New floors

[126redbomb]

Hi all,
Where can I get new floors for my Polish heep of rust. The floors are well shagged, so there will be alot of welding to be done. Also is there any difference between the Bis and air as regards to the floors. Could I get away with using sheets of steel insted of buying THE proper floors?
Thanks
Col.

[126redbomb]

I'm waiting

[Darrell]

I'd start by calling your car your little baby or something other than your polish heap of rust.
As we are a bunch of enthusiasts one might get a better response, just a suggestion...

I believe for the price of it, you'd be better off just getting new floor panels, available through the many suppliers mentioned in the reputable companies part of the forum.
126fan.sk and axel gerstyl comes to mind (forgive any spelling mistakes)

As far as I understand, the floor was not changed between the air cooled and bis and may be the same as the 500 but e mailing 126fan.sk will confirm this.
I havn't got anything from 126fan.sk but have e mailed them, very helpful and when my financial situation improves (wife allowing me to spend money on fiats) I shall be putting together a list of bits to get from them, which is the best as it saves on carriage.

[126redbomb]

Cheers Darrell,  It's only a car!   No I do love the Maluch but it's never been registered over here yet, even though I have had the Little one for over a year (just never seem to have the money to sort the rust problem out).  Everything else work a treat its just the body work that's letting the side down. Then I can Reg it Mot and have FUN.
Now it's time to tackle the problem area's out before it ends up a pile of dust.
Do you know how much it costs for the floors? Yes I will look at your link and thanks.
Col. 

[Darrell]

Yeah I know the feeling about the finance issues.
Wife wants a conservatory and every step forward in savings seems to involve a few backward steps.

I don't think the floors are very expensive, the carriage might be the killer.
When I bought pannels for my 500 I got them from Chetseven on e bay, but call her and get them direct as e bay has up-ed their charges so all the e bay sellers complain they have to up their charges to cover this.

If the holes aren't too bad just weld them up for now. It's what I did on my 126. Cost me the welding wire and gas
We ought to do a check list for the 126 for before one takes it for the test as there are a few things that always seem to come-up like checking for play in the king pins. Often this goes-away with a bit of grease pumped-in to them.

Yours looks like the very new ELX

[126redbomb]

Yeah it is one of the last one's but it's had a very hard life, I think it's been left in a lake for 5 years and then muggins comes along and rescue's her/him(not sure yet). As for the holes lets say Flinstones springs to mind
 I have got a 1990 bis which is great to bomb around in(I bought this after thinking I would sell the A/C but I couldn't part with her/him) and the kids love it when I drop/pick em up from school. But now they keep bugging me to sort out the blue one so I can take them to a classic car show(somewhere).
Oh by the way there was a Classic Show on at Warwick Castle on Father's Day(if only I had known I could have got in for free) but maybe next year Fiat 126 and 500 drivers could make a showing there(now that would be good)  

[Darrell]

Oops flinstone-ing I think means new floors 

One good thing is you can turn the car on it's side. If only someone told me that when I did mine all those years back

[126redbomb]

That sounds like a good idea but knowing my luck it will rollover onto roof hey presto Quashtop . 
To be honest I don't want to go digging about to much but I know I will have to face it and chop all the crap out(I just hope Ive got some body work left!)
Just wondering do you know out of the A/c and Water cooled which is the noisyist, I think I will have to go to a meeting when I get the chance to see others in the flesh. Yes I have one of each but like I say the A/C is not roadworthy so I can't get a good idea(the kids said they think the A/C has a better sound when I started it up,so maybe they could be right)

[Darrell]

I had a BIS, she was a fine beast, but thought I'd do better with an air cooled.

The BIS in standard form is faster and in my opinion quieter however the air cooled gives you more options for tuning with more tuning parts available.

How about looking for a local welder to do the job, you never know you may find some polish guys who would get a kick out of working on a 126 

[Amateb8]

I agree with Darrell regarding his views i.e. the watercooled Bis and an aircooled. Frustratingly, there do not appear to be any tuning parts for the Bis. In my opinion, apart from the Bis being more practical, it has slightly more kit and it also has smoother ride due to 13 inch wheels.

I have two Bises and according to the receipts on my blue one, the floors appear to have been replaced with an aircooled version. The receipt described the part for a 126p.

[dajwid]

sadly the newer FSM cars really rot at the first sign of water. Very thin steel and no rust proofing.

Have you removed the wheels and plastic rust hiders. Very often the inner wings rot through so check carefully before spending any money on floors.

Floor panels are very cheap.

[Amateb8]

Would the thin steel and no rust proofing anomaly apply to 126's built after 1993? I read somewhere that Fiat used galvanized steel on all thier cars including the 126 model from 1987 onwards.

[126redbomb]

I nearly fell over when you said galvernised My 1999 model must have been used as a water feature or was fished out of a lake then bought over here for Me use as a money pit(well,technically I havn't spent penny on her yet)
Yes I think the air-cooled is more of a go-kart than the water-cooled, its got more of a ruff tone to it too(that might be more rust)
Col.

[Amateb8]

Perhaps Fiat gave FSM full autonomy after Fiat officially stopped selling 126s from 1993, the year the Cinquecento officially replaced the 126. Without Fiat's oversight and funding, maybe FSM opted to cut corners, some of which were reverting to non-galvanized steel and limited or no rust proofing. I'm speculating of course.

[GTMaster]

I think factory rust proofing was just spraying the metal with paint and then underseal. The inside of the sills, wheelarches and doors was done with cavity spray...