Post by oldschool on Mar 31, 2007 7:06:19 GMT
Before going any further the first question to be asked is whether a fun car is required or a car to show the technical spec and fill it with clutter such as ICE install that can't ever be utilized and weigh in at up to 20% of the cars total weight.
To get a car moving all that counts is the power to weight and the torque to weight ratio at the wheels (obviously up to the point the wheels start spinning). Weight reduction will not only help acceleration but also cornering speeds to mention only 2 performance factors.
The Cinquecento weighs about 750kg with Sunroof. With driver and some bare necessities this increases to no more than 850kg. At a peak power of 54bhp this equates to a power to weight ratio of over 63bhp per ton. Adding another 150kg of any installments decreases the power to weight ratio to 54bhp per ton. To eliminate the weight penalty and getting it back to the standard car power to weight ratio peak power output would have to be raised to 63bhp. Same goes for the torque.
Individual performance enhancing solutions from £0 to £100
The cheapest one is weight reduction. About 50kg can be removed before it is seen or affects comfort. This gets the power to weight ration up to over 67bhp per ton.
A panel replacement filter will be in the region of £30 or slightly more and gives depending on quality 1-2bhp more (except sponges, which might take power away).
Properly designed induction kits will see around 3-4bhp improvement and will be near the £100. The induction alone will raise the power to weight to 67+bhp and together with a weight reduction raise to 71+bhp per ton.
A modified throttle body will give on its own about the same sort of improvement as will a chip. The throttle body will be around £80 and the chip £50-£100.
Individual performance enhancing solutions from £100 to £250
You can get for this either a Supersprint back box, which is the best box when it comes to improvement per pound. The Fiat back boxes are pretty bad in these days, which means that peak power will improve by about 3+bhp. Some of the cars being first registered before 31. of July 1995 can be legally de-cated as they do not need a cat test. This can be found out when going to the MOT. A de-cat pipe doesn't cost much and will help.
Otherwise a sports cat might be considered, which will set the owner back by about £200.
Solutions in excess of £250
With a Supersprint system, sports cat, induction, re-profiled cam, mildly ported head, high compression and skim the peak power can easily raised to just over 80bhp, where the injector will run out of puff. This increases the power to weight ratio to over 94bhp per ton and when additionally doing a tame weight reduction it will end up with at about 100bhp per ton. To go further than 80bhp will get very costly but can be done. The 1108 group N engine had a peak power output of about 120bhp and the slightly over-bored version (1146) group A1 engine had a staggering 157bhp.
To get a car moving all that counts is the power to weight and the torque to weight ratio at the wheels (obviously up to the point the wheels start spinning). Weight reduction will not only help acceleration but also cornering speeds to mention only 2 performance factors.
The Cinquecento weighs about 750kg with Sunroof. With driver and some bare necessities this increases to no more than 850kg. At a peak power of 54bhp this equates to a power to weight ratio of over 63bhp per ton. Adding another 150kg of any installments decreases the power to weight ratio to 54bhp per ton. To eliminate the weight penalty and getting it back to the standard car power to weight ratio peak power output would have to be raised to 63bhp. Same goes for the torque.
Individual performance enhancing solutions from £0 to £100
The cheapest one is weight reduction. About 50kg can be removed before it is seen or affects comfort. This gets the power to weight ration up to over 67bhp per ton.
A panel replacement filter will be in the region of £30 or slightly more and gives depending on quality 1-2bhp more (except sponges, which might take power away).
Properly designed induction kits will see around 3-4bhp improvement and will be near the £100. The induction alone will raise the power to weight to 67+bhp and together with a weight reduction raise to 71+bhp per ton.
A modified throttle body will give on its own about the same sort of improvement as will a chip. The throttle body will be around £80 and the chip £50-£100.
Individual performance enhancing solutions from £100 to £250
You can get for this either a Supersprint back box, which is the best box when it comes to improvement per pound. The Fiat back boxes are pretty bad in these days, which means that peak power will improve by about 3+bhp. Some of the cars being first registered before 31. of July 1995 can be legally de-cated as they do not need a cat test. This can be found out when going to the MOT. A de-cat pipe doesn't cost much and will help.
Otherwise a sports cat might be considered, which will set the owner back by about £200.
Solutions in excess of £250
With a Supersprint system, sports cat, induction, re-profiled cam, mildly ported head, high compression and skim the peak power can easily raised to just over 80bhp, where the injector will run out of puff. This increases the power to weight ratio to over 94bhp per ton and when additionally doing a tame weight reduction it will end up with at about 100bhp per ton. To go further than 80bhp will get very costly but can be done. The 1108 group N engine had a peak power output of about 120bhp and the slightly over-bored version (1146) group A1 engine had a staggering 157bhp.