Fiat 500 1108 Fire

[hudsonhenry]

I am new to this forum, but I phoned Guy this afternoon for some advice and found him extremely helpful so I thought I would post some info and pics of my car.

It is a 74 Fiat 500R which until earlier this year had a tuned 650cc aircooled twin (producing more than double the power of the standard engine)

I had got to the point in the development of the 650 where to extract more power I would have to rev beyond the 6000rpm limit that I had set for the standard but balanced bottom end. To do this would have meant going with a forged crank and rods which are not easy to find and very expensive. Im told that the quickest Italian race engines are putting out up to 70bhp at over 8000rpm but as the car is intended for a bit of fun on the road and the odd track day I decided that a bigger much less stressed engine was the answer.

I had seen a couple of Fiat 126's in Poland with Fiat Fire engines fitted to the 126 gearbox and decided that might be a bit of a laugh. The following pics show the car as it is now and a few stages of the build. I plan to spend the winter going back over some of the work that has been done to improve the installation and free up a little more power.


Fitted engine up and running


Fitted engine up and running



Shows the lightend flywheel and custom made spigot shaft bearing



One off (well 2off ¢‚¬Å“ 1 spare) cast alloy adaptor plate and custom turned studs




There is still lots to do but it is great fun to drive[/img]

[Guy Croft]

I'm impressed with that, and I can see you're no stranger to engineering! Flanges, adaptors, nice..!

Well done and thank you for sharing that interesting and nciely executed conversion with us!

GC

[hcd]

Hi,

Just noticed your distributor is rotated 180deg compared to mine. Have I made a bit of an error?????

Huw

[hudsonhenry]

Just noticed your distributor is rotated 180deg compared to mine. Have I made a bit of an error?????

Hmmm good question, Ive just found this image. My car seems to run well, as I think you might have noticed if your timeing was 180 degrees out. I am sure thet the slot in the cam is off centre so tha you cannot get it wrong. Maybe the did two types.

[hudsonhenry]

A quick update on progress this year, new custom made 4-1 exhaust manifold and system ¢‚¬Å“ thanks for the advice Guy (custom inlet for a pair of webers in progress as is tweaked head) new instrument binicle ¢‚¬Å“ peak yet to be trimmed.

[Guy Croft]

The exhaust looks very good - who made it?

FWIW I am always drawn to ex systems, so many awful examples of this important item around, I'm always reassured when I see a well-developed one..

GC

[Julian]

Looks fabulous - I'm really impressed with the installation (and the dashboard).

Can I make one suggestion though - it makes no odds now but in 6 months time that little filter on the cam cover is going to be loaded up with oil and dripping cream cheese all over your lovely engine. For the sake of a little more money you can have a proper catch tank that will help to keep everything clean.

These little FIRE engines tend to keep a fair bit of oil in the head while running and the churning of the cam creates something of a miasma and it all tries to escape through that vent.

[Guy Croft]

Well spotted Julian!

Yes, quite so. And when the little vent filter blocks with oil the overpressure will make the engine seals leak.

I suspect this eminent member knows this!

G

[Evodelta]

I'll second the question on who made the exhaust manifold, it's an absolute beauty - a real work of art.

[hudsonhenry]

Thanks for the feedback

The exhaust was made by Simpsons near Slough, they did a first class job, I'm very happy with it.

There should be a leap in performance over the winter once the new carb set-up, head and cam are ready. The system ¢‚¬Å“ inlet lengths through to exhaust design have been calculated with the help of Guy (thanks Guy)

You are right about the vent filter, I have a catch tank ready to fit but have been putting off fitting it until the engine comes out, at which time the engine bay is going to get a little tidy-up.

I drove the car over to Italy in July for the launch of the new 500. It was quite an eventful ten days, a bodge repair to the clutch pedal assembly by a previous owner meant that I lost most of the pedal travel a couple of hours into a very wet France, I had to wind the clutch cable right in to enable gear change. The clutch lasted until Savona, fifteen or so miles away from my final destination, the starter motor also decide to give up at the same time. I replaced both items in the car park of a spares shop in Albenga.

A few day later in Switzerland I picked up some dodgy fuel (small service station high up in the Alps) It ran but was down on power, no smoke, clean burning plugs! It took a day and a half of changing ignition components, stripping carbs etc before I realised! (a bad cold stopped me from smelling it) A flush and a fill up fixed the problem. Paris saw a bald tyre and the Autoroute to the boat saw one of the drive shaft donuts sheer! all in all an eventful shakedown trip of some 2,500 miles. I have a CV joint conversion that will also be fitted over the winter as the engine makes too much power for the standard joints which were new for the trip.

Pictured are some of the police who were hanging around in the garage where I fixed the drive-shaft ¢‚¬Å“ the owner kindly let me use his facilities and tools to fix it myself . They don't see engine swaps like this in France so were very interested (just as well I fixed the bald tyre).

[Denver]

Hello sir , i have a Fiat 600 , can you help me with some informations ? i want to swap a Fiat uno turbo engine on it , where can i find a good gearbox to stand that engine

thank you Alex P.