Hi from me - Just got one.

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G-Bob

Member
Joined
Sep 4, 2018
Messages
36
Good afternoon.

Just got myself a cheap 1.7 puma today. Using it to go and play at autosolos while I’m building my kit car.
I don’t want to spend much money on the car but anything I can do that’s relatively cheap or free I’ll be doing.

The car is a Y reg and has some sort of aftermarket fiesta exhaust on it.

Plans so far are:
Remove rear seats (it’s all about the lightening.
Fit a bucket seat that I have from my old hillclimb/sprint car.
Remove the resonator from the air box
Change the oil, clean the plugs, hoover out the air filter
Potentially weld a steel bar between the rear strut towers (pikey rear brace) (will look to see if I can do similar at the front.)

Little things I need to fix:
Reverse light switch needs replaced (ordered)
ABS/Traction control sensor needs replaced (ordered)

I’ve had cars before where I’ve literally upgraded the anti-roll bar and swapped the springs and it’s lead to a very compliant little car. Do you think similar mods work on the puma?

Based in Livingston/Scotland

Cheers
Bob
 
Welcome along Bob :)

A popular upgrade rather than upgrading the ARB is to fit a lower strut brace. When I had one it certainly stiffened up the front.
Other threads on lower strut braces:
https://www.projectpuma.com/viewtopic.php?t=25393
https://www.projectpuma.com/viewtopic.php?t=7791

Lowering a bit probably wouldn't hurt as well as the best tyres you can afford which I would suggest are the best mod you can do. Stick with 15s in my opinion to get the tyre compliance grip rather than the harder sidewalls on 17s for instance that will slide across the surface rather than deforming the sidewalls and gripping.
 
Yeah I've been looking at a lower strut brace and also been considering making one. Do they really make that much difference?

The wheels will be staying 15" is I don't want to take away from the agility and add weight.

So far this evening I've got the back seats out, the resonator removed and I've drilled the airbox. Also sorted out the tyre pressures as it was wandering a bit and they were all different.
Feels a lot more agile already.
 
red said:
:cool: welcome to the site!

Thanks.

So I read the threads linked above, and decided to bite the bullet and just get a lower front brace as I found them on sale. Arrives on Friday and I should get it fitted for the next round of the scottish road car series on the 22nd. :grin:
 
Went to fit my lower brace the other day and it's catching on the engine. A quick search has turned up that my engine mounts must be on the way out.

Got my bucket seat fitted but will have to adjust it slightly.
I had an old set of 15" alloys in the garage that I got for free and it turns out they fit and are very slightly less offset so increase the track of the car. I got the tyres from my old mx5 hillclimb car thrown on them which made a big difference but I was still convinced there was a little bit wandering happening. After a quick search I found that worn drop-links can cause this so got them swapped over last night and..... wow, the car feels MILES better.

I was impressed with the puma when I first drove it, but after fixing more and more little bits and pieces it seems to be getting better and better. :)
 
Hello Bob!

Refreshed suspension components really make these little cars great on the road.

In the past I replaced all bushed for Polyurethane (wishbones, ARB, rear beam), rear spacers, front lower brace, AP coilovers and Toyo tyres. After that the car drove like it was on rails!

Out of all of those, the front lower brace made the biggest difference.

But then again, you said 'cheap' so maybe just food for thought! :D
 
So it had its first outing in competition yesterday and it surprised a LOT of people. The gymkhana driver that's going to the world championships in South Africa was shocked how hard he had to push to beat a standard £500 puma in his purpose built stripped out monster.

Ended up coming 2nd in front of a lot of good driver's with good machinery.
Noticed a few things that I need to look at to make it faster round the course.

1. I need to improve the turn in as it washed wide to often for my liking. Not sure what the geometry is like, might be pointing in weird directions.

2. The car has new disks and pads on the front but whoever swapped them opted to get the pads from a timber merchant. They could probably do with a good bleed too. Will look at the st150 option as a straight swap if I'm getting new pads anyway.

3. The torque limiter needs disconnected. We run most of the course in 1st gear and occasional 2nd. It feels like the clutch is slipping because it holds me back on launch. It's a brand new clutch about 500miles ago, so not the clutch.

Will maybe start a project/competition thread.
 

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