I agree with you regarding the steering feel, much too artificial in sport mode.

I am not aware of a work around.

I was thinking about trying to fiddle a standard 500 cabrio epas in there (the weighting's about the same on them I think) but if it did work presumably the 'sport mode' would then result in the steering having 'parking mode' weighting, which may feel even worse. Might have to have a word with a remapper at some point to see if the ecu map can be altered so the 'sport mode' button doesn't change the epas setting.

Mine is always (and Ireally mean always) in Sportmode. Kinda feels broken in normal mode.

gr J

Interesting day yesterday, it passed it's MOT with flying colours, not even a single advisory

And whilst I was waiting for the MOT results, these landed on my doorstep, so once I've got a bit more used to it, the modifications can begin



I have noticed one little oddity though - if you're wide open throttle and then back off a lot on the approach to a corner the car does a near-imperceptible wiggle. This would most likely be hidden by the straight ahead 'dead spot' in sport mode (maybe that's eve why the dead spot is there), but is this normal?

It'll be easy to get used to if it is, and may even become endearing (bit like it's a bit over-excited) but will obv need more investigation if it isn't...

BTW I did some 'brake maths' (using the aptly named Subaru 'brakemath' spreadsheet) and it looks like the Brembos will move the brake bias 8% towards the front, which given it's already got a massive front brake bias, might explain why many reviewers mention the car diving under heavy braking... I'm thinking vaguely of trying out 'fast road' pads on the back whilst leaving standard pads on the front because this will pull the bias 13% back towards the rear, but this might prove to be too much given the car's roughly 70/30 weight distribution.

Anyone else tried anything similar to balance the brakes up a bit, or is messing with the rears a recipe for a fishtailing disaster?

Put in an order for some new rear discs and EBC Greenstuff pads. Figured they'd be a safe choice for the rears since that's only a slight pad upgrade over standard, though will be interesting to see how they cope; sounds like they may not suit lightweight cars unless you do a lot of heavy braking judging by some reviews, but we shall see...

Also bought some standard Brembo-made pads for the front; Brembos can be a bit choosy about the pads (they can stick if not exactly right) so worth getting the real McCoy.

Fitted the Monza last night and finished off in lunchtime today. I planned to fit the rear brake pads / discs at the same time but since I'm fitting braided lines and need the car tonight, that wasn't practical.

Decided to take the rear bumper off since it makes swapping back boxes easier (easier to get to the mounts and gives you more wiggle room if the tailpipes aren't hitting the splitter) and I wanted to do some investigation around the rear wheelarches and stick some more rustproofing in, so out came the wheelarches, off came the tail lights (remarkably filthy in their aperture) and off came the bumper.

Rear wheelarch (minus spiders):



Nothing too scary in the rear wheelarches (unless you don't like spiders - there were loads of cobwebs behind my wheelarch liners) but where the bumper attaches to the corner of the rear wheearch there is a double-skinned area (much like any other car at that point) so will have to stick some waxoyl in that corner when the rear trim's out to prevent any future issues.

Possible rust trap:



I spent some time researching a lubricant with v high heat resistance for the Monza's valve, and found out the one I use for almost everything is the best (copperease) - it has a 1500c limit So diluted some with a little white spirit, smeared it over the spring-loaded hinge and allowed it to trickle in whilst working it back and forth. It wasn't bad to begin with but now it's 'as new' smooth as it operates.

Then stuck a load of waxoyl in any exposed nooks and crannies and a nice covering over the paintwork inside the wheelarch liners, and all back together.

Off with the old (look at those filthy indicator apertures!):



And on with the new(ish):



Sounds nice to me:

But... Did you try the turismowheels? Do they fit?

gr J

Ok. Thanks for confirming.

gr J

I'm all-but done now, still need to finish fiddling with it, but I'm replacing the Lego-style default boost gauge with the standard 500's 'accessory port' (this supplies power and a mount point for a satnav), and fitting a small digital boost gauge (much easier to read out of the corner of your eye and doesn't steal much windscreen 'real estate'):




I wasn't fond of the default single din stereo (poor sound quality and poor radio reception) so I've replaced it with an old top-of-the-range Pioneer which had a rear accessory port and rear remote control. Still need to fit the remote control cabling (this will allow the volume buttons on the steering wheel to work) but using an adaptor cable I constructed plus the Pioneer accessory port I can still use the car's built-in Blue&Me functions, like being able to make phone calls, or use the handy USB port near the handbrake:



Also still need to replace the default speakers since though sound quality's greatly improved it does still need some work, and I need to consider if I should swap to a different aerial; I swapped for a shark fin with a powered signal booster, but the radio signal's no better than the default one. However it does look nice, and I've now got a DAB radio feed if I can ever find a GEX-P700/900 DAB unit to go with my stereo.



And finally, I replaced the side stripes to make the styling fit more in with the gold Mak XLRs



I was in two minds about fitting Sabelt seats; I love the colour and style of my current interior (it reminds me of my old Alfa 916 gtv) but I need a lower passenger seat since my other half hits her head on the sunroof, and the default seats are quite heavy. However after my weight research in this thread - https://www.abarthforum.co.uk/500-abarth-tuning/component-weights I definitely won't be getting Sabelts now - they weigh slightly more than the standard Abarth seats and though the passenger seat would be lower (esp with lowering rails) it removes the height adjustment and robs some rear leg room. So I'll be searching for a LHD driver's seat base so I can add some height adjustment instead.