Banger to track car

Not so long ago I bought myself a '96 F 1.8 mpi nice and cheap as a temporary runaround. Well, before Id even picked it up Id bought some polybushes and it hasnt stopped since then.
So far I have put in a new standard air filter, fully synthetic oil and filter, iridium spark plugs, 8mm silicone ht leads, cat, cam cover gasket, cleaned the IACV and given the underside engine a bit of a degrease. I've also managed to crack the rear window in about 7 different places, fail an mot and get a shifty note from work about parking. Biggest downfall as i see it is the engine, only the mpi and with 125,000 on the clock I may be looking to convert it at some point.

I've also been spending money. In the garage and waiting to be fitted this week (if the kids dont get in the way) are red and black leather seats, tf doorcards and t-bar, a new hood, full polybush set, new calipers, discs and pads for the rear, hub adaptors and black 17" compomotives and a tf steering rack with new tre's, a new wing and boot. With Hel hoses, on their way Ive got a busy week ahead.

On the todo list are:
Throttle body
Front brakes
Polydipping
Air filter
Cleaning up the underside
Chip in the windscreen
Generally clean up the car
Track it!

Im not sure whether to bother with an exhaust, seems a lot of money for not a lot of gain.

Exhaust is more to do with esoteric 'feeling' that a British sports car should sound like a 'British sports car'. Very little to do with performance improvement.

Im up for the noise but i tend to go a little over the top and over a grand for a full ceramic coated system would really be taking the piss :bat:

Ooh, that reminds me, i must order some ball joints :slapme:

Sounds like you have been busy and more fun planned.

:lol: :lol: :lol:

They are very addictive when it comes fiddling.

Quite so and the ZS is still sat on the drive looking sorry for itself.

:bust: see the swear filter is useful! :yesnod:

Got the tf steering rack in today with new tre's so thats another mot fail ticked off. Hours labour for a professional apparently. Well it took me most of the day faffing around as I do, not a particularly difficult job though. Also managed to polydip one of the new rear calipers in yellow. Pics tomorow when i do the other one.

Car will probably go sideways until I get the tracking done!

Nobrainer wrote: Quite so and the ZS is still sat on the drive looking sorry for itself.

Same as mine,

and my maestro.

How about stiffening up the shell if you intended to track it?

VHS do a bolt on kit (3 bits) they come up on E bay now n then secondhand or call MGFnTFBITZ?

Ive also added a few extra bits of stiffening..

Cross bracing under the bonnet... in the boot.. across the shock mounts..

Solid subframe mounts?

Individulaise the spheres?

Uprated shocks?

Seam welded subframes?

Deffo bracket or brace the brake servo

Change brake fluid to 5.1?








Allan

http://www.vehiclehandlingsolutions.com/road_cars.htm#mgf

Worth a read