Hi all,

Been looking around the interweb today and have been reading about the new multiair engine that Fiat are bringing out. I have seen John's comment that there are rumours linking it to the Abarth Grande Punto but was just wondering if anyone had heard anything about it making its way to the Abarth 500? Should be a very good engine from what I have read.

Thanks!

Thanks John - It is what I have been thinking this afternoon.

Could be really rather interesting!!

forevertom

No doubt you will have seen the press releases about Multi Air. Here are some more bits of info.

What drives the changes are often based around legaslative requirements and Euro 5 is just being effected by the Fiat Group starting Sept 09 with the Alfa 955 (Mito) and will be coming in on other FGA models as stated in the following press release back in March 09

Application of the Multiair Technology to FPT Engines

The first world-wide application of the Multiair technology will be the Fire 1400cc 16V Naturally Aspirated and Turbocharged engines.
The second application is a new Small Gasoline Engine (SGE - 900cc Twin-cylinder) where cylinder head design has been specifically optimized for the Multiair actuator integration. Here again, there will be both a Naturally Aspirated and a Turbocharged version. A specific Turbocharged engine version will be bi-fuel (gasoline- CNG).
Thanks to radical downsizing, the Turbocharged Small Gasoline Engine achieves Diesel-like CO2 emission levels, which are further reduced in its Natural Gas version with CO2 emissions lower than 80 g/km in many vehicle applications.

The next bit of legislation is Euro 6 which will start to come in Sept 2014 and will no doubt see new enhancements then also.

If you want to find out more then go to    http://www.fptpowertrain.com/index_main.htm

this is the Powertrain bit of FGA.

I'd love to try the 900cc twin cylinder turbo, probably not fast but "nippy" maybe and i read somewhere that it will do an average of 100 MPG! A great idea for those looking for a ECO version of the 500 (just in case the 1.3 MJ is too thirsty) Imagine combining this this an electric motor, probably get 200 to 300 MPG!

(sssshhhhhhh, that was the old me, the new one likes faster cars like the Abarth!)

Thanks for that. It makes an interesting read.

More I read things the more I think it may be inevitable that it will come to the A500. Improved performance and better economy would make the car even more appealing! 

Multiair will end up in all Fiat Group motors.

There is a possibility that Ferrari had a hand in the development but given the reliance on hydraulic lifters to run the system I can't see it being of great use in motorsport outside of forced induction engines as it effectively caps the rpm you can use. At least not in its current guise.

The hydraulic lifters in the FIRE 16v engines is one of the reasons why it is so hard to really tune them up. Stick a turbo on the side and it is another matter as you are not reliant on more revs to get the power out. Despite the gas flow limitations of the head the 8v engine is actually more tunable because it uses solid lifters.

Mito QV which has the 170bhp multiair and adaptive suspension is in this months evo, the claim this is the greatest thing to happen to the petrol engine since fuel injection.

all sounds great, Might not be the best article for Abarthisti to read as the performance sounds handy and at an estimated £16k for all that tech makes the GP Abarth esseesse look positively expensive! they also rubbish the 500SS as does Fiats own chassis man.

is that issue 137?
what did they say about the Clio 200?

did Fiat's chassis man suggest how we could improve things?