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Cinquecento Vitorio's 350 buck headgasket special

Introduction

Well guys, i figure with all the questions and advice that i've been badgering you guys about, i'd make a thread about my cinq.

Last year after getting settled in the new house (which has a massive garage), i started looking for something to put in that garage, after getting rid of my old and somewhat failed hobby project, an alfa 33. The reason i didnt do much on the alfa, besides not having a garage for most of the time i had it, was also that i just couldnt think of any fun things to do with it, i briefly entertained the notion of a supercharger, but quickly realized that would be about thirty-three times more advanced than what i could handle.

So after some looking around i decided that a cinq would be a good starter project to cut my teeth on some actual tinkering, since a cinq is relatively simple in terms of technology, and practically every part on it can be upgraded with cheap performance upgrades, up to complete engine swaps.

So after looking at various cinqs and dealing with some rather unscrupulous salesmen, i found this gem:

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a '96 sporting with approximately 95K miles on the clock, looking good, save for a blown headgasket. The colourfull floormats with embroided bees on the were a clear tip-off that it had been on shoppig cart duty for its last few years. I had a good look around and found very little rust, just the read bumper support and the back box which had completely lost the end-pipe.

I shook the mans hand for 350 euros (quite a steal i think, since with a fixed head gasket it would have been easily 750 i think), and five days later it was dropped off at my doorstep, so i could put it in the garage.

My plans for the cinq are to make it as close to a racer as i can, while having it road-legal, and usable on the road (so no extremely low drops or slick tires).

My plans:
- replace back box (done)
- strip out interior + rear seats (done)
- repair head gasket (doing)
- fit 38 mm TB (on the shelf ready when the head goes back on)
- fit 866 Cam (in the mail as we speak)
- fit open air filter (got a pipercross on the shelf)
- Chip the ecu
- inspect brakes for MOT and if need be replace with upgrades, otherwise upgrades later on
- drop it 30/40 mm, replace shocks as well
- front strut brace
- rear brace between seat mountings (perhaps?)

So that should keep me occupied for a nice while, once i get all that done and my wallet has had time to recover, i have plenty of new plans involving 14" OZ rims, punto GT brakes and engine swapping, but that is all at least a year off currently, first priority is to get it going again and pass MOT, and enjoy the pepped up 1108 over the summer.

I'll leave you guys with a pic of how it is sitting right now:

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never been a fan of the yellow ones but looks straight at least.

good luck with your project, and most importantly enjoy.

To each his own i guess, for me yellow is THE color for a cinq sporting, and this one looked very nice when i bought it, i actually feel somewhat guilty about stripping out the interior, since it all looked almost brand new.

And thanks, i am just dying to get the gasket finished, since i've only driven the car for 50 yards so far, so i'm rather curious to how these things actually handle.
 
totally, as long as you like it it matters not.

Whats the deal with the HG, is the head being skimmed or something? Doesn't take long to put it all back together.

Yeah, dropped the head off to be skimmed this morning, and just got an 866 cam in the mail:

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There is a very light bit of wear on the lobes right on the edges of the contact surface and one lobe has a some very light scratches on the same spot, but since it looks like the contact spots are all smooth, i'm not too fussed about it.

The whole project will take a while though, starting out i had very little tools, so i mostly just do some stuff, run into a problem, order a new tool, wait for it to come, work further, get stuck again etc.. For instance i'm now waiting on a set of feeler gauges so i can properly shim the new cam once i get the head back.

Also the cinq is 100% my own hobby project, so there is no real deadline to get it running, could take a few months before i get to having it MOTed and running, as i also want to inspect the brakes before i get it MOTed
 
Yeah, dropped the head off to be skimmed this morning, and just got an 866 cam in the mail:

IMAG0242.jpg


There is a very light bit of wear on the lobes right on the edges of the contact surface and one lobe has a some very light scratches on the same spot, but since it looks like the contact spots are all smooth, i'm not too fussed about it.

The whole project will take a while though, starting out i had very little tools, so i mostly just do some stuff, run into a problem, order a new tool, wait for it to come, work further, get stuck again etc.. For instance i'm now waiting on a set of feeler gauges so i can properly shim the new cam once i get the head back.

Also the cinq is 100% my own hobby project, so there is no real deadline to get it running, could take a few months before i get to having it MOTed and running, as i also want to inspect the brakes before i get it MOTed

will you be shimming the head while is off the engine :)? Do a wee guide on it?
 
ah i remember those days, eventually you'll amass most of the stuff you need and it gets easier lol.

Cam looks pretty good tbh, i seen people use worse lol.

Lol yeah, i basically started out with a workbench and an empty garage trolley and a socket-set. Once i get the feeler guage set i'll just need a socket for the sump plug, havent gotten around to draining the oil yet.

Thanks for the comment on the cam, i'm all pretty new on this, so when i first saw the scratches i was a bit taken back, but after some googling it doesnt look that bad. Basically all the lobes have the triangular spots you can see on the 5th and 8th lobe on the picture.

Really looking forward to getting my head back, so i can start re-assembly
 
will you be shimming the head while is off the engine :)? Do a wee guide on it?


The head is being skimmed as we speak, dropped it off at the local fiat shop this morning. As for shimming, yeah, i will be checking the shims on the head. This was actually one of the reasons i got a cinq. My current dream car is an alfa romeo GTV with v6 turbo engine, on those engines you need to check the valve clearances every 40k km, or it will eat its camshafts (and a new set is 900 euros for just the cams), so i really wanted to practice that before i ruin an alfa v6 engine ;)

I'll see if i can snap some pics while working on it, but to be honest i'll probably need a guide to do this myself :D
 
I thought the new "Alfas" (actually a GM motor, IIRC) were hydraulic?

The v6 used in the 159/brera/spider are GM based and indeed hydraulic. The older alfa Busso V6 (used all the way from the sei/90 up to the 156/147/GT) has various versions. The older 12v versions all have mechanical tappets and need to be checked, the 24v versions (used in 2.5, 3 and 3.2 litre versions) have hydraulic tappets, but the GTV 2.0 V6 turbo uses an old 12v block as a base.

When talking to alfisti, just make sure not to confuse the GM v6 with the old Busso, the busso is THE best engine alfa ever produced, and somewhat legendary. the GM v6 is often called lazy and not liked that much in the alfisti clubs. ;)
 
I have a cam to fit at some point soon.. If i was honest i have no idea how to do it but i will find out lol. Will mock up a guide for it when i do it.. ;)

Well, from what i've done sofar it doesnt seem that hard, there arent any bearings to replace or anything, just two rubber seals, one on either side of the camshaft. Taking the cam off the head is just a matter of 6 10mm bolts, provided you have the cambelt off.

Measuring the valve clearances might be a bit tricky, but i plan on just taking the cam back out to change the shims, if any need adjusting.
 
i took a gtv 3.2 litre for a test drive once, was completely under-whelmed by it. Lazy i think is a pretty good description.

Odd, the GTV had that busso V6, should do about 235 bhp. The 24v bussos supposedly do need some revs to come into their own though, the 12v blocks are supposedly a bit more torquey down in the rev range.
 
hmm but with the head not bolted to the engine would you just lift cam off, measure valve clearance bolted it down at different angle and measure clearance for a difference valve?

Thanks
Ming

I plan to just bolt the cam to the head and rotate it between measurements using my socket wrench on the cam sprocket, if that doesnt work than bolting the head to the engine is an option as well, i just feel like completing the head before bolting it back in.
 
Small update, will be picking the head up tomorrow, and have a rummage around the parts shop at the fiat dealer. Buying stuff online might be a tad cheaper, but i cant find certain parts, and this saves me waiting on the delivery, so i can crack on on sunday.

Bigger news, just struck a deal on some alfa 155 1.8 16v calipers (same ones as on the punto GT) for 30 euros, so once i get around to fitting 14 inch rims i can go for an instant brake upgrade as well, might take a while though, as after getting the car in proper shape, i first want to fit a decent lowering kit, then go for the 14 inch rims with new tires all round (hoping to find some OZ superlegera's) before i go for bigger brakes (and i want to do that right as well, so at least brembo discs, perhaps tarox), but i couldnt leave those calipers for that price.
 
Well, from what i've done sofar it doesnt seem that hard, there arent any bearings to replace or anything, just two rubber seals, one on either side of the camshaft. Taking the cam off the head is just a matter of 6 10mm bolts, provided you have the cambelt off.

Measuring the valve clearances might be a bit tricky, but i plan on just taking the cam back out to change the shims, if any need adjusting.

Really, the measuring of the clearances is the easy bit (all you need is feeler guages). But (of course) you do this with the cam in, and just turn the cam so that you're doing the measurement at base circle (the opposite to the lobe, or pointy end) for each cam in turn.

The discipline is in writing everything down. It's a bit easier than Ducatis, which have 2 shims per valve and much closer tolerances.
 
hmm but with the head not bolted to the engine would you just lift cam off, measure valve clearance bolted it down at different angle and measure clearance for a difference valve?

Thanks
Ming

Just turn it with a socket (clockwise). Easy peasy.

Vittorio -- get the valves re-cut before you do the measurements, or everything will be out!
 
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