Very nice, congratulations..

Cheers Omran & cario

The car is almost ready. The car will get a nice clean and polish from outside and inside in the next few days and I'll take it to the technical inspection (MOT) next week. If evrything is fine I shall drive it home... finally

Here are some pics:



The gauges in action:

AEM Wideband AFR on Startup

AEM Wideband AFR - Car is Working (Fluctuating a lot, is that normal? )

Defi Gauges on Startup

I think the lambda value was the same on the Widget. Up and down and up and so on......

congratulations Hani,,,,

i like the gauges soo much & i would really like to sit in it

nice progress continue the good job Hani

@ Freddan72, I know it should fluctuate but I thought it was fluctuating a lot . It seems normal to me now

@ Omran, soon mate

@ leugim_21, thanks mate

Nice gauges Hani, looks like you have been copying me, as i have the exactly same gauges (oil pressure, boost and exhaust temp)

EDIT : noticed you have fuel pressure, not oil pressure

Thanks Alexis

and we both have very long Coupé projects

Congratulations Hani

I'm sure you'll be on the road very soon

Let us know mate!

nice!!!

Took the car to the tehnical inspection (MOT) yesterday and it wasn't a good day

I had tow issues:

1- Brakes completely failed during the test (on the test rollers) and I heared an air venting sound from the brakes. Also, the brake pedal got too hard. I got the car towed back to Fiat workshop. I think the brake master cylinder failed but I'm waiting a confirmation from the workshop.

2- The car passed the emissions test at idle. However, when pressing the gas pedal, there is a small amount of black smoke coming from the exhaust. I think the car is running rich and it has a rough idle. I'm using a 3.8 bar FPR on standard injectors and stock ECU/chip, can this cause overfuelling or the ECU can adapt the bigger FPR?

Also, the workshop is suspecting than one of the ignintion coils is not working well and causing the rough idle.

Any thoughts on fuelling issue?

Note: The nice thing yesterday was that I drove the car for the 1st time since 07-Dec-2004 and the paddle clutch was fun to drive for the 1st time

The ECU doesn't work well with bigger injectors. I recommend you to install OE injectors and FPR if you are planning to drive the car for a while before you install the Flea map.
I tried bigger injectors with Gtec2. The boost pressure was much better when I reinstalled the OE injectors. I was really surprised to see that the boost pressure went up without doing any changes to the EBC.

But now I understand that I got a better burn and more exhausts so the turbo spooled up better.

Thanks Freddan.

Maybe I wasn't clear, I have standard injectors, 3.8 FPR and stock ECU/chip

I thought it said bigger injectors yesterday. I was too tired, my mistake

Of course if you hold more fuel then it will overfuel. It's simple as that. But the system adapt so in the long run you will run lean.

he he finaly its works nice job Hani

No worries Freddan

Thanks leugim

Barbz will send me a brake master cylinder and a brake servo so I can fit them and go for the MOT again next week. He will also send me some good coils as it might help the idle and the black smoke issue and as suspected by the workshop people.

Here is the car on the sad MOT day

Mission Accomplished...

Bad luck is chasing me, I drove the car for 1 day only

While driving the car, it stalled and wouldn't start again. I suspected the battery as it was rated @ 66Amp one which was 4 months old and not used a lot so I thought it was dead.

I replaced the battery with Bosch one rated @ 74Amp and drove the car back to the Bosch service centre and while driving the airbag warning light came out followed by the ABS warning light. The other gauges started to flash and the car wanted to stall and it actually stalled 5mtrs from Bosch service centre and wouldn't start again

Anyway, I asked them to check the electrical system on the car. Car is started via jump leads and checked by a meter which says "9.6 volt, too low". It should be around 14volt, it's an alternator problem

I'm not sure if this problem is due to the grounding kit that I installed recently. I need to check all the connections again

Another problem, I found my fuel tank leaking!!! I recall that the workshop had it removed during the car restoration for cleaning so I hope the leak is due to fixing problem and not due crack in the tank (there were no physical cracks observed by me).

The car is towed back to Fiat workshop but I hope to get it back on road by next week.

just minor problems mate, compared to the task's you have done your lucky its just minor things!

fingers crossed your back on the road again soon!

I hate alternator problems, common Coupe-fault, hence why they put a volt-meter in on the last years cars. Had exactly the same symtpoms when mine gave up. Maybe it's too hot there?

@ Marco, thanks mte I know that minor things will rise up from time to time especially that the car has been standing for long time before the restoration.

@ Per, I hate alternator problems as well . It's not that hot here now, actually the weather is getting colder.

I had to call the workshop by noon time and they told me no need to remove the alternator as there was a electrical short outside the alternator. I hope the fuel leak issue is minor and I can take the car back tomorrow

Your Car looks awsome specially a huge difference with PIU bumper that just fantastic....I hope you will come up with the above problem. Lemme know if you need anything from here....
Best!

Thanks mate

Yeah, the PIU bumper made a huge difference to the car's front and look.

I took the car from the workshop but I still have a problem with the alternator and the car is stalling . I'm starting another thread in the Technical Issues/General Maintenance sections on this problem.

Time for an update

I've finished the break-in period. Ordered the 440cc injectors and received them. Ordered the chip (stage 5) and spark plugs from Flea and should receive it soon.

I drove the car mainly around the city during calm nights and avoided traffic, topped at 3-4k RPM, saw 0.5-0.6 bar of boost.

I hope the chip will solve the issues I had during the break-in period like: engine stalling when coming suddenly to idle, idle problems (sometimes), tending to misfire at certain RPMs.

The car will go to the workshop soon to carryout the following:

- Oil change (I'll go with Castrol 10w60 fully synthetic)
- Coolant drain and refill with green fluid
- Install the new spark plugs
- Fit the big MAF housing
- Fit stage 5 chip
- Install the APEXi AVC-R boost controller
- Check the car generally again

Then take it the RR for a dyno run to see how it runs and fuels, fingers crossed

All I think about now is: I want to push the car and see how it runs on streets

I don't think you will be disappointed after flooring it

What do you think, is 400 crank hp achievable?

I hope the same Fredrick

As for the horsepower, I really want to go beyond this figure

I think the car has the right specs to achieve 400hp but as we all know, many factors affects this. My aim is to get sort of nice and smooth power safely, will see how it goes.

Few updates:

- Fitted the FC stage 5 chip from flea
- Fitted the big MAF housing
- Fitted the 440cc injectors and colder spark plugs
- Fitted the APEXi AVC-R boost controller
- Fitted the new silicon coolant hoses (from DavidL group buy) and coolant fluid
- Replaced the oil (used synthetic Castrol 10W/60) and oil filter. Noticed real improvement in oil pressure (2.5-2.7 bar when on hot idle)

After driving the car for few days, I noted better throttle response, smooth RPM buildup. It seems to have potential for power once the foot on the throttle , I still didn't push it hard though . Previous misfire problems disappeared now as well

However, the SIP causes a rough idle sometimes and car tends to stall if RPMs go down quickly.

I'm now taking different readings and coordinating with Flea. I still need to do the wiring mod for the fuel pump before taking the car to the dyno next Saturday hopefully.

More updates soon

This is a truly epic build Hani, congratulations it sounds like it's going to be a monster when it's fully mapped

Nice Hani

Can't wait to know your dyno results

Finally, I took the car to the dyno yesterday and made few runs . The weather was hot, the ambient temperature was 30 deg.C

Also, it seems that I have a problem with the APEXi boost controller and setting it or a boost leak somewhere. Thus, I'm not able to go beyond 1.4-1.5 bar of boost.

Anyway, the car has made 346.5hp at just below 1.4 bar. Here is the graphs:

Engine HP Vs. AFR:



Wheel HP Vs. Boost:



Torque Vs. AFR showing wheel HP figure on graph:



To be honest, I was expecting something around 350hp @ 1.4 bar of boost so I was close

I've sent all the information to Flea so he review and see what changes are required on the map/chip. It's worth saying that the car has also made 277.8hp @ only 0.65 bar of boost.

Also, there is something wrong with the scale calibration of the dyno. The graph cuts on around 6,900RPM which is below my 7,200RPM redline

In summary, I'm quite satisfied with the results and more satisfied with the performance of the car on street.