500 (Abarth) 2010 Abarth 500

[ben]

Yes, yes it does! This weekend at Raby Castle

 

[StevenRB45]

I love the later ones of these in 2 tone with the straight spoke wheels....695 rivale.

Very much love it, hopefully the rear lights aren't a sign of it being razzed literally everywhere although to be fair it's a hot hatch so one careful priest owner is probably not to be expected.

One thing that may be worth looking into as they I seem to remember go missing at a speed similar to Fiesta STs.

Also which power output is it? They go from tame to not tame if memory serves.

 

[PuntoHowTo]

The Blue thing is a Marlin Kitcar and looking at the wheels probably based on a Sierra.

The Red thing is a Morgan


Loving the Abarth. I have often been tempted by the older cheap Abarths on facebook market place.

The brakes would tend to suggest its one of the lower power models, as it's not got the brembo calipers, but then there are plenty of these about that people have had some tweaking done in the ECU settings to make them a little more.... Responsive.

 

[Didge3]

Yes, yes it does! This weekend at Raby Castle

Unfortunately been abroad and it was the wrong end of the country for me, I'll try and make another!

I love the later ones of these in 2 tone with the straight spoke wheels....695 rivale.

Very much love it, hopefully the rear lights aren't a sign of it being razzed literally everywhere although to be fair it's a hot hatch so one careful priest owner is probably not to be expected.

One thing that may be worth looking into as they I seem to remember go missing at a speed similar to Fiesta STs.

Also which power output is it? They go from tame to not tame if memory serves.

I think at this age the vast majority of Abarth's have been somewhat razzed around. Hope it doesn't go missing, may need to invest in some additional security measures then...
Think its the bottom end of the power output scale, well originally, no idea if its been buggered around with, the boost gauge will briefly whip around to 1.4bar which according to limited research is not expected.

The Blue thing is a Marlin Kitcar and looking at the wheels probably based on a Sierra.

The Red thing is a Morgan


Loving the Abarth. I have often been tempted by the older cheap Abarths on facebook market place.

The brakes would tend to suggest its one of the lower power models, as it's not got the brembo calipers, but then there are plenty of these about that people have had some tweaking done in the ECU settings to make them a little more.... Responsive.

Nice to know what the blue & red things are thanks
It certainly falls into the category of old & cheap, It needs a fair bit of TLC but the bodywork is in really good condition and it is my favourite colour with the red Abarth stripe.

A weird thing about it is the drivers seat has a rather large gap between the backrest and the seat base, I can't quite work out what's happened to cause that.
Blue&me is dreadful as expected, I need to rip the factory HU out.
My Copen can only manage about 320 miles on a tank and was looking forward to having a car with a bit more range between fill ups so I was disappointed to find it has the same size (too small!) tank and obviously gets worse MPG so I'm not managing any more than 300, me & my housemate are planning a road trip probably in the Autumn, his steed being a 208 GTi, I know who will be stopping for fuel more

 

[RedAbarthMTA]

The gap in the seat is stock. It is designed so that when you put your mobile on it or a bunch of keys they end up on the floor! It is what it is

 

[Didge3]

The gap in the seat is stock. It is designed so that when you put your mobile on it or a bunch of keys they end up on the floor! It is what it is

Oh good not just mine then, put the keys down when I first collected it and they vanished into the back

 

[Didge3]

Well I'm onto tackling my drop link and its not going well...
Soaked both nuts in plus gas the night before, top came out without too much fuss, a faff but not awful.
The bottom nut however, it came out most of the way relatively ok, about 3 threads from the end however it suddenly went loose, never a good sign... the hex in the end of the bolt has rounded...
I've tried putting some mole grips on it but I think its still spinning...

Not sure where to go from here, I don't own an angle grinder and even if I bought one I'm not sure I'd be comfortable wielding it

 

[Didge3]

Crisis averted.

I took a step back from it having spent at least an hour on the one stuck nut. Had a little break and took another crack at it. This time I got the mole grips in a better place and even tighter and off it came!

In with the new, the only concering thing is I got them fairly tight and then put an allen key in the bolt expecting to have to apply counter force but the allen key never span, they feel very tight so does the bolt part not spin when tightening? This might be a stupid question this is my first attempt at a suspension related job

 

[The Panda Nut]

Dont over tighten. The torque isnt huge. They will do up without bthe allen key 9 times out of ten. In vest in a rrattle gun it makes removal simple. Possibly the best tool Ive ever bought. Mine has had a huge amount of use, The time they save justifies the spend.. Mains cabled versions are really quite cheap now.

 

[RedAbarthMTA]

Well done. All good learning experience. You'll walk it next time

 

[Didge3]

The droplink has solved my major clonk, there is still something else in the suspension thats making a bit of noise, I suspect top mounts but the big clonk has gone so thats a positive.
I seem to have a rattle around 1500-2000rpm when the engine is hot, its not present until its warmed up and disappears outside of this RPM. The exhaust is rattling against a heatshield for certain, I hear it with the windows down when going over speedbumps and when I close the boot it rattles. Not sure if the two noises are linked but I hope so as that should be an easy fix...
I regassed the AC, it blows cold but barely, I am going to change the cabin filter and hope that makes a difference.

 

[Didge3]

Pulled the cabin filter, it was dirty but made no difference to the AC with it removed so... Suspect the condenser (evaporator?) is clogged or something, compressor definitely runs although maybe it's become incapable of compressing?

Changed the spark plugs because it's an easy potential performance improvement.
The plugs for the coil packs are a bit of a pig to get off...

But they all came out looking used but nothing terrible

Always nice putting shiny parts on though

Did the other drop link, should've done both in the first place, suspension clonking has gone, there is a creak coming from the rear but I'm not too concerned.
I want to give the rear beam a good scrub and slap some rust treatment/proofing on it.
I need to have a look at the door mirror as it wobbles quite a bit.

 

[RedAbarthMTA]

Spring seats at the bottom of the spring on the rear axle rot. Check them carefully then if OK slather in anything and everything anti rust on them! An inherited issue from the standard 500. You may benefit from fitting Fiat coupé bump stops on the back too. Makes quite a difference.

 

[bl4desman]

Pulled the cabin filter, it was dirty but made no difference to the AC with it removed so... Suspect the condenser (evaporator?) is clogged or something, compressor definitely runs although maybe it's become incapable of compressing?

Hi, I had a similar problem and I changed the condenser. I got a bargain priced genuine part and there were several options on ebay. However, the genuine one is made by Denso and the Denso one wasn't a bad price. Just make sure that if you take it to be gassed, that they know it's had a new condenser. I went for a walk for an hour whilst the garage did the regassing. However, the garage I used didn't fill it up, as nothing came out. So they thought there was a leak and waited for me to return before doing anything.

 

[Didge3]

All is not well in Abarthville... it has developed a bad vibration from around 50mph which continues to 60/65 then its starts to subside (although not completely). Its especially bad if you're accelerating, borderline undriveable. It went into the garage where both wheels were massively out of balance but it hasn't solved it (suspect the huge vibration simply shook the wheel weights free causing the misbalance)
They were unable to find anything else that could be the cause, nothing has any play or seems loose... Its gone back in today, suspect of the driveshaft(s) but apparently neither have any play, the CV boots are completely dry, no signs of leaking...

 

[PuntoHowTo]

did you recharge the AC on a machine or with a top up? I have found the top up gauges can be a bit temperamental and might not give an accurate measure, with one car I found it needed considerably more gas than the gauge suggested.

 

[Didge3]

Well driveshafts have been replaced, not very cheap but so far so good no more vibration, I've not gone very far in it yet mind so I won't hold my breath.

did you recharge the AC on a machine or with a top up? I have found the top up gauges can be a bit temperamental and might not give an accurate measure, with one car I found it needed considerably more gas than the gauge suggested.

I just did it with a top up gun thingy I have, I've used it on other cars previously. I'm a touch wary of going out of the 'green' zone on the gauge in case it is accurate! Don't want any seals to go bang If it blew any colder than when I first got it (after putting more gas in the first time) I might be tempted to go a bit more but the fact its just as wimpy as when it had about 10psi in it I think its something else

 

[Didge3]

The next thing on my list is to deal with the backbox rattling, the outerskin has rusted away (apparently very common?) It doesn't appear to be leaking but whats left of that outerskin is rattling on the top of the backbox. Its quite annoying, over bumps around town you can hear it flapping about. Not sure how best to remove and/or secure it without having to drop the exhaust.
Does the 'diffuser' trim come off? That might give me room to have a better look

 

[StevenRB45]

The next thing on my list is to deal with the backbox rattling, the outerskin has rusted away (apparently very common?) It doesn't appear to be leaking but whats left of that outerskin is rattling on the top of the backbox. Its quite annoying, over bumps around town you can hear it flapping about. Not sure how best to remove and/or secure it without having to drop the exhaust.
Does the 'diffuser' trim come off? That might give me room to have a better look

But what happened with the Vibration???