Tuning Punto HGT
How to enhance Punto HGT performance?
Several users asked me how to get the best from their Punto HGT. A lot of possibilities is available with Punto HGT, although you cannot tune as the oldier Punto GT, because of it lacks the turbocharger.
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I list now some modifications you can make to the Punto HGT. The list shows modifications sorted by increasing difficulty/cost:
- exhaust terminal box
- air filter
- springs
- dampers
- front upper strut brace bar
- exhaust central box
- special spark plugs
- brake disks
- bigger tyres
- air induction kit
- metallic kat
- racing camshaft
- racing ECU
- additional ECU
- EPROM reprogramming
- special gr.N gearbox
- autoblocking diff system
- special pistons
- NOS kit
- turbocompressor
- turbocharger
Which exhaust system for Punto HGT?
The easiest manner to enhance the Punto HGT consists in changing the exhaust system. Different solutions are available for exhaust systems:
- Hormann
- Novitec (central box, backbox)
- Over Racing (central box, backbox)
- Peco
- Powerful (exhaust collectors, backbox)
- Ragazzon (central box, metallic kat, backbox)
- Remus (backbox)
- Sebring (backbox)
- Supersprint (exhaust collectors, nokat racing tube, central box, backbox)
Which air filter for Punto HGT?
The air filter is one of the engine components that Punto HGT owner are substituting.
A smaller part substitutes the filter in the original air box in favour of another
performance filter fitting the same cylindric box.
Most of the users tend to remove all the filtering components with various solutions,
from the simple conic filter up to a complete airbox.
BMC conic filter This is one of the simplest and straight forward solution. It has been extensively tested with the Punto HGT with good results. |
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BMC twin conic filter This is a valuable performance filter, although it should be located very carefully, because you have to avoid to breathe warmed up air nearby the collectors or the upper part of the engine |
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BMC CDA This induction air filter performs very well when you are able to convey the filtering device a good amount of fresh air from somewhere. |
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Punto HGT's stock tyres are the 185/55 R15. Here in Italy the car is registered
with two measures, which are:
No interference for 16" wheels (from Max Girini) Max Girini made a complete test that demonstrates the 195/45 R16 doesn't interfere
with the original geometry, although Fiat doesn't let to give the Italians the
permission to homologate the different tyre size. Max Girini tested the tyres
and the wheels on his Punto HGT, released on November 2001, on the dampers workbench
and on the road, in all possible conditions:
Bigger tyres for Punto HGT
We have noted that some tire producers are promoting the service to register other
measures for Punto HGT. If you visit the Pirelli site, a longer list of tires
seems to be available:
They help you to register bigger tires. Please look at Pirelli
site. In the meanwhile other ways seem to be available also here in Italy, where
nobody has been able to obtain the permission to install bigger tires.
This tyres should have a rolling circumference lower 3mm than the original size,
the 185/55 R15.
Fitting 17 Inch Wheels (by Darren Brooks, Puntomk2.co.uk)
The time has come for a how to guide on this hot topic, saves every new member popping in and asking can I fit 17's on my Punto.
The answer is "Yes", and the job is straight forward enough.
Items needed
- 4 x 7Jx17" wheels with 35mm offset and 4x98mm stud pattern
- 4 x 205/40/17" tyres without kerb protectors, i.e. not Falken
- 2 x 5mm spacers (only if lowered)
- 1 x junior hacksaw (only if lowered)
- 1 x wheel jack and wrench - in your boot already
Steps
Fitting on Standard Suspension
- Work one corner at a time on the car jack. Remove the bolts, and remove standard wheel.
- Replace with new wheel, and replace bolts (remember you should really get
- locking nuts).
Fitting on Lowered Suspension
- Work one corner at a time on the car jack. Remove the bolts, and remove standard wheel.
- Because of the way the Punto suspension is set up, when lowered, the suspension arm moves the rear wheels closer to the bumper. The bumper will therefore need trimming where the rear wheels catch, use the junior hacksaw for this, you may only need to remove up to 5mm from it and you will never see the difference once the wheels are on.
- Replace with new wheel, using 5mm spacers on the rears and replace bolts (remember you should really get locking nuts, and that they need to be 5mm longer than standard Fiat bolts because of the spacers.).
Common Concerns
Q. "I have now fitted the wheels but I seem to be getting a rubbing noise when I go round a bend"
A. This is not the wheel catching on your arches, so don't panic, its because the rear suspension set up is so close to the actual inner edge of the wheel. If your offset is too low then the wheels may well be rubbing against the suspension damper, add spacers to compensate. If you are lowered then I insist that you must use the spacers anyway, because you wont get a foot without scraping.
Q. "You say I have to cut my rear bumper, why?"
A. This is because of the rear suspension set up, once you lower it the wheels move back further towards the rear bumper, once you add larger rims you begin to get very close to the rear bumper, if you leave it all there, when you go over a bump you rub tyre against it, trim it off and your tyres will last longer, and you wont get black tyre rubber up your rear quarter panels.
Q. "Wont the bigger wheels slow me down ?"
A. Well yes a bit, as the engine has more wheel to push. But its a style thing, stick 13's on and your Punto would just look stupid. Add 16's and you wont notice much difference in performance at all.
Before
After
Legal bit: Every care has been taken to ensure that this material is correct. However, should any matter not be clear after reading any of the fitting guides, you are advised to consult your nearest specialised dealer. Liability cannot be accepted for damage, loss, accidents or injury, due to failure to follow instructions or to consult expert advice if this is required. (We know you're not daft, so if you have any questions prior to undertaking any modifications, ask.)
How much power has the Punto HGT engine?
A range of power from 125 to 135 HPs is the reasonable range for the original VFD engine. Several persons have noticed the fact that engine sports 2-3 HPs more than declared. I could declare the original VFD engine, at his step 2, has about 133 HPs, instead of 131 HPs, as declared by Fiat.
How many releases of Punto HGT?
We are known two Punto HGT releases: the Euro 2 compliant and the Euro 3 compliant one. They differ from the numbers of probes along the exhaust system to monitor the combustion parameters. Euro 3 is of course more sophisticated than Euro 2. Some Euro 3 have been told to have heavy consumption of fuel. An original Euro 2 or Euro 3 Punto HGT should have 12 km/l as average consumption, while some Euro 3 users are not able to have more than 10 km/l and that's very strange.
Several tuners say they are able to tune the ECU of Punto HGT. We have collected a long list of persons that should be able: we got that information from their websites, but we don't know anybody with Punto HGT who gave his car to them and got the promised results. We list them below, but if you have somebody else able to tune the Punto HGT, please make me know and I will have. Please make me know also if you have a tuned Punto HGT ECU. I'm looking forward to understanding a bit more about that ECU and tuning my ECU too!
- AlienTech from Asti, Italy
- All Car Racing from Rome, Italy
- Alosa from Florence, Italy
- Buccolini from Porto Sant'Elpidio, Italy
- C.T.H. Chiptuning from Hamont, Belgium
- Digital Tuning from Switzerland
- DP Autosport from Turin, Italy
- Giwasa from Andorra (they haven't)
- Piasini Engineering(click here for more info)
- PowerSystem
- Santinato from Chioggia, Italy
- Superchips Swiss from Geneva, Switzerland
- Turbocorse from Milan, Italy
Piasini Engineering, from Sondrio (Italy), had some feedback with me and let me know they have available a chip tuning kit for Punto HGT. The kit is completely reversible and you can install by yourself or by your trusty mechanic. It alters the electric signals entering or exiting the engine control unit in order to have easy tuning for Punto HGT. You can order them from their own site and the price for the Punto HGT is 378.73 Euro plus VAT. They declare about 9-10 HPs more from the Punto HGT engine.
CTH Chiptuning from Hamont, Belgium
sells a powerbox, which can be installed also by yourself at 550 Euro. The declared
performance is very optimistic as you can see in its website.
Who builds special pistons for Punto?
Pistoni Speciali produces special
pistons for several racing cars and Fiat Punto kit too. We are evaluating the
strategy to adopt those special pistons with Fiat Punto HGT: the diameter of chambers
should be the same, but it has to be confirmed. Which suspension kits are available for Punto
HGT?
I have been told about these setup kits for Punto HGT and also Punto Sporting
Mk2:
Novitec has worked hard on developing a turbocharger for the Punto HGT. More
options have been seen from the first months of year 2000 about the possibilities
of hard tuning of Punto HGT. I have read these experiences about the car:
The diameter of the Pistoni Speciali's special pistons is 82.5 mm and the weight
is only 310 g. Price is not available at now.
Who sells and installs a turbocharger for the Punto
HGT?
Even the Italian PL Racing worked on the possibility of supercharging the engine of the Punto HGT and I put some pictures taken from their site about their kit.
Which camshaft for the Punto HGT?
Colombo-Bariani makes two camshafts for the 1800 cmc 16 valves engine with phase variator.
| part number | shrug | valve apertures |
fastening | distribution phase | shrug P.M.S. |
| FBA.105.272
S aspiration shaft |
10.5 |
272° |
from 118° to 93° |
from 18°-74° to 43°-49° |
0.5
/ 2.8 |
| FBA.102.280
S exhaust shaft |
10.2 |
280° - 110° |
/
70°-30° |
/
1.3 |
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| FBA.103.280
S aspiration shaft |
10.3 |
280°
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from
118° to 93° |
from 22°-78 to 47°-53° |
0.6
/ 2.9 |
The product list suggests to use the special tool developed by Colombo and Bariani to install. HPMS is to be considered with the variator closed. Please see the Colombo Bariani site for more information.
Brake disks from Galfer/Rallycar S.L.
As
you can see in our rallying pages, some components of Fiat Punto Gr.N and gr.A,
such as those taking part in the Spanish Super Copa Fiat Punto, may be adopted
and suited also on road cars, especially on Punto HGT.
The Spanish rally equipment firm Rallycar S.L., from La Coruna, which supports all the cars of the Copa Fiat Punto and the Super Copa Fiat Punto, has a very interesting braking kit for those cars, and the same kit can be installed also on Punto HGT, and maybe the Punto Sporting Mk2 too. The GALFER braking kit is composed by:
- 2 front brake disks 290x24 mm with aluminium kernel and radial drilling
- brake disk calipers with 4 pistons by AP (part number no. AP7609)
This braking kit is compatible with 6Jx15 wheels with offset ET33 or with 6Jx15 wheels with offset ET40 coupled with wheel distancers of 7 mm, like the Super Copa Fiat Punto HGT cars. The full kit costs 1.713 Euro plus VAT. Click here to go to the Rallycar website.
There is also a special page here in Puntopower.com about fitting the Galfer braking kit.
Several ECU's could be available for the Punto HGT, although I don't know anybody who installed it in a Punto HGT. These racing ECU's are developed by N Technology and distributed exclusively to racing and rallying customers:
- Standard Hitachi ECU remapped for Spanish
Super Copa Fiat Punto Trophy
(nominal max power of 155 HP) - Standard Hitachi ECU remapped for Italian
Trofeo Fiat Stilo 2002
(nominal max power of 157 HP) - Racing ECU intended exclusively for
Irish Fiat Cup
(nominal max power of 165 HP) - Standard Hitachi ECU remapped for Italian
Trofeo Fiat Stilo 2003
(nominal max power of 185 HP)
All these options could be theoretically used also for road cars, but all these ones are under investigation through the respective sources.
There are these standard strut brace bars for Punto HGT:
- Sparco model
- Momo model
- Simoni Racing model
I will put soon the part numbers and their respective prices.
NOS kit (Nitrous Oxide System)
Excluding the Novitec beast, the Punto X-One, which has been enriched with a serious turbocharger and a full NOS system, there is only an experience at now about a Punto HGT with a NOS kit. This kit has been installed by Yaron S, who shares his personal experience in his webpage on Puntopower.com.
I report here an opinion from Andy Birch, from Manchester, Great Britain, when he changed a standard spark plugs set with a special one.
"I have a little discovery to tell you about. I know that sparkplugs do not usually make any additional BHP on cars but I have just bought and fitted
a set of NGK Iridium race plugs to my HGT and the difference is
FANTASTIC!
I think realistically that the car has gained an additional 5-6 BHP. I mean real BHP too... not bullshit BHP! The Plugs come pre-gapped for the HGT and the NGK part number is: BKR6EIX.
Please go out and buy a set and fit them to your car. I am sure you will agree that the difference they make is instantly recognisable as you drive the car, especially in the midrange!
"
The Florence based firm Officina Bacci Romano, while supporting the racing purposes of Giovanni Mancini's Punto HGT in the CIVT (Italian Speed Championship) developed almost all the parts of the trasmission system of the Punto HGT. All the parts are homologated for Fiat Punto HGT gr.N specification.
- narrowed ratios with direct insertions homologated from gr.N
- slip limited differential with gr.N specifications
- lower differential ratio gr.N
Officina Meccanica Bacci Romano & C. s.n.c.
via L. B. Alberti, 53-55
Loc. Ponte Nuovo
50028 Tavarnelle Val di Pesa (FI)
Italy
Tel: +39 055 8071561
Fax: +39 055 8071284
Web: www.bacciromano.com
Gr.N slip limited differential box
Please look above the components offered by Officina Meccanica Bacci Romano at the gr.N gearbox chapter.