Abarth 500

Author
Discussion

Lagerlout

Original Poster:

1,810 posts

237 months

Tuesday 12th January 2010
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Hi all, his name is Spike and he has the following spec:

G-Tech - GP/R 1.5

Engine rebored to 1500cc
G-Tech Roller bearing Turbo
9.4:1 Forged pistons
Cryo treated, balanced & polished conrods
Larger fuel injectors
Two larger intercoolers
Silicone boost tubes
Sports air filter
Exhaust system straight through no silencers, 200 cell sports cat
Replacement fuel pressure regulator
Custom G-Tech ECU
Stronger clutch
Single Mass Flywheel
Iridium Spark Plugs
Custom ground camshafts
Ported Cylinder Head
Exhaust temperature gauge
Quaife LSD
Brembo 4 piston brake system with 305mm front brake discs
KW Variant 3 coilovers

288 hp / 299 ft lbs torque





Next step is a cage, OMP seats, harnesses and for the summer a grippier wheel/tyre combo.

Should have some vids up on Youtube soon.

Sim89

1,573 posts

208 months

Tuesday 12th January 2010
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288 is insane

soad

32,914 posts

177 months

Tuesday 12th January 2010
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Nice spec. performance wise. Must surprise a lot of cars on the road.
How much mods cost you? What sort of mpg does it achieve?

Beedub

1,959 posts

227 months

Tuesday 12th January 2010
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holy cow i bet thats rapid!! more pics of inside and engine please

Marf

22,907 posts

242 months

Tuesday 12th January 2010
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Love this car. Having had a tiny hi-po hot hatch in a similar vein this really piques my interest!


v1paul

723 posts

177 months

Tuesday 12th January 2010
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That looks absolutely awesome and that is insane power for a car so small!

rb5230

11,657 posts

173 months

Tuesday 12th January 2010
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sounds mental, the wheels almost look photoshopped to me. hows the torque steer?

i do like small light cars with powerful engines.

Killer2005

19,658 posts

229 months

Tuesday 12th January 2010
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Bloody hell, good effort sir

doodles19

2,201 posts

174 months

Tuesday 12th January 2010
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Bloooooody hell! I had to double take on those RRd figures!... nice work dude! lovely little motor you have yourself there.

288 brake from a small car with fwd must be quite a challenge!

How bad is the torque steer?

Edited by doodles19 on Tuesday 12th January 19:09

deuchars

260 posts

216 months

Tuesday 12th January 2010
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Very cool, bet that shifts!

Lagerlout

Original Poster:

1,810 posts

237 months

Tuesday 12th January 2010
quotequote all
To answer some of the questions, best I've had out of it is 55 mpg and I averaged 52.5mpg over 150 miles on a run across France. It's done a 1000 miles at 43 mpg so far. I'll post up a pic of that 52.5mpg run. It's pretty astounding economy but if you're off the turbo it's a lightweight car with a 1.5l engine!

As for torque steer - it has none - none whatsoever. The only time I experience any is when the front tyres lose grip in the conditions we've got at the moment. Before the bad weather set in I could use full power everywhere and absolutely no torque steer. The Quaife LSD seems to do a magnificent job. By comparison a Golf GTI / GT TD torque steers all over the shop.

The wheels do look shopped in that picture but I can assure you it's how it is. I think the KW coilovers make the wheels really fill the arches now so it gives that impression.

As for the engine bay, not much point in a photo, it looks almost standard. G-Tech modify the car to get compliant under TuV so even the cat bodies are retained, but a 200 cel core is put in place of the original core. It's a really tidy professional job. Will take a pic soon anyway and post it up so you can see the differences. You can see the bigger turbo but not a lot else is visible.






Edited by Lagerlout on Tuesday 12th January 20:39

Marf

22,907 posts

242 months

Tuesday 12th January 2010
quotequote all
The economy you're getting is great, I guess its much like any NA engine off boost due to the relatively high compression ratio. What boost are you running?

Edited by Marf on Tuesday 12th January 21:10

rb5230

11,657 posts

173 months

Tuesday 12th January 2010
quotequote all
Lagerlout said:
As for torque steer - it has none - none whatsoever. The only time I experience any is when the front tyres lose grip in the conditions we've got at the moment. Before the bad weather set in I could use full power everywhere and absolutely no torque steer. The Quaife LSD seems to do a magnificent job.
must say "no torque steer whatsoever" is very hard to believe, how can it be quelled completely? with similar power, a quaife diff, revoknuckle suspension and after spending millions in r&d ford didnt manage to get rid of it all in the focus rs.

perhaps it is less than in the golfs you have driven and so it feels minimal although with all that torque it is some trick.

im not doubting you believe what you say and perhaps it is a very small amount, but kind of doubting of its possible to have that much torque in a small fwd car and have no torque steer whatsoever in dry conditions.

either way i hope you are enjoying it, i bet its a blast.

CooperS

4,506 posts

220 months

Tuesday 12th January 2010
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Car looks and reads great!

Can you post any more pictures up biggrin

I'm really considering one in this colour.

Thanks in advance

stormrider2

658 posts

201 months

Wednesday 13th January 2010
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Yes please!, seriously love the 500. then with these modifications its unreal. where did you source these parts?

charliedaker

278 posts

175 months

Wednesday 13th January 2010
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Awesome! How much for this conversion? (inc suspension)

Rockatansky

1,700 posts

188 months

Wednesday 13th January 2010
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rb5230 said:
must say "no torque steer whatsoever" is very hard to believe, how can it be quelled completely? with similar power, a quaife diff, revoknuckle suspension and after spending millions in r&d ford didnt manage to get rid of it all in the focus rs.
Is part (or all) of the Focus' problem not that the driveshafts are of significantly unequal length?

To the o/p: epic car, absolutely love it thumbup

eightseventhree

2,196 posts

205 months

Wednesday 13th January 2010
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I followed this on the Abarth forum and after picking my Abarth 500 yesterday would love a pax ride in this!

rb5230

11,657 posts

173 months

Wednesday 13th January 2010
quotequote all
Rockatansky said:
rb5230 said:
must say "no torque steer whatsoever" is very hard to believe, how can it be quelled completely? with similar power, a quaife diff, revoknuckle suspension and after spending millions in r&d ford didnt manage to get rid of it all in the focus rs.
Is part (or all) of the Focus' problem not that the driveshafts are of significantly unequal length?

To the o/p: epic car, absolutely love it thumbup
what i was getting at is that ford spent millions to try and rid the torque steer and by all accounts did very well indeed but it is still present as it is in astra/corsa vxr`s, golf gti`s, megane 225`s, etc and all other fwd high powered cars. so was wondering how it was ridded completely if all these global manufacturers couldnt do it.

Lagerlout

Original Poster:

1,810 posts

237 months

Wednesday 13th January 2010
quotequote all
Thanks for all the comments everyone. Yes, it really doesn't have any discernable torque steer at full boost and I realise that is pretty unbelievable but it's true. I'm not an engineer, but also remember this is about 400kg lighter than an RS so maybe that has something to do with it, or as someone else has mentioned the physical design might be the issue. I own and have owned a lot of performance cars so know what torque steer is. I was fully expecting it to be a torque steer monster but it isn't and I can't explain why either. I will ask G-Tech why they think that is, perhaps they will know more.

As for cost, it costs more than an RS to put together, around £28k so far. Sure I could have bought an RS but it is not my cup of tea at all and as I said on another thread, this makes me chuckle. No one expects this little thing to go like it does but in my book if a car makes you giggle like a little kid it's a good 'un.

To answer one of the questions boost is a touch under 1.8 bar. EGT doesn't go higher than 900 deg even after a hard run. That's lower than stock temps.

I'm thinking of ditching the stickers to make it even more stealth but that will come behind the other mods I'm making as I'm intending on tracking it this summer.

Edited by Lagerlout on Wednesday 13th January 10:53


Edited by Lagerlout on Wednesday 13th January 10:55