General any advice gratefully received

[skylabbro]

Hi, my name is Luigi and my story with the great Fiat 500 began many years ago as a small child when visiting family in the south of Italy.
Many years later, as well as a 10000 word university dissertation and owning a Fiat Bambina car, an original New Zealand version from 1966, I am now the proud owner of a Fiat 500 L from 1972.

As previous experience and talking to many people who own classic cars has taught me, they can be money pits and you need to know what you can afford to spend.
Ideally I would love to convert mine to an electric motor but a minimum spend of £15K is too much for me at the moment so I would like to try and improve the car so I can drive it much more than the previous car I had, which was only driven maybe once a month, which in hindsight was a shame.

Any advice or opinions gratefully acknowledged as I am not very mechanically minded but willing to learn

1)
is it worth soundproofing the engine bay ie using Lizard Skin or other soundproofing spray foams that can be painted over?
Obviously the car is very loud in comparison to today's cars wondering if this would help - if anyone has any experience of doing this or anything similar

2)
Upgrading to front disc brakes: Replaced the outdated, inadequate factory drum brakes with a modern, aftermarket front disc brake kit costing roughly £1,200.
is this easy to do and has anyone done it- also best place to buy parts in UK - Ricambi? Auto Bella?

3)
Converting to a dual brake system: Overhauled the single-circuit hydraulics into a dual-circuit setup to isolate the front and rear lines for modern safety standards. Is this easy to do again best place to buy parts?

4)
Overhauling the steering assembly: Stripped and replaced worn steering components to eliminate massive "play" and vague handling.

Installed a new steering box: Fitted a fresh steering gearbox alongside new tie rods, track ends, and idlers to ensure sharp, responsive tracking.

5)
Stripped and rebuilt the engine:
Disassembled the tiny air-cooled powerplant to inspect and renew its internals for maximum reliability.

6)
Overhauled the suspension and brakes:
Refurbished the entire undercarriage braking setup and suspension components to guarantee safe handling.

7)
Applied a heavy coat of wax oil treatment underneath the car to ensure the thin Italian steel never rusts away again.


8)
Refurbished the steering and suspension: Stripped down and replaced worn mechanical undercarriage parts to return the car to its nimble, original handling.

obviously not being a- blessed with a full wallet and b - not a mechanic

I want to try and get this done a bit at a time but so I can pay and drive the car also

thankfully i have a mechanic round the corner from me that owns a few classic cars and hopefully he will be able to work on the car

again any suggestions gratefully received

 

[giardini]

My first reaction is that the 500 is perhaps the prime classic vehicle choice that need NOT be a money pit (after about 25 yrs' ownership).
A well cared-for, strictly original car is immensely enjoyable and safe to drive, at least if you avoid crashing it.
All the performance upgrades are where the money pit starts, it's a choice to go there.
For noise relief nothing beats opening the top, which discourages driving it in the rain, which goes a long way to prevent rust.
If you accept it for what it is and was, a cheap minimalist car, it's a masterpiece.

 

[skylabbro]

My first reaction is that the 500 is perhaps the prime classic vehicle choice that need NOT be a money pit (after about 25 yrs' ownership).
A well cared-for, strictly original car is immensely enjoyable and safe to drive, at least if you avoid crashing it.
All the performance upgrades are where the money pit starts, it's a choice to go there.
For noise relief nothing beats opening the top, which discourages driving it in the rain, which goes a long way to prevent rust.
If you accept it for what it is and was, a cheap minimalist car, it's a masterpiece.

100% agree as mentioned I would like to drive this car a lot more than my previous one and I think I would have more confidence doing this if it was maybe brought up to date slightly by making some improvements - again depending on how much I can afford - I don't want a concourse car but a decent usable one - think that is where the money can go if you are chasing a concourse show car

 

[giardini]

I think I understand what you're after, "decent usable" could me my own motto - certainly not Pebble Beach stuff.
My meaning is that standard, well set-up and looked after components are remarkably inexpensive for the 500, and will get you "decent usable".
Original drums a lot cheaper than discs, points cheaper than EI, etc... As for striving for modern safety standards in one particular area, I kind of like to
be reminded of its eggshell nature at all times, that's just me.
I get what you're after, "driving it a lot", I'm all for it. I drove mine like a maniac early in my ownership, then came to think of it as a "special pleasure".
Whatever you decide you'll get primo advice on this forum (I don't mean from me), maybe just take it one step at a time is my suggestion.
Best of luck !

 

[MalcolmfromMoffat]

I would advise sourcing spare parts (standard fitment ones) that you can refurbish at your leisure and fit when you’re happy you’ve got them correct. This would ensure your can has as little down time as possible. The one exception to this might be the steering box especially if your car is RHD as they are rare to source. Having just rebuilt mine it’s certainly an easy enough job to do but I’d only strip one down if it was leaking. if it’s just play in the movement this can be adjusted insitu. Anyway, there’s no better way to learn than getting hands on but if you can reduce risk or urgency I would try to work that into the plan.

 

[the hobbler]

I would advise sourcing spare parts (standard fitment ones) that you can refurbish at your leisure and fit when you’re happy you’ve got them correct. This would ensure your can has as little down time as possible. The one exception to this might be the steering box especially if your car is RHD as they are rare to source. Having just rebuilt mine it’s certainly an easy enough job to do but I’d only strip one down if it was leaking. if it’s just play in the movement this can be adjusted insitu. Anyway, there’s no better way to learn than getting hands on but if you can reduce risk or urgency I would try to work that into the plan.

The 500 is, and was always designed to be, a very simple car, with very few 'frills'. Set up properly, the standard drum brake system is quite adequate unless one REALLY enhanced the performance. One way to improve the brakes is to fit "126" corners all round the car---the brakes are bigger, and the front hub bearings are much bigger. This will however require a change of wheels due to the wheel-bolt pattern (pcd) being very different between the 500 and a 652cc (mk 2) 126--it is a very simple swap. I am a bit ambiguous regarding fitting front discs (rear are a waste of time and money on a "road-use-only car) when the original size wheels/tyres are fitted, as the power of the discs can overpower the "road-grip" ability of the standard tyres, especially in adverse conditions. Even though I have discs on the front of my car (5-1/2in wide tyres), i have found that the 'single-circuit' brake system to be perfectly adequate. If the steering box is not leaking, as "malcolmfrommoffat" advises, just get the play adjusted out. RHD steering boxes CAN be found, but they are thin on the ground.
In my opinion, from personal experience with the companies, Motobambino and Ricambio (note--RicamBIO---NOT RicamBI) along with Middle Barton garage are the best UK suppliers--ther ara a;so a number of European Companies who give good parts supply.
With regard to 'overhauling the engine---how much money do you want to spend. I am in the process of overhauling a 500D engine (for somebody else) and I have easily spent £2,000 ON PARTS---they are NOT the cheapest engine to PROPERLY overhaul
I agree, the 500/126 engine IS noisy by modern standards---but if you want a quiet car (a) you don't purchase a car with an air-cooled engine, and (b) you don't buy a Fiat 500!
All the best with your project, but I think that you need to sit down and dscide EXACTLY what you want to achieve, and your available budget for the [roject.

 

[stocky]

Lungi, I've had half a dozen 500s over the years and a couple of 600s so I sort of know what I want from my car.
My latest I've had nearly a year and is a rhd fitted with a 650 engine and synchro box, the best mod you can do imo.
It had been slightly lowered and I've uprated the front brakes to discs for slightly better braking, remains on the original single master cylinder which is fine.
At the moment I'm fitting new seat covers so it's a nice place to be.
I'm then looking to enjoy it while the weather holds.
Will Lanoguard it underneath before end of summer for protection.
Sometimes it's better to decide what you want your car to be and purchase one near that spec as it can be more cost effective.

 

[Pete O]

It may be worth noting that a dual-circuit brake hydraulic system doesn't improve braking performance; it is intended to build redundancy into the system so that if there is, say, a burst hydraulic line to one wheel, this doesn't put the entire braking system out of action as the other half of the brake system will still work. Modifying an early brake system to provide this redundancy might result in worse braking performance by losing the correct balance between front and rear.