Right, I actually sold "Wee Jobby 2" to my friend a while ago, he came with me when I bought it and I think he was under the misunderstanding that he was going to be the purchaser, but I whipped out the cash first, all's fair with women and cars
, he used it until the MOT ran out and it has been resting against the hedge growing orange crust since then.
I.ve been a bit bored of late with no projects on the go, and popping back onto this forum has given me some inspiration, so its time to see what can be done with it. Unfortunately some little 500 has been hanging about eyeing up its engine so, providing that after the underside is blasted there is something left to weld too, then some new motivation will be getting forced manfully up its rear end. KY jelly may be required.
Firstly, the ethos of this little project is,
Stock look, the plastics have been removed already but apart from restoring rusty bits, filling holes and some chrome bumpers and mirrors, the car will externaly remain stock looking.
minimum cost, I've always found building low buck machines to be more fun than bolting a load of custom machined or specialist supplied parts together, my first cossie eater vespa cost less than £200 and I used to ride round for hours just looking for M3's and the like to embarass from the lights. So a budget of £750 has been set, I will be trying my hardest to keep within this as the car originally cost £100 plus I guess another £150 spent on it, new gearbox, lights etc. so total cost will be £1000, a nice round figure(the turbos on my GTO cost more than this alone)
Off the shelf parts, where possible everything should be rebuildable from easily obtainable parts, no point building something using an obscure part just because you've got one, break it and your stuffed.
Ok, the following combos are currently under consideration, bike power is out, too much custom machining/cost/reverse gear headaches. this car wil be remaining a 4/5 seater. turn the key and drive by anybody.
Fiat 1242cc from punto, 60/75/85BHP options, onto stock gearbox, this is the simplest option but the weak link is the box, requires, adaptor plate which I can make myself, cinq flywheel machined to use cinq clutch with custom spigot bush, radiator fitted up front or possibly get away with twin bike rads/electric fans in the rear. fuel injected so requires fannying about with the odd shaped tank to fit pump/return. fitting ecu and loom.
Subaru EA82 1781cc, 80bhp but lots more torque than fiat FIRE engine, using stock box, idea shamelessly stolen from Alistair on retro500.com, this engine was clearly made to fit 500/126, Subaru just didn't know it or they would have sold them to fiat. carburated flat 4, very lightweight, see
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8aMXChEQ7DY&NR=1 adaptor plate and rads same as 1242. not sure about flywheel/clutch/starter arrangement Nigel(Hudsonhenry), if you could find out more info on what flywheel/clutch arrangement/ mods Alistair used to do this it would be most helpful
However, finding an EA82 near to me is easier said than done, rocking horse poo springs to mind, anybody fancy pulling this one and strapping it to a pallet for me,
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&item=290324183575I've also asked the code for this one as it may not be 1300
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/subaru-flat-four-engine-unit-possibly-justy-ideal-trike_W0QQitemZ150351516744QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM?hash=item2301a61448&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=65%3A2|66%3A2|39%3A1|240%3A1318|301%3A0|293%3A6|294%3A50Next stage is a VW box swap from T25, 4 or 5 speed, this is pretty straightforward but woyld require some enlargement of the tunnel, should still be able to get 2 in the back though, unfortunately all the VDubbers want these so going rate is £2-300.plus the drive shafts
can someone post a link to where I can source CV adaptors for the Fiat hubs as I cant seem to google them up,
the VW box opens up the possibilty of using much more power,
first option is a 1600 VW, simple, bolts straight on, aircooled, carburated, however, not cheap to buy, probably £400+ for a decent complete engine and expensive to tune in the future.
Subaru EA82 again, using machined VW clutch/flywheel/spacer and VW starter, simple, reliable but box could take much more power.
Subaru EJ series engine, 1.6-2.0 SOHC, could pick up a MOT failure/smashed legacy/impreza pretty cheap, adaptor plate/machined VW flywheel/clutch/starter been done by plenty VDubbers so know it would work, but will it fit under stock bodywork? , going to measure one up shortly. not sure I'f I could squeeze this plus VW box plus driveshafts out of the budget. Early EJ series came with carb so this would be easiest option If I can find one.
of course this could be academic if the 126 turns to latticework after blasting, a cheap BIS might be required
Richie