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Modifications.

The barchetta is now over 4 years old, and it's beginning to attract the tuning market more heavily. There are quite a few products and services out there to personalise your car if you choose to. You should refer primarily to the tuning and modifying pages that are in the main site. But here are a few of the UK or newer items, not covered there. Contact details for most of the vendors on this page can be found on our good suppliers page.

Engine	There's only really a couple of options here. Airfilter - K&N, Sparco, or OMP from Demon Tweeks. Replaces the OE one that is approximately £25. Good cost saving over time as these only need cleaning and re-oiling. They may reduce filtering over standard filters. Bert Reid induction changes. Green cotton airfilter, relocated airflow meter, and forced stationary ventilation.  Exhaust - Stainless Steel replacement from DTR European Sportscars. The OE pipe is mild steel, very heavy, and usually cracks at the middle box after 18 months or so. DTR's exhaust is lighter, cheaper, and carries a lifetime warranty. Choice of single pipe (rolled oval) or twin pipe (cut pipe). The twin looks closer to the original, but has a few inches less of insulated pipe and a few inches more of resonant materal. They are loud, but you soon learn to marvel at the true Italian sound they make.
Body	If you really must..... Not a lot of Styling Products actually improve the barchetta looks. The addition of an engine bay strut brace does help the barchetta turn into corners better, and feel more composed. These are available from MOMO (red) , OMP (yellow), and Sparco (blue or chrome), for approximately £50.  Fitting is easy. With the car on level ground, undo one of the bolts for the shock absorber top mounts, and place the strut brace underneath. Repeat for other side. You can drill the suspension turret at your own risk (remember Italian car = potential for rust...), or simply crop a bolt head off and glue it over the remaining holes, if you want it to look complete. You can change the side repeaters for MHW coloured ones. Available in blue, clear, red or dark smoke.
Electronics	Nothing too UK specific, except for the autoleads version of the replacement fascia for the radio, converting the oval in the dash to a DIN-E fitting. It's better than the FIAT part, and costs a tenner from Halfords. They will need to order it for you, it's part no. is FP-01-01.  The speakers are easy to upgrade, and the originals are very cheap and nasty. Worth doing if you change the radio.
Wheels	Really these should be Italian. Some of the nicest barchetta wheels come from OZ, Radius, Momo. Pictures here eventually. Standard replacement sizes. 15" - OE Size - Use 195/55 or 205/50). 16" - +1 - Use 205/45 or 215/40 17" - +2 - Recommendations anyone? 18" - +3 - Don't be daft. Note: 17" wheels require very low profile tyres and care should be taken if the car is lowered that there is no bodywork fouling. It also makes the car prone to tramlining (following imperfections in the road), and gives a very harsh ride.
Tyres	Important note: The barchetta tyre pressures of 2.4 bar (front) and 2.0 (rear) should be adhered to. The car is very sensitive to pressure changes, and premature tyre wear will occur if the fronts are underinflated. 2.4 bar is actually 35psi, 2.0 is 29psi. Good Summer Tyres (recommended / used on cars we know): Bridgestone SO-2 Pole Position - good dry grip, good aquaplane resistance. Need to be warm to get best effect. Bridgestone SO-3 PP - New, but encouraging reports creeping in now. Goodyear Eagle F1 - good dry performance, good aquaplane resistance. Replaced by the Eagle Ventura now. Goodyear NCT2/3 - OE tyres. Reasonable performance. Wear quickly if under-inflated. Good Winter Tyres (Recommendations please!) Bad Tyres (Reports Please!) Ivo Molak in Luxembourg has a Tyre survey for barchetta applications here.

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