500 Abarth

Catch Me if You Can

Jasey Michelle — Sat, 16 May 2015 01:39:28 +0000

With a turbo engine, a bit of blow by is the nature of the beast. An oil catch can can catch that oil and keep it out of the PCV and intake system. AAD produced a beautiful unit that also allows for the relocation of the PCV. Time will tell how much oil gets collected.

Beautifully designed unit. Anodized red; the fastest color.

The fittings

Filter material

The can itself

Installed with the supplied bracket to existing mounting holes

Glamor Shots

Racked

Jasey Michelle — Sun, 10 May 2015 19:38:57 +0000

Having two sets of wheels, one with summer, and one with winter tires mounted, is awesome when the seasons change. But a stack of wheels taking of space in the corner of the garage isn’t so awesome. A couple 2×4’s quickly solves this problem, and I can now store them in an out of the way space above the garage door.

Cut & ready to assemble

Basic assembly complete

Ready to be mounted

Mounted above the garage door

Wheels & tires all nice & cozy!

Out of the way, but still easy to access

Insert Torque Here

Jasey Michelle — Sat, 02 May 2015 19:15:28 +0000

Time to eliminate some slop from the drivetrain and install the Neu-f torque arm insert. This insert fills the voids in the stock rubber bushing, providing a more responsive engine and helping to eliminate wheel-hop, while introducing only a minimal amount of NVH (noise, vibration, and harshness). You’ll notice the extra vibration at idle and taking off slowly from a stop at first, but after quickly getting used to this, the mod is well worth it.

Overall, the install is pretty straight-forward. Dropping down the exhaust slightly by unbolting at the downpipe and popping off one rubber hanger is necessary in order to access and remove the two bolts holding the arm in place.

Everybody loves car parts in red!

Unbolting the exhaust from the downpipe is simple, and makes installing the insert easy

Arm without the insert. Rust prevention provided by this nice slow leak.

Loosening of one bolt, and removal of the other drops the arm down

Ready for the insert!

The insert just slides right in

Like a glove!

Bolted back up with the insert in place

Insert complete

Spacing Out

Jasey Michelle — Fri, 01 May 2015 21:47:27 +0000

Fiona asked if her stance could look a bit meaner. She’s already as low as I dare go, so spacing out her wheels a bit should do the trick. I went with 10mm Eibach hub centric spacers in all four corners.

Stacked!

Piled

10mm Spacers

Space in place

German on Italian

Getting spaced

Rump in the air

Spaced out and ready to roll

Embrace El Brace

Jasey Michelle — Thu, 30 Apr 2015 15:29:07 +0000

Beeftacular chassis braces from El Gato Engineering! Stiff doesn’t even begin to describe these robust works of art.

The EL Gato Chassis Braces

Look at those angles. And that cat!

On the back

Stock stamped steel on the passenger side

Passenger side comparison

Once of these might be just a bit stronger than the other.

Passenger side mounted up

Stock driver’s side

Driver’s side comparison

Driver’s side mounted up

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.

Summer’s Here! Well, Tires Are

Jasey Michelle — Fri, 13 Mar 2015 03:22:46 +0000

This March is actually turning out to be quite nice! A stint of unseasonably warm weather has caused me to throw caution to the wind, and do away with the winter wheels and tires for the season. Hopefully I don’t regret this decision in a couple weeks.

Since the stock Pirelli’s were nearly slicks after 20k, a new set of rubber was in order. I opted for a set of 205/45ZR-16 BFG g-Force Sport COMP-2‘s.

Just so you know, you can fit 8 tires into a 500! Fortunately, I didn’t have to drive far in the configuration (the tire shop was just up the road), since visibility to the right and rear was pretty much zero. I needed to have the stock tires dismounted from the factory wheels, and the new tires mounted up.

Why didn’t I just swap over the wheels in advance, so I would only have needed to take the new tires to the shop? Because I don’t trust any shop to put Fiona on a lift, nor lay a socket on her lug bolts, that’s why! I swapped the wheels over myself as soon as I return home Then found some corners in need of carving.

Gotta love these deliveries from tirerack.com

Groovy!

Tread for days

205/45ZR-16 BFG g-Force Sport COMP-2

Cleaning up the factory wheels

Loaded to the gills! 8 tires and 4 wheels in there

So much room to spare

Buckle up!

Not the most talkative passenger

Over the top

Nothing to see here, officer

Let’s swap!

It’s go time!

Ugh, Winter Sucks

Jasey Michelle — Thu, 05 Feb 2015 03:57:55 +0000

Is it spring yet!? Pretty please!?

Such filth!

Sorta clean, for the next 5 minutes

No Mo Snow!

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

Intake it to the Extreme

Jasey Michelle — Sat, 22 Nov 2014 04:07:58 +0000

Colder air = better air, no matter how you slice it. Getting cool air into the intake becomes even more of a challenge when you have a turbo heating the air as it’s compressed (remedied by the intercooler), as well as heating the engine bay while it’s doing its job (solved by intake placement).

ATM came up with an innovate design that places the filter down in the bumper, where cool air is readily available, and then requires just a short, direct run to get to the turbo. The only thing in the way of this design (after the stock intercoolers are removed, and replaced with their front mount unit) is the windshield washer reservoir. So, add a simple remote-mount tank and bracket, and we’re ready to rock & roll!

K&N Filter with venturi

ATM Intake Tubing

Remote Reservoir & Bracket Kit

Remote Washer Reservoir

Remote Washer Reservoir & Filler Neck

Intake placement from the front

Intake Installed

Intake Installed Close-Up

Apex Washer reservoir installed

Washer reservoir filler hose routing

Washer Reservoir filler

Final Installation

Draggin

Jasey Michelle — Mon, 22 Sep 2014 01:45:43 +0000

First visit to the 1320 with the Abarth. Cordova in Illinois. Got in a handful of runs this afternoon and it was pretty consistent. Was hoping it’d go a bit quicker though, and I’m not happy at all with my 60ft’s, which is part of the problem. Car was in full street trim with stock 16″ wheels & tires.

Best time of the day was 14.651 @ 94.56mph and 14.717 @ 95.17 had the highest mph. Full slip and relevant mod list below.

Relevant mods when these runs were made

K&N cone filter intake
ATM front mount intercooler
Uni-Chip Stage 2
MPx axle-back exhaust
MPx bored throttlebody
MPx lightened underdrive crank pulley
Neuspeed lowering springs

First Anniversary

Jasey Michelle — Sun, 14 Sep 2014 19:35:23 +0000

Today it’s been exactly 1 year and 14,500 miles since Fi came home. Made a quick stop back to the same location where I took photos her first night home. Here’s the comparison shots. Much better sky last year; much better car this year.

Exhausted

Jasey Michelle — Mon, 11 Aug 2014 00:05:17 +0000

Quite a few mods have been happening over the summer. Maybe I’ll get around to posting in more detail about them soon. They include a UniChip, rear swaybar, blow-off valve, underdrive pulley and bored TB. But this post is regarding the MPX axle-back exhaust I just installed. This kit was just released by MPx, and NGEN Customs & Performance was running a deal on it that was too good to pass up!

MPX Exhaust Assembled

MPX Exhaust Kit

MPX Exhaust Tips

Stock Exhaust

Stock exhaust ready to come out

Stock exhaust removed

MPX Exhaust Installed

MPX exhaust installed and back on the ground

10K

Jasey Michelle — Sun, 29 Jun 2014 07:57:30 +0000

Big day… rolled over 10k. Happened while cruising through Ledges State Park. Well, trying to cruise through anyway. Most of the roads are currently closed due to flooding.

Tints

Jasey Michelle — Tue, 03 Jun 2014 07:46:37 +0000

I couldn’t handle the the bright interior and looks of the car without tint any longer, so I made an appointment at Best Window Tinting, who did a great job of slapping on 50% on the sides, and 35% on the back 3. I decided not to go as dark as my other cars (35% sides, 5% back) to make this a bit more subtle and hopefully not get hassled by the troopers.

Just a few crappy driveway pics for now…

Cobblestoned

Jasey Michelle — Sat, 31 May 2014 04:07:49 +0000

Just a few updated shots of Fi showing how she sits as of tonight

Going Down

Jasey Michelle — Fri, 30 May 2014 03:41:31 +0000

I held out for as long as I could, but it was time to shrink some gaps and get Ri’s undercarriage closer to the Earth.

After much deliberation, I decided to go with the Neuspeed Neu-f springs, as they seemed to be the best balance of looks & performance, without going so low as to have clearance problems with driveways and rough roads.

The install is actually quite simple, without the need for a spring compressor. Air tools make the whole process only a couple hour job, but it can be accomplished with only hand tools without too much more effort.

So, what’s the verdict? Haven’t put on a ton of miles yet, but so far the ride feels great. Solid, but not harsh, and stable in the corners. As for looks, you be the judge!

Neuspeed Neu-F Abarth springs

Neu-F vs stock rear spring. Note, the rear spring already had a coil cut off

Neu-f vs stock front spring

Rear springs installed. 2 bolts. A monkey could do this blindfolded.

New front spring installed on the stock strut

Spring & strut installed back in the 500

Finishing up. Also took this opportunity to rotate the tires

Lowered and back on all fours

Surprisingly small set of tool requirements. The impact isn’t necessary, but speeds things up immensely!

Lowered and freshly washed!

Dat ass

Ready to go

A Time for Stripes

Jasey Michelle — Mon, 21 Apr 2014 03:32:19 +0000

I’m not normally one to fancy flashy graphics on a vehicle. However, I think FIAT did a great job the stock ABARTH side stripes. Fi didn’t come pre-striped, which I suppose is good, as it’s an overpriced dealer option. Even buying the stripes from the dealer to install yourself is in the neighborhood of $250. Since I didn’t feel like getting bent over, my search lead me to a member of the FIAT 500 USA Forum who cuts custom vinyl who I persuaded to whip me up a sweet set (Thanks!).

Stripes, ready for the install

It’s laid out like that

Drivers side done!

Peel it!

Almost done

Stripes: Complete!

Now I match the gas pump. Mission accomplished.

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

Pack it In

Jasey Michelle — Wed, 19 Mar 2014 03:06:11 +0000

As a pro photog, hauling lots-o-gear is something Fi must get used to. With the rear seats down, and careful packing, she’ll hold a decent amount. Even fits a 9′ roll of seamless paper… after I sawed a foot off the end of the roll

Ready for some football team headshots

Roll of seamless paper just barely fits diagonally

Indy Snowpocalypse

Jasey Michelle — Wed, 08 Jan 2014 04:02:37 +0000

Drove out to Indy to photograph the Chiefs vs Colts playoff game. Didn’t count on getting stuck there for a few extra days…

In the parking lot, after already being cleaned off at least once. Still coming down.

On the way home. Roads still beyond terrible

Back from the Body Shop… and Going Back Again :(

Jasey Michelle — Thu, 28 Nov 2013 03:54:46 +0000

Fi is back from the body shop… body work looks good, but I unfortunately can’t say the same for the paint. Loaded with fisheyes Oh, and the passenger side exterior door handle doesn’t work. And the rocker molding didn’t adhere properly.

She’ll be going back in for another spray, as well as rocker molding replacement next week.

Fisheye city

Repair lines are clean

I’ve Been Hit! :(

Jasey Michelle — Sat, 23 Nov 2013 00:36:21 +0000

Sad, sad day. Only 2 months and 3,800 miles on the clock, and the Abarth gets nailed.

Long story short, the other driver admitted 100% fault, and less than 24 hours later, I had an $1,800 check from his insurance company. Damage mostly contained to the rear quarter panel, with some scratching on the ground effects and bumper.

As of today, she’s already in primer. Should be finished before Thanksgiving.

Short Shiftin

Jasey Michelle — Wed, 20 Nov 2013 00:03:52 +0000

Even though the stock shifter is pretty decent, and the height is perfect for me, the throw between the gears is way to long and sloppy.

Neuspeed has a simple fix for this problem with an adapter that changes the the angle of the cable attachment, reducing the throw by 25%. It’s called the Neu-F Short Shift Adapter.

neu-F Abarth Pieces

neu-F Abarth Halves

neu-F Abarth adapter bolted together

neu-F Abarth adapter bolted together, showing slot for shifter arm

Popping open the console

Test fitting. Requires minor filing to the edges of the stock arm

neu-F Abarth Adapter mounted

neu-F Abarth Adapter Mounted

Cable re-installed

Finished product. Looks stock, but feels much better!

Down with the Darkness

Jasey Michelle — Sun, 17 Nov 2013 23:59:56 +0000

Dark alley’s are where it’s at!

Piddle

Dumpster driving

Yes, it fits

Mr. Clean

Jasey Michelle — Sat, 16 Nov 2013 23:42:37 +0000

Spent the day getting the exterior ready and protected for winter. Yes, she’s going to be my winter car as well.

Washed, then clay-barred the exterior before applying two coats of Xzilon coating. It’s molecularly-bonded! Just like K.I.T.T.! Also applied Aquapel treatment to the glass after using their cleaner.

Clay, Quick Detailer, Xzilon & Aquapel

As clean as she can look in the dirty garage

Falling

Jasey Michelle — Sat, 09 Nov 2013 04:18:05 +0000

Leaves, leaves everywhere.

Just a 500 and some leaves in the drive

Plated

Jasey Michelle — Wed, 30 Oct 2013 20:02:44 +0000

After my plates came in the mail, and I was tagged as “BUB 558″, it was most definitely time to submit the application for a personalized plate. In Iowa, it’s a $25 application process, then an additional $5/yr on top of your normal registration. The form allows you to make up to 5 choices, and they’ll choose the first one that isn’t already taken, and isn’t something scandalous.

My choices in order were:
1) ABARTH
2) 4B4RTH
3) 5OO
4) 5OOA
5) GRIGIO

After an arduous 3 weeks of uncertainly, the notice came in the mail. My plates were ready for pickup! “ABARTH” was already taken, so I was issued “4B4RTH”. Much better than “BUB”

4B4RTH Plate

Can’t Resist the Mods

Jasey Michelle — Tue, 08 Oct 2013 01:15:51 +0000

My other vehicles are far from stock. The ’94Z has a cammed 3400 engine swap with longtube headers for example. So, how long can I keep the Abarth stock? Apparently, 3 weeks.

Starting things off simple. Just a replacement intake pipe and the cool chrome fuel filler. Will try to hold off on anything else until after winter, but no promises!

Why did I just go for the replacement aluminum pipe, rather than a full cone intake system? The stock system draws in cool air from behind the headlight, and appears quite efficient, aside from the bit of a bottleneck in the piece I’ve replaced. The other aftermarket systems seem to lose this “ram air” advantage, and some route the intake pipe right over the turbo, causing a drastic increase in IAT (Intake Air Temperature).

Stock intake system

Intake pipe replaced

Chrome fuel filler waiting to be installed

Stock fuel filler cap

Chrome Fuel Filler Installed

New chrome fuel filler installed. Requires removal of inner fender liner to access the bolts to remove the stock filler door

Feelin’ Dirty

Jasey Michelle — Sun, 29 Sep 2013 03:03:09 +0000

I’ve owned Cavaliers since 1997. That’s my high school days! I still own two of them today. My 1992 Z24 was purchased in ’98 and my 1994 Z24 acquired in ’03. I used to run the biggest site on the net for the 2nd gen Cavaliers, v6z24.com, until selling the site in recent years.

I’ve continued to organize a yearly “bash” for members of the site together. This is the 11th annual event, and the first year that I’ll be attending sans-Cavalier. Unfortunately neither of my J-Body beasts were up for making the trip this year. Scandalous, I know.

Here’s the little Abarth nestled in amongst some bigger little cars.

With some Cavs

3 whole feet shorter than a Cavalier

Still the same width as a Cav

Ooh, Nova

KC Bound

Jasey Michelle — Sun, 15 Sep 2013 13:11:36 +0000

The Abarth’s first road trip comes the next day. It’s a Kansas City Chiefs are at home this Sunday, and I’m a photographer for all their games. Looks like rain today.

Forgot to take a photo of the ODO right after purchase. This is about 60 miles later

Threesome

Jasey Michelle — Sat, 14 Sep 2013 20:15:32 +0000

My toys… Here’s the threesome. The new 2013 Abarth with the ’94 Z24 and ’77 Kawasaki KZ900. Never mind the weeds…

She’s Mine

Jasey Michelle — Sat, 14 Sep 2013 09:30:12 +0000

Less than 24 hrs since first setting eyes on the Abarth, the papers were being signed. Time to make room in the ~~stable~~ garage. Just two of us at home. 5 vehicles. Sounds about right

Here she is up at Saylorville her first night home.

Head in the clouds

Dat ass

Sittin tall. A bit too tall… She could use a drop :)

The Test Drive

Jasey Michelle — Fri, 13 Sep 2013 12:00:22 +0000

Stopped on a whim to stop by Billion Fiat over lunch to see how the Abarth looked in person. There were 5 on the lot; 2 nero (black) and 3 grigio (gray). Never should have agreed to the test drive… there is no going back now.