Where would I start and at what cost

[Wilf]

If... I had a 2004 1.8 VVTi na engine and I want to drive it to work every day, but take it to a track at the weekend....

From what I have read, I need a baffled sump otherwise my engine will blow up on long bends, but what else should I start with?
I'd like to get a bit more straight line speed (decrease the 0-60 time really). How much will a sump cost? Sooo much to learn!



I'm so new to this, so please be gentle!

Wilf

[FGrob]

Easy place to start is in the garage section above, just click on the "garage" icon and away you go.

Welcome along by the way.

Rob.

[jonty]

First thing is making sure there is nothing on its way out on the car, as otherwise sods law says it WILL fail on track and therefore cost you not only your track time but also most likely having to get it fixed in a rush at greater expense than if you scheduled it at a local garage of your choice. Bushings, water/oil pumps, aux belts, dodgy hose clamps, wheel bearings, anything like that, on top of the more obvious brake discs and pads, tyres etc.

It does seem that maintaining oil pressure is a bit of an issue from what I've read, so a baffled sump is a good idea. You can buy them but they are not cheap (£400ish?), however personally I think you could have a good effort adding baffles to a stock sump pan- D!ck2ski is your man for well priced spare parts if you want to give it a whirl yourself on a spare sump so you don't have to take the car off the road - some sheet metal, tin snips, and a few door hinges will probably do you proud. That may sound a bit silly, but really there is nothing else to the aftermarket sumps other than a bit of extra capacity... which is unnecessary if the baffling is good!

Apart from this, if you are going to be thorough I would make sure you have fresh brake fluid, and if you're going to do that you may as well get braided hoses. Pads like EBC yellowstuff are good for the road but also cope well with a bit of grief, and are £100ish for front and rear together. If you keep your on track stints to no more than 5 laps or so standard pads will be fine, but personally I like longer and you will find you are rapidly limiting yourself because of brakes without upgrading the pads and using fresh fluid. Aftermarket discs do nothing by the way, or at least nothing compared to good pads- if you want more performance use the cheapest discs you can find and put any money you would have spent on grooved or drilled or coated or super grade discs into the pads instead.

Lastly, if you want to do more than a couple of trackdays I think it is worth looking at getting a second set of wheels with more track oriented tyres as they wear a lot better than road tyres for a given amount of grip.

After that there are loads of things you can do to improve performance, but the things above will really set you on a good course to have reliable fun on track.

[Wilf]

Great!  Thanks guys.

[Anonymous]

+1 to what Jonty said. Logic says get on a diet. Rather than spend money, reduce weight to improve acceleration and cornering speeds. Theres a ton of crap you can throw in your loft to refit later when you want to sell.

Stiffening is relatively cheap compared to increasing power. Braces, shorter, stiffer springs, lower profile tyres wider rubber all costs money though!
The more track focused the car, the less road friendly it becomes.

[Tech]

Helpful thread - do you think the part about spending more on brake pads rather than discs goes for all cars?