Getting a Cinquecento through the NCT!

aidan_dunne

Right lads (and lassies ), would like some advice and help from all of you, if possible. Just about to buy a '94 899cc Fiat Cinquecento off my brother with the intention (hopefully!) of putting it on the road and getting my foot on the first step of the motoring ladder. God knows, I've been putting it off for enough years now already!

Okay, it's in so-so shape, and I'm getting it for just a few hundred euros, so I can't really complain. I reckon it needs a bit of work in order to get it through the NCT. For starters, the handbrake needs doing. Anyone here have any experience in having handbrakes fixed (or fixing them, if you're a mechanic or happen to be mechanically minded) on Cinq's and, if so, could you give me a rough idea of how much it'll cost to get done? Also, the brakes seem to be fairly okay but would it be a good idea to get them done as well anyway (rough idea and cost there as well, please, if anyone knows)?

Other than that, she seems to be fairly okay. Starts first time no bother (which can be unusual for an old "Fix It Again Tomorrow", I know! ), no sign of any unusual smokiness or anything along those lines, engine's in fairly decent nick (it's actually a '99 Seicento engine that's in it, I believe). Body isn't great, a few small dents and dings here and there but nothing too bad and the paint is fading in a few places but, if I get it on the road, I might see about having the bodywork and paint done on it at some stage (rough idea of cost there too please, if anyone knows).

So, is there anything else I need to look out for or check before buying and is there anything else you think I might need to do in order to get it through the NCT? I'll be giving her a bit of a service beforehand anyway (new oil and filter, new air filter, probably a new set of sparkers as well, that kind of thing; costs again?) but I'd like to know if you think she'd get through the NCT okay if I took care of those few bits and pieces beforehand? To be honest, if it's going to cost me too much in order to get it through the NCT, I might leave it or buy it just for "tinkering around" purposes and thrashing around a field somewhere or something like that but, ideally, I'd like to get it on the road as it would make a nice first car for me and for learning in, you know?

Okay, those are my questions. Any help, advice or opinions any of you could give would be most appreciated. Thanks folks!

mike65

Ah if it fails just use it as a door stop!

Okay don't spend too much before the test, get a basic service done, the handbrake can be fixed for little money. It sounds like you're opn a very tight budget in which case you might give up on it but that'll delay you gettin on the road in the first place and thats expensive as insurance is curently on the way down but could go pear-shaped again in a year or two.

Mike.

aidan_dunne

Thanks for the reply, mike.

Yeah, my plan all along was to just get a basic service done on it, get the handbrake done and maybe get the brakes done as well before bringing it in for testing. No point in me getting a pre-NCT done beforehand or anything like that and spending a pile of money getting loads of things fixed on it, only to find it still fails after testing. Anyway, as I said, I'll get the basics done, bring it in for the NCT and then if they find any faults I'll weigh up whether it's worth the cost of getting it fixed or just scrap the thing. Or, as you say, use it as a doorstop or something! Does that sound like probably the best course of action?

Any idea roughly how much it would cost to get the handbrake done, mike? Or anyone else? Because, as far as I can see, at the moment that's probably the biggest thing that needs doing, the car seems in fairly decent nick apart from that.

Also, it's not so much that I'm on a tight budget or anything, but I really just want something very basic, cheap and cheerful for starting out in and learning in, you know? I could spend a few grand on a decent second hand car if I wanted to but I'd prefer not to if I can this thing on the road for much less. I don't have any desire for anything fancy, just something that'll get me from A to B, albeit rather slowly! Having said that, I am also having to budget for insurance here, which is going to be painful enough, hence the reason why I really don't want to have to spend too much on a car if I can help it.

mike65

Hav'nt a clue on price/fitting of new cable but I'd suggest about 100-130 should cover both.

Mike.

BrianD3

Sounds like a decent enough car. No need to start replacing things before the NCT unless you are sure or pretty sure that the car will fail on them. Do get the handbrake looked at though. The cable might just need adjusting - a 5 minute job if that's the case. The other things I'd do are get the headlight alignment looked at and fixed if necessary, again this should be be very cheap.

Check tyres, bulbs etc yourself. Don't forget about the rear number plate light bulb (car will fail if the number plate doesn't illuminate) Check the exhaust for blows, fill any small holes in with exhaust putty. Check the front brake pads, there should be at least 3-4 mm left on all four front pads. Make sure your windscreen washers are working and pointing at the screen.

Have you got the report (white sheet) from the last NCT. If you have, that will give an idea of what might need doing eg if the brake balance was close to failing at the previous NCT and no work has been done on the brakes since then it will probably fail this time around.

One tip for the brake efficiency test - make the car as light as possible before going in for the NCT. Take out the spare wheel and associated bits. Spare is not part of the NCT. Take all crap from the car interior like mats, manuals etc. and turn up for the test with a small amount of fuel in the tank. In a very light car like a cinquecento you might make the car 5% lighter this way which could be the difference between passing and failing the brake test (which uses the car's weight to calculate efficiency)

aidan_dunne

BrianD3 wrote:

Sounds like a decent enough car. No need to start replacing things before the NCT unless you are sure or pretty sure that the car will fail on them.)

Yeah, it doesn't seem to be too bad, given the age of it and all (and the fact it's a Fiat! ). You're right about the NCT, though, I'm not going to spend a packet doing it up or anything because, knowing the NCT guys, they'll still probably end up finding things wrong with it. Best to get the basics and the handbrake done, I reckon, and then see what fails afterwards and weigh up whether it's worth getting what needs done in order to get it through a re-test if necessary.

BrianD3 wrote:

Check tyres, bulbs etc yourself. Don't forget about the rear number plate light bulb (car will fail if the number plate doesn't illuminate) Check the exhaust for blows, fill any small holes in with exhaust putty. Check the front brake pads, there should be at least 3-4 mm left on all four front pads. Make sure your windscreen washers are working and pointing at the screen.

Thanks for the advice, I'll was going to be checking all those things anyway but thanks for the reminder anyway.

BrianD3 wrote:

Have you got the report (white sheet) from the last NCT. If you have, that will give an idea of what might need doing eg if the brake balance was close to failing at the previous NCT and no work has been done on the brakes since then it will probably fail this time around.

Don't have it, I'm afraid, and I doubt I'll be able to get it at this stage, either. The last NCT expired on it in January or February last, though. My brother bought it from a "friend of a friend of a friend" kind of thing just before last Christmas with the intention of putting it on the road himself but never really got around to doing it. Then when he did start looking into it a while ago and found that insurance companies were giving him completely silly quotes, he decided not to bother. He's just gone and bought a '00 Corsa instead and ended up getting much cheaper insurance on that than he would have on the Fiat. So, I said to him I'd take the Cinq off his hands and see about putting it on the road myself if, as I said, it's not going to cost me too much to do so, hopefully. I'll probably get my father's mechanic to give it a quick look over and get him to give me his opinion on it himself anyway when I'm getting him to do the handbrake and that, just to see if he thinks it's worth it himself.

BrianD3 wrote:

One tip for the brake efficiency test - make the car as light as possible before going in for the NCT. Take out the spare wheel and associated bits. Spare is not part of the NCT.

Is it not? Are you sure? That's the first I heard of that. I would have thought having a spare, jack and wheel brace and all that would have been an important aspect of a car check, wouldn't you? Hmmm, I wonder what that says about the NCT then if carrying a spare isn't necessary to pass the test, eh? :rolleyes:

Anyway, Brian, thanks for the advice and tips. Anyone else got any more gems they can throw my way? All help is much appreciated.

zapata

Try www.fiatforum.com

slade_x

aidan_dunne wrote:

Is it not? Are you sure? That's the first I heard of that. I would have thought having a spare, jack and wheel brace and all that would have been an important aspect of a car check, wouldn't you? Hmmm, I wonder what that says about the NCT then if carrying a spare isn't necessary to pass the test, eh? :rolleyes:

Anyway, Brian, thanks for the advice and tips. Anyone else got any more gems they can throw my way? All help is much appreciated.

I have a car here that im going to put through an NCT, the only thing im going to do is replace a parking bulb that blew and re-focus the headlights, thats it.. if it fails on anything then ill do the work for whatever it fails thats it! i;d very much doubt it will fail anyway

And as for the spare, etc. the NCT is a test to ensure that your car is in a condition that will allow you to drive safely on the road. its basically just a test to deem whether or not the vehicle is safe to drive. anything that looks like it could be a hazard to you or any other road users will need attention, and may pass or fail it

However it is a good idea to have the normal air pressure for your tyres and make sure that the actual tyres on the car are in very good condition

BrianD3

aidan_dunne wrote:

Is it not? Are you sure? That's the first I heard of that. :

Yep, 100% sure about this. Another thing that isn't covered by the NCT which probably should be is reversing lights.

Gerry

Got my NCT done recently, and noticed that some of the testers looked in the boot of the car. Surely they were looking at the spare wheel?

http://www.ncts.ie/inspection_list.html##3

BrianD3

Don't know why it says that on the NCT website. I'm guessing that if there is a spare, the tester will examine it (and possibly fail the car if the tyre is in bad condition) but I'm certain that you don't actually need a spare to pass the test. My sources are a book by Dessie Enan on the ins and outs of the NCT plus my own expericence of putting cars through the NCT after removing the spare.

However if you drive a taxi you do need a spare - NCT for PSVs is slightly different than for private cars.

BTW the tester will always open the boot and poke around in it. One of the thinsg he'll be checking for is rust in the boot floor.