Suggestions - £500 Xmas pressie for my Chim

[Sharky500]

Result! I just got an unexpected £1K tax rebate. So I thought I'd spend half on the Chim - I'm thinking about something to increase peformance, rather than just cosmetic.

So, hypothetical question. Given a pretty-much mechanically standard Chim 500 (only exception is a Mark Adams chip), what would you spend five hundred notes on??

[verysideways]

Is any of that ACT stuff available for that sort of money (to compliment the chiip)?
You know, carbon trumpets and that...

[blaineuk]

hold onto it, the way the inland revenue works you will probably get a bill for 1500 next week

[Red V8]

Yep, exactly that happened to me

[stegefal]

Go for the complimentary basics, like the induction kit from ACT and new magnecor leads.

You couldnt go wrong with braided hoses for the brakes and maybe new discs and pads, I suppose it depends what state the current ones are in?

Speak to whoever did the 'chip' and see what they recommend.

[Hoover.]

blaineuk said:

hold onto it, the way the inland revenue works you will probably get a bill for 1500 next week

Yep I got a £4k rebate 3 months ago, and just before Xmas they wanted most of it back

However if you want spend some money probably your best bet for "bolt on" performance are the ACT Carbon fibre trumpets, complimented with the ACT induction kit (however cleaning your old air filter can make a big difference as well)

Hoover

[touchingcloth]

Not exactly a performance mod in the more power stakes but if you are on standard shocks then this would get my money. £500 is pretty much bang on the nose for set of adjustable Gaz shocks and springs from Bugsy (absolutely-shocks). Or if you wanted to blow the full £1000 in a moment of madness then nitrons all round would transform the car even more.

[Hoover.]

touchingcloth said:

Not exactly a performance mod in the more power stakes but if you are on standard shocks then this would get my money. £500 is pretty much bang on the nose for set of adjustable Gaz shocks and springs from Bugsy (absolutely-shocks). Or if you wanted to blow the full £1000 in a moment of madness then nitrons all round would transform the car even more.

Money V well spent in IMHO.... (better then any engine up-grade for the money, assuming the handling of a chim on standard shocks is as bad a Griff )

[SharkyTVR]

Thanks All for your suggestions. I actually have a brand-new air filter on the car, after its service. This is a Pipercross-sourced item, so of good quality anyway. The car improved noticeably after its service, but this exposed an unwillingneess to rev much above 5.5k.

I had not considered the shock/springs upgrade - after having just done a Ride-Drive course including a 90mins runway session, I know what the car is like on the limit (pretty impressive) but the car does feel a little "saggy" in normal driving. Maybe some new shox could stiffen her up a little?

Being a daily driver, what I would not want is a modification that gave me some kind of ultra-stiff quasi-trackcar. Do the Gaz shocks preserve a reasonable amount of ride quality?

[full_chat]

SharkyTVR said:

Being a daily driver, what I would not want is a modification that gave me some kind of ultra-stiff quasi-trackcar. Do the Gaz shocks preserve a reasonable amount of ride quality?

In answer to your question, yes! The Gaz shocks aren't just for hardened racers who want their fillings shaken out. When I fitted them on my car the overall ride improved - more settled over bumps etc and the handling was more assured. As they are fully adjustable it is up to you exactly how firm you want the ride to be, and they are very quick to adjust so it's not a big issue if you want to wind up the settings if you fancy firming/softening the ride.

[Fire99]

full_chat said:

SharkyTVR said: Being a daily driver, what I would not want is a modification that gave me some kind of ultra-stiff quasi-trackcar. Do the Gaz shocks preserve a reasonable amount of ride quality? In answer to your question, yes! The Gaz shocks aren't just for hardened racers who want their fillings shaken out. When I fitted them on my car the overall ride improved - more settled over bumps etc and the handling was more assured. As they are fully adjustable it is up to you exactly how firm you want the ride to be, and they are very quick to adjust so it's not a big issue if you want to wind up the settings if you fancy firming/softening the ride.

Hi Guys, im considering a Shock upgrade on my Car as one of the originals is starting to weep. The original shocks do 'go off' fairly quickly so i would recommend some upgraded ones as more than likely you will need to change shocks before too long anyway.

cheers,

Nick

[mongoose]

Fire99 said:

Hi Guys, im considering a Shock upgrade on my Car as one of the originals is starting to weep. The original shocks do 'go off' fairly quickly so i would recommend some upgraded ones as more than likely you will need to change shocks before too long anyway. cheers, Nick

very good advice,that from personal experience i can recommend.I'd buy the Protechs over the Gaz every time though,better quality and performance and 3yr gaurantee for similar money .

[Cider Andy]

Ten tankfuls of fuel and a 2,500 mile drive.

[Hoover.]

mongoose said:

Fire99 said: Hi Guys, im considering a Shock upgrade on my Car as one of the originals is starting to weep. The original shocks do 'go off' fairly quickly so i would recommend some upgraded ones as more than likely you will need to change shocks before too long anyway. cheers, Nick very good advice,that from personal experience i can recommend.I'd buy the Protechs over the Gaz every time though,better quality and performance and 3yr gaurantee for similar money .

I run Gaz myself........ so I would be biast .....

Lets just say this budget damper and spring market is very competitive at the moment

[s5tvr]

Sharky500 said:

what would you spend five hundred notes on??

I recently fitted Goodridge braided hoses and changed the pads over to EBC Redstuff (Ceramic). The difference is simply amazing compared to a standard brake set-up.

Also, I've just fitted Steve Heath's rose jointed drop-links all round. The jury is out on these for me as I've only made one shortish journey in the car in the wet since fitting them. However, my initial impression is that they do improve the handling and the turn in and through corners is now more uniform and somehow the car seems to fuss less when travelling over imperfections in the road surface. I'll post more comments once I've tested these out more.

I can also heartily recommend the ACT induction kit. My car didn't really like to rev much above 5.5-5.75k before I fitted it, but now it will rev comfortably past 6k without it feeling like your flogging a dead horse. I'd say the car feels a little more torquey too at lower revs.

[Trellis]

s5tvr said:

Sharky500 said: what would you spend five hundred notes on?? I recently fitted Goodridge braided hoses and changed the pads over to EBC Redstuff (Ceramic). The difference is simply amazing compared to a standard brake set-up.

Are you saying you fitted ceramic pads and kept the standard discs? I figured you needed to upgrade discs to get the benefit from these pads?

Has this set up improved the pedal feedback as well as stopping power?

[S5TVR]

[quote=Trellis
[/quote]

Are you saying you fitted ceramic pads and kept the standard discs? I figured you needed to upgrade discs to get the benefit from these pads?

Has this set up improved the pedal feedback as well as stopping power?[/quote]

The pads are not actually ceramic, but EBC advertise them so to distinguish them, I guess, from the older Redstuff pads, which seem to have mixed reviews on the PH forums. My apologies for causing any confusion. The difference is very impressive, but how much can be attributed to the change in pads separately from fitting the braided hoses I have no idea. I would definately recommend the EBC redstuff (ceramic) pads (I'm at it again !) with the Goodridge hoses though.