Fiat Marea 20v Turbo

[bulldog5046]

Hello,

I've been a bit of a lurker of PH for awhile but never really (read ever) posted. I thought i should introduce myself (Ryan), but more importantly my car

I have had a very hard love affair with this car to say the least, first bought at the end of 2006 she started out as a tidy looking standard 20v HLX.



for almost as long as i have been driving i have been jelous of Fiat selling Marea 20v Turbo's in brazil and have had my heart set on building one for myself.

back in febuary 2008 i began by buying myself a Fiat Coupe 20vT



I think this was my worst mistake of the entire project, i spent £600 on the car and £180 to have to transported, it had a blown HG, blown Turbo, knackered brakes, rotten radiator, rotten oil cooler and 144k miles. I wish i could wind back the clock and spend £4,000 on a Coupe to start the conversion with.

after some time i had the car completely stripped and my new engine ready to go into the Marea



once everything was ready i booked myself 2 weeks from work to get the job done, here are a couple of photos from the experience








and a final one to show off the Brembo's



At the end of the 2weeks the car was all bolted together but i still had wiring issues, these ended up taking a further 3 weeks to resolve.

The car has spent an awfull lot of time off the road since the conversion with various issues, and to say the least i have learnt my lesson with buying second hand car parts, another replacement engine & 2 turbos to name but a few!

She now has a Hybrid TB28 turbo with 60mm compressor wheel, cut back blades, staggar oil seals and 360 bearing, the replacement engine was a Fiat refurbished unit which i struck lucky and found on ebay, Brembo sport cross-drilled disc's & Pagid RS29 pads, a Live remap from FC performance which i must say has made the car very lively!

she has not been on a rolling road but i have tested the 0-60 & 1/4mi times with the dynolicious iPhone app which gave 6.26s 0-60mph and 14.92 @ 103MPH, estimated 195WHP.

Not wanting to blab on too much i'll leave you with a couple of exterior photos, all comments welcome Thanks!

[bulldog5046]

Thanks for the comments!

I do love the car but it really test's me sometimes, i seem to keep finding myself saying 'The next time it breaks, its scrap' but can never bring myself to do it, i started saying that almost £2k ago :|

Yes, it is fast, very fast, the only problem is that it is a bit too much of a sleeper, no one pay's any attention to a 10 year old fiat estate.

This saturday she will be putting up her usual performance at Castle Combe showing up some of the 'performance' cars which i just love, i dont think you can beat the feeling of knowing how annoyed caterham or 300zx drivers must be when a they are passed by a Fiat, har har.

Ry

[bulldog5046]

I wasnt aware there was one, Thanks for the heads up.

I'm only just up in bristol so i may well sneek myself in

Ry

[bulldog5046]

I decided against going to the cheddar meet as after Combe both myself and the car need a break

All went well yesterday, i had 3 good sessions. There was the usual bad driving and odd moments that you get at Action days as you can see from a couple of parts in these videos.

9:30 session (2 parts):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbvaeTc6tSM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7TdkK-sK58

1:15 session (was ment to be the 200+ session but delays earlier in the day ment it was mixed):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_OAKaump04

and my final session at 4:00:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8VTRZayFN4

Cheers,
Ry

[bulldog5046]

@neil - hehe, i remember that day, your BMW is very rapid, what is the spec?

I wasnt expecting a simple overtake to become so difficult

@uncinquesei - Sounds along the right lines, here is what i have:

Pre delivery service:
Carried out: 19/04/1999

RYAUTO Limited
Cleveland Road
Wolverhampton
WV2 1BG

the metallic black seems to be very rare on these cars, so, was this the one you remember?