Hi all, I have a 2013 500 1.2ltr.

I enquired with a well known local tuner/developer for abarths/alfa Romeos in relation to what can be done to improve the response of a little engine.

I was told they can achieve 14bhp/21nm increase with custom headers and tuning. They stated they have rolling dyno sheets to prove it. They also offer free flow exhaust, cold air intake,etc.

Do you guys think numbers they suggested are realistic? Esp since it costs a bit.

Thanks

PZ500 said:

Do you guys think numbers they suggested are realistic?

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Increasing the peak power by 14HP is certaily believable. What would concern me is how driveable the modified car would be.

For example, the 1.2 in 60HP form (never an option on the 500, but the Panda had it up to autumn 2010) actually produces more power & torque below 3500rpm than the 69HP unit. I'm not the only one here who thinks the 60HP version is actually the better engine; it's certainly more comfortable to drive in urban traffic.

I'd be more interested in driving one of the modified cars than in looking at a rolling road printout. What's fun as a trackday car can be a complete pain as a daily driver.

Personally I don't think tuning the 1.2 is worth the bother, when higher powered versions are easily available off the shelf. If you want more performance in a 500, you'd be better off just trading it in for a TA/1.4/Abarth.

I'm waiting on their response in relation to the torque and power and where the improvements are.
I'm hoping that tune/re map would improve the everyday driveability.

I had an abarth and 1.4 before. Didn't like the abarth as a daily, so I sold it. Several cars later I found a very cheap 1.2, so I ended up buying it.

I like how light the 1.2 is and if I could increase bhp and torque a bit, I would be very happy with it.

Basically, if I do this I'm still saving money as abarth or 1.4 would cost me more then my 1.2 and tuning.

PZ500 said:

I'm hoping that tune/re map would improve the everyday driveability

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That's why you should drive a modified car before you commit to this. My guess is that the everyday driveability would be worse. The 60HP 1.2 in the Panda is more driveable than the 69HP 1.2 in the 500.

If it were this easy, Fiat would have done it themselves.

PZ500 said:

Hi all, I have a 2013 500 1.2ltr.

I enquired with a well known local tuner/developer for abarths/alfa Romeos in relation to what can be done to improve the response of a little engine.

I was told they can achieve 14bhp/21nm increase with custom headers and tuning. They stated they have rolling dyno sheets to prove it. They also offer free flow exhaust, cold air intake,etc.

Do you guys think numbers they suggested are realistic? Esp since it costs a bit.

Thanks

Click to expand...

A freew flow exhaust is likely to have a very low density cat which could cause problems with the car passing the emissions test
Especially if tuned to a higher power

chris3234 said:

A freew flow exhaust is likely to have a very low density cat which could cause problems with the car passing the emissions test
Especially if tuned to a higher power

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No emissions tests here in Australia.

PZ500 said:

No emissions tests here in Australia.

Click to expand...

Well that's fortune then

Things you can do by yourself are modification to the airbox and the throttel body of the 1.4l 8V engine. The Fiat parts catalogue offers also some alternative exhaust solutions...

Olliver said:

Things you can do by yourself are modification to the airbox and the throttel body of the 1.4l 8V engine. The Fiat parts catalogue offers also some alternative exhaust solutions...

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Would that be fiat punto 1. 4 8v throtle body?

Yes I got mine from a Grande Punto 1.4 8V and it did fit plug'n'play. Even no adaptation procedure was necessary with mine (2009 model). To improve breething further by keeping the OEM look, I merged the lid of the air-filter housing of the 1.2 500 with that of the Grande Punto 1.4 8V that has the inlet on the the other side, so that I had then two inlets. In addition I did cut away the restirictors that you find in both snorkels where they stick inside the filter housing. And I got a BMC replacement filter. This setup improves breathing a lot.
In addition I replace the sparkplugs by NGK Irdium IZKR7B, that have better ignition performance.

https://www.ngk.com/ngk-7563-izkr7b-laser-iridium-spark-plug

Despite the thinner center electrode, resistor value only 1kOhm instead of 5kOhms, but they lasted 60,000km without any wear problems (I think they might have be good for 30,000km more) and also no EMC problems with Radio (FM/DAB), nor cell phone.


If you need some figures regarding power increase by headers, this might be interesting for you, too:

https://www.supersprint.com/ww-en/supersprint-performance-sport-exhaust-fiat-500-12i.aspx

PZ500 said:

No emissions tests here in Australia.

Click to expand...

Just read the obove.....

In this case the headers for the older Punto models could be also interesting for you, as they have much longer tubes and a better 4in2in1-design. Flange to cylinder head is the same and also the routing.

https://www.supersprint.com/ww-en/supersprint-performance-sport-exhaust-fiat-punto-75-fire.aspx

https://www.supersprint.com/ww-en/supersprint-performance-sport-exhaust-fiat-punto-12i-8v-v1.aspx

And perhaps this exhaust is very free low for a 1.2l natural aspirated...

https://www.supersprint.com/ww-en/s...int-500-abarth-14t-135-hp-monotubo-08-15.aspx

Joining in to this thread as I have similar interests as the original poster, on mine which is a 2014 1.2L 8V 500 Sport.

I have only just started brushing on this, so have not done much research yet. Thanks to Olliver for the info already shared.

Do you happen to know the bore diameters of the throttle bodies? And by saying the 1.4 one is plug and play, does that also mean the mounting hole distances line up too?

I'm not looking to go over the top, but do feel this car needs some more to make me happier.

So far I was considering a longer duration camshaft as a starting point, but that's where I'm at so far. I'm a newcomer on this forum, and have only driven the car for maybe 300 miles total. I have done a couple of searches but have not found much information, at least not yet.

Maybe it would be nice for everyone to have more information in one thread, unless the original poster objects.

The 1.2 throttle has a dia of 40mm, the one of the 1.4 has 44mm.
What this means in regards of cross section, shows the picture attached.
It´s a little bit comparable with those gas pedal boosters, that change the ratio of the gas pedal and so create a better response, plus with the bigger throttle little better filling at high revs.
The mounting holes are 1:1 the same. I had it in my 2009 500C 1.2Pop, there I only changed it, no other actions necessary. Sometimes it might be necessary to run the adaption, like shown in this video:

https://youtu.be/v-A9C5KoUeA

If you go for another camshaft, the bigger throttle is a must IMO. But to get out the whole benefit out of it, a remap is mandatory.

Best would be to swap the entire block by a 1.4l....it´s not visible from the outside...