Something to liven up my 197 for £200-300 or less!

[Mike_197]

Hi All,

Looking to give myself a bit more enjoyment from my 197 over the next 6-8 months. I plan to get a different car around this time but will still keep the 197 as my wife will be having it after we sell her 182!

In your experience, what can I fit to the 197 to give me the most enjoyment for no more than £200-300.

I won't need to pay for fitting on anything as i'm very much capable of doing the work myself.


The few mods I have so far:

Ramair Panel Filter

Eibach Pro-Kit Springs

Pure Motorsport Rear Stub Axle Spacers (10mm)

Powerflex Upper & Lower Engine Stabilizer Inserts

Osram Diadem Chrome Indicator Bulbs (Front & Rear)

Osram LEDriving Front Side Lights (Cool White)

Osram LEDriving Number Plate Lights (Cool White)


Thanks

 

[sevenfourate]

For me; some of the best bang-for-buck i've toyed with has included:

Remap: Makes the whole driving experience ten-fold more pleasurable in terms of driveability.

Refurbed steering wheel (If yours is starting to wear / peel) - as its something tactile that you'll notice every single time you'll drive the car.

Uprated brake pads. (Can spend what you like,but) : The standard items and their performance can be hugely improved upon for £50'ish (Mintexx 1144's) on the front. Strangely same items are near £100 on the rear......

Exhaust system of course must be mentioned; to get rid of the standard 'silence'. Doesn't have to be super-fruity to make it at least sound semi-sporty !

Redline gear-box oil. Seriously. The difference in feel from others i've tried was astounding on mine. Truly one of the best mods for the money i've done.

Shall i go on.....

 

[Sean197]

For that money some springs plus powerflex upper torque mount and lower engine mount. These will transform the driving experience.

 

[Big Ben]

Ktec induction kit. Adds a lot of noise and makes a race car sound. Not much gain performance wise admittedly.

 

[petercronin]

Some really good brake pads make a big difference.

Since you've got the other powerflex mounts why not do the gearbox mount too, it makes quite a bit of difference to the feel of the change and it's only about £25-30.

I haven't done it myself yet but a few people like the extra noise of removing the acoustic valve plus it's a virtually free mod.

 

[Mike_197]

Some good ideas chaps.

Sevenfourate, would you elaborate on the redline gear oil? I've changed mine for factory elf fluid on two occasions and although it improves the feel of gear changes it never irons out some of the notchy behaviour when the box is cold.

Remap is something I had considered, but I didn't want to get a map then regret not fitting an exhaust or induction before hand and not see the appropriate benefits.

Induction kit is something I was thinking about too, just to give me some noise and a bit of fun!

 

[Sean197]

For that money some springs plus powerflex upper torque mount and lower engine mount. These will transform the driving experience.

Doh just seen that you already have those...
You could find a second hand exhaust fir around that money. But the best thing to do would a remap if you can stretch to another 50-100 quid.

 

[Mike_197]

Doh just seen that you already have those...
You could find a second hand exhaust fir around that money. But the best thing to do would a remap if you can stretch to another 50-100 quid.

Haha no worries, yeah exhaust or remap is something that interests me. I live very close to KTEC but I seem to hear mixed views about them. They offer a remap for around £300 as far as I remember.

 

[Antti O]

If you like washing and detailing, invest that money for paint work correction & ceramic coating. It is good investment, and will protect your car many years. It depends your paintwork condition how much that polishing will be.
No need for wax any more..

Here is little video about my car which was coated 2017.

 

[Micah]

If you're a bit handy with a spanner then I recommend @Raptor6767's lightweight crank pulley.

 

[Raptor6767]

V6 airbox for the power and sound but I would recommend a remap too to complement the mod.

And, of course - lightweight crankshaft pulley (a bit of self promotion there ).

 

[Mike_197]

Good ideas chaps, paintwork is excellent on the car so although it would get me a lot of benefits I'm not too sure it will keep me interested.

Lightweight crank pulley sounds great however although I'm competent with tools I refuse to touch the timing on these cars, don't have a great deal of experience with timing and I would worry that taking the crank pulley off may upset it!

 

[rupe30]

Sprint Booster to sharpen up throttle response (or lightweight pulley but can't vouch for that as I don't have one)

 

[Raptor6767]

Good ideas chaps, paintwork is excellent on the car so although it would get me a lot of benefits I'm not too sure it will keep me interested.

Lightweight crank pulley sounds great however although I'm competent with tools I refuse to touch the timing on these cars, don't have a great deal of experience with timing and I would worry that taking the crank pulley off may upset it!

It won't, it's a 20min job.

 

[Raptor6767]

Sprint Booster to sharpen up throttle response (or lightweight pulley but can't vouch for that as I don't have one)

Had the Sprint booster too, it's an artificial way of upgrading throttle response.

Wouldn't recommend it if you like to race (especially drag race from 0km/h).
Sold it after 2 months.

 

[Mike_197]

To follow up on this, I have just ordered a Scorpion cat back exhaust system. Looking forward to getting it fitted, if I get the time it'll be on over the weekend, but we will see!

Got it for a £385 delivered (yes I blew my budget, but who doesn't!) Which is a pretty good price. The company I got it from had a special offer that expires today. If anybody's interested in getting one too here is the link and discount code...

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https://www.ebay.co.uk/ulk/itm/401283017045

Discount Code: P20SPRING

 

[Micah]

Nice one! The Scorpion is a very well designed kit and shouldn't give you any aggro to fit

 

[Mike_197]

shouldn't give you any aggro to fit

I hope not, my mate called me about an hour ago to tell me he snapped a stud in the manifold on his Fiesta ST150, I opted to stay away from it, ball ache comes to mind!

The 197 system should come off easy, I've bought myself an exhaust pipe cutter to help with the job, should make lighter work of it all.

 

[turkie172]

If you have to cut the exhaust make sure you do it in the right place so it is worth something to the next person or parts can be swapped. A Genuine back box from the factory is cut here so if you bought a genuine mid section you know it will match up I've seen so many exhausts cut all over the place no one is going to buy them as they will need bits from the other sections like 20cm to match a factory section. There is supposed to be embossed dots on the pipework to indicate where to cut but I'm yet to find any. The cat to the mid box is another section but I don't have any info where to cut

 

[Mike_197]

Really helpful information there, thanks very much, I have a measurement to work with on the mid section as Scorpion suggest cutting at a specific point, but even if that means the mid section is useless I can still save the rear box.

Thanks again, very helpful post.