Fiat Bambino

[ScortFreak]

I saw a few of these today while we were getting out Fiat fixed. A red one like that, and a yellow wagon. Bloody small cars. :p

[XAC15T]

Strap on a gt-starlet or kei class turbo on... nice little mid-range punch :D

More pics of the n14 sss too :p

[MR-PUNANNY]

lol, the car is damn small, but at the front, you have plenty of room.

The N14 is just a 2l q, thats got the SSS kit, its My cuz', I have no pics of it.

Strap on a gt-starlet or kei class turbo on... nice little mid-range punch

Beng air cooled, dont think teh heat would be friendly.

[Lobster]

Those little cars are still cool.
I reckon a little turbo or supercharger would make it really cool.

[gtrboyy]

My mates boss has 1,its bright red/tan leather with niki motor/efi/toyota supercharger/ems & big 12in arbarth wheels (lol) .Next time I see it I'll take photos.

[MR-PUNANNY]

sounds good actually GTR boy, I saw a FSM Niki motor sor 100US in qld on Ebay...hmmm So, strap a toyota charger on, should go ok then ay? What about brakes? Looks like push bike brakes!

[Guido]

teehehe

[Shitbreak]

One of the guys from 910Bluebirdclub slapped on a turbo to one of these things (I'm pretty sure it was a bambino) but cant remember the turbo.

Would go sweet as with a Rotor although I dont know what you'd do for gearbox/axels.

[Big George]

One of the guys from 910Bluebirdclub slapped on a turbo to one of these things (I'm pretty sure it was a bambino) but cant remember the turbo.

Hehehehe.. That was me! :D
The car was a 1991 FSM Niki. Long story follows, but it's amusing, this car gave me plenty of laughs.




I bought some steam pipe bends and did some angle grinding and welding.

The turbo was a T2 from a nissan EXA, oil cooled only. I had this lying around in my shed and thought I could put it to good use.
I had to move the coil to the top of the engine compartment, turned the inlet gooseneck around on the carby, scabbed some "offcuts" from the local exhaust shop to join it up, installed an electric fuel pump, blocked off the fuel return line on the carby, hooked up the oil with a steel braid line Tee'd into the oil pressure sender, and the return line is a chunk of 1/2" hose with a lathe modded hack job of a $2 brass barb on the end, simply jammed into the dipstick hole.

The crazy thing is, it worked!

It made about 2-3psi of boost, but the engine just didn't have enough huff to turn the turbine. The turbo was simply way too big for it. Probably the equivalent of sticking a T66 on a 2 litre engine.

The most amusing part was the sound it made, The engine makes it's own "chukka chukka" sound, combine that with the "dzzzzzzing" of a turbo and it sounds hilarious.

The car was sold ($700) before I could finish off the exhaust and get it tuned right, some dudes from Raine & Horne in Peakhurst bought it, and painted it yellow, ran it around eastern creek for some sort of promo and flogged it off for a tidy $1500.

If the car ever turns up again I want to know about it eh, someone let me know!!! :D

The yellow bambino above was built by Fiat Torque in Sydney, That runs a Suzuki Cappuccino turbo, intercooler, EFI, twin cam head, etc etc.. That's what inspired me with mine. This dude had it figured though, it was immaculate, and that wind-up key thingy runs off a wiper motor on the engine-bay lid. I wanted one bad, but the dude put some outragous price on the key-kit thing and I decided to put my money into better things like steam pipe.

Also, while I owned the thing, I did a fair bit of research and I discovered a few things. The engine, being 650cc is basically the same as a 1300 VW engine, but cut in half, the pistons are not opposed, they run side-by-side.
Being VW inspired, I researched further, only to discover that the gearbox, linkages and drive shafts are similar / the same as some VW models from the bug and kombi.

The niki 650 is a 17hp engine. VW 1300 is a 40hp engine.
A lot of VW owners go for the 1600 engine which makes around 60hp.

Following that train of thought, I kept researching.. :D

Now, VW owners usually ditch the 40 year old stuff when it blows up, and buy a bellhousing adaptor kit, which enables them to hook up the EFI 1.6 and 1.8lt subaru liberty, sportswagon series of engines, to the VW gearbox.
Subaru engine makes around 80hp. Hook up a radiator of some sort and a EFI fuel pump, etc and you have yourself a 80hp VW with double the factory power output.

Some nutters will take this a step further, and go for the 2 litre subaru engine, and if your really crazy, an EJ20et is not out of the question. It is possible to install one in a VW. :rotflol:

This is where I drew the line and sold the car. Because on further investigation, I realised that if I were to chop out the firewall behind the back seat, put a radiator there, do some cut/shut work in the back end of the niki.... (remembering it's all VW configuration)............. Any of the above engines would fit in it! :knock: :D

Now imagine the horsepower of a WRX, in a short wheelbase, RWD, 600kg car. Can you say "WHEELSTAND" ? :D :D :D