The Mad Fiat - 2015 Abarth!

[Fiat-Audio-Solutions]

I love it made that car Mad! pops bangs, chirps and fist pump throwing! get some!

[MadFiat]

I should go back and give the history of MAD FIAT sometime. It's a good story.

But for now - an update. The MAD FIAT is ready to start up for the first time, but there are a couple of minor things left to do, so I'm putting that off until this next weekend.

The clutch is still being a royal PITA, so I've ordered a pressure bleed cap for the master cylinder - hopefully it's the right one as I couldn't find any specification listed on what size is needed. The one I ordered says it "fits most european models"... Right. We'll see.

Engine/radiator, etc all in place. The shop that did bodywork last year cross threaded the bolts to the intercooler brackets and appear to have hammered them on, so I literally had to BREAK the bolts to get the intercooler off during disassembly. This also broke the brackets. Chris kindly sent me new brackets - which I appear to have LOST... So currently the intercooler is hanging by zip ties, which will be fine for STARTING but not for DRIVING.

Some may wonder why I didn't go ahead and just start the engine this weekend... well ... it's always good to let things sit a day and look at it with fresh eyes before you do something stupid at the end of the day.

[NGEN]

Very excited to see it running again!

[operamatt]

it's always good to let things sit a day and look at it with fresh eyes before you do something stupid at the end of the day.

AMEN!!!

[MadFiat]

IT LIVES!!!!

Finished topping off coolant and oil.

Battery stone dead (of course) ... probably should have charged it while it was sitting but I didn't.

Using a jumper pack, it finally fired up. Did take cranking for a while to build up oil pressure. Definitely seems to be a thing if these engines sit. Once it fired up, it ran perfectly. No leaks, and most importantly, NO CEL LIGHT.. which means I got all the major connections hooked up properly.

Took it for a spin around the block, up to third gear, no heavy boost. Ran fine. Clutch feels normal. Not going to get into boost until I reflash the PCM as it's still tuned for Phase 3, but I no longer have the big turbo on. Not reflashing until I get the battery charged up fully, or if it won't charge, replace it. Hoping it holds a charge tomorrow.

Tomorrow I'm going to try to get the bumper on. I tried tonight and it fits like OJ's glove... that is, not at all... Not sure what I got out of alignment, but it won't even come close to going around the intercooler. It fit before, so it should fit again...

After that, it's DONE.... Except that I have to replace a CV boot that got cut putting the motor back in... small fries. The engine is fucking running.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WoR1R1HSY8c

[NGEN]

So awesome man! You have to be so happy and proud that you knocked this out yourself. Super happy for you!!

[MadFiat]

Only issue I'm having right now is the intercooler does NOT want to line up properly in such a way it doesn't shove the intercooler hose into a sharp edge.... had to raise the condenser core up like 3/4 of an inch from where it's supposed to be and zip tie it up... Every time I tried to tighten the brackets for the intercooler, it ended up also shoving the intercooler into the condenser fins. As I was trying to FLEX the intercooler away from the condenser, the welds on the bracket snapped. Second broken bracket. First one broke when I was removing the intercooler as the bolt was sized.... Chris replaced it for free.

I honestly think that EC could have designed a MUCH better bracket, but they did not. It fits like ass, likes to shove the intercooler into things that it doesn't need shoved into.... whatever. That half of the intercooler is now zip tied the fuck on there for now.

Annnd.... the bumper won't go back on all the way. The front of this car has SOOO MUCH slack and slop when disassembled, who knows where things are out of alignment. Some may have been lucky putting theirs back together, but I wasn't. Bumper isn't even close to going back on. I had to shove the crash bar DOWN because it was jamming into the bumper and actually caused stress cracks in the paint from behind... Still wasn't enough so I had to go at the crash bar ends with a sledgehammer to keep it from pressing into the bumper. And it still won't go far enough back to close the body gaps, even close to where it was before. Passenger side alignment is way off from the hood as well even though the hood wasn't off.

Bumper is on... but looks like ass right now. Did drive the car home tonight. Clutch seems to be working fine but it's still making me nervous. ... Not confident it's fully bled. And the front of the whole car needs to come loose and be realigned/adjusted... but I pretty much had to get the car out of the borrowed garage ASAP... so it's running and it's home.

[texanbrit]

It's awesome that you got this done successfully; especially with all of the health issues and other stuff life has tossed your way.

As for the bumper: I think you just leave everything loosely assembled and it will rattle into place. <<----- Don't do this

I wonder if the factory has some kind of jig they line up against when they assemble it, or whether they just eyeball it.

[NGEN]

Alvin,

Go somewhere that has a brake flush machine (BG is good) and have them flush it that way. Easiest way to get all of the bubbles out. They only have to remove the battery tray to access it. As for the bumper, not sure if the engine can be pushed back at all in your case. You might have a custom crash bar made (like operamatt) that doesn’t push out as far - might help. Just some thoughts.

[MadFiat]

Drove MAD Fiat for real today, it seemed fine after I put the PCV hose back together that popped loose.

However after about a 10 mile drive when I got back, I could hear a rattle when idling in neutral that goes away when you press in the clutch ..... That does not inspire confidence.