Fiat 128 Coupe Sport/128 3P

In 1971 Fiat continued the theme set by its successful 850 Coupe with its new 128 Coupe Sport, based on a modified Fiat 128 platform. The 128 Coupe Sport initially used a 1116cc four cylinder engine mounted transversly to drive the front wheels. Later versions used the more powerful 1290cc four cylinder.

Typical engine fault for this model is  its camshaft.  Its a sohc type engine and it seems the oilways in the head are poorly engineered. The first signs are that the engine sounds tappety; as the engine is ohc with bucket and shims this seems very odd;  when you attempt to gap the cams you see that 1 or 2 will be nearly closed, so you strip the camshaft down and you will see the problem - 1 or 2 of the cam lobes will be very worn. Camshaft replacement is the only thing you can do. 

In 1975 Fiat replaced the original 128 Coupe Sport body with a new three door hatchback coupe body, known simply as the 128 3P (meaning "tre porte" - "three doors") Production ended in 1978 after over 330,000 examples had been built.