1500S OSCA

1960 Fiat 1500S S Description

1960 FIAT 1500S OSCAThe OSCA, Maserati motors, power, speed, these engine were notoriousin their day on the race track. Take a few minutes to scour the interwebs and check out the MaseratiMT4 as an example of road ripping 4 cyl power. If your not familiar with the OSCA cars, its a simple to explain, CarrollShelby was to the Mustang what OSCA was to the FIAT.OSCA was a company built by the Maserati BROS, for competition, only building hand built cars for RACING. And they succeeded.Fiat was building these pretty little cabrio's but they needed MORE POWER. So, why not fit an OSCA engine into the bay and see what happens.Top speed was about 102 MPH. It was faster off the line, has a 430 rear, a 4 speed trans and bigger brakes to slow it down quickly. THIS CAR: we bought this car as is with a stuck engine and needing body repairs. We assessed the body carefully, its totally fixable so we found a parts car to gut and donate the nose (can be purchased seperately). This car is numbers matching too, so the rare becomes even more rare. Motor was stuck, condensation in the #1 & 4 cyl on the rings. I took this engine to the stand, benched it and tore it down to the bare bones block. The good................... its all good. 2 broken studs on the pan, replaced, 1 broken stud on the water pump replaced.......... by replaced I mean we were able to get the broken stud out with out damaging the block. The oil pump, perfect, the crank, journals were nice and smooth, connecting rods, checked for cracks but otherwise perfect, pistons, very nice shape with little wear, rings, a few broken so we replaced the entire set, head, very nice condition, not signs of wear or abuse so we left it alone. In the end I replaced the crank and connecting rod bearings, the timing chains were replaced, all gaskets and seals were replaced, very careful to follow the specs to reassemble, torque settings etc. The motor was amazing and started right up with the original coil, plugs, distributor and wires, nearly 60 years old and it all works. OIL PRESSURE, 40 psi at idle. I want to keep this car badly but we are seriously out of room and have 3 projects in front of it that will take us years to complete. Anyway, I have all the parts (brand new) needed to get the clutch to work and go for a ride, E brake works so for a quick ride it would be worth it. Gorgeous car and a great project. Ask questions and good luck.