Technical Suspension Upgrade.

[Joethy99]

Hello.

I have a 1.2 8v Mk 2 Punto and I love it. But the problem is, she handles like a drunk fat girl. I am looking to get some new suspension to stiffen her up a bit.

I know stiffening up the back will help because I was transporting all my stuff back from university and, even with the boot and backseats filled with stuff, going round corners at "higher" speeds the car seemed to to just hold the road better with out so much body roll.

Cheers guys and girls.

Any suggestions? All suggestions welcome.

 

[mahol]

its all about budget im afraid. how much you willing to spend.

low budget - keep your current shocks and replace springs around £90-100 (you can get a really good set for around £100-120, but if your shocks are old its going to wear them out quicker)

medium budget - cheaper full suspension kit = new shocks and springs around £200-350

high budget - replacement suspension kit by a brand such as Eibach or koni around £500 - 650

BIG BUDGET - obviously the best choice, coilovers FK are widely chosen on here around £750ish +

you could even add a strut brace to reduce body roll further these are around £50 - 60 each

 

[Joethy99]

That's what I was looking for, all the different choices I could have with all the different budget brackets.

I am completely skint at the moment, but I am compiling a list of things that I am going to be doing once I have the money - the list will show a total price of what needs to be done.

I am the sort of person that wants it all to be done at the same time, rather than a bit here and a bit there.

Performace first.
Styling second.


Thanks again!
:thumbup:

 

[mahol]

That's what I was looking for, all the different choices I could have with all the different budget brackets.

I am completely skint at the moment, but I am compiling a list of things that I am going to be doing once I have the money - the list will show a total price of what needs to be done.

I am the sort of person that wants it all to be done at the same time, rather than a bit here and a bit there.

Performace first.
Styling second.


Thanks again!
:thumbup:

thats what i do all the time, but sometime things will just get put off that way. What i've learnt is its better to wait and get something better than rushing and it breaking really quick.

also remember its only a 1.2, i also have a 1.2 but its the 16v 6speed so you can get alot more BHP from it BUT it is only a 1.2 if you do too much you can be putting some serious strain of s small engine.

performance mods:

>GSR induction
>Sports exhaust and or manifold if your budget allows(supersprint is one of the best, BUT where Reddot and GSR are based they sell very good custom exhaust at very low cost in comparison, Torque Exhausts)
>Magnecor leads or Kerr Nelson K1 leads, and iridium spark plugs
>sports suspension
>reddot brake disc and pads (or EBC green stuff pads)
>Better tyres (TOYO T1R, very cheap on ebay around £40 to fit and balance)
> if you really want that bit more get a GSR Remap aswell

all of this will probably cost around £1100 mark but that would be everything, cheapest mod for power and sound is an induction kit DONOT GET A K&N. if you budget is really low replace the OEM one in the air box with a BMC panel filter. My car was 83BHP before the induction kit (i already had a sports back box) after the GSR Induction it was 92 BHP. since then ive put some super light OZ superleggeras, straight through exhaust from manifold the back box so i wonder what it is now plus ive just bought a few other bits its took me 15months to get to this stage. look at my car thread!

 

[mk2 punto aj]

i phoned larkspeed.com and they sell a spax 35mm drop kit (dampers and springs) for £250 ,

 

[fingers99]

Spax's should be fine. Replace the top mounts while you're in there.

You might like to check out Punto GT (late ones, identified by the external spring) front disks and calipers -- fitted to Mareas and lots of other heavier FIATs -- rather than bugger about with a mere pad upgrade (which you can always do later anyway) -- lots of stuff on this in the Cinq/Sei section.

The 8v 1242 can be made to go pretty well -- bigger throttle body, decent inlet and exhaust manis and a Punto 75 cam are the obvious starting points.

 

[karbineftw]

Spax's should be fine. Replace the top mounts while you're in there.

You might like to check out Punto GT (late ones, identified by the external spring) front disks and calipers -- fitted to Mareas and lots of other heavier FIATs -- rather than bugger about with a mere pad upgrade (which you can always do later anyway) -- lots of stuff on this in the Cinq/Sei section.

The 8v 1242 can be made to go pretty well -- bigger throttle body, decent inlet and exhaust manis and a Punto 75 cam are the obvious starting points.

I want a bigger throttle body, apparently improves bhp around 10% on the 8v

 

[fingers99]

Certainly helps. Lots of stuff on TB swaps in the Cinq/Sei section.

 

[karbineftw]

Tricker TB's were meant to be good but he stopped doing them, quite pricey for postage to Denmark (iirc)

 

[fingers99]

There's a 38mm Pug/Citroen one that'll fit -- all in the other place.

 

[mahol]

i phoned larkspeed.com and they sell a spax 35mm drop kit (dampers and springs) for £250 ,

Larkspeed's website didn't list any for a mk2 in the spax range, infact i didn't find any of a few other sites. Do they not list all the range of the website???

ive started buying my kit all in seperates now lol buying a ready made kit would have been sooooo much easier but hey! lol

 

[MikeSalt]

Unfortunately, there are no aftermarket anti-roll bars for the mk2 (that I am aware of), which would really tame the roll. Sell the mk2, get a mk1 and spend the difference on Eibach ARBs

mahol has hit the nail on the head though, we need to know a budget first. The fact that loading the rear improved things suggests that you need to go lower. But, be careful how much lower you do go. 30-40mm is optimal for MacPherson struts. Go much further than that, and it's for aesthetics only since camber control is comprimised (do you like understeer?). I have yet to fit aftermarket suspension to my car, but richie.guy (a mk2 guy) swears by Eibach Proline springs with Bilstein OE spec dampers for road use.

Actually, on the subject of anti-roll bars, I'll try to find out if the more powerful models have a thicker bar. If so, you could get your hands on one of them to improve the anti-roll performance at the front. The rear however, I am not sure you can do anything about since it is a semi-independent torsion beam, rather than the full-independent setup on the mk1s (albeit a pretty crude independent trailing arm setup with the sophistication of a gate hinge)

 

[mahol]

yeah, don't think theres much worry about the rear body roll on the mk2 as there is a solid beam at the back, as long as you have decent springs and dampers you should be fine enough, besides it feels like most roll happens up front on the mk2's (but that might be because i only sit in the front lol)

Mike, you mention anti-roll bars just thinking if he fitted a upper and lower strut brace would this help reduce roll (it will be a lot cheaper to i think £90ish)??? just an idea:idea:, as i know OMP make an upper and lower brace. but im not really an expert on strut braces as ive never looked into them and dont actually own one.

 

[fingers99]

A thicker front ARB merely induces understeer. Even cars with a dead beam axle benefit from a rear ARB (Lancia Fulvia, Flavia, etc).

You may find Alfaholics have something very similar to what you want/need.

Strut braces have no direct effect at all on roll -- they simply prevent the struts s doing unwanted things.

 

[mk2 punto aj]

Larkspeed's website didn't list any for a mk2 in the spax range, infact i didn't find any of a few other sites. Do they not list all the range of the website???

ive started buying my kit all in seperates now lol buying a ready made kit would have been sooooo much easier but hey! lol

phone them ,,,, you can get 35mm or 50mm

 

[MikeSalt]

Strut braces have no direct effect at all on roll -- they simply prevent the struts s doing unwanted things.

I was just about to say that. Yes, strut braces are for maintaining the camber of the suspension geometry under high lateral forces. Roll resistance is a combination of coupled spring stiffness (a product of coil stiffness and ARB/beam-axle stiffness) and centre of gravity relative to the roll centre.