Started on Jan. 28 by Trent

1971 Fiat 850 Berlina

59

71 Fiat 850 Berlina (sedan) Turbocharged, intercooled and fuel injected 903cc motor. GSXR 4 piston front calipers, lowered via Faza mounting block and modified king pin housings (transverse leaf front end) , Larger front sway bar. Empi ball joint bug Gas shocks all around. Height adjustable 525in/lb rear springs Semi trailing arm swingaxle rear suspension.100ft/lbs of torque and 100hp at 12psi of boost 1375 lbs curb weight.

Latest updates
Sept. 19
That is tight!

I had to cut the pinch welded lip completely off and reweld the skins together …

Sept. 19
Not quite sure these are gonna fit

The tires I have been using suck, but they are one of the few short …

Sept. 11
Externally wastegated!

After chasing my taill looking for the cause of an intermittent boost loss problem I …

Aug. 07
new trunk

I had to finish off the rad relocate with ducting to remove the hot air …

July 29
front mount radiator part three

The spare tire well and battery box were cut out of the trunk to allow …

July 29
front mount radiator part two

The civic aluminum radiator was set on its side in the trunk, 1” tubing was …

July 28
Front mounted radiator part one

It is finally time to move the radiator to the front. The limited airflow in …

July 19
The good news

OK so the new motor went……poorly. The lifter, tons of oil leaks, a second injector, …

July 19
Teething problems

One week into the new motor the #4 exhaust valve kept going out of adjustment. …

June 15
back cut the valves

Amongst other things. The combustion chambers are ceramic coated, The seats are ground to 3 …

June 06
It isn't sold!

really I am probably never getting rid of it. Somebody mis-clicked the mark as sold …

May 30
tank installed

For the first time ever I am able to simply lift the engine cover, pop …

May 30
expansion tank

Fabbed up a stainless coolant expansion tank. Purchased a chevy intake filler and cap and …

May 22
Dirt cheap bump stops!

I still need more wheel rate on the rear of the car as evidenced by …

May 22
cam gear

Adjustable cam gears do not exist for these Fiat motors. The last time the car …

May 03
new cooling

The civic radiator finally popped so I set about installing the new aftermarket aluminum civic …

Feb. 07
Coatings!

Trying out Techline coatings. The dry film lubricant for piston skirts and lifters and the …

Jan. 29
Deshrouding

This is supposed to make quite a difference on a naturally aspirated 850 motor so …

Jan. 29
bigger bolts!

The 9mm head bolts have a max torque spec of 36ft/lbs. To buy uprated ARP …

Jan. 29
the block

first step is to perform the reverse flow oil system mod. This moves the oil …

Jan. 16
A new motor

I am now starting the new motor. 65mm bore X 63.5mm stroke for a whopping …

Oct. 12
oh yeah!

Fianlly started to shave those ghastly sidemarker holes. just 5 more to go….sigh.

Oct. 12
pop!

Found the weakest link. Blew the headgasket on the number 2 cylinder into the water …

Sept. 27
New dash

I made up a new dash pad today. Some plywood, glue, fiberglass and vinyl leaves …

Aug. 22
Finally TURBOCHARGED

One TDO3 Turbo from a Volvo S80 Bi-turbo, one 1G DSM intercooler and BOV. For …

Aug. 22
Ansa

An ANSA twin tip slash cut exhaust is the birthright of every italian car. A …

Aug. 15
Idle control

Unfortunately the coolant operated idle booster on the quad throttle body doesnt quite seem to …

Aug. 10
One step closer

Acquired and modified a DSM sidemount intercooler. It is the best fit I have found. …

Aug. 06
starter

I started this months ago then got sidetracked and forgot about it. Found it in …

June 29
A little waste is good

When it is wasted spark. Got EDIS installed and running with MS2. It was suprisingly …

June 11
FUEL INJECTED!!!!

Megasquirt is installed and running. Suzuki gixxer fuel pump and a yamaha raptor 700 throttle …

June 02
rear adjustability

Height adjustable rear. Top perch machined from delrin, garage surplus coilover sleeve, 550 in/lb spring …

June 01
Facelift!

replaced the US spec bumper and turn signals with proper NOS euro spec peices. Very …

June 01
Tank complete

Inside of the tank sealed with the por15 kit. Outside covered with a heavy coat …

May 13
injection

The next contender for the injection system is the Yamaha Raptor 700R throttle body. The …

May 13
Fuel injection attempt 3...or 4? not sure anymore

Gotta start somewhere and I am starting at the beginning. The fuel tank. Cleaned, stripped …

Feb. 28
BRAKES!!!!!!

Tokico 4 piston fixed calipers from a 2008 GSXR 750 installed and functioning VERY well …

Jan. 10
driving straighter

Did a driveway alignment today. I shimmed the upper control arms out to remove some …

Dec. 06
newer ignition

I had to modify a non-advance distributor to work with megasquirt so in the meantime …

Nov. 01
flatter

Luckily an 850 head is small enough to fit in the bridgeport and flycut in …

Nov. 01
wonder what that was?

Chasing down a rattle noise I pulled the head and found #4 cyl looking like …

Sept. 06
bigger wheels

May I present plus three fitment on the berlina

Aug. 14
Starting the exhaust manifold

Took some time today and started the exhaust side of the build. Should go quickly

Aug. 14
Changing directions

Got the car dialed in with the cam and rejetted the 30DIC carb and while …

Aug. 03
hotter cam/bigger carb

I finally got around to installing the 283 cam I had reground by Johm Edwards …

July 11
New goodies

When swapped to discs up front it was with the 68 and earlier units. Rotors …

June 22
VOLTS!!!

ditched the failing generator setup this weekend and installed a 55 amp Denso alternator from …

May 30
Stronger spark!

I think something must have been off with the Fiat distributor. It went to full …

May 05
featured on thetruthaboutcars.com

Friday night there was a guy shouting outside my fence as my wife and I …

April 30
been a while

Been daily driving it for a while now. I have had to replace the 175/50/13’s …

March 14
In

Motor in and complete. From the small valve 34hp 817cc motor to the larger valved …

March 13
Just two days in....

Today the oil pressure light popped on and it started making a godawful racket. That …

March 11
Good news!

So I did a quick and dirty toe adjustment to eyeball “good enough” specs and …

March 09
first drive!

I finally got it to where I could drive it around the block. It has …

Feb. 28
Disco!!

Finally got around to mounting up the front disc setup. I had rebuilt the front …

Feb. 11
Radiator

With the water pump no longer in the picture…or even in the bay I needed …

Feb. 11
Water pump

The original water pump was leaking pretty good without even turning the motor over. Replacement …

Feb. 08
more

Managed to get the new wheels stripped, polished, powdercoated and tired. Discovered that a pre …

Jan. 30
more info

More details huh? Well I decided to cash in on the rising values of E30’s …

Jan. 28
Plus 3 fitment?

Are 15’s too big?

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Comments
Tim
Baxter
Jan. 29, 2009, 7:19 a.m.

We're going to need more details!

ae86andkp61
Jan. 29, 2009, 6:11 p.m.

Very, very cool....probably my favorite Fiat bodystyle. 15's sound too big, but tire availability for smaller wheel sizes is getting tougher these days.

gamby
Feb. 21, 2009, 2:19 p.m.

The refurbed Libres look fantastic. Perfect wheel for that car. This is a neat-o project.

poopshovel
Feb. 25, 2009, 1:45 p.m.

PLEASE post more pics of the car!

mad_machine
March 11, 2009, 9:34 p.m.

you ever want to get rid of that sweet 850 coupe' let me know.. LOVE those cars

Luke
March 18, 2009, 11:27 p.m.

Super cool project. I bet that cherry bomb sounds nice.

junkbuggie
Dec. 22, 2009, 6:27 p.m.

This is so cool. Was that imported or did they sell fiat cars in the us at one point? I grew up in rural wisconsin so I did not see a whole lot of imports growing up.

ditchdigger
Dec. 22, 2009, 7:09 p.m.

Fiat's were avaliable in the US up until the mid 80's. This 850 is a US spec model. You can tell by the large turn signals in the bumper and the round reflectors under the tail lights.

Raze
March 1, 2010, 10:31 a.m.

killer, love the brake swap!

bearmotorsports
July 1, 2010, 12:59 p.m.

Hi, Very nice little car. It is a feast to see the car, but also the 850 coupe you have. I won the Quebec road race championship with one of these in 1972. Much faster than the 998 mini-coopers of the day, especialy in the turns. I am looking for a restoration project but can't seem to find one on the east coast. I found an Abarth version for 70,000 US$.....it's still for sale....! Have fun. bearmail19@yahoo.ca

fritzsch
July 5, 2010, 8:04 p.m.

This is an awesome project. Really shows that no matter the car, you can make it really cool.

jeffreyned
Aug. 29, 2010, 8:24 p.m.

Hey Trent, How about posting a shopping list for the turbocharge project? You are getting amazing results I'd like to duplicate in my 850 Spider!

Roos
May 5, 2011, 3:18 a.m.

Great looking car and very nice motor and chassie setup, awesome!

lesbail
March 24, 2013, 5:14 p.m.

I used to think that I was a gonzo fiat nut, back in the day (25+ years ago).your in a whole new league ! I built my 2000/850 25 years ago.still have it , looking forward to putting it back on the road.

Ed
EdHigginbotham
Dec. 5, 2014, 9:20 a.m.

Hi Trent, Shot you an email regarding this car. Just a heads up.

RossD
April 28, 2015, 1:11 p.m.

I found your car on Curbside Classic: http://www.curbsideclassic.com/blog/curbside-classic-simca-1000-the-franco-italian-baby-corvair/

corsepervita
June 17, 2015, 4:09 p.m.

Gorgeous!

Gunchsta
Oct. 11, 2017, 1:24 p.m.

Wow looks like I'm late to the party on this one but this is marvelous. Very very cool.

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