FTO AUSTRALIA

Hi Guys,

I'm a Newbie and I have just picked up my black FTO. It is manual with 68000 kms. Completly standard. Now, I have some money left for a bit of Rice and some mods. Here is what I plan to buy:
- Veilside Bodykit
- 18 Inch Mags. (What do u think would look good?)
- CAI Stage 2
- 2.5 Inch Exhaust
- Electric water pump
- Airbox and snorkel
- Whiteline Suspension

How much am I looking at for all these? Can anybody give me a rough estimate on how much it is going to cost me to fit and paint the bodykit? How much extra power will I be attaining? What sought of 0-100 and 400m times would I be looking at?

Sorry bout the questions, I just have know idea! Any help would be appreciated.

Any body?

Hi CSV

Not always a lot of action on the site on a Sunday avo. First of all Congratulations on a top choice of car - My FTO's black as well and welcome to the club.

Where abouts are you? If in Sydney - then you could call by Unique Auto Sports in Castle Hill. They have a CAI kit for the FTO and also a Exhaust Manifold - fits straight onto the GPX's - what model do you have? I think the dyno gains from the exhaust are still on their site www.nismo.com.au (from my car actually - this was the first mod I did)

Depending on how hard you want your ride - you could go anywhere from KYB's to Full Tein suspension.

Most of us have got 17" mags - though there are a few that run 18's - ouchy $$$ on the tyres for that low a profile though.

Hope this is some help to you. I've no idea on body kits - I've left mine stock in shape.

Cheers
Tanya

FTO Club Secretary

Welcome to the club!

First of all, bodykit, depending on where you are you should be able to pick up a VS bodykit for about $16-1800. Thats for a fibreglass copy of course and remember that thats only the kit, unpainted! Remember that fibreglass kits don't usually fit perfectly so you will have to get a panel beater to fit it for you, add to that painting and you get the idea of the $$$'s you'll need to spend! Bare in mind that your front bar will inevitably get scraped along a driveway or road at sometime and possibly cracked as fibreglass is not the most flexible material in the world

Rims, 18 inch rims will fit but if you are planning to lower your car and add a VS front bumper be aware that you will need very low profile tyes, you will probably get some inner gaurd rubbing still though!

CAI, i've heard some good things from the CAI kit designed by steve and UAS, but it really depneds on how much performance you are after and in what rev range! I will say that if you are planing on fitting an after marktet pod filter then try and get an enclosed heat shield with snorkel pipe otherwise you will just be sucking in hot air from your engine bay, remember you want the coldest air possible into your engine!!!

Exhaust, i take it this will be for both wank and performance factor, remember that the stock FTO exhaust is already 2.25 inch! Just adding a better flowing muffler can give you quite good gains as well as a nice loud exhaust note, if you still wanted a 2.5 inch there are plenty of avenues you could go, i wouldn't bother with a hi-flow CAT though to me it seems a little unnecessary

Suspension, If you are going to go whiteline then get their suspension kit, have a look on thier website i think it's on there, i can't remember if it includes sway bars or not but i would HIGHLY reccomend you invest in a front strut and sway bar, they will make you handling improve out of site Oh and don't get coilovers IMO they are best left to the track not the street.

As far as painting your bodykit goes, it depends on what paint they are using. If you are staying the stock black colour they shouldn't have any troubles painting it, just find yourself a reputable panel beater in your area (sorry don't know where your'e from)

Extra power is hard to calcuate especially depending on where you will be achieving it, i'd assume with a good intake and exhaust setup you could gain anywhere from 10-15kW but again that doesnt mean that the car will be a lot quicker from the get go, think hard about where you want the power and mod accordingly

As for 0-100 times id say low 7's possibly high 6's if you have a well tuned GPX (or a freak GR) there are exceptions to this but they seem to be only a few! Quarter mile times range from mid to high 15's to high 14's but id say you would be looking at about mid to low 15's if your car is setup properly after the modifications, remember things like bodykit and biger wheels add weight though, so it depends on what you are after

Damn that was one long post, hope this helps a little and if i have said anything wrong someone else will correct me

Thanks for the great information! This is going to be really helpful! As for My location, Im in Tamworth. But will be calling into sydney during the holidays to get some tinting done and to take a trip to tempe tyres. In regards to the mags, if it will be too much of a hassle for the 18's and too expensive then I will probably just settle for 17's. But the bodykit for me is a must have. I will get some quotes on painting and fitting down here and maybe get some quotes when I come to Sydney. So I supppose a trip to Unique Autosports is on the cards. I will look into a full whiteline handling kit, although it does seem to handle damn good for standard!!

I would be aiming for around low 14s over the quarter. So, what can I get to achieve this time? Any help would be apreciated. Thanks.

i recommend staying away from Tempe... they're prices are good (fantastic sometimes) however there are a few issues with the tyres they sell (not ADR approved)...

the FTO club has an informal arrangement with Beaurepaires at parramatta, call and speak to steve let him know stephen and tanya from the fto club recommended him and he'll do you a great deal.


the electric water pump i still haven't tested yet due to having to replace the mechanical one (it was leaking so had to be replaced regardless of the electric one)... expect there to be about 10 hours worth of fitting and fabrication time ontop of the cost of the waterpump... if you hang off it for a few months i'll be getting around to it early to mid next year and the results of it will be available then.


if there's anything you want to know about the unique products drop me an email or give me a call (0416-224-669).

Beaurepairs in Parramatta it is then Yea ok I will lay off the pump for a few monthes then. No hurry. So what other modifications are avalible to get my low 14 second quarter mile?? Thanks

CSV wrote:Beaurepairs in Parramatta it is then Yea ok I will lay off the pump for a few monthes then. No hurry. So what other modifications are avalible to get my low 14 second quarter mile?? Thanks

check out the technical forum... all projects that we are working on are listed in there.... quick summary is...

new intake plenum / throttle body - ready to go early next year.
new cams (still in design phase feb probably first chance i will have to test them).

please note that if you are considering the above a piggyback ecu is pretty much essiental... we've done quite a bit of testing with the perfect power ECU and it's very good for a unit under 1000.00.

Ok great! Sounds good. So you recommend that I go with 17 inch mags?

I think 17" are great, because, 16" are too small, and 18" are little bit big and bumpy, while 17" are a nice medium.

Ofcourse it all depends on what size tyres you put on with the 17" wheels...

Thanks for all your help guys. So your saying that if I get the-
- New plenum/Throttle Body
- New Cams
- CAI Stage 2
- Exhaust Stage 1
- Piggy Back ECU
- Electric Water Pump
- Airbox and Snorkel
With all that stuffed under the hood, do you think I will achieve my 14 second pass? Faster maybe? And sorry, my model is a GPX
How much do you think this will set me back? Thanks.

Hey I just thought I'd post here and tell you's about my new ride
I sold my Tiptronic GS and bought my mums GPX
Here's the stats (pretty standard)
Red Gpx
Manual!
17" Chromies
Vielside Kit (except rear wing kept standard!)
lowered 30mm

In the near future I am looking to stepping up it's performance
Last 1/4 mile it ran a 14.9

If its mainly 1/4 mile times you are looking at, then ditch some weight! Remove the air con, lighter wheels, CF boot bonnet etc

I have to agree, if you are going for quarter mile times, loose as much weight as possible, even with all the mods you have mentioned a sub 14 pass would be rather amazing for an FTO especially after you have added bodykit bigger wheels and the like, i take it you will be adding a stereo as well which is more weight

If you are after faster quarter mile times buy a faster car, it would end up costing you a lot less as all the things you have mentioned will end up hurting your back pocket considerably

Why are you after faster quarter mile times anyway??

It seems to be the way to judge a car these days.

I personally would rather see some output figures from a dyno run, then hear about what it might do down a quarter mile.

But thats just my personal preference...

Track times to me would be a better way to judge a car, speed and power is one thing but handling and control are more important If you are after bragging rites over who you "wasted" at the lights the other day get another car

Our cars may not be the fastest but I garuntee we get more turned heads driving by then other performance cars.

I know this 'cos I've often come out of shopping centres to find people (young and old, male and female) walking around my car. We don't even have to do them up to make them look good!

And to me, that's what counts.

im with what Bucket man said, but i sometimes get that extra look when they hear and see my car vibrating

BuCkEt wrote:Our cars may not be the fastest but I garuntee we get more turned heads driving by then other performance cars.

Me too!! but thats another story, especially when i get out of my car