A few quick question if I may guys......

Sorry if these have been asked a million times before, but I'm new.


Wheel bearings; Genuine Fiat parts or are Euro Car Parts ok?

Suspension; Any benifit to fitting upgraded Koni / Bilstein items, or does it ruin the ride / handling balance? With suspension bushes, OEM / ECP (euro car parts), or Powerflex items?


Brakes;

Discs & pads. OEM, ECP or upgraded items? Stainless braided brake lines and Mintex pads a worthwhile upgrade?


Service items;

Belts, tensioners and filters.

Again, OEM (if still available?), or ECP?


Clutch; OEM or upgraded item?


Oil cooler and pipework;

prices and stockists please?


Radiator;

Aluminium or an OEM item? How likely is the rad to be past it's best on a £2500 car? is it easy to see the condition of the rad with the bonnet up?


Turbo;

Expensive to replace? With the clutch and the turbo, is it an engine out job? Does the engine drop out from underneath, or lift out from the top? Easy(ish) DIY job?


Coolent & turbo pipes. Samco items available? Any pipes that are not accessable without removing engine?


Exhaust manifold; prices and stockists on stainless items?


Undertray; This may be a silly question, but I understand that these are no longer available new and second hand are like rocking horse poo? Do the ones off Alfa GTV / Spider fit? What about the ones off the 5 cylinder Bravo / Mareo?

Would it be possable to knock up an undertray from some 2mm steel sheet? Or would this cause issues with heat sink / vibration or noise?


Cheers chaps.

ECP usually offer OEM quality parts or alternatives.

The thing is it will often divide opinion as a lot of people will tell you to use Fiat parts. My opinion is that Fiat don't make a lot of the parts themselves; so buying from a parts factor shouldn't make any difference.

The radiator most likely will have been changed in it's life, but it's easy to see and assess.

Upgrading parts like suspension is a matter of preference. Brakes again a matter of preference (for a road car). Just use good quality parts for the brakes and suspension and you'll be fine.

Clutch and cambelts, there's a guide in the 'how to' section. Exhaust manifolds, turbos and undertrays if you look in the Coupe breaking section or traders section I'm sure you will find one for reasonable money.

after market coolant and boost hoses are available. Samco do a boost kit and occasionally the coolant hoses come up in the group buy section.

Brakes and tyres....get the best you can afford.
That is all I have to say on the matter.

I've never, ever skimped on brakes and tyres.

To the chap who posted above you, cheers.

Ok...Yoko's or Toyo's
Pagid if you are loaded ...otherwise yellows like the rest of us peasants ...lol
Just so happens I have an A1 undertray for sale so they are out there.

Wow, let's see how much I can remember since I owned one then.

Wheel bearings; Genuine Fiat parts or are Euro Car Parts ok?

Euro car parts sell genuine ones dont they?

Suspension; Any benifit to fitting upgraded Koni / Bilstein items, or does it ruin the ride / handling balance? With suspension bushes, OEM / ECP (euro car parts), or Powerflex items?

Bilstein B6 shocks are much better than standard ones, coilovers will make it a very harsh ride but much improve the handling. Bushes... standard ones are fine, uprated ones are better.

Brakes;

Discs & pads. OEM, ECP or upgraded items? Stainless braided brake lines and Mintex pads a worthwhile upgrade?

Standard brakes are good enough on the road but fade on track. Upgraded discs / pads / brake lines will improve performace and eliminate brake fade.


Service items;

Belts, tensioners and filters.

Again, OEM (if still available?), or ECP?

OEM are fine.


Clutch; OEM or upgraded item?

OEM if the car is standard or mildly modified, upgraded organic or paddle clutch if more heavily modified.

Radiator;

Aluminium or an OEM item?

Either.

How likely is the rad to be past it's best on a £2500 car?

Impossible to say. Have a look!

is it easy to see the condition of the rad with the bonnet up?

You can see the back of it from the engine bay, but you want to be checking the front side - take the bumper off, or look through it's slats, or look up at the car from underneath.

Turbo;

Expensive to replace?

Few hundred quid + fitting

With the clutch and the turbo, is it an engine out job?

No

Does the engine drop out from underneath, or lift out from the top? Easy(ish) DIY job?

It drops out underneath, not particularly easy if you dont have experience with such things.

Coolent & turbo pipes. Samco items available? Any pipes that are not accessable without removing engine?

Samco do a turbo pipes kit for the Coupe, dont know about coolant pipes but you dont need to remove the engine.


Exhaust manifold; prices and stockists on stainless items?

Almost everyone uses standard manifolds that have been welded so they dont keep cracking any more.


Undertray; This may be a silly question, but I understand that these are no longer available new and second hand are like rocking horse poo? Do the ones off Alfa GTV / Spider fit? What about the ones off the 5 cylinder Bravo / Mareo?

Doubt it! You should be able to get one off someone on here though, put a post in the parts wanted section or try phoning the breakers.

Would it be possable to knock up an undertray from some 2mm steel sheet? Or would this cause issues with heat sink / vibration or noise?

Anything is possible, not worth the effort though if you can find a used one.



With all this talk of removing the engine for everything, have you owned a BMW 750i before?

Thanks for the comprehensive reply Matt.

No. Only owned one BMW in my lifetime and that was an E30 318is many years ago.

All this engine out nonsense is stemming from me looking at pictures of the 20VT engine bay and wondering just how the hell it's possable to do anything in such cramped conditions?

Non AC cars are much easier and cheaper to work on mate.
Another thing to consider.
Paul

and apparently more reliable - there's a lovely blue 20v for £3k in the for sale forum

That was non airconditoned and NOT non turbo mate....lol

other than that i was right though?

suppose so