Myte128's 4 door 128 sedan now with UT power

I thought I would finally load up pics of my 128 with a little detail at the same time.

1974 Fiat 128 4 door sedan
Uno 1300cc engine with 1100cc head
Fully balanced
Lightened flywheel
4-2-1 coupe exhaust with 1.75 inch sports mufflers (no idea which ones)
Corolla GT front shocks modified to fit with standard springs
Golf GTI rear shocks
3 leaf rear spring
128 estate/wagon gearbox (lower final drive)
Impreza WRX seats
Battery in the boot
Uno Turbo brake master and booster
Braided brake hoses
Uno turbo rear brakes with 240mm Tipo front discs.
Mazda 323 DOHC Turbo front discs and calipers
Honeycomb grill
Burgundy red with a copper pearl paint job.
185/55R14's
No stereo
No sound deadening
4500rpm at 100km/h (legal limit here in NZ)
Arrrghhh!

Planned upgrades
Install Uno Turbo 1300 engine
1500cc cam
Slightly stiffen front suspension
Zastava 5 speed sway bar
5 speed gearbox
Get the brakes working properly as the master is not returning to normal position
Get a Low Volume Certificate so I can drive it on the road

Hi,
I'm looking to uprate the shocks on my 3p, but (obviously) can't get what I need as they are no longer made. What mods did you have to do to make the Corolla and Golf shocks fit your 128 (nice car!)

Any decent suspension shop should be able to modify the shocks, but basically they were pulled to bits, chopped to size and the tops welded back on. Unfortunately I didn't do this mod myself so I can't vouch for how difficult it was... oh, and the legality of it

I thought I’d stick up an update and let you know that the 128 is now self propelled. Here’s the starting point to the end break down.

Sanding

Primed

Painting finished

Fuel system

A hole in the engine bay

Some of you may recognise this engine... it is the 1301cc UT engine

Dashboard

Front brakes, ventilated Mazda 323 DOHC turbo brakes

Rear brakes, UT callipers and Tipo front discs

I’ve also replaced the seats with Strada Abarth 130TC seats.
Built and installed many bits and pieces to make things work and fit.
Installed UT radiator.
Croma Turbo intercooler.
X19 1500 camshaft.
2.25” mandrel bend exhaust.
14x6 wheels.
Strada 5 speed box.
And many other things that I have for the moment forgotten about...

First drive


Here's my littlest helper, helping...


I’ve installed the new front shocks, They are Tokico Z1106 gas inserts which are an upgrade for Toyota Starlets 84-89 and Corolla II as well. They were slightly too long to fit in my strut housing but I got my local engineer to stick them in the lathe and take a bit off the bottom.



Once that was done he made a lug to centralise the top of the insert in the strut. The strut did not need to be changed again, which was the only way the suspension people wanted to do it. And the cost was a quarter of what they wanted to charge.

Once in, the shocks feel very tight as compared to the old Monroe jobbies. I redrilled the tops of the strut tower to accept the 8mm bolts and moved them into the middle of the car more. Plus the upper bolt on the strut housing to hub knuckle is slotted a little. This has given me a little bit of negative camber rather than the 1 degree positive I had previously. The ride height seems to be about the same but I didn’t measure it beforehand.


I built a strut brace since the car was back on it's wheels.

I welded the bottom half of the tube onto the upright part of the brace.


Then cut a slot and a couple of angles on the top half and then attacked it with the persuader.


Once persuaded, welded and ground a little it looks like this.


And ground some more and primed it looks like a bought one.


I installed the strut brace and I am really pleased with how it fits in.


A known weak point of the 128 are the chassis rails so, 130tc chassis braces are in. I used some blind threaded inserts which are like pop rivets with a female thread. They are very cool but are hard yakka to get them really tight. I had to remove the struts again to do this job... With this upgrade, the new shocks, the strut brace and with the 128 estate sway bar in, the car feels much tighter up the front.



And of course it had to happen... I have 13psi boost now and also the wheelspin in the dry that comes with that! Traction is pretty hopeless in the wet when boost comes on

Re: Myte128's 4 door 128 sedan now with UT power

Here's some before and after shots of the 128. I’ve lost quite a few pics over the years but these show how much of a change the car has gone through.

Before

After


Here’s a standard 128 engine bay, not my one of course.

Mine




Dashboard before.

After


And a few images as it stands now. 70’s car in front of the 70’s house, nice.