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Grande Punto 1st Car! Suggestions welcome

Introduction

So being a newly passed driver at 17, i had two options:
Corsa 1.2 in silver
Or
Grande Punto 1.4 In a very nice navy blue (5dr)

As you can probably tell, i went for the punto...
(GP 1.4 8V @ 50k Miles)



During the 3 months that i have owned it, i have done quite a load of miles, aswell as damage the rear bumper (but i wont get into that.....)



Now i'm getting bored of it, and are stupid enough to go look into making it amazing (even though i am already in love with it as it is)


So Far, i have done:
New seat covers,
Replaced blown rear speakers
Oil change (not done in two years lol)



Plans:
Replace Front speakers,
Aftermarket stereo
Lowered Suspension
Badgeless Grill
Tinted Windows
Cold Air Filter
and Maybe an exhaust tip



And that's as much as i can do (Budget is really on a low, and insuracne will most likely kill me )




Any suggestions on what i could do would be greatly appreciated!

(Trying to upload some pics but wont let me )


Gabo
Another problem that has come up is the clutch.... starting to grind and slip. How much would that cost to do (52k miles and has probably never been done). some are saying 300, others 800 ???


Considering i had to get new brake disc and pads done 2 months ago for 170 quid...
 
Another problem that has come up is the clutch.... starting to grind and slip. How much would that cost to do (52k miles and has probably never been done). some are saying 300, others 800 ???


Considering i had to get new brake disc and pads done 2 months ago for 170 quid...

Get it done as soon as possible. Nasty noises are creating damage. If you damage the flywheel it'll cost a lot.

You need a small local garage, recommended by friends or relatives, and get a quote or two. Ensure they use good brand-name clutch components. This is not a job you want to do on the cheap, then have to do again.
 
clutch starting to grind and slip !?

grinding: thrust bearing or even diaphragm spring is on its way out (might die very very soon)
sliping: the clutch disc itself is gone or you got oil coming from the back cranckase seal spilled all over.

Anyway it needs very quick inspection/repair unless you want to call the AA guys one of these rainy-cold-dark just-out-of-the-pub (or movie) evening …

Engine is too small, you (obviously) don't like it as it is, its almost dying … get rid of it and get a nice t-jet with the money you won't spend on fixing the current one and what you'll get from it …

Your brand new stereo would also fit in a t-jet, even the (uggly;-) seat covers would !

I hope you'll find what you want on the 2nd hand market …

BRs, Bernie
 
While I agree in principal with the "wait and get a t-jet" idea there's no harm in learning a bit about your car and what's an improvement over what's a waste of time now.

That will be a steeper leaning curve later.

Oh, and I would get a Bravo t-jet instead of a Punto one. They are 150hp off the shelf instead of 120, because they are bigger and aimed at a more mature market you may find they are cheaper to insure for you.
 
Seems to be an interesting thread. I look forward to your vehicle after total modification. I don't know the laws and rules about modification in UK, but those in mainland China are probably stricter.
 
I have 1.4 8v and t-jet.

Great to get going with 8v!

I fixed lots of small problems on 8v, water leak, blown speakers, dashboard lights. I find therapeutic to go through the problem solving :)

I say sound deadening and new speakers are great first steps, then head unit.

Head unit first makes more rattles.

I budget €200 and two days for sound deadening and speakers.

Took me ten hours to get head unit in and working! Pioneer s5000bt or something like that.

Quick fix for stereo is the aux cable (€6) and Bluetooth receiver (€15)IMG_20181117_132101.jpeg
 
I have 1.4 8v and t-jet.

Great to get going with 8v!

I fixed lots of small problems on 8v, water leak, blown speakers, dashboard lights. I find therapeutic to go through the problem solving :)

I say sound deadening and new speakers are great first steps, then head unit.

Head unit first makes more rattles.

I budget €200 and two days for sound deadening and speakers.

Took me ten hours to get head unit in and working! Pioneer s5000bt or something like that.

Quick fix for stereo is the aux cable (€6) and Bluetooth receiver (€15)View attachment 195421
Now I'm taking parts that work best from 8v, moving them to t-jet.

Boot lock, parcel shelf, speakers, steering wheel... Like so....

The car will never make money. A Greek friend says, that I think applies to many things in life - "easy to buy, hard to sell" :-D

Car will cost only money to run. Everything we add, once installed becomes worthless.

What we pay for when we buy is the enjoyment it gives us while we have it.

If you want to make money, an Irish friend says "bricks and mortar is the only place your money is safe"
 
8v is also really easy to maintain... I still can't find my oil filter on the t-jet after two months....!

I think there is a lot to be had from well maintained, clean vehicle :-D
 
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I seem to remember the Active spec Grande Punto's having a non-lockable fuel cap but I thought the Dynamic models upwards were lockable :confused: It is only the black inner cap that locks (with a key) though, so if that broke for any reason perhaps a previous owner just bought a non-locking one to avoid having to have a different key for the new cap.

Even now some new Fiat's have fuel flaps that don't lock - they're quite sporadic at fitting the locks across the model ranges :rolleyes: As has been said though, if someone wants to steal fuel they'll just puncture the tank anyway, so it probably makes little difference in terms of security. It just seems weird compared to many other brands of cars.
 
So i bought some black spray paint from the local halfords, and planning on removing the trim to give it a new look, aswell as removing the circle bit above the 'Punto' logo so it actually looks like an actual P (you'll know what i mean if you own a GP).


also gonna sand, fill and respray the dent / scratches i have. Halfords or Hellfrauds did say that they can custom make the paint, but is it trustworthy enough because i've never bought this kinda stuff from them before? another thing im worried about is the mismatch in colour once it is re-srpayed :(


after that, reversing sensors are a priority aswell as the dashcam mirror (help me reduce the ammount of times im bloody revering into things...) and a much needed new air filter.


then, the fine things like speakers, stereo and sound deadening.

an arm rest is something im looking into, but for 65 quid, im not too sure...


after that, a subwoofer, footwell lights and then i'm out of things to do, lol.. :)

any other little cool things i could do?

Thanks
 
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