500 Abarth » Maintenance

Plug It Up

Jasey Michelle — Mon, 27 Apr 2015 18:09:00 +0000

With about 23k on the clock, and performance tunes having been flashed, I figured it may be a wise move to replace the stock spark plugs, gapping them to the narrower spec of .024″ (current plugs were also gapped this way).

NGK Laser Iridium SIKR9A7‘s

Laser!

Gap them critters to .024″

Unplugged

Old vs new. Not too bad.

Old plugs. Look pretty consistent with good coloring.

Re-Tired (and Wheeled)

Jasey Michelle — Sun, 21 Dec 2014 02:21:29 +0000

After last year’s beyond terrible winter performance from the stock Pirelli P7’s, I knew I wanted some true snow tires before the flakes came down this year. For ease of swapping over from Summer to Winter, I opted to have the 195/45R-16 Pirelli Winter Snowcontrol Serie 3 tires mounted on a separate set of silver 16×7 MSW Type 25 wheels.

To complete the winter trim, I also installed the R3T skidplate to help protect things, since the car is sitting even lower than last winter. I’m sure this all means it’s never going to snow ever again. Thank me later.

195/45R-16 Pirelli Winter Snowcontrol Serie 3

195/45R-16 Pirelli Winter Snowcontrol Serie 3 on MSW Type 25 Wheels

R3T Skid Plate Underside

R3T Skid Plate Top

R3T Skid Plate Installed

Winter wheels & tires

Winter Trim. Waiting for the snow

First Oil Swap

Jasey Michelle — Tue, 08 Apr 2014 03:12:47 +0000

At about 7200 miles, Fi started asking to have her oil changed. Well, the dash notification message popped up, that is. I’ve changed many an oil in my life, but this was my first time using a vacuum extractor instead of the drain plug. Worked pretty slick to suck it all out without crawling under the car, but it took a lot longer to extract than a normal drain would.

Mileage at the time of her first change

Pennzoil Euro 5w-40 synthetic

Sucking

Old oil filter vs new