Tuning 1368cc 16V FIRE Turbo (T-Jet) Uno conversion

[CLXCraig]

Awsome work lewey.

Just remembered you had accusump on the UT engine. you gonna fit it to this at a later date or not bother.

 

[lewey]

congratulations on getting it running lewey! I need ot crack on with mine, but no time at the moment is putting a stop to that! especially with the clio williams failing its MOT on a couple of bits which has taken recent time up! Along with my house which is EATING time away!

You made fantastic progress with this, puts me to shame! Mind u, im crap when it comes to wiring lol! everything else ok, wiring just confuses the hell outta me!

Dunc

Cheers. I have had quite a lot of time free recently outside of work, which really helps. I find its the packaging that takes all the time. I am weary to cut pipes until I am absolutely sure the other pipes can fit too. I had a couple of near misses with regards to this. Same goes for wiring for me. Only took a couple of evenings to get the wiring in the state it is in now. The tricky bit is packaging it all into the car, mounting the ECUs and doing final soldering with wires all measured up.

Awsome work lewey.

Just remembered you had accusump on the UT engine. you gonna fit it to this at a later date or not bother.

I do plan to. I need a one-way valve to fit into a loop I'll make using the taps that are already on the oil pump housing. Struggled to find one when I looked actually.

I presume the sumps are fairly well designed in terms of oil scavenging since there are plenty of videos of Punto/500 Abarths caning it around tracks and they seem OK. I'm not running full slicks or anything.

 

[nacnac]

Whilst looking for something yesterday I stumbled upon the other thread from when Lewis first picked up the car which then lead me to this.

It's so nice to see the car has gone to a deserving owner who can put the time in that it requires. Doing something similar to what Lewis is doing had gone through my mind around the time of the problems with the engine and I think makes perfect sense. I had just run out of any inclination to carry on with the project though.

Best of luck to you. For sure I will keep an eye on the progress in this thread!


Nathan Corridon

 

[alexGS]

I presume the sumps are fairly well designed in terms of oil scavenging since there are plenty of videos of Punto/500 Abarths caning it around tracks and they seem OK. I'm not running full slicks or anything.

Funny how you mentioned 'slicks' - I know what you mean there, after I fitted race tyres to my Uno Turbo, I suddenly had more of a problem with fuel surge (needs half a tank to guarantee fuel supply out of corners!) As for oil surge problems, I remember that with my 128 Coupe, the oil pressure warning light coming on in tight right-handers...

-Alex

 

[lewey]

Whilst looking for something yesterday I stumbled upon the other thread from when Lewis first picked up the car which then lead me to this.

It's so nice to see the car has gone to a deserving owner who can put the time in that it requires. Doing something similar to what Lewis is doing had gone through my mind around the time of the problems with the engine and I think makes perfect sense. I had just run out of any inclination to carry on with the project though.

Best of luck to you. For sure I will keep an eye on the progress in this thread!


Nathan Corridon

Cheers Nathan. Got any driving tips for the car?

 

[lewey]

I've spent the last two afternoons doing the mind-melting task of loom making and fitting it all behind the dash, etc. After a few mistakes that rendered the engine not starting and me bricking it, I have got there. The accelerator pedal needs mounting in position, but the electrics are in place and all fused up. In the end I used unused wires, relay sockets and fuse holders from the Uno itself. There seemed to be a lot of stuff unused for things like front fog lights, radio and other stuff I suppose.

I'm going to look at finishing the engine bay off tomorrow including things like fitting the rad fan, intake pipe and filter and chopping now surplus wiring.

Unfortunately, any chance of going for a spin has been scuppered by a local garage. A few posts previous I mentioned getting a clutch pipe flared. I took to said garage and said "flare the pipe as near as you want to the flexible part of this hose." We agreed on a fee of £5. There was a couple of feet of metal pipe coming from the flexi, but the guy chopped the pipe so short that he then couldn't fit it into any flaring tool he had. So that was that. Fortunately, I have already sourced a replacement and it should be coming in the post next week.

 

[MNabeih]

please guys, i want to ask about the Bonalumi kit for t-jet engines.

is it a good choise, knowing that it increases to 152 cv and 279 Nm (t-jet 120)?

and if it has any bad effects on the engine?????

 

[lewey]

please guys, i want to ask about the Bonalumi kit for t-jet engines.

is it a good choise, knowing that it increases to 152 cv and 279 Nm (t-jet 120)?

and if it has any bad effects on the engine?????

You are asking in the wrong section. You need to start a new thread in the Grande Punto, Bravo or Tech Talk section. In these sections you will find information that will tell you how you can get 170cv from a simple remap of your engine ECU.

 

[a73uk]

Lewey, as I said, you da man!

I`m of the same mind as Dunk, the wiring would do my head in, I know my Uno`s have less wiring behind the dash than my PC, but the 14yo Punto 90 has more wiring behind it than... something with a lot of wiring in it, God knows how much you`ve been dealing with!

Excellent work fella!

 

[johorridoh]

Wow, I was thinking a lot about a 16 V FIRE Engine in an FIAT UNO
There´s a guy in Germany who races a 4 WD-PANDA with a 16 V FIRE engine:
http://www.thiel-tuning.de/

Look at "FIRE 16V"

and the videos,

I love the sound

Now that I have a 1,3 Turbo and a UNO 75 I´m to busy to realise that idea myself.
Cool that you put a Turbo FIRE in your UNO ,great.
I do hope you´ll manage the task and have a good time racing.
Greetings Jo

 

[lewey]

There´s a guy in Germany who races a 4 WD-PANDA with a 16 V FIRE engine:
http://www.thiel-tuning.de/

Greetings.

Yeah, I have seen his stuff before. It's great. I have a Panda with a 1.4 16v in as well. Click on the picture in my signature for videos and more info.

 

[lewey]

I have just a couple of pipe clips to put on and a couple of wires to solder before a test drive. Unfortunately, I still can't drive it because of the clutch pipe I mentioned in post 86. I received the "replacement" today, but it is not the right fitment. I fear I may not have it ready for Sunday week's trackday now. Might have to bite the bullet and buy a new whole clutch pipe, just to get this flexi bit. Ouch. Does anyone know what the push fitment is? Is it a standard or just FIAT propriety? Where could I buy something else to help me out? I just need to convert from the push fitment to normal brake pipe. I've put the picture up here again for convenience.

 

[nacnac]

Cheers Nathan. Got any driving tips for the car?

Well I think I read your other car had one of the quaiff diffs so you are already probably pretty used to that. I found you can really put the power down much earlier, in fact you can be pretty brutal with the car out of the corners and it just slingshots itself out!

Other than that I don't really have much of an idea of how I managed to put those lap times in at Goodwood when it was in it's previous incarnation! I think it was more down to being young without much imagination!

Tightening up the links / stiffening the rear beam certainly made the back end more loose which is something to keep in mind too.

I did have one very good result in the wet with one of the fastest times of the day. I remember left foot braking to control the understeer. Yet again the time was probably more down to the stupidity of my youth though!

 

[lewey]

I have now basically finished the first incarnation of the conversion and it is theorectically ready to go other than the stupid clutch pipe problem. I thought I would run the car up and check the rad fan is working and generally for leaks and stuff again. Very quickly I realised a puddle of fluid underneath the gearbox. My investigation concluded that it was indeed gearbox oil coming out of a unplugged hole above the reverse switch. Further investigation has revealed that a bolt should be in there securing the reverse idler shaft the the case of the gearbox. In it's absence, oil will of course escape! On my spare gearbox I confirmed the bolt required and tried to fit one in, but it won't go in more than 15mm or so, rather than the 40mm it is suppsoed to.

So it looks like that having somehow just forgotten to put this bolt in, the idler shaft is now out of position due to the little stationary revving it has experienced or selecting reverse when the car was not running. The gearbox will have to come apart again to rectify this. At least it moves the frustrating clutch pipe issue away from being the show-stopper!

I don't have the time to do the repairs before the weekend now, so that really is it. I missed out on my target by a matter of days unfortunately, but the Panda will still be a laugh around Mallory anyhow. I am happy with the conversion (or at least it's potential) considering it has only taken 2 1/2 months.

I will take some pictures this weekend of what it looks like now before I pull it apart again the following weekend I expect.

 

[a73uk]

Hows this going Lewey? any luck with that pipe?

 

[lewey]

Hows this going Lewey? any luck with that pipe?

Time has stood still on the project due to consequtive engagements every weekend for the last 3 and also I accidently started another project of modifying a new shape Panda for use as my everyday car (see New panda section). Although I don't have the project vehicle yet, I just got carried away buying bits and researching electronics and the 500/Panda model differences in detail, for which there is little info out there in forums.

Back to the Uno. I want to finish it now, although I don't really want to use/test it at the moment! Obviously the cold weather is putting me off a little. I just got caught out trying to stick a 6-speed in the Panda and forced working in the snow was unpleasent.

The clutch pipe is a very hard thing to come accross used or from other models, be it FIAT or otherwise, so I will probably have to buy a new one from FIAT. The real work to get it running though is to remove the gearbox and rebuild it correctly. I plan to put my LSD in there too, which will require some resonably accurate measurement for the diff pinion preload. As I have no space in my garage due to overflow of FIAT parts new and old, I would have to do this outside or otherwise clear a space in the lounge... now there's an idea actually!

I think it won't be long though before a test drive. After that I reckon i will be thinking about making the dashboard display things properly. At the moment I am using two for testing. Could be tricky.

 

[lewey]

Got round to removing the gearbox today so I can rebuild it correctly this time and fit the LSD. Before I dismantled it all, I took the pictures I promised of what it all looks like when it's together. I'm bored of looking for the correct clutch pipe fitment for the slave cylinder, so I am biting the bullet and buying a new clutch pipe section from FIAT. Time is money and all that. I hope that during my xmas break I will find the time to rebuild the box and put it all back together again for a test drive. Woo hoo!

 

[lewey]

I retrieved the LSD from my "old" Uno Turbo box and rebuilt the GP T-Jet box with it in yesterday and today. The gears and syncros in the Uno box are all in first class condition and in conjunction with the final drive create some really nice high ratios, which are handy with the torque on offer from a modified turbo engine. I thought I would swap both shafts and all the gears over to the newer GP box, but it turns out that there have been modifications to the main and layshaft diameter that prevent you from doing so. The bearings that fit the Uno shafts do not fit in the newer GP casing, so that is that. It is quite an undertaking to remove all the gears from four shafts and then build two up again, so I though it best to just swap the crownwheels over and put the GP gears back in. I then knocked up a ratio comparison table to see what I'm missing. Should be OK, helped because I'm running 195/50 r15 tyres.

Other gearbox comparisons of interest
If you use the "FIRE" style (GP/ 500 Abarth) bellhousing, you have to use the newer main gearbox case too because there are double the number of holes to fit the two parts together along with small casting changes. Overall dimensions and general mounting positions are unchanged though when you use UT mounts and the UT end plate as seen in bottom left of photo above. You have to use the concentric slave clutch cylinder as there is no hole or mount for a lever at all. There is no provision for a speedometer gear. Indeed, you have to remove the large speedometer drive gear on the differential itself or it won't fit in the slightly tighter gear case surprisingly.

Aim to put it all back together on the car on Saturday and fit the clutch hydraulic system together and bleed that and the brakes (same reservoir). Whether or not there will be time or I am ready for a run on Sunday, we will have to see!

 

[a73uk]

Good to hear you got the clutch hose & the gearbox is coming together, looking forward to the next instalment!

 

[lewey]

I may have everything I need to complete it now, but my health. Been ill for a week with a virus and it means it will be a little while before I get back into the swing of things. Very annoying!