Adding performance cheaply....what to do!??

[chris_clio_2006]

Hi im new to this place and bought a 1.4 champs elysees a month or so ago after getting bored of being mowed down by everything on the road in my corsa. The clios nothing special but the best performance I could get for my insurance and price bracket

Now im looking for some upgrades to make it go faster and handle better, however I have a very tight budget. A few things I had in mind are listed below, any recommendations? What should i do first, any other ideas??

SPEED
Induction (& whats best?)
Upgrade sparks and leads (say bosch super 4 plugs, any good? worth it??)
Full exhaust (although maybe too expensive) decat pipe, section of exhaust..?
performance fuel pump
ecu (also expensive i guess)

HANDLING AND BRAKING
strut brace (front, maybe back)
uprated disks, pads
lowering (what limit is there before shocks are recommended to be changed is it 40mm?)
wider tyres, better rubber (im currently on some crusty brand however they came new with the car)

Also anyone have any recommendations of where to get hold of the parts? I mean im thinking ebay and I found a few online sites like euro performance, but any other recommendations??

I know there's loads here to reply to but any advice would be appreciated!!

cheers

 

[Bradharding]

To be honest mate I'd just lower it and put some new alloys on if you fancy it. UPgrade to clio 16v brakes and that'd do. If tyou want more performance look out for a valver engine, they go qutie cheap these days!

 

[Dan@SJM]

steer clear of super 4's. just get some NGK's in there.

 

[edde]

SPEED
Induction (& whats best?)
Upgrade sparks and leads (say bosch super 4 plugs, any good? worth it??)
Full exhaust (although maybe too expensive) decat pipe, section of exhaust..?
performance fuel pump
ecu (also expensive i guess)

HANDLING AND BRAKING
strut brace (front, maybe back)
uprated disks, pads
lowering (what limit is there before shocks are recommended to be changed is it 40mm?)
wider tyres, better rubber (im currently on some crusty brand however they came new with the car)

Also anyone have any recommendations of where to get hold of the parts? I mean im thinking ebay and I found a few online sites like euro performance, but any other recommendations??

I wouldn't bother spednding on it but if you want.
Panel filer then make a cold air intake from the fog light (need to remove fog light)

Normal plugs and leads are fine do a decient service and change them though.

Fuel pumps fine no gains there same for ecotech (junk) also power boost valve)

ECU gains are minimal on near stock engines on a small engine.

Front strut brace only useful if you use some decient bolts and get a decinet thick brace. Rear ones no need no gains.

Uprated brakes well use the 259mm setup with new calipers Adamhog has a set for sale I belive you need the calipers the brackets and the lines drop him a PM I'll sort out whcat bits you'll need and get a picture if you need. Idealy use some new disks (£50~60 from GSF etc) and some new pads £17 FDB845 are fine and some decient fluid. I've got some partially worn brembo max drileld and droved or somehting disks there the black ones.

Shocks willwear anywa springs will accelerate depends how you drive I wore stock setup in 50k on stock springs to a level I wasn't happy with others are fine 60mm down for 70k and say they drive hard. I'd change shocks regardless with springs.

Tyre choice well the F1's are popular. Loads of choice all Clio wheel will fit your car (V6 apart).

 

[chris_clio_2006]

Thanks to everyone who has already replied!!

Regarding replacing the engine with a 16 valver, wouldn't there need to be other parts replaced to deal with the added performance? I mean apart from the obvious such as brakes.

thanks

 

[Turkish]

If you're limited by budget and the other obvious limitations of a small capacity engine tbh you should look to shed as much weight as poss. If you dont need to use the rear seats strip the lot out and any trims and rally sl*g it. Wont cost you anything and you'll notice an improvement. tbh most mods you'd do to the stock lump will only really result in more noise and a crisper throttle response rather than any actual performance increase.

 

[edde]

Thanks to everyone who has already replied!!

Regarding replacing the engine with a 16 valver, wouldn't there need to be other parts replaced to deal with the added performance? I mean apart from the obvious such as brakes.

thanks

You idealy want a whole doner car to use you need the engine loom ECU driveshafts and brakes are ideal as well to use and gearbox.

 

[chris_clio_2006]

OKay stripped car out completely at the back today and guestimate weight reductions of about 40-50kg

spare wheel: 20kg
speakers + 6x9s : 5-10kg
Seat belts, panels, doorcards, carpet etc : 5kg
Jack, tools etc : 5kg
Seats: 5-10kg

suprisingly most the weight reduction had nothing to do with seats, the seatbelts and their harness etc weighed quite a bit and obviously the spare wheel and speakers etc. Oh yeh is it illegal to have no spare wheel btw??? I mean ill carry some tyre sealant or something obviously.

The car definitely feels lighter at the back (duhhh) and handles better, and ive noticed a slight increase in acceleration.

So on to the next stage, giving it a full service tmrw with me old grandad (knows his s**t) and the next thing I like the sound of is the cold air intake, and then probably look at uprating brakes.
Ive read loads of stuff on this on various forums here however anyone want to tell me in an easy to understand way where im meant to be rerouting the piping, and pictures would be an amazing help!!
Also is it really worth it? and will it be possible to reroute with an induction kit aswel, or should I keep the standard air box and just upgrade the filter to a BMC one or something?

Okay loadsa stuff here any help would be great, and thanks for everyone that has replied so far. I like the idea of the engine conversion and so on but its not really a feasible idea for me so id like to work with what I got for the moment and hey, see where it goes.

ill post sum pics of how its going after i cleared all the s**t out tmrw.

Cheers peeps

 

[Dan@SJM]

loose it all! i lightened my 172 to 940kg!

WHat isnt needed for the running, loose it!

 

[Turkish]

Fair play fella you didnt hang about ripping it all out. Good to hear you feel it's made a noticeable improvement so far

 

[edde]

Oh yeh is it illegal to have no spare wheel btw??? I mean ill carry some tyre sealant or something obviously.

Ive read loads of stuff on this on various forums here however anyone want to tell me in an easy to understand way where im meant to be rerouting the piping, and pictures would be an amazing help!!
Also is it really worth it? and will it be possible to reroute with an induction kit aswel, or should I keep the standard air box and just upgrade the filter to a BMC one or something?

No spare is fine no legal I'd carry a can of foam though.

Easy way to sort the air feed is to remove your air box you'll see then pipe going in to it run a big diameter pipe from there to the front lower foglight after you have removed it.

Just use a panle filter and a pipe to save money gains after all are only small.

 

[chris_clio_2006]

thinking about the fog light air intake idea, what about when you go through a big puddle, or being in england wouldn't be suprised you drive through a small sized lake. water + engine isnt good. is that not an issue or am i just overlooking something obvious.:dapprove:

 

[edde]

thinking about the fog light air intake idea, what about when you go through a big puddle, or being in england wouldn't be suprised you drive through a small sized lake. water + engine isnt good. is that not an issue or am i just overlooking something obvious.:dapprove:

You have to be careful.

 

[tomehb]

thinking about the fog light air intake idea, what about when you go through a big puddle, or being in england wouldn't be suprised you drive through a small sized lake. water + engine isnt good. is that not an issue or am i just overlooking something obvious.:dapprove:

yeah just be careful i say

heres mine..