Mazda Talk Forums

First Autocross Competition Day in our Fiat 124.

How did it do? It did really well, good enough to end up in the trophies!

First SCCA Autocross Day in Fiat124. Not classed yet so ran X, no sways, no limited slip, no alignment, crap tires, etc. Just Koni, Progress springs, high flow exhaust. Results? Just 2.5 seconds behind our STR ND which was top 5 Pax, I expected it would be over 5 seconds behind given total lack of prep or spring rate, etc. In fact, the Fiat took home it's first trophy, time of 55 seconds gave it a third place finish out of 25 cars in X class. Add limited slip, tune and good tires and it would have easily won SSM which had a best scratch of 54.1, the class the Fiat likely ends up in (though I still hope for STR so it can battle head to head with ND).

Not every item to test on the Fiat is racing fun, checking here the fitment of a car cover for the Fiat....perfect fit.

Had somebody ask me at the SCCA event over this past weekend what is the first MOD that I recommend for the Fiat 124 and I realized that I did not mention what has proved to be my favorite mod....replacement of the stock diverter valve. On delivery of our Fiat124 I almost took it back for service because the boost was a lumpy mess. You could hit the gas going up a long hill and feel the boost rising and falling randomly.

Fortunately one of our team has experience with the same on the Abarth500 and quickly suggested changing the stock plastic diverter valve. He ordered up one for me to try and it cured the issue. I liked it so much, we now offer them, details here.

So if you put together a package with everything you've done to your spider so far to sell, approximately what would it cost?

DYNO UPDATE!

This is complete Cat-Back Exhaust (stock cat still in there, this is all bolted to exit of stock cat).

That means THREE PIECES
1. Highflow Downpipe
2. Highflow Midpipe
3. Highflow Muffler.

Result is new HIGH For Fiat 124, 160 HP at the wheels, 200 FT/LBS Torque pushing you back in the seat! Felt good at the SCCA event last weekend so figured it was time to dyno the setup, and now I see why it felt good, that's some healthy torque. Total area under the curve does NOT yet match our tuned longtube ND but this Fiat is not yet tuned, this is still stock tune, which means this is CARB compliant power!

Lowest Line is Best STOCK Pull
Middle Line is Best Pull with just highflow Muffler Upgrade
Highest Line is Best Pull Full Downpipe, Midpipe, Muffler...Peak HP up 'only' about 15hp but notice total area under the torque curve is massively better, up over 30 Ft/lbs of torque through much of the middle rpm range, at peak torque production around 3500 it is 18Ft/lbs.

tknospdr wrote:So if you put together a package with everything you've done to your spider so far to sell, approximately what would it cost?

Watch the site, many of the items are already there including the light battery kit, the Progress Springs, the Koni Shocks, the various wheel choices shown in this thread, etc. The exhaust pieces will be a while before they are priced and in production and on the site.

And here is where we stand currently in the battle of power between ND Miata and Fiat124. Let me say up front this is NOT a fair comparison, we have a FULL YEAR of development into the ND, many hours of dyno tune, many hours for development of gorgeous longtube header, etc. In comparison the Fiat124 just got here, what I think is very interesting is how fast it is catching up on the numbers. Numbers do NOT tell the whole story, but it's an interesting story nonetheless!

Fiat is RED lines (160 HP, 200 Ft/lbs Torque)
ND Miata is BLUE Lines (193 HP, 190+ Ft/lbs Torque)

Looks good!

I'm really surprised how badly the ND is beating the 124 down under 2500 RPM, though. I figured the Fiat's turbo would be making a tiny bit of boost down there helping out the low end a little. How the heck did Mat get so much torque out of the ND at only 2100 RPM???

I'm sure you folks will get the 124 up to some more impressive high end numbers. It's always easier to cheat on a turbo car and just up the boost to get a bit more kick out of it!

Yep, will keep at it...but will we be able to show the TRUE numbers on traditional in ground dyno?

Our friends at Eurocompulsion have years of development on this 1.4T Fiat motor and tell us what they see here is the ECU already pulling upper RPM power because it knows it is on the dyno (lack of front wheel movement, etc). Many folks know from the VW scandal that lots of modern cars know when they are on the dyno. The opinion of the Eurocompulsion crew is that we are already making more power than we know here above the 4250 rpm mark. See their writeup at THIS LINK, scroll down the page after the oil change info if you don't want to read the water injection and other interesting stuff....until you reach their Fiat dyno discussion.

Time to dust off my Auterra Dash Dyno and give it a whirl...

That's going to make it more interesting to try to tune the 124 if you're fighting against emissions test code in the ECU that dials back power to keep emissions down when it detects the car being on a dyno. But then again, road tuning could be a lot of fun in that car!

Still can't decide whether I like Fiat's interpretation of the ND body style or Mazda's better. They're both beautiful roadsters, both with their own unique character!