A friend of mine has a 2004 Fiat Punto 1.2 and he wants to modify it so that he will be having a better performance. l know that a 1.2 ltr engine is not a big deal and my opinion is to install a more powerful engine but he said that he does not wanna spend so much money.

He already installed a cone filter and a muffler. Is there anything else that he can do? Remember no too much expensive parts. Thank you for your help.

There is not that much u can do without spending a small fortune. The problem is with the small engine is that when u fit a cone filter or performance exhaust u get very limited increases in bhp. You could fit a performance ecu, this is important because by fitting the air filter u increase the amount of air coming into the engine so u need to remap or get the uprated ecu to increase the fuel going into the engine to compensate & get the most from the cone filter. l assume that by saying he has the muffler thaqt its only the back box, so suggest that he fits a full performance exhaust system.

Careully sell it, and buy a bigger car with the money ? My 2.0 LS Vectra eats modified fiats etc for breakfast, and cost me £400 to buy, and has no mod's. If l could be arsed with an engine change l could drop the SRi lump in, but l dont like breaking my fingernails.

My advice; sell it. He'd do much better with a different car. Who in their right mind would want a souped-up Fiet Punto!!

There is very little he can do to produce more power cheaply. Suggest that he has a look at fiatforum.com for tuning and maintenance tips

the best thing about modified cars is the looks and sound


keep the same engine just change stuff like the bodykits and put a bigger fatter muffler on


as for performance change the oil filters, the size of the engine and try to install a turbochager or supercharger

or jus get a more powerful car

Firstly dont be taken in by some of what has been said there r many thing that can iprove performance, some wont do anything other will but arnt worth the effort.

People keep saying why bother, but ur friend obviously carnt go around buying & selling cars. Let alone buying one which would be more expensive to buy, the parts & insurance would be far too much.

Ive been 'modding' for over a little over 3 yrs, In my opinion u could do a lot to that little punto, one thing would be to shop around on ebay & look for a stainless steel backbox, mine only cost £25!!! fit it yourself & it will cost another £25 well worth having a go.
(garages may charge £50 without parts)
This would actualy be a good place to start with u say he is change the induction system, that has changed the pressure inside the manifold system this can cause problems later on e.g. stalling car feels like its lurching etc (this happend to me)
a new backbox would remedy this.

l can supply the shop name & advise on fitting but l dont want to identify them on here.

Aloy wheels would help but then ur thinking about a lot more money l know some tricks that might Help get somthing cheaper.

One other thing l will mention now is that a strut brace would affect handeling & give a slight performance increase.
Again not that expensive & very easy to fit.

If u want any more info email me & ill let u know the contact details etc.

Hope this has helped

Ben :)

stock air filter would suit better then an induction kit everyone always goes for one of these an 9 out of 10 cars loses power.
On a na engine performance panel filter £30 air feed pipe into stock box no bigger than 3''s leading to the front bumper.or even a bonnet vent straight into the airbox.
Decat exhaust will give u the greatest gains but again be careful as the car needs back pressure so u dont want ur gas running to free. So no bigger exhaust then 3''s.Bigger manifold will help also.Iridium spark plugs & some decent oil not cheap oil, expensive oil will give the engine more wear & better performance.

Dont fit bigger alloys. this will slow the accelleration. remember wheels r gears. the bigger the gears touching the road the slower u pull pull away. If u d get bigger alloys, just go marginally bigger with lower profile tyres to compensate. As for engine modding. u could spend a grand on gizmos. & still not have a noticable improvement. the usual stuff l suppose is the filter, exhaust & chips etc. they dont do much at all, but might make ur car sound nicer. If u just want to go faster tear out the rear seats, carpets, sound proofing, door panels, spare wheel, etc etc.. that might knock a good second off u 0-60 time which u would never acheive with mods. Its FREE, & u r not making ur insurance void like u would be if u had mods.

How ironic that Steve H talks of reduced intelligence. As for You beckylou, You're missing the point.