Tuning Panda 100HP, turbo or not to turbo?

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Tuning Panda 100HP, turbo or not to turbo?

Joined
Feb 26, 2012
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17
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Location
Dolgellau North Wales
Dear all, one of the main reasons i joined the forum was to share a bit about myself and my car to other enthusiasts and to ask a few questions. Now, does anyone have the right answare for me???:confused: Is it possible to get a turbo (from an abarth 500/abarth punto) to fit on the engine of my panda 100HP?if so, what other parts will i need and how easy will it be to fit? and also (sorry to drag this out) would an Abarth 500 engine fit in the car if i removed the current 100HP engine?:D
 
Anything is possible. I guess for around 2K you could get all the bits made up to turbocharge the stock engine. Will likely cost similar or maybe more to transplant everything out of an Abarth. Either way would say you are looking at 2-3K, more if you can't do the work yourself.
 
Hmmm,i see,has anyone done it before? just want to know (aswel) if it works well,or if it just ruins it?i want to try keep up (or be faster) than my brother, he has an Abarth 500! haha! plus I want the fun and power of an Abarth without spending too much!
 
If you don't want to spend much money, you won't do it. Fitting a turbo is going to be very expensive. The 100hp stuggles to put 100hp a lot of the time, more power will make it worse unless you fit an LSD which will drastically improve things but will be around £500+ before you fit it.

The reason other people generally haven't done it, is because it makes no financial sense. You'd be better off just going and buying a faster car. 100hp residuals are not strong so it's difficult to justify spending 2-3K on a car that has a relatively low value that is going to continue to plummet.
 
It wouldn't be a matter of how much the car is worth over all,it is just a personal project and challenge for me to do! seeing as no one else has done it the it would be (possibly) one of the fastest Panda's there is. Just want to see if it would work out cheaper transforming it to be a better performing car than an abarth 500 without the 15,000 pound price tag so that other people can do it in future. Personally i'm not to bothered about how much the car would be worth when it comes to selling it as i probably wouldn't for a long time (if it worked well)! Just be funny to see peoples faces when a panda speeds away from other hot hatches!!
 
I was looking into getting a supercharger fitted a few month back. I emailed a few companies as I don't have the skills to do it myself.

In the end I decided not to do it...

Here's the reply from the one of the companies I emailed- JCR Racing Team;

Hi,

Supercharger Kit (155 HP) cost £3492+Vat .

It is "bolt on " kit, no changes to exhaust system, engine internals and factory settings required.

After removing Kit from the engine ( in approx 10 hours) ,car can be back to standard factory condition.

Just ECU remap ,which is reversible.

After conversion engine is fully tunable and can be modified further (exhaust sys.camshafts,remaps)

It is only one difficulty,early Panda's have ECU's which were difficult if not impossible to reprogram.

This is still under investigation.

ECU number matters in this case.

Thanks

Regards

Jcrracingteam
Hope this helps...
 
Hi

I have a Panda 100HP which I bought last year...with a turbo on! It's as mad as a politician in a tax payer subsidised bar!

Low pressure 0.5 bar, intercooler, boost valve, different ECU and more, reportedly produces 160 now, and looks bog standard.
Makes me laugh all the time...
What does it need next? A LSD would be nice, and at the moment am just fitting some Koni adjustables all round.

Just look for Panda 100HP turbo, or shakey hand man (he is the guy that did the work) here in the Panda forum.

Cheaper than a 500 Abarth, and as people don't expect it from a Panda it is even more fun!


Enjoy yourself
 
Well, R1NGA has turbo'd a panda 4x4 with good effect from what I can see.

Mine was a supercharger and it remains a completely brilliant conversion as far as I am concerned. But don't think for one minute that this is a cheap way to a much faster car - it isn't, it's poxy expensive, but if the thrill and reward is in the journey to get there, then do it. My driver was to make the best Panda 4x4 that I could - I loved everything about the car except it was too slow. It isn't any more.....

The JCR kit might fit onto a 100HP, but I don't yet accept that the ECU's are flashable - the IAW59F on mine certainly wasn't and the biggest challenge is the switch from NA to forced induction - the ECU just can't comprehend what's going on and needs significant assistance. In my case from a Dastek UNI-Q and iDriver module.

Another member did a lovely turbo conversion to his 100HP (shakyhandman - do a Forum Search) and he also ended up with a hybrid ECU, ViPec in his case. So I'm not convinced on how easy JCR make it sound to be honest.

A mate of mine with a Panda 4x4 has seen my approach with the Rotrex to getting more out of my car, but has decided to go the engine-swap route and has a Panda 100HP motor to put into his 4x4. Should be interesting....!
 
Thank You for the replies all, seems like it is possible then, i was thinking i would be going solo on it but i'm glad iv joined and got good advice from people that clearly know what they are talking about. Where is Shaky-hand-man from and does he work on other peoples pandas? The money isn't an issue just yet, it is just a personal statement in my view, make a small car (1.4) into a 2 liter eater, just sounds funny already! thank you for your replies like i said and keep me informed on any other info you hear of in the future!

p.s. its the Abarth 500 esseesse racing engine i want to buy off ebay that i want to put in the panda, take a look, search 'Abarth engine'.
 
I have also turbo'ed my 100hp and as it is now-kicks out about 150BHP and will be ready for show season! it's a great laugh although was expensive to get done-car now runs on a custom ecu and just about to go through first MOT! fingers crossed........
 
Also when you add a "Turbo" or "Supercharger" to a car your insurance is going to go sky high unless of course you don't tell them.

You could buy a "Clio 182" for less than 2k on Ebay. Faster than any Panda conversion.
 
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Yes, when I bought it a quote from the meerkats was £210.
I paid just over £680 to Sky after declaring all the mods, thats with full NCB, and being close to a breath snatcher than a teenager!

If you think thats a lot, some quoted £3k

:(
 
Being old helps - £210 fully comp as stock, £310 with Rotrex and full mods declared. Could have been a lot worse by the sounds of things...
 
Haha, haven't been on here for ages, funny seeing this thread as the three members cars that are turbo or charged I have been involved with in some way lol.

Alfa115spider Good to hear my old panda is still going strong,
Jusdel30 glad you've got yours complete now :)
Ringa glad yours is all sorted ecu wise

-Andy
 
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Andy - good to see you back. A risk of going off topic (well it is an old thread anyway) - what the hell have you done to that Clio to make power like that? More turbo's? Top result whatever you've done....
 
cheers andy-thanks for all your help m8-it was invaluable in putting it all together. cars kicking out 150bhp and goes like stink-havent met anything on the road i cant suprise yet! need new tires though-groan thats 400 quid shell out for the summer. motors-might as well just burn the cash instead its quicker!!
 
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