Fiat Barchetta - Pictures and Restoration
Discussion
Hi all, got a Fiat Barchetta last night - a friend of mine has been trying to sell it for a year now and between the two of us, we eventually worked out a nice arrangement, so here I am. The car will be a bit of a rolling project, but the majority of the work is hopefully going to be done within the next week.
It has been laid up for over a year, out in the cold and not driven in that time. It's been for an MOT and failed on the wiper linkage & motor (the linkage has seized, and burned the motor out with it).
There's a few other problems and areas that need attention, but I'll go into more detail as I go. For now, I'll leave you with a few pictures.
It has been laid up for over a year, out in the cold and not driven in that time. It's been for an MOT and failed on the wiper linkage & motor (the linkage has seized, and burned the motor out with it).
There's a few other problems and areas that need attention, but I'll go into more detail as I go. For now, I'll leave you with a few pictures.
As the owner of a somewhat same period Fiat, do a thorough rust-check on it, My cinquecento seemed pretty solid, but AFTER i fixed the head gasket, i found out my rear chassis beam was a bit too crusty for a new MOT.
Better to find that s
t now and handle it, then a year down the line.
Better to find that s
t now and handle it, then a year down the line.
Absolutely beautiful little cars and from Fiat's best era I think.
I would love to have one. I have heard the engines respond well to simple mods (well they do on a Punto HGT which shares the engine).
Please post more pictures when you can, especially of the interior.
Such a shame they didn't make 'em RHD and sell more.
I would love to have one. I have heard the engines respond well to simple mods (well they do on a Punto HGT which shares the engine).
Please post more pictures when you can, especially of the interior.
Such a shame they didn't make 'em RHD and sell more.
Thanks for all the replies. I'm glad everyone is keen to see this car get some care and attention.
Over the weekend I've been doing a lot of work on it, and finding out any areas that need time and money spent on improving. I'll let the pics do the talking:
The engine bay looks ok, just need a clean and a tidy up:
...Such as the rocker cover could do with a paint:
So I made up a booth
Then after some cleaning and sanding, added a layer of VHT wrinkle paint
And the next day I had this. I was going to sand off the lettering to bare metal but I really like it as it is. What do you think?
I'll do the actual rocker cover at some point - probably just clean the metal and leave as is though.
The interior needed a bit of a spruce:
Seats out - 3p up!
And a clean
Cleaned the toneau seal in the shower
The drain tray is a bit blocked
Cleaned up:
Same story with the sills - both sides were covered in gunk
This is getting anal now eh?
I've got plenty more updates to come but I've probably sent everyone to sleep. There is a fair bit of welding that needs doing but I might need to use a plasma cutter to get out the rust - bit tight for space.
Comments welcome
Over the weekend I've been doing a lot of work on it, and finding out any areas that need time and money spent on improving. I'll let the pics do the talking:
The engine bay looks ok, just need a clean and a tidy up:
...Such as the rocker cover could do with a paint:
So I made up a booth
Then after some cleaning and sanding, added a layer of VHT wrinkle paint
And the next day I had this. I was going to sand off the lettering to bare metal but I really like it as it is. What do you think?
I'll do the actual rocker cover at some point - probably just clean the metal and leave as is though.
The interior needed a bit of a spruce:
Seats out - 3p up!
And a clean
Cleaned the toneau seal in the shower
The drain tray is a bit blocked
Cleaned up:
Same story with the sills - both sides were covered in gunk
This is getting anal now eh?
I've got plenty more updates to come but I've probably sent everyone to sleep. There is a fair bit of welding that needs doing but I might need to use a plasma cutter to get out the rust - bit tight for space.
Comments welcome
Beautiful car, one of my favourites 
When you said you were going to paint the top of the engine my heart sank as I thought you were about to paint it some garish colour - but the black is exactly right - nice and subtle
Not anal so far - the car just needs an owner like you to give her a good going over in all her nooks and crannies and soon she'll be like new again, just in time for summer...
When you said you were going to paint the top of the engine my heart sank as I thought you were about to paint it some garish colour - but the black is exactly right - nice and subtle
Not anal so far - the car just needs an owner like you to give her a good going over in all her nooks and crannies and soon she'll be like new again, just in time for summer...
OracIe said:
Nice car, same engine as my old Punto HGT.
Get a GSR induction kit on it, really does help it breathe and sounds great, would suit your car better than a punto for sure!
It does seem like a great wee engine for the short time I've driven it. It's already got a stainless exhaust and a K&N panel filter in there so I'll leave that as is for now. Get a GSR induction kit on it, really does help it breathe and sounds great, would suit your car better than a punto for sure!
And don't worry, I'll keep it tasteful throughout. I've got OEM matts on the way, and I'll need to find a replacement gearknob as the standard one is 100,000miles worn. Steering wheel is starting to show it too, but it's a while away from letting the car down.
It failed its MOT on the wipers - very surprised the rust I'll put pictures up of later wasn't flagged up on it.
Bit slow to post but got here in the end. I promised pictures of some lovely rust - I'm sure you're dying to see it.
I had a feel round the arches to see if there was anything worth looking at, and a large panel just dropped out :-S
My aim was off with the camera - this is taken from the trailing edge of the OS sill, looking up
And from the brake disk, looking directly up:
Still, new wiper mechanism/motor is in and working:
And treated it to some genuine mats
Had my helper on standby all weekend too
I'm going to re-grease all the slider pins for the brake calipers this week, and just make sure everything is sound in the arches, so more pictures coming up soon
Cheers
I had a feel round the arches to see if there was anything worth looking at, and a large panel just dropped out :-S
My aim was off with the camera - this is taken from the trailing edge of the OS sill, looking up
And from the brake disk, looking directly up:
Still, new wiper mechanism/motor is in and working:
And treated it to some genuine mats
Had my helper on standby all weekend too
I'm going to re-grease all the slider pins for the brake calipers this week, and just make sure everything is sound in the arches, so more pictures coming up soon
Cheers
Jujuuk68 said:
Would finding parts from a scrappie from a rhd Punto to make a conversion, make more of a project?
Maybe, but I wouldn't be interested in doing it to be honest. I like the car as it is and I've goth another 2x projects on the go anyway - my mk1 Golf might be visible in some of the pictures as that's parked up next to it. In fact if anyone wants, I'll put a thread up about that too?djdestiny said:
My mate bought a brand new one when they first came out, he is now on his 2nd one but it's been off the road for a few years now. I think he's going to be disappointed though because it lives outside!
Yeah they're not really built for it are they 
I'm going to invest in a decent cover to store it over the winter if I can't get it in the garageGassing Station | Readers' Cars | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff