General Cinq Abarth Project 1.4 16v

[woj]

Moving the pivot point to make a short shift gear stick is very common in Poland on Cinqs, folks are even selling spare pivot-balls (if I only knew what is the right term for this). The side problem with this solution though is that a good cabin shake pulls the gear out

 

[SpreadLegsNotLies]

Yeah I had to fit a pivot ball version to a citroen saxo WOJ moved more lever bellow the ball to shorten the throw then we extended the lever with a piece of bar to get the height back up. Really good quality and great price too.

 

[Ties1992]

https://www.tricolorenl.nl/fiat-cinquecento-bonalume-short-shifter-xl5-1085?search=cinquecento

Is also an option

 

[J333EVO]

You could say our system is a cheap version of one of these beauties.

http://www.shop.cae-racing.de/index.php?k=2&lang=eng

An example of their Megane RS 250/265 system

 

[SpreadLegsNotLies]

Yeah I bet those two have a huge price tag aswel haha. I'll stick with your version ?I just wondered why you didn't just extend the box arms to reduce the throw instead is all.

In my case moving the whole assembly inside will give me room to move the exhaust up into the tunnel giving better ground clearance so I'm gona give it a go.

Those bits you posted ties1992 are they arms to fit on the box or to extend the arms already on the box?

 

[J333EVO]

Yeah I bet those two have a huge price tag aswel haha. I'll stick with your version ?I just wondered why you didn't just extend the box arms to reduce the throw instead is all.

In my case moving the whole assembly inside will give me room to move the exhaust up into the tunnel giving better ground clearance so I'm gona give it a go.

Those bits you posted ties1992 are they arms to fit on the box or to extend the arms already on the box?

It's not just about having a quicker and more precise shift, it's about moving the gearstick closer to the steering wheel reducing the time your hand is off the steering wheel. Look at the CAE systems fitted and see how much closer the whole assembly is. Many require cutting of dash boards to accommodate them.

 

[SpreadLegsNotLies]

No I understand you wanted it closer but that could easily be acheived with a gearstick extender. Not sure how well the lift reverse would work but I'd guess a little link rod, something like on the door lock mechanisms would work to lengthen that.

 

[J333EVO]

MGear stick extenders are common on Honda products, but they have a screw fitment on the top for the gear knob making it easy. The Cinq has no screw fitting and it's bad enough finding any sort of gear knob to fit since OMP or Sparco stopped making the special Cinq specific gear knob adaptor.

And as you have pointed out the reverse shift adaptor could prove to be an issue.

Having worked in the 500 Abarth Trofeo's, Abarth themselves did a similar solution by fitting a floor mounted H pattern shifting box from a Punto raised on a metal box made to purpose rather than extend the shaft itself as you then have to consider the fulcrum point being changed. The further away you are from that point the more movement you need to make.

By all means try it differently and me amongst others would be interested to see the results as alternative solutions for cars not as extreme as ours may be merited by others. You have to remember by moving the shift inside the car will not make it any quicker in action just closer to your hand. You'll still need to either change the shift cable points like we did or do it at the gearbox end.

 

[J333EVO]

It has been a long time since I looked at the Cinq, but a member asked if I’d take some pictures of the gearchange. So I opened the car up and snapped away.

I hope that the pics meet your requirements and helps in your own project.

I’ve tried to show where the cables enter the car, inside, couldn’t really take a pic from engine bay but it’s above the steering rack.

And show where the pivot point on the top cable was moved and welded higher up the shaft to shorten the fore and aft through without making it shorter across the gate making the gears easy to find and lessening the chance of selecting the wrong gear.

And the reverse inhibitor which is just a simple hinged alloy plate.

 

[arc]

Hello there! Good to hear you've still got it, what else is in the garage these days?

 

[blu73]

Hello there! Good to hear you've still got it, what else is in the garage these days?

I have tried to convince him to sell me it many times, he's always about to get round to sorting it though lol.

Whats with all you old members popping up all of a sudden anyway.. Hey did you know Chi's old boothatch is still kicking around, still with the 8v badge and on a 16v car lol.

 

[Brooky]

I've still got Chii's p75 engine and map on my megasquirt. Shes still lives on in some way :slayer:

 

[mrcinquecento]

Whats with all you old members popping up all of a sudden anyway..

I think it's just summer approaching and we're all either brushing back up on things or considering new projects

 

[arc]

I have tried to convince him to sell me it many times, he's always about to get round to sorting it though lol.

Whats with all you old members popping up all of a sudden anyway.. Hey did you know Chi's old boothatch is still kicking around, still with the 8v badge and on a 16v car lol.

Yep, I saw that

8V.. psyche

 

[J333EVO]

Hello there! Good to hear you've still got it, what else is in the garage these days?

Hi Arc,

Long time no hear.

The garage hasn’t changed much tbh. I’ve still got my integrale, MK5 Golf R32, and of course the Cinq.

My daily though may cause concern.

It’s the new MINI Clubman Cooper (F54) that was my first brand new car in September. And unlike my last Clubman (R55) isn’t even based on a MINI but a BMW 2 series. It’s big, as big as the Golf if not bigger. I also returned to petrol after two diesels the 3 cylinder turbo intrigued me and after driving it I liked it, as it’s responsive, smooth and sounds nice from outside as its ridiculously quiet inside. When you do 18,000 miles a year I need something reliable, enjoyable, plus some nice tech like sat nav with traffic and app integration for music etc

And as Jon Emma’s Dad has a VW Up GTi on order for delivery this September, some wait as he ordered it the first day you could place an order, his 500 Abarth will go. It was one of the first UK deliveries in 2009 and only has 32,000miles on it. He is also keen to get the Cinq running again to allow him entry to Italian car shows. So you never know it may happen this summer after all!

It needs some new seats, harnesses with bar welded in to suit, brake discs and pads, wiper blades, flush and replace all fluids and maybe tyres and that’s it.

 

[J333EVO]

How is this for a thread resurrection. This thread was started by Emma back in 2008. We still have the car. It has sadly sat unused outside for 10 years, wheels back and forward now and again to jet wash the detritus off it.

Therefore we thought it was past due to drag it into Emma’s Dads garage. First we needed a major reshuffle involving a skip, a new 10ft by 8ft shed with racking to replace the 30+ y/o falling in on itself, and floor the attic area of the garage to free up loads of space.

So far we’ve removed the doors, rear windows, seats etc and engine will come out next before we put it on the roll-jig and get good access underneath as some rust has been having fun in the absence of anyone paying the car much attention.

 

[BlueDan]

Ah, that's making me miss my (standard 1.1) Cinq now, to an extent. Maybe just a first car thing.

(Nobody tell the Panda parked outside)

My 1998 model had similar rust in the boot, though not to that extent, to be fair it was 14 so the rustproofing Fiat implemented worked up to a point. At the very least it lasted longer than the sills on my dad's MG F. ?

 

[Hansen_DK]

Few thread-revivals are good news ... this is one of them

 

[dave]

Great news Kev not many left now.

 

[J333EVO]

Good to hear from you Pete ��