Your best budget mods

[colesey]

Much as the industry would love to sell you £1k exhaust systems which fail MOTs etc, our cars are quite old and you will never see your money back. My question therefore is what mods can you make for minimal outlay, say @£100, that will also give a worthwhile improvement?

I’ll happily declare my own bias - coming from owning a caterham and elise, I do value handling / response over power. You feel this every time the wheels turn rather than the rare occasions when you get to rev out your car through the gears. Power is very seductive on paper but I know from having a few motorbikes that the sugar rush soon dies off and leaves you craving more. Anyhow let me kick this off!

- precat delete
- DV+ for snappier throttle response
- proper wheel alignment
- anti lift kit
- polybush engine mount inserts
- s3 shifter
- remove clutch bleeder valve delay insert
- decent tyres (eg PS4)

What else do you think?!?

[pudding]

Worth noting the ED30 gets the S3 shifter as standard.

I think you've covered most of the cheapest improvements 

A VIS pump is a good idea too, and although it's 2.5x your budget, it's far better value than the other choices.

I agree the handling is where the investment is better spent, but that's where things can get properly expensive, depending on requirements, but anti-roll bars aren't THAT expensive for the improvements they give.  Especially compared to the very poor performance per £ value of 2+ hardware.

[LC5F]

Braided flexi brake pipes:


in budget - wont balloon like standard eventually do & stainless fitting should undo easier than steel

[pudding]

I've never had any gripes with the oem hoses to be fair, and certainly never had one balloon on me.  I don't think it's common knowledge but the OEM hoses are better quality than people give them credit for.  Kevlar reinforced and way more flexible than steel hoses.  If braided hoses give even a 10-15% improvement in pedal stiffness, I've never felt it personally.

[colesey]

I’d second Pudding’s recommendations for arbs and vis hpfp even though they are over the notional budget. I’ve already done both and they are money well spent.

[colesey]

New addition. Super Pro ball joints. Corrected roll centre for lowered cars and allow upto 2 degrees of negative camber for greater front end bite. This figure happens to be the magic number used by the Clubsport S so you’re in good company!

[pudding]

Yeah they're good as well