The Cinquecento Turbo range

In 1997, 2 years after the Fiat Cinquecento Sporting had been released a small company called Vanaaken Devleopments decided to develop a range of turbo kits for the 1108cc SOHC 8v F.I.R.E engine.
The aim here was not to make a racing fiat but simply to make the little Fiat a more drivable more economical car.

The first of the kits that were disigned to do this was the LOW BOOST option, using Garretts small GT15 VW/AUDI tdi turbo running at 0.35 bar of boost without an intercooler. Thanks to the low boost pressure detanation wasnt an issue so the standard 9.6:1 compression ratio could be maintained making the engines torque curve nice and flat from low down, The extra fuel need to fuel the boost was delivered by an 803 Bosh green Cosworth injector mounted ontop of the O.E throttle body controlled by an Aquamist MF2 mappable injector driver.
To keep the ECU happy running the standard map a fixed fuel cut deffender was added.

Low boost kit -

54bhp - 85bhp
63lb/sf - 95lb/sf

0-60 from 13 - 10 seconds
max speed from 96 - 110mph

price fitted and set up - £1500

The next kit available from Vanaaken was the first generation high boost option, this kit used a slightly differnt Garrett T15 turbo from the astra diesel running at 0.7 bar of boost, and was mated with an alloy intercooler mounted behind the front grill.
To prevent detanation a thicker head gasket was used to lower the compresion ratio to 8.5:1 from 9.6:1.

High boost kit -

54bhp - 110bhp
63lb/sf - 115lb/sf

0-60 - 9 seconds
max speed - 115mph

price - £3000

The later and the last turbo kit produced by Vanaaken was the same as above but with the addition of low compression pistons instead of the use of a thicker head gasket.

High boost kit with low compression pistons -

bhp - 115bhp
lb/sf - 120lb/sf

0-60 - under 9 seconds
max speed - 120mph

price - £3000

Tuning the Vanaaken kits

Tuning the vanaaken kits wasnt hard and simple mods release the true potensial of these kits making the cinquecento into a very fast little car, first thing to be fitted to the high boost kits is an uprated fuel pump because the standard pump runs at 1 bar fuel pressure, the Ford RS2000 5 bar pump is most commonly fitted so the second injector can recieve at least 3 bar fuel pressure.
The next moddifications lead the cinq into good power teritory, a full 2" stainless decatted exhaust, move the air filter out of the engine bay and into the inner wheel arch, and turn up the boost to around 0.8 bar. These modifications can see the cinq putting out around 125bhp and 135lb/sf plus in torque, at these power levels you can exspect to see a 0-60 time of around 7-7.5 seconds with the top speed raized to 125-132mph.
To go further a bigger 40mm throttle body can be fitted along with the camshaft from a punto 75, combined with an adjustable cam pulley, ported head and boost turned upto 1 bar you can exspect to see power over 130bhp and torque anywhere from 140lb/sf onwards.
But the main problem with these kits were reliability, the engines wearnt fail safe and detanation could kill easily, mods such as anti knock ignition control and water injection are wise!!

Fitting the 1242cc punto engine into the cinq means youll always be around 6 bhp infront of the 1108cc but with better torque.
I myself own a fiat cinquecento turbo running he 1.25 punto engine with boost set at 1 bar but due too an incorrect size turbo and a very low compression ratio im limited to 125bhp/135 lb/sf where as my set up is capable of 140bhp with the better turbo and the correct c/r.

Jason

Along with Vanaaken developments a German company named NOVITEC started building turbo kits for the cinquecento, the options for the 1108cc and the 1242cc engine used a punto GT turbo intercooler, an IHI turbo with NOVITECS own fuel controllers and low compression pistons.

NOVITEC 1108cc turbo option -

bhp - 101
torque - 172NM @ 4000rpm

0 - 60 - 8.4 seconds
max speed - 117mph

NOVITEC 1242cc turbo option -

bhp - 118
torque - 200NM @ 4300rpm

0 - 60 - 7.8 seconds
max speed - 121mph

When it comes to tuning the standard 1108cc f.i.r.e engine you are limited to what you are going to get from the small engine but there are many choices for going down the N/A route -

OPTION 1. Fitting the 1242cc F.I.R.E engine from the fiat punto 60, The engine developes 60bhp as apposed to the 1108cc's 54bhp but the 1242cc engine has a longer stroke meaning it developes more torque across the rev range (max revs are reduced on the 1242cc). So an increase of 6bhp may not be alot but the torque increase means a very drivable nippy car and the 1242 60 engine can be picked up second hand for as little as £80, its a straight swap for the 1.1.

OPTION 2. Fitting the 1242cc punto 75 MPI engine, This engine is an improved version of the 60 engine which is fitted with Mulit Point Injection, bigger valves and ports, different intake manifold, higher compression ratio and a new ECU. It puts out 75bhp and around 85lb/sf of torque, it far more effiecient engine that the 60 engine and makes a good conversion for the cinquecento to bring it back upto modern standards.

OPTION 3. Fitting the 1242cc 16v engine, This engine uses the same bottom end as the punto 60 but with a 16v head on top and new pistons and lighter rods. This engine puts out 80-85 bhp depending on the year of the engine, with 85bhp it makes it as powerful as Vanaakens 1108cc low boost turbo conversion so its well worth thinking about.

OPTION 4. Fitting the 1.4 16v f.i.r.e. engine, this is one of the best conversions to do on the cinquecento, the 1.4 16v engine developes 100bhp (as fitted to the panda 100hp) and with a few mods such as a chip, filter exhaust, manmifold, cams it can make around 115-120bhp.

jason

hi i am after a turbo kit for my little cinq 1.1 sporting anyone now where theres one for sell thanks

hi there, as far as i am aware there are no off the shelf turbo kits for these anymore, what you have to do is put your own turbo kit together and it wont be cheap, there are better conversions you can do to get similar power, the popular one at the moment is the 1242cc 16v punto conversion but some people have also be successful at fitting the new generation 1388cc 16v grande punto/panda engine's, 1388cc 16v conversion is good for 100bhp from the stock motor and can easily be tuned to over 130bhp which is about the limit of a 1108cc turbo conversion, personally if i was you and you want more power in you cento, i'd fit the 1242cc 16v out of a mk1 punto sporting which i personally had 97.1bhp in my mk1 punto with a cat back, air filter, bigger TB and a stage one chip but the bigger TB was causing problems and was sapping abit of power, if you get a mk1 punto sporting engine and ecu its pretty much a plug and play swap and 85bhp stock