After a few brisk drives down some country lanes (needed major stress relief), I started to wonder about what I should think about doing next on my humble MPI to improve the ride and handling.

On one of my earlier threads someone recommended "Seat sport strut brace, Koni fsd shock absorbers, Eibach springs and Powerflex the bushes at the front". I've already fitted a RARB, so was hoping for some advice on what order I should tackle the next lot....hopefully in order of best investment:return ratio from your collective experiences.

Or should I just be realistic, stop the modding bug and wait till I can afford something more sprightly and spend money on that? Or improve the handling on the MPI and just switch the parts over when I upgrade (it WILL be another fabia....hopefully a VRS, if not then a TDI). I know the VRS uses different Eibachs, I think the RARB and Seat strut brace can be switched over....can the FSDs and powerflexes too?

If ya gonna upgrade and swap parts over might as well start spending. I've just fitted ap coilovers to mine and that's change it immensely!!!!just general pulling off and drivinga better. Feels much more planted. Demontweeks do good offer on suspension and if ya can't pay at once do monthly purchase. Looks like ya don't pay.much if.hardly any interest on em

So far my lowly MPi is running

SPAX adjustable coil overs

SEAT Sport upper front brace

Lower front brace

Rear brace

vRS front arb

Jabba rear arb

Powerflex front wishbone and arb bushes

Cupra console bushes

Powerflex rear beam bushes

It's tight to but so much fun for a little engine.

Stop.

Stop.

Hammer time?

You will always want MORE POWER.....

You could fit lots of upgrades to your MPI and swap some of it to the VRS as and when you want........BUT I wouldn't bother with swapping the stuff..........,YES a VRS is faster but has a heavier diesel lump up front.....you would miss the lightness of the MPI front end!

So save up and swap all the bushes for either Superpro or Powerflex.....see my linky post;

http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/200949-upgrade-the-bushes/

Then decide if you want to lower or not!.......if you want standard ride height then fit Koni FSD's........if not fit coilovers or eibach springs or get the Koni SRT???? sets......

What tyre size you running????

P.S. I decided not to lower due to the back country roads I drive down......but I love the handling of my car.......I can really "drive" it down the roads and it is responsive and fun!!!........wouldn't swap it!!........every road becomes a "rally" stage without having to go over the speed limits!........and the speed i can go through the corners....."what corner".?????........

Remember having the suspension really stiff does sod all..........Look at the early Lotus cars...no anti roll bars!!!......yet still rated as good handling/driving cars........ie they require driver skill......but not at stupid speeds that will kill you or lose your licence!!!

No really, stop. And spend the money on some track days instead so you can improve the most important component of the car's handling - the driver (however good you already are).

Thanks everyone for your thoughts!

It's tight to but so much fun for a little engine.

^How much has all that set you back, Tech1e? Or has it been over such a long period of time it's not worth remembering?

So save up and swap all the bushes for either Superpro or Powerflex.....see my linky post;

What tyre size you running????

they require driver skill......

Appreciate the detail! I just want to make it feel a little more responsive and more fun than feeling like im lugging a tractor around a bend. Just a bit more peppy would be ideal. Doesn't the extra torque in the VRS make up for the diesel lump in the front and still make it fun? I'm not after pseudo-drag races on motorways

Thanks for the links.. I was hoping there might be some 2-3 Haynes-spanner jobbies I could do, like the RARB, but the DIY bush removal tool etc seems daunting.

Tyres are cheap 195/50R15's. Yokohama, I think....courtesy of previous owner. Should I look into something else?

Guess for driver skill I should sign up to an IAM course?

No really, stop. And spend the money on some track days instead.

I hear you....ultimately that's what I'd like to do, but track day car hire costs are prohibitive and my 1.4mpi would be a laughing stock if I dared to bring it to one of those events :$

Edited 5 March, 201214 yr by fsa

How much has all that set you back, Tech1e? Or has it been over such a long period of time it's not worth remembering?

It has been over the last four years and the previous owner paid for most of it with me doing the labour so price is pretty small. The only thing bought new aside from bushes were the coil overs, everything else was either second hand or DIY.

While not actually a handling improvement powerchips.cz are offering a remapped PIC for the ECU if you're feeling brave? £40 posted (or best offer). It'll be a de-solder and re-solder job (old school) if you're not feeling brave with the soldering iron then for £80 you can post him your ECU and he'll flash it/send it back. Item number 320652147775, guy seems genuine, quick to reply and has a better grasp of English than most UK based sellers I seem to deal with but usual disclaimer applies, i've nothing to do with the seller and please don't blame me if your car dies. Before the 'haters' go into 'hate overload' yes I am aware of the minimal gains on a NA engine

Thanks everyone for your thoughts!

^How much has all that set you back, Tech1e? Or has it been over such a long period of time it's not worth remembering?

Appreciate the detail! I just want to make it feel a little more responsive and more fun than feeling like im lugging a tractor around a bend. Just a bit more peppy would be ideal. Doesn't the extra torque in the VRS make up for the diesel lump in the front and still make it fun? I'm not after pseudo-drag races on motorways

Thanks for the links.. I was hoping there might be some 2-3 Haynes-spanner jobbies I could do, like the RARB, but the DIY bush removal tool etc seems daunting.

Tyres are cheap 195/50R15's. Yokohama, I think....courtesy of previous owner. Should I look into something else?

Guess for driver skill I should sign up to an IAM course?

I hear you....ultimately that's what I'd like to do, but track day car hire costs are prohibitive and my 1.4mpi would be a laughing stock if I dared to bring it to one of those events :$

Yup, the IAM course is pretty good.

Not sure how track days work in the UK but the ones I've been to in Oz can be as little as $180 and include you driving some laps to get used to the track, then an instructor driving you in your car, then you driving the instructor. After that you'll find yourself way smoother and way quicker. Forget about all the other cars on the track as you're only there for your own sake. Faster cars can just go faster.

Go for it. You don't need to make a car go faster to make it more fun :-) As mentioned good tires will help

Go for it. You don't need to make a car go faster to make it more fun :-) As mentioned good tires will help

Or another point of view is that better handling = less fun. E.g; of 5 MX5s I've owned, the earliest was the most fun as it had skinnier tyres, stilt-like suspension, no LSD or ABS and the least power. The present one has coil-overs, fully sorted turbo etc etc and I can only legally have fun in it on a track.

Tech1e: That's really lucky! I know fabdarav suggested I look into the bushes first, but given your DIY knowledge and skill, is that the next easiest thing I should focus on? I don't think it's worth paying a professional to do the fitting on such an old banger....and it might be more character building if I attempted it myself

Avalon: that chip is very tempting. Have you tried it on yours?

Davekmoore: the BYOC track days here are similarly priced too....I was just being hesitant about bringing my 68bhp to such events and saw the £800 or so it costs to hire a hot-hatch for the day. I should look into uprated brakes and tyres, right?

Once again, thank you, everyone!

Take your own car to a track day. Only modify it any further when you can drive beyond the ability of the car. You probably won't do this on your first track day.

Remember you're not racing any other car or drivers, just learning how to get your own car around the same lap more quickly and/or safely and/or more smoothly.

Putting better brakes or tyres on will produce lower lap times but you won't have learned anything. Equally you could bung nitrous on and go faster without being a better driver.

Whereas if you track your car as it is now and don't do anything else to it you'll know how much better you get during the day and between track days.

If you still want to be fastest car and driver on a track day then you already know that you'll need something other than a normally aspirated 1.4.

Thank you very much for the advice! As tempting as this is, I need to work on my own skills before doing anything extravagant

Check out Andrew Walsh or Don palmer for car control skills.

IAM or Rospa for road craft training.