500 (Classic) 1971 Fiat 500l Project!

RobinPJ said:

Probably. It would be the putting it back together again where things would go a bit pear-shaped.

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Take photos and you'd be fine

RobinPJ said:

Probably. It would be the putting it back together again where things would go a bit pear-shaped.

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306maxi said:

Take photos and you'd be fine

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That's not the hard bit.

Almost everything on that car will, to a greater or lesser degree, be worn, corroded or perished, and you can't just go down to the motor factors and buy nice shiny new parts in a fancy cardboard box.

The hard bit is in knowing just how much something can be worn & yet still be serviceable; knowing how much of the stucture you need to cut away before welding in new metal, working out how to fabricate from raw material parts which would once have been available from stock, finding similar parts which you can modify, searching the global secondary market for those elusive bits you just can't find or make any other way.

It's the difference between a fitter & a true mechanic . You need to be dedicated to take on a project like this.

Uno italia said:

Well it's been a long evening but the 500 is yet another step closer..... snip

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Have you decided on colours yet? was watching wheeler dealers on Sunday, they overhauled a bmw bubble car, painted it red with a white roof and chrome mirrors, looked great.

Uno italia said:

Well it's been a long evening but the 500 is yet another step closer, Dropped the engine and gearbox out and split them once out, stripped a few remaining bits of interior left and began separating the wiring loom from the shell, Didn't manage to make a start on prepping the shell for welding but cant have it all i suppose!

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jrkitching said:

...You need to be dedicated to take on a project like this.

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Would the OP consider converting to RHD ? Given the simplicity of the mechanics i.e. no airbags. etc the only complication would be in getting the bits from a donor car.
Not sure how much value would be added in doing this but it might help to recover all the labour that will go into it.

jrkitching said:

That's not the hard bit.

Almost everything on that car will, to a greater or lesser degree, be worn, corroded or perished, and you can't just go down to the motor factors and buy nice shiny new parts in a fancy cardboard box.

The hard bit is in knowing just how much something can be worn & yet still be serviceable; knowing how much of the stucture you need to cut away before welding in new metal, working out how to fabricate from raw material parts which would once have been available from stock, finding similar parts which you can modify, searching the global secondary market for those elusive bits you just can't find or make any other way.

It's the difference between a fitter & a true mechanic . You need to be dedicated to take on a project like this.

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The 500 is VERY well supplied for high quality repro parts. I draw your attention to the picture of the interior of my dads car, therein you will (barely be able to) see a brand spanking set of repro interior rubber mats which fit absolutely perfectly and came all the way from Germany from a company that specialises in 500 repro stuff.

Back in the early 90's, 500 parts were so common and practically worthless in Australia that there was a guy with loads of shells and he chopped them up and buried them because they were worth so little My dad had all the panels and engines and boxes out of them though! My dad has a couple of spare engines, a gearbox and a few diffs for his 504. The wonders of having loads of storage space!

I would argue that comparatively speaking, a 500 is one of these easier cars to restore. Not saying that there isn't skill in doing the work, but the 500 has a good supply of parts Get the body sorted and the rest of fairly easy

The main problems on the bodywork are likely to be round the scuttle/front of doors area - fiddly but structurally very important. I got to the point with the Nuova 500 where I could take an engine or engine and gearbox out in under half an hour. Good luck with the project.

Great updates!
Keep 'em coming ; )

306maxi said:

I suspect that most people on here even with their fists of ham, could take a 500 apart, they're pretty bloody simple

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Maybe you can start practising with this! I thought that was blooming amazing!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_popout&v=lgwF8mdQwlw

Melanabb said:

Maybe you can start practising with this! I thought that was blooming amazing!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_popout&v=lgwF8mdQwlw

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Strategically planned....practiced for months and dozens of them at it, not that amazing!

And I suspect heavily dismantled before they drove it on - reckon if it had gone over a pothole it would have collapsed like a clown's car.

This unfortunately is now going up for sale. Due to a change of circumstances i simply do not have the room to store it at work or in my landlords compound along with my topolino/my trailer/punto cabrio/polo breadvan and fiat uno so its really has to go asap. If anybody is interested i'd prefer to let it go to a forum member.

I also have a fiat punto cabriolet i need gone too if anybody's interested, will be making classified ad's for both and possibly ebay, i do need the room asap,

Uno italia said:

This unfortunately is now going up for sale. Due to a change of circumstances i simply do not have the room to store it at work or in my landlords compound along with my topolino/my trailer/punto cabrio/polo breadvan and fiat uno so its really has to go asap. If anybody is interested i'd prefer to let it go to a forum member.

I also have a fiat punto cabriolet i need gone too if anybody's interested, will be making classified ad's for both and possibly ebay, i do need the room asap,

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I'll see if my dad is interested in it, it might get done this century