Panda Tuning !

Hello all. I'm toying with the idea of a new 100hp and when discussing with a friend who owns a tuning business we started throwing ideas around. if there was a turbocharger conversion for either the 1.2 active to take it to say 110 hp and one for the 100hp to take it to say 150hp - do you reckon they'd sell?
If I can convince him there's a market I may just get a turbo conversion for nowt!

I'd buy one for my 1.2 if it came along relatively soon and was well priced - ie under £1500.

I'm presently doing planning for dropping in a Fiat Barchetta 1747 cc 16v (130 bhp) engine into my Panda - gone for a big, untuned engine so to keep the fuel specific fuel consumption lower than a tuned, smaller engine.

Predicted to get 6.8 second 0-60 and in excess of 130 mph, whilst maintaining the original 1.2s economy figures when driving normally.

150bhp for the 100hp model would be an awesome and very able car, but the 1.4 "starjet" is quite a new engine and might not be very tunable - few people would want to risk the warranty when the car is plenty fast enough out of the box.

Alot of Panda 4x4 1.2 owners hate the lack of poke so I'm sure there is a market for the upgrade.

Also remember it would not take much to get the MultiJet diesel engine to 100bhp, which again would be a fun car.

Let us know how you get on.

Just make sure the 1.2 turbo will work on the punto too and the money should come rolling in.

Warranty invalidation concerns will......or should concern new owners....at least for three years. So I think the 100 - 150 bhp upgrade research would be a longterm investment for the 100HP at least.

that's good feedback. yes warranty is something we hadn't discussed ! that is a very good reason why many wouldn't want to upgrade the 100hp so soon. 8v 1242 is a proven unit in many models so maybe that's the path to follow first. the biggest thing we were worried about was gearbox strength. I've owned many fiats and gearboxes (apart from my coop) seemed to be a weak link on many occasions.

Dont think you'll get the 1.2s economy as you still have the extra 600cc to compress on each stroke, plus the extra weight. Will be rapid though and very fun to drive, be more interesting in a 4x4, as there's alot of power to go through your front wheels. Also you might consider the 1.8 Bravo engine a bit easier to come by and no varriator to go wrong only 115bhp though, or the 1.9jtd.. now that would be good and decent consumption.

i think i may have come across a major hurdle - am I right in saying the Panda 1.1 and 1.2 are both singlepoint injection and not multipoint? I'd imagine if they are that the 4x4 is the same too?

It says "1.2 MPI" in my papers.

what about tuning options other than turbos? I'd be keen to invest in that after 3 years is up

you can use my 100hp as a test bed if you need one, iv got 300 on the clock and the exhaust will be in the bin by sat, warranty wont stop me, if i could find an induction kit and a chip they would be on there way to, if anybody knows of a tuner offerin, let me know cheers

trouble with atmo tuning these days is emissions test. panda is producing a pretty healthy output per litre and to get more hp atmospherically would probably cost a lot for fairly small gains unless you went to throttle bodies and they aren't cheap.

i think it would be needed for a long time though ! good excuse for me to get a panda this !

That would just ruin the whole feeling of the car, better of buying an old American reck off Ebay they handle the same, quick in a straight line but crap at corners.

Liam

just to hrow a spanner in the works
what about the eaton superchargers?
gearbox would last longer as the tourque is linear and not bang at 3000rpm??
just an idea
the gearbox may last marginally longer

I don't think that 6.5bhp peak power increase and 21Nm peak torque increase is too bad for an induction kit alone, which increases to 18.7bhp and 26Nm respectively with a proper re-map.

Designing a Turbo version for the 1368 engine is a waste of time. Fiat has done it already and will launch four versions during 2007/8.

To get reliably 150bhp from a forced induction setup, requiresw quite a bit more than about £1500. Neither conrods nor cranks are up to the challenge.