Punto Tuning

"Certainly worth a Punt"

The Punto is a good car tuning project base to play with.

The Mk1 Punto GT is the best base for tuning by a long shot.

After that the Mk2 JTD is pretty tuneable, and developments are being made all the time with the newer 1.4 T-jet and 1.9 M-jet.

The HGT can't be remapped and there's not much gain to be had out of the smaller engines.

Punto buying advice and common problems

Mk1 - Getting on a bit now. Rust seems to be the biggest issue as with many cars of this age. Check around the windscreen, rear wheel arches and alongside the sills and chassis rails as these are notorious. Red key is needed to code new keys and important in case the ECU throws a hissy fit.

Mk2 - Wiper linkages always going common fault. Power steering failing also very common. Apart from that they're pretty sound.

Handling modifications are usually your first port of call for the Punto. Drop the car by as much as 35mm and fit stiffer dampers, bigger drops will need other modifications in most instances.

The best power gains come from larger engine sizes and the Turbo models. The more power you start with the bigger the return on investment so engine swaps are good value mods for small engined cars.

Fiat Punto Tuning modifications.

As with most things your tuning options, depends on your budget. Here are some recommendations for the GT engine. As far as bang-per-buck goes so to speak a full "Seb2" setup as it's called is the way to go. This consists of an uprated cone or panel filter, 2.25" or larger downpipe back exhaust including decat, decent boost controller, FMIC and Power on the Road Seb2 chip. Running 1.2bar boost should see around170bhp on a good engine and make for a 15 second flat quarter mile on average.

Seb2s drive a lot better on and off boost, and achieve better fuel economy than standard. It is possible to upgrade the turbo to a TT Stage 1 which was what our member MasterAuron did. The highest Seb2 figure achieved to our knowledge is 185bhp and impresive 14.5s quarter mile with a TT Stage 1 - NB this car had a full interior and was not a stripped out racer!

You're looking at as little as £300 for the whole setup if you pick up everything second hand but in good condition.

Past this there is Seb4.1, which requires a Seb4 chip, hybrid turbo (GT25R sort of size), custom elbow uprated fuel pump and regulator and larger injectors on top of Seb2 spec. This should see at least 200bhp, but the highest we are aware of  with this setup is 226bhp with 2.5" elbow and downpipe. Again, this was achieved on standard internals.

Engine swaps options for the Punto

There are plenty of engine swaps out there on the Punto. GT conversions (from smaller engined models 60s etc etc) are probably the most common as running donor GT's with poor bodywork can be picked up for peanuts.

The 16VT from the Fiat Coupe will fit into a Mk1 and Mk2 with custom mounts and some slight loom splicing. You will also need to use the 16VT gear linkage. Exhaust needs to be adapted also. Further details can be provided in our forum if needed. There's a few about and more currently being built.

The 20VT from the Coupe will also fit but some cutting needs to be done to the chassis legs so it's wise to leave that one alone unless you know what you're doing. This is beyond the scope of this article.

A swap of the 1.4 GT engine into the Mk2 has also been done but only once as far as we know by a lad in Malta that uses it for hillclimbs.

Loads of other engines and combination can and have been done. Turbo-charged 1.6 16V bravo engine is underway for example, and the Sporting (90) 1600 bottom end can be used with an otherwise GT engine and some custom work to create a 1.6 GT.

As with all engine swaps uprated brakes and suspension are recommended and pretty much essential. Brembo 4-pots from a coupe are a common swap, requiring custom brackets.

For some further reading, see our articles on Breathing mods and  Remaps and have a browse of our Fiat forum.

Fiat Punto Wheel modifications.

Because alloy wheels are lighter they improve performance and they help to cool the brake disks.

Large Punto alloy wheels can decrease performance. If you get big alloy wheels you will be changing your final drive ratio. 

17" will fit the Mk1 and Mk2 with rolled arches. 

Most big 17's just don't look right in the Punto arches and this has a detremental affect on handling and steering.

15's are perfect for performance imo whilst 16's arguably look the best.

For more information on Tuning your car please join us in our friendly forum where you can discuss Punto options in more detail with our Punto owners.

It would also be worth reading our unbiased Fiat tuning articles to get a full grasp of the benefits and drawbacks of each modification. (Many thanks to our member, Master Auron for these tips and pics and we suggest you check out his progress on "project reaper" in our forum.