Simple 'while I'm at it' 4.3 upgrades?

[900T-R]

I was thinking:

* fit silicone AFM-plenum elbow
* shorten trumpets by 20 mm
* fit heat isolator plate thingy
* fit heat rejecting sleeve over air filter-AFM hose

Sounds sensible? Anything else? Better ignition leads?

[theaxe]

If you're still on the original coil/HT leads I'd head over to ACT for some replacements.

[900T-R]

Coil, rotor and cap have all been replaced fairly recently as per the service documentation I got with the car, as well as the leads - I assume the latter to be OE standard though (parts invoice from main dealer).

[theaxe]

Could be worth replacing the plug extenders but otherwise it sounds like you're in good shape!

[spend]

Cooling! Early 4.3 has single fan circuit & no cowls on the fans.

Braking! braided hoses & brake fluid. Choice of pads....

Suspension! Lots of options.... but later 1 piece front top wishbones (or adjustables) I reckon is good start. Bushes, UJs, BJs are all prob a tad tired.

Chassis! they all need a fettle.

Induction - K&N filter or give yours a good clean.

Power, dont spend any money till you can get a BV head conversion done.

All IMHO, Dave

[900T-R]

Ta very much. Car's had new top front wishbones in May 2003 at TMS, so they should be the later '500' spec as that one superceded all the previous versions, right? It had new ball joints and a recon steering rack (incl. new track rod ends) at the same occasion. New front hubs in 2004. Bottom front wishbones are brand new, done only a couple of months ago.

Chassis has had a comprehensive clean & waxoyl at TMS in 2004, so my cleaning, Fertan treatment and subsequent waxoyling wof last week has been mainly restricted to the outrigger area which needed doing. For now that's the best I can do crawling under (well, more alongside) the car on my parents' driveway.

Brakes I will get to when they need servicing, probably go for Ferodo DS2000 or 2500 then at the front, DOT 5.1 fluid and braided lines (have had them on the Saab for years, best small investment I made on that car!) , maybe a 280 mm disc conversion? My enquiry is more about the little things I can easily do in the garage before I register the car here and put it into commission.

Edited by 900T-R on Tuesday 2nd January 18:24

[spend]

Hack out the pre-cats..... Put heat reflective tape on bodywork adjacent to manifolds. Early cars didnt have much clearance and the glass gets burnt thru, later cars have redesigned bodywork for a bigger gap.

Familiarize yourself with the battery & fusebox arrangement, plus you may discover the flap for summer / winter heater intake (its manual on my car.....)

If you are changing the lights over, its well worth filtering the wings - protects the heater motor & your face.

Dave

[900T-R]

Cheers again - the spec on yours surely is er, 'comprehensive'! And yes, the 4.3 seems to be a sweet running engine -at least that's what first impressions on mine are.

Yes, I'll be needing to swap headlights before it can pass the MOT here - but what do you mean with 'filtering the wings'?

[spend]

900T-R said:

Yes, I'll be needing to swap headlights before it can pass the MOT here - but what do you mean with 'filtering the wings'?

Air goes thru the wings (behind the headlights) to the vent by the drivers knee (outside) and to the heater blower motor. Seem to get a lot of dust/grit sucked up from the road that goes thru here. A few people have placed filters in the wings to prevent this - not too many cos its a pain getting the headlights out - but since you will have access....

I just bought some kitchen extractor fan carbon filters, cut a piece of alloy sheet to the shape of the wing - drilled big holes - folded tabs to fix it to the car used self taps & mesh to sandwich the carbon filters (so I can change them when they are full :-)

Dont get the stinging eyes & face so much when making haste now.... Plus even better dont have to clean the carpets so often.

Dave