Seicento 2000 899 Seicento SX

[FiatMatt94]

Some nice cars in your photos and yours is looking very tidy. I bought a "performance" eprom from some chap in Portugal. Put swapped it over with the standard eprom from a spare ECU box I had. Installed it, but my car wouldn't start, even though the performance chip bypassed the imobiliser.
Took it back out and went back to the original ECU. Only to be told by a friend you have to keep on trying and trying with the start up and eventually it'll kick in. Maybe i will try it again someday?

You thought about trying to find an Abarth body kit for your Seicento?

When I first installed the box it did seem a little flat like a flat spot on a carburettor so I adjusted it slightly as it has an adjustment screw which is limited to 25 turns in each direction, I think it might have been to do with having an aftermarket air filter already installed so after slight adjustment it now feels spot on. With this particular box & being an 899 the existing ECU stays in place, the box comes with 2 wires with quick splice connectors on the ends which connect to the 2 wires for the air intake sensor so the connectors only pierces the insulation for the wire without cutting the actual wire so if I change my mind further down the line it's reversible as the wire isn't cut I'd just have to put a little insulation on each one which is quick & easy. I personally think they look better without the Abarth body kit, also behind those skirts would be heaven for rot

 

[Didge3]

From memory I think these little tuning boxes are basically a variable resistor, there may be more complicated ones out there though I'm not sure.
The splice into the air temp sensor is (likely) spoofing its value so the ECU thinks the incoming air is colder (and therefore more dense) making it richen the mixture. I could be wrong about your specific box but this was how a lot of them worked back in the day

 

[FiatMatt94]

From memory I think these little tuning boxes are basically a variable resistor, there may be more complicated ones out there though I'm not sure.
The splice into the air temp sensor is (likely) spoofing its value so the ECU thinks the incoming air is colder (and therefore more dense) making it richen the mixture. I could be wrong about your specific box but this was how a lot of them worked back in the day

That seems like how this one works, I think this coupled with my BMC filter & Sporting exhaust is more or less the equivalent of a stage 1 remap, it seems to have worked though as she does seem to have a better throttle response & a little more torque in low to mid range revs, it said 15% which is probably exaggerating a bit but there's definitely an improvement especially on motorways, I wasn't too sure at first because I've never had one as I'm usually pretty old school & the reviews on these tuning boxes tend to be a bit hit & miss so I thought for £70 I'll try it & if it doesn't work there's a 30 day guarantee that if you change your mind after installation you get a full refund but so far I'm quite happy with the result. The 899 engine isn't staying in it forever as in say the next couple of years I'm looking to convert it to a 1.4 FIRE engine possibly from either a Punto or Panda 100HP but I need to look into it a bit more

 

[Didge3]

Even a 1.2 8v from a mk1 Punto is a decent upgrade for a cento and they need bugger all to run, much simpler than a late 1.4 16v, depends how much of a project you want to take on!

 

[FiatMatt94]

Even a 1.2 8v from a mk1 Punto is a decent upgrade for a cento and they need bugger all to run, much simpler than a late 1.4 16v, depends how much of a project you want to take on!

I was thinking a 1.2 8v from a MK1 Punto SPI as the wiring is virtually the same apart from oil & temperature switches which I heard need extending but there's not many left, I'll keep an eye out & see what comes up but I cannot purchase one at the moment as I have nowhere to put an engine or if a scrap car comes up with a decent engine that might be a way to go, for now I'll stick with the old 899 but that is the eventual plan when funds & time allow

 

[FiatMatt94]

So today I decided to do the oil & filter change as I'd done 5,000 miles since the last service & also for some reason there was a very minor seep from the seal on the filter so the seal must have been defective perhaps although I couldn't see anything obvious on removal so mechanically she's all ready for show season, I also decided to change the fuel filter as the last couple of days she's had a little trouble starting whilst also slightly stuttering & was a little noisy & to say it was a nightmare is an understatement so she still had the original 25 year old filter dated August 2000 so it was well overdue but someone had been in there before me trying to remove it resulting in rounding both bolts so I had to cut the plastic bracket that's part of the filter around the bolts so that I could get some mole grips on them to get them out which resulted in the heads snapping so what's meant to be a 5-10 minute job took a lot longer & at some stage the remains of the bolts need drilling out but for now as I need the car it's temporarily cable tied in position until I get round to drilling the bolts out but the cable ties are secure enough for the time being, started her up & she's back to her usual great running self with no misfire or stuttering

 

[icheatatscrabble]

I picked up a genuine old stock fuel filter the other week, so will get it swapped over on the next service. Cam cover gasket is leaking again - two in about 5000 miles. Bought a genuine Fiat one this time.

 

[FiatMatt94]

I picked up a genuine old stock fuel filter the other week, so will get it swapped over on the next service. Cam cover gasket is leaking again - two in about 5000 miles. Bought a genuine Fiat one this time.

I got a Febi Bilstein one of eBay as their stuff is usually quite decent, I think they were about £7 or £8 each, my rocker cover gasket was also Febi & it's still dry after around 6,000 miles. I try to use genuine parts where I can find them though as a good example of this is I bought a 899 breather hose on eBay last year for around £35, I can't remember the brand but it fell apart within 6 months so I bought a genuine Fiat one from Ricambio for about £60 as I thought I can't be bothered to keep changing them every 4 - 6 months

 

[FiatMatt94]

So after changing the fuel filter the pump decides to start making the same high pitch noise that the old did last year, so I thought the pump can't be knackered after a year & also it's a genuine Fiat part so I removed the pump & the crud around the connector & in the bottom of the pump was quite a bit of muck so I held it upside down & dosed everywhere on it with WD40 & watches all the crud come out, fingers crossed after putting it back in it appears to be nice & quiet again I did have 1 stud casualty though with one of the 8 studs which holds the retaining ring to the tank but apart from that it's all sealed up good with no leaks so for now she's all good, upon closer inspection of the outside of the tank though I think I'll be replacing it within the next year as it's starting to look suspiciously crispy around the edges & seams so I'm not too concerned about 1 snapped stud

 

[icheatatscrabble]

The previous owner of my car got the fuel tank replaced. I think it's on its third one, as it would've had one replaced under a recall back in the day.