What to spend £1,500 on ?

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What to spend £1,500 on ?

Postby paulg » Mon Apr 18, 2005 7:19 pm

Have been reading a number of posts on the do's and don'ts of modifying GTAs but haven't drawn any conclusions as to the best return on investment so I thought I'd let you all tell me how best to spend my hard earned cash. :wink:
I've got a 1990 GTA Turbo with 80k on the clock, its been well maintained and regulary serviced so it should have a bit of life left.
Its got a superchip, grooved disks, green stuff pads, bailey dump valve, stainless single exit exhaust and Avez wheels but std apart from those.
I do a few trackdays a year and probably 3k on the road. and now I fancy the odd sprint or two...
What should I spend my money on ? Or isn't £1,500 enough to make a big difference to handling or performance anyway ?
(errm I'm a bit cack handed :oops: so it's probably have to include labour charges too )
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Postby LiamMcShane » Mon Apr 18, 2005 8:28 pm

Can't speak for everyone, but if I had £1500 to spend on the Alpine it'd probably be spent on a hybrid turbo, an ECU, bigger injectors and an adjustable fuel regulator. 8)
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Postby simonsays74 » Mon Apr 18, 2005 8:59 pm

change the suspension...... full coil overs should fit the bill :wink:
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Postby peterg » Mon Apr 18, 2005 9:04 pm

If your exhaust has silencer boxes (you havent specified) I'd buy another exhaust, wait for Davids ECU and get a hybrid turbo.....you should just about manage that lot for £1500. Gas suspension would be nice too....oh and a brake upgrade...believe David is about to announce an affordable one in the near future :wink:
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Postby peterg » Mon Apr 18, 2005 9:06 pm

Should have mentioned wrapping anything hot under the bonnet....will only cost you a couple of hundred and will improve your engines performance.
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Postby peterg » Mon Apr 18, 2005 9:37 pm

O.K. after those indecisive posts.....get the ECU when its available (ignore the fuel regulator, because once youve got the ECU its irrelevant), bigger injectors and an adjustable suspension set up. ECU...£650ish, injectors £200, suspension £500ish. That leaves a bit left over to get someone to fit things and set them up (but probably not enough :( )
An alternative would be :lol: -suspension, brake upgrade, adjustable fuel regulator and bigger injectors.
Or......get the suspension and use the rest to finance your seasons motorsport.......it hurts your wallet!!!! A cheap seasons speed events will cost you around the £1500 mark (8 or 9 events) with travelling, food, and entry fees....and thats assuming youve already got the relevant safety equipment (mine is likely to be double that as I trailer to events....it means I am guarunteed to get home if I crash :D ......hopefully Ive done this years crashing already :shock: :roll: )
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Postby clee » Tue Apr 19, 2005 8:08 am

I'd spend it finding out what Rz does for a living :wink:
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Postby David Gentleman » Tue Apr 19, 2005 8:39 am

peterg wrote:An alternative would be :lol: -suspension, brake upgrade, adjustable fuel regulator and bigger injectors.
Or......get the suspension and use the rest to finance your seasons motorsport.......it hurts your wallet!!!!


Don't bother with the bigger injectors and reg without the ecu, because as Peter found, it just loses you power on a standard ecu setup. :? :D
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Postby rupert » Tue Apr 19, 2005 9:06 am

. . .a performance driving course will improve your speed more than any mods will!
Spend the rest on tyres which will rapidly wear out!
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My two-penneth!

Postby Tony Smith » Tue Apr 19, 2005 2:45 pm

Providing everything is working as it should I would spend my money on the following.
1) Some road legal track tyres for the front like a Toyo R888 or the Yokohama 032R's, these will give you much better turn -in and less understeer - and don't cost a fortune in the front sizes.
2) Braided brake hoses and some Ferodo DS or similar brake pads (don't rate EBC products afraid - used to sell them) and new DOT5 fluid.
3) For more power I'd go for a hybrid turbo and run about 16-17 psi and use an adjustable fuel pressure regulator and a mapped 7th injector kit. Obviously this isn't going to be as good as an ECU and injectors but those 2 items are going to cost in the region of £1000-1300 to buy fit and set up by the time you've spent a few hours down your local rolling road.

I reckon you could do that lot for about £1500

Tyres £180
Brake pads and hoses £150 ish
Turbo £495
Injector kit £300

£1120 for parts Brake pads etc won't cost much to get fitted - about 8 hours labour to change turbo in book I think. Injector kit is easy to fit and set up probably 2 hours on a rolling road.
Alpines - GTA 3.0 Turbo, GTA 3.0 Inj (Project DD), GTA 6.2 V8 (500 bhp) , R32 Skyline GTR, BMW Alpina B10 635 Highline, Alpina B10 E39 5 Series, Jaguar 4.2 XKR, Laguna 205GT, BMW 120d.
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Postby David Gentleman » Tue Apr 19, 2005 3:10 pm

...or likewise, maybe the case will be you won't have to run as high boost with a decent mapped ecu.. 8) :wink:
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Postby peterg » Tue Apr 19, 2005 4:05 pm

Careful with your tyre choice if youre going to compete. Check the MSA blue book lists and the regs of the events you intend to compete in.....pick the wrong type and it can be a real drag! (I know Ive been there and done that!)
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Postby peterg » Tue Apr 19, 2005 4:15 pm

Hang on to your money for a little while...Davids latest stab at the ECU problem sounds very clever and will set itself up on your car....do the suspension/tyres first.
I will wish you all goodbye now.....I'm off to Rome (no they havent made me pope!!!! :D ) til Sunday.
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Postby paulg » Thu Apr 21, 2005 4:53 pm

Thanks everyone. As I've got Yokos, decent exhaust, green stuff pads and dot5 already, I think its going to be David's ECU (presume a "sticky" will appear when they are available), the hybrid turbo and some suspension work... what are budgets for if not to be blown..
I'll now sit and try and be first in queue for the ECU.. hope he gets a few, or I'll be blue... :lol:
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I'm first in line!

Postby Tony Smith » Thu Apr 21, 2005 9:26 pm

I baggsied the first one months ago! And my car needs it more than yours as I won't realistically be able to drive mine without it!
Alpines - GTA 3.0 Turbo, GTA 3.0 Inj (Project DD), GTA 6.2 V8 (500 bhp) , R32 Skyline GTR, BMW Alpina B10 635 Highline, Alpina B10 E39 5 Series, Jaguar 4.2 XKR, Laguna 205GT, BMW 120d.
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