My first hot hatch!
Discussion
Previously owned a 1.2 Vauxhall Corsa but I wanted something faster. So after searching for a while, I finally purchased a Colorado Red Mk6 Fiesta ST with a decat exhaust, Pioneer entertainment system and a few other goodies. The car is on 103,000 miles, but I got a decent price so only time will tell if I made the right decision or not.
Done around 100 miles in it yesterday and loved every minute. Feels like an absolute rocket ship compared with my little Corsa!
Done around 100 miles in it yesterday and loved every minute. Feels like an absolute rocket ship compared with my little Corsa!
Update time.
I've done my first 1,000 miles in the car and I'm absolutely loving it. The steering and gearbox are flawless, you feel so connected. Straight line speed is okay, but I've now decatted the car and fitted a K&N air filter with a remap coming soon to help give that little more acceleration. Managed to get it to 125 MPH at Bruntingthorpe last weekend, and it was still pulling slightly.
Unfortunately I've had to spend a fair bit on it so far. Track rod ends, front brake hoses and realignment and tracking. Now my radiator hose has blown which isn't a huge issue, just frustrating. Going to try and pick up a second hand low mileage engine to swap over so I can have some more reliability, and also so I can start forging the older engine so I can eventually fit a turbo. The car needs some tidying up, but I don't mind a little project.
Future mods I have planned are to lower it 35mm all round, fit a Triple Composite carbon front splitter and difusser and paint the wheels black.
I've done my first 1,000 miles in the car and I'm absolutely loving it. The steering and gearbox are flawless, you feel so connected. Straight line speed is okay, but I've now decatted the car and fitted a K&N air filter with a remap coming soon to help give that little more acceleration. Managed to get it to 125 MPH at Bruntingthorpe last weekend, and it was still pulling slightly.
Unfortunately I've had to spend a fair bit on it so far. Track rod ends, front brake hoses and realignment and tracking. Now my radiator hose has blown which isn't a huge issue, just frustrating. Going to try and pick up a second hand low mileage engine to swap over so I can have some more reliability, and also so I can start forging the older engine so I can eventually fit a turbo. The car needs some tidying up, but I don't mind a little project.
Future mods I have planned are to lower it 35mm all round, fit a Triple Composite carbon front splitter and difusser and paint the wheels black.
JackP1 said:
Good buy. Mine runs 180bhp but don't want to plow more money into it for performance. Been meaning to buy the Bilstein B12 kit for years but will need to in the near future just to refresh the suspension components a bit.
RE: the Rad hose. was it he one that returns back to the block on the right hand side of the engine? Myself and a couple of guys have had this issue and it might be an eventual common one. This issue of it expanding up like a balloon and splitting. Managed to change mine before it went but it didn't look pretty.
Screen Shot 2015-05-12 at 20.42.10 by Jack_Pearson, on Flickr
That's the bugger. It's going to take a while to clean all the coolant away!RE: the Rad hose. was it he one that returns back to the block on the right hand side of the engine? Myself and a couple of guys have had this issue and it might be an eventual common one. This issue of it expanding up like a balloon and splitting. Managed to change mine before it went but it didn't look pretty.
Screen Shot 2015-05-12 at 20.42.10 by Jack_Pearson, on FlickrI've just realised how unreliable my car is. In the month I've owned it, I've had issues with:
- Tracking and alignment
- Track rod ends
- Brake hoses
- Radiator hose
- Expansion bottle hose
- New springs, tyres and dampers
I've still got to:
- Oil and filter change with engine flush
- Power steering fluid bleed and change
- Clutch/brake fluid bleed and change
- Fit missing/broken panels
So far this month I've chucked almost £1,000 at it, but I really don't want to sell it even though it is a money pit. I'd rather chuck money at it than get rid of it. It has obviously been neglected massively by the previous owner, so I want to get it back to how it should be. Having a full service over the next couple of weeks so hopefully she will run better then.
- Tracking and alignment
- Track rod ends
- Brake hoses
- Radiator hose
- Expansion bottle hose
- New springs, tyres and dampers
I've still got to:
- Oil and filter change with engine flush
- Power steering fluid bleed and change
- Clutch/brake fluid bleed and change
- Fit missing/broken panels
So far this month I've chucked almost £1,000 at it, but I really don't want to sell it even though it is a money pit. I'd rather chuck money at it than get rid of it. It has obviously been neglected massively by the previous owner, so I want to get it back to how it should be. Having a full service over the next couple of weeks so hopefully she will run better then.
Bit of an update.
I did have a burst water pipe last week which managed to cause some damage. Needed a new thermostat, thermostat housing and pipes. While I was there I cleaned up the engine bay as it was a complete mess.
I've done 5,000 miles in the ST now and still loving it, although I'm bored with the performance. I decided against going to Mountune and paying £1,700 for a 15 horsepower gain. Instead I'm gonna turn it into a track day car which means stripping out excess weight and a tonne of other stuff.
As you can see, I've removed the rear seats and I'm now in the middle of removing all sound deadening, which is an awful job, followed by removing all plastics and carpets, spare wheel and jack. The mods I've decided to go for are:
- Federal 595RSR tyres
- Pro Race 1.2 16" wheels, either in silver, grey or black
- Red strut braces
- Half cage, full cage if my bank account allows it
- Fixed bucket seats
- New Miltek exhaust 4-1 manifold
- Dream Science remap
- Coilovers, probably go for a 50mm drop front and back
- Remove fogs for a direct air feed
- Respray faded black plastics
- New engine once I have the funds
- Triple R front splitter and rear diffuser.
My family think I've ruined the car but I can always put back all the gubbins if I need to sell for some reason. It will be a slow project as unfortunately my house takes most of my spare time and money, but I'll update once I have something to share.
I did have a burst water pipe last week which managed to cause some damage. Needed a new thermostat, thermostat housing and pipes. While I was there I cleaned up the engine bay as it was a complete mess.
I've done 5,000 miles in the ST now and still loving it, although I'm bored with the performance. I decided against going to Mountune and paying £1,700 for a 15 horsepower gain. Instead I'm gonna turn it into a track day car which means stripping out excess weight and a tonne of other stuff.
As you can see, I've removed the rear seats and I'm now in the middle of removing all sound deadening, which is an awful job, followed by removing all plastics and carpets, spare wheel and jack. The mods I've decided to go for are:
- Federal 595RSR tyres
- Pro Race 1.2 16" wheels, either in silver, grey or black
- Red strut braces
- Half cage, full cage if my bank account allows it
- Fixed bucket seats
- New Miltek exhaust 4-1 manifold
- Dream Science remap
- Coilovers, probably go for a 50mm drop front and back
- Remove fogs for a direct air feed
- Respray faded black plastics
- New engine once I have the funds
- Triple R front splitter and rear diffuser.
My family think I've ruined the car but I can always put back all the gubbins if I need to sell for some reason. It will be a slow project as unfortunately my house takes most of my spare time and money, but I'll update once I have something to share.
mike_bngs said:
I think they are great looking, but would slate the output on the older model. Tried one out a couple of years ago, but the performance, insurance and mpg equation just didn't do it for me.
That's obviously a standard model, but the argument doesn't stand after that as you can mod pretty much any hot hatch in to a monster.
Car is very restricted for insurance purposes. You wouldn't need to spend too much money for them to be as quick as a new one. Once I've bought the manifold and have remapped it, I'm hoping for about 170-180 horses which is enough for a car that weighs a little over 1,000KG.That's obviously a standard model, but the argument doesn't stand after that as you can mod pretty much any hot hatch in to a monster.
Bit of an update.
I finally started work on the transformation to a track toy, albeit will still be used daily. Before I add any power upgrades I wanted to make sure that the car was made safe first which means stripping it out, caging it, suspension, brakes, tyres and wheels.
First up is stripping it out. Over the past two days I've removed most of the interior plastics, rear seats, carpet and most of the sound deadening - the horrible black stuff. I'll be leaving the front door cards and dashboard on at the moment until I can find the time and resources to remove the electric windows etc and replace them with standard manual winders and door pull tags. Not decided yet whether to remove the roof lining or not.
Next step will be to remove all the glass except the windscreen, obviously, to a lightweight lexan polycarbonate material which is shatter proof, and a little bit stronger than perspex.
Unfortunately as I'm saving for a house right now, I don't have a lot of cash to buy physical modifications to my car, but first stop will be some coilovers, dropped 50mm front and back. After that, 16" Pro Race 1.2 wheels in black or silver matched with some Federal 595 RSRs. Power mods so far will include a new exhuast manifold, a remap and maybe an inlet manifold and throttle bodies which should make the power output to around, or just over 200 horsepower. I know that doesn't sound like much, but the car recently weighed in at just 1,049 KG making BHP/tonne at around 190 which isn't too shabby.
I'll update when I can, but this will probably be a slow project for when I have time.
I finally started work on the transformation to a track toy, albeit will still be used daily. Before I add any power upgrades I wanted to make sure that the car was made safe first which means stripping it out, caging it, suspension, brakes, tyres and wheels.
First up is stripping it out. Over the past two days I've removed most of the interior plastics, rear seats, carpet and most of the sound deadening - the horrible black stuff. I'll be leaving the front door cards and dashboard on at the moment until I can find the time and resources to remove the electric windows etc and replace them with standard manual winders and door pull tags. Not decided yet whether to remove the roof lining or not.
Next step will be to remove all the glass except the windscreen, obviously, to a lightweight lexan polycarbonate material which is shatter proof, and a little bit stronger than perspex.
Unfortunately as I'm saving for a house right now, I don't have a lot of cash to buy physical modifications to my car, but first stop will be some coilovers, dropped 50mm front and back. After that, 16" Pro Race 1.2 wheels in black or silver matched with some Federal 595 RSRs. Power mods so far will include a new exhuast manifold, a remap and maybe an inlet manifold and throttle bodies which should make the power output to around, or just over 200 horsepower. I know that doesn't sound like much, but the car recently weighed in at just 1,049 KG making BHP/tonne at around 190 which isn't too shabby.
I'll update when I can, but this will probably be a slow project for when I have time.
neilbauer said:
Thanks yes thought they looked lower that what I planned! Any scraping?
No scraping yet, just have to go slower over bumps and avoid big potholes. Only issue is that if you hit a bump too hard it bottoms out on the damper. I'd advise you to get some 20mm axle spacers as the wheels sit too far back in the arch. I'll be fitting some ASAP.Bit of an update.
Unfortunately I was hit head on by a red light jumper a couple of months back which has caused all sorts of damage and has written my car off. Damaged parts was as long as my arm including needing a new bumper, passenger wing, headlight, air filter, wheel, tyre, wing mirror, washer fluid system, fog light, fog surrounds and various bent bits inside the engine bay.
Kinda getting back to normal but a few days later I had a heart attack which has slowed down getting her back on the road for obvious reasons.
Now I'm slowly getting better I've ordered front and rear strut braces, bigger 300mm discs, Green Stuff pads, uprated fluid, braided brake lines and calipers for both front and back. 12.5mm spacers for the rear and new dampers. All in all, including repair costs and mods, I've spent a fortune. Getting quoted on a roll cage next week while trying to find what tyres would suit best.
Unfortunately I was hit head on by a red light jumper a couple of months back which has caused all sorts of damage and has written my car off. Damaged parts was as long as my arm including needing a new bumper, passenger wing, headlight, air filter, wheel, tyre, wing mirror, washer fluid system, fog light, fog surrounds and various bent bits inside the engine bay.
Kinda getting back to normal but a few days later I had a heart attack which has slowed down getting her back on the road for obvious reasons.
Now I'm slowly getting better I've ordered front and rear strut braces, bigger 300mm discs, Green Stuff pads, uprated fluid, braided brake lines and calipers for both front and back. 12.5mm spacers for the rear and new dampers. All in all, including repair costs and mods, I've spent a fortune. Getting quoted on a roll cage next week while trying to find what tyres would suit best.
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