !

But at the end of the day if you do a job properly you only do it once .

 

[Michael Dranfield]

Out with the old and in with the new.
Looking good so far all I need to do now is the other side !

 

[Moonwilles]

Nice car mate.
I've got a 1999 Sporting.

Unfortunately, it also has some parts that need to be changed, but it's all wear-and-tear stuff such as wishbones, ball joints, and brakes.
I have a feeling it's going to be expensive and I hope nothing else comes up after all this crap as it's not exactly a bad car. I don't want to spend much money on it, it's quite old now with 156,000km on the clock .

 

[Michael Dranfield]

The good thing about older cars is parts availability on the internet,lots of parts around but not much demand so it forces prices down ,I only paid £4.00 for the rear shoes !

 

[Moonwilles]

The good thing about older cars is parts availability on the internet,lots of parts around but not much demand so it forces prices down ,I only paid £4.00 for the rear shoes !

Yep! Cost of labour is more than the parts themselves... mindblowing.

 

[Michael Dranfield]

OK guys I think I already know the answer to this question but I need some second opinions on this matter, having rebuilt all the rear suspension with brand new parts there is no camber adjustment on the rear , it is quite difficult to see the problem I have from some of these photos but the first 2 should show the problem quite clearly.

Ideas ?????

 

[whitz]

either the arm is bent (small chance) or more than likely the cars suspension is not even on the new springs.

The way the rear suspension is set up on these the higher the back the more positive camber you will gain, measure from the centre of the wheel to the top of the arches on both sides and you should find a larger measurement on the left side

The suspenion will take a while to settle

Ash

 

[Michael Dranfield]

Even when the car is sat back on the ground the wheel is leaning over so far only A quarter on the tyre is in contact with the road,I have unbolted the shock and both swinging arm bolts and sat in the boot bouncing the car up and down but I still can't get the whole of the tyre in contact with the road,

 

[irishcento]

hi,i think if you leave all the bolts you mention just a little slack,and take the car for a drive for a few miles.

your happy the coil springs are the same??

change over the spring and see if the problem moves to the other wheel.

put the old springs in and see what it looks like.

your new springs may look the same,and maybe the same length,but 1 maye be a larger spring rate,as in its stiffer..

try all ive mentioned and get back to us.

best of luck

 

[bluejohn125]

Nice project, but a strange problem.

Logically I'd suspect that the arms are too short... could they be perhaps for a Cinquecento and not a Sei? Or were the cars the same underneath but just rebodied?

I wouldn't think spring or shock length could make such a difference but maybe...

 

[Michael Dranfield]

Definatley not the springs for the simple reason these are not new thy are the old ones I took off and just dipped in rust remover and I only did one at a time so they are both on the same side they came off and the old tyre I took did not have any odd wear pattern .

 

[Michael Dranfield]

already thought of that , if they were from the wrong model of car both sides would be wrong and not just one side, personally I suspect these arms are poor quality, or made wrong but I just wanted some other input before I contact the supplier , the are are made by someone called " Birth " and I bought them on e bay .

 

[irishcento]

ah ok,they are the springs that were always with the car.

id say its the arms,as they seem to have the usual cheap name 'birth'

if there not made right i wouldnt trust having them on the car at all,poor metal,bad welds etc

whats up with the orignal arms? rusty?

 

[Michael Dranfield]

either the arm is bent (small chance) or more than likely the cars suspension is not even on the new springs.

The way the rear suspension is set up on these the higher the back the more positive camber you will gain, measure from the centre of the wheel to the top of the arches on both sides and you should find a larger measurement on the left side

The suspenion will take a while to settle

Ash

Yes one side in an inch and a half higher than the other side.

 

[Michael Dranfield]

ah ok,they are the springs that were always with the car.

id say its the arms,as they seem to have the usual cheap name 'birth'

if there not made right i wouldnt trust having them on the car at all,poor metal,bad welds etc

whats up with the orignal arms? rusty?

The car only had a knocking noise at the back when you went over a bump,the arms were rusty and when I removed one the middle part of the bush metal sleeve feel out and considering the time I would have taken me to de rust and paint the old arms and the cost of 4 new bushes I thought it was easier to just buy two new ones.

 

[Steve gt]

OK guys I think I already know the answer to this question but I need some second opinions on this matter, having rebuilt all the rear suspension with brand new parts there is no camber adjustment on the rear , it is quite difficult to see the problem I have from some of these photos but the first 2 should show the problem quite clearly.



Ideas ?????

looking at the photos and to me the left side (passenger side ) spring looks 180 degrees opposite to the other side like if it needs to be seated half a turn further round to mirror the other side , wondering if it would make a difference, just an observation from the photos never changed any springs my self .

 

[jatkinson]

thats a odd problem i havnt seen , Is the springs sat in the rubber cup at the top of the beam and theres a little lug where the spring sits against on the arm ? are they located right ?
Rekt wheel bearing ? is it tight enough?

 

[irishcento]

as the chaps say,are both springs seated properly,and are against there stop/location lugs?

your happy there arnt 2 rubber cups on the same side at the top?

just throwing the idea's out there,but as you say you did them 1 side at a time.

id get the seller to send you out another arm and test fit it and see if it fix's the problem.

 

[Michael Dranfield]

looking at the photos and to me the left side (passenger side ) spring looks 180 degrees opposite to the other side like if it needs to be seated half a turn further round to mirror the other side , wondering if it would make a difference, just an observation from the photos never changed any springs my self .

The springs are sat in the cup against the end stop and all bolts are tourque up to the value it says in the Haynes manual ,so personally I can only see it's the arm that's been made wrong,however I did message the seller and he said he would contact the manufacturer on Monday ,but it's a right pain,I only have a short time every night to work on this so it's taken me 3 months to do this work .

 

[Michael Dranfield]

Message back from the seller saying they have checked with the factory and there have been no other reported problems so it must be me who has fitted it wrong,I don't see any other options other than order another new one from somewhere else and take it from there .