Technical Fiat 127 London to Mongolia

[rbroen07]

Hi All

This summer, I will be driving from London to Mongolia together with 3 friends, in a fiat 127 mkIII from 1984 that we bought in february 2014.

www.lottetarp.com

The car needs a couple of modifications in order to survive the trip.

My biggest concern is the rear suspension. When we fit 5 grown up men in the car, the shocks almost travel to the bottom due to the weight. We will only be 4 guys on the trip but we will load it with equipment, roofrack, jerrycans spare tyres etc.

So basically my first question are, how do you accommodate for this? It has leaf springs in the rear, and i have read that there are several ways of lifting/raising these.

Spring over axel, elongated spring shackles og maybe even put rubber stops on the shocks?

Any recommendations on this?



I would also like to install a bull guard / front bumper guard, like the one you see on the classic 4x4 pandas. Any ideas?


Any other mods that could be usefull for a trip like this are much welcome.

Best regards

Rasmus Brøndum
lottetarp.com

 

[F123C]

Maybe the rear spring from the Fiat 127 Fiorino van (light commercial) can be fitted to help carry the load ?. Or add an additional leaf to the existing spring ?
Having owned Fiat 127's in the past, I would suggest a careful check of the chassis rails at the rear over the spring, they often rust and then crack under load !!!
If you want to know which areas of a Fiat 127 need to be strengthened, try to find someone who has rallied one.
Best of luck in your endeavours,
Al.