The new unused probably covered about 20miles i.e. delivery mileage 1368cc engine and 6 speed box came from a Grande Punto from a trade source, it still has its fresh delivery oil in it. We have had it now for some time and had been pondering what to do with it, had even been contemplated trying to put it in the back of a Clan Crusader, by the engineering involved was not insurmountable but would have meant a complete re-engineering of the car and that may have lost some of its heritage, and with so few around best to keep its Imp sourced mechanicals.
Then the idea of doing a Cinq evolved, therefore been watching what has been for sale for a while, ideally we were looking for something that maybe had some trick bits on it, decent suspension, bigger brakes maybe, but none appeared so the Abarth kitted Cinq idea was another angle as the Sei is an Abarth model. Taking a base car that looked good (the Abarth kit is nice) but stripping it out and making a fun track biased car for us to play with.
There's lots of ideas, but no hurry to do them, its going to be done to a budget so those £1500 competition spec KW coil-overs are ruled out. Maybe the FK or AVO stuff at a third that price is more acceptable and an easy off the shelf solution, though need to search through the forum again for pics of Rallycinqs set up as I remember it being excellent with those rear suspension set up with the rear redone to accommodate coil-overs
But things like fitting 15" rims probably keeping to Fiat rather than aftermarket as most aftermarket 15" rims are 6.5 if not 7" wide and with 6 speed box the front lock is reduced already so going much wider on wheels is a hindrance, but most manufacturer spec wheels are narrower at 6" wide and the 165/50 15 Toyo R888 track days tyres fit and mean the minimum scrubage from a 15" wheel, so could be explored as don't really want to go down any major body work changes.
Really Emma got a taste of track day driving going round Silverstone recently in her Sei, but she was introduced to the perils of trackdays, lots of stone chips, tyre wear, and the fact a car for the road feels very soft on track, whereas a stiff track suspension set up feels too compromised on road.
Engine wise it will be pretty standard, as before s/s manifold, custom exhaust, standalone management, but the differance is as we do not need to aim for keeping car looking factory, so will be retaining larger 1368 inlet manifold set up and making space for it all be removing bulk head thing, battery in boot etc so be interesting to see how much differance the correct inlet manifold set up is compared to the 1242 set up we used on the Sei.
May mean venturing onto Punto section to see how this cam timing thing works
Maybe as confidence in car builds, then some development work will happen to make it quicker, though I think a lightened Cinq with the 1368 should be quick enough to entertain.
One thing for sure is its not going to be a quick build, just take our time and maybe we will have something for next years trackday season.
