So I recently bought myself my first car, a silver 1999 Abarth. It was a steal, but it needs a little bit of love, paintwork, rocker cover gasket etc. Here's a couple of pictures of her, I hope you love her as much as I do already!

looks decent, welcome to cento'dom

Since then, the gasket has been done and she'll soon be on the road on a regular basis!

The blowing up pipe was also fixed and I've gone round with some touch up paint to get rid of the worst of it!

I mucb prefer the look of the spi centos. Makes me wish i got an spi abarth over the schuey mpi. Lovely car mate.

Cheers bud, I nearly got a schuey, as there was one for sale near me, but it was too expensive really, then this popped up and I couldn't say no

sleeka1 said:

I mucb prefer the look of the spi centos. Makes me wish i got an spi abarth over the schuey mpi. Lovely car mate.

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Glad there is some people that have this view - annoys me how most people prefer the look of the mpi, which to me just looks likes its trying to be a jap car. spi has much better lines in my opinion.

Nice one for the age. My first one also was SPI but it wasn't in that good nick.
Than I bought cheap MPI which I had loads problems with him and in my opinion wasn't worth really a hassle to having a better looking one.
Here is a few pictures..... 1'st one both together after some time and now.

I do like the yellow centre caps, I may have to pick up some of them, mine are more pink than red

Nice! I see you're reasonably local

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/alloy-Whe...heels_tyre_Trims_Trims_ET&hash=item3a7a8838f1

Found a nice Cinquecento back box on eBay, but it wouldn't fit straight on by the looks of it. Would it fit onto the SPI system with the Cinquecento mid section?

The hangers are in a different place.

if your budget can stretch far enough then i'd highly recommend the Cybox system.


Gotta agree that early Seis are better looking than later (although neither are anywhere as nice as a basic Cinq!!).

Duncan said:

The hangers are in a different place.

if your budget can stretch far enough then i'd highly recommend the Cybox system.

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I bought a Sportex system for £30 or so less than the Cybox one, this was because I wanted one without a centre box and of course the price.

I'm really happy with it, it's really fantastic. However I have heard good stuff about the Cybox system and regret not getting it from the point of view of longevity. The saving will soon be lost in a few years time when I have to buy a replacement for the Sportex.

Choose wisely

Cento186 said:

I bought a Sportex system for £30 or so less than the Cybox one, this was because I wanted one without a centre box and of course the price.

I'm really happy with it, it's really fantastic. However I have heard good stuff about the Cybox system and regret not getting it from the point of view of longevity. The saving will soon be lost in a few years time when I have to buy a replacement for the Sportex.

Choose wisely

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From my dealing with them i think they would make a system with no middle box if you asked them. Made me a system with no fancy tailpipe and charged me less.

i reckon so too, is all made to order as far as i am aware. Found them helpful and good service when i bought one and it was a good fit too

I'll just have to keep my eyes peeled on eBay and wherever. I'm having trouble finding some alloy pedals, any ideas?

Has anyone had any experience with an Ulter exhaust system? They seem like a good deal, but I thought I'd ask around first.

never heard of them myself... thats not to say they are crap though.

Also, I was just wondering what kind of gains you could get from upgrading to a punto 1.2 8v cylinder head, cam etc, as well as the 1.2 throttle body?

depends which punto head you mean.....

mk1 P60 is the same head, the TB is 2mm larger so although it will make a different its not a difference you will really feel at all its such a tiny gain.

mk1 P75, some good gains to be had here but really its more of a job than just swapping the head and TB, you need the entire inlet mani which itself will need modding to fit (brake servo takeoff needs moving). This can be run from the cento ecu but many people have reported it doesn't run well, particularly when you come off the gas - it wants to die. I have my theories as to why that happens but won't go into that right now. What it comes down to is for it to run well you really want the ecu as well and in turn that will need virginising or decoding or you need the matching codebox and key. And at this point you may as well just buy a complete p75 and do full conversion.

a mk2 one could work but again way more hassle than its worth, you would pretty much be converting to mpi seicento, requiring again ecu swaps and in this case loom alterations etc.