im new to FF so hello!
i have a panda 100hp and i have already modified it quite a bit, (please keep the hate to the minimum)

i love the panda but i do feel it could do with a few extra horses..

the possible plans are as follow
1.4 t-jet engine swap from and grande punto
turbo the original engine
abarth engine swap if i can find one!
or a b16 b from a honda civic jordan my friend will have for sale very soon.

i am young and very indecisive and obviously would like to keep costs to a minimum

who has swapped/turbo the panda engine, i need help!!!:bang:

here are some photos of my panda as it stands

Does the Jellymold Abarth have the same engine but turbo'd?

I believe the Abarth 500 has basically the same engine, albeit with a turbo bolted onto it. That's probably the easiest way to get significantly more power from a 100HP. Just remember, the Abarth 500 only has 130ish bhp in standard form, so it's going to be a massive amount of work and money to end up with a car which will still get smoked, both around corners and in a straight line, by a proper hot hatch (Fiesta ST, Clio RS etc).

Also, if you were going to rip the back seats out, why on earth did you buy the practical, but not particularly fast, 100HP? Why not buy an Abarth 500 (or a real hot hatch) to begin with?

Matt100HP said:

I believe the Abarth 500 has basically the same engine, albeit with a turbo bolted onto it. That's probably the easiest way to get significantly more power from a 100HP. Just remember, the Abarth 500 only has 130ish bhp in standard form, so it's going to be a massive amount of work and money to end up with a car which will still get smoked, both around corners and in a straight line, by a proper hot hatch (Fiesta ST, Clio RS etc).

Also, if you were going to rip the back seats out, why on earth did you buy the practical, but not particularly fast, 100HP? Why not buy an Abarth 500 (or a real hot hatch) to begin with?

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Probably the OP's age and the cost of the Abarth 500s.


An older thrashed Clio would probably have been in budget, though the insurance would (as standard) have been 'intrusive' I imagine. The is cheaper to insure, though how OPs mods have affected the insurance I wouldn't like to guess.


The Abarth 595 and the Punto/Mito squeeze 160 bhp out of the 1.4 engine mind.

The tjet engine is a slightly different beast to the 1.4 16v. The rods and crank are different to cope with the extra power. The na 1.4 have been turboed with limited success by the polish. If suspect the tjet swap the easiest or rebuilding yours for turboing there is someone in cento section doing this I think the pistons alone are 600. If rebuilding yours or a tjet you'll need an aftermarket ecu properly mapped. There is more to come out of a na 1.4 with cams etc but I your just on road and not competion then I would go turbo route but if suspect a budget of around 3k plus to do it right that with doing work yourself


The honda route will be a bit of a no goer you'll need to need of custom parts incl driveshafts and the headache of it all

Matt100HP said:

Just remember, the Abarth 500 only has 130ish bhp in standard form

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But the Essesse kit, which adds a chip (amongst suspension and brakes) makes it 158 BHP

T Jet out of a 500 Abarth (with gearbox and ECU) should be the simplest and cheapest. The Bravo (etc.) uses a different gearbox, so there may be clearance and driveshaft issues.

Although the T Jet was developed from the 1.4 16v, it certainly isn't a 16v with a turbo bolted on. Differences include:

pistons, head (better cooling), valves (better material), block (shorter, better cooling), sump (turbo drain, stiffening), crank (forged), rods (spec and full floating gudgeon pin), pistons (design and material).

i bought a panda because i liked the panda... at first i didnt have any interest in modifying but now i have i might as well go all out. also a abarth was well out of my budget

i have found a t jet from a grande punto and word on the street is that if fits straight in also using the ecu from the punto

Go for it. Let us know how you get on!

Has the swap ever happened or was this another case of wishful thinking? :/

Makarintosh said:

Has the swap ever happened or was this another case of wishful thinking? :/

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It's been done a couple of times but it's much more difficult and expensive than you'd think.

Oh no I understand that, I just meant with the thread starter, whether he went on with the idea or backed out.

Makarintosh said:

Oh no I understand that, I just meant with the thread starter, whether he went on with the idea or backed out.

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Haven't seen anything new regarding this and the only ongoing t-jet swap I know of is Ayrton Hunter on the fb page and his has been a pretty lengthy process.

Gavv8 said:

It's been done a couple of times but it's much more difficult and expensive than you'd think.

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Yes, with all the electronics and CAN-BUS it's a intensive job to make everything work again.
Beside the engine ECU, you also have the body ECU, and they have to communicate together, mostly the body ECU don't recognize the new engine ECU because it's not a familiar engine for that body ECU.

Hi,
If you need any help with insurance for an engine swap at all then please feel free to drop me a line.
I had a completely standard electroclassh grey 100HP for 6 years. Loved it. Not sure I would have wanted much more power though. Seemed pretty perfect as it was.
Regards,
Dan.

Dan at Adrian Flux said:

Hi,
If you need any help with insurance for an engine swap at all then please feel free to drop me a line.
I had a completely standard electroclassh grey 100HP for 6 years. Loved it. Not sure I would have wanted much more power though. Seemed pretty perfect as it was.
Regards,
Dan.

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I'd rather put my gentlemen vegetables in a vice than insure through Adrian Flux.

Yeah following that too that's a GP tjet swap. curious about the 500 swap and how wiring would be :/ probably need to swap the dash loom and poke in the 500 dash to get it all up and running.