Guest RSaaahhh Posted August 22, 2008 Share Posted August 22, 2008 Hi all - been lurking a while, and normally on DDK, but was pointed this way for advice on this question... I've got an '87 Carrera 3.2 which I am planning to do a 'project' on. One option is to set the car up for a bit of light track fun - nothing too dramatic as I still want to drive it on the road and do the odd European trip. I'm thinking of getting something like a ClubSport set up - gaining speed by dropping weight from the car. But I'm interested to see what ideas there are for suspension/ brakes and general set-up. Have anyone here for any experience of setting the Carrera up in this way? Any ideas? I'm also not sure who would be best specialists to use: I'm guessing people like JZ Machtech? I'm in Bromley (Kent) so anyone in SE who has a good name in this kind of work? Thanks in advance, and apologies if this is an old topic... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest RSaaahhh Posted August 22, 2008 Share Posted August 22, 2008 Sorry - just to add to the above, would it for example be realistic to get set-up modifications and lightweight seats/ panels in place for under £10k? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrPerkles Posted August 22, 2008 Share Posted August 22, 2008 (edited) Sorry - just to add to the above, would it for example be realistic to get set-up modifications and lightweight seats/ panels in place for under £10k? making your car lighter is almost free just rip it all out ,here are some superb threads detailing fat fighters Super Size Halleluhyaaaaa you should also look at all the cars in the GruppeIB forum on here I dont know anything about car suspension so will leave the track boys to go over that Edited August 22, 2008 by MrPerkles Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lesworth Posted August 22, 2008 Share Posted August 22, 2008 Stick in a performance chip or have a live remap - well worth it too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Northy Posted August 22, 2008 Share Posted August 22, 2008 I have been going down a similar path with my car (SC) and would say these things have made the biggest difference: 1) Better pads 2) Stiffer shocks - I have adjustable Konis set on full hard 3) Lower ride height and corner balance. 4) Better tyres (get some track day tyres) 5) Loose weight. If you loose some weight out of the car and have firmer shocks I am not convinced that the TBs need to be that much stiffer - I wouldn't want my SC a lot stiffer for road use and its running on standard TBs at the moment. I'm pretty sure it's the shocks that have made the difference to how my car feels. Get some decent fast road pads (Porterfields or Ferodo DS3000) and fluid (castrol RSF(?) or Motul 600) - the difference was startling on my car. I have also been really impressed with the Hankook RS2s tyres - they're cheap too. If you do some of those things you can't fail to notice the difference. I have shed about 180 kilos from mine and with these other mods it feels much more chuckable now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest RSaaahhh Posted August 22, 2008 Share Posted August 22, 2008 Excellent thread there on Pelican! I hadn't thought about chips as I always think of them as being part of a "dark art"....but makes sense I guess. I hadn't thought about changing brake fluid either! There's quite a bit I hadn't thought of by the look of it... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johndglynn Posted August 22, 2008 Share Posted August 22, 2008 I think two grand would be enough money to have proper track fun in a 3.2. Weight off, decent dampers, tyres and setup and that's it. Spend more on proper seats, exhaust mods, wider rims maybe. Then bigger brakes and what not. I have spent all day driving a G50 car with weight taken off and the stock t-bars are perfect, just had Bilsteins added and some ITBs and SSIs, great car. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest RSaaahhh Posted August 22, 2008 Share Posted August 22, 2008 That's the kind of reply I like to see! I'd been thinking I may have to do upto £10k, but was hoping this would include doing the full works, and would be over a period of time. Nice to hear I can make some difference with £2k... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sladey Posted August 22, 2008 Share Posted August 22, 2008 Mine's a backdate, but it's still an 87 3.2 with G50 box - I felt a difference just losing the heavy impact bumpers - even sticking with IB appearance switching to F/G bumpers would make a difference. I've also done the following:- Turbo tie-rods new Bilsteins all round Elephant racing monoballs and polybronze suspension bushes (both at front) - these have transformed the feel of the car - turn-in is noticeably sharper and the steering feels lighter yet more direct - you feel you could thread the car through the eye of a needle. Currently awaiting delivery of elephant racing polybronze bushes for the rear and a new adjustable rear anti-roll bar (probably for bling and experimenting rather than anything else - the existing rear ARB is fine) http://www.elephantracing.com/ Heater backdate (you lose the heavy heater blower from high up in the engine and it cleans up the engine bay) I drive mine every day - none of the changes mentioned has had anything but a positive effect on it's drivability. I love driving it on road and on track. I had tooth-ache the other night on the drive home - on a clear stretch of road I was able to redline the car in second and third and the toothache disappeared - must have been the adrenaline (No officer I wasn't speeding - I've got toothache you see...) Performance side:- Got an M&K muffler - lovely sound and very light - just where you want to lose weight as well Got a Steve Wong chip - very pleased with that - makes the car more drivable, raised the rev limiter as well Mine is very much a forth road bridge job - it will never end Planned mods:- Possibly hollow torsion bars replace battery with light one and relocate to smugglers box Wevo G50 shift kit & coupler (http://www.wevo.com/Products/WevoProducts.htm) Wevo G50 gearbox mount SSI's and new back box with twin pipes Brakes - probably go to Nick Moss's bling super-baad calipers (http://www.early911.co.uk) (deep breath) Clewett conversion (http://www.clewett.com/) to electromotive engine management kit and PMO independant Throttle bodies (deeper breath) rebuild bottom end to 3.5 (100mm Pistons and Barrels) and twin plug it (lottery win) investigate 9M Billett heads I don't NEED to do any of the above, but I'm REALLY looking forward to doing all of it Good luck with your car, and enjoy it HTH, Mark Think I'd better go to bed now.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lesworth Posted August 23, 2008 Share Posted August 23, 2008 SW chip took my car from 220 BHP to 239. Increased rev limit and also increase low down torque enough for a lumox like me to notice in day to day driving. Do not underestimate the power of the remap. Some say a live remap is better that an off the shelf chip like mine as its tailored to your particular car. Try doing a search on here for Wayne Schofield... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest RSaaahhh Posted August 23, 2008 Share Posted August 23, 2008 Sladey - love the sound of what you have done Will definitely look in to this in lot more detail. Interesting you mention Nick Moss. I would love to get my car back dated to look properly like an ST and would almost certainly want to get him to see what he could recommend. Lesworth - chip sounds like a plan as well! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilverWT Posted August 24, 2008 Share Posted August 24, 2008 Hi, Regarding chips in 3.2s, I put a Steve Wong 911Chips chip in mine yesterday (84-86 911 Euro 98 RON spec). Only known engine mod was a 2 out Dansk sport box (still retaining the pre muffler). Car had always run well and was dynoed last Dec at 231 flywheel bhp with the stock exhaust. Previous examination of the ECU box showed no signs of it being opened, so I assumed it had not been touched. Since fitting the Dansk there had been some backfire on overrun and I was concerned it was running too lean, so thought it was time to add a chip. On opening the ECU I found a Superchips chip, which was very disappointing as I was hoping for a reasonable improvement over what I had! Went ahead and swapped the chips and took it for a drive. Found a big difference in smoothness and pulling power, the backfires problem had also gone. Conclusion for me is it was worth changing to the latest chip, even over other performance chips, and that SW does seem to know what he is doing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest RSaaahhh Posted August 27, 2008 Share Posted August 27, 2008 Thanks for all the replies. I'm off to see a Porsche indie I know quite well this weekend - he built up a 944 for racing a couple of years back, so will see what he can throw in the pot. I'm also having a word with JZ Machtech as they obviously know a thing or two...! Sladey - do like the sound of your work especially so may be in touch again if that's ok? Thanks again all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Bernau Posted August 28, 2008 Share Posted August 28, 2008 Thanks for all the replies. I'm off to see a Porsche indie I know quite well this weekend - he built up a 944 for racing a couple of years back, so will see what he can throw in the pot. I'm also having a word with JZ Machtech as they obviously know a thing or two...! Sladey - do like the sound of your work especially so may be in touch again if that's ok? Thanks again all. JZM are not an IB shop IMHO. Alternative to main dealer servicing and GT3 bits and tuning. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pete917 Posted August 29, 2008 Share Posted August 29, 2008 I agree. Making a track car for fun shouldnt be that expensive. Focus on stiffening the car up, proper corner weight and suspension geometry, decent brakes and loose some weight. Thats all pretty cheap (relatively) stuff. If after that you need more, then do the usual suspects - chip, exhaust then maybe a CAM or two. The result will be a lively, nippy fun car to drive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevhl Posted August 29, 2008 Share Posted August 29, 2008 There's a lot to be said for getting yourself comfortable behind the wheel... a seat, harness and steering wheel combination when done correctly will make you feel more more at one with the car and you'll then find you'll start to feel where you want to improve the car in other areas. Regardless of what else you do if you can live with a fixed back seat on the road then go for it. Set up/buy the wheel, seat so you aren't over-reaching for the wheel and feel comfortable with it, harnesses are a must! Massive, massive difference in the feel of the car! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johndglynn Posted August 29, 2008 Share Posted August 29, 2008 You can get reclining seats that do a good job. My Recaros are recliners and ace, and I sat in some of the new recliners trimmed in leather the other day - superb. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sladey Posted August 30, 2008 Share Posted August 30, 2008 Sladey - do like the sound of your work especially so may be in touch again if that's ok? No problem Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pete917 Posted August 30, 2008 Share Posted August 30, 2008 You can get reclining seats that do a good job. My Recaros are recliners and ace, and I sat in some of the new recliners trimmed in leather the other day - superb. Hi JG. Have you got an details on those new recliners? Sounds interesting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest RSaaahhh Posted September 4, 2008 Share Posted September 4, 2008 Interesting point re having a good seat/ harnesses. I could probably do a fixed-seat ok, although I'd prefer a reclining one so I can get my eldest son and one of his mates in the back for the odd trip. Silly question perhaps, but is it possible to use a reclining seat with harnesses? Or would the harnesses anchor in such away that the rear seat could not be used anyway? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimNiceBut Posted September 4, 2008 Share Posted September 4, 2008 You can get certain reclining seats with the appropriate harness holes, but they're "regular" seats (as in, not FIA approved or anything). For a cheap source, I'd keep my eye out for a set of Recaros from a Mitsubishi Evo - the ones in my Evo II certainly should work with a harness and I think they do have a tilt mechanism (or at least the handle for one). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pete917 Posted September 4, 2008 Share Posted September 4, 2008 Ive seen a solution that has some steel eyelets that screw into the rear selt belt clasp mounts. This lets you still use the rear seats, and then you just clip in the harness when you want them..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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