To Those Who Bought The Cars Stock As A Rock!

[evil_weevil]

Hello All,

For those who have gone down the modifying path - just a question.

Who decided to go handling/braking performance over outright power mods?

Ive been thinking what I want to do first - I love driving twisty roads (old pac etc) and it got me thinking, even though its stock as a rock (my R33) cept for DBA4000 rotors, if I upgraded the suspension etc and got the handling sorted out, it would be a weapon around corners and wouldnt need grunt - maybe bit slowish before a corner but mid corner speed would be up and of course, late braking with the upgraded brakes and on the track could out coner some faster cars, who knows!

Or do you go for all the performance power goodies first?

Who has gone which direction and why?

at the monent, I cannot afford to do both types of mods time will get me there

Cheers,

Chris

p.s i did a search but couldnt find much what i was after

Edited February 18, 2006 by evil_weevil

[Tosh]

very good idea!!!

if you're going circuit racing, the first thing you should buy is semi slick tyres, SAU membership and CAMS Licence...

then a fire extinguisher and battery and tow point stickers...

now you're ready to do super sprints and hill climbs

then in no particular order...

racing seat

coil overs

sway bars

camber and castor arms

exhaust

oil cooler

radiator

intercooler

ecu

some gauges to keep an eye on oil temps, etc...

[silver gts-t]

really depends on how your planning on using you car, if your going to do alot of track work then theres no prob on spending on suspension 1st. if its a daily then make it look respectable 1st (wheels) and then start with the power modes.... eventually you will get to a stage where you have the mods but unable to use them correctly with out supporting mods ie, suspension and clutch etc.. then u can upgrade them

[evil_weevil]

SW - indepth reply there,thanks!!

oh, dont worry, the SAU membership and CAMS license are on their way! (im going to Hawaii saturday week for 8 days so money is tied up there - when I get back,it'll happen - yeehaa!)

I can tick fire extinguisher off list - now back to the research

Cheers,

Chris

[silver gts-t]

my order would be

exhaust

cooler

PFC

wheels

turbo

suspension

but the reason y modding take so long is that nothing goes to plan, between the mods u will have to change another 100 things just for maintanance eg, tyres brakes & discs, clutch, battery who knows!

[evil_weevil]

oh thats right - when i had my VT LS1 - did one thing, then did anoher, changed another , broke that..

I want to do it right the first time, not rush it with this car

the car is going to see the track, but not all the time, say once a month due to budget

[MANWHORE]

I sort of did a bit of both. I just regularly browse the forum and pick up any parts that seem suitable.

My order of mods was - airfliter, full exhaust - came with the car. At this stage, it felt quite a bit quicker, but still at stock boost, it was not much different.

I bought a jaycar iebc - 80 includign hand controller I think - bargain - i figured why not.

My car just happened to come with nice pads and suspensions. I changed the fluid and it felt a bit better.

... I then did a larger smic for more power again.

... you get the drift. I guess it depends on what you value more. Some people do power power power only with no brakes, clutch, suspensions etc. some (e.g. me - likes both)

[Duncan]

mine went OK with 10psi boost, standard exhaust and intake, standard ecu.

just had springs and a good diff.

and semi slicks.

1.52 at Eastern Creek

1.10 at Wakefield Park

[red900ss]

Hello All,

For those who have gone down the modifying path - just a question.

Who decided to go handling/braking performance over outright power mods?

...

Chris,

first mod you should consider is get rid of those 16s for a nice set of 17" Volks...you know it makes sense!

[Silver-Arrowz]

With my old car I started going the path of power mods first, but then quickly realised that was the wrong way to go. Then I went down the suspension path and got some results, but that was still some what disappointing.

The best bang for your buck I got was the Peter Finlay driving course. The way I saw the track and my approach to driving changed with time and practice from what I learned from the course. Best money I spent shaving my lap times.

[SECURITY]

i agree with silver gts-t on the order of mods, but i'd put the turbo and suspension before the wheels.

im actually not bothering with wheels at the moment, just some decent tyres. looking at my car now, i regret spending money on things like the paint job and 19" chromies. i could've had my car up at 300kw if i spent the money on performance mods.

wheels are definately the last thing id do though.

[NickR33]

replace suspension, pads, exhaust and ecu first in that order...

suspension will most likely be tired and in need of attention and good pads are bang for buck improvement (and brake fade isn't fun)... then exhaust as you can still do this fairly cheaply and ecu as you don't need to be running stupidly rich all the time... this is all assuming you have got half decent tyres on the car already... and some good tuning

from there you can go for more power but more power means more wear on components that you haven't upgraded yet blah blah... IMO

[Miller the hoon]

Do exhaust first better fuel econ

brakes are a good idea but go to rev 210 13.4 1/4 mile and then 12sec 1/4

they are both fantastic threads with lots of clever peoples imput

might supriz you champ good luck on modding

james

[evil_weevil]

Thanks for all the replies guys

Dino - heheheh nah mate I'll be right, thanks anyway!

I like the look of my stock rims

I wont be modding it for a while - im just enjoying the car at the moment - but its always good to hear other peoples thoughts and experiences before doing it all!

thanks again and cheers !!

Chris

[Tosh]

personally I'd leave the engine till last but that's just me.

Duncan's on the right track... I wouldn't bother with any mods until you can all drive the same car around Wakefield and EC in the same time

[wilch]

power mods are kinda silly... But hey I'm being a bit of a hypocrite here.

On twisty bits of tarmac I have never used all 274rwkW. There's just no way to use it without frying the rear tires. It helps with the straight line speed though.

I think I had more fun on twisties with 200rwkW than I do now.

Get the car handling nice first.

[Tosh]

Wheels are a vital part to the cars handling and certainly SHOULD NOT be left until last. putting a set of 17 x 9 & 17 x 8 with good tyres (Bridgestone Potenza S03 for example) will give you more tread area on the road and improve then handling.

Contrary to what some have said in this thread, wheels ARE NOT JUST FOR LOOKS. They do offer function as well. Especially if you buy lightweight Rays or something of the like.

[satanic]

The first thing I did to my car was change ths suspension... being my first real sports car, it was quick enough from stock - just had to learn how to drive this new "power" and control it the best I could.

Once I got bored with that and mastered the whole 156rwkw (from stock) I began to look into power mods. I chose to go up one stage at a time and not going all out at once (it's more expensive this way, but it's a greater learning curve).

I've just finished a turbo upgrade which will bring it to around 240-250rwkw after the tune. Next thing I'll do is look into Suspension and Braking again (no point going fast if you can't control the thing). Then it'll be back to more power

[Liz]

yup.. put me in the learn to drive and licencing first category!

now when are these damn hillclimbs?

[yogi000]

i did the whole power upgrade before the rest.....

r32 gtst with stock suspension and tyres making 200rwkw and it was a bitch to drive and my lack of experience (over confident) i put the car into the tyre barrier @ eastern creek, what a dick head.

i have since made some suspension changes, decent tyres, and booked into a driving courses and i look back and find that i did all of it back to front.

thats my experience so far.

George