upgrading front suspension and brakes

[felixpico]

Please I want to upgrade the front suspension to "Struts" (shock absorber+spring) and front brakes to "disc". Do anyone knows the best make, model and year to adapt to the 126P 650 Polski Fiat? Thanks in advance to everybody

[Club1n]

Fiat Cinquecento disks and calipers with adapter plates are a common swap for front brakes (can piece together or buy full kits), and if you're making the jump to go and upgrade the front suspension, I'd suggest coilovers- you can get full front end kits on eBay for around £4/500 (when they're available) or you can shop around, for example GAZ Shocks make coilovers for all 4 corners for a very reasonable price. (there's a forum discount too!)
I'll drop a couple links to use for reference.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Fiat-126-Front-brake-Disc-Conversion-Kit-BREMBO-MAX-4x98-PCD/172252171689?hash=item281b078da9:g:87sAAOSwwPhWjSgy

http://www.dangelomotori.it/en/suspensions/948-complete-kit-shock-absorbers-front-and-rear-absorbers-with-independent-suspension-and-springs-h-165-for-fiat-500-f-l-r-e-126.html

[drcdb15]

This isn't critical in any way, I am just curious - and anyway I don't have a 126, just a kit car, so the answers don't affect me at all, but does changing the front suspension actually make much difference to the car?

The 126 is pretty light, so I imagine *any* suspension will be fairly stiff or hard in that there isn't a great deal of weight there to compress any spring of whatever type. Does changing away from the leaf spring change the steering handling at all? Of course there's the issue of adjustability, and I imagine making the spring softer might give a smoother ride, as I guess the leaf spring will stiffen with age and with corrosion between the leaves...

Also, of course, I guess you'd make this change along with others like maybe different wheels/tyres, and as here discs too which must change the sprung weight and suspension... lots of factors at play. Is it like tuning the engine, no point in doing just one change, you really need a whole 'set' of changes to see the benefits?

So, having shelled out for the new kit, what is it you get for your money? [and I recognise that in any event there's also just the pure fun of customising your car  ]

[felixpico]

Thank all for your reply!!

I guess the original design is not good. It is very stuff. Springs are softer than the original strong spring assembly. Also discs are more sure and they have longer life than brake shoes.

Trust me, I have seen tens of modified Fiat 126. They looks good and performance of front suspension and brakes are much better. As I know Daihatsu Cuore, Subaru Vivio, and Daewoo Tico suspension and brakes fit perfect to 126. They are all "small" cars. It is necessary to make some changes on the body. The problem is that I want to buy the "new kit" in the US and these models do not run there. It would be perfect a small car running in the US where part could be found to a relative lower price. I dont want to change wheel and tires. I want to keep R12.

Thank you "Club1n" I am going to check the Cinquecento.

I need and want to keep my Fiat 126P running but I would like to make these changes.

[Club1n]

I want to keep R12.

Thank you "Club1n" I am going to check the Cinquecento.

I need and want to keep my Fiat 126P running but I would like to make these changes.

These are the same front disk kit I run on my rally car, that means you can keep the 12" wheels.
The seller is based in poland, I've obviously brought from him previously with no issues, and so far he's been pretty good for answering questions I had about items, the disks used in this kit are Cinquecento disks that are machined down to 215mm instead of 240mm


http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/KIT-Freni-a-disco-215-mm-FIAT-500-126-completo-per-12-pollici-4x98/322908054987?_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIM.MBE%26ao%3D2%26asc%3D49567%26meid%3D35533db2d5f24fbca2af5ed5cb54a3ca%26pid%3D100005%26rk%3D2%26rkt%3D6%26sd%3D322921848243&_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851