Abarth 124 Spider - Hardrace Strut Brace + other mods I forgot about.

It's probably a good few months now when I did a little research into what strut brace I could purchase to fit my wee Abarth 124 Spider. There were a few on the market, however I really wanted a blue coloured one to tie in with my car, call it OCD.

Another reason for a replacement strut brace was for more practical reasons. You see as I am running Yellow Speed Racing coil overs, with the original brace I could not adjust the suspension, through the top mounts. without removing the factory strut brace. The original brace completely covers the top of the struts, so has to be removed for any adjustments to be made, which means it is a right faff.

Hardrace strut brace,

Now as many of you will know the Abarth 124 shares the same platform as the Mazda MX5 ND, so when I couldn't find a suitable Abarth version I started looking at braces that were made for the Mazda.

I happened to come across a blue Hardrace Strut brace, so decided to go ahead and purchase one. 

When the strut brace arrived, it was well packaged and the box contained all the required mounting plates and fasteners.

Can now get access to top of coil over struts

Both Ern and myself got cracking with the job in hand and soon the old brace was removed, and replaced with the new Hardrace version. It was a very easy job, and not only does the new brace look a lot better astheticaly, but I think I have noticed improved stiffness when driving. So I am very happy with my new mod.

Oh and I also forgot to mention whilst we were on, around about the same time I had a Sports CAT fitted to my car, Well the garage that fitted it were unable to pop the heat shield back on, as there were no mountings on the new CAT. After driving my car I noticed it smelled and felt very hot. My da and I ended up remobing the CAT in our back yard. It was easy yo get off, however after wrapping the CAT with Funk some Lava Wrap, what a nightmare getting the bloody thing back on. It was one single bolt in a suport bracket that we had the issue with.

   

The Ern working on my wee Abarth 124 Spider

Follwing putting the CAT back on we fitted another of my new mods a PTP Lava Turbo blanket. Now with both the wrap on the CAT and the turbo blanket my wee Abarth is sorted. 

  

PTP Turbo Blaket for Abarth 124 Spider.

Oh and finally I ordered an eMotion2+ Personal OBD Tuner from Celtic Tuning. I attached the tuner to my car, downloaded the file to the box, and then uploaded to my PC and sent the file off to the eMotion2+ people. Within a short space of time I had a new modified file and was able to pop that on the tuner box and reupload to my car.

   

eMotion2+ OBD tuning Box

The whole process was pretty easy anI didn't encounter any issues. The eMotion2+ guys were very friendly and helpful. Now that the remapped file is on my car I can definitely tell a difference. I am not sure how much extra horses it has given me. My car now along with the Sports CAT and the new remap, where I get some small pops and bangs with the valves open on my Ragazzon exhaust sounds absolutely epic.

As a 56 year old old fart I now love driving my car in "Hooligan Mode" and it makes me feel relatively young again, especially in the fine weather with the top down.

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"