Fiat Grande Punto T-Jet project.
Discussion
Welcome.
Firstly, a needed photo of the car when I first got it?
When I first got it, within 2 hours, a bird had decided to take a dump on my car. Lovely..
So, I cleaned the whole car, and gave it a full detail, and it came up like this.
from the factory it has: Cruise, bluetooth, Rear parking sensors, stereo upgrade with the subwoofer in the boot, privacy glass, the optional 5 spoke two-tone alloys and the side stripes, which initially I didn't like, but now really like the look of them on the car.
Being on crap money and having just shelled out £3,500 for the car I was more than skint. So other than fuel I didn't do anything for a couple of months whilst I got used to it, and subsequently had time to decide what I wanted to do with the things I didn't like.
What I did pretty quickly is that the car follows cambers very easily. Further investigations found that I not only had cross brand/treads on the same axle, I had 1 RFT, and one non RFT!
First thing to do was to swap them both over for some Pirelli P Zero Nero GT's.
Great tyres, really grippy, but only last 5 minutes. 6k later, they were on the legal limit. (but that comes later!)
I also didn't like how dark the previous owner had tinted the rear lights. They were V dark!
So I swapped them over for a set of brand new Abarth Grande Punto rear lights and the difference was night and day! Really lifted the whole car and made the privacy glass stand out a little more!
I also added the compulsory PH sticker!
I have already fitted some uprated discs and pads from EBC and replaced the failed ARB drop links, whilst the wheels were off, I got some new Hankook Ventus V12 Evo tyres fitted as the old Pirelli's were on the legal limit after a paulty 6k miles.
Under the bonnet I've not had time to do a lot of things, but have recently fully serviced it myself and now it's running great I plan to do some sublte mods to take it up a level, which include:
Custom Cat-back exhaust.
Remap.
Uprated intercooler
Uprrated stiffness with a underbody strut brace.
Either Coilover or a quality spring and damper setup.
Bigger turbo.
Some generic pictures:
![](http://thumbsnap.com/sc/2x8R5YKN.jpg[/img]</a> <a href="http://thumbsnap.com/1R7b6cm3" Target="_blank">[img]http://thumbsnap.com/sc/1R7b6cm3.jpg[/img]</a> <a href="http://thumbsnap.com/uvWfvQ87" Target="_blank">[img]http://thumbsnap.com/sc/uvWfvQ87.jpg)
Trip wise, I've been for a couple of blasts along some local roads and a rather fun jaunt along the B3135 in Cheddar which snakes around the gorge. Simply amazing roads and some simply amazing scenery!
The plan is, to get the car in for the exhaust the end of this month and get the remap booked for next month
Firstly, a needed photo of the car when I first got it?
When I first got it, within 2 hours, a bird had decided to take a dump on my car. Lovely..
So, I cleaned the whole car, and gave it a full detail, and it came up like this.
from the factory it has: Cruise, bluetooth, Rear parking sensors, stereo upgrade with the subwoofer in the boot, privacy glass, the optional 5 spoke two-tone alloys and the side stripes, which initially I didn't like, but now really like the look of them on the car.
Being on crap money and having just shelled out £3,500 for the car I was more than skint. So other than fuel I didn't do anything for a couple of months whilst I got used to it, and subsequently had time to decide what I wanted to do with the things I didn't like.
What I did pretty quickly is that the car follows cambers very easily. Further investigations found that I not only had cross brand/treads on the same axle, I had 1 RFT, and one non RFT!
First thing to do was to swap them both over for some Pirelli P Zero Nero GT's.
Great tyres, really grippy, but only last 5 minutes. 6k later, they were on the legal limit. (but that comes later!)
I also didn't like how dark the previous owner had tinted the rear lights. They were V dark!
So I swapped them over for a set of brand new Abarth Grande Punto rear lights and the difference was night and day! Really lifted the whole car and made the privacy glass stand out a little more!
I also added the compulsory PH sticker!
I have already fitted some uprated discs and pads from EBC and replaced the failed ARB drop links, whilst the wheels were off, I got some new Hankook Ventus V12 Evo tyres fitted as the old Pirelli's were on the legal limit after a paulty 6k miles.
Under the bonnet I've not had time to do a lot of things, but have recently fully serviced it myself and now it's running great I plan to do some sublte mods to take it up a level, which include:
Custom Cat-back exhaust.
Remap.
Uprated intercooler
Uprrated stiffness with a underbody strut brace.
Either Coilover or a quality spring and damper setup.
Bigger turbo.
Some generic pictures:
Trip wise, I've been for a couple of blasts along some local roads and a rather fun jaunt along the B3135 in Cheddar which snakes around the gorge. Simply amazing roads and some simply amazing scenery!
The plan is, to get the car in for the exhaust the end of this month and get the remap booked for next month
It was a fairly hard 6k miles I must admit.
They're great little cars, fall under the radar, unless you have massive side stripes but have 120hp and 155lb-ft of torque and go well and sound pretty good!
It's done 60k miles and still feels really fresh. Plus, there are only 1600 registered on UK roads, according to howmanyleft.com. Which is nice, but the catch is parts can be awkward. I had to wait 3 days for a DMf to come from Italy
They're great little cars, fall under the radar, unless you have massive side stripes but have 120hp and 155lb-ft of torque and go well and sound pretty good!
It's done 60k miles and still feels really fresh. Plus, there are only 1600 registered on UK roads, according to howmanyleft.com. Which is nice, but the catch is parts can be awkward. I had to wait 3 days for a DMf to come from Italy
Chunkychucky said:
I like these, had a Mk2b active sport as my first car, when these came out test drove one at the local stealer - for what isn't an Abarth I was extremely impressed by the grunt! Are there many changes internally over this lump and that used in the 500/Punto Abarths?
To the Grande Punto Abarth, engine wise, Bigger turbo (IHI) and different map. Interior gets full buckets, climate control sport button and a 6spd g'box.
Outside is the bodykit and the suspension is a little lower and the tyres are a grade higher (215 rather than 205 on mine)
The turbo (if you can find one) and suspension is a straight swap onto mine, and the 215 tyres fit on the wheels I have, but bulge over a little bit, but the difference is tiny.
It feels quite old school the way it's turbocharged. My mate has a new Fiesta with that 1 litre engine and it doesn't feel turbocharged.
Mine though, floor it, especially in 2nd/3rd, nothing..nothing.. BOOST!
I love it! And it makes blow off farts!
The EsseEsse gets a seperate turbo (Garrett)with a new manifold, bigger injectors, free-er flowing exhaust and a few other little tweaks, but no major difference.
R2T2 said:
To the Grande Punto Abarth, engine wise, Bigger turbo (IHI) and different map.
Interior gets full buckets, climate control sport button and a 6spd g'box.
Outside is the bodykit and the suspension is a little lower and the tyres are a grade higher (215 rather than 205 on mine)
The turbo (if you can find one) and suspension is a straight swap onto mine, and the 215 tyres fit on the wheels I have, but bulge over a little bit, but the difference is tiny.
It feels quite old school the way it's turbocharged. My mate has a new Fiesta with that 1 litre engine and it doesn't feel turbocharged.
Mine though, floor it, especially in 2nd/3rd, nothing..nothing.. BOOST!
I love it! And it makes blow off farts!
The EsseEsse gets a seperate turbo (Garrett)with a new manifold, bigger injectors, free-er flowing exhaust and a few other little tweaks, but no major difference.
Abarth block Also gets different Cams in the engine (same as the Bravo 150 Bhp engine) as well as the Turbo. (Mapped T-jet with Abarth Turbo wont hit the same figures/have the same power curve due to that)Interior gets full buckets, climate control sport button and a 6spd g'box.
Outside is the bodykit and the suspension is a little lower and the tyres are a grade higher (215 rather than 205 on mine)
The turbo (if you can find one) and suspension is a straight swap onto mine, and the 215 tyres fit on the wheels I have, but bulge over a little bit, but the difference is tiny.
It feels quite old school the way it's turbocharged. My mate has a new Fiesta with that 1 litre engine and it doesn't feel turbocharged.
Mine though, floor it, especially in 2nd/3rd, nothing..nothing.. BOOST!
I love it! And it makes blow off farts!
The EsseEsse gets a seperate turbo (Garrett)with a new manifold, bigger injectors, free-er flowing exhaust and a few other little tweaks, but no major difference.
Additionally the AGP gets 4 pot brembo brakes - Same as the Clio 197/200 setup
I know of an AGP turbo for sale atm if you are interested will point you towards it. (fairly rare with only 340 odd AGPs, and only a portion of those having the SS conversion) - A lot of parts change in the SS conversion, but you have mentioned the main performance ones.
TallTom said:
Abarth block Also gets different Cams in the engine (same as the Bravo 150 Bhp engine) as well as the Turbo. (Mapped T-jet with Abarth Turbo wont hit the same figures/have the same power curve due to that)
Additionally the AGP gets 4 pot brembo brakes - Same as the Clio 197/200 setup
I know of an AGP turbo for sale atm if you are interested will point you towards it. (fairly rare with only 340 odd AGPs, and only a portion of those having the SS conversion) - A lot of parts change in the SS conversion, but you have mentioned the main performance ones.
The AGP is pretty rare, and the SS even rarer. There are only 1600 of mine on the roads aswell. Additionally the AGP gets 4 pot brembo brakes - Same as the Clio 197/200 setup
I know of an AGP turbo for sale atm if you are interested will point you towards it. (fairly rare with only 340 odd AGPs, and only a portion of those having the SS conversion) - A lot of parts change in the SS conversion, but you have mentioned the main performance ones.
I didn't know about the cams! Thanks!
Thinking of getting a custom stainless exhaust soon, and then a remap, which as if by magic, a place opposite the exhaust centre also do mappings! Win!
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