Club126UK
For Sale & Wanted => Ebay Bits & Pieces => Topic started by: drcdb15 on September 02, 2017, 08:31:26 PM
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Since a gorgeous little 500 Giardiniera (which SWMBO called 'Pip') was our very first car we have a very soft spot for this model. So you can imagine my attention was not so gently grabbed when I first saw this little gem in Car & Classic:
http://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C909460
However, on closer inspection I saw the 'upgraded' 704cc engine, the synchro gearbox, and the radical seats. Et cetera. Et cetera.
So, actually more of a 126 Bis with a Giardiniera body, then... I don't know whether to be pleased a Giardiniera has been given a new lease of life, or to cry that one, and the super rare RHD version at that, has been cannibalised beyond salvation...
Anyway, yet *another* variation on the seemingly endless theme that is the Fiat 500/126. And not a bad price too... OUCH!!!
:o
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I actually really like that. Not so much the price tag though :o
Would be great as a classic Vespa/Lambretta transporter.
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I don't like the seats- I think a nice set of red originals would suit it more and I'm guessing that it wouldn't be much of a pickup with an AC engine sticking up out of the bed so the bits engine makes sense. But I have to say I really like it!
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The Giardiniera has the same flat engine configuration as the Bis and amazingly some of the engine and gearbox parts that are unique to those models are interchangeable despite the 30 years between the models. Still think it is a shame to go water cooled when they could have uprated an air cooled engine.
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It doesn't say it's water cooled, unless I have missed it.
I would assume it has a modified a/c engine with bigger pistons and barrels.
I know what you mean about the seats Stuey. Not keen on them either.
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Can you fit the Bis 704cc w/c barrels to a 500 a/c crankcase? I assumed from the 704 figure together with the synchronised geabox that this indicated a whole Bis engine/box transplant. I would have thought that Bis barrels, designed to be water cooled, wouldn't last very long if you relied on air to cool them. Then there's the matter of the ducting around the a/c engine... seems like an awful lot of work to me when you could just stick in a whole engine/box lump as a complete unit.
I've never heard of any other (a/c) big bore options for the Giardiniera. It's not most people's first choice when it comes to pimping up your baby Fiat ! ;D
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You can buy 704cc air cooled barrel and piston kits from Italy. I've also seen people use bis pistons and bored out a/c barrels.
I'm guessing the barrels would be the same on the Giardiniera as a standard 500. I know the head, carb, etc is a different set up.
I've never owned a 500 estate, but if I did I would be toying with a same idea engine upgrade wise.
You are right about the "air intake vent". I can't see one, but I can only see one side of the car. Shame there is no photos of the engine.
Not like I could afford to buy it, just curious :P
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Very nice, not sure if they will achieve the asking price though.
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It doesn't say it's water cooled, unless I have missed it.
I would assume it has a modified a/c engine with bigger pistons and barrels.
Yes I see what you mean but to me 704ccs is an odd choice when a 652ccs might have been easier and give a big power increase on the 499ccs even without tuning.
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Found many more photos of it on here.
http://www.classiccarsforsale.co.uk/fiat/500/237471
Looks like it has a bis engine in it after all, so I'm going to eat my words.
It also means I'm out :P
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A nice and unexpected Bis upgrade. I wonder who did the modification.