General Engine performance

[suarezhy500F]

Team 500,

I have a 1968 500F, having some issues going up hill... changed the weber 26 to a weber 28 and not much difference. Now i'm thinking of adding the electronic fuel injection but haven't decided. Have any of you ever done it or know someone that has done it? or is anyone having issues going up hill?

Thank you!

 

[FR85]

Depending on the gradient of the hill they may never fare well.

Let us know what kind of a hill were talking about and your driving style.

 

[the hobbler]

May I suggest that you go through all the basic engine checks first, including a compression test, before you contemplate fitting an expensive fuel injection system--and it WILL be expensive. Even fitting the fuel-injection system won't radically improve the performance of the engine if there is something fundamentaly wrong with it. Without fully 'porting' the head of a 500 (or 126) little benefit will be gained--they are not noted for their 'breathing' capability. ALL basic 500s will struggle with a long hill. As FR85 has asked--what sort of hill are you talking about, and what load have you got in the car. A lot of Italians live in hilly terain, and they managed to get along fine with the 500 and its meagre performance. Nobody, but nobody buys a 500 to get anywhere quickly---you have to learn to love its quirks, and just ambling along enjoying the view is one of them!

 

[Bounding Bambino]

Efi on a 500 wont do much unless you have a large slew of upgrades done to accommodate increased and precision fueling.


Like Hobbler mentioned, do the basics first, compression test, maybe some new plugs, etc. Then go from there.

Is your 500 stock, or has it been modified to you understanding?

Around my neck of the woods, the 500 is all about momentum driving. It can sustain decent speeds up certain hills, but if your starting from a stop or low speed, your gonna be stuck doing 30-50km/h depending on grade.

I can say i did once do around 85km/h up a steep hill, but the hill i went down before it was twice as tall.

 

[Fayray]

yes, momentum is key. Don't pull over to let traffic pass if you're on a steep section. It'll speed up their journey but dramatically slow yours down lol

 

[fiat500]

The 500 is not all that slow; I'm currently driving a fully laden, 2.4 litre motorhome around the North of England and used first gear on hills several times yesterday......the same things apply......don't lose momentum and change down early.

 

[Toshi 975]

Team 500,

I have a 1968 500F, having some issues going up hill... changed the weber 26 to a weber 28 and not much difference. Now i'm thinking of adding the electronic fuel injection but haven't decided. Have any of you ever done it or know someone that has done it? or is anyone having issues going up hill?

Thank you!

One of the big UK Fiat parts suppliers said some years ago that the only possible effect of fitting a 28IMB on a 500 engine might be to use more petrol. To have any chance of this helping performance at the very least you would need to open up the inlet port to 30mm diameter and use a 126 spacer. You can do tuning in stages with the cylinder head being the most difficult and probably expensive. Larger inlet valves and fully ported should do the trick. You can raise compression by having the head skimmed and / or use a thin copper head gasket. A sport exhaust and hotter cam will complete the equation.