500 (Classic) New Canadian Bambino!

[Bounding Bambino]

I cant believe a month has flew by with work, and the 500 taking all of my free time.
Ive honestly been flying thru the progress on the 500, but it takes time to backup all my photos and find a hour+ to write up a progress report.
So, next on the docket was:
Electrical:

I had purchased a compete new wiring harness for the car about a year ago in one of my part orders. Thing was the 500F harness was out of stock everywhere then. I had did a bit of comparing between the F and D harness diagrams and they looked very similar overall. The D was the one that was available in a "Premium" designation, so i bit the bullet and grabbed that knowing that it would be the base for expansions and upgrades as well.
Little did i know choosing the D harness over the F was a wise choice. It was about 3-4 weeks ago when i dug deep into the harness and whatnot. But i will say that the Series 1F cars have more to do with the proper wiring and layout to the D cars, then it does to the 2F cars. The fuse holder and way that the feeds and such are run are completely different between the 2 and its important to make sure if you do upgrade your harness. To get the proper one based on your fuse block layout. The only major issue that the D harness had fitting into the 1F, is the door courtesy light wiring was layout to go near the back of the door instead at the front due to the suicide style hinges. Not a big deal imo.

I modified the harness to fit the upgraded alternator (dynamo Delete), along with re-routing wiring for changes in pedal brake light switch, and a few upgrades i wanted to do (adding a relay to the horn circuit to prevent heavy arcing on horn switch), and adding wiring for the 126 style electric washer tank w/push button. I was planning to use the original fuse block, however i had a change of mind and decided to upgrade it to a 8 bank ATC style fuse holder made by hella. With a custom 3d printed bracket i was able to install it into the original holders mounting tabs. As well as adding the 7th "protection fuse" that to me seemed like a miss-design on the behalf of the original circuit. One of the primary circuits has no fuse protection on the 500, and can imo be a fire hazard. I can get into details if folks want more info. I would need to look at the diagram to refresh myself.

The fun side of the electrical was the compete sub accessory unit i made to power and feed all the accessories so no additional strain was put onto the factory harness. This new block provided power to the stereo system, gauges, accessory power, usb ports, dash cam, fuel pump, autodim interior light module, with room for expansion. I was able to fab up a small mounting plate that fit perfectly behind the passenger side dash panel.
I picked up this cool universal programmable auto dimming module, it tied along with the LED interior light modification it did turned out pretty cool. Your able to wifi connect to it and adjust dim speed, dim delay, along with other misc settings. It was made by a company called timers.shop. Might be an interesting part for other vintage upgrade enthusiasts.

It started off as a wiring spaghetti, but everything got loomed, and hidden. unfortunately no photo yet lol.

Small upgrades such as electronic flash module and upgrading the panel lights to led were also done. Warm white led for the dim driving "accent" lights were a nice touch. Along with all philips led marker, signal and brake lights. Fyi the hood wasnt closed in that photo, i can attest, that it closes flush when clipped down

The battery was the next big hurdle. I had always wanted to try one of the new light weight lithium packs. Finally in 2023 they have come down to a price that was somewhat justifiable. I wanted LiFePO4 due to safety, and they do provide great weight savings. I picked up 2x Noco NLP20 cells, rated at 600A each, but unfortunately only 7Ah each. LiFePO4 is very safe chemistry, unfortunately the drawback is lower power density. I do plan to occasionally just run the radio, and wanted a bit more reserve for such occasions. 2 packs in series would give me approx 14Ah capacity wihich would be more then adequate, with a super overkill 1200A of cranking capability. I made a small UHMW holder on the CNC and made a neat little cradle to house the 2 cells with marine disconnect for storage. Next time ill try and hunt down some black UHMW so it doesn't look overly "prototype-ish". All new 2Gauge wire run thru out for the starter. The whole twin battery pack weighs just under 10lbs.

Engine:

It was nearly time to install the engine into the car, but with one small task to be done, the throttle linkage. I had been pondering how to do it, and looking up examples online. All my own ideals turned into a overly complicated assembly which required substantial machining and fab, along with calculating pedal travel, angular movements and all the fun in between.. I decided to do a hybrid of original and new. I drilled the spot welds and took off the original throttle lever, filled the holes, and designed kind of a bridge hybrid linkage setup for the carb. Kept the original cable holder and with some new ball joints & threaded rod, it was up and running in no time.

Spent a day and installed the engine into the car, install went darn near flawless. Installed a "sport" engine suspension spring. Only one semi major issue was my exhaust system. I dont know how i measured wrong, or where the mistake happened, but there was no way i was able to fit the down pipe and clear the rear bumper panel. I spent 2 days modifying the exhaust spacing, and was able to "wing it" and do a darn near modification free fitment to the rear bumper fascia; just adding a small clearance cut on the bottom flange of the panel. Honestly the exhaust ended up fitting better the 2nd time and i was able to snug up the bends and make it look ultra-pro. A quick polish of the tip was in order, along with a even wrapping of gold DEI titanium exhaust wrap to help keep engine bay temps down. I cant think but laugh at a 2-1/2" exhaust pipe on this engine But there is definetly some flow comming out when shes singing.

OOPS

Fuel:
Nothing too fancy to report regarding the fuel system, i ran all dual 6AN line and fittings thru the car. If i ever go efi, i have a return feed ready to use, and just have it capped off for now. I did change the design slightly. The section that runs thru the center tunnel and inside the car i used pfte braided line. Typically rubber lines weep vapors and you can smell fuel thru the rubber lines when run inside the car, the ptfe doesn't have this issue. Reason i didn't all run PTFE was they don't have it available in the nice black and red braid. So PTFE where it matters, and rubber where esthetics matter.

Im sure there are things i missed, but who doesn't like photos

Ill get into the interior work and gauge pods next update,

 

[ben]

That color is lovely!

 

[the hobbler]

That color is lovely!

As ever Jacques, VERY impressed by your level of workmanship---makes me somewhat embarressed re. my very simple car!

 

[PeachsGarage]

Fantastic update! This is such an amazing build with tons of attention to detail. I love it. Can't wait to see it in final form!

I'm sure I'll be contacting you about electronics details when I get to that point.

Keep up the great work!

 

[Bounding Bambino]

Wow another month and a half.

Well the car is finally coming to an end. There is still a few things to progressively finish. But the main bulk is wrapping up. I had to quickly re-read my last post to see where i left you all at


Here is a few photos of the finalized battery setup, disconnect, etc. Been using it for the past months, been flawless, and super light weight.

Also finished the fuel tank, gave it the traditional finish

Interior:

Finished up majority of the interior, got the seat belts installed and adjusted. A similar fire red to match the seats. I had to order the rear belts from a different supplier, a aviation company was one of the slim pickings i had for a simple red lap belt for the rear, the red is slightly off to the front, but its better then nothing; it finishes off the look, but not like they will ever really get used anyways.

The gauge pods was my next project. Finding an adequate spot to mount gauges is hard in the 500 if you want to still keep and save the center storage pocket. After a bit of contemplation. I found 2 solutions to fitting 6 gauges (fuel, RPM, temp, volts, AFR, oil pressure). A few prototypes and test fits got the lean angle just right, and i was able to print 2 pods that allow full viewing while driving without being in the way. Wrapped them in some left over anthracite alcantara from one of my other cars, and finished them off with a matching red stitching. The center steering wheel pod also has a push button for the washer fluid bag (upgraded it to a 126 fluid bag which has an electric pump). It also had a dimming moduel inside with a side knob so i can dim the backlighting at night, it also controls the backlight brightness on the speedometer. All the gauges were auto meter chrono series gauges which have a vintage style look along with a analog afr gauge. The tach was a Defi brand which had a similar look to the autometer, was the smallest tach i could find that would also allow 1-8 cylinder compatibility.

Audio:
Typically a classic car like this and a audio system are in 2 different planets. The 500 has nearly no space for anything inside, and no way was i going to drill or cut any holes for speakers. But nothing is better then enjoying your classic car and enjoying some music as well. There had to be a clever way to add modern audio & bluetooth, without any obvious signs. I can get into more detail once i finish the system. But a company called Dayton Audio, makes these audio transducers that turn surfaces into speakers, i had played with their products in the past. They have a magnitude of products in this category, but i went with 2 models of their "high powered" transducer. In total there is 8x 40w 4ohm exciters. 2 per side on the rear panels with an aluminum backer on the plastic trim (went thru a few revisions, aluminum panel bonded to plastic trim currently). And 2 per side in the front doors with new aluminum backers. Again i wont go into much detail yet, there's actually some interesting acoustic design and planning for these transducers. But these units tied with the kenwood M3004 4x75w compact amp, makes for a significantly overkill system for the little car. Just the way i like it
Oh and to top it off, i added a compact kenwood slim sub SW11 under the passenger seat, and it is more then i would have expected. Out of sight until you need it. Im not brand loyal at all, but it just seemed to be a all kenwood setup for the little car.

Brakes:
Nothing super awesome to report, actually quite the opposite. Did all the brake lines, no major issues there, a good afternoon spend with the bender and flare tool, and all went decently well.

The front rotors/pads is where the frustration started. Long story short, im not thrilled in this brake kit, yes it seems to be the highest performance one on the market for the 500, which retains nearly original offset, and has an insane 4 piston caliper and uses the same pads as my vintage benz. But the final fit and finish were not up to my standards. Now that the car has had a few hundred feet of fwd/back movement, it was time to re-torque the wheel bearings and get everything finally snugged. Thats when the issues began, simply put, the brackets that bolt the calipers to the hubs were not properly finished/machined and caused some interference issues with the caliper and rotor. This kit literally has minimal clearances in some spots, and others were full on contact and caused misalignment and rubbing. I had to adjust parts of the bracket to clear the spindles, and change countersinks, and hardware to properly clear the rotors, along with re-powdercoating the brackets after clearing. Not something i would expect from such an expensive part as this. I hope axel gerstl and their supplier of this brake kit see this thread. This brake kit issue along with the front a-arm issues i had, im not thrilled at all about. At least its all safe and usable now. heck, even trying to bleed the front calipers is nearly impossible. They have the front half bleed fitting in a nearly impossible place to access with a spanner when trying to bleed. Stupid design imo.

Suspension:
With the car finally "technically" drive-able, i took it for a quick spin down the road, and a few laps around the yard. After a few weeks the suspension started to level out, but the back was still up in the air. Again these "logotech" progressive springs, were supposed to sit 30mm lower then stock. But they definitely were not, and actually sitting at stock, if not higher then stock. A good evening many hours of selective words i was able to cut about 1/2 a spring loop out, get the rest pads all situated, and after a few days and a few test drives, the rear suspension seems to have settled exactly where i was expecting it. I dont know what kind of steel these springs were made out of, but it would instantly dull quality bi-metallic saw blades. Only way i able able to cut the spirngs was with a set of 6 diamond dremel bits a bit of a time. I would of liked to have removed the springs to trim, but it literally would of ended up having to drop the engine, it was a compound of clearance issues with the new CV joints which were all final greases and installed.

Ill have the car officially on the road in a week, and it will allow me to put a few km on it, and finalize front toe-in and camber alignment
Ive been fiddling with the carburetor and jetting for the past 2 months, slowly getting progress. Engine sounds absolutely insane. I will have videos and photos up soon

 

[PeachsGarage]

Great attention to detail, as always! Very clever using the exciters on the door cards, I'd love to hear how it sounds!

Huge bummer about the brakes. I was looking at that option but opted for the other standard conversion kit. Hoping I don't run into as many problems!

Can't wait to see the final result! Hopefully you can post a video for us!

 

[Bounding Bambino]

Well, the car is successfully on the road. Ill get into the driving fun stuff at the end. Just a quick synopsis of the past month regarding wrapping up loose ends.

Interior:
Finally finished up the door panels, and got them in. It took a few tries to get the aluminum panel to fit just right, even though i did an identical stencil from a standard door card insert, the added leather thickness and foam required about a 1/8" removed from the top and bottom for a decent fit.

Audio wise, i am honestly extremely impressed. It might not win any prestigious sound quality completions, but it definitely rivals if not exceeds a factory audio system found in most mid sized new cars. The added sub under the passenger seat really gives that low end fill, and allows me to crossover the door speakers higher as these transducers really shine above 200hz. Only thing to note, and i forgot to do, and will definitely need to do eventually, is apply a thin felt film or fabric backer on the panels, especially on the doors. Certain high frequencies, typically from vocals cause odd vibrations between the aluminum panel, and what sounds like it contacting the internal reinforcement webbing that is part of the door stamping. To test i was able to shove some paper towels behind the door card from the edge and it canceled the rattles, but the papers have fallen into the door. It was a bit of a challenge to get the door cards installed and i had to use some interior pry tools as to not damage the leather or door paint, but the aluminum is much more rigid then the flimsy cardboard originals lol. IIRC i was going to go with 0.100" sheet 12 gauge, but due to availability issues, went with the gauge down (14 gauge 0.08), and it worked much better.


Although not in the photos, the pull handles also are installed, and looks
Ill snap some beauty photos soon for all to enjoy. Fall will definitely have some great opportunities

I still need to build a center console unit, but it will be a winter project more then likely. And install the door sill internal carpet trims eventually also.


Engine:
Other then carb tuning, the engine has been running great. I ended up reverting back to the factory style fan from the lightened sport fan. I was having an extremely odd cut out issue that began to show up but only after a spirited high speed sprint. Initially I thought i might have a overheating issue, and swapped the factory fan in; oil temps were still way in the safe zone, but i needed to remove unknown variables. The airflow even at idle is significantly more which is good piece of mind for now, especially during break in. I even swapped back from electronic to points incase it was an issue with the ignitor, but the issue still prevailed. Monitoring the O2 wide-band, i could see the engine randomly going super rich and cutting out. I spend hrs upon hrs fiddling with main jets, air jets, emulsion tubes, etc. And sometimes it would get better, sometimes worse, but this carb for some reason is really kicking my butt. It only rose its nasty habits only once the engine got to full temperature, and typically only after a few minutes at or near full throttle. Which is typically almost all the time to keep up with country road traffic. The engine might look the part, but it still isn't no powerhouse yet. Thru-out my tuning adventure, i noticed a leak that started to occur from the fuel inlet into the carb, which was very odd because the top hat for this Weber looks to be brand new. Unfortunately the fuel barbs are only press fit in, and started to weep fuel. Luckily i had a few npt threaded AN 6 fittings and tapped the carb to accept the AN style fittings. I had suspicions that the fuel pressure might be an issue, even though the engine never flooded at idle or mild use, the fact that the engine would die and AFR would go rich off the scale, lead me to believe there was sudden raw fuel ingress into the throttle body. The fuel pump i had was rated for carburetor use, but then again, rated pressures can vary for carb use, these little carbs probably don't like more then a few psi. Where as big v8's sometimes see/use 7-10psi. Luckily i had already plumed the car for a return loop (for potential EFI in the future). So i was able to quickly drill/tap/install a 2nd AN bung fitting. That seemed to have fixed the issue, it doesn't make any sense why fuel bowl overflow only happened once fully warmed up and during a spirited drive. I had checked float seat adjustments multiple times. Only thing i could notice is that there are vents in the top half of the float (obviously to allow atmosphere in/out), and that could be the only place for fuel overflow to flush its way into the intake. But why only at temp/higher rpm is besides me.

With that all said, this carb is being a serious pig to tune, its fueling is still allover the map thru out the rpm range. And im starting to suspect this might be too big of a carb for this displacement, and with that the plenum flow/venturi is not optimized for this overall setup. It will be perfect,then rich, then lean, then perfect. and varies significantly allover with various throttle positions and driving conditions im encountering with it. Ill get it tailored soon, i wish i could find a carb that is a size down in throttle opening with the same base footprint and see if higher velocity thru the venturis help with stabilizing the fuel ratios. Ive swapped so many main jets, air jets, emulsification tubes, and idle jets till the cows come home.

One thing im not happy with, and im pretty sure the issue is with the cam. This cam does not let the engine come to life until after 3500rpm. Which is fun for the first gear (you can really feel it pull above 3000), but the way the shift ratios are setup, and trying to keep max rpm's below 5000/5500. Every time you shift up, your back below the power band (~2500) on the next gear, and the whole experience kinda sucks lol. im going to try and hunt down a 35/75 cam and see if that will help with giving me better low end torque. With the stock crank, i dont want to push it too high. It sounds absolutely marvelous at high rpms, but i dont want to snap a crank lol.


The driving experience.
Although I am slightly disappointed in the power output of the engine; i get its not "racy" yet per-se with the stock valves and 540cc displacement for now. I am finally getting to enjoy the car after a near 3 year journey.

The colour combo, is what really gets everyone. The looks, the waves. What is it about the 500, that makes random people want to wave at you all the time?

The suspension, although a bit stiff in the front, the car handles like a literal go-cart. I did some mild camber and toe adjustments yesterday, and im really starting to get it dialed in. Only thing i wish is the 126 rack was a slightly faster ratio, but its still plenty nimble. The transmission took about 100km to loosen up, and shifts are getting much better. It was a tad stiff at first, but now all the forks and gears are meshing well. Ride height is settled, and exactly where i want it.

First week on the road i joined and took it to the Ontario Fiat Club for their summer bbq meet. It was the only classic 500 there, and was well liked by everyone attending. Some other awesome classics and new model Fiats there along with a few classic Alfa Romeos.

Still more to be done, and ill have a continued update soon

 

[Bounding Bambino]

Oh yea one last adventure.

Trims!

I might had mentioned earlier on i wanted to adhere the trims instead of drilling and mounting them to the car. I just couldn't let myself drill any holes in the car. I also had N/D series trim that i wanted to have a go and thought it looked good on a F from another car i saw online.

Thing is, at this point i didn't even want to glue any trims. It hit me a few days ago. Magnets, but not just any, high strength rare earth. Why not i though. I happen to have a few "high strength" commercial magnets i had left over from a job, and wouldn't you believe it, they fit the lower cladding trim almost perfectly. I slightly notched out the stainless trim, and was able to adhere the magnet inside the track, and its firmly attached to the car. I highly doubt these will come off in normal use. Great thing is, no holes!, and i can remove when doing waxes or polishes.

The upper N/D trims were different, smaller profile, and aluminum. I went thru my stash and also found the perfect size magnets and was able to fit them inside the profile also. They are just test fitted for now, i am going to get alot more magnets and see how it will hold up. So far, it takes some serious force to try and pop them off the car. If anyone tries to go down this path, you need to find some quality neodymium rare earth magnets; amazon specials do not have the strength sadly.

I added a small patch of automotive adhesive felt to the back side of the trims to prevent paint scratching.

A nifty win in my books so far

 

[the hobbler]

Oh yea one last adventure.

Trims!

I might had mentioned earlier on i wanted to adhere the trims instead of drilling and mounting them to the car. I just couldn't let myself drill any holes in the car. I also had N/D series trim that i wanted to have a go and thought it looked good on a F from another car i saw online.

Thing is, at this point i didn't even want to glue any trims. It hit me a few days ago. Magnets, but not just any, high strength rare earth. Why not i though. I happen to have a few "high strength" commercial magnets i had left over from a job, and wouldn't you believe it, they fit the lower cladding trim almost perfectly. I slightly notched out the stainless trim, and was able to adhere the magnet inside the track, and its firmly attached to the car. I highly doubt these will come off in normal use. Great thing is, no holes!, and i can remove when doing waxes or polishes.
View attachment 429442

View attachment 429443


The upper N/D trims were different, smaller profile, and aluminum. I went thru my stash and also found the perfect size magnets and was able to fit them inside the profile also. They are just test fitted for now, i am going to get alot more magnets and see how it will hold up. So far, it takes some serious force to try and pop them off the car. If anyone tries to go down this path, you need to find some quality neodymium rare earth magnets; amazon specials do not have the strength sadly.

View attachment 429444

I added a small patch of automotive adhesive felt to the back side of the trims to prevent paint scratching.

A nifty win in my books so far

Morning Jacques; Congratulations on getting the 'wee beastie' on the road. very clever idea regarding fitting the trim strips---I went the other way and decided to delete them (the 'L' only had them on the rocker panel). Would that be a Lotus Europa that I see just ahead of your Fiat in the garage? If so, you have almost the perfect pairing---the Fiat for rattling around the town and the Lotus for the open road blast.

 

[Goldnrust]

Woo! Congratulations on getting out on the road! It's got to feel good to be out there after all that hard work, and the cars looking great for it.

Don't worry about the teething problems you'll get to the bottom of them in no time. Carb tuning can be a bit of a pain, but you'll get there. Is there a known tuning process for the ICH carb?

For example in some carbs you do all your full throttle work first, tuning the main jet and air jet till it runs well across the whole range then after that you work backwards towards the smaller openings. On others, like the slide throttle carbs on my motorbike, you start tuning from idle upwards, first getting the bike to idle right then tuning the needle for good mid range throttle and this is done with the main jet actually removed, and then you get the full throttle stuff right.

Also, not meaning to be patronising, but I seem to remember you've got experience with injection previously, you'll never get a carb tuned to sit super close to our desired AFR across the whole rev range like you can with EFI, there's always an element of compromise.

My guess for your fuel pressure/flooding issue would be vibrations causing the needle to bounce on its seat and let extra fuel into the carb? The 500 engine is vibey and your carb is hard mounted to the cylinder head. I know when people mount side draught cars its good practice to use some form of softer coupling to suck up some of those vibrations.

It's a shame your cam isn't working out. It's always a bit of a gamble to select the right cam without lots of experience and data. Selfishly, as someone wondering about how different a 35/75 cam and a 40/80 would be, I look forward to hearing how different that feels if you got that route.

You mention keeping the revs to 5000/5500, the general consensus I've read is that 6000/6500 is 'safe' for a stock crank? Would taking it up to 6 allow you to drop back into the power band?

 

[the hobbler]

Woo! Congratulations on getting out on the road! It's got to feel good to be out there after all that hard work, and the cars looking great for it.

Don't worry about the teething problems you'll get to the bottom of them in no time. Carb tuning can be a bit of a pain, but you'll get there. Is there a known tuning process for the ICH carb?

For example in some carbs you do all your full throttle work first, tuning the main jet and air jet till it runs well across the whole range then after that you work backwards towards the smaller openings. On others, like the slide throttle carbs on my motorbike, you start tuning from idle upwards, first getting the bike to idle right then tuning the needle for good mid range throttle and this is done with the main jet actually removed, and then you get the full throttle stuff right.

Also, not meaning to be patronising, but I seem to remember you've got experience with injection previously, you'll never get a carb tuned to sit super close to our desired AFR across the whole rev range like you can with EFI, there's always an element of compromise.

My guess for your fuel pressure/flooding issue would be vibrations causing the needle to bounce on its seat and let extra fuel into the carb? The 500 engine is vibey and your carb is hard mounted to the cylinder head. I know when people mount side draught cars its good practice to use some form of softer coupling to suck up some of those vibrations.

It's a shame your cam isn't working out. It's always a bit of a gamble to select the right cam without lots of experience and data. Selfishly, as someone wondering about how different a 35/75 cam and a 40/80 would be, I look forward to hearing how different that feels if you got that route.

You mention keeping the revs to 5000/5500, the general consensus I've read is that 6000/6500 is 'safe' for a stock crank? Would taking it up to 6 allow you to drop back into the power band?

Having experienced using a standard crank to "6,000 and a bit", I can assure you that constantly revving the standard 500/126 crank over 6,000rpm is, to put it mildly, pushing your luck. I have the small part of my brocken crank on my work-bench to remind me to take the lead out of my right foot and watch the tacho! There was some correspobence on this forum by a gent who advised us that the his local 'rolling-road' said that his engine produced its maximum power at 6,200rpm---a short time later he was back onto the forum asking if anybody had a spare crank! I have a 40/80/80/40 cam in the (tuned) 650 '126' engine in the back of my 500, and limit the revs to 5,800rpm. When trying to obtain some acceleration figures the other day (0-60---21 secs) I found I got a better figure by changing gear at 5,200rpm

 

[Bounding Bambino]

Would that be a Lotus Europa that I see just ahead of your Fiat in the garage? If so, you have almost the perfect pairing---the Fiat for rattling around the town and the Lotus for the open road blast.

When i uploaded the photo i was wondering who would be the first to catch it. Yes it is a Europa, unfortunately not mine lol. It belongs to a good friend of mine, and its in the shop for a brake system overhaul/upgrade along with a few odds and ends to get it reliability back onto the road (cooling system upgrades and some basic engine tlc. Surprisingly a very light car and interesting structural chassis design also. Looking forward to taking it for a test drive when done.

 

[the hobbler]

When i uploaded the photo i was wondering who would be the first to catch it. Yes it is a Europa, unfortunately not mine lol. It belongs to a good friend of mine, and its in the shop for a brake system overhaul/upgrade along with a few odds and ends to get it reliability back onto the road (cooling system upgrades and some basic engine tlc. Surprisingly a very light car and interesting structural chassis design also. Looking forward to taking it for a test drive when done.

When I was in my "yoof" I used to work in a Lotus garage workshop---so long ago that I was helping take the 'kits' off the delivery truck and hump them into the showroom. Even with 'just' the original Renault in the back, they were surprisingly quick (for their day). Road holding was superb, but when they DID let go (reat-engine inertia) boy, you better have plenty of space around you because at that stage you are going QUICK! I have seen the original engine replaced with modern engines from Ford, Vauxhall and even Toyota. When you take it for the "test-drive" you will see what I mean, and have a hoot---gear-change can be a bit "rubbery"

 

[Bounding Bambino]

Even with 'just' the original Renault in the back, they were surprisingly quick (for their day). Road holding was superb

So. the Lotus finally left the other day, alot more work then planned, almost entire brake system was revamped, along with other mechanical gremlins. But your right Tom, it honestly is surprisingly quick. Weighing in at only a few hundred kg more then the fiat, it definitely didn't feel like any slouch. The shifter feedback and feel definitely leaves alot to be desired. I did however find it much more claustrophobic then the 500 inside lol.

Small update on the 500. With fall coming to a close, its nearly time for another hibernation for the little one. Ive taken the odd opportunity on nice days to take it for a spin. Ive logged about 350km on it so far, however the speedometer seems to be reading about 15% high. I had replaced the speedometer output gear box on the transmission as the original was missing a part. Made sure to get the same part number, but something is off. Ill look at it in the spring.

I guess i will do a quick breakdown of issues then end in a high note with some beauty shots .

Carb: The Weber 32 ICH is driving me up the wall. I have thrown almost every combination of main jet, idle jet, air jet, accel-pump checkvalve jets, emulsion tube and cant for the life of me get this thing tuned properly. Easily ive had it apart 30 times testing and tuning, trying base setup tunes from the Weber tuning book everything.. And getting things close, then falling off a edge. Ive come to the possible conclusion that this carb might just be too big for the flow of the engine & not liking the agressive cam profile.., which is odd because displacement calculations seem to be that this carb will operate in this range, but i digress. I still believe there is a few more attempts at getting it close, but ive honestly at the point of giving up becasue of issue #2.... I call it "the wall". At around 5000+ rpm at full throttle, the carb decides its a great time to overflow the bowl and flood the engine thru the float vents. This is the issue ive been chasing since day one, thinking it was ignition, then fuel pressure... but with the afr and testing different sceneros while driving, i can contest this is whats going on. To combat this ive tired almost all float adjustment ranges and it still likes to poke its head. I suspect that there is a odd harmonic at 5000-ish rpm that is causing major vibrations to the carb and causing the floats to bounce significantly, thus causing the bowl to overflow. I am at the point that i am honestly out of ideals, and on the hunt for a different carb. I will likely over the winter, design and build a efi system for the car, that can be transfered to the bigger engine down the road, ive honestly had enough with the carb. There are a few hills ive encountered where im in 3rd with the pedal to the floor just to keep up with traffic, and i do not need the engine cutting out on me because of this carb acting up and flooding.

Gearbox: A few hundred km, and the gearbox is breaking in nicely. Shifts are crisp and get better on each trip. Only issue ive had is a hard time getting it into R. Not so much the engagement of Reverse, but actually finding it. Unfortunetly there is no adjustment for the side to side adjustment of the shift pattern, and when at a stop, its a toss up if you will grab 4th or R. Im wondering if i need to do a slight "bend" to the linkage coupler to get reverse more prominent. Another thing i would like to try and hunt down is a lower rear differential ratio. I know its might be slim pickings to try and hunt one down, but i still believe i can get the perfect crusing ratio/speeds without having to go with a 5 speed upgrade. First gear is too short, and im quickly into 3rd/4th for normal town crusing. A slightly lower final ratio would help immensely, especially once more power is on the horizion.



Tires: The Pirellis have been great so far, decent ride quality, even though the front suspension is a tad stiff, might try and hunt down some softer springs in the future. These a-arms are definetly suited more towards race applications. Only thing that has been an issue, more so the major issue at hand with the car, are the stupid snap in porta-walls. They keep on wanting to turn brown, and its driving me nuts. Before the car show i tried everything to "polish" them back up, and only thing i found was using a paint thinner to clean up the brown stains (basically dissolved the surface and revealed the white rubber underneath. There are even specific "white wall" cleaners out there, and they didnt do anything.. Tires looked awesome once "rejuvinated" and was exactly what i envisioned it to look like. After a day in the sun, the stains came back with a vengence. Oddly enough the surface that touches the tire is still white as can be (between the black tire surface and unexposed portawall surface, only the front face facing out turns brown. I suspect its a release agent or the tires offgassing causing this issue. Unfortunetly there only seems to be one supplier that sells 12" whitewall inserts. This will be a issue to try and solve in the new year.

Ive been wanting to take some great cinematic driving videos for you all to enjoy, but the odd time i have a second to take it for a spin, its been for errands, and i really need another person to tag along and film drive-by shots. We have all been busy lately. But i will get something for you all soon

Took the car to a local car show, usually filled with the typical 50's to 70's american cars. The 500 definetly stood out, and drew a crowd, there were questions galore, and i was glad to answer them

 

[PeachsGarage]

I love this this car! Bummer about the carb, but I can't wait to see what you come up with for an EFI solution!

 

[Bounding Bambino]

I love this this car! Bummer about the carb, but I can't wait to see what you come up with for an EFI solution!

When in Rome
Boost fixes all problems...

 

[Goldnrust]

Now that could be an interesting development!

If you’re going down the EFI route, and with the limitations on RPM with the Fiat engine design holding back power, then boost seems an obvious choice.

I shall follow with interest!

Lovely photos at the end there, really capture the car and the feeling of driving on an early autumn afternoon.