Technical Uno Fire specs

Currently reading:
Technical Uno Fire specs

CyberMunky

New member
Joined
Apr 27, 2006
Messages
38
Points
8
Location
Durban
Hello everyone, this is my first post so please be nice to the n00b. :eek:

I gt my first cab the other day and lo and behold it was a 1996 Fiat Uno Fire. I live in South Africa if that helps. I was just wondering what the specs are of this baby as the internet isnt being very co-operative.

Would like to know things like engine size, fuel system the usual yada yada.

Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks :D
 
Steve said:
It's not necessarily a 999cc, it could be an 1108cc or even one of the other FIRE engines, they market the cars differently in other countries. Do you have a registration document, the info should be on that.

Well hats the thing. The guy that sold me the car said it was an 1100 but you know used car salesmen......:yuck:

Anywho, the registration doc doesnt say anything bout engine size or stuff lke that. I could tell you serial no of the engine if that would be help.

Thanks
 
They stopped selling the Uno in the UK in early 1995. They still produce it in other countries even today albeit under the name of Mille and with different styling.

I'd imagine you have an 1108cc FIRE engine if the salesman said it was a 1.1
 

Attachments

  • header_fiatnews_milleway.gif
    header_fiatnews_milleway.gif
    75.3 KB · Views: 307
True, you cant buy the Uno in South Africa new any more. Production stopped a few years ago i believe. There are still plenty in the second hand market, but many are in bad condish. I was one of the lucky ones to get an immaculate one. :)
 
Last edited:
Can you suggest a cheap way to give it i touch more oomph? I'm thinking of getting a K&N performance air filter (the one that slots in the standard air intake unit) with a free flow coming later down the line....
 
CyberMunky said:
Can you suggest a cheap way to give it i touch more oomph? I'm thinking of getting a K&N performance air filter (the one that slots in the standard air intake unit) with a free flow coming later down the line....

Greetings fellow South-African!

I have exactly the same car as yours (except mine is a '95). I've installed the K&N that you mentioned - the one that goes in the standard air intake unit and it did make a difference, but it was very minor.

After that I installed a free-flow exhaust (from Wildcat) but didn't do the whole thing in one shot. Though I eventually did have the manifold done as well, I initially only did it from the manifold backwards. That made the biggest difference. Spending the extra grand or so and having the manifold done as well was perhaps a waste of money.

It may be worth mentioning that I've also installed Champion Eon spark-plugs. Though they've not made the car faster or anything they did made the throttle feel more responsive.

Given that I've written this much, I may as well add that I've also installed a 60mm lowering kit and the appropriate shock-absorbers. Also I've recently had the wheels changed. The standard is 155/70/13's. I now have 195/45/15's. Its all costed a packet, but is well worth it if you drive like a maniac. :) My car now feels glued to the road. Seriously. Since installing these things I've not felt even the most minor skid - even under the most intense braking.

I'm next planning to have more work done on the engine. Gas-flow the head, and have the cam modified etc. Not sure yet.

Enjoy your new car. Uno's are awesome!
-Acolyte
 
The fire in SA is a 1108cc engine, the uno cento is the 999cc.The uno was sold in sa Till early 2005, and the uno turbo IIRC till 1998.

The best mod you can do is to install an 1242cc fire engine from the fiat palio, can get the from around R4000 from Boston Japtec.

Or you can do a full on head conversion that is going to cost you in the region of R 2500 for a cam, porting, polishing, gasflowing, tweaked valves and headskim. this will give you the most power gain.

When my brother blew up his engine, I got it bored out to a 1120cc and just skimmed the head and tweaked the carb and he drops me by about 2 car lenghts.
 
A_Acolyte said:
Given that I've written this much, I may as well add that I've also installed a 60mm lowering kit and the appropriate shock-absorbers. Also I've recently had the wheels changed. The standard is 155/70/13's. I now have 195/45/15's. Its all costed a packet, but is well worth it if you drive like a maniac. :) My car now feels glued to the road. Seriously. Since installing these things I've not felt even the most minor skid - even under the most intense braking.-Acolyte

Thanks for your input man, really appreciated! (y)
Ja, im thinkin bout saving for some fatter takkies, my cab does tend to skid a bit and lose traction. How much did the mags set you back?

Long live the Uno! :slayer:
 
M@nticore said:
Or you can do a full on head conversion that is going to cost you in the region of R 2500 for a cam, porting, polishing, gasflowing, tweaked valves and headskim. this will give you the most power gain.

Really? That all? Where can i get this done and what is the increase in power like?

Shot for all your help dude! (y)
 
CyberMunky said:
Thanks for your input man, really appreciated! (y)
Ja, im thinkin bout saving for some fatter takkies, my cab does tend to skid a bit and lose traction. How much did the mags set you back?

Well I got it all done at Autoquip (perhaps not the best place, on reflection). The tyres ended up being Nexen's. The 195/45/15's. Initially Autoquip put 195/50/15's on my car but I felt a huge power-drop. Turns out that they won't work because the Overall Diameter isn't right. Pity though because they were a lot cheaper than what I have now. The tyres costed R650 each. I'm sure that if you shopped around you could get something similar a lot cheaper. These tyres are rated to 270km/h - they're pretty serious - I can't help but feel that they're 'wasted' on an Uno that doesn't do over 180 (yet ;).

The rims are A-Lines 15". I can't recall their 'name' or whatever. I think they costed around R3000 or so.

I you wanna see what it all looks like, you can check out my photos in my gallery. https://www.fiatforum.com/gallery/showgallery.php?cat=990

-Acolyte
 
alexGS said:
Awesome stuff A_Acolyte :)

I think we're all learning a few new terms from SA here:
'cab' - car?
'takkies' - tyres?
'drops me by about two car lengths' - gets the lead in a drag race?

Next thing we'll be talking about 'bakkies', 'hey' :D

-Alex

Yeah, ain't it magic? Also, 'traffic lights' are called 'robots' here. Dunno why, but its true! :)

To be honest though, I'm also not sure what he meant by 'drops me by two car lengths'... but given the context, I'll assume it was a good thing. :)

Catch you guys later.
-Acolyte
 
Hi there!

Im a newbie and also from SA.

I have a 98 model uno Mia. Its 1100 motor. I have trouble setting the timing right. I read in a manual that the timing must be set at 4 degrees over. I did that and my car have no power and are really heavy on juice.

Can you maybe help me? I did set it to 10 degrees over because i get the best performance there, but i can hear and feel it isnt right. Any help will be appreciated.

PS: Do you think a branch, freeflow and induction kit would make a difference?

Greetings from Warmbaths
 
Hello Kobus,
When you say '4 degrees over' or '10 degrees over', I think you mean four degrees advanced (4BTDC - four degrees Before Top Dead Centre).

I use the timing marks on the gearbox bellhousing, which if I remember correctly are labelled 0, 5, and 10. These line up with a notch in the flywheel. You should disconnect (and plug) the vacuum advance first. The engine should be idling as slowly as you can get it (less than 1000RPM, at least). Then tweak the distributor until you can judge the timing to be at 4 degrees (I think the pointer for this angle is larger than the other pointers).

Note that when you reconnect the vacuum advance, the timing will advance to 12 degrees (or so) with the engine idling.

As for the 'branch', 'freeflow', and 'induction kit' - my personal opinion is that these items are money down the drain unless you already have a better camshaft (out of FIRE 1242cc engine, perhaps?) and bigger carburettor/fuel injection setup.

Cheers,
-Alex
 
Hi Alex

Thanx for the info. I have tried something similar to this but failed. You described it better to me and I will go try again.

Do you think that I can send my 1100 camshaft to engineers to cut the lobes? I have done this with a Volkswagen Golf I had a few years ago. I believe that only certain camshaft can be machined.

Will the 1400 fire intake manifold fit my cars head? Someone told me it does, but Im not sure. They said it will fit the 1116 and not the 1108. Whats the difference?

Sorry about all the questions.

Thanx
 
There is no "1400 FIRE" to my knowledge. The 1116cc is an older, not-FIRE engine introduced with the FIAT 128 in 1969 and continued through the Uno 55/60. The same basic engine was produced in 1299cc/1301cc capacities for the Uno 70. There have also been other FIAT models with this engine, most notably the X1/9. With a different bore and stroke, it was turbocharged for the Uno Turbo. Finally it was 'modernised' slightly for the 1372cc/1580cc application (former in the Uno Mk2, both sizes in the Tipo and certain models of Punto). I think this engine is now finally out of production (1969-1995?), but surely goes down as one of the longest-lived engines (probably third behind the BMC A-series and the FIAT twin-cam!)

Your 1108cc FIRE however is a newer engine, first appearing in 1986 as the 999cc and then the 1108cc in 1989. I believe that it has been developed into 1242cc for the Punto, which comes with either an 8v or 16v cylinder head.

The actual design of the FIRE engine differs greatly in detail from the older, 'SOHC' motor even though it sounds similar on paper - there are no parts in common. For example, the camshaft on the FIRE is located in the cylinder head rather than in a separate housing bolted onto the head. The FIRE is a crossflow engine with vertical valves, the SOHC has the inlet and exhaust on the same side of the cylinder head, with wedge-shaped combustion chambers and inclined valves (very much in vogue in the 60's, before combustion temperatures came under the microscope in the interests of nitrous oxide emission reduction...)

Most notably, the FIRE engine is machined and assembled entirely by robots (Fully Integrated Robotised Engine) which tends to show in simpler fittings and fixtures. FIAT also claimed 20% fewer parts (if I remember correctly).

I rather get the impression (I could be wrong) that the FIRE is really a successor to the OHV 903cc engine used in the 850/127/Uno, and as such is designed to be a small and economical engine, where the 128's engine seemed to be destined at one point for motorsport use (128 Rally etc., particularly when the X1/9 arrived on the scene). As such I always had the feeling that the older engine was made stronger (borne out by the fact that FIAT turbocharged it) and that more high-performance parts are available, also helped by the fact that many SOHC-powered cars went to the USA where they were adapted for all sorts of racing (and no FIRE-powered model has ever been sold there).

I think we can say, without a doubt, that the FIAT 'SOHC' had awesome potential by the standards of the day. In standard form, it produced around 50bhp/litre. In 1970's competition it was pushed to almost 130bhp/litre! It was robust and able to run to amazing revs (8000RPM), with valvegear that was simple and strong, and able to run with wild camshafts, etc. without overheating, throwing rods, wearing bearings etc.

The newer FIRE engine (with 45bhp/litre in its most common form!) may do all of these things, but the world has moved on. The FIRE is a good engine, but so is just about every other engine used in a car over the last fifteen years or so. I don't think anyone has really concentrated on the FIRE engine in the same way as for the 'SOHC', though 'smokeme' springs to mind ;)

Your best option at this point is to find a local specialist in these engines, someone who collects the useful parts off a number of models and builds engines for clubsport competition, etc. They will know about the cam-grinding also (it's likely that you can, but you'll need thicker valve shims to compensate for the reduced base circle diameter of the cam after grinding). I think our advice on the forum is going to be limited in usefullness because we don't know what's locally-available to you.

Hope the timing goes OK the second try! ;)

-Alex
 
Last edited:
distortionrockets said:
1996? wow!

well:
0.9cc (999cc) engine
0-60 in roughly 13 seconds
top speed is 90mph
45mpg
anything else you wanna know?

is that 5 speed?
 
Back
Top