Fiat 131 Abarth

[afx]

On 5/15/2020 at 1:51 PM, cobraman said:

Build is coming along nicely.

Thanks Ray

4 hours ago, kermn8r said:

Nice build on a great project. I haven't thought about one of these since the mid 70s. Kind of makes me want to build a Danny Goodwin version.

Thanks Walt.  Do you have any photos or information on Goodwin's car that you would care to share?

Edited May 17, 2020 by afx

[afx]

Got my Campagnolo wheels painted with nut/bolt detail installed.

[porschercr]

Looks great JC. Is this one a particular version of the rally car?

[afx]

3 hours ago, porschercr said:

Looks great JC. Is this one a particular version of the rally car?

Trevor:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiat_131

Fiat 131 Abarth Rally

In 1976, 400 examples of the Fiat 131 Abarth Rally were built for homologation purposes. These cars were built in a cooperation between Fiat, Bertone and Abarth. Bertone took part-completed two door standard bodyshells from the production line in Mirafiori, fitted plastic mudguards front and rear, a plastic bonnet and bootlid and modified the metal structure to accept the rear independent suspension. The cars were fully painted and trimmed and then delivered back to the Fiat special Rivalta plant where they received the Abarth mechanicals.

The street version of the car used a DOHC 4 valves per cylinder derivative of the standard twin cam inline-four engine, equipped with a double downdraught 34 ADF Weber carburetors producing 140 PS (138 bhp; 103 kW) at 6400 rpm and 172 N⋅m; 127 lbf⋅ft (17.5 kg⋅m) at 3600 rpm of torque.^[13] The street cars used the standard gearbox with no synchromesh (Rally type regulations required the use of the same type of synchromesh on the competition cars as on the street versions) and the hopelessly underdimensioned brake system of the small Fiat 127. Competition cars used dry sump lubrication and eventually Kugelfischer mechanical fuel injection. In race specifications, the engine produced up to 240 PS (237 bhp; 177 kW) in 1980, being driven to World Championship status by Walter Röhrl.

Here is the street version:

The two cars I am building are:

Tarmac spec: JC Andruet 1977 Monte Carlo  

Gravel spec: 1980 Walter Rohrl 1980 San Remo

 

[porschercr]

?

[David G.]

Love the wheels! Well worth the wait.

David G.

[afx]

I agree David.

[afx]

A friend on another forum, outstanding builder and very knowledgeable on rally called my attention to the extremely over-sized engine in the Esci/Revel/Italeri kit.  To my eye the engine did appear oversized but until he sent me these photos I thought I could live with it.  Not now unfortunately so I'll have to go the scratch building route for much of the engine. Down the rabbit hole we go!!


Esci Engine:


Hasegawa Lancia 037 engine or Esci Lancia Beta MonteCarlo - both used the Fiat Twin-Cam as the base engine same as the 131

Edited May 19, 2020 by afx

[Dann Tier]

Let me put my seatbelt on first!....this is gonna be a crazy ride!!!

[cobraman]

That car looks great in yellow.

[afx]

Looks good in red or blue too Ray.  Quattroruote makes very nice 1/24 scale diecast of the street car.

Edited May 19, 2020 by afx

[Bugatti Fan]

A neighbour of mine had a Fiat Saloon with similar body style to the Abarth but in Orange with black interior. Looked good in that colour scheme. I quite liked the square (ish) body styling of that period.

[afx]

3 hours ago, Bugatti Fan said:

A neighbour of mine had a Fiat Saloon with similar body style to the Abarth but in Orange with black interior. Looked good in that colour scheme. I quite liked the square (ish) body styling of that period.

Maybe it was the base model "Fiat 131" which didn't have the wheel arch extension, front, roof and rear spoiler etc of the Abarth.

 

Edited May 20, 2020 by afx

[Bugatti Fan]

My neighbours one looked a bit more sporty than that one. Not sure of the actual model though.

[afx]

Started work on the engine based on the block/transmission from the Esci Ford Escort RS1800 and the twin-cam cylinder head from the Hasegawa Lancia 037.  The parts come from previously built kits I've acquired over the years.

Cylinder head fitted with intake plumbing started, oil pan modified with sump added:


Fuel injector trumpets:


Additional bolt detail and oil fill added to the cylinder head:


Block detail and scratch built starter:


Beginning of the multiple pulleys that need to be fabricated:

 

[Gary Davis]

Man...oh Man...JC....you blow me away bud!!! I really admire your tenacity my friend. Fixing something that would look you straight in the face every time you looked at it...is GREAT. More work but....your going to enjoy it a lot more later on. Great stuff for sure!!

[David G.]

Wow!

Two points regarding the engine issue:

1. How tiny the correct-sized engine is.

2. The size difference between the two.

But yeah, if you're going to do something, you might as well do it right.

Your engine looks great so far.

David G.

[afx]

16 hours ago, Gary Davis said:

Man...oh Man...JC....you blow me away bud!!! I really admire your tenacity my friend. Fixing something that would look you straight in the face every time you looked at it...is GREAT. More work but....your going to enjoy it a lot more later on. Great stuff for sure!!

Thanks Gary - I do have a stubborn streak in me!

[afx]

2 hours ago, David G. said:

Wow!

Two points regarding the engine issue:

1. How tiny the correct-sized engine is.

2. The size difference between the two.

But yeah, if you're going to do something, you might as well do it right.

Your engine looks great so far.

David G.

Thanks David.  That little engine won multiple World Championships across multiple series.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiat_Twin_Cam_engine

Motorsport

The Fiat Twin Cam engine has been widely used in motorsport and has been the most successful engine in the history of the World Rally Championship. The World Rally Championship for Manufacturers has been won by Fiat and Lancia, using engines based on the Lampredi Twin Cam engine, for a total of 10 years.

The four valve version made its first appearance in the Group 4 competition version of the Fiat 124 Spider Abarth, where it had 1.8 litres. Group 4 regulations at that time allowed the use of a cylinder head of a "free" design. This engine still used a three-piece cylinder head design with an included valve angle of 46 degrees.

In later years motorsport regulations were changed so that the use of four valve heads was only possible when the homologated cars had four valve heads. Therefore, the homologation series of the Fiat 131 Rally Abarth came with a two-litre version of the four valve engine.

These engines were later used in the mid-engined Lancia 037, where they were supercharged and eventually enlarged to 2.1 litres.

In addition to the titles in the World Rally Championship, the Fiat Twin Cam equipped the Lancia Beta Montecarlo turbo, that won the World Sportscar Championship for two consecutive seasons in 1980-1981. 

Constructor	Car used in World Championship	Seasons	Manufacturers' titles
Fiat	Fiat 124 Abarth	1970–1975	—
Lancia	Lancia Beta coupe	1974–1975	—
Fiat	Fiat 131 Abarth	1976–1982	3 (1977, 1978, 1980)
Lancia	Lancia 037	1982–1986	1 (1983)
Lancia	Lancia Delta HF 4WD and Delta Integrale	1987–1993	6 (1987–1992)

[David G.]

18 minutes ago, afx said:

Thanks David.  That little engine won multiple World Championships across multiple series.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiat_Twin_Cam_engine

Motorsport

The Fiat Twin Cam engine has been widely used in motorsport and has been the most successful engine in the history of the World Rally Championship. The World Rally Championship for Manufacturers has been won by Fiat and Lancia, using engines based on the Lampredi Twin Cam engine, for a total of 10 years.

The four valve version made its first appearance in the Group 4 competition version of the Fiat 124 Spider Abarth, where it had 1.8 litres. Group 4 regulations at that time allowed the use of a cylinder head of a "free" design. This engine still used a three-piece cylinder head design with an included valve angle of 46 degrees.

In later years motorsport regulations were changed so that the use of four valve heads was only possible when the homologated cars had four valve heads. Therefore, the homologation series of the Fiat 131 Rally Abarth came with a two-litre version of the four valve engine.

These engines were later used in the mid-engined Lancia 037, where they were supercharged and eventually enlarged to 2.1 litres.

In addition to the titles in the World Rally Championship, the Fiat Twin Cam equipped the Lancia Beta Montecarlo turbo, that won the World Sportscar Championship for two consecutive seasons in 1980-1981. 

Constructor	Car used in World Championship	Seasons	Manufacturers' titles
Fiat	Fiat 124 Abarth	1970–1975	—
Lancia	Lancia Beta coupe	1974–1975	—
Fiat	Fiat 131 Abarth	1976–1982	3 (1977, 1978, 1980)
Lancia	Lancia 037	1982–1986	1 (1983)
Lancia	Lancia Delta HF 4WD and Delta Integrale	1987–1993	6 (1987–1992)

Oh, it wasn't meant as a slam JC. I was just surprised.

I'm used to the big old V-8's from the 70's. The larger of which would probably weigh almost half as much as that whole Rally car.

Like this one from my 71 Olds. Engine and transmission together just under 900 lbs. 

Any way, I love the work you're doing on this Fiat. Thanks again for taking the time to share it with us.

David G.

[afx]

50 minutes ago, David G. said:

Oh, it wasn't meant as a slam JC. I was just surprised.

I'm used to the big old V-8's from the 70's. The larger of which would probably weigh almost half as much as that whole Rally car.

Like this one from my 71 Olds. Engine and transmission together just under 900 lbs. 

 

Any way, I love the work you're doing on this Fiat. Thanks again for taking the time to share it with us.

David G.

David, I didn't take it as a slight, just wanted to share some information and history.  Amazing what can be done with small displacement engines.  Thanks for following and commenting.

Edited May 30, 2020 by afx

[kermn8r]

On ‎5‎/‎17‎/‎2020 at 5:09 AM, afx said:

Thanks Ray

Thanks Walt.  Do you have any photos or information on Goodwin's car that you would care to share?

Sorry JC, I don't have any photos of Goodwin's car.  I emailed a friend of mine to see if he has any.  Two of the factory cars were shipped to the US for the 1979 rally season.  Danny Goodwin got one for West Coast Rallies and Jim Walker got one to run the East coast Rallies.  The cars were in Alitalia livery with appropriate changes for identification for NARRA or SCCA Pro Rally.  f I did things right, there are a couple photos of Jim Walkers car from the 1979 20 Stages rally in Michigan.  If you click on "1978-79/" of the link below it will bring you to a directory of articles on the cars being brought over to the US.  If you click on "1980-81/" of the link you can find the "Car & Driver" and Road & Track" test drive articles of the cars.  The "Car & Driver" article has some interior and engine compartment photos.

http://www.realautosport.com/images/mcmahon/Rally Data/

Bummer about the engine size, but love the work going on.

[kermn8r]

Sorry, both articles are from "Road & Track"

[afx]

[afx]