Doblo Candisa's Doblo T-Jet LPG

[Candisa]

My Doblo is delivered a few days ago, made a big trip today to break her in and got the blessing of the devil himself!

The paintjob needs a bit more polishing and coats of wax for a proper photoshoot, Fiat paint is incredibly soft apparently!

 

[oldskoolmk1unoturbo]

looks nice, 1.4 turbo? 120bhp?

 

[Candisa]

Thanks! Yes it's the 1.4turbo 120hp, I'm coming from a car with a 2.4NA 170hp engine and I'm pleasantly surprised how good the T-Jet performs in the low and mid rpm range.

 

[Candisa]

Not the best job in the world...
But for the cost of some tint foil, it was a good first experience and it does the job!

Tint: Foliatec Midnight Reflex Superdark (5%)

BLAAAAAACK

 

[Candisa]

The sunlight at the wash boot begged for a little photoshoot:

 

[Candisa]

Added a pair of lightly tinted window deflectors (OEM Fiat).
Not only practical, I think it breaks the hard contrast between the very black cargo windows and clear cabin windows (it's illegal in Belgium to tint the front windows).

 

[Duffish]

That's looking great! Is it a commercial vehicle, I have a fiorino commercial all glass and the lift up tailgate

 

[Candisa]

Thanks, she's a "Professional" indeed.

I wanted the dual sliding doors, tailgate, all around windows, but I don't need the back seat.
I prefer the simple black plastic dashboard/doorpanels/flooring, seats with pinstripe inserts, 2.5 front seat arrangement, wide angle side mirrors, no colour coded back window insert, no chrome strips on the grille... And the higher payload and naked cargo area also better suits my plans with her.

A kitted out, windowed and tailgated "Professional" is the best of both worlds for me.

Your Fiorino looks great as well, windows and a tailgate really transform a workhorse van into a sweet ride.
I like the roof rails too!
I was thinking about getting them on my Doblo, but I didn't because I would probably never use them as I already have lots of space inside.
However I think my Doblo looks a bit bland from the sides and I was thinking side skirts or steps, but I also miss something to hold on to while washing the roof, so I might add rails on anyways.

Isabelle

 

[Duffish]

The Doblo could be my next van up size in the window spec, probably 2.0d 130bhp I do need a back seat and it's less van like with the tailgate so practical with twin side doors

 

[Duffish]

I am on to my second fiorino van! There so good,this is my old green fiorino but has qubo badges from factory

 

[Candisa]

I'm sure you'll love Doblo as well, the facelift also comes with improvements on sound dampening and comfort.
I'm very happy with mine and I'm coming from a 170hp kitted out Volvo V70!

I believe the 2.0 diesel has some great map tuning potential as well!
(My T-Jet is limited by a tiny turbo and asthmatic camshafts)

 

[Duffish]

I have seen some tuning companies get around 180bhp so should be a interesting drive!

 

[Candisa]

The Doblo is serving me great, there's over 25000km on the counter by now.

A little log of the technical side of it:

From new:
- The tyres were swapped for Vredestein Quatrac 5 215/55/R16 97H as part of the deal.
- I did a few long trips and a bunch of shorter ones on nice Total 98 petrol to run in the engine, using most of it's rev range under different loads.

1500km:
- The Lovato LPG system has been calibrated and has been used most of the time to fuel the engine.

2500km:
- I don't want assembly greased and contamination from manufacturing and running in the engine to live in the system for ages, so the oil + filter got changed.
- A small coolant leak was discovered due to a misaligned banjobolt washer at the oil coolet, which was ofcourse fixed under warranty.

9000km:
- a rock hit and punched a leak in my intercooler. The intercooler got changed by an aftermarket OEM-copy which is actually slightly stronger built and cheaper than the original part.
- To prevent this from happening again to the intercooler, aircon condenser, or radiator; ánd to stop them from getting littered with bugs and debris, a fine black mesh is glued behind the upper, middle and lower grille while the bumper was off the car.
PICTURES SOON!

11000km:
- I don't believe in 30k km oil change intervals, especially in a turbocharged engine with such a small sump, so the oil got changed.

20500km:
- another oil change
- Crossed the wheels and tyres (FR-RL,FL-RR)

Meanwhile:
The engine started to start poorly, and misfire when driving on LPG!
- 1 LPG injector leaked and an other one behaved like it was gummed up, so 2 injectors have been replaced.
- The starting was instantly solved but misfiring behaviour stayed.
- Settings were changed, shielding and shuffling parts of the LPG system, tapping into the coolant system at different spots... didn't help.
- Finally the Lovato injectors have bee n replaced by ABE ones and the system has been recalibrated, which solved the issues (knock on wood!).

So far I'm very happy with the Doblo, not so happy with Lovato as their injectors are clearly junk, but I got rid of those now.

I'm a bit behind on updating mods, so I'll come back soon with updates and PICTURES!

If you've made it this far through this post: congratulations on your rare level of patience and see you soon!

Isabelle

 

[Zeewulf]

Nice car and write up

 

[Candisa]

While waiting for good weather to clean the Doblo and snap a few pictures:

Have a guess which mod I've done with nothing but a pair of shoelaces?
Hint: I go camping once in a while.

 

[Candisa]

A few pictures of the black mesh installed behind all grilles to prevent rocks and other junk messing up the vital parts.
I'm very happy about the subtle effect it has on the looks as well.

 

[Candisa]

While talking about mods with a subtle effect on the looks: Italy represented on the B-pillars and rear hatch.

 

[Candisa]

Since I like to go camping with the Doblo (still tent-style with just a sleeping bag and other essentials thrown in the back), I wanted to make it easier to slide the doors open/shut.
Instead of spending big money on 2 plastic OEM grips, I made some myself out of metal tubing. A lick of paint, some threaded rivets and bolts, et voilà!
It's a bit industrial but it matches the black steel ladder behind the driver's seat.

1 Problem: there are no inner door handles either and the locking mechanism of my "Professional" isn't made to connect inner handles to them!
That's where the shoelaces come in: they simply hang out a small hole drilled in the door card and finished with a grommet so it's nice and doesn't wear. The other ends are tied to the lever mechanism of the outside door handle. When I pull on the shoelace a ghost pulls on the outer doorhandle and opens the door for me!

 

[Candisa]

A pod air filter is a cheap modification they said...
It only takes a few minutes of time they said...

3 Hours later...