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Cinquecento "VEL" The Red Cinquecento.

Introduction

Well this is certainly long overdue! But I finally sat my arse down to make a thread for the car i've already owned for 2 months. It's a red cinquecento sporting, 1998, with 89K on the clock (Now 94K).

After what happened to my black car, I was in desperate need of some transportation for work and play. I flat-out refused to buy some boring corsa or fiesta when, clearly, that would have been the more sensible option given the circumstances. After recovery costs tore my arm and leg off, I managed to scrape together £300, which normally wouldn't buy a half decent cinq, but I lucked out really ;) .......

After a "For Sale" post came up on Facebook, displaying a bright red 1242cc cinquecento within my price range, I contacted the owner. Before I knew it, i was trekking over 200 miles to collect a car I knew very little about, but I was very excited nonetheless!:D After 2 weeks of driving my dads Santa-Fe, driving a cinq again felt like an absolute revelation, I couldn't believe how much I missed it!

The interior was a mess, the exhaust is RIDICULOUSLY loud, and it had a few niggles, but I didn't care, I had a cinq again!



Wierdly, I think the sei wheels suit it!



Anyway, since then it's basically just been a hard-used daily, i've racked up nearly 5K since I bought it in late november, and it hasn't let me down once. It's fitted with a P60 lump, 40mm throttle body and a pretty rubbish induction kit. Punto coilovers (that don't really fit) on the front and eBay shocks and spring on the back.

All i've down is chucked in some new mats, fitted the suede steering wheel and boss from the black car, fitted loads of standard interior plastics (as the old ones were hacked and painted badly). Oh, and some lovely Abarth skirts.





The plan is to save for another car for daily duty, then begin work turning this into a track car.

But that's a story for another day!

PS. check out the positive camber on the N/S/F wheel, I told you the coilies don't fit properly! :p
Cinqs look wicked in red. How come I always end up with a sodding white car.

Not to sure about the warehouse curtains hanging off the back, but I suppose it keeps the mud off you're bumper.

Got a cracker there, shame to track it. What's the rust like?
 
times a ticking, you and i know as soon as you can afford to insure an Evo its more than likely you will get one... Assuming you still have the same job.

Indeed I do, and I probably will, but that's a while away yet, I'm still nowhere near old enough to even get a quote!
Huwbishop I actually love white cinqs! Swap? Haha

The mudflaps came with the car, I don't mind them to be honest, although it's not something I'd do myself.

It's absolutely spotless rust wise, which is why it's getting tracked, as I was looking for a good shell. However, it's not going to be your average track car, something abit different actually ;)
 
Hmm, sounds interesting, I shall keep my eye on this post.

Ye you want to swap now I've sorted all the rust, and sprayed it ;)

Don't get me wrong, I like it in white, I just can't find anything that I can do with the bumpers. They are such a big part of an already small car, what would look good.
If I paint them white, it will look like some Essex boys trainers (daps if your welsh). Or max powers cover car from the nineties.

Any other colour would look odd. I was tempted to paint the bottom of the bumpers in blue, leaving the tops black.
Temped to try plasti dip, as it isn't permanent.
 
Hmm, sounds interesting, I shall keep my eye on this post.

Ye you want to swap now I've sorted all the rust, and sprayed it ;)

Don't get me wrong, I like it in white, I just can't find anything that I can do with the bumpers. They are such a big part of an already small car, what would look good.
If I paint them white, it will look like some Essex boys trainers (daps if your welsh). Or max powers cover car from the nineties.

Any other colour would look odd. I was tempted to paint the bottom of the bumpers in blue, leaving the tops black.
Temped to try plasti dip, as it isn't permanent.

I actually quite like the black bumpers on a white cinq, young efficients cinq for example, I think looks really smart, a sleeper :)

Imo on cinqs less is more, especially with the exterior. A nice set of wheels and a clean body makes a nice car.

Speaking of which, the body on this car is relatively battered. Dents here and there, few scrapes etc. Itll never be a proper looker, but seeing as it's so clean underneath, it makes the ideal race/track car candidate. Also, I can source lots of discount parts through work, and I'm gaining valuable knowledge of racing and race car prep in the meantime :)

Oh yeah, and I fitted a set of Lockwood white dials today, no particular reason, just fancied a change!



Sorry about the crap pic, but you get the idea.

I also swapped all the red bulbs from my old car for the dash, and fixed the clock :)
 
Looks good. I have the Lockwood dials on. They clean the look of the clocks up nicely.

So what's the plan for the car? Stupid engine?
 
Looks good. I have the Lockwood dials on. They clean the look of the clocks up nicely.

So what's the plan for the car? Stupid engine?

They do indeed!

The short term plan is for it be my daily hack for abit. The mechanicals in general are fairly dubious. I'm trying to spend as little as I can so as to save for a new engine, fuel system and various other bits. Ive already saved a considerable sum already. Then, I will buy a new daily, and this will go into a unit. Then, I will start the transformation into my track car.

Engine wise, it'll be turbocharged. I've already started building a bottom end for it. I don't have a HP goal, I just want to build it to the best I can, and make it as efficient and reliable as possible. I also have a front and rear PGT brake setup, full polybush set, new arms, bearing etc.

This isn't all talk, however as anyone who has built a tubby cinq will tell you, it isn't cheap, and I'm trying to be realistic about how long this will all take, but I'm not in any particular rush.

I'll delve deeper into to the plan when the time comes (y)

Young Efficient said:
I wanted Lockwood dials, but never wanted them to shine through green.

Would have preferred white that ****e blue or red

#sleeper

or was that #broken

Yeah, they're like Christmas colours when they're lit up :)

Wouldn't worry, snapping clutch cables are a cinq rite of passage!
 
I have the lockwood dials too, it's actually on my "to get rid of" list, they look good during the day but i find them rubbish at night, the speedo becomes really difficult to see IMO.

Nice car though, makes me want to get mine finished! it's red too, adds 20bhp :)
 
Well, the clutch is on its last legs, struggling to get gears at the moment and the release bearing is making an awful noise. On the bright side, it means I'm going to fit the 190mm, 3.5kg flywheel and nearly new clutch from my old car. If I'm going to the trouble of doing a clutch, I may as well change the flywheel.

I'm also making it a priority to fit my comps and Uniroyals, as these pirellis have little/no grip in anything but hot dry weather. And it's February.

It'll literally spin up on demand in 1st and 2nd, which is all well and good for messing around, but if you're looking to get away with anything more than 50% throttle, good luck!

Stuck some metal number plates on too, and gave it a wash for once. It passed 94,100 the other day, so I've done well past 5k already in it now :D



 
Awesome in red (y)

Strip out the seats, just bungee cord guests to the roof??:D

Matt.
:slayer:

Or maybe a roof rack and some ratchet straps (y)

Anyway, update.

New daily is on the cards, it's an MG, if you really wanted to know. Would've liked to stay Fiat on that one, but the insurers seemed to have other ideas! I got some really bad quotes for the car I really wanted (MK2 Punto 1.9 JTD).

Doesn't matter now, what really matters is once the new daily is in, the red cinq goes straight into the workshop!

Queue the music :p
 
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