Go faster bits

[Bren]

Which of us bolted on go faster bits to our cars? I must admit that the most I ever did was fit a k&n filter, reading old mags I could'nt see how you could justify spending £350 on an exhaust that gave an extra 2 bhp.

 

I could never see the point of peco exhausts and cylinder head conversions costing ££££££ unless your current head had issues.

 

I remember my mate taking a series 1 RS turbo to be chipped - the upgrade made the clutch slip. I told my mate a new clutch would sort it - he was talked into £600 worth of paddle clutch by firm doing chip ( ford specialist in congleton).

 

The paddle clutch made the car undriveable and it was moved on - this always made me wary of bolting on go faster bits.

Any of you got any memories of being bitterly disappointed?

[HMC]

I ruined the ride on a w124 estate by fitting some AMG alloys, in fact whenever I've messed about with wheels and tyres I've ended up prefering the car as it was.

[Station]

Know of people who have spent thousands on 100 bhp and then have it blow up something else.

200bhp is more than enough in a hatchback!

[robinmasters]

I drilled big holes in the air box on my 1L Metro, does that count?

[New POD]

The MX5NUTZ forum had a group buy on a stainless cobalt blue performance system. It was quite a bargain. but it's very noisy, can not be persuaded to not touch the bodywork occasionally and I don't think it can actually do anything to help make it faster due to CAT still being in position.

 

I still have the mazda mild steel system in the shed, and may refit it.

[New POD]

I have fitted go slower bits to Vauxhalls. Mk3 Cavalier/Astra GSI Front brakes to mk2 cavaliers, and to mk3 astra 1.4's - I have actually done this 5 times. Actually made all the cars so much better.

[tooSavvy]

.... I could'nt see how you could justify spending £350 on an exhaust that gave an extra 2 bhp. = CHECK

 

 

Any of you got any memories of being bitterly disappointed?

 

... I got a pro company to do my arse end in S/S - timed to perfection as the factory pipe holed same week 

 

Glass Pack boxes and quiet with it. About £350 for, well, perhaps slightly more than 2HP but not much.

 

I have a cold feed mod on the Std airbox.

 

A.A.S. @ Newburn.

 

TS

[Bren]

By the way, the £600 for the clutch was in 1994. 'kin ell, talikg about getting bent over.

 

I did fit a steel timing gear to my SD1 purely becuase I had removed the timing cover and the original item with nylon teeth had done over 100 k. No extra power but it should last indefinitely

 

K&N filters are a mixed bag IMHO - I took the one out of my vectra and put the paper one back in prior to sale - my fuel consumption improved with the paper item.

 

I also had a secondhand tubular system for my SD1 - it was purchased secondhand, the welding on the manifolds was not the best (some of the welds had pulled out of the tube - too many amps leaves the stainless to thin), I decided originality is best and sold it - the car has a big bore already fitted but has the standard cast manifolds.

[Pillock]

Yeah, I used to. My Polo G40 had all the popular mods.... But most of them because cheaper than original. Uprated supercharger same price as rebuild to standard. Decat pipe cheaper than cat. Stainless exhaust cheaper than unobtanium original. Only stuff I paid extra for was the smaller pulley. Worth it? Absolutely. Could I be arsed these days, 15 years older? Naaaah.

[Cavcraft]

I bought some sort of octane boosting liquid for my first bike.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Which was a Honda C70. I wish I was making this up, but sadly, I'm not. I can't recall it making even the slightest bit of difference and everyone laughed at me. 

[billyboy406v6]

Stainless Powerflow exhaust on the Pug v6 Coupe, don't know if its faster but the neighbours have mentioned how much louder it is !

[fordperv]

I have gone goo goo over the years for go faster bits, building high high comp 2.1 pinto engines with lairy cams and big carbs, building an utterly silly rs turbo engine with lower comp pistons, nice cam, double valve springs, solid lifters, silly hybrid turbo with bigger housing and uprated actuator, cosworth management to run it all safely and efficiently as ke jetronic is toss and runs engines lean above around 200bhp, all breathing through a 3" mongoose exhaust system from the turbo with a 4" tail the car ended up as an animal that comes on boost very quickly and pulls through the red line, funnily enough the exhaust was from the ford specialist in Congleton

 

I get a buzz from making things faster

 

I am under distinct instructions from mrs fp that I have to leave my saph alone so modifications are limited to the stainless exhaust system which has 2 boxes because I wanted it quiet

[purplebargeken]

I put some Redex in the petrol tank of my Toledo once.  Not sure if it helped or not

[DSdriver]

Back in 1969 I put a stage 2 racing head on my 803cc Austin A30, cant remember if it had twin SUs or the downdraught solex but I used Castrol R and it smelled ace. Harder break linings and no servo meant stopping required strength.

Sunbeam Rapier S3 I bought a year or two after had a Holbay head and twin SUs.

[bigstraight6]

I fitted a stainless steel large bore sports exhaust system to my Triumph 2000, it sounds bloody lovely! More like a GT6....

[mercrocker]

I had a few Mk 1 Minis when I was 17.   Peco big bore, Kestrel engine - that kind of thing.  Back then you could go down the scrappy and find a rusty Mini with all sorts of stuff left on it.  SPQR remotes, fancy seats, Cosmic alloys etc.   All worth a bloody fortune now of course.  The actual Minis never lasted long enough to reap the reward of the shiny bits but they were always worth a couple of quid after you'd broken the car up.   

 

When I had my first Zephyr 6 I went mad - six branch Aussie manifold, 28/36 Weber, hi-lift cam.  About all that lot did was ruin the bottom-end torque, put my insurance up and cause me to over-rev the bastard and wreck the engine.   I have only bothered with Italian tune-ups since then.....

[Station]

Peco are now called CyBox and in a different part of the Wirral.

I got CyBox to do a complete exhaust system for my Starion which was 500 quid. I said 'don't make it noisy, I want it quiet'. Got it back and it was NOISY.

[FakeConcern]

Mini 1000, I had the head modified by Jim Speed in Chiselhurst, it really made a difference, the speedo would go right round to the fuel guage on the flat. I tried a K&N filter, but the noise of it was stupid, I didn't even keep it a day!

Mini 1275GT 1 3/4 SU on heated manifold, didn't notice any difference. Both had alloy wheels that I liked the look of (still do!)

[derskine]

Fitted a GT cam and bolted on the GT bits to my Cortina, I was going to fit a Pinto so it's a good compromise.

 

Put yamaha thundercat carbs on my Polo GT with a 4-2-1 manifold, it went a bit better but ruined the reliability.

 

I'm in the process of fitting a 2L 8v Renault engine into my Volvo 340.

[Cavcraft]

I had a PCS full system and a K&N on my Mk2 Cavalier SRi. I don't know if it made it any faster, and to be honest I didn't really care as it just sounded utterly fantastic.

[captain_70s]

I once put £20 worth of Unleaded "Super" in the 1850HL by accident when I parked at the wrong pump once after having run out of petrol and coasted into town. I think it did run a bit better but I never repeated the test....

 

Most of the parts I bolt on my cars are "Go" parts rather than "Go faster" and even then I have variable success rates...

[Sealtainn]

Did the usual chav cannon exhaust and filter on my early Mk4 Escort 1.3L, got a full Magnex system on my Mk6 Escort Si which sounded lovely at idle and not too loud when giving it the beans. Also put a full stainless system on my Mk3 Capri along with ditching the 1.6 Pinto in favour of a 2.0i DOHC out of a Granada. As for these days, I would rather keep something standard and upgrade the stereo. If I had to spend £000's on making a car go faster I would rather save the money and buy something that's faster as standard

[oldford]

I once fitted a panel light dimmer on my Dolomite 1850, it caused the all Lucas wiring harness smoke to exit the wiring loom under the dash.  I spent the following week of dark cold winter evenings after college renewing some wires by torch light..

[Jazoli]

I stuck a front mount intercooler, a T3 turbo, bigger injectors and had the ECU chipped on my 200SX, by god it was quick and a big upgrade from the standard 160bhp, probably the fastest car I ever owned, all on 205 sections tyres on 'big' 16" wheels

[AlabamaShrimp]

Only mechanical thing I can think of is putting a 5 speed gearbox out of an Orion Ghia on my first mk4 Escort 1300. Made it a git to pull away but stopped it screaming for that extra gear.

 

Other then that I've changed a few trim bits but then I went strange and want standard on everything

[sierraman]

Poly bushed suspension components before. Worthwhile mod I think. I wouldn't piss about with a k&n though, it will make fuck all difference to a 1.6 focus.

[Stanky]

I once owned a heavily modified scirocco mk2 GT, 'done up' by the garage I bought it from. As far as I know it had:

 

- kent cam

-uprated valve springs

- higher compression pistons

- K&N filter

- 32/34 twin-choke weber carb with bigger jets

- 'Driver' gearbox for longer ratios

- stiffer springs but identical ride height

 

It looked more or less standard but was a complete weapon, apparently it had been dyno'd at 200bhp but I suspect 160 is more accurate, it came on cam at 2000rpm and then went like a scalded cat to 5500rpm in every gear. 70mph was about 2800 rpm so cruised easily being in the first quarter of all the torque.

 

I once had 140 out of it on a track (Silverstone, not a track* track) and it had plenty more to give but I ran out of straight and talent and most of all bottle at this point. I think it would have given 160mph judging by revs left before the redline, but may have lost to wind resistance by this point.

 

anyway, it was very fragile and no-one would touch it once they saw the tell-tale kent cam pulley so when it ran its bearings and lost most of the oil pressure I did what any self-respecting person with a 6 month old does and sold it to my brother.

 

He kept it in his garage for about 2 years then offloaded it to one of Triggers friends for nothing. He initially though it was the bargain of the year needing only an oil pressure sender, but I understand its had a new interior and a new engine and gearbox since he bought it. Good on him, it was a peach while it lasted but wasn't up to reliable daily transportation duties. Shame.

[Fat_Pirate]

I've done a lot to my MX5, though pretty much all of it on a shoestring - a worn-out turbo I rebuilt myself, Supra injectors and an intercooler from eBay, LSD and bigger brakes from a scrapyard, bigger wheels from a crashed car.  I had to buy suspension, an uprated clutch and an exhaust manifold new though.  And it was seriously unreliable while bedding all of this in.  I built the Megasquirt myself, after practicing with some DIY kits from Maplin.  I try not to think about that whenever I'm miles from anywhere, at night... 

[xtriple]

Mini, 1275 engine, then 1340 and about two grand. Went like shit off a shovel and was horrible to drive!

[DeeJay]

I was just happy if my first car started and stopped when it was supposed to, although I did fit an electric aerial to help with reliability.