Suspension

The 500's suspension is very simple; there's a transverse leaf spring up front and a set of coils at the rear. In standard tune, the cars have a tendency to feel a bit tippy-toe, as the suspension was designed to cope with a full Italian family and their luggage. Its not appropriate for today's roads, traffic speeds, and most importantly a doubling of the car's standard power output.

There are a set of choices available from the Italian 500 tuners like Abarth, and you must choose the level of ride height as well as stiffness. Do not fit polyurethane bushes, as 500s are pretty hectic, coarse cars anyway, and fitting these would make it too harsh.

Front
First thing done was to replace the front leaf spring with a reverse-eye leaf spring which is slightly de-cambered and stiffened. Using a leaf spring with the location bushes above the spring lowers the front by relocating the upright and stub-axle to a higher position, at the same time retaining all the suspension travel.

Front leaf spring effectively lowered car by 1.5". 
Front camber was left as standard specification, with front tracking adjusted to a toe-in of 0 to 1/16 inch (0 to 2.0mm or 0 to 0.787 in).

Rear
At the rear, a set of uprated and lowered coil springs were fitted. These also changed the rear's positive camber setting to between neutral and slightly negative.

Rear coil springs effectively lowered car by 1.5".

Dampers
A set of Koni (red) uprated gas dampers were fitted all round.

Bushings
Polyurethane bushes were not installed, as 500s are pretty hectic, coarse cars anyway, and fitting these would be too harsh. New standard bushes are working very well. Even at that, I find the suspension a bit stiff for Ontario’s badly repaired roads, but is wonderful on a smooth twisty road/track.

Rear Suspension Dismantling
Assuming that the car is on stands and that the brakes, hubs and drive blocks have been removed;

•   Undo the brake lines at the car end of the flexible hoses.
•   Undo the handbrake cables.
•   Place jack under arms & raise to take up load.
•   Undo the bottom shock-absorber nuts. (be careful as they are limiting the suspension travel and are under tension)
•   Let down jack slowly.
•   Note the number and location of spacers in the swing arm mounts (a rear wheel alignment will be required after this swap, even if the spacers referred to are correctly repositioned).
•   Remove the 4 x 17 / 19mm bolts from the swing arm mounts.
•   Remove swing arms.
•   Fit the "F" swing arms by reversing the above process.

Rear Suspension Dismantling
 
•   Jack up front of vehicles and place stands underneath.
•   Remove front wheels from both vehicles.
•   Remove 4 x 17mm nuts holding spring retaining brackets on both cars.
•   Remove 2 x 17mm nuts from tie rod ends and undo tie rods from both cars.
•   Undo both brake hoses on both cars.
•   Remove 2 x 17mm bolts and nuts from top suspension arms on both cars.
•   Place jack under lower suspension joint, (eye of spring) and take up strain.
•   Undo lower shock-absorber 13mm nut. (be careful as they are limiting the suspension travel and are under  tension)
•   Slowly lower jack.
•   Repeat on other side of the car.

Suspension Reassembly
Reverse the dismantling process (see above). Don’t forget to bleed the brakes.



Brakes

Front Brakes
Hydraulic disc brakes were installed from a Ford Fiesta Mk 3 (1989-97) with corresponding front pads (FT1011E 90 R-01179/090).

Its easy to access the items in this kit individually. The Ford Fiesta disc brakes are selected for appropriate size, and a calliper with similar fluid requirement to the rear 126P drum brakes, so the tandem master cylinder will operate without excessive wheel lock up. A local engineering company with a size range of bearings will be able to supply an appropriate hub bearing, as I believe the standard 500 front uprights can be retained.

Rear Brakes
Hydraulic drum brakes, with automatic adjustment of the play between the jaws and the drums. Parking brake by cable. Installed larger rear drum brakes from the 126P, using all new bearings, linings and wheel cylinders.

Master Cylinder
Larger tandem master cylinder installed from a 126P including Jaguar hydraulic pipes from reservoir to master cylinder.  Carrying this out, the brake system has been brought up to the later larger 126P standard.

Brake Fluid
I have used regular DOT3 brake fluid (not synthetic). With a completely new system I would prefer to start with DOT4 as it has a better longevity. But you would need to check that none of the seals are vulnerable to synthetic fluid.

Brake Bleeding Procedure

•   Make sure all brake bleeding screws are clean.
•   Check fluid level in Master Cylinder (continue to do this frequently during the bleeding procedure).
•   Either attach clear tubing on outside of bleed screw or insert correct size tapered adapter inside the centre cavity of the bleed screw, using a pushing, twisting motion.
•   Operate the vacuum handle about 8 to 12 times to create a vacuum in the line.
•   Open the bleed screw slightly (1/4 to ½ turn) to allow fluid to enter the jar.
•   Air that is bled from the system will appear as large, uneven bubbles in the clear tubing. Continue until no more bubbles are visible.