Found myself a project car...

[XanRules]

Well, driving around a few days ago, I spotted this. All I know is that it's a Fiat 600 in need of a complete restoration. It's been sitting for 25 years eek. It still has the engine, but...well, I don't think it's coming back.
However, I'm a Subaru guy by nature and practice. Never owned or worked on anything else. But my girlfriend and I had to have it. We pick it up next week. We're going to do a pretty low-budget restoration job, which may include a new motor.
I've seen a little bit of talk about putting a flat-four engine in these, like a Subaru engine. And since that's my specialty, it seems like fun to me.

Anyway. Anyone who can tell me anything else about this car from this one sad picture I have, please let me know.

And hopefully I'll have a build thread up soon for you guys!

 

[Panda Van]

Welcome to the forum !!

What a find - hope you keep us updated with what you do to it, you may be inspired by this......

http://www.offdrc.co.uk/images/gallery_2009_002/photo_2009_002_026.jpg

found at outlaw flat four site, good luck with the project !!!

 

[XanRules]

Very cool. So I can in fact shoehorn a subaru motor into this car...
I just have no idea how I would get it to work.

The little guy was $100, I couldn't resist.
He's in my friend's garage getting his rust removed so we can start welding bits and pieces back on.

 

[XanRules]

Alright, I'm back! We've finally got the car disassembled. The question now is what to do with it. Our budget for the entire car, not including the initial price of the car, is $1000USD. I'd like to put the Subaru motor in there, but that will probably take a LOT of work, time, and money. So, let me ask you this - is it worth rebuilding the stock 27hp motor? What makes the most sense given my budget?

 

[Deftone]

Hello and welcome mate i would personaly go for the stock re-build you can still make them look nice and shiny with a few custom pipes and leads etc

 

[XanRules]

True. But I'd like it to be a bit zippier, and parts are hard to find. Plus it would be a whole new thing to learn, whereas I'm quite familiar with Subaru engines.
I just found a running Subaru 1.8L for sale for $150. The 1.8L will fit with no modification to the Fiat's body. And for $150, I'm getting five times the power and eight times the torque of the stock 736cc motor. It seems like a no-brainer to me.
The question is cooling. I may end up using an exceptionally small radiator, like from a Honda or very early Subaru Justy, and mounting it at the front of the car.

 

[XanRules]

also, as you may have noticed - I have a lot of ideas, but not much money and not many outlets for them.

 

[XanRules]

Hello and welcome mate i would personaly go for the stock re-build you can still make them look nice and shiny with a few custom pipes and leads etc

I've decided I'm going to do this. The question is, where do I buy the parts?
Finally stripped the car down this weekend, about to start replacing body panels.

 

[XanRules]

Found a used, running 124 Spider motor with all the wiring for $200. Picking it up next weekend. We're probably going to convert her to mid-engine, too.

 

[XanRules]

That failed. Back to the Subaru EJ18 plan.
I don't know where I got the notion that this was a factory 736cc motor, it's a 600cc, is it not?

Regardless.
So I finally hauled my ass down to Auburn, GA to work on the car today. We almost got the engine out until we realized we had to unbolt it from the radiator. It's a weird design.

The distributor and block are bolted to a small donut gasket and metal ring that serve as a motor mount - bolted directly to the rear bumper. This is the only motor mounting point. The transmission itself passes thru the rear seats. Someone apparently thought you could comfortably fit four people in a car the size of a small go-kart.

We're pulling those seats and keeping them out. Eventually we'll put some nice ones in, I have the old ones from my OBS still laying around somewhere.

Here's Will investigating the full-size spare. Incredibly, all but one of the tires are still fully inflated and holding air.

This was an unfortunate surprise. Not only are the seat rails welded to the floor panel, but the floor panel has completely rusted through. Fortunately there's enough of a frame intact to weld a new panel in, but seat rails are going to be an issue.
And yes, this car is in a filthy place right now.

The paint was originally a very deep blue, similar to 555 Blue Mica. Now it's...well, not.
I don't know if the flowers are OEM or not.

This is the motor. It's a 600cc (.6L) water-cooled, carbuerated 4-cylinder. The carb is long gone. It puts down 21rwhp and about 11ft-lbs from the factory.

A better look at the paint after being hit with a lot of degreaser and a hose. I decided to clean the car up while Will hit the rear bumper with a hammer to get the engine free.

Another shot of the motor, but this time it's darker and soggier.

Thanks for following along so far!

 

[Eklipze3k]

Depending on the year that's either a 633cc 22hp motor or a 767cc 32hp motor, I'd say probably the 633cc version is more likely but I don't know enough about 600's to be sure.

I like the idea of putting a Scooby engine in there, supposedly a lot of my fellow 126 owners have done similar things and I think the 500/600/126 are all quite similar mechanically so could be worth asking around. Have a quick look at http://retro500.com/home.html might give you some food for thought.

 

[Colledge]

if i where you i'd put a motorcycle engine in there. as you're a bit short of space i'd go with a single or twin (more torque and less space) even a single 400 can produce 60+bhp which would be a massive improvement. if it where my project though i'd fit an rs250 2stroke twin in there. they can be race tuned to 100+ bhp, but produce a reliable 60bhp and have a fun as hell powerband. But i know that over there in america its hell to get anything 2stroke road legal.

 

[Eklipze3k]

if i where you i'd put a motorcycle engine in there. as you're a bit short of space i'd go with a single or twin (more torque and less space) even a single 400 can produce 60+bhp which would be a massive improvement. if it where my project though i'd fit an rs250 2stroke twin in there. they can be race tuned to 100+ bhp, but produce a reliable 60bhp and have a fun as hell powerband. But i know that over there in america its hell to get anything 2stroke road legal.

If you look at the website I posted, you'll see just how easily the Subaru 1800 unit fits in these things

 

[XanRules]

If you look at the website I posted, you'll see just how easily the Subaru 1800 unit fits in these things

which is the exact motor I'm going to be using.

EDIT: I lied. I'm going to be using the Subaru EJ18. Unless he's done something completely absurd to that EJ18, I have no idea what the hell motor is in the black car.

 

[Xen]

which is the exact motor I'm going to be using.

EDIT: I lied. I'm going to be using the Subaru EJ18. Unless he's done something completely absurd to that EJ18, I have no idea what the hell motor is in the black car.

Looks like a sweet project! I'd love to do something like this if I had the time.

I think you made the right decision in replacing the engine with something with more beef, getting the stock engine back to its former glory would be a hell of a job anyway, so you may aswell spend the time doing a mad transplant and have a car that looks great and goes great! Handling and braking might be a bit hairy though, any plans for that?

 

[XanRules]

Looks like a sweet project! I'd love to do something like this if I had the time.

I think you made the right decision in replacing the engine with something with more beef, getting the stock engine back to its former glory would be a hell of a job anyway, so you may aswell spend the time doing a mad transplant and have a car that looks great and goes great! Handling and braking might be a bit hairy though, any plans for that?

I may have to find a similarly small car and retrofit parts off of it. I know I can buy factory-spec shocks and brakes for this car here in town - there's a guy who hand-builds replacements about an hour away.