fiat 500 (old type) with aprilia mille engine

[simonnite]

Just thought id drop this one of mine into the mix as may interest some ? apologies if its in the wrong section ( nowt on fiats ) started in 2010 finished in 2016 so a long haul car is nearly sorted just needs slightly stiffer rear springs and then its all good; didn't want to massacre the shell so the ape engine is narrow in both directions plus its strong and reasonably torquey. for the technical;
I have owned the car since 1982, and in 2010 decided to fully restore the car fitting ( with no modifications to the body shell ) an Aprilia mille engine.

Restoration repairs;
All work carried out by owner apart from respray by AJ Cars
Bare metal restoration; all bodywork repairs carried out between 2010 and 2016 mostly tig welded
parts included;
new inner and outer front wings
new floor pan ( passenger side)
repairs to inner cills , new outer cills
repairs to roof
fabrication of repair panels for A posts
repairs to rear outer wheel arches.
New doors
new front panel and bonnet
extensive paint prep to ensure all panels fitted perfectly along with
full respray of whole car carried out by AJ cars Gloucester; great job !


Modification details;

Fitting of;
Aprilia RSV mille engine (Rotax v twin 1000 cc 130 bhp ) purpose designed and built using 20mm alloy sheet ; water jet cut and post cnc machined.
oil cooler
Radiator
Quaife LSD with reverse QB-A7 ( wouldn’t use this again ! )
purpose built stainless exhaust
coil overs fitted to bespoke aluminium double wishbone front suspension
disc brakes fitted to front axle using brembo callipers from aprilia donor
Revolution wheels ; 12 inch by 5 inch fitted all round modified from 4” pcd to 98mm
Roll cage fitted ; OMP
outer wheel arch extensions purpose designed GRP

Interior;
fitting of cobra classic seats
aftermarket ( Koso ) instrument panel
Fire extinguisher
inertia reel seatbelts

[soad]

Post more photos, or even a video!

[freddytin]

A thousand smiles.....My kind of fun.

Looking forward to much more info.

[lucido grigio]

There is a section for Fiat,if you look hard enough.

[simonnite]

yeh its also v loud , light and quick will upload more pics seems i can only do 1 at a time ugh

[carinaman]

I doubt I'd have seen that if it was in the Fiat section. Perhaps Readers' Cars is the section for it?

Excellent.

[Kawasicki]

Looks lovely. Great job. The engine looks bloody huge...just shows you how small the car must be!

[Master Bean]

5 posts in 12 years!

[simonnite]

yeh the car is really small but even tho I'm 6' 3 still loads of headroom
more of the engine;

[stevec33]

That is very cool i love it! I happened to see a couple of fiat 500’s the other day at a local garage, very rare sight

[simonnite]

think ill stick with this section
tyres are yokos which work well
reckon 0- 60 in approx 5 , 130 bhp and 500 kg keeps you on your toes as v little crash protection; mainly ones knees...

[shedweller]

Brilliant! - looks very tidy, more details shots please!

Huge fun in the lanes I bet!

[dom9]

Brilliant - love it!!!

[gareth_r]

Excellent!

Very much in the spirit of the bike-engined hillclimbers the continentals build (see YouTube), although they all seem to be 4 cylinder engines.

[lucido grigio]

Do you drive it with the engine lid open ?......like the old school Abarths.....

You should bring this car to Auto Italia at Brooklands next year....please.

Saturday 5th of May ,to save you looking...

Edited by lucido grigio on Friday 8th December 00:53

[John_S4x4]

That looks great ! Looks like a real hoot to drive

What we need to see is videos of this thing moving. Any uploads ?

[simonnite]

cheers all , yeh ill bring it to brook lands in may. Drive it with boot open like the Abarths.
attached a few links to vids;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPIPynTEWEc&fe...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usF3vf7bdEk

one taken by my son;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_Nj7Qz8CyI

enjoy, think the best sound is on the last..its a bit like an angry little terrier snapping away...

the engine;

[simonnite]

Yeh I've seen quite a few versions with busas or sukis but you have to hack the car about big time plus the ape engine is dry sumped as standard plus ( ob ) sequential gears which are lovely to use once you get the hang of them.. as I'm not a bike rider.

[selym]

I've not seen the pictures due to the work policy, but I'm in!!

[Booki]

Hi there,

Pretty cool and incredibly impressive work!

I also working on a similar project. See my photos:-)

@simonnite: why you wouldn't use the Quaife QBA7R again?

Best regards
Andy