SCCA E/M Fiat 600 autocross video

Nice drive, sound, and I also like the cute "very messy bun at the end!"

Thanks.
I keep wondering why I was hard on the gas and then coasting in the middle of the run. That bothers me more than the cone that I hit in the Chicago Box.
And, as I said before, the car is just not competitive; we're working on it.

Did you find a 903 block?
I have been doing structural repair on the front part of my garage and everything is piled together in the back making it really difficult to get to anything. But there's 14 bare blocks buried back there--633s, 767s, 817s, 843s and (3) 903s.
 
Cool! Are you competitive in your class? What notable mods are in the car? I haven't auto-crossed since about 1990 in my old 600 - slow and hopelessly out-classed as there weren't any sub 1 liter cars and very few vintage cars racing where I used to live. Back in the 70s there used to be a guy with a 600 Berlina Corsa with a 124 twin cam motor in it that I used to autocross against. That thing was fast... :eek:
 

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Cool! Are you competitive in your class? What notable mods are in the car? I haven't auto-crossed since about 1990 in my old 600 - slow and hopelessly out-classed as there weren't any sub 1 liter cars and very few vintage cars racing where I used to live. Back in the 70s there used to be a guy with a 600 Berlina Corsa with a 124 twin cam motor in it that I used to autocross against. That thing was fast... :eek:

I posted some pics and a description on Carl's "rat X..." thread but basically it's mid engined, 2.2L GM Ecotec, and a GM front drive 3 speed trans. Last dyno was 180 at the rear wheels but there was a flat spot from 6500 to 7200. I changed the intake manifold and improved power, now I have an "on/off switch" that's difficult to control. I think I picked up about 20hp but hurt driveability on tight courses.
Over the winter we will work on that and the suspension.
You have a really fast autoX car (A/Mod) in Vancouver. The Joe Cheng/Gary Milligan Vancouver Special is a rocket.

Edit: Joe Cheng not David.
 
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Love to see a photo of the Fiat Croma engine cam covers and see if it has Fiat on them. Fiat used this same engine in the Croma for awhile so if your in a Fiat club that only lets you use Fiat engines in competitions so if they allow it this opens up all those great engines in wrecking yards everywhere!
 
Love to see a photo of the Fiat Croma engine cam covers and see if it has Fiat on them. Fiat used this same engine in the Croma for awhile so if your in a Fiat club that only lets you use Fiat engines in competitions so if they allow it this opens up all those great engines in wrecking yards everywhere!

Not sure what the Croma engine had for a cam box cover but it might have just had the "ECOTEC" on the cover like mine does. Maybe someone on the Forum knows.
I heard that Alfa used a modified version of the 2.0L.
 
All the photos I have seen just have Ecotec so there might be problems getting approval. Alfa engines are fine though and the 147 engine and gearbox might be worth investigating. They are surprisingly cheap.
 
All the photos I have seen just have Ecotec so there might be problems getting approval. Alfa engines are fine though and the 147 engine and gearbox might be worth investigating. They are surprisingly cheap.

It's strictly an autocross car that runs local events in SCCA E/Mod. We run some SCCA National Events. In our class we can run a supercharged LS engine if we want. So, at the moment while it would be nice to have a true Croma/Ecotec it just doesn't matter.
What matters is that we need to make it competitive in class, we just aren't there yet.
We have a dyno day in Feb and I'm getting ready for that and doing some suspension mods.
It might be possible to buy a junkyard Croma Ecotec bare block with paperwork in Italy and have it shipped over and "refilled" here. At least you would have proof it was a Fiat engine.
 
I didn't see any cars pass you, so I guess you won? :p
I've never tried autocross and frankly know nothing about it, but it looks like fun. I can't figure out how you know where to go though. :confused:
You mentioned it has a three speed, I never saw any shifting, and I did not notice a clutch pedal...so automatic? Or do AX courses only require one gear (no shifting)?
 
I didn't see any cars pass you, so I guess you won? :p
I've never tried autocross and frankly know nothing about it, but it looks like fun. I can't figure out how you know where to go though. :confused:
You mentioned it has a three speed, I never saw any shifting, and I did not notice a clutch pedal...so automatic? Or do AX courses only require one gear (no shifting)?

It's a GM 3T40, '98 Pontiac 3 speed hydraulically controlled front drive auto trans.
Under conditions that we don't normally see
(in a straight line run through 1st and 2nd) the the lever is placed in DR2/2nd gear and it will hold 1st gear until 7000RPM and then shift to second. Since it's in "2" it holds that until it hits the limiter at 7200 and will not shift to 3rd. If you try to stretch the limiter by not letting off the throttle it sometimes goes as high as 7400. (That's where the 1600F exhaust shows up--from a partial fuel cut.)
If speeds drop enough in 2nd it will downshift to 1st and given enough room it will again hold 1st to 7000.
The torque converter technically has a stall speed of 2760 but in reality it varies from below that to upwards of 3000.
I just had a discussion with my son as to why it didn't downshift to 1st at about 22 seconds into the run from 11/17. Some time was lost there.
We found the trans in a junkyard for $95. After that we put about $2000 in parts including a custom limited slip. If you get things wrong coming off a turn it will lay down 2 10" wide strips of Hoosier or Avon for quite a ways.
 
As I said I know nothing about autocross, but I've noticed for other forms of short quick acceleration runs that do not involve much shifting a automatic can be faster than a manual. I'm thinking of the drag race cars (which I also know nothing about), that in some aspects remind me of autocross - in terms of the short acceleration bursts, not turning obviously.
I love any car that can lay down a pair of huge black stripes. :)
 
95 degree autocross days have caused some cooling problems for the 600. I'm not permitted the Abarth "hood open" mod which would have helped cooling and opening the decklid between runs helped some, but didn't help during runs.
Decided on surgery and some ducting from the fan to the new outlet.
Hope to try it out on Sunday and get some updated videos.
I gave up on rotating the image.
 

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When your alternator is mounted on the crossmember behind the passenger seat area, completely free of the engine, you can be fairly sure that your motor and trans mounts are strong enough.
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Engine pic and one from the SCCA Dixie Tour autocross in Cecil, Ga this weekend.
(Yes, the Stalkers were rough on us this weekend, but we expected that before we went)
 
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