Hello,

I am looking into turbocharging my Fiat Panda, I've looked online to find turbo kits for upwards of $1000. This got me thinking that I do a custom setup, eg order things separately off eBay (turbo, inter-cooler).

However my idea halted when I realized I need a exhaust manifold. Does anybody know a dealer which sells such things, or even someone who has had past experience with Turbocharging Fiats.

Let me know,

~Alexander

Definitely get info on whether the engine and systems can handle turbo boost from someone who's done this already. The Uno turbo editions have alterations to the oiling system for example (which sounds like the vintage oiling system on the S76), and are different to the non-turbo engines.

It's not an easy mod, there's a lot to consider, you don't want to wreck your car. Can the existing distributor & sparking system keep up? If it has an ECU are the fuel system sensors able to cope with potentially widely different readings? - if not then it won't be able to fuel correctly.
You need to select a turbo for the rev range you want, a smaller turbine kicks in at lower RPM, a larger turbine kicks in at higher RPMs. The turbo will need to have oil going to it, you may need to install an oil cooler and-or uprate your oil pump.
You may need to uprate your fuel pump.
You do indeed need a different exhaust manifold, and a cooling system uprate too (water pump for example, possibly also radiator, expansion tank) or addition of intercooler system.

Changing the exhaust manifold also changes the scavenging - it can put the engine out of tune. A naturally-aspirated (non-charged) engine has different air flow to a charged engine, charged engines tend to prefer shorty exit pipes. Basically you'd need to get a different exhaust system all in to make use of the extra boost.

You need some kind of boost control - wastegates or bypass valves, so that excess pressure is released. The cool version is to get one that has the sshhh sound, the more efficient one recirculates the pressure.

Again with the engine internals - can they handle the extra heat and pressure? There's all sorts of considerations there, and on the valvetrain and so forth.

Saying all that you could maybe get away with adding a decent turbo system to the stock engine, if you're careful not to overuse it. Offhand I don't know how much boost you'd get on a 1.0 with the standard airflow (no cam or valvetrain changes, no intake differences), but it may not be a massive enough amount to stress the engine too much.

Other possible options to increase power - a lightweight NOS system install, or less tried & tested - electric motor to the rear wheels (needs a power control module to synch the motor to the engine rpm / final drive rpm, and needs the electric motor driving through a rear differential & axles or CVs. So not easy nor that cheap, but do-able).

A supercharger might be a better idea, if you can get one that doesn't take much power to turn it, but gives you a lot more boost out. It's a bit simpler set up than a turbo system, but there are mostly the same considerations to take into account. You do need a pulley off the crank to drive it, or at least a pulley off something - now I'm wondering if anyone has done that driven off the drivetrain in some way.

Another possible option is an electric turbo, which are appearing in recent times on production or supercars, so probably cost quite a bit to buy, but worth looking into.

Compression ratio, you need to watch that too. Usually charging means reducing the compression ratio. Not easy cause it means head or deck or stroke alterations.

Compression ratio will need dropping yes - alot of people fit low compression pistons

They have a bigger space at TDC vs standard = Less squeeze = Less compression

Ziggy

Turbo charging a 999 FIRE will be problematic to say the least. Anything more than 5psi of boost will need a compression reduction. There isn't enough material on a standard piston to lathe a chamber out of the top, decompression plates between the had and block are okay so long as you can get hold of a custom drive belt. Even then you're only looking at 70-80bhp before you'll need to do something about the gearbox (90bhp if you have a four speed). If you're running a blow through carb' set up the jetting will be a faff to get right. Injection should be okay if you can use a set up from a larger FIRE engine to re-balance the air/fuel ratio. You'll also need a short oil filter from a Renault 5GT and direct feed from the oil pump through an oil cooler to the turbo, up rated radiator and water pump to stop the car from vandalising itself.

If you have to stick to the 999cc engine try to find a 4x4 cam' and carb' this will give you an extra 5-10bhp with a decent exhaust, air filter and higher output coil, plugs and ht leads 15-20bhp extra can be achieved reliably.

Any more than that you'll need an 1108 or 1242 block and start from there.

Hi Setmypandaonfire, Ive just started getting the bits together for a 999cc Turbo engine build for my Cinquecento Sprint & Hillclimb car.

Have you checked out the Tubofire Web pages as they list loads of info on Panda Turbo conversions.

http://turbofire.no.sapo.pt/index.htm

Hope this is useful.