Sweet, as long as genuine ones.

Good point, they came in Eibach box, with instructions and product code 8.81250K though they do say "made in China" on them, I suspect they are genuine but these days it can be hard to tell

ebay link I think he supplies the OMP strut braces and pads.

Most importantly tighten with the prescibed torque!

Just about to refit mine - is the torque 55nm or 55lb-ft? - can't remember ( I believe its stated on the box)

yep - otherwise snappy snappy!

Well rear dampers fitted and discovered near side Radius Arm bearings need replacing, so kit ordered from alt autos.
Also rear sub frame bushes look a little worn so PU ones on their way.

Once they're fitted refresh will be complete.

And you thought it felt sharper with the work you've done already, imagine how it's going to feel with new rear bushes and bearings

Looking forward to that

The last stage gets completed on Thursday with new rear radius arm bearings and PU subframe bushes.

Even though I can feel that the rear is not as tight as she should be at present, I am still enjoying the handling. BUT one thing I noticed is tonight on my way home from work, the wife asked me to pick up a KFC (warm dead greasy bird, hooray) and I got the 2 drinks in one of those grey cardboard holders (the one for two cups).

I expected it to fall over on drive home (2x 90 degree left turns, 2 x turn rights at small roundabouts and a sweeping chicane followed be 2 lefts )

Well I never realised just how flat she corners now as the two drinks remained upright for the whole journey!

Roll on Friday

Hopefully less roll on Friday.

Very informative and useful write-up Charlie.
I've now got a much clearer picture of suspension/ handling and will definitely go for rear ARB now. As for shocks - I'm liking the idea of losing the crashiness over bumps.

Question:
Does anyone know if I can I fit Bilstiens with standard springs without any issues with handling?
Also I don't want to lower the car as I have a very bumpy lane where I live so - will fitting Eibach springs lower the car at all or are there different sizes of Eibach springs ?

Yes you can use Bilstiens with standard springs...I did in my last coupe with no issues.

Eibach springs will lower the car approx 25-30mm....

Only one size of Eibachs - they give approximately a 25mm drop

Clearly, the ride on Eibachs will be firmer, but a bumpy road shouldn't cause you too much of a problem. However, it does mean that you would need to pay attention to the damping - poor damping on Eibachs on a bumpy road would be sheer hell

Just collected the car, and have had the following done:

PU bushes fitted to subframe
replaced corroded brake pipes,
fitted new handbrake cables
Replaced brake fluid
new rear radius arm bearings (turns out one had collapsed).
Front camber bolts fitted (No real need, as with the B6 and Eibachs, the camber was 1.1 degrees negative).
4 wheel alignment

And to say I am pleased would be an understatement, the PU bushes from Ferrarist were not only reasonably priced but have made a real difference. They are available on ebay, search for Fiat Coupe Bushes and you will find them

The Coupe is now the Sports car I hoped she would be.

And the damage for everything is...

Well just for the work above, it was around £350 including parts and labour.

(thats obviously not including the B6 Dampers, rear ARB, Wishbones, drop links and Top mounts) Just for the stuff in my last post

Not easy ti fit without proper press - any trouble or hassle during fitting process????
We can make fitting easier with different design, but it will compromise quality and total price.

My local garage have lots of experience with PU bushes, they have a 10 ton press and placed tubes underneath during pressing, with lots of grease, they had no problems whatsoever, almost easy they said, they did say they were very well made though.

As for the car, I have just taken it out in the Spring sunshine and wow, its amazing, I found a small roundabout and tried going round it to check the understeer, nothing at all, I could control where the nose pointed just using the throttle and it remained totally flat, in long sweeping curves she is totally planted and I reckon that I am taking bends at higher speeds by approx 5-10MPH. It's the "feel" thats so hard to describe as the ride is both firm but not jarring.

I have not even got close to the limits of grip yet and hope not to, but its best to describe it like this, anyone who drove a Mk5/6 Ford Escort and then a Focus Mark 1 was blown away by the handling, well thats the only way I can describe the difference. The car itself feels lighter and more nimble and it remains true under both acceleration and braking.

I found the Coupe to feel a bit "Stodgy" before, oh it was fast in a straight line but around town it felt a bit out of it's depth in traffic light duels with Saxos, (I am not in any way suggesting or condoning road racing btw), but now she feels so different.

If you were looking to do the refresh here;s a rough guide to prices:

£299 for Bilstein B6 Struts
£230 for rear B6 Dampers
£135 for Whitline ARB
£200 for Front wishbones, drop links and top mounts
£25 for radius arm bearing
£79 for PU bushes for rear subframe
£199 for the Carbotech XP8s
£23 for Eibach Camber bolts
£180 for JBT's Crank Pulley

Labour was probably around 9-10 hours or so, my local garage charged me £35 an hour. Biggest job labour wise was the rear bushes and radius arm bearings.


The overall effect, if you had seen me on my late afternoon drive, you would have seen me grinning from ear to ear..

Cool

What impact have all the modifications had in relation to the oversteer whilst trail breaking? I know it isn't an ideal thing to do but I am hillclimbing my car this year and can tell that there are a couple of places I could probably go faster if I could brake deeper into the corner but the back end is too light when hard on the brakes to enable it. That is the handling issue I would like to sort.

I haven't tried it under trail braking yet, but once I have I will feedback, carrying on braking into the steering for the corner is an art that i have not yet mastered fully.

Cheers Charlie! I'll look forward to your feeback, but take care, the Coupe is the only car I have spun on the road and that was trail braking. I'm more used to it now and know when to expect it, but the back can be pretty quick to go I think. Get it right, however, and it is great fun!

Hmmm, yes I think carrying all that weight over the front wheels must help to make the coupe a bit unbalanced, and I am aware there could be more of a tendency to lift off oversteer with the slightly bigger ARB, (though not as bad as with the 24mm)

Besides I am a cautious Charlie

306 gti was a bit of a bugger for this - but driven 8/10ths had amazing throttle balanced handling

TVR Griff unfortunately has a bit of a bum in the air weight transfer issue when heavy braking and caught out with a change of direction - eg avoiding item on motorway at night with other carriageways partially occupied - had a 3 lane tank slapper just after I got it - bit of a wake up after handling from an M758 944 Turbo!

So are we saying that the Coops handling can be raised to between the above cars whilst retaining a decent ride? - Also that roundabout style understeer can be neutralised without the risk of spinning in the wet when throwing it in (balanced!) - that torque steer can be reduced so far as not to be an issue?

Whats the general consensus for the absolute essentials to make the best improvement / £ (bearing in mind these are generally £2k cars!)

Read the post from page 1 and you'll get a pretty good idea.

One place you do get liftoff oversteer at is this corner at Nürburgring:

(Scroll to 1.19...)

http://youtu.be/F8YZxvureE4

I thought the whole idea of the rear ARB, and camber on the front etc. was to make the coupe tail happy rather than understeer, just be ready to put the power down when the back starts to go.

Where I am hillclimbing mine this year there are some tight turns with not much run off so good balance would be the ideal (as always really) - I don't mind oversteer particularly but it is better where there isn't a fairly solid bank nearby. I guess it is that thing about smooth being quicker and I have times to beat not just fun to have!

A very informative post, well written. I have a question though, did you use powerflex style PU bushes throughout or go with the OE ones that came on the new wishbones and leave the old ones on the anti-roll bar?


I just found pg 2 and answered my own question I believe. Apologies

I know the OP already had the Eibach springs but what would they cost to add to the shopping list of this handling optimisation project?

[edit]

Found the answer on the forum.