Posting a similar thread over on TI, I realised I hadn't put one up here yet. Cut and paste ahoy...

Entering the final few months of finance on the Stilo, so I thought I'd post up what's happened to RGZ over the past few years. Kinda similar to the thread on FF, but I'll try not to repeat myself too much :laugh:

Got RGZ the 1242 16v Stilo Active 3dr in March '06 after my old Punto LEH died to pretty massive engine issues. Apparently it lives on somewhere, hopefully it's owner has more success than I did :no: But anyway, at the time in the dealership I had the choice of a smaller '51-plate Clio, RGZ, a lower spec 1.4 Stilo or a newer Punto and decided to go for RGZ as it seemed the best spec with the best sense in terms of extra outlay on the finance I already had.

So, this was RGZ the first night...




...I kept her pretty much standard for quite a while. New Year '08 though, this decided to happen due to the stormy weather...



...a few months later, I decided after seeing some simple stuff my mate was doing to his 106 to start modding the Stilo. Only minor things, like debadging the back and side (only 1 Active badge above the OS indicator), adding some Ripspeed (mats, lighter) and Richbrook (tax disc holder, Poppy Coral air freshner, spinner dust caps and shortened aerial) but figured it was a good and also cheap way of starting. Oh and after the front spring recall, I noticed the front was rather high. i'll get to that later...




...first St Andrews show I went to soon after with new plates...



...then I got the front debadged via a mesh grille, painted the brake callipers and put some Schui alloy pedal extensions on...






...then the major stuff happened. First, I decided to lower her - used Eibach Pro Dampers and Sportline Springs. They got delayed in transit though, so painted the airbox and battery cover...



...so yeah, the suspension arrived and my mate Ally and I decided to try a DIY approach. I mean, how hard could it be? ...



...the curse of the rusty bolt. And yes, he should be wearing eye protection Got a garage to sort it out, which is how I found out the wonders of an independent Fiat/Alfa specialist and this was the result...





...handling was transformed and ended up being a real hoot to take for a b-road blast. Added the OMP front upper strutbrace as well...



...then though, I figured I should improve the way it went and sounded. So, exhaust first and I went to Simon's Custom Exhausts in East Kilbride for a custom cat-back system. Sounded rather nice and didn't look all that bad. Some pics for the FS Calendar I took...





...had also added some Fiat sunblinds as I couldn't be bothered with tints. Not bad for £20 I reckoned. Anyway, I then went on to the induction and it didn't quite work out at first...



...but eventually I got there and the sound was pretty amazing considering it's no Alfa V6...



...most recently I added a Leon Cupra R splitter. Can't probably see it that well in the pics but better than the split OEM one I had as well as a few stickers on the back windows, which I wasn't sure about but I think they work fairly well...





...future plans...well, apart from paying off the finance in March there's a few things need doing. Top mounts, alternator and brake discs/pads need changed. Body work needs a bit of TLC but don't think there's much point as I won't get much back when I come to sell her probably in the summer. She's been a faithful motor and surprisingly reliable. Plus after I got the mods sorted, rather enjoyable to drive.

Anyway, comments good/bad welcome and sorry about posting so many pics lol

Good and well sorted car mate .... seriously don't sell.

Once you start modding, with whatever you get you will have to tinker again!

Ming

keep it. drop it 100mm on coil overs. chequered room and deep dish alloys with abarth skirts...

euro look ftw on a stilo tbh.

oh and 1.4 16v it atleast. costs you 100 quid and its bolt for bolt plug for plug swap...

I'm with Ming here Rob, don't sell RGZ.
Alternator- easy enough job (well for me it is anyway)
Discs- Front's easyish rear's get Ming to do (LOL).

Seriously Rob please don't sell RGZ, as Ming said when you start tinkering, (or in my case replacing parts all the time) ou can get some enjoyment out of it.

Cheers guys and I won't sell as soon as finance is done, I just kind of want something more fun as well as a change from what I've got. If I were to keep the Stilo and mod further, plans would be...

- swap Eibach set up for FK or AP coilovers
- more bracing for the chassis
- 18" alloys of some description
- roof and bonnet in black with an off centre white stripe
- Schui front/rear bumpers and side skirts as well as roof spoiler
- colour code the rub strips and generally sort the bodywork
- gloss black mirror caps
- light tint on rear lights

I may do some of this, depending on funds/job situation but not sure. Keeping my options open. Engine swap would be great, though not sure if I'd want to do anything as involved as that. I've heard of some guys, perhaps in Greece that've turbo'd the 1242 16v in Stilo's, though not sure how reliable that info is.

When finance is done, that's an extra £200 a month I'll have. Stilo's currently worth about £1500-1700, so as I said won't be worth a huge amount BUT the next car will probably be £3-4k tops.

Would love an S2K but that ain't going to happen yet, even the cheapest decent ones are well over £5k. Top 3 possibles for the next one are still DC2 (though again, a 98 spec one will be upwards of £5k), s14a or perhaps 20VT. Outside chance of a 300ZX but a decent manual one's nigh impossible to find these days - seems it's always the people with the worst taste in modifying that buy those cars and then proceed to ruin them

IF you want a car like that (High performance turbo) your running cost within 2 years would be as much as the car mate ... Let's make some changes to your list

- Coilovers good, but may be not top of the list
- Bracing yup yup
- Instead of 18s, is it 15s you got ? Then get some light weight stuff
- Body work is fine from what i can see so invest in some proper bucket seats .

Ming

buckets and bracing
coilovers and brakes
17" abarth blade alloys
good rubber

(something with engine) either new or major mods but imo a 1.2 should never have been in the stilo.

Do the engine last . Oh and bushes mate! Am always there if you need a hand mate!

I'll got to disagree with the bigger rims . Need some lightweight stuff!

Ming

Cheers, yeah wouldn't mind Blades but was thinking 18s to fill the arches a bit. Probably Team Dynamics Pro Race to keep the weight down. 16s are on there the now and they're not tiny thankfully, so they're not a high priority. Same with the suspension, but a chap on FF recently wrote of his minted Stilo and had a set going cheap - told me to give him a buzz if I get some spare cash. He's also got grooved/drilled discs and greenstuff pads he offered for £100, so that's also an option.

Engine wise, the 1.2's not too bad in the Stilo, though obviously I'd like more. It's certainly no 1.2 8v in a Punto/GP as the 16v gives it a nice, likes to be revved nature. Plus as I've said before due to the 6 gears it's fine on the motorway and the ratios are pretty nicely spread too to make good use of what power there is.

A chap on FF who just got 001 of the Schui GPs a few months back has new seats. Think due to the fact his is a phase 2 though, there's less hassle with the seat occupancy sensors and the like than my phase 1 - would need to be looked into. Had thought about sourcing a leather interior somewhere, have seen a few go on eBay from time to time and I reckon that'd be the next best thing to stripping it out a bit and changing the front seats.

Bodywork wise, it's okay till you get up close - benefits of a silver car I guess. Fair few stone chips on the front and a long key mark on the OS wing and bonnet. Plus there's a nice dent on the passenger door from a while back, not to mention the lacquer peel in a few areas. May sort bits of it out, though I reckon to get it all sorted it'd maybe need a full respray given how widespread all the various scrapes and dents are.

And cheers Ming (and Andi) for the offers of help :smile:

I think you need to set a clear direction, you want to have a performace/purposeful car or just a clean looking car in terms of modding.

For example, Is no point putting the car on diet then putting in leather interior.

Oh and if there is a set going at a good price, i think you should snap it up and sell your set up .

If the set of disc/pads for front and rear is in good nick then 100 is a good price but try and get it down even more :0.

Ming

YcMing said:

IF you want a car like that (High performance turbo) your running cost within 2 years would be as much as the car mate ... Let's make some changes to your list

- Coilovers good, but may be not top of the list
- Bracing yup yup
- Instead of 18s, is it 15s you got ? Then get some light weight stuff
- Body work is fine from what i can see so invest in some proper bucket seats .

Ming

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Stilo is a pain to mod Ming I did 6k on mine and would have been better off if I had kept it standard and saved the cash..

Coilovers ..dont waste the time and money ..we have crap roads and their worse up there than down here if I read correctly..he might need a hip replacement in his older age

Bracing..he has already done it on the front but because the rear suspension set up is poop to start with it wont make a great difference to the car just drain his pocket of cash again for no reason..

Lighter/wider/bigger wheels.. well I think muppet has 16's on his ..the bigger and wider he goes the more problems he will have with tram lining..[stilo facts] the 16's are just about right for this car..

Body mods..while a schoowee bumper is ok I dont think driving around in a car that looks chav is what he want [I might be wrong] I woundnt want to be seen dead in the one I drove around in now..

Bucket seats..not possible unless he can bypass the beep beep beep fom the air bag warning cos there is a built in sensor in the passengers side seat..I tried it and sold the seats off in total frustration..

While 4k isnt a big budget when buying a car you can buy some that are over all better cars than the fiat stilo..my gen 2 just as one instance a much slagged off car and unjustly as well..what ever he does I wish him well the cost of maintenance of a car is enough to cope with these days without the added cost of modinisation and the added cost of insurance because of it..not trying to p*ss anyone of with this post just pointing out the stupidity/flaws and errors of what I have done for the last 35 years..wish I had the money I had wasted doing it over the years..I would now be looking at a tidy sum going towards my weekly pension payout if I had..


Thats me done..:smart:

just a question mate id be willing to buy your existing setup if youve got a spare rear shock kicking around so i could measure up the bravo rear shocks as thats the part no one is 100% sure about the rest of the suspension is fine for the bravo i almost bought the ap coilovers but a bit expensive if they dont fit 100%

YcMing said:

I think you need to set a clear direction, you want to have a performace/purposeful car or just a clean looking car in terms of modding.

For example, Is no point putting the car on diet then putting in leather interior.

Oh and if there is a set going at a good price, i think you should snap it up and sell your set up .

If the set of disc/pads for front and rear is in good nick then 100 is a good price but try and get it down even more :0.

Ming

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This is the thing, the outline is just that as there's a few options I'd perhaps pursue if I did chose to keep on modding. I think interior wise, I'd maybe take out the back seat and leave it at that in term of reducing weight. As Phil pointed out, it may be awkward to fit some lighter seats without a hindrance being caused by the lovely Stilo's error message system, which is a bit of a hypochondriac to say the least. Of course, saying that I like the practicality of rear seats so not sure if even that would be a route I'd go down.

I'm fairly happy with what I've got at the moment. In terms of any future mods, brakes, sorting out bodywork and maybe a few interior tweaks may be an option. The other stuff is just perhaps flights of fancy rather than stuff I'll actually do.

PNL said:

Stilo is a pain to mod Ming I did 6k on mine and would have been better off if I had kept it standard and saved the cash..

Coilovers ..dont waste the time and money ..we have crap roads and their worse up there than down here if I read correctly..he might need a hip replacement in his older age

Bracing..he has already done it on the front but because the rear suspension set up is poop to start with it wont make a great difference to the car just drain his pocket of cash again for no reason..

Lighter/wider/bigger wheels.. well I think muppet has 16's on his ..the bigger and wider he goes the more problems he will have with tram lining..[stilo facts] the 16's are just about right for this car..

Body mods..while a schoowee bumper is ok I dont think driving around in a car that looks chav is what he want [I might be wrong] I woundnt want to be seen dead in the one I drove around in now..

Bucket seats..not possible unless he can bypass the beep beep beep fom the air bag warning cos there is a built in sensor in the passengers side seat..I tried it and sold the seats off in total frustration..

While 4k isnt a big budget when buying a car you can buy some that are over all better cars than the fiat stilo..my gen 2 just as one instance a much slagged off car and unjustly as well..what ever he does I wish him well the cost of maintenance of a car is enough to cope with these days without the added cost of modinisation and the added cost of insurance because of it..not trying to p*ss anyone of with this post just pointing out the stupidity/flaws and errors of what I have done for the last 35 years..wish I had the money I had wasted doing it over the years..I would now be looking at a tidy sum going towards my weekly pension payout if I had..


Thats me done..:smart:

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Yeah, can see the validity in all your points there Phil and I totally agree. The alloy option, mentioned 18s purely on aesthetics as I reckon they look perfect on the Stilo. That said, the 17" blades look great on a lowered car and anthracite'd would look perfect on mine - possible I reckon if I find a cheap set on eBay or I can track down those ones Greg got rid of :laugh:

Body mods wise, the only kit I'd touch for the Stilo is the Schui Zender one. Can't stand any of the other stuff and I'm no Coyle in that respect either who'll spend thousands getting it smoothed and try to get on a cover. The look Chris_1.2 (think that was his username) had on his 1.6 was pretty much what I had in mind - colour coded, Schui bumper and (perhaps) lower. I know the downfalls of coilovers, but at the same time, I have a weakness for the stance it gives :laugh:

I set an initial limit of modding on the value of the car and I've still not spent over that. I'm under no illusions of how good the Stilo is, but then again it's not a terrible car by any means. The mods I've done already were the ones I felt needed doing to make it fun and, for me at least, bearable to live with. I don't regret one thing I've done to the car and though I'll never see the money I spent on mods back when I come to selling, I don't regret that either.

I think really what I want though is a car that's quick/dynamically good to begin with and one that perhaps has more potential than the Stilo does to an extent. That's why I'm considering the cars I am plus given I won't be going on finance again, I've set a realistic budget. Also, given the fact my next car won't depreciate so badly I should perhaps be able to start moving up the car ownership ladder :smile:

abyss113 said:

just a question mate id be willing to buy your existing setup if youve got a spare rear shock kicking around so i could measure up the bravo rear shocks as thats the part no one is 100% sure about the rest of the suspension is fine for the bravo i almost bought the ap coilovers but a bit expensive if they dont fit 100%

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Still got my original rear shocks, the fronts too, though the OS one was wrecked when Ally and I tried to DIY the suspension. If you want, I can bring said rear shocks (and perhaps the front one too if you need a spare :laugh along to Perth if you're able to make it or one of the other meets if you can't. Not looking for much of course as they're the originals from probably '03 when the car was produced. Unless they were changed before I picked RGZ up in '06.

all i would need to do is swap over the rear shock for 5 minutes to see if they fit or not
guess i could do a front shock aswell to make 100% sure oh and cant make the perth meet as im flying off to portugal tomorrow but if mark makes it along maybe he would be kind enough to take em off your hands

TBH, i think the stilo falls into the same category as the cento where parts are expensive and not many company makes it for them. Give it time, am sure there will creative members out there doing things that will tick your boxes .

IN conclusion don't sell, if you could get coiles cheap then go for it .

Ming

abyss113 said:

all i would need to do is swap over the rear shock for 5 minutes to see if they fit or not
guess i could do a front shock aswell to make 100% sure oh and cant make the perth meet as im flying off to portugal tomorrow but if mark makes it along maybe he would be kind enough to take em off your hands

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Thinking about it, the fronts will probably be different due to the fact you've got a diesel - I know for a fact the lowering kits have different code numbers between the Stilo 1.2/1.4/1.6/1.8 and the 2.4/diesel options due to the heavier engine. However, the rear shocks should be the exact same. Either way, shall bring the bits along to Perth and Mark can maybe the courier :smile:

YcMing said:

TBH, i think the stilo falls into the same category as the cento where parts are expensive and not many company makes it for them. Give it time, am sure there will creative members out there doing things that will tick your boxes .

IN conclusion don't sell, if you could get coiles cheap then go for it .

Ming

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Indeed, that's what I've found. I'm still a few months off paying up yet so shall still maybe plough some more cash into her but I've been window shopping on PH for quite a time now impatiently :laugh:

Might be worth doing a cross ref on shocks on eper to see if the part numbers are the same..

http://www.spangerum.com:7080/navi?...INT_MODE=0&EPER_CAT=SP&WINDOW_ID=1&GUI_LANG=3

Rob! how had is said dent on Passenger door?? I have a dent puller/ glass carrying handle in the garage (I think) if you want I could bring the dent puller and pull the dent out for you!!

would have done a crossreference but doesnt have the new bravo on the eper catalogues from which ive found yet

abyss113 said:

would have done a crossreference but doesnt have the new bravo on the eper catalogues from which ive found yet

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I dont have the latest eper but you can download your own ..there are many links for this on google..sorry..