What to upgrade?

My recently purchased GF is totally standard, what mods should i consider that are good value and do not require vast amounts of mechanical skills?

Should i first get the standard set up tuned and running as well as i can, or think about rejetting the carb or replacing the air filter with something like a K&N etc. etc.

All mechanicals seem fine, she starts well (even when hot) & runs well once warm.

I will be looking to try & improve the brakes as and when finances allow, any tips on the best way to do this would also be much appreciated!

Jim, I took your advice & have been enjoying the Autumn with the roof off in sunny Bognor Regis (amazing how many people haven't seen an Exxy for years, if at all)!

Cheers,
Nige

Glad to hear you're enjoying her Nige! - to be honest totally bone stock Exxies with low mileage like yours are getting rarer by the moment, so if you want to preserve your investment so to speak I wouldn't go too heavy with the modding, buy a tatty one to mod away to your hearts content!

Ok, brake-wise it is worth checking the system has fresh fluid in and is correctly bled and the master cylinder is in good nick as the standard setup really is pretty good if its in good state. First off I would upgrade to braided brake hoses (£50ish) as the stock rubber items will probably be showing their age by now, and its not a de-valuing mod as it isn't visible at all really externally unlike say ripping out the air filter&pipework to fit a K&N. Then if your budget allows, fit a set of grooved brake discs and fast road pads, this coupled with the braided hoses will massively improve the bite and feel of the brakes.

As for the rest of the car, pamper it! - put Redline MTL oil in the gearbox, slap on some Iridium sparkplugs, if the fuel pipes appear to be the originals change them too to avoid the usual blocked jet woes and finally take it to a rolling road and check it is putting out the correct power! and get them to re-jet if necessary.

Whats the interior like? - does it still have the polka dot interior and is it rotten? Sourcing & fitting a mint leather interior is a good investment too, if your interior is shabby, somehow re-covered Exxy seats just never look right to me IMHO.

Cheers Jim, i knew i'd get some sensible advice from this club, £25 for membership is a steal!
The seats are mint, not even dirty, still the multi-coloured alacantara (have i spelt that right)?
When cleaning i've noticed the drivers side rear arch has had a repair & a couple of bubbles, one on a headlight pod & one on front arch. She cleaned up pretty well though, now need to invest in a dust cover for the garage! (can feel i'm getting a tad anal about the bloody dust)! Still, i'm 39 years old and have an Italian two seater sports car in my garage, i don't care!

I'll be getting things sorted for the spring ready to enjoy my mid life crisis! If they feel this good i might have another one soon!

cheers,
Nige

Still, i'm 39 years old and have an Italian two seater sports car in my garage

I know. It doesn't get much better does it?

Well, I'm only 35, so I suppose that's better!

:lol:

(with you on the dust by the way!)

And dont forget the headlight relay mod and the brown wire mod!

And fit electronic ignition, K&N + Pipercross make air filters that fit in the standard airbox change carb jets to 115 & 135, upgrade headlights to halegon units,

All good tips. For the brakes just throw some standard discs and pads at it. Very cheap a tenner a corner max. The flat surfaces of those will overcome a lot of braking woollyness. Uno turbo brakes fit the front but are pointless unless you are using it for motorsport or lust love locking the front wheels up.

Thanks for those tips guys! The list is written, just need to sort the order out! Probably go for the carb & filter (in the standard box) first.

By the way, can anyone verify Simon's age, that photo makes him look at least 68! The camera never lies does it?

Cheers,

Nige.

After a certain vintage, it is best just to cut a leg off and count the rings, like a tree!

By the way, can anyone verify Simon's age, that photo makes him look at least 68! The camera never lies does it?

I've had a beard for at least three years, so that would make me 71.

There are some people in this club who get mistaken for pensioners, so far I'm not one of them. :shock:

Gerrof me legs. Do you know how difficult it is to convert these bloody cars to automatic?

:lol:

If your legs do go, you could always get Tony K in Canada to convert your X to hand controls!
Also, does anyone remember the Navy Action Man who had a beard, got the picture of Simon in my head with similar facial folicles, very dark & swarthy!

Kindest regards,

Nige

Nige,
Don't bother with a 'performance' filter...they let more air in, but let all the dust in too! Keep the stock filter but cut off 2/3 of the inlet duct into the air cleaner box, it's diameter is reduced at the inlet to make the car quieter...now we don't want that do we! Form the cut inlet into a bellmouth; and you have a decent flow and a decent filter. Combine it with new jets to compensate for the extra air and you're releasing noticable power, and it sounds better too.
I keep meaning to duct air from the side of the car up to my air cleaner and get cool air too...but it's probably not the time of year to do that mod anyway.

Nice one "The Hat". Just one thing, i presume that i will have re-time the engine once i 've changed the jets. Still, i have a good friend who is service manager at the local Honda garage, i'm sure he could sort that for me, once he's stopped laughing at me & my little car!

cheers,

Nige

Navy Action Man who had a beard, got the picture of Simon in my head with similar facial folicles, very dark & swarthy!

Yeah, and there's a switch on the back of my head makes my eyes swivel :roll:

And you should see my realistic gripping hands!

Nige,
I have to admit to being a late convert to Martins professional automotive thinking.
However due to the dust on the rallies I end up on. I cut the whole of the outside of my filter off, leaving just the top and the bottom plates. No ram effect cold air with this method but the figures on the rolling road gave me an actual 10 brake total from all these little mods.
And the nice thing is I just change the element as normal which keeps more of the smaller particals out of the engine than a K&N style would