Archive for the ‘Abarth’ Category

Maxpower Moment

So we went a tuning today. JF Automotive (specialist Abarth tuners) got hold of my car for the afternoon and fitted her with a Stage 1 tune. My Abarth Turismo at stock was 165bhp and 230Nm torque. Following a ECU + software upgrade she is now pushing 198bhp and 330Nm torque. The car was dyno run before and after the upgrade. The improvement in performance and fuel economy is striking to say the least. A further part of the process was the fitting of a Forge Motorsport cold induction kit with blue details (pic below). I also fitted 15mm spacers to the back wheels and 13mm to the front – so she feels more planted under drive, acceleration and braking. To finish her off I had some new wing mirror caps sprayed Campovolo grey and attached. Couple these changes with the new Magneti Marelli valved exhaust and we have one tasteful but faster than an Abarth Essesse OEM+ car.

Latest cars to be snapped in my John Lewis car park series.

Broom Broom – part 2

Out with the OME and in with a new Magneti Marelli Sinfonia valved exhaust. Looks awesome and sounds way better. Still some work to be done, I’m going to swap out the 400 cell cat for a 200 cell unit and then sort out the breathing around the turbo. By the time we have done all of that we should be pushing out around 190bhp which is 10bph more than the Esssesse.

Broom Broom – part 1

Here is the sh*t exhaust the Abarth came with. Sounded terrible!

New daily has arrived!

New Daily On Its Way

A NEW run around is on its way

The Aston is finally being retired as an everyday car. She has done nearly 40,000 miles in the past 4 years. The original plan was to run her for 3 before she became a weekend special. As she is a ‘keeper’ the time has come for me to order a run around.

It was Nick who introduced me to the 500 Abarth, its a terrific bit of kit. One test drive was all it took. I have placed an order and also gone for the optional SS kit which adds lowered suspension, revised ECU (boosting power), better brakes, and cool ‘rally’ style alloys. Also added is a sport exhaust (for abit more noise, pops and bangs) and a sporty red leather interior with matching exterior decals – who wouldn’t. Picture of the chosen colour and spec below. Car arrives in December – will make a lovely Xmas present from Santa!

Also investigating increasing the power output further by either turning up the wick on the SS unsealed ECU, or replacing the cars OE IHI turbocharger with the larger 1.4 bar Garrett unit from the Assetto Corse one make race car version. Either of these options will push output to 200bhp+ which is some serious grunt in a car weighing only 980kg.

So abit of change from a V8 to 1.4 litre turbo power (15mpg to 47mpg! helps the wallet in these harder times), so let the Wacky Races begin!

Pocket Rocket mk2 – meet FPO

Finally a couple of shots of the new run around:

NEW Wheels for the Abarth

I have just taken delivery of a set of beautiful Abarth 500 Team Dynamics Motorsport Custom Painted (Pasadoble Red) Pro Race 1.2 Alloy Wheels plus spacers. Plus a de-cat pipe is on the way to make the exhaust sound fuller. Hmmm now what else can I bolt on…

FPO gets her new red wheels.. finally!

Return top