Projecto Estupido

[Mangavideo]

Any progress or goals met this weekend?

[MadFiat]

Any progress or goals met this weekend?

Nope. Received a bumper support bar.... Now I need to take time to go to Houston to get a hatch from a salvage yard. I've gotten a quote for $250 for a Pop hatch, just need time to go get it. Probably have to take a day off work. Then I have to order some mounting hardware for the bumper to the bumper bar as the body shop apparently threw all that away... They're supposed to put the removed parts back in the car, but they don't always. Also need to find some bolts for the bumper bar..... Guess I'll try to remove one from the Abarth to get the size that I need.

[Griffin]

I’m looking forward for these project, so far what I read has been very interesting to me because I’ve a project car that I would love to start with one day. The bad thing is she’s not a Fiat or Abarth, it is my US car that I imported to Spain because I couldn’t let her go (Mini Cooper S).

Thanks for sharing with us.

[MadFiat]

Still collecting parts. Should start getting it together over the Thanksgiving holiday next week.

[MadFiat]

First drive of the Project 500T, brought it 60 miles home from where I was working on it. Drives fine. Still have to get used to the way the auto trans holds gears in Sport mode. It's not smart enough to tell that if I've got cruise control on, it CAN go ahead and use 6th... d'oh... but overall it drove fine. Can't wait to get a tune on it (soon, I already have the handheld).

The repairs, for those not familiar, it was rearended, i got it from CoPart as salvage. Replaced the hatch (obvious from the photos). Bumper is cracked and I'll replace it later. Well, where I straightened the body around the latch mechanism, I guess it sprung back a little on its own? Because while it was latching well when I did the repairs, now that it's sat a couple of weeks waiting on me to get the title, the hatch doesn't like to close properly. The latch is REALLY tight and you have to slam it. Plus there's quite a lot of wind noise, so obviously I have more straightening left to do. Oh well that's why it's called a Project Car.

Also needs washed.

Future (soon) plans:

Flash Tune - Eurodrive Phase 1 (would do Phase 2 but I don't want/can't spend on a new intercooler)
Injen Intake (already bought)
Gapped Plugs
Stereo Upgrade (already have)
NeuF Single Exit (already bought)
Abarth Suspension (MAD FIAT will donate when it gets its own new suspension under it)
New bumper (keeping an eye out for a used one, but every single one I've seen is damaged AND they want more money than the dealer would charge for a new one)

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[operamatt]

wooo! progress

[MadFiat]

wooo! progress

Yep. Put some miles on it today. Definitely gotta work on getting the hatch to close better. That's going to be a real challenge.

Automatic is weird... it shifts pretty quick, but I don't think the shifts are quite as crisp as the Abarth. We'll see what happens when it's tuned and there's more power behind it. Pretty certain all else equal the automatic will be faster than the 5 speed because it just shifts so fast. 5 speed still more fun of course

[MadFiat]

"Fixed" the cracked bumper .. ... ......

By putting a plastic bumper cover over it. Covers like 90% of the crack.

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[texanbrit]

Very nice, you either need more Rame or full harlequin

[MadFiat]

Very nice, you either need more Rame or full harlequin

Problem is the hatch looks worse in person than it does in photos. The car it came from had 4400 miles. The salvage yard managed to make it look like 300,000 miles. Scratches all on the bottom edge, several small scrapes and dents. About the only part of the paint that's not damaged beyond use is the top lip.