Seicento 2000 899 Seicento SX

[FiatMatt94]

I like the wider tyres and the wider steelies,but I don't think they look good on your Seicento. It' a very good looking stock car and the alu rim's where much better, Cinq sporting or Sei sporting rim's both are nice.

Unless you're going for a rat look slowly.

The Sporting rims did look good but I was starting to get a little bored of them & I wanted something with a deeper dish & these came up not too far from me & quite cheap too. I've always preferred steels over alloys, my Classic Mini has steels as well with 10 inch 1275 GT Rostyle's.

 

[Didge3]

I like the wheels FWIW but have never been a fan of black wheels, IMO they would look better in a bright silver

 

[FiatMatt94]

Good choice with the 131 centre caps. Wide arch kit, next??

I thought so too it's something different, I'm not too keen on wide arch kits personally I prefer as wide as you can go with stock arches although I had to roll the rears so they wouldn't scrape. Next is engine work as we know there's not much you can do with an 899 but I've been thinking of a few things which would help it, I've managed to get hold of a exhaust manifold from a A112/Panda 4x4 965cc for just £23 which looks similar to the 899 but is slightly different internally as the 965 has 2 ports on the downpipe side instead of 1 like the 899 & the Panda 965 downpipe is a twin pipe at the top so in theory this setup on the 899 would basically be a 4-2-1 & the shape, bends, length of the Panda 965cc downpipe look identical to the 899 pipe apart from not having a lambda hole, being a twin pipe at the top, even the flange where it would connect to the cat looks the same, I was thinking of a A112 Abarth manifold but it would be a pain to put the lambda in as where it goes into 1 at the bottom there wouldn't be enough room to install the lambda so the 965 pipe would be a lot easier as the lambda could sit where it does now. Then it'll be head work, bigger throttle body etc I have a strut brace to go on as well just need to trim the bracket for the coolant reservoir & slightly trim the ECU bracket for it to sit properly.

 

[FiatMatt94]

I like the wheels FWIW but have never been a fan of black wheels, IMO they would look better in a bright silver

That will probably be the plan at some stage when I get bored of the black but they were black when I picked them up & when I offered them up to the car they looked quite good so for now as I'm having to watch the pennies a bit I just sanded them back & rattle canned them in the colour they came in just to make them more presentable for the time being on the cheap.

 

[FiatMatt94]

Well happy new year to all, not too much to report on the car, it drove me done from Cheshire to Surrey & back recently to see my dad. My dad fitted the new Momo boss & new steering wheel whilst I was there & the 13 inch wheel is a big improvement & all has been ok until a few days ago when I started to notice white smoke followed by the sweet anti freeze smell so had a look around the engine bay at the oil & coolant, no oil & coolant mixing, no boiling over etc so I then looked around the head where I saw a couple of oil leaks from the back of the head gasket & it looks like it's been there for a little while so I've ordered everything to change it including the head gasket kit itself, all new bolts, new fan switch as the existing one doesn't cut in until 100 degrees which is a bit high for my liking so a 87-92 degree switch from a Panda is going in as the connector is the same & I've decided when I get the head skimmed I'm going to have it ported & polished a bit, I've also bought some Fiat 850 Sport/Autobianchi A112 Abarth double valve springs & my 32mm throttle body is pretty much ready to go on with all new sensors fitted etc just need to bore out the existing metal plate & spacer from 30mm to 32mm for it to be effective which I'll do when the head is being done, I've come across someone within walking distance who does just cylinder head work including skimming & apparently race prep along with decent prices so hopefully once the head is off I'll go & see them to see of they can do it

 

[icheatatscrabble]

Sorry to hear about the head gasket going. What mileage is the car on? 30-40000?
The head gasket on my Cinquecento Sporting blew at 40,000 miles and the guy I use to look after the Cinq and my 595 Comp, told me that back in the day when he worked at a Fiat dealer, a fair amount of Cinquecento Sportings at three years old would come in for a service, first MOT and would need the head gasket replaced .

Anyway I look forward to seeing what you achieve with your Seicento this year.

 

[FiatMatt94]

Sorry to hear about the head gasket going. What mileage is the car on? 30-40000?
The head gasket on my Cinquecento Sporting blew at 40,000 miles and the guy I use to look after the Cinq and my 595 Comp, told me that back in the day when he worked at a Fiat dealer, a fair amount of Cinquecento Sportings at three years old would come in for a service, first MOT and would need the head gasket replaced .

Anyway I look forward to seeing what you achieve with your Seicento this year.

That's a good guess it's just short of 35k, tomorrow is it's last local drive before I take it all apart as Chester cars & coffee is on tomorrow morning, I'm not too worried as it's a pushrod engine which makes it a bit easy, I was looking into A112 Abarth 70 hp heads but they seem to be anywhere between £500-£1000 & only available from Italy in which I didn't feel comfortable in handing over that sort of money for something unseen so my dad suggested to me about opening up the existing head just a little as I still want to keep it reliable & fitting double valve springs as he used to do this with Mini's back in the 80's when he was young & he said just the double valve springs on their own were effective as he used to try things on a "trail & error" basis the valve springs were the most expensive part at £120 but I'm leaving all the head stuff to the pros as I'll have it skimmed, ported & polished so I'll get them to fit the springs whilst it's being done, here's my new steering wheel, the boss is genuine Momo but the wheel itself came from Temu & is actually quite nice to use

At some stage I'm planning on a A112 Abarth 70 hp camshaft as you can buy them brand new for less than £200 but it's an engine out job so I'm thinking if I can find myself a garage local this year it'll be off the road just for the winter months at the end of 2026 to do that, paint all the engine up etc & a few little odds & sods, I'm also thinking of getting pre facelift Seicento Sporting seats as well & who knows what else I'll achieve this year I'll keep the progress updates on here