Trackday 2!!

I have another trackday lined up for the 15th august, and will be taking the cinq out on track again. This time its the full international track in mondello!!

Again, I will strip out some of the interior, cos less weight = better handling, and after talking to a few people will be getting a custome rear brace made, as the rear seat actually stiffens up the rear suspension a small bit. Every little helps.

Plan before the trackday is to change the oil, filter and coolant as it was running a little hot last time.

I have also fitted a cam to the cinq, from the punto 75, which has made some difference up the rev range.

The track day should be good fun! Pictures and video to follow!

Autotesting

Did some autotesting in the cinq! It was a beginners event organised by TDC (http://www.tdcireland.org/) in stepaside. It was good fun. Driving as fast as possible through obstacles in reverse was allways going to be great!!

This is definately something I will do more off in the future!!

track day!!

well, on 28th april i took to the track in the cinq. Mondello park, co Kildare.
I enjoyed meself, and the cinq surprised a few people and didnt miss a beat. The suspension is not up to trashing on track, and i need more power.

Apart from that it was a great day, and im looking forward to the next one!




some youtube on board footage here - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fo7dn9kIVUY

compact Disks!

It was a nice evening last night, and i thought I needed a brake, (hahaha) but I ended up with two.

Horrible old disks off, shiney new disks and pads on!

just need to bed them in now! Did 60 miles last night - another few miles should do the trick.




















you can see the bottom of the new apex strut in the background
Ive done about 100 miles with the apex suspension, and it really sharpens the car up.

spring is in the air

saturday 12/04/08, box of bits in the garage, lovely sunny day, what will I do? I know, ill fit the shocks and springs. This was the first time i had done this, so with haynes manual in hand and armed with all sorts of sockets, spanners, a big hammer and some wd40 i set to work! 3 hours later I had the front and rear shocks and springs done.















The apex kit lowers about 30 - 40 mm all round, which i think gives a nice stance. there is also a noticeable decrease in body roll and understeer, which is good.















Strut brace was next. This was a bit fiddly as it required moveing the battery back about an inch in its tray. but i got it on handily enough after that.















Next installement - Brake disks, lines and pads.

christmas?

look what turned up yesterday morning!

(Curry) Chip!

Received an uprated chip today - ups torque by about 10 - 12% throughout the rev range. Need to find an ecu now, so I will have a trackday ecu.

Also, received an email saying my suspension and brakes are on the way!
Im gonna be busy at the weekend....

new shoes?

yes, new shoes. Handbrake was a bit iffy, and cable was adjusted pretty much as much as possible, so after checking the inspection hole, i decided new shoes were needed. I went with OEM fiat ones, so far they seem ok!

Remove wheel, remove shoes, remove seized handbrake linkage, fit new shoes, free up, greese up handbrake linkage and fit it all back together. Repeat on other side, adjust handbrake cable and wahey, it all works!!

brake fluid

30/03/2008

The brakes on the cinq were a bit spongy, and as it was coffee brown in colour, I decided to change the brake fluid. Got a one way bleed kit for 6 quid in local motor factors, and bled the brakes. Nothing exciting, but it made a huge difference to the feel - no more squishy pedal, but instead a more positive feel. A huge improvement over what was there before. Need to do the rear shoes, and will be changing the pads and disks up front in the next week or so.

Anyway - some pics!!

Front wheel off!!















Master cylinder

















Old fluid (It should be a light gold colour - rather than manky brown)

23/03/2008

So Im there looking at the cinq, and thinking that I wont actually be carrying anyone in the back, so, 20 minutes later















Hmmm, that was easy, maybe ill take out some more...
















OOOPS!!!!! Too much.

I gave the carpets, seats and the inside a hoover and put everything back in. 14 bolts in total holding in all the seats, and about 20 minutes to s trip them out. I think that maybe when I get the buckets the back seats will be gone permanently.

Fiat cinquecento sporting

21/03/2008

Good friday indeed. I got a call from my local garage who had a cinq sporting in stock. He knew I was on the look out for one! Went down and had a look, went for a test drive and handed over the cash.

So now, I have a 1997 imola blue cinquecento sporting sat in my driveway!