Alex's Slow AutoX Build

[alex500a]

So I updated this thread, but lost the update due to an error with the website. Long story short I have a few more mods for the car. I will do a comprehensive update (now at 20k miles! How the miles fly by) when everything is installed.

Installed: 17" OEM Wheels / Yokohama S Drives 215/40/17
Purchased: Bilstein Suspension, CPR Strut Top Hats, EC 2.1 Intake (Yep, my third different intake)

[alex500a]

This thread is living up to its name...

Got too hot to install the bilsteins (dang AZ heat) so still waiting to install those. It is finally cooling down, so maybe soon.

Picked up the following with plans to install the above and below over the nice winter months:
Front and Rear Wilwood BBK
AEM Meth/Water kit
AEM Boost gauge in place of the stock
Alfa Coils
General Tune-up

I bought this car new and I am at 30k miles and loving every minute of it. There have been a few weak moments when I think about selling and getting something with a bit larger of an engine, but I love this car and think long term I will just push the limits of the engine.

Anyways stay tuned for updates

Updated status and goals for the car:

Car: 2015 Fiat 500 Abarth ~300 miles on it. Purchased in May 2015. Currently has 30k miles.

Goals: Fun street car.

Planned Mods: Initial I will be focusing on suspension, brakes and drivability. The car has plenty of power in my opinion, although a tune is not out of the question after some supporting mods. The stock brakes are fine, but to me this is more of an aesthetics thing, as the tiny brakes drive me crazy, especially with the 17" wheels.

Short Term
1. None - Plenty of mods to install first

Medium Term
1. None - Plenty of mods to install first

Long Term
1. ECU upgrade

Purchased Mods:

Installed Mods:
1. GFB DV+ for obvious reason
2. EC V2.1 Intake for the noises
3. EC FMIC for the simplicity
4. 500 Madness Torsion Bar for handling upgrade

Purchased Mods:
1. Bilstein Coilovers - Need a bit more low, the gap is a bit much
2. Wilwood BBK (Front + Rear) - More for looks, stock brakes are fine. Expensive but I needed to do the brakes soon anyways.
3. AEM Water/Meth Kit - 120 degree heat in the summer, need to lower those IATs
4. AEM Boost Gauge - Stock one is inaccurate
5. Alfa 4c Coils - Getting a misfire when rolling into the throttle in sport mode
6. Master Cylinder Brace - Help with the BBK
7. CPR Strut Top Hats - Supporting mod for the coilovers

[alex500a]

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teaser

[alex500a]

Well the past two days I completed a lot of work.

Wilwood Big Brake Kit

I don't care what anyone says, there is a huge improvement over stock brakes, even on street driving. The pedal is less grabby now, and much more predictable under heavy braking. Is it worth the price tag? When I factor in the improvement in looks over the stock brakes, it is definitely worth it. Bottom line is don't let anyone talk you out of these with the argument that you won't see any improvement over the stock brakes.

I think the weight of the two brake systems is close to equal, I weighed the Wilwoods (Caliper, Rotor/Hat, lines, bolts) before putting them on, and will weigh the stock stuff eventually to get the difference.

Installation was simple, but it wasn't without issue. The front brake lines are junk. After doing some research, apparently this is pretty common. Basically the front lines mushroom out a bit at the bottom of the fitting and need to be filed down. It is easy if you know it is coming. I didn't know though, but I guess mine were not bad enough to need to be filed, and was able to just crank them down a bit to stop the leaking. This will probably come back to bite me, so I fully expect to need to do this fix at some point, and might even need new SS lines from wilwood.




Bilstein B14 Coilovers

This was the easiest install. It took about 45 minutes to do the front and rear, and that includes jacking up the car. Adjusting the height took the most time. The fronts were fine out of the box, but the rears were stock height, and needed to be lowered a lot. I don't like the slammed look, the car is probably not as low as a lot of people like, but to me it is perfect. Getting new strut mounts and the NGEN top hats is a must, just factor that into the install from the start, trust me.



AEM Water/Meth Kit
I haven't actually finished this install yet. The tank and pump are mounted and I am working out the controller location now. I have a FMIC so I will be tapping into the IC piping just before the final bend to the TB. More details on this later... and more pictures.





Finished Look:

[alex500a]

Update on the water/meth: I originally used a 3" coupler with an 1/8 NPT bung built in, which was installed on the cold side FMIC tubing. I realized after installing the coupler and the nozzle that it was not only too low (should be above the tank) it was not a clean installation at all. Although this was an ideal distance from the TB (8-10") I will be moving to the Cravenspeed TB spacer that has an NPT port built in. It will be closer than ideal for the nozzle, but from what I have read there is basically no difference in performance for nozzle placement on our cars. Everything is actually installed and ready to go with the nozzle in the old location, I will just move it to the upper position when I get the TB spacer. The system was tested to flush out any debris, but I won't actually use it until I have it in the new location.

[Robert Nixon]

Thanks for all the updates, how are you liking the ride on the Bilsteins compared to stock?

[alex500a]

Thanks for all the updates, how are you liking the ride on the Bilsteins compared to stock?

It is a huge improvement, I actually feel that under most conditions the ride is MORE comfortable than stock. I am waiting for everything to adjust and then I will lower it a bit more in the rear probably. I drive through some pretty terrible industrial roads on the way to work so I want to keep the ride height manageable.

[Robert Nixon]

thanks for the feedback, I'm still going to install Koni's and thinking I want to also lower mine.

[alex500a]

thanks for the feedback, I'm still going to install Koni's and thinking I want to also lower mine.

Konis I am sure are a good choice. Had them on my miata.

Well finally wrapped up the Water/Meth install. I ended up pulling all the wires/vac/water line, wrapping it in this: http://amzn.to/2y5gtcd

Install went pretty well overall. It is kind of awkward setting up and testing the water injection system. I had the battery out to install the Cravenspeed throttle body spacer where I mounted the nozzle, and couldn't really get my hands in there to install the water line without the battery out, but needed the battery hooked up to test out the wiring and purge the system. Ended up buttoning everything up and leaving the line off, testing, and then jamming my hand down behind the TB to connect the water line. I mounted the nozzle on the bottom of the TB spacer, no other direction would work as the AEM nozzle is quite large.

There is active short detection in the pump which is probably not a problem for most people that have a trunk, but the constant buzzing is not going to be okay. Luckily you can turn it off. The pump is LOUD, again, something most people that have a trunk don't notice as much.

I can feel no difference in power, but I didn't expect to gain any power yet. In the 120+ Arizona heat there will be some benefits for sure, and a tune will be needed to see any real gain in power. I have it kick in at 12 PSI. I also went ahead an installed the MPx master cylinder brace I have had for like a year now. Super easy with the battery out (that is a must for this).

I'll post some pictures eventually, I took about a million the past two weeks.

[alex500a]

Well it has been a while.

Some news with the Bilsteins, I encountered a catastrophic failure with them, where the bolt that runs through the top hat broke off at the strut. Going to be escalating to both the company where I bought them and Bilstein.

The stock suspension is back on, and I don't really have any plans to modify the springs/struts anytime soon.

I do however have some new things.

I finally broke down and bought the Euro+Drive tune. The thing that pushed me over the edge was lack of any other real tuning options, and a desire to get the water/meth dialed in. I put in too large of a nozzle, and that combined with no tune, has made it basically a waste. The car will bog down unless I keep it from kicking on until almost max boost. And even then I think it is doing more harm than good.

I also got a axle back exhaust as phase 1 of replacing the full system. The plan is to do the El Gato exhaust for the turbo back to the axle.

I got the E+D today and ran into some issues right away flashing. This thing is super 90s, and the software is sketch. Not impressed so far but I've heard good things about the tune and I'm sure EC will square me away at some point.

I'm at about 40k miles, so she is getting up there.

[alex500a]

Okay once I got through the odd ECU flash process (I've never turned my car on and off so many times, seriously like 50 times) things got better, much better.

I have the P0 and P1 tune on the car now. I was eligible for the P2 based on my mods, and with the water injection I probably would have been fine, but decided on the lower power tune for some mechanical empathy.

Let me just say the P1 tune was definitely sufficient. I added the pops and bangs add-on and boy was that worth it. I was really worried that it was going to be super annoying but you don't get the pops and bangs ALL the time since the exhaust overrun really only kicks in when you are fairly high in the RPM range and intentionally let the car engine brake. It is a bit bangy on the highway when I'm sitting around 3500-4000, anytime I let off the throttle I get a few pops, but its cool, I enjoy it. Definitely not something I would want for a long road trip, but we would take my wife's car in that case.

The power is smooth, so much better than stock. It seems like day to day you can keep the same fuel efficiency, it is just when you mash the peddle that you suddenly feel like you have 8 cylinders, with the fuel efficiency to match.

Initially I had the V2.1 intake (open air) installed, but I bought the enclosed V4.1 since the PHX heat was definitely heat soaking the intake. The tune felt good with the V2.1, but with the V4.1 there was a noticeable increase in responsiveness and power. I could still hear the turbo plenty with it too.

As mentioned above I also moved from the 500cc nozzle (wtf was I thinking) to the 250cc nozzle for the water injection. The former definitely bogged down the car and caused all sorts of issues. The 250cc was perfect for the P1 tune. It may still be a bit much for the P0, but I don't think it bogs it down any. At least not that I can tell.

Overall so happy with the current set up of my car. I'll be getting the rest of the exhaust this summer, and the only thing I can really do after that is a larger turbo, which I have no plans for (I really don't think the stock engine can handle much more than what I have now, and all it would do is move the power band higher if I kept the same power).

Maybe some day way down the road I will throw in a new engine with internals to match a higher RPM and larger turbo and shoot for 300+ but that is years from now. I am going to switch my focus to suspension as I'm still running stock fronts and bilstein rears due to the front suspension issues.

[alex500a]

So I just ordered Koni Yellows for the front and rear. Will pair them with Eibach springs (Pro Kit) for a slight drop. I just didn't feel like it was worth going with coilovers again as I don't want to drop the car very much. The car is running great with the tune. The colder weather down here in PHX has been great. So much power.

I have been thinking in a year or so I'd sell the Fiat and get a Tacoma, but now I might just keep the Fiat and get the Tacoma Love this little car. Just wish it was a bit easier to make 300+

[alex500a]

So in a bit of a weak moment I decided to finish up my exhaust. I have just the Neu-F Y-Pipe, but I have ordered a downpipe with high-flow cat, and Neu-F mid-pipe. I threw in the Cravenspeed short shifter as well since I've been meaning to do that for some time now. I'm at 45k miles, I don't honestly know how much clutch I have left (feels good still) but I will probably hold off on all other modifications until then, as I plan to upgrade the clutch and flywheel which will be a bit pricey.

[alex500a]

I decided to stop pushing my luck and swap out the radiator and condenser that were damaged when I hit something driving home a few years ago. The damage looks pretty bad and somehow it managed to only push back the bumper support a bit and dent the condenser and radiator. Neither are leaking, but it is only a matter of time. Will throw on the new downpipe at the same time probably.

Honestly been considering a WRX lately, not much of a large community of Abarths in my area and I've always loved the WRX (and a pretty large community that goes along with it). I miss BSing with other owners back when I had a Miata, but want a bit more space than a Miata.

I'll keep the fiat at least through Christmas, it will be paid off then and I will weigh the options. The fiat isn't totally out of the running, but the 1.4 is pretty limited in overall power, and although I love the car, I want a big community to go along with it. (Not that the online community for the fiat isn't great).

[alex500a]

Wanted to update this for good measure:

Car: 2015 Fiat 500 Abarth ~300 miles on it. Purchased in May 2015. Currently has 46k miles.

Goals: Fun street car.

Planned Mods: For now I am installing modifications that I have already bought for the car... That said, the only thing I can really do at this point is go with a larger turbo and put in a new clutch. Neither of these things I have the time or money for at this point. So I am working to maintain the car in the best way, and have fun

Short Term
1. None - Plenty of mods to install first

Medium Term
1. None - Plenty of mods to install first

Long Term
1. Big Turbo, Clutch, Tune or Sell & Buy another car

Purchased Mods:
1. Rear seat delete
2. High Flow Cat
3. Mid-pipe
4. Not a mod, but need to install new condenser and radiator
5. Larger Water/Meth tank
6. Turbo Blanket

Installed Mods:
1. GFB DV+
2. EC V4.1
3. EC FMIC
4. 500 Madness Torsion Bar
5. Wilwood BBK
6. Koni Yellows
7. H&R Springs
8. AEM Water/Meth
9. E+D P0/1
10. Neu-F Y-Pipe
11. Alfa 4C Coils
12. Cravenspeed Short Shifter + Knob
13. Master Cylinder Brace