A little bit of advice

[SpeedFreak]

I have been on the site for a while now, and have owned my car for just over 18months. In this time I haven't made much modifications to the car. I am having a service done along with my MOT in October.

But I was wanting a bit of advice on what you all think the best first mods are to improve performance.

The engine is literally standard. Nothing done.

I know you cannot get things done cheap, but I was wanting to know what the very first modifications are.

Being on this site and watching everyone else move forward has really made me determined to keep the car and make it quicker.

I am not that clued up on engines, I know a bit but still in the process of learning.

Thanks guys!

[briggers]

id get a de cat and manifold first. everyone says get brakes and handling first but its not going to make much more power over stock set up and its power you want anyway. your brakes at the mo should be fine. after that front mount then start looking at brake set up. im at that stage now as just about to go hybrid and i should really get rakes and discs.

[Glanza-Love]

best thing to go about is sort the breathing and fueling modds

these are pretty much what people start on..

Airfilter

Exhaust

Actuator

these are best to start off with good for the engine

then move on to

mani

fmic

decat

then

bigger turbo

emanage

bigger injectors and so on

[Driver]

decat, full exhaust system, ported manifold, ported wastegate front mounted air filter (or on the side of the turbo like mine) and front mount

im running the above on stock boost and its MILES faster and only cost about 900-1000 to do

[SpeedFreak]

That Glanza-Love is exactly as simple as I wanted to see it! Thanks!

I pretty much guessed most of the order of mods, but wasnt sure about a couple of things. I have a FMIC sitting at home that I got brought for me last Christmas. But I need all piping done. And I thought it was best to add simpler stuff to the engine first then concentrate on the rest.

Many Thanks!

[SpeedFreak]

Oh and I do have full exhaust system, sorry forgot to mention!

[ste91]

I have a FMIC sitting at home that I got brought for me last Christmas. But I need all piping done.

You can buy all bits of piping and silicone joiners on ebay, not sure if it would be any good for piping a FMIC though.

[SpeedFreak]

Sorry I did mean, I just need the piping for the FMIC.

[Galliano]

pull a glanza love.. jump in at the deep end, buy a big turbo

[Glanza-Love]

ported wastegate

im sorry but your stupid this isnt the best idea especialy on a ct9.. dont do this it basicly f**ks your turbo and

the possibilty of you having a hair line crack there is very posible and porting it just makes it worse

and yah jump in the deep end 230+ ponies sounds nice

[paul w]

BRAKES!

Sort out braking and handling before upping power!

Power is nothing without control

Improving discs and pads will make you faster too

[briggers]

you wont need new brakes to start off with i know its sensible advice but if you want that little bit extra power like from a straight through and air filter and maybe a de cat i dont think it will be dangerouse its just when you start messing with boost.

well thats what i think any way. most starlets come over with atleast different spring/shock combo. and brake wise you know yourself when its time to get a better brake set up.

not creating drama with the safety issue but it makes sence.

[Glanza-Love]

your standard brakes and so on can cope with mini mods... such as the airfilter and exhaust.. you only need to uprate brakes when you go for decent size power!

[paul w]

Standard GT/Glanza brakes are shite! A decent set of brakes can make much more of an impact on point to point times as they perform better allowing later braking and less time on the brakes.

The usual route people take is air filter-exhaust-decat-manifold-FMIC-BOOST CREEP-HKS actuator to try and combat creep-FCD( or electronic boost controller- upping boost-then suddenly OH SHIT BRAKES ARE CRAP!

Sort the basics out first before buying go faster mods.

[Glanza-Love]

lmao ^ she's just asking for starting modds mate.. its not a track monster its a road car.. you dont need to uprate the brakes right now... if your concerned enough buy ferodo pads... youll stop no bother..

[paul w]

NO shit sherlock! I don't know how much you know cars or GT/Glanza's but i've had a few and braking is not one of their strong points.

You know as well as i do that mods snowball pretty quick once you start tinkering it's never enough!

The first mods i do to any car i own are a CAT 1 alarm then if i plan on making it faster in the future i sort the braking out, even if it's just a set of decent pads till i up the power enough to need the discs uprated too.

[Glanza-Love]

right you fukin are rambo..

dont need to bother your arse uprating the disc's right now at all freak or pads for that matter but if your intending to get bigger power out the car i would concider uprating your pads and disc's in the future

[briggers]

let me just get things straight on my point of view. I do understand standard brakes are not that good but im guessing that as its such an old car those brakes that came off the production line are probably not on the car right now. probably have uprated brake pads anyway. by todays date. If i ever need to get new brakes ill chose a decent pad. I would think most people would do the same.

as were only talking about maybe a decat maybe an airfilter. its not going to effect the power enough to start worrying about breaking.

[Jozinobi]

Safety First Speedfreak

I would prepare the chassis (that includes braking and suspension) for extra extremes before moving onto bigger things, doing them all together is best.

Thats if you want to do things properly and can afford it. Whats the point in extra power when it drives and stops like a banana boat?

You want to build a reliable base to work on, and there is no better way than making her stop and handle better.

PaulW has lots of experience with these cars so I would take his advice as valuable, what he suggested can also be applied to fast road applications, not just for track.

I believe that just changing to a performance brake pad is not going to improve your brakes by a great deal, its a whole combination of braking components that will, noticeably the calipers and rotors, a performance pad will also foul a standard brake disc in time.

I had 3G 10 Groove discs, Mintex 1144 pads, braided lines, cusco bmcs and 5.1 fluid and it was acceptable but not amazing on my 1.5 n/a, its the same setup 4EFTE users upgrade to...

Im now running in twinpots, I really wanted to sort the car out so invested in them.

Each to their own by the way, you will find lots of existing information on mods etc in the 4EFTE Engine Discussions section in EP Technical.

Its all about having your own ideas and finding the perfect setup for you be it through trial and error or basing it on someone elses setup.

Enjoy!

Joz

[briggers]

but i know the topic was (whats the first thing to do mod wise) im not slating anyones knowledge only adding my 2p as if he adds an hks filter and decat its going to add a bit more or a difference mid range which is what i wanted and i have only got green stuff pads or what ever there called. its not that much difference in power to affect the braking times and shorely the driver isnt going to then start driving eratically. <<<<if thats how you spelt it.

i only noticed a slight increase in power with the decat and it was no where neer enough power to worry about it and to effect by braking time.

[paul w]

By fitting the greenstuff pads you have uprated the braking ability of your car.

99% of the time people go balls out getting their cars faster but neglect the important stuff, i love going stupidly fast at times(have maxed out my GT4's many times...thats 150+mph) but i always drive within mine and the cars capabilties. Neglecting the braking of your car is at your own risk.

As i said before it should be a first basic mod, then as your feast for speed/power increases and the spec list increases you don't have to find out the hard way that sorting the brakes out shoulda already been done.

Fitting a decat or air filter won't give you warp speed but the increase in noise etc will encourage you to want to put the foot down more....going faster will heat the brakes more causing fade of standard brakes etc etc.

Do what you want in your own cars i really don't care, many have come before and any will come after with the attitude that braking/tyres/suspension upgrades arn't needed till you have silly power. Plenty have regretted it

Thats my 2p.

[briggers]

I do understand. Safety is the best thing to promote, use a condom guys.

what i didnt say is go all out and never tackle the braking situation. just to think about breaking whith a de cat and exhaust system i just dont understand.

[keirz]

@glanza-love..... porting the wastegate on the ct9 is a ok idea. it wont kill the turbo, or make the likelyhood of cracks any worse. the area around the wastegate is pretty thick plus the bigger hole ,means more air can escape meaning slightly lower turbine temps around the wastegate area.

as said above brakes and suspension first would be my advise.

people above need to listen to the question a little better...the question is what would be best to improve performance.......and then you go on to say a decat, filter ect, wont improve performance that much to the extent you need better brakes. if its not gonna improve performance that much then why would you say these were the best mods to improve performance???

improving the brakes and suspension will give the best gains for the money and improve on a weak point in the starlets

[briggers]

i did read the post. and gave an answer and said that i didnt understand why you would need to change brakes if there ok at the time of purchase of the new items as its not going to make much difference and if your speeding up to 60. how ever much power your running shorely stoping distance has something to do with weight and if you have taken your foot off the accelerator, wheather you have a de cat and filter and exhaust system or not. weight has the most to do with the situation and reaction times. your still stoping from 60 as before when you didnt have the mods on the car and taking the heavy cat off is only a benefit as the thing is so damn heavy lol

[keirz]

but think about the question...........you may have read it but think about it though. what is gonna best improve performance.

performance isnt just engine power.