General ..and so it begins 500F 1966 RHD

[BarryH]

Hi Barry here and a newbie to the forum

The next project begins following many years in the replica arena building a Shelby Cobra. Always liked the Classic Fiat 500F look and the Mrs always had a hankering for a small car for her to take to car shows so garage time ahead.

It drives and appears to have had some restoration work done prior to the previous owner, would be happy to hear from anyone who recognizes the car that can add information of it previous life, its rhd but the speedo is in km/h. I know little to nothing about air cooled engines so no doubt will be bending peoples ears . Happy to be aboard

Bye for now

 

[heggae]

Ah. How wonderful. I have a 73 500r. Been a great car. And nothing more exciting and provoking on the road.
Stay away from rush hour traffic. Get some Italian costumes.
Only issue I have had is spark plug wires getting roasted if they aren’t in bracket that keeps them off engine. And fried my condenser on a hot day and before I had a functioning thermostat. Out nice Michelin s on and it drives much ! Better
Love the right hand drive.
Enjoy

 

[Noah500]

Welcome, and enjoy your fettling . No doubt one of the usual suspects will be along soon to advise you to remove the fuel filter from the engine bay as a massive fire risk

 

[the hobbler]

Welcome, and enjoy your fettling . No doubt one of the usual suspects will be along soon to advise you to remove the fuel filter from the engine bay as a massive fire risk

Welcome to the Forum---Where about in Essex do you live; I ask this because I know of a couple more 500 owners in Essex who no doubt would be happy to help you with any problems. They are easy cars to work on, but they do have their little quirks! As Noah599 has pointed out, it would be wise to remove the fuel-filter between the pump and the carb. Not only is it a fire risk, but it is not really needed---you have 1 filter in the tank-unit, 1 in the top of the fuel-pump and another in the top of the carb---you do NOT need a 4th filter.
A lot of people fit electronic ignition to the 500 (and 126) engines---the main problem with these systems, be they the cheaper "Hall-effect" systems or the expensive "123" system (which I have been advised are not as good as the original items now that they are no longer made in Holland) is their location---inside a distributor which is situated in the path of the "cooling-air" coming from the engine.This "cooling-air" can often exceed 100C, which is the 'wilt' point (spelt D.I.E.) of all of the electronic systems.The easiest, and cheapest, way around the problem is to retain the 'points' ignition and move the condenser away from the distributor as 'pattern' condensers are noted for their short life! "Competition" type condensers can be purchased that have both long 'feed' and 'earth' leads, which enables one to mount the condeser up by the coil.
Enjoy the car, use it, and you will have a lot of fun with it. We are here on the Forum to help each other---feel free to ask questions, we will do our best to help.

 

[StMarks]

The next project begins

Welcome along Barry from Essex.
Fwiw I'm assisting with a project 500 at the moment, but the aspirational goal for ours is something like your lovely looking starting point !!

I shall watch your progress with envious eyes.

 

[BarryH]

Thanks all for the welcoming comments, I am just south of Braintree. Initially I am in creating a long to-do list mode and identifying the sources for spare parts . Focus has already been directed to the crossply tyres it is wearing and the fact there is no spare wheel and tyre. A couple of the rims look on the decidedly slightly off round appearance I may look towards Longstone for one of their wheel/tyre packages.. I take it that is a well trodden path?.

 

[BarryH]

Hi, deci

Welcome to the Forum---Where about in Essex do you live; I ask this because I know of a couple more 500 owners in Essex who no doubt would be happy to help you with any problems. They are easy cars to work on, but they do have their little quirks! As Noah599 has pointed out, it would be wise to remove the fuel-filter between the pump and the carb. Not only is it a fire risk, but it is not really needed---you have 1 filter in the tank-unit, 1 in the top of the fuel-pump and another in the top of the carb---you do NOT need a 4th filter.
A lot of people fit electronic ignition to the 500 (and 126) engines---the main problem with these systems, be they the cheaper "Hall-effect" systems or the expensive "123" system (which I have been advised are not as good as the original items now that they are no longer made in Holland) is their location---inside a distributor which is situated in the path of the "cooling-air" coming from the engine.This "cooling-air" can often exceed 100C, which is the 'wilt' point (spelt D.I.E.) of all of the electronic systems.The easiest, and cheapest, way around the problem is to retain the 'points' ignition and move the condenser away from the distributor as 'pattern' condensers are noted for their short life! "Competition" type condensers can be purchased that have both long 'feed' and 'earth' leads, which enables one to mount the condeser up by the coil.
Enjoy the car, use it, and you will have a lot of fun with it. We are here on the Forum to help each other---feel free to ask questions, we will do our best to help.

HI, decided to take your steer with a view to removing that 4th fuel filter makes sense to me. Examining the fuel run and the fuel sender float was perished and the in-tank filter was absent so that has been replaced. Just wondering the green fuel line which runs from fuel tank to fuel pump, I was going to use the same from fuel pump to carb but see a lot of people have used rubber for the last section, is that just a preference or is there heat concerns for the green tubing. Many Thanks Barry