My 10yr old son & I bought us a project car to fix up for him. It's a 1974 Fiat 128, 4 door, it's been sit'n for bout 30 yrs, but a complete car. Now we have it kinda gut'd on the inside, seats, carpet, door pannels & headliner are all taken out. We need to perlace the floor pans, both sides are rusted & holes. IF I can figure out how to post pics I will. would be inerested in hearing what y'all have to say about it.
Fun cars to drive, same engine as the X1/9. A '74 should be a 1300. If it's got an 1100 for some reason, swap it out (you could still swap in a 1500 if you'd like). Before I'd go too far with it, I'd make sure the front structure is sound. They will rust at the suspension mounts, firewall, etc. You're on your own with making floorpans as Fiat never sold them as parts. The 128 is one of those cars so rare now that parts specific to it aren't plentiful, but those that exist have been on a shelf for 30 years gathering dust and should be bargain priced. Should be.
A four door sedan has ZERO collector value, so don't stress over keeping anything original. Chop it up and have fun with it. Chris Obert autocrosses one and knows more about these cars than anyone. He also will probably be your primary source of parts.
To post pictures, you will need something like photobucket and then you can use the icon of a camera to link the picture.
I love little Fiats. The front suspension and the drivetrain of that car is the same as the Yugo so you can also steal parts off a Yugo. A 1500 from a late X1/9 or Yugo could be swapped in. Parts are a little difficult to come by but you can find them if you are willing to keep yours eyes open. On the Yugo, X1/9 struts on the front will lower the car a little.
please spend some time figuring out how to post pics, I'd love to see a 128 build!
A friend of mine was just emailing me about the 128 he used to own over in Greece. His exact words:
"The Fiat 128 was the replacement of the Fiat 124 (which is what the Lada was a copy of, and that car in the picture was an "evolution" of that Lada). The Fiat 128 was even E36 M3tier than the 124, it was FWD, and it had a "hot" 1100 cc engine that would propel the car all the way to 150 kph. But they were as E36 M3ty as they came. I told the owner that the Italians invented the disposable car, and the Japanese perfected it!"
The 128 was not the replacement for the 124. The 131 sorta kinda was (in the US, anyway). I think it more realistically replaced the 850. The 128 came out as a 1971 model, IIRC. The 124 (sedan) soldiered on until at least 1975 with Fiat, and in perpetuity as a Lada (though with a different engine).
The 128 was good enough for Enzo Ferrari http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GThbYeRKIt0. The engine is by Aurelio Lampredi, the same guy who did the Fiat/Lancia twin cam and a lot of 50s Ferrari racing engines. It requires maintenance accordingly, it actually takes the same valve shims as a Ferrari V8.
Don't even think of trying to start the engine without a fresh timing belt and idler bearing.
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