Author Topic: Hi from probably the only 126 owner ever in Dubai  (Read 2068 times)

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8ballautomotive

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Hi from probably the only 126 owner ever in Dubai
« on: May 23, 2017, 07:41:19 AM »
Hi everyone, I'll give a quick intro as I imagine i will be on this site a lot begging for info and help over the next couple of years.

So the story goes, last September I bought a 126 on eBay UK, I live in Dubai (originally from Manchester). I got it shipped over and the first time I actually saw it in the flesh was last Saturday when it arrived on the boat. 

The car itself used to be a rally car in Poland, it was then bought by a guy in the UK who used it for hill climbs and sprints. It has a CBR 600 engine, roll cage etc. It is fairly rough in places and is a bit of a red neck creation but it is tried and tested and has the potential to be really nice with a bit of elbow grease.

My background is in race car building, WRC, GP2, etc I now work in the engineering department at a university so have a full workshop to use which is handy. The plan for the car is to fully strip it down to bare metal and respray it, re-do all of the electrics, get it as low, wide and light as possible and generally tidy up all the rough areas. I then intend to use it for autocross, trackdays etc and hopefully embarrass some of these rich kids in there Porsche's and Ferrari's. Ultimately I want to go with a full space frame and bigger engine but that is way down the line.

Ill add some pictures when I get chance, Cheers

stuey

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Re: Hi from probably the only 126 owner ever in Dubai
« Reply #1 on: May 23, 2017, 08:16:31 AM »
Firstly welcome! Second awesome! Can't wait to see some pictures of your project  ;D
one resprayed and another arrives- double trouble BIS style!!

126blackbird

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Re: Hi from probably the only 126 owner ever in Dubai
« Reply #2 on: May 23, 2017, 09:32:18 AM »
To do a bike conversion take lots of work, from your background I'm sure you know that. I started building one sometime ago but due to my age and health problems I will never finish it. Many have fitted bike engines without thinking about brakes, you cant expect brakes designed for 26 Hp to stop something with loads more power.
Good luck with your project.

8ballautomotive

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Re: Hi from probably the only 126 owner ever in Dubai
« Reply #3 on: May 23, 2017, 12:47:51 PM »
To do a bike conversion take lots of work, from your background I'm sure you know that. I started building one sometime ago but due to my age and health problems I will never finish it. Many have fitted bike engines without thinking about brakes, you cant expect brakes designed for 26 Hp to stop something with loads more power.
Good luck with your project.

Yes i totally agree, I have lost count of the amount of projects that I have started but never finished for one reason or another. They always cost a lot more and take a lot more time then you ever plan for. That's why this time i went for a car that was already built and proven to work well, the build quality isn't anywhere near what I am used to but at least it is a base to work from. The next six month will be spent making it look good, tidying things up, making it lighter and replacing the wiring. I am not sure what brakes are on it at the moment I vaguely remember the guy saying it had cinquecento brakes?? does that sound likely? is that a known upgrade?

Rusty's Uncle

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Re: Hi from probably the only 126 owner ever in Dubai
« Reply #4 on: May 23, 2017, 05:16:54 PM »
Good luck with your project and I like your plan to see off those other guys on the track  :)
There was another pro built very nice space frame project on here a while back if you do a little research.
I suspect that you have the Cinquecento/Seicento front disk brake conversion as it is the easiest one to do and most economical. Not seen him on here for a while but there is a guy in Sydney doing a bike engine track car. His forum name is GSXR something if you look him up. He got his car up and running then took it to a unused stretch of motorway to try it out. He got it up to some crazy speed then started to run out of road so went to get the brakes on. He was running the original drum brakes which burst the drums before he got to a halt  :o