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Re: 9000 tune up
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Posted by BillJ (more from BillJ) on Mon, 17 Dec 2001 06:23:04 Share Post by Email
In Reply to: 9000 tune up, Andy Bowles, Sun, 16 Dec 2001 19:17:49
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Your style of driving and where you tend to drive obviously affects your priorities. I don't tend to do many long motorway journeys and do a lot of town and cross-country driving, with roundabouts and twisty roads. While being able to power out of bends is useful, not having to slow down so much for them in the first place is also handy. I can tell you what I have done so far. Bear in mind that I planned from the start to do a major upgrade job and my upgrade stages have been planned accordingly.

I have an N-reg '96 Aero (manual) that I have tweaked a bit. Prices mentioned are just for parts, as I fitted them all myself. I started from a different direction from the one you are planning to follow, partly driven by circumstances. The first major upgrade was a 3" JT exhaust system, mainly because I needed to replace the exhaust and wanted something that would both improve performance on its own and pave the way for a software upgrade later. (When all is said and done, it is mechanics and thermodynamics that produce power, software just gets the right stuff in the right place at the right time for it all to happen.)

The exhaust on its own has made spool-up noticeably quicker and added some more oomph at high RPM. Cost was less than £500 including 3" downpipe and cat. Highly recommended if you are planning a software upgrade to relieve stress on the engine/turbo due to high exhaust gas temperatures. It is a bit louder than standard, though, but not very much (or I wouldn't have fitted it).

Next were some suspension upgrades. I have replaced the front lower control arm rear bushes with polyurethane (tightened up the steering and seems to have eliminated torque-steer) and also the rear anti-roll bar bushes (made a huge difference - reduced understeer a lot). Cost: a few quid. Then an Abbott spring/Koni damper kit. This has made the car feel a lot more controlled, lowered it slightly (but not too much) and the ride is more comfortable, in my view, than the standard Aero ride. Cost: £700-odd.

The latest upgrades are to the brakes. I have Goodridge stainless steel brake hoses, £37 for the set, and EBC GreenStuff pads all round, £95. These pads have a much higher friction coefficient than standard and are supposed to resist fade. They are also reputed to produce next to no brake dust, although I haven't washed the car in the two weeks or so I've had them, so I can't confirm this. The brakes definitely feel more powerful now and the Goodridge hoses give a much firmer pedal. The discs I have are crap, I think. I bought them along with some genuine Saab pads, but I think the discs were not genuine. A useful upgrade, I think, would be some grey iron discs. I'll try to avoid heavily grooved or drilled discs, as I don't want any braking noise.

I also added a K&N filter recently. I think it made a difference, but I'm not too sure how much.

Next (and probably last) major upgrade will be the ECU, now that I have everything else in place. I just want to pick over the engine making sure everything is in order and running well before I take this step. In the meantime, the freezing weather is providing impressive power gains on its own, and the novelty of this is keeping me happy for the moment.

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