A few more additions for the Abarth 124 Spider

 A couple of weeks ago I had managed to save up a few more quid, so took my wee Abarth 124 Spider down to see the Exhaust Doctor based at Shiremoor. 

Abarth 124 Spider

After doing some research on the Spider I had learned that the standard Crosspipe was quite restrictive, plus as my car is an automatic, no one offered a larger bore centre pipe.

Exhaust Doctor Abarth 124 Spider

I have already fitted a Ragazzon valved rear backbox, and although I like the look of the exhaust, the sound to me is just not as good as the standard Record Monza. My Record Monza's valve was stuck in the fully open position, and sounded a bit more "raspy". Anyhoo  I was hoping putting on a larger Crosspipe and centre pipe may help my car sound a bit better.

I don't really want to change the Cat to a race one, as this involves remapping the car, something I intended to do a bit later on, but not just yet.

So the new sound of the car, well it's better than it was, a little louder and a deeper tone. I suppose the good thing is the car can be driven and doesn't have a constant "Boom", unlike Grandma my VW Beetle GSR, which constantly drones and becomes creative on long journeys. Well I imagine it would in a long journey, what did I know, having just had "Grandma" for her MOT, she had only done 206 mikes last year.

Next on the mods list was a new set of EBC dimpled rotors and Green Stuff pads. I had been waiting what seemed like ages for EBC to get these in stock. I was chuffed to bits that I checked my Blue light card, as I got £75 off, which was a canny saving.

EBC discs & pads

My dad did most of the work removing and installing the new components. I'm currently off work on the sick yet again, due to my prosthetic limb not fitting. I've been trying to wear my new socket to do everyday things, but man the socket is really uncomfortable, causing me a fatigue like pain, and also causing phantom pain. It's like having a turnaquet in my stump each time I wear my leg.

Following fitting the new brakes, my dad and I tested my new OZ alloys, using the 5 mm spacers I bought, in order to clear the Brembo calipers in the front.

Once I get a bit more money saved and the weather improves I'll get the wee car back along to Performance 28 to get the coilover suspension fitted that has been sitting in a box at the bottom of our stairs.

A Few New Bits On Order And I think My Camera is Buggered

I have had to wash and polish LoLa my wee Abarth 124 Spider yet again. Ern said he heard something on the news about sand coming over in the atmosphere all the way from the Sahara, so that would explain the horrible dirty and gritty appearance of her Thursday morning.

LoLa nice and clean I decided I would try and get some pics of her, as I wanted to see a couple of photo comparisons of her wearing firstly the grey mirror caps, tow eye and lower bumper trim and then the new red parts I had added. I am still on the fence. I have never seen another Blue Abarth 124 with red bits, well in truth I have only ever seen 3 of these cars in the flesh, the one I mentioned in a previous blog, going over the Redheugh Bridge and I can't recall it's colour, another Red one I had a sit in at a local dealer, and of course Lola my Blue car.

 

Abarth 124 Spider LoLa

I had had my Pentax K30 camera battery on charge. Wow this camera is now about 10 or 11 years old I haven't used it a great deal. Although I love photography I am no photographist and as such the technical stuff on a camera, well its beyond me. I would say I have a good creative eye, however I am more of a point and shoot guy... hey that Rhymes Lol.

 

Abarth 124 Spider LoLa

So this morning upon getting up I firstly went and put a few quids worth of petrol in LoLa, man it's dear £1.66 a litre for Super unleaded. I only popped £15 quid in her, as I will pop to Costco later as it's a bit cheaper.

Abarth 124 Spider LoLa

Following putting petrol in LoLa I drove over to the Stream Valley, the condensation having dried off so I could pop the hood down. I love the sound of this car. If I drive sensibly she is quieter than Grandma My VW Beetle GSR, who drones at all speeds. However if I boot LoLa she gives of a throaty rasp which is pretty loud and obnoxious. The car is quite addictive and a real pleasure to drive.

Abarth 124 Spider LoLa

Abarth 124 Spider LoLa

Arriving at Stream Valley and the small carpark I retrieved my camera from LoLa's boot. I began attempting to take shots, varying from automatic, to manual and changing settings with then idea "well at least one or two shots may come out good". Finished a quick shoot I drove home to see what I had captured.

Upon popping the images on my Mac I was most disappointed, they were either way too dark or dark and blurry. I had experimented with the camera the evening before and had not been able to get a good shot and upon reading on line about the Pentax K30 read, that some cameras can experience what is known as aperture block. As my camera was/is shooting everything dark, no matter the lens I thought that it might be that and tha it was buggered.

Ern and I had a look at the camera and I asked him to try and find the recommended settings for the model. We then took the camera back to factory settings and began tweaking from there. I took a few basic shots just around home inside and outside and the camera appeared to be working better, so I will give it another go soon. I bought this camera in 2012, for when I went to America. I am pretty sentimental about things so hope it is ok and going to behave.

Of course I have now already been looking for a replacement. I quite fancy a mirror less camera, something I can change lenses on, but again something simple. I just can't be doing with having to learn all about f.stops, ISO's and EV levels. I just want to press a button and get an awesome picture then feel good at my results.

Back to LoLa... I have been spending a few pennies on her since buying her. I am now awaiting a set of OZ Hyper GT Hlt's to come from Italy, courtesy of Wheelbase.

OZ Hyper GT Hot 18's

Oh and I am waiting for a set of Yellow Speed Racing Coilovers, having thought the air ride was just a bit pricey for what I needed. They are coming from ID-Workz

Yellow Speed Racing YSR DPS Coilovers

Also on the recent purchase list and also coming from Italy, courtesy of Balance Motorsport is a Ragazzon Quad 120mm tipped Valved exhaust back box. Its gots a remote control twin valve system so I am excited to get this on and see how LoLa looks and sounds

Ragazzon Valved Backbox

I had been waiting for a Bonalume Adjustable Pop off spacer from Tuning Art, which I paid for via PayPal £164.95 however when the item didn't arrive and after contacting Tuning Art via email, telephone and their Facebook page and not getting any response I got in touch with PayPal and there is now an open case to try and get my money back. So Tuning Art gets a negative score from me and I wouldn't recommend them as a reliable company, they don't mind taking your money, however nothing arrives, then they totally ignore any communication. Basically robbing fatherless company.

Further to above PayPal has resolved my case in my favour. I got a message this morning. So for anyone reading this beware of the company going by the name of Tuning Art 

I have since ordered a Bonalume non adjustable spacer from 500 Madness in the US, at least I know they deliver their stuff. So looking forward to a "Whoosh" sound.

 

Bonalume spacer "Whoosh"

My New Ride...

After selling Myrtle I had given some careful consideration as to what my next purchase might be. I have always liked the look of the Abarth 124 Spider, having actually only ever seen one on the road, when travelling into work in Newcastle.

So I began researching the car, the usual stuff , insurance group, mpg, any recalls and what to look out for fault wise on the Abarth Forums.

The cars have a few small issues the first is that the drivers seat bolster wears quickly and that the soft top can catch the back of the roll bars causing wear. Other than that the usual things you get with most cars, oh and because the cars come with a valved Record Monza exhaust, the valves are prone to seizing.

I scoured the interwebs for a couple of weeks looking for my perfect potential car. At first I wasn't keen on the Blue, also known as Azzuro Isola d'Elba 1974 Metallic. However finding a car with the extras I wanted was proving difficult. I really wanted the Visibility pack, and the Bose speaker system. I wasn't too fussed about the Heritage kit, it's just a matt black bonnet and tailgate, I mean who can polish them right lol.

Abarth 124 Spider Isola d'Elba 1974 

I noticed Motorpoint down in Derby had a 2019 model in, and it had what I would like, but it was blue.

Anyhoo after going to view a red one, which was absolutely filthy and way over priced. I decided to take a punt on the blue one at Motorpoint. I went to the Birtley Branch and paid the £149 to have the car transported up.

To cut a long story short on Friday I traded my 2019 Abarth 595 Competizione for the Blue Abarth 124 and I love the car, and actually really like it's colour.

I was a bit gutted to discover the car didn't have Sat Nav installed, easily remedied with a 2023 map pack on SD card from Amazon at £55.

  

Abarth 124 Spider Think ~I'll cell her LoLA

The drivers seat is a little worn in the usual place, but I can live with it, and the soft top has a scuff as it has rubbed on the roll bar cover. I'll sort that. Oh and yes the valve is stuck on the exhaust, so a job for Ern and me.

The car sounds awesome and drives sweet as a nut. It's a bit cramped, especially with me having my stoopid prosthetic leg, and when driving it, it feels huge to me, there is this like huge long bonnet in front, something I'm not used to.

Iv'e even thought of a name for her...

LoLA = Loud,Obnoxious,Little, Abarth

Abarth 124

Now as anyone who knows me I can't just leave a car un-modded. In fact I have already started gathering bits, so far I've bought: 

Eurocompulsion V4 

Bonalume pop of spacer

 

Go Faster Bits Diverter

Rotiform LAS-R wheels 18x8.5 4x100 ET 35

Decided to return the Rotiform LAS-R's the black wheels just didn't suit my car. The car has  graphite colured wing mirrors and the windscreen pillars are the same colour.

Opted to go for 18x7 OZ Hyper GT HLT'S in a graphite colour with Michelin Pilot 4S tyres 215/35/18.

OZ Hyper GT HLT

OZ Hyper GT HLT

I have also bought some Autoglym products to clean the car including her roof.

Oh and I saw these on Facebook Market Place and the lady very kindly accepted my offer and I received them today. Can't believe how expensive they are new, saying which when they arrived they are a lot sturdier than they look in the images and have a little bit of weight to them. They are original Fiat cup holders, not sure if the Abarths came with them as standard, but they are a nice addition and somewhere to pout a cup or two now.

Cup Holders

Future mods when I get some wonga saved.

A crossover pipe, and you know I mentioned that the valve on the Record Monza is stuck, well Ern and I had the backbox off and it is well and truly stuck, so a future purchase I would really like is one of these, however at almost £2k it's a canny outlay.

Ragazzon valved Backbox with 4x102mm tips

Then there are

Alpha Romeo 4C coils

Get her remapped oh and big money as I fancy her on Air Ride .

Mid Life CrIsis

 This is a bit of a sad post, as I let Myrtle go this week. Both my dad and myself had put so much work into that old 65 Bug and I guess part of us feels like it's lost. Even my dad I think was a bit sentimental about Myrtle, he actually drove the car more than I did in the time we had her.

  

Bye Bye Myrtle

I can't believe how much money I had invested in the old girl, so when her bodywork was the next stage I had a tough decision to make, and decided to allow someone else to care for her.

Within days of Myrtle going, and with me being off work, I took some annual leave, because I've had this goddamn cold for going on 5 weeks, well I found myself looking at other cars  " No Glenn you don't need 3 cars", so I kind of agreed with my inner voice and we came to a mutual agreement that maybe two is enough.

That saidI think I'm going through some sort of mid life crisis, as I began looking at convertibles, Yes even bright RED ones. Things got so bad I even checked out a few Porches, second hand with a few miles on them.

I then got my mince pies on an Abarth 124 Spider, they have stopped making them, Ooh! a future classic. Trawling through the interwebs, there was only about 45 for sale, and of them about 18 or so automatics.

I quite liked the look of either a red one or a grey one, thing is none of them for the money had the visibility pack, or the higher spec'd Bose sound system.  The only car that was pretty much fully loaded, apart from the Heritage pack, which is the Matt black bonnet and boot lid, a throw back to the rally cars of the 70's was at Motorpoint in Derby, and it was metallic Blue, called Isola D'Elda Blue 1974.

Abarth 124 Spider Isola D'Elda Blue 1974

Mmmmm!  Not sure, checked more images on line, 

Mmmmm! Still not sure.

  

Growing on me

My dad and I then went to check out a red Abarth 124 Spider at Birtley and Ronald Clark. I had a sit in the car....I fit..... It actually felt massive. The bonnet feels very long. That particular car wasn't for me.

Record Monza Exhaust Sounds Great

More looking a blue 124's on my return, oh and of course potential mods, what can I say but Petrol Head. So far even without the car I've spec'd up around £10k of stuff I'd like to do.

One of the things on my wish list is air suspension. I just loved the look of Myrtle slammed.

More looking I think I'm coming around to Blue. So a trip down to my local Motorpoint, a valuation on my wee Abarth 595, which if I could also afford to keep I would.

 

I now have a deposit down to get the car up from the Motorpoint in Derby, so maybe by next week I'll be driving an Abarth 124 Spider.