Abarth Advice

Hi guys,

As this is my first post on the forum, I would like to thank everyone for all of the helpful information which they have provided on the forum – I have been ‘observing’ for a while, and I must say that I have learnt a lot.

Ok, so I have a 04 reg. manual Abarth in grigio steel – and she is great (compared to my old 1.2 8v Punto at least). Now, I have had her for a little over 6 months and from what I read and seen, I want to make her all that she could be (preferably a 200bhp beastie ). There are a few things which I would really like to do: (in priority order)

1. Remap
2. Induction
3. Exhaust
4. Lowering
5. Camshaft
6. Body kit

Now, I hope that you can bear with me, as I have a tendency to write a lot and ask a lot of questions (is being inquisitive really that bad?)...

Obviously, the engine/exhaust modifications would be done before the remap, but the remap is what really makes everything shine (as well as all of the GSR kit)! I believe that these are the main improvements for the engine, but are there any other different options which can be looked at (for a reasonable price)?

As for exhausts, are there any reputable companies around the Midlands area which would have the experience to build a complete system for a reasonable price, and whilst doing this, are custom manifolds worth the cash or are the gains negligible? Also, at the risk of sounding like a complete idiot, is a full system from the manifold back, and does a cat back system include the cat or not?

Finally, the exterior ‘stuff’... Now, I really do like the look of some of the body kits – I think the Kyros, for example, looks awesome. I am concerned, however, about the size of them – vertically. I was thinking about the Eibach kit for 30mm lowering, and I was wondering how a 30mm drop and a body kit are over speed humps.

At the moment, I must say that my favourite body kit has to be the RDX one (sorry, can't post a link, as you apparently require 5 posts before you can post URLs - just Google RDX race design)

Edit: Alright, while I remember, I forgot about the brakes - I was looking at the EBC Red Stuff brakes possibly as these look very nice. Any opinions on these, as I have seen people choose the green stuff over these for some reason.

Thanks for making it this far, and any information that you guys have would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,
Andy

Welcome to the Forum and also an extra special welcome to another fellow Abarth owner

It looks like you're looking at alot of the same stuff as myself so it'll be good to keep in touch and share any experiences. I have to say, I think you're on the right track in terms of the things you want to do eg. GSR, Supersprint exhaust(?), Eibach Pro's 30mm. I'll follow this up with another post once I've sobered up a little bit

fwiw - I'd suggest you do the brake and suspension work (dont forget a strut brace) before any of the other things on your list....... just a suggestion mind

ABZSTILO, thank you for your suggestion, and yes, I would probably get the suspension and brake work done first.

My only concern with the suspension is that I have a lot of speed bumps where I live, and with a sloping drive, I need to check the clearances all around

Also, I believe that the front upper strut may not fit as the ECU looks to be in the way. Is this the case with the newer ones (phase 2?), and is there any easy solutions besides an angle grinder which I saw suggested somewhere?

welcome fellow 2.4 owner. ecu and angle grinder.

that was me, where the ecu is mounted there is a little lip of metal on the right that just isnt needed, get rid then you can put the ecu at an angle and fit the strut brace like this, oh and supersprint dont do an exhaust for the 2.4 anymore, the best at the mo is either ragazzon, remus do a good racing system if you want loud, and novitec.

Check out www.europerformance.co.uk they've got supersprint back boxes on there for £250

thats it though, ou cant bu anything else, and there is onl one supplier of supersprint exhausts, and thats not them, so its a bit hit and miss

I think your "y" button is broken

That's a real shame. So who would you recommend as the best exhaust supplier for the 2.4? I figure that I'll probably just go for the backbox...

Already said mate. Ragazzon, Remus or Novitec, there all really good quality, the remus racing one is buy far the loudest. Just pic.

I have a secondhand DNX Stainless Steel Performance Exhaust Back/Rear box Fiat Stilo 1.6/1.8/2.4/1.9JTD Oct '01 on 2 x 3" Round tail box coming up for sale soon for the 2.4 if anyone is interested?

Oooh! Very tempting!!! and you're not far from me... just over the river in fact

Let me know how much you want and I'll have a think about it and see if anyone wants one of my kidneys... should hopefully cover it

Aw.... you changed it

2x3" pipes?! Blimey... now that's some girth!

So what are you putting back on your Abarth now, Dax? Surely not an original OEM exhaust!?

if you could put a pic up of your exhaust that would be good