Hi all,

Joining from Ireland in the hope of finding advice and sharing the journey of restoring a Cinquecento Sporting. I'll post about it in the Cinquecento section. I normally work on farm machinery, but have worked on VWs and Landcruisers too.

This yellow sporting was my wife's first car back around 2001. For some reason it never got sold when she changed. Although it's suffered some from lying up, it's generally solid, as it was on a hard surface and somewhat sheltered. It will need the obvious fluids filters plugs and belts before I try start it, but it should run. Otherwise a few cosmetic repairs, the worst being the front of the bonnet which the rusty goblin got a hold of. Plan is to get shocks, bushings, brake kit and radiator, then look at the cosmetics. I've already gotten a clean SX for parts donation for next to nothing

Be warned, this will take a while, between work and a 4 month old, but I'll keep this updated when I do a bit If anyone's interested.

Hi and welcome

How long was it parked??

If thats kept the worst of the rust out ..then its well worth saving

95% sure that these are 'safe engines'
(All the other FIRE of that era are..)

So you could remove plugs.. get the oil flowing.. without risk of a terminal belt failure

Charlie

Hi Charlie,

It stood undriven for about 5 years, but it's totally clean underneath. Brake calipers had seized but theres no rust bar surface discolouration on the underside. It's definitely worth saving. I'll have to get researching about the engine types,( I assume by safe, you mean non-interference) but do know this one had a head gasket in the past, and could do with a rad. Interior is very good bar the drivers seat bolster (a common issue I believe) but there's a tailor locally who has gone into car upholstery repair so i'm not too concerned.

The bonnet on the SX donor is immaculate, so it might just get swapped over along with the windscreen (cracked on the Sporting) before paint. The SX itself is not in bad shape, and was on the road until 3 years ago (picked it out of a breakers a couple of days ago), but the appeal of the sporting is much greater for me.

Sounds very good.. yes the seat bolster always wears.. the frame of the seat back is a weakspot too

Corrosion in boot floor to wheelarches can be the killer.. have a good look

Yes non.interference

Boot floor and arches are perfect. The bonnet is the worst of it really. It got a nudge at some point, and the rust has it all across behind the badge. Won't get to turn a spanner on it until next week but looking forward to getting stuck in

Fintan Stack said:

This yellow sporting was my wife's first car back around 2001. For some reason it never got sold when she changed. Although it's suffered some from lying up, it's generally solid, as it was on a hard surface and somewhat sheltered. It will need the obvious fluids filters plugs and belts before I try start it, but it should run. Otherwise a few cosmetic repairs, the worst being the front of the bonnet which the rusty goblin got a hold of. Plan is to get shocks, bushings, brake kit and radiator, then look at the cosmetics. I've already gotten a clean SX for parts donation for next to nothing

Be warned, this will take a while, between work and a 4 month old, but I'll keep this updated when I do a bit If anyone's interested.

Click to expand...

I will certainly be fascinated to follow how you progress with this. I have a Seicento Sporting which likewise has been laid up for a number of years after getting a new car. Looking at the flat tyres on your car reminded me of mine.


I haven't done anything yet to it other than give it a clean, a new battery and a new set of tyres.

No doubt it will cost me more to bring it back to life than it is theoretically worth, but I would still like to bring it back to life if at all possible.


Thank you for posting.