Hi all, I recently bought a panda 100bhp as my first car and what a great little motor. I'm looking for suggestions on what mods i should do to it to give it a little more power and a smoother ride. ive looked at a few threads but im a bit of a novice when it comes to cars. Id love suggestions on parts and the best brands. thanks in advance.

Hi and welcome. Wow what a first car!!

Welcome.

There are a tone of little mods that can be carried out; a search of the threads will be your best bet, or wait for people with a better memory than me ?.
DaveMcT has a 100hp and swapped out his rear suspension, which I believe transformed the ride.

If you’re on Facebook, have a look at these groups:

Fiat Panda Uk Page

Fiat Panda 100HP UK

Plenty of people on there with information about what works and what doesn’t.

As a general rule, apart from a t-jet swap (prohibitively expensive) there isn’t any more power to be had. You’re best bet to go faster would be to upgrade the suspension. Bilstein B6 shocks and Eibach or Vogtland springs seem to be the current favourites.

Great first car!

I've never driven one with standard suspension but apparently its horrific. I have Bilstein shocks and Eibach springs on mine and the ride is pretty decent.

If you can afford on I would definitely recommend the Novitec GP1 throttle box, it takes the dampening out and makes it a bit more aggressive/responsive.

You can amplify the induction noise a little with a panel filter and the silicone pipe but as everyone has said there isn't any more power to be had.

You can have the centre box deleted which makes it louder, there's a few vids on YouTube of how it sounds.

Good luck with it!

thanks mate

cheers mate ill have a look

Thanks for the replies guys ill defintiley look into those suspension parts, was wondering if anyone would reccomend an induction kit or are they just a waste of money, and ive seen kn air panel or kn air filter mentioned i few times any thoughts on those? again thank you

also guys ive read its impossible to remap the 100bhp but theyre are few tuning companies with good reputuations and reviews offering it on their websites just wondering if the remap was now an option

Thisistoddy said:

also guys ive read its impossible to remap the 100bhp but theyre are few tuning companies with good reputuations and reviews offering it on their websites just wondering if the remap was now an option

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As far as I know there is someone on the Facebook page who sent his ECU off to the one guy in Italy who is able to unlock it and reckons he gained ‘some’ power. I’m not aware of anyone in this country who is able to do it, even if they say they can. Any gains on a 1.4 normally aspirated engine will always be minimal anyway.

There is also a company called Balance Motorsport on the south coast of England who is looking at developing an engine kit to gain (iirc) 20 - 30 bhp. Again I would imagine the cost would expensive for a car that hasn’t been in production for 10 years. Their website probably has the best UK specific range of parts for the 100hp.

I have a K&N panel filter and had the Cooperman induction mod fitted for a while. No discernible effect in performance (if anything, felt a tiny bit slower), just noisier above 3000 rpm.

Scotty100hp said:

As far as I know there is someone on the Facebook page who sent his ECU off to the one guy in Italy who is able to unlock it and reckons he gained ‘some’ power. I’m not aware of anyone in this country who is able to do it, even if they say they can. Any gains on a 1.4 normally aspirated engine will always be minimal anyway.

There is also a company called Balance Motorsport on the south coast of England who is looking at developing an engine kit to gain (iirc) 20 - 30 bhp. Again I would imagine the cost would expensive for a car that hasn’t been in production for 10 years. Their website probably has the best UK specific range of parts for the 100hp.

I have a K&N panel filter and had the Cooperman induction mod fitted for a while. No discernible effect in performance (if anything, felt a tiny bit slower), just noisier above 3000 rpm.

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Thanks for the in depth reply mate, yea after reading forums I doubt I'll fork out for an induction kit, but I will get a good panel filter. And I'll definitely take a look at this company.

Another thing I’d definitely recommend is checking when your coil plugs were last replaced. I’ve had my car for 5 years now, and although I absolutely love it, the performance never seemed to be as good as all the reviews said it was. An absolute hoot when driven spiritedly on country roads, but a bit underwhelming everywhere else. I recently had a coil plug start misbehaving, so bought some NGK’s from Amazon. End result was that it feels like a new car (faster, more free revving and flexible), and I can now at last see why everyone raved about it at the time. The common conception is that coil plugs either work or don’t, but in my experience if that was the first time mine had been changed I would suggest they should be done every 5 years.

Scotty100hp said:

Another thing I’d definitely recommend is checking when your coil plugs were last replaced. I’ve had my car for 5 years now, and although I absolutely love it, the performance never seemed to be as good as all the reviews said it was. An absolute hoot when driven spiritedly on country roads, but a bit underwhelming everywhere else. I recently had a coil plug start misbehaving, so bought some NGK’s from Amazon. End result was that it feels like a new car (faster, more free revving and flexible), and I can now at last see why everyone raved about it at the time. The common conception is that coil plugs either work or don’t, but in my experience if that was the first time mine had been changed I would suggest they should be done every 5 years.

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Ah good to know mate, any idea if they get changed on a service? Last service was only a few thousand miles ago

Scotty100hp said:

If you’re on Facebook, have a look at these groups:

Fiat Panda Uk Page

Fiat Panda 100HP UK

Plenty of people on there with information about what works and what doesn’t.

As a general rule, apart from a t-jet swap (prohibitively expensive) there isn’t any more power to be had. You’re best bet to go faster would be to upgrade the suspension. Bilstein B6 shocks and Eibach or Vogtland springs seem to be the current favourites.

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Is there any slightly cheaper substitutes to the b6 shocks without sacrifices quality?

Thisistoddy said:

Is there any slightly cheaper substitutes to the b6 shocks without sacrifices quality?

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The B4 is cheaper, but as far as I know is more of a OE direct replacement. I have Koni Str.t on mine, not sure how they compare to the B6 price wise.

ah ok theyre about the same price wise, but here theyre worth the money

Thisistoddy said:

ah ok theyre about the same price wise, but here theyre worth the money

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I doubt anything over a B4 will give a very Good ride on are roads

If the rear shocks are worn out then even an OEM replacement will see an improvement

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Df42lfs19-A&feature=emb_logo

Thisistoddy said:

Thanks for the in depth reply mate, yea after reading forums I doubt I'll fork out for an induction kit, but I will get a good panel filter. And I'll definitely take a look at this company.

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Sensible option. The standard air intake is ample for the engine. Ripping it out will simply make noise with no performance gain. The boom at every gear shift will soon get up your jacket.

Hi mate, lovely 1st car!, I have the throttle box too, I use V power and I personally tell a difference, I have suspension upgrades, all done before I got my panda, all in all a fantastic pretty rare car, never going to be anything more than a pocket rocket that puts a big grin on your face I say, just love all the mini hot hatches, it’s good to be different! Lol.

Having put a Fiat 500 back axle and road springs under my wife's 1.2 Dynamic I can say the softer ride and integral ARB significantly improves the road handling.

I have used 500 springs on my 100HP with Fiat Coupe Febi bump stops. This lowers the ride height slightly but stops that rock hard skipping we get from the standard springs.

I believe the ultimate back end for a 100HP would be a 4x4 subframe and ARB This gives fully independent rear suspension. The snag would be road springs as the 4x4 rides a lot higher than 100HP. Simply cutting springs shorter (a they have with OEM 100HP springs) is not a good ideal as the spring rate gets harder in proportion to the metal removed.

The 500 axle "could" be used on a 100HP but the track width would have to be narrowed by 25mm each side. This would need careful jigging and excellent welding skills to do safely. Anyone who appreciates Project Binky would get what's needed.