Performance upgrade 1.7

[Speeddevill01]

Hi I signed up to this site today!
I joined because there seems to be a lot of knowledge at this forum about upgrading a Puma (1.7).
My name is Thom, 19 years old I live in The Netherlands and I own a Puma 1.7 for almost 1,5 year now (first car).
I like it very much, the car is also here in Holland underestimated by a lot of people (funny to mess with). I like the Puma's design so I'm not a big fan of big bodykits and stuff, but thats just my opinion :winkAlso very annoying cause of the huge amount of ground sills in Holland).
Only things about the looks: Puma's colour is red and it's lowered 30mm with Eibach springs and VERY NICE;p Momo Corses with polished lip on Toyo's Proxes 205/40/R17.
Now it's time for some motor upgrades, cause the original 125bhp are fun but not exciting enough for me.

Motor: Until now I only have a K&N 57i air filter installed but in 2 or 3 months, when the worst of the winter here in Holland is over I want to bring the car to a specialised Ford tuner here in Holland.
The modifications that I want are: Full exhaust system (Milltek or custom-made), manifold,racecat, set of street/race cams, perhaps lighter vernier pully? and a decent remap at the end.
I hope that the result will be at least about 160bhp, but I think that's possible with these upgrades?
I am not able to do the tuning myself cause I'm not quite a practical person(more academic).
But what I do know is that it won't be cheap, eventually the costs will depent on the parts they use and the time they need. But they said it will be around 2000Eu (can be a bit more or less-->rate).
So what do you guys think about my plan until now, any tips? thankss!!
By the way this is my Puma:

 

[Speeddevill01]

Damn made a mistake sorry, here are some pics of my Puma:

 

[red]

:grin: Welcome to the site! Your car looks very clean and the wheels suit it well.

 

[yippeekiay]

Yeah, I agree totally about the wheels. Very well suited

 

[Roadsport]

For the power I believe youll need to add an upgrade to your industion system to your list. I reckon Chris at Lightning motorsport can sort you out with everything you need. Cams, ilnet manifold, valve springs etc. email him at [email protected]

He's a bit of a specialist with the 1.7 Zetec S engine. Has developed an affordable (compared to induvidual throttle bodies and the FRP manifold) inlet manifold for the Puma to cope with 180bhp.

 

[Speeddevill01]

For the power I believe youll need to add an upgrade to your industion system to your list. I reckon Chris at Lightning motorsport can sort you out with everything you need. Cams, ilnet manifold, valve springs etc. email him at [email protected]

He's a bit of a specialist with the 1.7 Zetec S engine. Has developed an affordable (compared to induvidual throttle bodies and the FRP manifold) inlet manifold for the Puma to cope with 180bhp.

Thanks for your advise
Well about the induction system, don't you think that the K&N 57i which I have at the moment is enough?
So I don't need other throttle bodies, when I have a good inlet manifold which can cope with 180bhp?
Is a vernier pulley a must or will the original do?
And is a lighter flywheel good or will I then notice a loss of torque in low rpm and increase in high rpm?
Cause I also want to have more torque in low rpm and not all the torque in the high rpm.

 

[Roadsport]

To help achieve your goal a good starting point would be to get another 1.7 engine and give it a complete overhaul prior to tuning. Renew the bottom end bearings, piston rings,oil seals,valve guides, valve stems check the valve seal and adjust the valves after fitting the new Cams. This way you will have a healthy engine engine to put in the bay.
Modifying a worn engine will not give you all the potential of the performance parts installed.

If you are aiming for 160BHP mere K&N kit will not be enough. You need a better flowing manifold and a throttle body. Your K&N can be retained though.
Do you mean the vernier pulley for the exhaust cam? No save your money unless you feel the need to alter the exhaust cam timing.Could be benficial though. You can alter the timing with the OE pulley but unless you do alot of ground work and measuring prior to andjusting its a game of luck. A bit of a risk even. To install another vernier pulley to the inlet cam would mean you need to dismantle the VCT mechanism. Which I think you'd want to keep to keep the low down grunt.

Flywheel does not add or loose any torque or power of the engine. Heavier flywheel has more inertia,mass, making the engine idle smoothly and more docile in behaviour. It only makes the sensation of torque since the heavyer mass slows down slower. This in my book is good for a daily runner making it easier to get moving without stalling.
Lighter fly will rev faster and stall easier. Again will not add any figures on the engine but will make it pick up revs easier thus adding the acceleration.

 

[Speeddevill01]

Hm ok I see, I'm not going to buy another engine just want to have the power increased off my current 1.7 in the Puma.
This because I'm a Law Student and not a mechanic/tuner so I'm not able to do it myself. And I'm sure that my dad wouldn't be happy if I would take another engine, he's a cop here so then he would bust me at the streets haha. I also know that it's already going me to cost about:
2000Eu(could be bit more or less) for: Full exhaust system,exhaust manifold, racecat, street/race cams and a good remap at the end.
That's the price the tuner had in mind, and it's a well known Ford-tuner here in Holland so I trust them and let them
adjust everything right.. So according to you it's better to not have a vernier pulley installed (would be a risk) ok than I won't do that..

Thanks for the advise I think with the adjustments I mentioned above I will now add these to the list are these good?:
-inlet-manifold
-lighter flywheel (better acceleration)
-bit larger throttle body
-stronger valve springs (cause of the new cams?) and to prevent "valve float"?
-other camwheel/gear (cause of new cams)

And maybe if I can afford it, depends of the time they need for it also: a flowed/polished/ported cillinderhead and inlet?Would this be a huge different and essential to increase more power and torque? According the tuner it will then be able to make 160+bhp, do you think that 180bhp or so is possibele with all this?
thanks!

 

[PumaNoob]

Hi there mate, glad you signed up in the end, I hope everyones made you feel welcome.
As said above, there is really no point in getting new cam pulleys, as the standard ones are infinately adjustable, so unless you want to go really high revs, you will see no advantage. Lighter flywheel dosent give extra horsepower, bit it takes less power to spin a lighter wheel, so it's like you gain bhp per tonne in a way.
I wouldn't bother with valve springs unless your going to increase the rev limiter, or increase cam lift to 11mm or above, I don't think you'll going to get valve bounce at 6800rpm, with 10mm lift cams. You'd also loose a little power as it takes more power from the crank to lift valves with HD springs installed.
I think with exhaust manifold & cat back, cams, and a remap, your looking at 145-150, and 150-160 with a good inlet! If you want a little more power, you could go for longer duration cams, and higher rev limit, but aswell as cost, you can start to loose daily drivability of your car, using loads of fuel, & rough idling ect.
Some may not agree, but it's just my 2 cents worth

 

[Speeddevill01]

Hi there mate, glad you signed up in the end, I hope everyones made you feel welcome.
As said above, there is really no point in getting new cam pulleys, as the standard ones are infinately adjustable, so unless you want to go really high revs, you will see no advantage. Lighter flywheel dosent give extra horsepower, bit it takes less power to spin a lighter wheel, so it's like you gain bhp per tonne in a way.
I wouldn't bother with valve springs unless your going to increase the rev limiter, or increase cam lift to 11mm or above, I don't think you'll going to get valve bounce at 6800rpm, with 10mm lift cams. You'd also loose a little power as it takes more power from the crank to lift valves with HD springs installed.
I think with exhaust manifold & cat back, cams, and a remap, your looking at 145-150, and 150-160 with a good inlet! If you want a little more power, you could go for longer duration cams, and higher rev limit, but aswell as cost, you can start to loose daily drivability of your car, using loads of fuel, & rough idling ect.
Some may not agree, but it's just my 2 cents worth

Hm ok, well I don't know if they're going to increase the rev limiter.
Perhaps they will, but if there is a chance that I will loose power then I don't want stronger valve springs. Don't know which cam profile the tuner wants to use, I will ask him soon.
And what about a flowed/polished/ported head and inlet what I mentioned, think that's a good choice if I can afford it? According to the guy from the tuner 160+ bhp is possible then..
True, car must stay driveable because I use it a lot (drive to school etc..) But just want to pull as much power as possible out off this engine and I think that I now better understand which things to do and not to do.. So until now the plan is all the things I mentioned, except:vernier pulley and valve springs.
When everything in combination with the flowing/polish/porting head and inlet could make about 170bhp I would be more than satisfied with that result. :lol: that's power enough for daily driving in a Puma I think..

But what about larger valves in cylinder head and "pocket the pistons" what does this mean? Larger piston or adjust the original? And is this useful? thanks! :wink:

 

[Roadsport]

To be honest I doubt you'll see 170bhp with those changes mate. But with the head work done I believe you could see near 150-160bhp depending on the condition of the engine.

Puma pistons have valve pockets in them allready. So unless you are going for a more agressive cams Id save my money and stay with the std pistons. You don,t need bigger valves yet with this stage of tune.

For the valve spring bit id consult the cam manufacturer wheter theyr needed or not. It depends on the cam you are going for.

Fitting a vernier pulley is not a risk at all. Adjusting the cam timing without it is. Unless you really know how much to turn before you get bent valves. Mere turn of the engine with a wrench wont be enough to check the valve to piston clearance.
The clearance may vary when reving a hot engine to hig revs and even on engine braking.

 

[PumaNoob]

There are 3 reasons you would pocket a piston. To lower compression (for forced induction), to accept a lot higher lift cam, or to accept larger valves. You would see in increase in bhp with bigger valves, but you would have to have the modifications to match it, it's a simple equation, the more air/fuel you can get through an engine, the more power it will produce. Also bhp figures are not really the way to look at it, you wouldn't want a 200bhp car, that you only had 80bhp until 6000rpm. It's more about the power curve, and drivability. I'd rather go for more low down grunt at the expense of some peak bhp, around a track and on a 1/4mile strip, it would win hands down every time.

A potted and polished head & throttle body are a plus on any naturally aspirated car in my opinion provided your ecu is mapped correctly for it. It flows the air better, & creates less turbulence.

With tuning, everything needs to match, there would be no point in having a potted head, high flow inlet plenum, and high lift cams, if you had a restrictive exhaust. It's only as good as it's weakest part. It's like flowing water through pipes, if you put all different size pipes together, the smallest pipe will be the restriction, so it wouldn't matter if you put a 12" bore pipe in there somewhere, the whole system will only flow as much water as the smallest pipe will allow it to flow. The restrictions in a car go from induction, to throttlebody, to inlet, to head ports, to valves (& cams), to exhaust ports, to exhaust. That's where the power is made & lost.

 

[FlashBastd]

The Lightening MotorSport induction mentioned is actually an inlet manifold, it is broadly similar to the FRP inlet manifold in that it has a large plenum chamber.

Having the head ported should also help a lot.

A full Milltek, inc. sport cat, 4-2-1, etc. should be around £900-1,000.

New cams will be around the £400 mark. When fitting new cams, it would be sensible to also replace the timing belt, tensioner and stretch bolt, so there is another £100. That takes you to around £1,500 before fitting, remap or a different inlet manifold.

There are also a few other things to consider, your Puma looks to be a 1999, and I am assuming it will only have 240mm front brake discs. These are barely adequate for stopping 125PS, certainly no more, so you should also be budgeting for some bigger front brakes (Fiesta ST, Focus ST170 or Mondeo 2001-2007), including discs, calipers and pads. What condition are your suspension bushes in? These also need checking out, and your suspension dampers.

Having done most of what you have proposed myself (full Milltek, FRP inlet, FRP map, FRP cams, ST170 brakes, etc. etc. etc.), I think that your €2,000 budget is optimistic, especially if you are getting someone else to do the work, and are only going to use new parts.

Before you proceed with this, consider a few things;
1. will your insurance be affected?
2. you mention that your Dad is a policeman - I thought it was very difficult to modify cars mechanically in Holland?
3. if instead of throwing another €2,000 at the Puma, you sold the car, and put the €2,000 to value, what could you get instead? Possibly something newer with more than 160PS? I don't want to appear biased, but a Clio 172 perhaps? And when you come to sell that, perhaps after graduating, you will get back much more of you money than you would for a modified Puma.

Just a thought, it is your money and your plans sound good, but I think you may need to up the budget a bit.

 

[Speeddevill01]

First of all thanks for all the reactions! :wink:

Yes I know about the brakes, I will make sure that at the front comes a new complete set with how many mm discs?
But this will be after the motor part...
The tuner in Holland which is: "Marron Performance" --> http://www.marron-performance.nl/catalog/index.phptold me that it would cost me about 2000Eu for---> full exhaust, racecat, exhaust/inlet manifold, cams and a remap at the end (inclusive the fitting) Marron Performance also uses a lot of custom made-parts (perhaps bit cheaper)?.

Of course I know that when I want them to do the port and polishing work (head,inlet) it will be more expensive but
now that I know that this will be certainly benefitial I'm considering to max my budget to 3000Eu.
Hope that with those resting 1000Euro they're able to have the polishing work done, lighter flywheel and a larger throttle body..
And this is how I hope it then will be---> full exhaust adds 15/20bhp --> cams, larger throttle body,polish/porting work +10bhp and a good remap at the end adds at least 10bhp = About 160bhp.. correct?

Now to your questions:
1:No doesn't affect my insurance, beacause how will they know that I upgraded my current engine?--> only when you will cause serious accident. Also the Puma already had his yearly "APK" Inspection and passed for another year.
2: Yes dad is a policeman, but he says that it will be my own responsibility when I get myself into trouble due my car.
It's not allowed in Holland to increase the power off your car but they will only notice when you get yourself in serious trouble by driving like a maniak in crowed streets etc..---> then they will do an inspection on your car at the police station.
But at the yearly APK inspection they only check if the same block that is on the papers is actually in your car, if you made changes to the original motor they will only reject the car when it isn't safe. For example a leaking and not certified exhaust .. It's also not allowed in Holland to drive without a cat but this won't be a problem cause I want a racecat and that's legal when it's a certified and safe one. In Holland it's only possible to put a bigger/stronger engine in your car when you have it inspected again at the national road inspection service--> RDW, this will only be succesfull when you made all the adjustments safe etc then they will change your car-papers by adding the increased bhp etcc. But this is a lot of work and you should only do that when you are a handy man with tools and technics etc..

3: Well thought about it for a while, to sell the Puma. But now I realise it's no use because I've already spend at least 2500 Eu on the car: Momo 17inch rims, Toyo proxes tyres, eibach springs..). And I bought it for Eu4200 so in total with repairments it's at least Eu7000(maybe bit more). It's from "99 so when I sell it right now it would probably give me max between 2 or 3000Eu
and that just not a lot of money. So now I will invest some money to upgrade it and when I have finished my Law-study in 2 years I'm probably able to buy a newer/ better/faster car.. :wink:

 

[FlashBastd]

Fair enough, so long as you have considered it. For me, having spent a lot on my car, and about to spend a lot more, I just decided to put it back to standard, sell the parts and instead put the extra cash into something that was quicker already.

Have you considered a closer ratio gearbox? That would improve acceleration. I am currently selling brand new FRP gearboxes for €360 shipped to NL.

 

[Speeddevill01]

Fair enough, so long as you have considered it. For me, having spent a lot on my car, and about to spend a lot more, I just decided to put it back to standard, sell the parts and instead put the extra cash into something that was quicker already.

Have you considered a closer ratio gearbox? That would improve acceleration. I am currently selling brand new FRP gearboxes for €360 shipped to NL.

Well didn't thought about a new gearbox yet, the original gearbox from the Puma handles quite well I think is it really necessary to switch to a closer ratio gearbox?
Can't the original gearbox cope with more power? And is a LSD-differential necessary?
Hm ok brand new FRP gearboxes for Eu360 really?, are these the revised B5 with the LSD in it?
And what is the IB5 type gearbox?, which on is the original.
The type you sell is it like this one: http://www.pumaspeed.co.uk/showdetails.jsp?productID=320" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; ?

 

[PumaNoob]

They are not LSD boxes, but you can't buy them
anymore, & to get the gearing put into a standard box, would cost you more then what Flash is asking. Although the FRP has stronger 1st & 2nd gears, that's not the major advantage of this box, the closer ratios mean quicker acceleration, it would be more suited to your set up, as you've got 17" wheels, and will be running power of an frp.

I agree 100% with flash on what he said above, & it dosent matter how much you've spent, it still stands that you could add the 3000eu, to the sale value of the car, & if you could buy something you would prefer with that money, it's still worth considering! I just love the puma, so I personally would keep it!

 

[FlashBastd]

As above, only 80 FRP had the LSD, these 'boxes have the standard open differential.

 

[Roadsport]

If you want one, I do think you do not need it though, I have a light weight solid steel flywheel for sale. Took it of my race engine just an hour ago! In perfect working condition done I race and two dyno sessions. For a 184mm clutch. Saves you an additional 1kg compared to OE clutch.

 

[Speeddevill01]

Ok so it seems to be a very nice offer, 360Eu for a FRP closer ratio gearbox to NL I will think about this
and perhaps I will buy one ok Flash?
Hahah No I also like the Puma very much, also my first car so pretty proud of it!;p
And as I said above, to get a nice used car which I like I would at least need about 11000-16000Eu to get one.
(civic type R ep3, ibiza cupra 20vt, Focus RS 215, Fiesta ST, Peugeot 206 RC/180 GTI, Alfa 147/156 GTA, Golf R32 etcc :wink: )

So I will stick on to my Puma and just upgrade it with some of the things I mentioned and some of the things you guys mentioned and just have fun for a couple of years. When I find a nice job after my study I will consider something else! :wink:
One question, do I really need: new timing belt, tensioner en stretch bolt, wish bones?
At the yearly inspection they didn't mentioned something about the state of these parts, I think if they were in a bad state they would have told me or replaced it. Cause for example they replaced all the braking hoses with new braking hoses because they were in a poor state..

Also, when I take the decision to buy the FRP closer ratio gearbox. Can I stick to my orignal clutch? An can it cope with the torque you'll get when the car makes about160bhp?