Well, it's been a depressing start to the year for sure. My mother recently retired and is all kinds of financial chaos, so much so that we are having to sell the house.

To add to this, some utter swine has backed into the front of the B leaving one big dent and two baby ones.......and no, they didn't leave their details.

It's at times like these to cheer myself up, I at least contemplate some barchetta related pick me up.

Had a couple of quotes to repair the damage. one at 200 with a partial re-spray and another at 250 with a re-spray of the whole of the damaged panel (front panel that stops at the doors). They have also included a re-spray of the bumper for that price. I think while I'm at it, probably best to get the bonnet done as well as it's peppered with stone chips.....no surprise there. Bit concerned with how well it will match especially as the paintwork has 9 years worth of weathering to consider.

Also looking at how to increase the performance of the B. Been re-reading a lot of threads. Angel Tuning don't do a remap for the B nor do they any longer re-chip it. However, looks like superchips can do a chip for 300 quid which claims 8bhp.

I'm also looking at a CDA and a new exhaust system. If I go for the exhaust system I think I want to go all the way with it (new backbox, de-cat the lot). Not sure how much this exhaust idea will set me back though.

If anyone has any price ideas for the exhaust it would be greatly appreciated. Pricing for the chip and CDA should be pretty straight forward though. Also any suggestions for a make of exhaust would be great. Think I will go for the oval pipe but I'm really concerned about how loud these fellows will be. I hate overly loud exhausts and I quite like the exhaust note I have on the original. Would like a bit more oomph, but draw the line at the 'is that a tractor in the distance?' syndrome.

Any advice much appreciated.

Cheers

Jon

Thought this thread was about stolen laptops...

sorry to hear that's someone have been bashing your b about,people don't care any more.
anyway i had and custom exhaust made local to me, no cat but every thing else cost £300.he made to sound just as i wanted it plenty of roar but not boy racer he even said i could come back and have it adjusted if i wanted .

Hi doolahrock
You need to think about how much money you want to spend as well as what you want from your B.

docorangepeel said:

Hi doolahrock
You need to think about how much money you want to spend as well as what you want from your B.

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Well, I'm looking at about 1k. The damage bill is probably gonna be taking up 400 of that though

So looks like I will have to prioritise for the other items. Could def afford the chip and CDA though. would have to ditch the chip for the exhaust though.

Really looking for more pulling power in the mid-range. Not overly fussed about the 0-60 aspect.

Stuff the chip at the mo and spend the money on the CDA and exhaust. The main part of the exhause I would change would be the manifold and CAT. Before fitting the stainless manifold bind it in heat shield copper tape. Replace the CAT with a sports CAT or just replace it with a Cat replacment pipe. (You will have to fit the CAT back every year for the MOT)

By doing this the Gas will flow in and out of the engine a lot better and should give you a good few extra bhp.

Hi. Being thick here - what is a CDA?

Just also a note of caution. A Superchips agent trashed my engine management system about 5 years ago trying to chip my b. The one on mine is a sealed unit and unless they can now reprogramme them I'd be ctious.

Rich

Thanks for that Doc.

Think it will be the sports cat then instead of not having one at all. Re-fitting for every MOT might just finish me off

Sorry to hear about your bad luck, I saw one of those Porsche 4x4 things back into an old lady's car in the village the other day, drive got out, looked at his car (minor scratch), looked at her car (BIG dent) then drove off!!

Hmm, £600 budget can buy quite a bit (depending on what you want), s/s manifold for the b will all but blow your budget however you should be able to replace the downpipe and CAT back, plus an induction kit and possibly a set of lowering springs for that sort of budget.

I bought a S/S downpipe last year for about £100 from an on-line supplier - much better quality than the FIAT one, DTR do a CAT back system at £380, there are not that many off the shelf exhausts, Novitec, powerflow and Remus all do off the shelf systems but it may be worth finding out where 'wish mine was orange' had theirs fitted.

CDA induction kit can be picked up from eBay for about £150-ish but there are alternatives such as the Green kit. GSR (oldschool on the forum), is making up a Barchetta sealed induction kit at the moment, not sure how much it will sell for yet but this guy really know's his stuff!!

Eibach springs from eBay Germany £130 including shipping..........

As the Doc and Rich say I would steer away from chipping unless its someone who really knows about FIAT's otherwise you could be opening yourself up to a whole world of trouble!!

HTH...........and good luck, let us know what you decide to do and get lots of photos of the process!!

Thanks for all the tips folks.

Looks like the chip is def out the window for now then.

Think I'll wait and see what GSR has up his sleeve for the induction kit.

Can anyone recommend somewhere in the Edinburgh region for the exhaust system?

Thanks again

Jon

Hi jon
Give calder racing develpment a phone 01506 885500 he is a powerflow stockist he will do s/s cat back with a good stock of tailpipes for approx £400
LRB gave me a name of a place in the midlands MJI performance they will do the same for £300 , thinking of changing mine soon
heres the link
www.mijperformance.com/exhaust.html

Well, that's a few e-mails fired off now for quotes.

See what happens:spin:

doolahrock said:

Well, that's a few e-mails fired off now for quotes.

See what happens:spin:

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Fantastic, let us know how you get on!!

I have promised myself a new exhaust once I get a more secure form of income - oh, and finished decorating the hall!

I wonder how big your hall is since it's taking you so long?

Robot said:

I wonder how big your hall is since it's taking you so long?

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erm, not very big - I am lacking in the enthusiasm (and money) department where its concerned..........

Hellcat said:

Thought this thread was about stolen laptops...

Click to expand...

i thought it was about this http://moddingmayhem.com/

dave said:

i thought it was about this http://moddingmayhem.com/

Click to expand...

I must admit when I first saw the title I thought it was another 'Who' revival tour!!!

exhaust you want http://www.supersprint.com/a_prodotti.asp?modello=fiabar2 and fit in a sports cat 200 cells an inch, and lambda holders.

induction you want a gsr

cda get blocked with dirt too quick when you have them flowing right.

ive a cda on a 1.2 engine, i removed it to test (not buy) a gsr at rr day and got 4bhp more

Yowser!

Looks like the manifold and sports cat would set me back a good 600 quid before fitting.

Add in the rest of the exhaust fittings and it's upto a grand......I feel faint.

I presume mixing a supersprint manifold with another companys exhaust wouldn't cause chaos?

Na you can mix the SS manifold with other another CAT and back box. I will end up with an SS manifold, Sports CAT, DTR middle and back box on my B.

Expensive and car mods go hand in hand m8