budget mods.

o.k. but 13's are as small as i can get, so to run higher profile and now fatter tyres this means 195/65-70/13's ?

  ??????

aaghhhhhhhhh.

Ha Ha! This wheel and tyre combo is cracking me up! you guys are well funny.

I think he is trying to say run a smaller tyre with a bigger profile than the one you have on your bigger wheels…? the smaller wheel would give more acceleration but you would loose that with the large profile…kind of zeros it's self out…so would be pointless. and look odd.

Be interested to see what you do and how it works out wooders.

i'll do some pics as i go.

Getting back to the subject, how about the following:

Wider slick tyres on front
Narrower tyres on rear
Solid front and rear engine mounts
Remove bumpers

This lot should easily fit within your ?500 budget and will definitely reduce your 1/4 mile times. Since 1/4 mile is about traction and acceleration, you need to get more "bite" to the somewhat compromised FWD layout. Hence the slicks and solid mounts. The other factor is weight, you really need to take off all the excess weight you can, its a cheap way to better times.

There's a couple more mods you can do:

Lowering springs just on the front - increases castor radically
Dial in around 1? toe out on the front wheels
Set front camber to 0?

These changes will make the car tend to want to go in a straight line rather than round corners. Some mods for the 1/4 mile are in opposition to the mods you'd want for a trackday - for example suspension geometry changes. Also, if you take all the weight out the back of the car, you'll have slightly more tendency to lose grip and oversteer on corners.

i was having a 1/4 mile conversation last night with a mate who wants to put a 20vt in a caddy with 4wd my argument was that with a caddy the back is quite light so all the weight is over the front wheels thus meaning more traction on a sprint so i think ive talked him out of 4wd for the moment   more due to the fact im doing the 20vt conversion for him

weight is a big issue on sprints like they said get rid of any weighty things at the back of the car  :wink:

OK - My 2pence… :mrgreen:

My car is completely standard engine wise bar a K&N panel and a janspeed 4 branch, though this is mated to a standard system.

I have only ever done 1 run, at Pod, and got 16.5 secs.

My car is/was stripped with a pair of buckets, some home made vinyl door cards and home fitted carpets, no deadening.

To loose more weight, you'd want to remove all carpets, door cards etc, all seats bar the drivers. You may also want to keep an eye on Ebay etc for some Perspex windows and or fibreglass panels. Plus remove any tools, spare wheels etc!

I reckon you could quite easily get under 16 secs with minimal mods and emphasis on "Lightening".

One of the downfalls of the Mk1 is its gear shift, so make sure it is top notch for fast smooth shifting.

Try and find yourself a "9A" or "FD" gearbox, as they have lower ratios. Couple this with lower profile tyres/rims (I run 14's with 50 profile tyres) and it will accelerate real quick. Mine tops out at around 105 MPH, but at 15.8 ish secs, you will be crossing the line somewhere around 90MPH. I think I crossed in the low 80's. This does mean that you are changing more regularly, though the revs do not drop so low when you get the next gear, meaning that you are staying in the "Power band".
Some argue that all the power is low down, but my practically standard DX is pulling hard up to 7K at the moment! I'm waiting for it to go bang…  :roll:

Good luck with your venture and keep us posted with any progress!

Forget perspex windows from a well known internet auction website……

Buy a helmet (or goggles less weight) and take ALL your windows out to reduce drag, you might need some way to stop the wind swirling around inside the car but thats got to be the single, cheapest mod to reduce the time!        

also tilt your seat back !

have you tryed drilling holes in the lower half of the air box

mk2 throttle body,fit audi or 16v rising rate warm up regulator,fit early mk1 metering head they flow more fuel

quick shift.. put a suitible kink in the vertical gearbox lever to shortern it

good set of tyres

wooders , do you have a plan yet?
would be interesting to set parameters for the engine then alter tyres/weight etc on every run to see the gains or losses made.