Fiat 124 Sport Coupe AC 1969
Posted: November 27th, 2008, 1:01 pm
Hello Guy and all readers out there.
Here's a presentation of my car and the progress of this ongoing project untill now.
The car is a 1969 Fiat 124 Sport Coupe of the first series (AC). It was among the last ACs produced, and has the BC 4-link-type rear axle arrangement. I bought the car in November 2006 and drove it home to Stockholm from Östersund, about 500 km on snowy roads. A little adventure, but I had no problems on the way. The car was at that time matte black and looked terrible. After a few months of driving, it became evident that a suspension job was needed. The summer of 2006 a fast paint job was done in "tricolore" type style.
The following winter someone bumped into the car while it was parked, leaving terrible dents in the left door and in the hood, but I got my hands on a new hood and new doors. The summer of 2007 I changed all trailing arms, track control arms, steering knuckles and bushings, and mounted a lowering kit (35mm lowering for 124 Spider) and adjustable shocks. The original 1438ccm engine was changed for a renovated 1608ccm that I got for a cheap price. The only problem was that no intake manifold or IDF carbs were included, so it runs on the original 1438 manifold and origninal type carb. I also had a differential adjusting job done and new rear axle bearings and oil seals.
This summer I got on with it again. A brand new Solex carb with original specs was mounted. A new paint job was necessary after changing doors and hood, but this time I chose a colour combination that looks more "street-car like".
It's now orange with matte black hood and rear. The first thing I did after the paint job was taking it to the Giorno Italiana car gathering to test it at the race track. That was great fun! The handling was good and the driveability was nice (for being an original 1608 engine).
At the end of the summer, I took it for a long drive along the west coast of Norway. A lot of mountains, curly, tight roads, fjords and steep hills. During less than 3 weeks I drove almost 3500km, with only minor problems along the way.
Now I've installed an electronic ignition kit to get rid of the points and condenser vulnerabilities, and a bolt-on four piston caliper kit has arrived from USA. The brackets are made for late-type Pininfarina Spider with 257mm brake discs, and with large capacity calipers I'll be able to use Croma type ventilated discs (257mmx22mm or 257mmx20mm). Polyurethane bushings for rear trail arms are also ready to be mounted, and I've located a kit for the front track control arms as well. Rear and heavy duty front sway bars are under consideration.
My philosophy is to make the car's handling as good as possible and to have good braking power first, then I can concentrate on the power afterwards. To me, power without handling and braking ability is useless.
Next: this spring I'll start the engine project. 2-litre 8 valve with twin carbs, tuned to stage II is the present plan. However, such plans have a tendency to change (to the better)... (in my experience, at least)
During the summer of 2009 I hope to test the car in a classic race series in Norway called Corsa Italiana (of course, there are only Italian cars in this series). :-)
Here's a presentation of my car and the progress of this ongoing project untill now.
The car is a 1969 Fiat 124 Sport Coupe of the first series (AC). It was among the last ACs produced, and has the BC 4-link-type rear axle arrangement. I bought the car in November 2006 and drove it home to Stockholm from Östersund, about 500 km on snowy roads. A little adventure, but I had no problems on the way. The car was at that time matte black and looked terrible. After a few months of driving, it became evident that a suspension job was needed. The summer of 2006 a fast paint job was done in "tricolore" type style.
The following winter someone bumped into the car while it was parked, leaving terrible dents in the left door and in the hood, but I got my hands on a new hood and new doors. The summer of 2007 I changed all trailing arms, track control arms, steering knuckles and bushings, and mounted a lowering kit (35mm lowering for 124 Spider) and adjustable shocks. The original 1438ccm engine was changed for a renovated 1608ccm that I got for a cheap price. The only problem was that no intake manifold or IDF carbs were included, so it runs on the original 1438 manifold and origninal type carb. I also had a differential adjusting job done and new rear axle bearings and oil seals.
This summer I got on with it again. A brand new Solex carb with original specs was mounted. A new paint job was necessary after changing doors and hood, but this time I chose a colour combination that looks more "street-car like".
It's now orange with matte black hood and rear. The first thing I did after the paint job was taking it to the Giorno Italiana car gathering to test it at the race track. That was great fun! The handling was good and the driveability was nice (for being an original 1608 engine).
At the end of the summer, I took it for a long drive along the west coast of Norway. A lot of mountains, curly, tight roads, fjords and steep hills. During less than 3 weeks I drove almost 3500km, with only minor problems along the way.
Now I've installed an electronic ignition kit to get rid of the points and condenser vulnerabilities, and a bolt-on four piston caliper kit has arrived from USA. The brackets are made for late-type Pininfarina Spider with 257mm brake discs, and with large capacity calipers I'll be able to use Croma type ventilated discs (257mmx22mm or 257mmx20mm). Polyurethane bushings for rear trail arms are also ready to be mounted, and I've located a kit for the front track control arms as well. Rear and heavy duty front sway bars are under consideration.
My philosophy is to make the car's handling as good as possible and to have good braking power first, then I can concentrate on the power afterwards. To me, power without handling and braking ability is useless.
Next: this spring I'll start the engine project. 2-litre 8 valve with twin carbs, tuned to stage II is the present plan. However, such plans have a tendency to change (to the better)... (in my experience, at least)
During the summer of 2009 I hope to test the car in a classic race series in Norway called Corsa Italiana (of course, there are only Italian cars in this series). :-)