1982 Fiat 126

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Discussion

Vinny126

Original Poster:

26 posts

64 months

Saturday 19th September 2020
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Hey all,
This is my first post on here after lurking for a while!

Here is Vinny, my 1982 fiat 126 'brown edition'. Its an aircooled 650cc.



The car has changed alot from standard, in a previous life it had been rattle canned in the two tone brown, fitted the chrome bumper, added the wooden side panels, fiat X1/9 bertone wheels, slightly lowered and fitted abarth punto sabelt seats with harnesses.

Before I owned it, a good friend of mine had it for 2 years where it sat in his garage doing nothing, and the guy he got the car off also had it for 2 years where it sat ready for a bike engine swap, but being completely solid and too good of a shape he decided to sell instead of butchering it. 
So, since I've had it all I've been doing is try to get it running. In around 2 years, having covered around 200 miles, 5 trips out and 3 break downs out of the 5. 

The last trip out I decided would be the last before undergoing a major transformation. 

The engine was taken out, and it went a full rebuild. 
This is what I started with, standard fiat 126 650cc engine, I previously installed a Dell'orto FZD 32.28 carburetor but having no other modifications it was a little over kill.
 


Once the engine was stripped, I had everything aqua blasted, the tin ware was blasted and powder coated also.
I had the head skimmed, ported and larger inlet valves fitted. Got an abarth spec 35/75 camshaft. Also got an abarth 3.5ltr alloy sump to aid in cooling and an abarth alloy rocker cover. 
Finally this is the end result... 



The engine is back in and running absolutely sweet! 


I managed to find myself a set of original seats (rare as poor quality wobbly children's play pony doo doo) in Holland and got them sent over. So new seat rails welded in and the seats installed and we're pretty much done! 



I'm going to just enjoy it for a while now, then when I can I'll be upgrading to a stainless exhaust and a decent electronic ignition system. Also I wouldn't mind having the carburetor properly tuned on a rolling road. 

Alex.

Edited by Vinny126 on Saturday 19th September 22:03

SirGriffin

177 posts

67 months

Saturday 19th September 2020
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That is absolutely fantastic, and I love the wood!

Vinny126

Original Poster:

26 posts

64 months

Saturday 19th September 2020
quotequote all
SirGriffin said:
That is absolutely fantastic, and I love the wood!
Thanks dude, appreciate it!

LHRFlightman

1,929 posts

169 months

Saturday 19th September 2020
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Wonderful, fantastic job.

TwigtheWonderkid

43,248 posts

149 months

Saturday 19th September 2020
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That's brilliant. Those X1/9 wheels look the business.

ajprice

27,315 posts

195 months

Saturday 19th September 2020
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I have always thought that brown cars should not exist and that with the exception of Morris Minor / Mini Travellers wood should be on the inside of a car, not the outside. But that looks brilliant biggrin .

Vinny126

Original Poster:

26 posts

64 months

Saturday 19th September 2020
quotequote all
ajprice said:
I have always thought that brown cars should not exist and that with the exception of Morris Minor / Mini Travellers wood should be on the inside of a car, not the outside. But that looks brilliant biggrin .
The original brown for this is more a disgusting diarrhoea colour! When my friend first picked the car up it also had a wooden frame and perspex sheet for the sunroof!

AW111

9,455 posts

132 months

Sunday 20th September 2020
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Nice car.
Well done

English expat

32 posts

57 months

Sunday 20th September 2020
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Looks fantastic, well done. I was offered one of these whilst at Uni, hurried over to look at it only to find the owner had meant to say Fiat panda. Disappointed doesn’t cover it but I still took the panda.

Been looking at these ever since.

595Heaven

2,387 posts

77 months

Sunday 20th September 2020
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Looks amazing.

I had a red one for a while as a student. Lethal in the wet as the lack of weight over the front end meant the brakes would lock as soon as you brakes.

And the centrifugal oil filter seal didn’t... seal. Oil used to get thrown all over the engine bay and used to run down the back off the boot lid though the vents.

Would love one again now though!

Northbrook

1,429 posts

62 months

Sunday 20th September 2020
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Looks great!

mr shoddy

107 posts

123 months

Sunday 20th September 2020
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Love this car!

AW111

9,455 posts

132 months

Sunday 20th September 2020
quotequote all
595Heaven said:
Looks amazing.

I had a red one for a while as a student. Lethal in the wet as the lack of weight over the front end meant the brakes would lock as soon as you brakes.

And the centrifugal oil filter seal didn’t... seal. Oil used to get thrown all over the engine bay and used to run down the back off the boot lid though the vents.

Would love one again now though!
Maybe you'll find that all the meals you've eaten since your student days improves the weight distribution and braking smile

pidsy

7,958 posts

156 months

Sunday 20th September 2020
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Great work OP.
I’d love one of those to mess about with.

TCEvo

12,624 posts

201 months

Sunday 20th September 2020
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That's really cool - top work.

Mr Tidy

22,065 posts

126 months

Sunday 20th September 2020
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It's great to see something like this being given some love, so well done OP. thumbup

Fiat made some great cars in the 60s and 70s. I would have thought an updated 126 would make a great city car in today's climate - although I suppose a 500 Twin-air comes close!

595Heaven

2,387 posts

77 months

Monday 21st September 2020
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AW111 said:
595Heaven said:
Looks amazing.

I had a red one for a while as a student. Lethal in the wet as the lack of weight over the front end meant the brakes would lock as soon as you brakes.

And the centrifugal oil filter seal didn’t... seal. Oil used to get thrown all over the engine bay and used to run down the back off the boot lid though the vents.

Would love one again now though!
Maybe you'll find that all the meals you've eaten since your student days improves the weight distribution and braking smile
You may well be right smile

Rich135

768 posts

241 months

Monday 21st September 2020
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That is so cool, top work. More pics please :-)

RDMcG

19,093 posts

206 months

Monday 21st September 2020
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Very cool indeed!

bigtomski

358 posts

195 months

Monday 21st September 2020
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That’s a super cool car! Love it!