An "official" Abarth thread...all things scorpion related

Coldsnap wrote: Gotcha, does the short shift adapter make the stick feel a bit stiffer too? I found the stock one to be a bit floppy and loose feeling. (that sorta sounds gross)

WOW Really Paul? wrote: http://www.abarthonly.com/store/p30/Moretti_Motor_Company_FIAT_500_Rear_Seat_Delete_Kit.html There is the rear seat delete kit found on AbarthOnly. How does it actually look Jerry? I'm going to abuse the E36 M3 out of the hatchback exemption for G-street....lol

I went GRM method. There's a how-to on one of the forums that uses a carpeted mat trimmed to size & quilt batting to stuff underneath. About $60 all in except for the fitting I needed to remove the seat belt buckles (which you would need for theirs anyway). Looks good and much cheaper! (I'll find the link when I get home).

Pep Boys let me try 4-5 different damn fittings trying to figure out the weird bolt that holds the rear seat buckles in. Some kind of Torx-looking thing, I just told them I needed to figure out which one of these works & I'll buy the right one. They were pretty cool about it, probably a typical Saturday morning thing.

In reply to Jerry:

I sell tools too so that might be the easy part. LoL

Have any of you Scorpion-heads had your Abarths long enough to have to do any routine service on them? If so, how bad is it? I am intrigued by the Abarth, but looking in that tightly-packed engine bay makes me worry. Maybe I've been spoiled by wrenching on Miatas and Saturns too long.

In reply to bluebarchetta:

Me & a friend installed a cold air intake. Not terrible. So far everything else has been free/scheduled warranty stuff. 25kish miles.

In reply to Jerry:

I've had mine 4 days and I have 20k miles to catch up on Jerry.....

Everything on the turbo engine is a knuckle buster. But simple enough. Some stuff needs to be accessible from below the engine, because of the Chrysler design.

My turbo is nearing 50k miles. Seems pretty high for the year 2013 model.

In reply to Jerry:

Jerry, do you happen to have done the Bluetooth accessory port thing to stream music?

Edit: Just wondering since I just bought one....lol

Jerry wrote:

WOW Really Paul? wrote: http://www.abarthonly.com/store/p30/Moretti_Motor_Company_FIAT_500_Rear_Seat_Delete_Kit.html There is the rear seat delete kit found on AbarthOnly. How does it actually look Jerry? I'm going to abuse the E36 M3 out of the hatchback exemption for G-street....lol

I went GRM method. There's a how-to on one of the forums that uses a carpeted mat trimmed to size & quilt batting to stuff underneath. About $60 all in except for the fitting I needed to remove the seat belt buckles (which you would need for theirs anyway). Looks good and much cheaper! (I'll find the link when I get home). Pep Boys let me try 4-5 different damn fittings trying to figure out the weird bolt that holds the rear seat buckles in. Some kind of Torx-looking thing, I just told them I needed to figure out which one of these works & I'll buy the right one. They were pretty cool about it, probably a typical Saturday morning thing.

As promised : Rear Seat Delete DIY

So far I've been using Satellite radio & probably dropping it soon. I'll figure out the best/easiest way to play MP3's off my iPod soon I suppose.

I got that Miccus USB bluetooth thing and it was garbage. Using a 3.5mm cord now.

In reply to Jerry:

I don't have sat radio, wish it did. I can have it as quickly as I can pull the Sirius roady out of the old car though.

In reply to Coldsnap:

Which Bluetooth thing? I was told to get one that plugged into the usb and then the 3.5 jack.

WOW Really Paul? wrote: In reply to Coldsnap: Which Bluetooth thing? I was told to get one that plugged into the usb and then the 3.5 jack.

I got both these, which were the best recommended ones on Fiat forums (ugh).

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002HHLOWC?keywords=Miccus%20bluetooth&qid=1443658292&ref_=sr_1_3&sr=8-3

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00NMPKVRM?keywords=Miccus%20bluetooth&qid=1443658292&ref_=sr_1_4&sr=8-4

The second one needed to be paired everytime I entered my vehicle. So had to open glove box, touch buttons to pair, then off I go. Returned.

The second one did the re-paring automatically was great but over bluetooth the sound quality was very diminished and had white noise. I was already taking a sound quality hit my streaming the music off Spotify, but when then streaming it over Bluetooth I could definitely tell it was affecting the quality of the audio. Really noticeable in the vocals and bass, bass was pretty much non-existent in most songs.

Also, here's the results of the DIY version:

In reply to Coldsnap:

This is what was recommended to me by other fiat people.....they all said the ones that only plugged into the 3.5mm jack were garbage. Also, they said to make sure its A2DP

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00YA8U2BU/ref=s9_simh_gw_d0_g422_i4?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=mobile-2&pf_rd_r=0G66VS6D4Y4J6P1DCSV6&pf_rd_t=36701&pf_rd_p=2072522802&pf_rd_i=mobile

Boom, in one fell swoop and a paultry sum of $7......I have streaming Bluetooth that doesn't require repeat pairing and has great audio quality. Now I can jam out in style to my Lindsey Stirling collection.

Paul - 1, Chrysler infotainment engineer - 0.

Nice. I'm gonna try that one.

I hit 10k miles on my '15 yesterday. That's all I got.

Anyone know how to fully turn off ESC? I swear I had mine step in yesterday even after hitting the "ESC off" button.

NVM, figured it out. If anyone else was wondering, hold the "ESC off" button for a certain amount of time until the "ESC OFF" displays in the info screen. Just pressing it and getting the "ESC off" light on the cluster just means you get a higher limit before intervention.

FWIW, the car is even MORE FUN with it completely off. LoL

Got my TWM shortshifter installed (http://www.twmperformance.com/shortshifters/fiatshortshifters/fiat500-abarth-shortshifters.htm). Same time my friend was getting his ADD shortshifter, wish I took a picture of it bolted into the console because it was beautiful looking and high quality. Both felt REALLY good. Big difference. Might be the only mod I do. good stuff.

As an Abarth and "The Smoking Tire" fan, I enjoyed this YouTube video and thought I would share it.

Anyone look at exhausts yet? I'm torn between the MPX & Madness. If I was baller rich I'd buy the magneti marelli...

I'm just looking at stuff to make it more fun and more up to class allowances for G-street.

WOW Really Paul? wrote: NVM, figured it out. If anyone else was wondering, hold the "ESC off" button for a certain amount of time until the "ESC OFF" displays in the info screen. Just pressing it and getting the "ESC off" light on the cluster just means you get a higher limit before intervention. FWIW, the car is even MORE FUN with it completely off. LoL

I did not know this. I did a handful of autocrosses this year, just hitting the button if I had to restart the car since the last run (depended on how fast we were getting thru grid). I will remember this next year!

In reply to Jerry:

Its around 10 seconds or so before you get the message in the info center that its off. Just pressing it merely raises the intervention limit of it.