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Some time ago Gary luke introduced me to the most wonderful of all cars... The FIAT 850. These little cars are so small, so cute, so interesting, and handle so well. How could I do anything but fall in love. I spent the balance of my high school years working on these cars. I have helped build a turbo 131 that won CRS in the 80's. I helped put a twin cam 2 liter in an x-1/9. Now after 15 years of working on FIATs I have started on what I think will be one of the coolest projects I have worked on yet... Making the most reliable 850 I can... But where do I start? Why am I asking you?

The original idea stemmed from some wisdom that was given to me years ago by Gary or Don Luke I think. He said "The higher performance you make a car, the less reliable it will become."

So, taking this advice to heart, I have since spent thousands trying to make my cars go faster. Until now...

The Start...

What am I doing and when. Lets start with the body.

I want: I like the look of the 1967 850 spider. Small sleek and elegant. The covered headlights are the key. They give it the Boxter.... "I'm gonna eat the road" look.

Problem 1:
In the early 60's there was a slight problem with the metal that the cars were made of. I'm told by good sources that there was a recall and that many of the cars rusted through in the first year or two. Think of what they look like over 30 years later. No top for support, most of them stored outside, with rotted soft tops, filling with water and whatever else. The covered headlights as well as numerous other bits were shared with the Lambergini Mura... So, in the 60's, 70's, and 80's a number of them were, for lack of a better word, butchered for the cross over bits. On top of that children and vandals love to smash the covered headlights.

Answer 1:

Have your friend Lalo *note-2* hand you the nose off a 67' then a year later give you a set of headlight buckets. Soon after find the best 72' you can and convert the nose.

Problem 2:
The 67' bumper mounts below the body brake and all the other mount above. The bumper must mount to the frame. Its the only safe thing to do. It cant mount above the body brake or it will obstruct the headlights and look funny. Not to mention we needed to falcon clip a pair of good fenders off the 72'.

Answer 2:

The Italians never changed the jigs at the factory and all the mounting points are still in the 72'. Woo Hooo! We'll just need to cut holes for the bumper below the body brake.

Suspension. To be stock or not to be stock. That is the question.

I want: I would like my car to handle like any good Italian car should.

Problem 3:
The old stock shocks have too much give. New stock shocks are crap. The front end sits like most stock Italian cars..too high. Every car can do with a lower CG and the suspension travel can be a little more fluid. The ball joints are all worn and have no grease fitting. Nobody ever greases the kingpins or re-packs the wheel bearing. And the front can be a little stiffer.

Answer 3:
I found a place back east that has NOS KONI shocks. Replace all the ball joints. Rebuild the uprights and replace the wheel bearings. Plus, pull one of the front leaf springs to get that CG down...Woo Hooo! To stiffen the suspension I replaced the front anti-roll bar with the rear bar out of another 850. The rear bars are the same dimensions only slightly larger in diameter. I could drop the nose even more by welding an extra eyelet at the bottom of the upright, but that's a lot of work for little return on a street car.

Problem 4:
The 30 year old NOS KONIs are dead...

Answer 4:
Send KONIs in under factory lifetime warrantee and get em' fixed free.

The transmission. Ah yes, the one limiting thing in any cars quest for speed is the final drive.
Well, If you want speed, buy a corvette. In my case, I love the little Italian cars.

Problem 5:
The Ring and pinion are made for a stock 850.

Answer 5:
There are several answers to this problem.

1. Use the same old transmission
2. Use the 850 sedan transmission that will give you a 5 MPH rise in the top end.
3. Use the VW transmission conversion that PBS makes parts for.
4. My favorite, find a way to score a 4.88 Abarth final drive.

Any of these might work for you. I had the luck of getting one of these Abarth transmissions. I'll let you know how it works.

Problem 6:
After 40 or 50 thousand miles of not being greased, both the splined end of the axles and the splined cups take a beating. Neglect is the number one killer of useful stuff.

Answer 6:
I got brand spanking new machined FIAT axles with cool machined FIAT shaft sleeves. These are not like the old cast type axles. I would love to find out where they came from. One thing that some people do is mount a greased fitting in the cup. I use a custom fitting on the greased gun to fill the cup. If you look closely there is usually a 1/4 inch gap between the cup and the rubber axle coupling. Just give this a couple shots every month or two. Also, take these apart, clean, and inspect them every year or so.

Problem 7:
The old rubber axle coupling that connect the axles to the wheel hubs dry and dissolve after 15 years or so. This causes the insert (usually held in rubber) to slam into the outer carrier. I can't imagine that this is a good thing.

Answer 7:
New rubber axle couplings.

cooling system. So, What's the thing about em'

Problem 8:
People don't take the time to understand what the 850 needs. The panels under the engine for instance. I have seen more 850s where these are just... gone... I guess people feel FIAT likes to waste time and money on things that aren't needed. Ha!. But these are needed. They shunt the air and move it to the radiator. The radiator is constantly getting coated with oil when the car is poorly maintained. But that is another matter.

Answer 8:
Beg, borrow or otherwise make panels that mount between the open road and your engine compartment. Lalo *note-2*and I have several sets. Just in case.

Problem 9:
I have also been told by several 850 people that these engines like to run cold. So much so that they produce 1 or 2 more horse power. I haft to find out what that temp is again...

Answer 9:
I took a pair of heater cores and mounted one behind each headlight. Then I shunted the air from the oval horn hole through them. I plan to do some testing to check the temps at each spot. I'm also tinkering with the idea of an aluminum radiator in the back as well. To the best of my knowledge the 850 came with two styles of radiator. There are 3 and 4 row. Make sure that you are using the 4 row. Most importantlly, don't forget to have the radiator serviced at a reputable shop. Most of the time they are 30% to 60% clogged. Not good.

Problem 10:
I have also been told by several 850 people that these engines like to run cold. So much so that they produce 1 or 2 more horse power. I need to find out what that temp is again...

Answer 10:
The fan/water pump is a good cost cutting move by FIAT but I would rather use a low profile electric fan so that I can control the speed. This allows a little more since be liberated being as a relay can shut off the fan when it is not necessary. To do this you will either need to remove the fan or get a pump that doesn't use the fan at all. These are nice in that they liberate some space in the engine compartment. I got the PBS high volume pump that uses a Toyota insert. This allows for extra flow to the front for my extra radiators.

Were the power comes from. I'll brake this into several pieces. Well take on the short block first.

Problem 11:
Where to start, it is a pushrod three main bearing engine. That alone would cause most people to use it as a boat anchor. I say screw those people. Its a cool little powerplant and I like it. So oil pressure is historically low due to several shortcomings in the oil pump. The design of the stock 850 pump allowed the pressure to push the gears apart. The gears have steel shafts in them but are only supported at one end. Its like trying to hold two of your fingers together while someone else is pushing a pencil between them. You lose.

Answer 11:
the pump can be modified by replacing the steel shafts with longer ones then securing them in the lower half of the pump with a home made steel flange or buy a 127 pump. If the 127 pump is used, then the Abarth sump or PBS 3 piece pan should be used to go with it. The 127 pump is a little longer then the stock 850.

Problem 12:
The centrifugal oil filter is hard to clean, plus it wasn't designed to be used with modern oil.

*note-1*

Answer 12:
the oiling system can be changed. An external filter is an acceptable option. This is commonly done by using the tiny plug in the middle of the exhaust side of the block and the oil pressure relief valve as ports for the oiling hoses. The pressure relief valve is then carefully welded on the end of the overflow pipe.(This is not needed if the 127 pump is used. The 127 oil pump has a built in pressure relief valve.) Then the overflow passage in the block must be plugged as well as the hole in the end of the crankshaft. My suggestion is to leave the centrifugal cover in place. It looks better. Time can be taken to provide extra oiling to the center main bearing. a long drill bit is needed to drill out to the center main then a short one can be used from the center main down to the new passage you created. Most bearing sets already have the needed hole.

Problem 13:
The cam lobs near the distributor drive wear through due to lack of oil

*note-1*

Answer13:
Have a groove cut on the inside of the of the aluminum bushing that holds the cam in place. Then drill a vary small hole in the flat part. All that or call PBS and have them make one.

Problem 14:
Larger displacement. This is usually the first choice to increase power. Changing the displacement of an engine is not always the best move. Sometimes there will be increases in heat and depending, on the change in burn pattern and compression area, you might loose power.

Answer 14:
Hog that sucker out... Apparently on the newer 850 based pistons are so big that they offset bore it. This allows the pistons to be 67.2 in the 903. I think this works out to 965cc. The wrist pins need to be pushed in off center to compensate. This almost makes up for the center of the rod no longer being in line with the center of the piston. When doing this make sure that offset is done correctly and that the pistons are in the correct cylinders. I have seen this happen and its not good. The wrist pin can scrape a gouge in the bore in no time flat and without even running it under power. When mine was assembled the pins were offset to the same direction on cylinder 1 and 4. This made 4 scrape the bore. I turned it by hand only 15 times or so and it was bad. It was not too bad to hone out though.

Problem 15:
The stock Duciller and Magnetti Morelli Distributors are unreliable. I have read and experienced that the timing on a stock 850 can fluctuate up to 7°. That's a lot... Plus setting dwell sucks and all the new points I have seen have a hole drilled in the center. The only excuse I have heard for the hole is it keeps a carbon mound from building up in the center.

*note-1*

Answer 15:
Electronic distributor. I found Chris Obert has several that he acquired and rebuilt. They use 124/131 style Magntti Morelli Breakerless ignition parts. These all clean up nice, plus they are compatible with several styles of MSD.

Problem 16:
The head has such limited flow. I am told that in flow bench tests the standard 850 head has problems getting equal flow to cylinder 1 and 4. Plus the Uniport design is so limiting for modification.

Answer 16:
The 8 port design of Abarth, Aztec and PBS are a great step without going to a twin cam design. Since PBS still has some on the shelf, Im working with one. To the best of my knowledge there are three main evolutions of the head. I am told the current PBS 8P design can be ported. But I'm after a more reliable setup. So stock it is and stock I will keep it for now.

Sixth...

Then the fueling system

Problem 17:
Lord knows the Web carb is great. And two.. even better! And the tone of a good set of 40 DCOEs. Wow... But, tuning and cleaning and, I'm sorry, but keeping any set of carbs in precise alignment is a chore. It's not necessarily what you want for the street. Plus think of the savings in fuel.

Answer 17:
Fuel injection. I have decided to use the bosch L-jetronic. Now I know there are better. But come on! It came on all the FIATs we got here in the States.

Problem 18:
how to connect l-jetronic fuel injection to an engine that never had it.

Answer 18:
a little creative re-maunfacturing.

Problem 19:
Need a plenum.

Answer 19:
I have always loved the look of the plenum chamber off the x-1/9. It has a certain logic to it that I can't explain. The cylinder shape and symmetric layout, just looks right. So I compare the spacing of the intake to the manifold and the inner diameters of the ports involved. What I discovered was that the dimensions are very close. The drop downs off the plenum need to move 1 15/16 inches closer together. As it turns out, the exact size of casting marks between the ports. Not too hard to cut. Then I had David weld the pipes back on the plenum and it came out great.

Problem 20:
Although the center on the manifold pair now match up, the ID (inner diameter) of the intakes on the head are 1 inch even and the ID of the drop downs from the plenum are 1.25 inches.

Answer 20:
We are using the flanges that Courtney made on the computer controlled plasma cutter. Next we took a piece of steal pipe that has a 1 inch ID and an 1 1/2 OD. This is then milled into a cone and welded to the flanges. One of the only completely manufactured pieces on the car. We thought of using 1 inch ID pipe, splitting it and welding in a "v" shaped piece. But decided better of it due to the stress of the unit hanging off the head.

Problem 21:
fuel injectors. Where and how?

Answer 22:
My bud Courtney made these aluminum injector mounts. He had to create a machine bit with a special taper to make them. He's cool. Using the x-1/9 plenum enabled me to mount the injectors in the cast, bent inlet pipes. This can be done by drilling a hole in the bent down-pipes of the manifold. Once the holes are cut, its just a matter of pointing the injectors at the head of the valve, welding them in place, and grinding off the extra.

Problem 23:
The injector mounts

Answer 23:
So, when Courtney made these aluminum injector mounts, they were generic and needed to be cut down to fit into the new manifold.

Problem 24:
Mounts welded in place

Answer 24:
The tricky part of this was to align the injector mounts so that the spray hits the valve just so... I got this by taking a metal rod with the same diameter as the inside of the now mount. Then I cut a groove in the end of it. This slid down the neck of the valve and aligned the FI mount for welding. Also, the injectors need to be close to the valve. this setup allows it them to sit within 4 1/2 inches of the valve. This is great for performance.

EOL

Work in progress.

Notes:
I am looking for short blocks from the following cars.

AUTOBIANCHI
A112 0.9 / 1.1 1970-78

FIAT
127 0.9 1970-83
Panda 45 0.9 / 1.0 1981-
Uno 45 0.9 1983-85

SEAT
Panda 850 1981-84

These engins look somthing like this:

*NOTE-1* These graphics were pulled from http://www.scuderiatopolino.com the site of Mr. Paul Vander Heyden. A great guy who let me pick his brain.

*NOTE-2* 96% of this project would not be possible if not for the help, camaraderie, friendship, engineering experience, and gullibility of my friend Lalo. More about him can be found at www.LalosGarage.com. More on this project can be found at www.lalosgarage.com/Tech/850Tech/conversion.html.