2001 FIAT Seicento Sporting...
Discussion
FIRST OF ALL... DON'T LAUGH!!! 
I've been on here a while now, so thought I'd may as well get a bit of a progress thread going. I'm sad and because of this, I've always had a soft spot for the little FIAT's. I've also always liked the thought of having something a bit different to use as a track car... Which led me to buying a 2001 FIAT Seicento Sporting. Now I do have some taste, I'm 23, this is my fourth car - The previous three were; S1 16V Peugeot 106 Rallye, P2 1.6 Peugeot 205 GTi and a 1.7 VCT Ford Puma...
I purchased the car (completely standard) on 22.12.08;
I picked him up the same day and ordered the following parts;
Goodridge Stainless Hoses
Black Diamond Predator Pads
Black Diamond Grooved Discs
Powerflex Front & Rear Bushes
OMP Front Lower & Upper Strut Braces
SPAX PSX Adjustable Shocks & -30mm Springs
I also had a word with a lad called James at Compomotive who made me up a set of CXR1362 wheels in black. The offset of which was altered to ET24 to give me around 12mm extra track. The wheels were shod in Yokohama A539 175/50/R13 tyres... The tyres were sourced through a Mini specialist, as the more usual online tyre suppliers had a very limited choice of tyres in this size. Whilst the car was at Tony Selby's (He must be 65 years old, there's nothing he can't do... He even has a Sierra Cosworth as a weekend toy!!!), we decided that it'd be best to change the Brake Master Cylinder and all of the solid brake pipes to really freshen everything up. A new OE Master Cylinder and hand-made Copper brake pipes sorted that out.
All of this really transformed the handling... It now actually goes around corners without trying to fall over.
As off the end of January, he looked like this, a marked improvement over standard I think;
Towards the middle of March, I'd saved up and ordered another truck full of parts;
BMC CDA Induction Kit
Champion EON 2 Spark Plugs
Magnecor KV85 Ignition Leads
Balanced & Lightened Flywheel (5.5KG)
Supersprint 4-2-1 Stainless Exhaust Manifold
A few more piccies showing off the new ''POWERRR'' bits and also the painful lack of ground-clearnace;
As July rolled around, I thought it was about time the little car went on a diet. So out came the rear seats, seatbelts and all of the plastic trim. I was surprised at the weight of all this and it did make some difference to the overall performance of the car... It also made a nice open space to put an OMP 8-Point Cage in to. Whilst I was saving for the cage, I took the car up to JP Exhausts in Macclesfield to have a full Stainless system fitted... It's 2" I.D from the Manifold, with a single box and 2" tailpipe. Nice and understated to look at but it pops, bangs and flames just as much as the PeugeotSport Group N did on my old Rallye.
The last few weeks has seen a bit of rust treatment underneath the car, which will do the job until it gets fully Undersealed in the New Year. At the moment, he's back in the garage with Tony having the OMP cage, seat, wheel and harness fitted... Once that's finished later this week, I'll be taking the it all back out so I can spray the cage and the inside of the car. I just need to decide on a colour for the cage now, I'm thinking either black or yellow!?!
Next up on the to-do-list is Polycarbonate windows and sunroof followed by an exterior respray. After this I'll be buying another 1108cc MPI engine and rebuilding it to a similar spec. as what the Trofeo cars run. At the moment I'd say there's around 70-75BHP to play with and the new engine should hopefully see somewhere around the 100BHP mark... Although I must admit that I'm not obsessed with chasing figures.
Opinions welcome, I'll keep this updated as much as possible... Should have some more piccies to add later in the week.
I've been on here a while now, so thought I'd may as well get a bit of a progress thread going. I'm sad and because of this, I've always had a soft spot for the little FIAT's. I've also always liked the thought of having something a bit different to use as a track car... Which led me to buying a 2001 FIAT Seicento Sporting. Now I do have some taste, I'm 23, this is my fourth car - The previous three were; S1 16V Peugeot 106 Rallye, P2 1.6 Peugeot 205 GTi and a 1.7 VCT Ford Puma...
I purchased the car (completely standard) on 22.12.08;
I picked him up the same day and ordered the following parts;
Goodridge Stainless Hoses
Black Diamond Predator Pads
Black Diamond Grooved Discs
Powerflex Front & Rear Bushes
OMP Front Lower & Upper Strut Braces
SPAX PSX Adjustable Shocks & -30mm Springs
I also had a word with a lad called James at Compomotive who made me up a set of CXR1362 wheels in black. The offset of which was altered to ET24 to give me around 12mm extra track. The wheels were shod in Yokohama A539 175/50/R13 tyres... The tyres were sourced through a Mini specialist, as the more usual online tyre suppliers had a very limited choice of tyres in this size. Whilst the car was at Tony Selby's (He must be 65 years old, there's nothing he can't do... He even has a Sierra Cosworth as a weekend toy!!!), we decided that it'd be best to change the Brake Master Cylinder and all of the solid brake pipes to really freshen everything up. A new OE Master Cylinder and hand-made Copper brake pipes sorted that out.
All of this really transformed the handling... It now actually goes around corners without trying to fall over.
As off the end of January, he looked like this, a marked improvement over standard I think;
Towards the middle of March, I'd saved up and ordered another truck full of parts;
BMC CDA Induction Kit
Champion EON 2 Spark Plugs
Magnecor KV85 Ignition Leads
Balanced & Lightened Flywheel (5.5KG)
Supersprint 4-2-1 Stainless Exhaust Manifold
A few more piccies showing off the new ''POWERRR'' bits and also the painful lack of ground-clearnace;
As July rolled around, I thought it was about time the little car went on a diet. So out came the rear seats, seatbelts and all of the plastic trim. I was surprised at the weight of all this and it did make some difference to the overall performance of the car... It also made a nice open space to put an OMP 8-Point Cage in to. Whilst I was saving for the cage, I took the car up to JP Exhausts in Macclesfield to have a full Stainless system fitted... It's 2" I.D from the Manifold, with a single box and 2" tailpipe. Nice and understated to look at but it pops, bangs and flames just as much as the PeugeotSport Group N did on my old Rallye.
The last few weeks has seen a bit of rust treatment underneath the car, which will do the job until it gets fully Undersealed in the New Year. At the moment, he's back in the garage with Tony having the OMP cage, seat, wheel and harness fitted... Once that's finished later this week, I'll be taking the it all back out so I can spray the cage and the inside of the car. I just need to decide on a colour for the cage now, I'm thinking either black or yellow!?!
Next up on the to-do-list is Polycarbonate windows and sunroof followed by an exterior respray. After this I'll be buying another 1108cc MPI engine and rebuilding it to a similar spec. as what the Trofeo cars run. At the moment I'd say there's around 70-75BHP to play with and the new engine should hopefully see somewhere around the 100BHP mark... Although I must admit that I'm not obsessed with chasing figures.
Opinions welcome, I'll keep this updated as much as possible... Should have some more piccies to add later in the week.
Edited by FLD_WILLIS on Monday 2nd November 10:26
Edited by FLD_WILLIS on Monday 2nd November 10:27
Edited by FLD_WILLIS on Monday 2nd November 10:29
We used to take the piss out of my mate who had a Schumacher Edition Seicento, then I had a go in it and it was hilarious fun. Not much power, revvvy and you could throw it into corners with gay abandon.
It was all about keeping up momentum and forward planning, especially when you wanted to over take something.
I loved it to bits.
Kudos on doing something different and ending up with a cracking looking motor. Have you taken it on a track day yet?
It was all about keeping up momentum and forward planning, especially when you wanted to over take something.
I loved it to bits.
Kudos on doing something different and ending up with a cracking looking motor. Have you taken it on a track day yet?
Hahaha, positive comments, I'm well chuffed!!!
Oh God yeah, I was the same, always used to take the piss!!! The handling is fun, although in standard trim they like to roll a bit, you can still launch them round bends without too much worry... When I picked the car up, it was on Nankang Ditchfinders and the drive home down the lanes was hilarious. With the setup I have now there is tonnes of grip and because there isn't masses of power, there is very little understeer too. It's a cliche but it is actually like driving a go-kart!!!
Yeah I was at Oulton Park on 26.08.09 and I'm there again for the full day with Focused Events on 18.11.09.
It surprised a lad in an MX5 in the rain, even managed to have a bit of fun with a TVR Chimaera;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfoAl_D4SFk
Oh God yeah, I was the same, always used to take the piss!!! The handling is fun, although in standard trim they like to roll a bit, you can still launch them round bends without too much worry... When I picked the car up, it was on Nankang Ditchfinders and the drive home down the lanes was hilarious. With the setup I have now there is tonnes of grip and because there isn't masses of power, there is very little understeer too. It's a cliche but it is actually like driving a go-kart!!!
Yeah I was at Oulton Park on 26.08.09 and I'm there again for the full day with Focused Events on 18.11.09.
It surprised a lad in an MX5 in the rain, even managed to have a bit of fun with a TVR Chimaera;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfoAl_D4SFk
That looks like a cracking little car! Compact, grippy, light & nimble. It looks huge fun! In an age where everything seems to get, bigger, heavier and more complex with each passing year, cars like the Seicento look increasingly appealing. I hope you enjoyed Oulton park. It doesn’t surprise me that you got away from the Chimaera, I bet they can be intimidating beasts in the wet! 
I hope the weather’s better for you on the 18th.
Have fun!
Nigel.
I hope the weather’s better for you on the 18th.Have fun!
Nigel.
Edited by bluecaterham7 on Thursday 5th November 18:06
Hahaha, more positiveness!!!
Yeah I was surprised to see the TVR go out, fair play to him as most wouldn't be brave enough in those conditions... It was pretty daunting seeing him closing up in the mirror though!!! I can't imagine many people have seen a TVR from that angle before!!!
For the money you could pick one of these little FIAT's up for now, they're well worth it for a bit of track fun or even just as a project car. I guess from your name Alfahorn that you're a fan of Italian motors... You know it, they're cooler now then they ever have been hahaha!!! There's quite a cult follwing for them, especially in Poland as that's where they were built and they still have a very active prescence in the rally scene over there.
Indeed the 1.4 16v (Panda 100HP) will fit in them as will the 1.4 T-Jet (GP, 500 Abarth), but there is a fair bit of work involved from what I've read and it's quite a tight squeeze. The main issue lies in the strength of the engine mounts. Another popular (cheaper and simpler) route is to use the 1242cc 8v and 16v from the older shaped Punto's. The main reason I'm planning on keeping the original size engine is because it seems like more of a challenge and won't effect the weight distribution of the car...
They do become silly-quick with the 1.4 engines in though!!!
Yeah I was surprised to see the TVR go out, fair play to him as most wouldn't be brave enough in those conditions... It was pretty daunting seeing him closing up in the mirror though!!! I can't imagine many people have seen a TVR from that angle before!!!
For the money you could pick one of these little FIAT's up for now, they're well worth it for a bit of track fun or even just as a project car. I guess from your name Alfahorn that you're a fan of Italian motors... You know it, they're cooler now then they ever have been hahaha!!! There's quite a cult follwing for them, especially in Poland as that's where they were built and they still have a very active prescence in the rally scene over there.Indeed the 1.4 16v (Panda 100HP) will fit in them as will the 1.4 T-Jet (GP, 500 Abarth), but there is a fair bit of work involved from what I've read and it's quite a tight squeeze. The main issue lies in the strength of the engine mounts. Another popular (cheaper and simpler) route is to use the 1242cc 8v and 16v from the older shaped Punto's. The main reason I'm planning on keeping the original size engine is because it seems like more of a challenge and won't effect the weight distribution of the car...
They do become silly-quick with the 1.4 engines in though!!!
Edited by FLD_WILLIS on Thursday 5th November 19:39
bluecaterham7 said:
It doesn’t surprise me that you got away from the Chimaera, I bet they can be intimidating beasts in the wet!
They're awesome fun in the wet... but then people say I'm weird.Had a nearly standard Cinquecento Sporting which was a lot of fun on tight, twisty roads. Usually surprises people. Guess the lightweight helps (car and driver
).Full marks for doing things the hard way and being a little different.
Bonus points also for the use of items out of your fridge to provide perspective on the gorund clearance issue - I hear that Ferrari use 'the Sainso's yoghurt test' to know they've sorted the suspension properly every time they rebuild an F1 car!
Bonus points also for the use of items out of your fridge to provide perspective on the gorund clearance issue - I hear that Ferrari use 'the Sainso's yoghurt test' to know they've sorted the suspension properly every time they rebuild an F1 car!
FLD_WILLIS said:
...at but it pops, bangs and flames just as much as the PeugeotSport Group N did on my old Rallye.
Think thats what I miss most about my old S1, the Frankly pornographic soundtrack!
Currently looking at ideas on how to get the BMW sounding a bit like it! Bangs and Flames are considered "Priority 1"
Like the idea, its a very Forza/Gran Turismo build!!
I had one of those as my first car some ten years ago. Black with orange rubber strips down the sides. Went by the name of Eggy after the sulphurous smell that occasionally emanated from it.
Allegedly capable of an indicated 115mph on a slightly downhill section of the A5 from Dunstable towards Milton Keynes (approaching the roundabout that leads onto the dual carriageway)...
Once you get yours back how about some vids to show how it sounds after a bit of fettling?!
Allegedly capable of an indicated 115mph on a slightly downhill section of the A5 from Dunstable towards Milton Keynes (approaching the roundabout that leads onto the dual carriageway)...
Once you get yours back how about some vids to show how it sounds after a bit of fettling?!
Jimbo, give the guys at JP Exhausts ( www.jpexhausts.co.uk ) in Macclesfield a call, they'd even rustle you up a manifold too if you wanted. They're not the usual ''custom aftermarket'' exhaust place... More of a TVR/GT40/Formula Ford sort of place. Took them 4 hours to make my system and they've since done a cat-back for my dads 2.5 WRX. They asked me a lot of questions about the characteristics of the engine, the result is that power seems to start a lot lower down the rev range and it wants to go past the limiter now too!!! Haha, yeah it's definately Forza-esque!!!
Animal & Slinky... Of course, these speeds were attained on private roads with an unidentifiable driver I presume hahaha!!!
Here's a little soundbite, but I'll be getting some videos on 18.11.09 at Oulton so I'll be posting them up.
Soundbite; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHm52TbW0r4
They're not the usual ''custom aftermarket'' exhaust place... More of a TVR/GT40/Formula Ford sort of place. Took them 4 hours to make my system and they've since done a cat-back for my dads 2.5 WRX. They asked me a lot of questions about the characteristics of the engine, the result is that power seems to start a lot lower down the rev range and it wants to go past the limiter now too!!! Haha, yeah it's definately Forza-esque!!!Animal & Slinky... Of course, these speeds were attained on private roads with an unidentifiable driver I presume hahaha!!!
Here's a little soundbite, but I'll be getting some videos on 18.11.09 at Oulton so I'll be posting them up.
Soundbite; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHm52TbW0r4
Edited by FLD_WILLIS on Sunday 8th November 15:28
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