Fiat Coupe 20VT - The duel is on!

[Robatron]

So I had a run in with one of these on my travels last night and I have to say I was pretty darn impressed with it .

I was sat next to the guy at a set of lights and I could see he wanted a tussle but there were no high speed launches involved. We both pulled off pretty evenly (not bad considering I had 4 in my car and he was alone) but as we approached the corner he was on the inside lane so he covered much less distance. After that we hit the straight and I gained abit on him but we were approaching a built up area so both backed off with me about 1 cars length behind.

If I were alone it would have been different matter, plus I may have given it some revs before pulling off but I didnt really care as the Fiat did impress me.

I took a trip over to the owners club forum this morning and I found the guy who I had abit of a blast with. It turns out he is pushing 270bhp and was pretty impressed with the S2 himself.

So I have been made an offer for a fun day out at santa pod, forum vs. forum.

It wont be anything serious mind, they seem more like car enthusiasts than the 'My car is better than yours' brigade.

Whadya say? Could be a fun day out and will be interesting what sort of times we get in comparison to their cars with similar power.

[NigelO]

Seems you've sussed the Fiat Coupe forum out pretty quickly - sure, we're biased towards our own cars, but we're under no illusions that we're driving an eight to ten year old 220bhp front wheel drive Italian car. Come and have a look - www.fccuk.org/forums

Its the bang per buck that we like - true giant-killing capability for a couple of grand upwards. For FWD, we're posting some impressive standing quarter times - stock is low 14s, 250 - 270bhp (easy - costs less than £100) will get 13.5 - 13.8. Most 300bhp cars are below 13.5. We have a sizeable handful in the high 300s (mine included) and knocking on the door of the twelves. And a select few are in the 12s with one in the elevens.

top power is 500bhp in a Coupe, but this has just been broken by a race-kitted Lancia Kappa (same engine) at 562bhp Hoping to break 400 in mine on the rollers this weekend.

From my brief look around this forum, it appears that you're similar - slightly ageing low-selling Coupe that can be bought for pennies (relatively speaking) and can embarrass MUCH more expensive machinery.

We'd love to know what you're doing to your cars mods-wise - what turbos do you run? Do you have custom manifolds, bigger injectors. What's your most powerful car putting out? What are the S2's weak points - what breaks, what are its best points etc etc.

Fiat Coupe owners love to hear about other bargain performance stuff - we have a great relationship with the Nissan 200SX forum - great bunch of lads - very similar outlook - cheap car, BIG performance, great tuning potential.

I guess we probably have some of the same pet hates too - BMW 3-series diesels in "their own" lane who won't pull over and let a true performance car past. Scoobies with 6" exhausts and zero-skilled drivers. Vauxhall chavs who think that "twin-port" on a Corsa has the same performance-enhancing status as "twin turbo"

So c'mon - who's up for an unofficial meet at the Pod sometime

[Robatron]

Glad you made it over here.

In many respects we do have very similar out looks and us guys over here can appreciate a decent performance car when we see one.

Out of interest, how much work is required to get a fiat 20VT upto 400BHP? how much does it cost to start pushing that sort of power?

[Jon441cc]

How the hell can you put down the power with 500hp through the front wheels on street tyres?
I really do like the fiat 20v though, sweet interior, nice looks, lovely engine note and very reasonably priced.

[HPmuirt]

Greetings and

This was discussed last year and we even had the odd one of your lot turn up at a few meetings. I seem to remember that the Fiat boys reckon on having better mid range acceleration due to the car being much lighter and of course the Audi boys have the 4wd launch capability

I'll wait for one of our spokes people (usually Jamo and Fatty ) to correct me, but for 1/4 mile times, I guess we have a few in the 11s and many in the 12s. We run 230bhp stock, 280 chipped and 360 - 500+ modded. The are quite a few on here with 500+BHP capable of running 11s for the 1/4.

Dunno about the biggest power on the forum...loads of guys seem to be well over 500BHP. A fey guys in Norway (non forum) are hitting 800BHP with the engine and of course Audi themselves had a Group S development engine with over 1000BHP but it never raced as they quit Group B rallying and then Group B was scrapped, so Group S never started.

I don't think the S2 has any real weaknesses in terms of breakages. The stock brakes are ***** but easily modded with either RS2 or Porsche and A8 components. It's biggest drawback is probably its weight. The list of best bits is very long, but include of course German build quality, galvanised body and 4WD

As for the pod, I am currently stock so would not pose a threat, but would come along for a laugh.

Cheers n

Si

[NigelO]

I have no traction issue with 400bhp unless its wet. Even then, I can keep traction after about 40 - 50mph The 20VTs have a viscous coupling which makes a LOT of difference

here's a (very) rough guide to the stages of Coupe modding:

220bhp standard
250 - 260 - chip & boost hike to 1.2 bar
260 - 280 - above plus hybrid turbo (still GT28), filter, exhaust
280 - 300 - above plus extra intercooling, maybe downpipe and decat
300 - 350 - needs above plus a roller bearing turbo (GT28R or RS) plus front mount intercooler, maybe water injection. Many owners are running Unichips at this level, plus fuel uprated pumps and regulators
370+ Now getting into bigger turbos (I'm on a GT2871R) plus internals - cams and forged pistons/ rods (standard rods seem to be good for 350lb-ft - pistons are good for 350bhp and 1.4 - 1.5 bar) Also flowed cylinder heads and 3-angle valve grinds.
Over 400 requires either a capacity hike (usually to 2.4l) or nitrous.
The 500bhp car won this years FWD top speed class at TOTB at Elvington (167 mph after 1 mile from a standing start)

I've spent a total of about £15k on my car over the years, but you have to remember that much of the work is repeated (eg I've had five turbos, three intercoolers, three exhausts etc)

If you wanted to take a 20VT straight to 300bhp from stock, you'd need £1k - £1.2k to make it happen, and another £500 - £800 to get it ultra reliable.

To get 400 bhp needs about £1500 worth of engine internals, plus labour, on top of the £2k for the 300bhp level - so about £4k.

However, by the time you're at 400bhp (and pulling sub-11 second 0-100s), we'd normally recommend suspension, brake and handling upgrades too.

the comment about the exhaust note is spot-on. One of the best parts of my Coupe is that I reckon it sounds a lot like the URQuattro rally cars that were all-dominant when I was young(er)

[Chris5044]

nigelO ... search on this forum for a guy called "hacke" .... itll show you a little more insite to s2 capability

[Jamo]

I know all about the Fiat Coupes my mate had one and it was on my list of cars to buy 3 years ago.

It was in a Fiat Coupe i went down to london to pick up my Audi S2 and i think my mate was a member on that forum.

Quick cars, very good looking, engine drinks oil and it's engine out to change the belts.

Mate sold his due to electric problems then within 3 months of the sale the turbo packed in and the engine seized after that was fixed!

[blown_vr6]

I know all about the Fiat Coupes my mate had one and it was on my list of cars to buy 3 years ago.

It was in a Fiat Coupe i went down to london to pick up my Audi S2 and i think my mate was a member on that forum.

Quick cars, very good looking, engine drinks oil and it's engine out to change the belts.

Mate sold his due to electric problems then within 3 months of the sale the turbo packed in and the engine seized after that was fixed!

Engine only drinks oil if its shagged if his seized then i would hazard a guess its either been run low or he ran it low - its not uncommon as alot of new owners didnt check the oil between 10000 miles services.
Cambelt with all new tensioners and auxilary belt is now about 350 quid to change - you do not need to remove the engine to change them.
Power for power once rolling a Coupe will cream an S2 due to the tranny loses on the S2.
They are incredible value for money.
My missus car has been about the most reliable car we've owned - apart from a cracked manifold which i will chage when i can be arsed and the air con needing a re gas nothing at all has gone wrong with it in two years.....
Once i get my S2 ill have two 5 pot cars

Pete.

[Jamo]

Engine only drinks oil if its shagged if his seized then i would hazard a guess its either been run low or he ran it low - its not uncommon as alot of new owners didnt check the oil between 10000 miles services.
Cambelt with all new tensioners and auxilary belt is now about 350 quid to change - you do not need to remove the engine to change them.
Power for power once rolling a Coupe will cream an S2 due to the tranny loses on the S2.
They are incredible value for money.
My missus car has been about the most reliable car we've owned - apart from a cracked manifold which i will chage when i can be arsed and the air con needing a re gas nothing at all has gone wrong with it in two years.....
Once i get my S2 ill have two 5 pot cars

Pete.

Excuse me but dont diss somebody you don't know. Your talking about a guy who looks after his cars with a moneys no object view and is a cracking home mechanic and is one of the big cheeses in the renault world.

it's not an uncommon thing for the fiat coupes and i was put off by the unreliablity of the 20vt versions.

[blown_vr6]

Excuse me but dont diss somebody you don't know. Your talking about a guy who looks after his cars with a moneys no object view and is a cracking home mechanic and is one of the big cheeses in the renault world.

it's not an uncommon thing for the fiat coupes and i was put off by the unreliablity of the 20vt versions.

Hold on Jamo.
Where am i dissing anyone?
Did he own the car from new?
All im saying is the engines are bomb proof unless they have been run low on oil - you even correctly say that its not uncommon due to consuming oil.
They do not drink oil any more than any other turbo car of the same age.
You get good and bad eggs in every car - perhaps his was a bad one.

[Dpicariello]

I went out for a blast across Dartmoor with one of these. Completely standard but really impressed me. I guess it's major advantage over the S2 is it's weight (they're mostly fibreglass aren't they). the owner works with me and seems to know his stuff but he's been through 3 turbos in a year!!!!!! It's drinking oil (I think he has to top up 1/2 litre a week) also.
Great looking car and like it's exclusivity but the running costs scare me!

I'd certainly be up for meeting up though.

Welcome to the forum.

[terrybullwon]

Its front wheel drive

I hope its raining when they go to the pod "evil cackle"

[blown_vr6]

I went out for a blast across Dartmoor with one of these. Completely standard but really impressed me. I guess it's major advantage over the S2 is it's weight (they're mostly fibreglass aren't they). the owner works with me and seems to know his stuff but he's been through 3 turbos in a year!!!!!! It's drinking oil (I think he has to top up 1/2 litre a week) also.
Great looking car and like it's exclusivity but the running costs scare me!

I'd certainly be up for meeting up though.

Welcome to the forum.

There not actually that light.
There is no fibreglass on them at all - take a look down the side of one and you will see that they are clearly metal by how many parking dinks are visible in the flanks - notoriously prone to it due to the curvature of the doors....
If hes been through 3 turbos in a year then somethings not right with the turbos not the car.
If his turbo's are that highly strung (only an old t28) that hes going through 3 a year then id hazard a guess thats where his oil is going

Pete.

[terrybullwon]

Love the look though!