Classic Fiat 500 engine upgrade. How big can we go; how about 695cc? Part 2..

The classic Fiat 500 is down at R Proietti Ltd for an engine upgrade but there's been a change of plan..
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[@HQBProductions]

Nice to see a real garage covered in oil, dust, boxes of parts nobody will ever use, old cartons and peeling paint but filled with good men who are true engineers and know exactly what they are doing! I just can’t stop seeing “ Ronnie Barker” in the mechanic talking to Harry…😃😃

[@Rosb1ff]

Glad I read your comment AFTER watching the video, I'll just have to forget it before part 3😀😄😄

[@NemanjaPantelic]

Sitting on the workshop table, that block looks like a miniature cathedral. Beautiful.

[@TeslasSecret]

Indeed. Air cooled engines are something else aesthetically.

[@glesgamail]

My favourite editions are the ones where Harry is chatting to fellow enthusiasts, exactly like this. More please

[@mattmorris2867]

Episodes.

[@timhouston1638]

Man, I hope Harry gets tons of views on this rebuild/refurb unlike the Zegatto. I also hope he doesn't mind if he doesn't because the fans that love this stuff from Harry absolutely LOVE it! These are my favorite vids on this channel. Can hardly wait for the next one! Thanks!

[@DavesClassicGarageToursV2]

You’re right. They are partly what inspired me to make similar videos down under.

[@kings3803]

Yer. I love this videos on rebuilding these old cars.

[@ruaraidhmcdonald-walker9524]

Same here!! Competely agree

[@phanter344]

Woohoo! The orange 500L (VVK 619G) at the end of the video is my wife's car! She was so happy to see it on your video. We took it there after watching your Part 1 video. Looking forward to your next update.

[@ChristopherPritchard-hl4no]

It’s a beauty

[@phils2180]

I love this old school "proper" engine tuning, not just plugging in a laptop for a remap.👍 Fair play to Harry for taking this route and not just shoe horning in a high powered motorcycle engine which seems to be favoured by some.

[@fraserwright9482]

Steyr Puch engine is the logical step. They are naturally balanced and rev to 9000rpm. The 500 parallel twin shakes itself to death.

[@har234908234]

@@fraserwright9482 Part of the fun... so long as it's someone else's wallet.

[@williamtynan6484]

My money is on Harry going for the multi valve head,just saying

[@georgebettiol8338]

@@williamtynan6484 I assume you mean the dual port head.

[@Matteo_Licata]

Love the little 500. Not just because I'm Italian, but also because it's the one car from your collection I could afford to buy and run! 😃

[@1ongava]

This work won't come cheap though! Amazing stuff

I much prefer the 600s.

[@martentrudeau6948]

Classic Italian, it looks fun to drive and I'm sure it is.

[@peterjones4785]

I'm chuffed to see independent garages alive in cities.

[@DavesClassicGarageToursV2]

Plenty still here in Melbourne that I go to visit impart inspired by Harry.

[@lebojay]

0:12 that’s exactly what an independent FIAT shop should look like!

[@DavesClassicGarageToursV2]

Indeed. Some of the workshops I visit get a right slagging off because they’re not hi tech super clean ‘you could eat your dinner off the floor’ places. These places have soul.

[@seanp3113]

I worked in a garage round the corner on Brewery Road many years ago. It's lovely to see that some of these tiny and very busy central London garages still exist.

[@kasperkjrsgaard1447]

Love the small 500 😊 I’m afraid that these small workshops with their knowledge is unfortunately a thing that will disappear with time. A massive amount of knowledge will be lost unless someone will carry the torch further.

[@DavesClassicGarageToursV2]

We have the same issue in Australia. I’ve filmed at 30 odd workshops and there was a point when I’d seen just as many octogenarians working as under 30s. There are thankfully a passionate bunch of youngsters coming through. Unfortunately not enough though.

[@TML34]

What torch needs to be carried? Father Time is undefeated, and so it is with niche old cars.

[@Ifitwerks]

@@TML34 Don't forget to burn the books that reference any of it as well.

[@X99Zero]

Of course they will disappear. They will become illegal to operate as ice engines are.

[@filip000]

Well go ahead, take over the torch

[@johnsmithmaps]

Love the nuts and bolts tuning, proper engineering, man and a shed, no laptops required ...

[@DavesClassicGarageToursV2]

I’ll be taking my little Alfa to somewhere similar here in Melbourne later this week.

[@dugants]

At this point I'd say Harry has definitely been bitten by the modifying bug. The "while we're at its" are a slippery slope- Welcome!

[@garethmcrae668]

Yes exactly. You could sense his disappointment when the Panda big valve head with twin choke carb was mentioned... Seems a bit directionless tbh- as in a bit more research and planning and he could have arrived nearer the ultimate spec. All good fun though.

[@2810Bondy]

The only difference between men and boys is the size of their toys. What a fabulous, eclectic toy set you have Sir. Chapeau.

[@John-yf8qh]

Who are you calling ‘Sir Hat’? More to the point, why are you doing it?

[@memememe2674]

No, it's the size of their piggy banks.

[@captainnemo247]

I read it as hats off to Harry, being a compliment.

[@institutmorningkiss]

Ooohhh a tuned classic 500 ; much more interesting than another bloody hypercar !

[@BobTheBlue]

Finally, Harry is back on solids with a proper video! 😂😂😂

[@DavesClassicGarageToursV2]

These are the ones that get me going and inspire me to make more of the same down under.

[@gramos9115]

Delightful old school tuning , I imagine there are a lot of us on Harry,s channel that fully understand these basic tuning techniques , thank you for the down to earth detail , and nearly 4kg,s off a 7 kg flywheel !

[@llamamanism]

Harry said he was building this engine to produce more torque. If the flywheel weight is reduced so much the engine will rev quicker but will it have max torque much higher up the Rev range

[@HighMaintenancePS]

@@llamamanismyes this build seems incongruous and a little hashed together regards the shaved barrels.

[@HighMaintenancePS]

2.75kg off. Not 4kg.

[@chrisrose7675]

Am so enjoying this build….takes me back to Norwich to Newcastle upon Tyne trips as a student in Fiat 126….

[@pekoro70]

As an owner of a 1970 500L, I recommend upgrading front brakes too

And dual-circuit master cylinder and electronic ignition.

[@richardhale2117]

I love these restoration vids, and this one especially. Like many of you I have fond memories of working on a similar car. I got to help a friend of mine and his father tear down and rebuild a "blown" Fiat 500 back in 1967. Luckily his father was a long-time mechanic for a major airline so not only did he know what he was doing, he also had access to machining and other specialized equipment. If I recall correctly the engine was 18 horsepower and we managed a top speed of close to 50 mph with two people aboard.

[@strandvaskeren]

I love how he casually one handed puts an engine block on the shelf below the worktable and how Harry just picks up the head with ease - I used to tinker with Volvo B20 engines and no way you casually lifted blocks and heads around.

[@lotus7even]

I build/restore my pre 65 trials bike and was one of reasons I bought myself a lathe and mill as was very difficult to get anyone to do machining for me, was a lot of relearning from my apprenticeship 35 years ago but very rewarding and can knock up things when I need them. Is sad that we seem to be loosing these skills. Another great video loved sand raiders next project I have is an XR Honda 😊

[@HansGr00ber]

I love that that place exists but that land he's sitting on must be worth a fortune

[@DavesClassicGarageToursV2]

Plenty of them still around here in Melbourne too that I visit. Just another block of uber expensive flats if they weren’t there.

What kills these places is when the lease ends and the rent doubles or triples.

[@robertd2363]

Amazing! What an absolute pleasure to see old school at it's Best ❤

[@MrRea112]

Everything on that tiny high performance engine is so cute and dinky it’s a real pleasure to look at.

[@marks7471]

We have a 500c twin air in the stable and I absolutely love it. 2 cylinder 105ps. Does 195kmh on the autobahn.

[@joedevlin9493]

Listening to artisan engineers is always fascintating

[@matthewvanblerk]

3.0 GTV6 was a South African special created through Autodelta and Alfa S.A.

[@DavesClassicGarageToursV2]

Ahaaa that’s it. Thanks for reminding us. So many 105s land here in Oz, I wonder if we’ll see a 3000GTV landfall

[@georgebettiol8338]

The said Alfetta had a standard 2.5 V6 bonnet - so I suspect it's simply a 2.5 V6 car with a 3.0 75 transplant. Nice though.

[@markalbert4652]

@@georgebettiol8338 I was wondering the same thing as well. The SA version had a large bonnet bulge to accommodate the down draft Webbers.

[@markalbert4652]

@@DavesClassicGarageToursV2 There are at least 2 of them already here.

[@ChristopherPritchard-hl4no]

Spot on. It’s a 75 engine modded to more or less SZ spec. Ported head, new cams, tubular manifolds, lightened fly wheel. Nice, smooth, torquey and responsive. When it can breathe.

[@Thecrazyvaclav]

60hp on that ‘695’ would be flat out everywhere fun, big grin factor 100%

[@GSimpsonOAM]

How else do you drive a 500? Any 500.

[@markgilbertson1564]

@@GSimpsonOAMScared. No crash protection.

[@TINKcustoms]

Good old dad coming to the rescue :)

[@johnstonstewart9683]

Love Harry's restorations.....he just throws money at them in ways I can only dream of....

With no care as to whether the investment increases the value of the car. I think he'd have been better off sticking to 595cc.

[@gerryjamesedwards1227]

Wow, they went above and beyond on the engine! I'm excited to see the difference it makes, so I imagine you are beside yourself with excitement, Harry.

[@JamesBrown-ux9ds]

Would be nice to see how good it will accelerate - taking the 15 to 45 or 50 mph gps time before could have been helpful. From my personal experience with such work 50% of the possible improvement in acceleration may come from the lighter flywheel, the other 50% of all the other measures being taken. The increase in cc will almost do nothing because of the still small carb, and the overall better performing cam will make the engine rev up higher and have a little higher max power at a higher rpm and on overall wider torque band? But the 16% more displacement (about 600 to about 700) alone in the given configuration could make 5% more horsepower, or 8% to the max? We don't know yet, but hope to get some numbers on it all soon with another next video. (And how lean or rich to go with the carb settings? And are you going to measure it on the dyno? And what sparks to choose? NGK 8th?😊)

[@patrickkonig]

II would have coincided my visit time so it caught that wonderful Lunch meal from the last video.

[@jesscourt9068]

i had a 595 ss 1964. Cracking amount of fun, and 91 mph on the Mulsanne 2 up! Big fun small car.

[@tones61]

Was you slip streaming a Robin reliant? 🤣👌

[@jesscourt9068]

@@tones61 nah too hot for a Resin Rocket...it melted.

[@ChristopherPritchard-hl4no]

Fabulous!

[@jdtseventyfour]

I always love places like this and I'm lucky enough to work in one similar for Porsches. Very interesting to see the upgrades available. Theres obviously a great market for parts for these great little cars. Thanks for sharing Harry. Looking forwards to the next episode.

[@chriscooper3384]

Was at the Ferrari factory last month and it was invaded by vintage 500 abarths. Here in Italy that makes people forget Ferrari’s for a while. Cult items here…

[@martin-1764]

The employee at Ferrari that test on road all prototypes and car on development daily drives an old blue 500 😂

[@derekantill3721]

Good to see all this real engineering, which will give the little Fiat some go when completed.

[@ThaDutchDK1989]

Love this update . Love the old school garage and the simple car 👍

[@orituhkguyjmnrmnht]

What a lovely orange color on that other 500!

[@fancybobbybob]

I love listening to people that actually know what they’re talking about, thanks for posting!

[@judebrown2672]

Lol.... The 695 red at the end is sounding fantastic. Great video. Love these little garages which are real and experts in their field. Hard to find but once found you keep them.

[@killerfitz84]

That was the bold Bruno popping his head in to shot at the beginning!

[@manonabeachjourneys]

Enjoyed that, a rare insight into the specialist world. Cheers.

[@DavesClassicGarageToursV2]

Come and see a load I’ve filmed down in Melbourne

[@LCOF]

Property developers must salivate uncontrollably when they come across a plot of land like that in Central London! 😀

[@user-en9zo2ol4z]

A 360 degree throw, I never would have thought.

[@rcclassicgarage]

Good luck Harry, Proietti did my Fiat 500 engine and did a great job, I love the little Fiat 500s

[@brunonjezic6208]

I love how each of your cares ends up built exactly to your spec, each is a concept for it self and it is sorted from ground up to small details. I love that attitude

[@markw4263]

Yes to little, Italian and fun!

[@Earlywinters09]

What a delightful adventure in Fiats!!!

[@Mercmad]

Back in the 70's a few mates did a few interesting things to the bambini.1st step was milling the crancase and head to fit VW barrels and pistons... Next was the complete engine and trans from a 850 Fiat. 😎😎

The 850 is water-cooled. Impractical for an air-cooled 500. Works on the 600. My 600D has an 850 engine.

[@davidmarchand384]

I love these videos you are doing on the repair or upgrades of your cars 👍🏻 That’s quietly nice and respectful with others which I enjoy very much 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

[@steffydog]

Absolutely fascinating, thanks guys.

[@Nick-ye5kk]

Another wonderful video by Harry

[@kobuserasmus2934]

500's are just timeless beauties, fantastic video !

[@ChristopherRowlands]

Great update, can’t wait to see it in the car.

[@user-vp2bi5ic6p]

What a nice workshop this is. Si interesting to see th knowlegde they have about this little cars😊😊😊

[@stco2426]

These are great episodes among great episodes. I had no idea this palace existed. Really great to see these gems. Thanks Mr H.

[@johnsim3722]

I'm waiting for the spaghetti bolognese recipe to feature!

[@S-T-E-V-E]

Love these videos Harry, so interesting!

[@philipwholloway]

@harry, that 3.0 GTV6 was a South African special. In period, at Uni, I had a friend with one that he turbocharged. At the time , I was running a BMW E30 333i (another South African special). Would love to see you review that E30 if you could find one. There was a company in Guernsey importing South African E30s for a while and they brought a couple of 333i to Europe.

[@georgebettiol8338]

The said Alfetta had a standard 2.5 V6 bonnet - so I suspect it's simply a 2.5 V6 car with a 3.0 75 transplant. Nice though.

[@benlyons1538]

What a great video! love the effort going into that engine.

[@billkeaveney1526]

I love this car, Thanks Harry

[@jeremyfdavies]

Got to admire your restraint… if it were me I couldn’t resist throwing every single upgrade available at it! Great video.

[@gafrers]

Brilliant. Love the real 500. Amazing work

[@markdamm7715]

Wonderful video, thanks

[@minimalistandfree]

Thank you for keeping this cute part of history for us!

[@minimalistinlife]

This is a masterpiece of an engine ❤

[@jeremythomas6980]

This is more like it Harry , great video.

[@DavesClassicGarageToursV2]

If you like this, we have loads of similar Melbourne based workshops we have visited.

[@ruaraidhmcdonald-walker9524]

Ace!! Got to love a Harry classic modding/resto video!

[@joshswan06]

Love this type of show

[@s1bur]

Well good episode👍

[@daveb2wright]

Fantastic. Proper engineering.

[@OriginalBrett610]

Love this series on the little Fiat!

[@danausgr]

Thanks Harry!!!

[@jamesarmitage8399]

Nice little motor!!

[@malcolmhardwick4258]

Love these projects !

[@twcmaker]

Love the Red one. Very cool

[@h5mind373]

It was fun to see the GTV6 3.0 in the garage. I had the same car in the same color back in the late 90s. When the OEM exhaust rusted out I had a shop custom bend a twin exhaust with cherry bomb mufflers- wonderful Ferrari-like noises! A cop pulled me over once just to make there were actual mufflers under there.

[@autouniontypeA]

Great stuff Harry. I built up a 595 Abarth engine for my 500L, it uses a Dellorto FZD carb and goes really well. I have the same cam and exhaust as you are going to, plus larger inlet valves and port matching. It runs at about 35bhp. I did try the original 126 carb back on the car (which hasn't got a fuel pump) it was considerably slower, pretty much back to stock. I think you should try an FZD on your car.

[@jcfallows]

I enjoyed that look into the past with your little fiat. It should be perky after the rebuild!

[@johnmosley7039]

Harry will be popping wheelies when he gets it back

[@trevejenkyn9888]

Brilliant again

[@user-kf3tf7cj2d]

Love it, after all modifications we may have 50-60hp engine. 😮

[@hollowaysteve]

My old manor. Walking past this place always made me smile.

[@ChristopherPritchard-hl4no]

Me too! Every time!

[@timc5969]

Just noticed that your 500 is FAX641K. A couple of weeks ago I saw a lovely blue Citröen SM on the M4 near Cardiff, registration FAX434K. I’m supposing they were supplied new by the same garage. Maybe they sat next to each other in the showroom.

[@PelicanIslandLabs]

Reminds me of my Honda 600 days. I had that engine apart numerous times for ring/piston changes.

[@alwardryan]

I'm keen to know Mrs M's reaction when it's all said and done!

[@robertharris7027]

01:25 That is a statement that I support

[@TheMDJ2000]

Very cool!

[@prakashnarismulu3332]

Yes that GTV 3.0 was a road and track special built in South Africa 🇿🇦

[@georgebettiol8338]

The said Alfetta had a standard 2.5 V6 bonnet - so I suspect it's simply a 2.5 V6 car with a 3.0 75 transplant. Nice though.

[@cubeslt500]

Hi, another great video. I love seeing these specialist garages that really understand their chosen brand. I use a similar specialist to look after my 2005 Subaru Forester 2.5 XT - big shout out for Rob and Mick at RM Performance in Banbury. Are you going to leave the 500 with standard badging, so the only visible clue to it's new found performance will be the new exhaust and oil sump? Nice !

[@DavesClassicGarageToursV2]

Yes it’s great to see Harry championing these independent garages. We have so many here in Melbourne but the worry is there won’t be enough new talent in years to come to keep them operational.

[@andrewsolman]

The Gtv6 is my old car. Not a SA car - Was an original 2.5l. Converted after I sold it by Alex Jupe to 3l. Loved that car but it used to overheat every time I hit a bit of traffic. Steff re-commissioned my Fulvia Berlina last year as well. Did a lovely job. I do miss that Alfa though....

[@thomascowley4258]

Good point. I guess it will go the same way as wooden wheel makers and wattle and daub. Used to be everywhere, bit rare now.

[@scalewarmachines]

That GTV as well!

[@pietdebeer7972]

Most of the time I have absolutely no idea what they're saying.. I love it

[@jimclarke1108]

An amazing little engine, makes my B and S ride on mower engine look huge V twin 725cc😁

[@devaplan]

I guess adding an oil cooler might be a good move too.

[@splodge5714]

Lovely little car but I was always more a 1960s Mini type person.😊

[@Phiyedough]

I saw a yellow Zastava 750 here in Croatia this morning when out shopping.

[@johnnygeorgopoulos4072]

Definitely would've went with the better head casting and then porting and polishing that would've opened up options for better intakes and carburetion/injection, CC/displacement increases don't give as much as one would typically assume compared to top end and intake improvement work.