I have a 2002 2.4 Selespeed Abarth and I’m not overly keen on the semi-automatic gearbox. I gather that the gearbox is actually a manual transmission with a electronic actuator slaved to it. Given that the chassis is presumably the same between the manual and Selespeed versions of the Stilo, has anyone considered converting the car to manual gear selection. I haven’t looked yet, but I am guessing that there should be the necessary holes punched and pivot points for the clutch pedal, arm
and pipe work. I don’t have a copy of the workshop manual yet, but the EPer indicates that the Fiat clutch hydraulic system is quite basic.

I imagine the car’s ECU would have issues with this such a conversion but other than displaying warning messages, does anyone think it would be stop the engine/transmission
from working?

Mike.

An interesting question Mike . . .

I can't see why it would work mechanically, although the cost must be astronomic! Not only is it parts, but you'd have to remove the entire insides of the car to remove the carpet to lay down the new linkages and pedal box.

Electronically, my only concern would be that the Body Computer will be waiting for a "Everythings OK" signal from the Selespeed ECU. Now I'm only theorising here, but if it receives no signal, it might prevent the engine node from allowing the car to start, as it won't know the status of the gearbox. These body computers cannot be reprogrammed or reordered for different specifications.

Suppose the only way you'd test that would be to disconnect the Selespeed ECU.

Thanks for those thoughts.

I've looked at the cost of the components necessary for the conversion and at least on the EPer the part costs only comes to around £250, probably less.

The gearstick seems to have the space required underneath for the mechanical linkage and other cables; feeding them through shouldn't be too difficult. I'm going to see what room there is around the pedal box later today since I suspect it may be possible to attach the clutch pedal without dramatic surgery.

The electrical signal is a concern, I think here though if there is an issue, it should be viable to monitor the signal on a oscillosope intially with the Body ECU connected to the SeleSpeed ECU and then potentially fake the signal electronically when the ignition is switched on with the manual system setup. Of course I think I'll need the electrical schematics, but I don't peceive this as that challenging!

Why did you buy it in the first place ?? If you don't like the semi auto box ??

Why not sell it and buy a normal car??

I don't dislike the Selespeed box particularly having had a 147 with the same setup, though it did admitedly drive somewhat differently.

I like the features that come with the Abarth with the Selespeed box which I understand don't come with the manual version. Further, I like a technical challenge and there is plenty of information available on the Stilo, so it might be fun

If it doesn't look viable, then I will probably sell the car and find another project!

Have now found detailed technical information on the Selespeed setup including all the CAN Bus schematics and pinouts. I have also discovered that the pinion that the clutch arm would attach to is present in the pedal box as I suspected as are the fixings on the gearbox for the manual gear selector. The issues remains with the electrical interconnection between the gearbox and engine ECUs.