The Italian Supercar

[Abarth Handler]

Well I thought I would start a build page on my daily driver/project car. My goal is to keep it drive-able with about 250whp. The car is a 2013 Fiat 500C Abarth with about 21K on the clock at purchase and I am the 2nd owner. Its Black exterior with the Rosso Red leather interior with every option available in 2013 including that awful tomtom GPS which was the first thing to go. The only thing aftermarket when purchased were some all-weather weather tech style floor mats and a Neu-F intake. Hopefully this will be a fun build and so far its already fun to drive. I only have one picture of it as if now but that will change.


Currently installed mods.
-Exterior:
Factory Red Abarth stripe and side mirror caps
Abarth Chrome Tag cover
Custom NC tag reading 83.5 C.I. (lol)
-Interior:
Aries III 3D All Weather Floor Mats
-Suspension:
Factory 17" Forged Alum. rims with General G-Max AS-03 tires
-Engine and Driveline Performace:
Neu-F Intake with custom made cowl induction attachment
Go Fast Bits Diverter +
Sila Intercooler
Neu-F Torque Arm Insert
EuroCompulsion Boost Leak Fix

[Abarth Handler]

Now I'm going to make a post of what I've added to the car. First off was the Neu-F torque arm insert which was pretty easy (on a lift) to install. It definitely helped with a lot of driveline movement when leaving the line hard but added some vibration taking off but I've gotten use to it. Next up was the boost leak fix kit from EC. I could not tell any drive-able difference with the boost leak fix and everyone once in a while when the car is bleeding off the fuel vapors I get a engine light but I have not gotten one in a while but its been very cold and from what I've read it doesn't test the system when it's been this cold. Next was new tires as the factory Pirelli's had run there course. I chose the General GMax AS-03 for the cost and good all around performance. I can tell you so far that they ride a lot better than the Pirelli's and are great in the rain and light snow we recently had in NC but they do feel a bit giving under hard cornering. The car came with a Neu-F intake installed by the PO. I have modified the intake by taking some 2" flexible 2ply silicone brake duct and moving the air filter into the cowl area like the ATM Howly Cowl intake. I can say that its definitely pulling in nice cold air but I can tell you that because under acceleration and over 70 mph the intake is all you can hear. I've actually bought a EC V3 intake that I'm going install when I can. And lastly I've gotten somewhat lucky and was able to plunder a repo'd Abarth and swapped the factory intercooler system for a Sila Intercooler. It's not the best FMIC on the market but after I figured out how to correctly install it, as who ever previously installed was a idiot, I can say that the car does fell like it pulls harder down low from the quicker spool times, but that could also come from the GFB+ diverter that I scored from the same car. I have been logging my drives intake temps so time will tell if the intercooler is any better than stock, but I can say for now the two together, intercooler and diverter +, the car does feel to pull harder down low and hold power better.

[Abarth Handler]

Well I decided to upgrade my headlights and decided to go LED. I bought the Morimoto 2Stroke LED Buld kit for 9012 bulbs for the headlight. I have done HID kits before and decided to try out LEDs and this company has a rep for making great products so I decided to give them a shot. The output is definitely brighter but the output seems to be less focused. I think this is due to the fact that the bulbs have two LEDs facing away from each other vs the factory halogen or even HID bulbs give out light in 360 degrees and that is how the factory projector is designed to have light input and redirect the light forwards. So in short there is no good way to use any drop in LED light bulb kit as they cannot produce the light the way the factory projector is designed to use the light. Anyway I live in well lit cities and towns so I don't regularly use my high beams and I don't really know how well these output in high beam mode. As for the low beams these have been doing just fine. The install was a pain as the back of the bulbs have fans built into them to keep them cool and the stick out the back of the housing. The kit comes with extenders so you can install the bulbs in the housing while keeping the housings sealed up. We don't have much room behind our headlights for this extension but with a bit of work I go them to fit. So far I have enjoyed them but in the future I will use HIDs instead, unless the housing is designed for LEDs.

[Tweak]

Having owned and using a HID kit since fall 2013 and having tried about 5 LED kits I agree with your findings. Looking AT the car LED looks GREAT but output or mostly the reach is lacking too much for my area since I live a bit outside of town.

My HID setup reaches over twice as far compared to LED but what you have looks nice and being in a well lit area opens up a nice option for you!

Now you need some 7443 PIAA Xtreme white bulbs for the DRL for around $15 to have them closely match the color temps of the LED setup.