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Seicento "Grey Matter" - finally back in a Sei!

Introduction

Hi! My name's Jesper and I live in Odense, Denmark. 33 years old and I've been hanging around in here since 2006, mainly lurking in the shadows.

Back in 2005 I bought a money pit of a Sei and now I've gone and bought myself one, again. Same colour, different everything apart from the money pit detail.
I couldn't resist when I got this offer from a acquaintance of mine whom I got to know when I had my first Seicento. He's a good man - I think he just lost his patience and reprioritised to focus on his family and business rather than pouring funds into something which will only depreciate further.

More photos will come at a later point, so this is merely an introduction. CBA to was and polish it, yet - too much mechanical stuff needs to be done.

The engine and gearbox have done 99.600km at this point and nothing apart from brakes, cooler and a few cables has been done, mechanically since 1999 and it has only been driven occasionally three Winters.
Underseal was done years ago and will be done again before I store it for the coming Winter.

The following changes has been made by the previous owner:

Rear arches rolled (proper job)
Yellow Koni shocks
60/40 lowering kit (KAW and Ventura)
6.5x15 ET32 Barchetta steelies @ 15mm spacers with Nankang 165/45 :yuck:
Debadged front and rear + poor job of covering the boot lock :rolleyes:
J&R pod filter (n)
280 degree C&B cam :devil:
Head ported and skimmed
Different inlet manifold
Custom 2" exhaust (loud li'l' bugger)
Gas bonnet struts
Supersprint exhaust manifold
Bosch chip

It also had quite massive custom skirts and bumpers with Smoor wheels, all of which was sold at some point. I'm not allowed to copy photos from the site, so you'll have to live with a link to the profile at "bilgalleri.dk"

http://www.bilgalleri.dk/galleri/1450-fiat_seicento

Interior:

Custom leather/green alcantara with yellow stichings
6.5" speakers in the parcel shelf (but why? :confused: Can't hear'em anyway!)

In the deal I managed to score his NOS 14" Abarth wheels which will be fitted at some point. I will likely go for 165/55-14 as they are road legal (+4,73% circumference of 165/55-13) and a lot cheaper than 175/50-14. Possibly a bit more comfortable as well and they should fill out the arches nicely.


What needs work:

Likely the clutch and cable, beforelong
Paint falling off on the left, front wing
Fronts discs and pads
Stock air filter case with some mods
Different exhaust (CSC or whatever I find with a good price/quality ratio)
40mm TB
New headlights (on their way)
-35mm H&R springs (maybe - prev. owner lost the papers on the existing springs)
New strut mounts (so might as well change the springs)
Likely every suspension bush on the car, lol
Fluids change
Cambelt, tensioner, waterpump and refitting a cambelt cover
Rubber side strip for the left side of the car.
Paint my set of Abarth skirts and fit them if I ever find an Abarth roof/rear spoiler.

There used to be a 40mm TB on the car, but Tricker turned up the fuel regulator and at some point it started having a heavy smell of petrol inside the car. At first, the remapped chip was replaced with the Bosch one (I still have the remapped chip). As this made no difference, a stock TB was fitted and the 40mm one was binned/sold.
I hope a 40mm TB with an untouched regulator will work out with the remapped chip as the engine was pushing past 85BHP in its time.

I want a "sleeper" car which runs faster than it looks, drawing as little attention as possible until I floor the throttle! :yum:


Idle is sort of lumpy once the engine gets up to temperature. A stop/start of a thoroughly warmed up engine has it idling on the verge of stalling.
I'm contemplating giving it an ECU reset as per: https://www.fiatforum.com/cinquecento-seicento-guides/94040-how-change-ecu-chip.html
My sei's gone binary! :p

Further updates will follow today or tomorrow. Let's just say there's plenty of work left, some of which is... well... :bang: :yuck:
 

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A couple of photos...

Oil changed and it is less than 5000km old. Black stuff!

Shocks and old strut mounts - rust really gets to spread from that exact position. Strut mounts are now new and I've cleaned the area they fit onto before adding Tectyl (underseal stuff).

Have ordered four new bolts in order to get the shocks back on. Two of the four bolts (two either side, duh) were truly knackered - trust me, they were TIGHT! :mad: Pulled the threads off both nuts!

Uneven brake pad wear. Basically, the pads on the piston side of the calipers were stuck due to dirt, rust and old grease. One of the pads was even starting to let go so this was about time. Brakes need to be clean, damn it!

Also a bit for the garage! A truly rotten brake pipe... :bang: On the other hand that made me decide to get SS brake so a set of Goodrich are on their way. If a garage needs to run new pipes, tear everything apart and bleed the brakes, they may as well spare me the trouble of doing it again. ;)

Dirt everywhere around the bottom of the engine. I've cleaned it up, though it's still far from sterile.
Leaking rocker cover combined with crank case venting through a filter makes for quite a mess!

Old spring vs. new spring. Same length, different strength. The taller, yellow springs are a bit stronger and feel much more progressive.

Plugs are mighty clean which leads me to think the engine is in fact running lean. From the middle of the porcelain and into the plug itself, they're all black, though. These are NGK BKR7E-11, regapped to 0,8mm

Coolant tank is soaking on the third day now in an attempt to get the last gunk dissolved. It's a mix of old coolant, calcium, dirt, oil... you name it! At least I've found no sand in there.
 

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Cleaned the calipers yesterday and pushed the brake pistons back in. The previous owner must've had the low brake fluid warning light come on at some point as there was a sudden overflow in the reservoir. A few deep sighs and a bit of cleaning were necessary, lol!

Did the cambelt which is seriously a doddle. I really feel silly to have actually paid someone to do it on my first Sei! Cranked the engine once I was done and it fired up perfectly. I'm rather proud of myself, no matter how easy it was.
Fitting the new and intact cambelt cover was in fact more time consuming than fitting the belt and checking the timing, lol! It merely needs a bit of gentle violence.
Water pump wasn't leaking and it was changed less than 10.000km ago so I left it alone. It runs perfectly and has no play, so it should be good till it starts leaking.

Springs and new strut mounts are fitted to the Konis. The rubber caps were looking good so I gave them a clean and then a good coating of silicone spray. The metal caps were cleaned with a wire brush and are now coated with grey Hammerite as they were starting to rust - nothing major, but might as well do it when they're out.
Will need to take out the left side inner wheel arch as well. First of all to check the brake line but also to give it a proper rust inspection as it's one of those areas where underseal treatments don't really get to. It's a silly place to overlook!

Gave the splash screens behind the calipers a good clean and a coat of Hammerite, as well, though only on the outside. The inside will be cleaned as well and the sealed up with some bitumen based underseal. They are in far too good condition to let them rot!

Unfortunately, I can't get the hub nuts off with the tools at my disposal, so that'll be a job for the garage. The car's going in to get the brake lines done anyway, so it won't really be that much extra.

Good news is that I'm no longer broke. My holiday cash finally went into my bank account so next month is covered... and then some! I'd forgotten how many hours I put in at work before going off on holiday.
It's been a loooooong time since I've last had €2.000 go in at once! It helps to work double-shifts!
 
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...but just wait till you're fiddling with the ARB bushes!

Speaking of which:

The ones in the middle are a pain as the brackets have a U-shape whereas the bushes are round and can't really be forced to change shape. The solution was to file away about 1-1,5mm on each side of the bushes, allowing them to fit snuggly in their respective brackets.
The outer ones are easy-peasy and just slide on. Brackets fit perfectly, as well.

Before I could move the ARB by hand. This is NOT possible anymore, lol! It's nice of Strongflex to supply grease, but it's all displaced by the bushes as they are that tight! :p

Cleaned up a few rusty spots and sprayed with Tectyl. It's about as easy to work with as it is smelly and effective. Kind of hard to get out of one's hair, though. In other words, I'm bald once I'm done with the car!

I'll be fitting both brakes and shocks, next. Then I can fit the adapter for my temperature sensor before getting the cooling system up and running.
Basically most of the time consuming tasks are DONE! Now it's just fiddly stuff that require relatively little effort... excluding the rear brakes. I hate drum brakes!

Oh, BTW! All skin on all knuckles is still intact! Ignore the bump I got from locating one of my axle stands with my head. :D
 
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Brembo Max fitted along with yellow caps.

IT'S BACK ON WHEELS!

Still need to sort the temperature gauge and refill the cooling system, though. And of course change the rear springs, but that's really nothing to speak of!

YAY!
 
Not on the road, yet I'm afraid.

I've finished pulling the sensor wire for my temp gauge and have just turned off the engine after pouring coolant in the system to check nothing's leaking. So far, so good!

Only need to fit the rear springs, now, besides having to find a 12V connection for the gauge.

Goodridge brak lines have arrived and caliper paint is en route! Not much to do myself, after that.
 
Bah! The sensor itself is leaking, ever so slightly. Nothing major and it won't present a problem as I'm going to flush the coolant system again on Monday.

Weird thing is... the car doesn't appear to sit much lower, yet the jack clears the front bumper, so something has definetely changed.
I was worried the springs would make the car sit too tall, but that's not the case!

Happy, so far!
 
Seriously, I think this looks perfect!

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I'll agree that if it were a true Euro-style car with 7-8" wide wheels, a bigger drop sould suit it better. But this ain't Euro - it's a sleeper!

Rear springs will be done next. The I can start my search for 12V for the (ugly but cheap) gauge.
 
LoL @ the rear lowering springs.

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The front ones have settled a little so I'm guessing the rear ones will do the same. I'm not expecting much, though.

Comfort-wise, lightyears better! The yellow Konis seem to match really well.

Body roll has also improved as well as steering respons. It appears I've taken a little too much off the inner left ARB bush as it rattles a bit. Far from alarming and heaps better than before with the knackered bushes!

The combination of my tires, these springs, bushes and the Koni shocks is IMHO the best I've experienced in any cento. It's firm without being ridiculous!

Brembo Max produce a bit more noise than normal discs. It's much less compared to the Tarox discs I experienced ages ago, which were both drilled and grooved.

Still need to hook up the temp gauge, but at least the sensor wire is done. The rest is easy enough and can wait.

Previous owner hasn't been good at keeping track of the bolts, it seems. It's been quite a chore. Oh well, it's done and I'm happy! :)
 
Thanks! :)

It's now covered 280km and running sweeter than ever. The engine's character hasn't changed, so the cam timing was ok before - I'll admit I was hoping something was off, i.e. the belt had jumped a tooth.

On the other hand it got a ECU reset this way and while I was checking for coolant leaks, I reset the idle parametres as well. The latter has made a difference in the sense the engine will recover quicker from its lumpiness when starting on a warm engine.
The long trip right after the ECU reset has proven to be a good thing as power below 3.000rpm is much improved and the engine runs soooo much smoother.
Goes to prove a reset should be followed by a long (ish) trip with varied load and acceleration. I've reset the ECU before but never found this much of a difference, afterwards.

The front brakes were sticking slightly and after a good clean with new discs, pads and some copper slip, it's like having another 10HP compared to before!
The Brembo Max and literally the cheapest pads I could find are proving to have very good bite even with just a light touch of the pedal.


For everyday use I can only say I wouldn't do anything different. This is really a good setup:

Weitec ST 40/30 springs (35/35?)
Yellow Koni dampers
14" rims
Strongflex ARB bushes
All other bushes stock
 
This topic has a serious need for some videos bro! :cool:
Why all stock bushes except arb? was thinking in changing all of them.
I miss mine so much, its been a week without it :(
You're using 165\55 R14 rubber right? Might check prices as i need tires, 185\50 are a bit pricy :mad:
 
Stock bushes make more sense (front ones, at least) as they come with the wishbones, anyway. The ball joints are also a part of the front wishbones and AFAIK don't come as separate spares, so when they're dead you'll have to move the bushes over into the new wishbones. Too much effort with too little gain IMO.
I fitted Powerflex bushes all around on my first Sei and it firms it up a lot.
The current setup is juuust right for me as it is - I see no point in making the ride any harder unless I was building a track car.

165/55R14, yes. Check out 195/45R14 also as they are plentiful and less expensive than 185/50. The latter has a slightly taller profile so would likely be the most comfortable if that's a priority.

Could make an attempt at a fly-by video at some point, I suppose.
 
I see what you mean about the bushes, although i still have time to buy them, i was thinking in changing all of them.
Don't you think 195 will rub?
Some fly-bys would be nice, but some twisty roads would be awsome :cool:
 
I had 195/45R14 fitted on 6x14" ET35 with 10mm spacers up front on a 55/45 drop with no scrubbing at all on my first Sei. Poly-bushes all round as well and it would do 40kph corners at 70kph all day long.

Can't give you any guarantees. Highly doubt they will cause trouble unless the offset is wrong up front.
 
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