Fiat 600 Abarth Aluminum Front Leafspring Conversion Kit

abarth600

Daily Driver
Just wondering if anyone has installed one of these that MR Fiat sells.
if so any feedback would be appreciated
thanks heinz
 

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That looks very cool to me. Unfortunately I know nothing about 600's, but I do realize the difference between a leaf spring and a coilover suspension. Seems like a great idea.
 
The key question is are the top mounts strong enough to carry the load as that’s not how they are designed. Even on stock high mileage cars the top shock mounts crack and that’s without the extra loading of the spring.
 
The key question is are the top mounts strong enough to carry the load as that’s not how they are designed. Even on stock high mileage cars the top shock mounts crack and that’s without the extra loading of the spring.

Abarth used reinforcing plates. Somewhere there are some sketches on these, maybe a Forum member knows how to find them.

When we put the Fiero uprights and brakes on our E/Mod 600 we added 1/8" reinforcing plates ro mount the upper A-arms and the coilovers. We still had to repair some weld separation and some cracking in the inner fender area after we ran it for a while.
 
thanks everyone for the info. if anybody has some drawings for reinforcing plates, please post them here or email me at:
hmihm@wi.rr.com
Hi Heinz,
I don't currently have a drawing but it's pretty straight forward in application. Start with a piece of paper about 10" x 10" and apply to body section of fender well with A-arm and brakes/shock removed. You will need to poke holes for the two upper A-arm bolts. Allow the bottom edge to go beyond existing sheet metal about 1/2". Toward the rear it will curve to match the body. Trim the edges slightly rounded in shape. You will have something like the attached sketch. Now transfer to 16 gauge sheet metal either cold rolled or galvanized. About every 2" drill a hole about 3/8" diameter. You will have a left and a right pattern/product. Slightly bend the rear to fit the body. Drill the two A-arm bolt holes. Now slip over the two studs and using several large washers tighten to the body which has been cleaned to bare metal a good inch beyond the pattern. Using a wire welder plug weld the 3/8" holes and then weld around the edges. Along the bottom plug weld and then using a ball peen hammer and dolly peen the edge under to form a stiffening flange going toward the centerline of the car. If using galvanized sheet metal avoid the fumes and drink a glass of milk when done. Honest. Sketch is not exact but that's the general idea.
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I have a similar wishbone front end in my 850 Coupe. I copied the reinforcing plates shown in John Edwards book "Fiat racers handbook" Welded them in, sistering them up to the stock bracket. On the inside, I welded in a rectangular plate and this has a 20mm tube welded across the car joining the plates together. John Edwards {RIP] has heaps of Youtube videos under the name of fiatnutz and there is one there that shows how to do this but I could not find it amongst the many videos there. This is a video about the book and if you search through his uploads you will find the one you need.
Photo is from the book.
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I have a similar wishbone front end in my 850 Coupe. I copied the reinforcing plates shown in John Edwards book "Fiat racers handbook" Welded them in, sistering them up to the stock bracket. On the inside, I welded in a rectangular plate and this has a 20mm tube welded across the car joining the plates together. John Edwards {RIP] has heaps of Youtube videos under the name of fiatnutz and there is one there that shows how to do this but I could not find it amongst the many videos there. This is a video about the book and if you search through his uploads you will find the one you need.
Photo is from the book.View attachment 26682
Graham,
Unknown solution to me but the cross brace tube sounds very good. My solution was probably from Al Cosentino of FAZA but not certain. My memory of the underside of an 850 vs a 600 is a little fuzzy also. In fact a lot of stuff now a days is out of focus. I'm glad to hear there's continued interest in the rear engine world.
 
Personally I wouldn't spend the money on the coil-over mod., especially at the premium prices that particular vendor charges. Installing the front coil-over setup only won't help much except for the cool factor or are you doing more? There's a number of alternative vendors in Europe with the independent coil-over suspension like ricambio.co.uk, suderia topolino, Berni Motori, classicperformance-parts.com and one other one I can't remember. If going that route and replicating what Abarth did on the late model versions of the 1000 Berlina Corsas, I think you'd also want to install sway bars along with upgraded rear suspension, wider wheels, flared fenders, etc... You could use modified/stiffened rear trailing arms or go with the pendolare setup (replica) which does away with the trailing arms - very expensive! Not sure if you can even get a replica set anymore anywhere. Photo of it is below.

The coil-over suspension MUST have the upper attachment points upgraded and strengthened. Berni Motori sells the pieces as shown below. You could easily make these yourself. The upper bracket needs to be widened to accommodate the coil spring. With the coil-over shocks/springs, the spring force is now on the upper bracket and it needs to be well-secured to the chassis (see the photo of the Abarth). If you're going to be doing any kind of racing or hard diving on the street, I'd install the lower reinforcing plates where the swing arms attach. These are available from Berni Motori. You could make these yourself too. Mahlon Craft talks about upgrading the suspension on his website here: http://users.ntplx.net/~kinukoyc/Pages/technical_section.html I installed the sub-frame boxing he mentions and bought Berni Motori Abarth replica pieces as in his photo below. A heck of a lot of work...

If lowering the car much, you probably will need the offset pins for the swing arms as available from Berni Motori in the photo. I'm using something similar ("trunnion adapters"). If you raise the swing arm attachment points, the "dimples" in the chassis (or reinforcing plate if so installed) need to be raised otherwise the swing arms with hit the body. You can see this in the photo of my reinforcing plate. Yes, more work...

One photo below is an original Abarth with the coil-over suspension. Note the modified upper bracket and reinforcing plate. I've done the reinforcing plate on my 600 Abarth project and it is also one heck of a lot of work! See the photo below. I'm using a lowered leaf spring (Abarth replica).

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Wow Gil,
That's pretty impressive!!! As far as I ever got was welding on the double wall 16 gauge plate and running a "drag" link from the center leaf to the right frame member on my 600. Similar to "traction bars" on a live axle car used at the drags. Only other tip I can think of in the rather simple department is swapping an 600 upper A-arm to an 850. Unless my memory is lacking (again) the 600 has a U shaped bracket spot welded connecting the front and rear mounts for the upper king pin. This would minimize the twisting while braking. They left it out when making the 850.
 
Wow Gil,
That's pretty impressive!!! As far as I ever got was welding on the double wall 16 gauge plate and running a "drag" link from the center leaf to the right frame member on my 600. Similar to "traction bars" on a live axle car used at the drags. Only other tip I can think of in the rather simple department is swapping an 600 upper A-arm to an 850. Unless my memory is lacking (again) the 600 has a U shaped bracket spot welded connecting the front and rear mounts for the upper king pin. This would minimize the twisting while braking. They left it out when making the 850.[/QUOTE]
Thanks, but that's just a small sampling of some of the crazy welding I've done. I had no idea how to weld sheet metal on cars until I was "forced" to learn how on this car. Thank god for the internet and youtube vids nowadays! Interestingly, if you're trying to replicate Abarth mods and welding work, it's made somewhat easier by Abarth's almost agricultural grade workmanship on some if it, lol.

You are correct on the A-arms. Here's a photo of the 600 part on the left and 850 on the right. They are completely interchangeable. Why Fiat omitted the U-shaped piece on the 850s is a mystery, especially when 850s were heavier and had more power.

DSCF1202_LI.jpg
 
Just wondering if anyone has installed one of these that MR Fiat sells.
if so any feedback would be appreciated
thanks heinz
I am not sure if you have installed it but I did one a few years ago on my 850 Spyder. fab piece of kit; only drawback is the shocks are much bigger [with coils] than the standard ones so, I have had to bang the inner wing near the top of the strut to stop them banging against it. You need to adjust before you install and then, once on the car, you can tweak but otherwise, they are a wonderful set up and drive with much nicer handling than the old leaf.
 
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