Modifying a 156 2.5 V6

And no, I don't mean sticking on blinging great rims and under car neon lights,

I'm on about speed.

As some of you may know, as I've gone on about it a fair bit, I'm looking out for a decent 156 V6 and will have cash left over for modifications, around £1000 hopefully.

My first train of thought was getting an Auto Delta induction kit and then upgrading the exhaust to a cat back stainless steel jobby.

Have any of you had expierience with the Autodelta air filter range? Does it increase power much, and what does it sound like?

Exhaust wise I'm thinking of getting a Long Life one fitted as they are only up the road from me and supposedly do quite a good job. Once again, what difference do these actually make to the car, is performance better by and noticeable difference and what is the sound like with both exhaust and induction kit added?

My Mondeo 2.9i 16V sounds amazing with the K&Ni and Piper exhaust but it still doesn't move very fast,

Any help and advice as to these 2 first primary modifications I plan to do is appreciated.

Cheers,
Darren

1st - BMC CDA intake
2nd - sports exhaust (cat back)
3rd - sports exhaust header
4th - C&B cams
5th - remap

induction... BMC CDA is a great idea, keeps the heat out the intake, K&N have a lot of oil which can damage mafs, and to be honest, are overpriced for what it is, your paying for the name. as for pipercross, never liked them! autodelta panels will be ok for small gains, CDA will give much more potential

hi darren
just had a autodelta sports filter added and a new powerflow exhaust catback.
the sound is fantastic combined together, alot more roar at high revs.
as i have drove without these mods i can tell a big difference in performance around 10bhp to 15 bhp is the norm id say. and defo more torque, i can tell this a lot cause when foot flat out 1st and second gear, thecar is harder to keep straight,
All in all im really hapy with the extra power id say its roughly 6.8 ...0-60 now,
but i would drive about without new stuff first so u can appreciate the extra umph!
Im gonna do a recording of my new exhaust shortly so maybe powerflow might interest you.
noticed that once the carbon builds up the really deep base subsides and becomes a lot smoother

rolling roads tell the truth, cat back exhausts and induction kits make bugger all difference by themselves.

I would look at the suspension first, as the V6 cars feel underdamped and wallowy even with a sportpack fitted. Thats the easiest way to make it faster point to point, brake upgrades will also help.

As for straight line speed, fitting GTA or 3 litre Intake runners should help the engine breath, as should a GTA intake pipe and a decent exhaust.
There are also cams and remaps to consider.

Squadra chip + 45mm intake runners. Got 'em on mine, it's good . Only problem was had to send my ECU away to be re-mapped, took about a week.

Originally Posted by jug

rolling roads tell the truth, cat back exhausts and induction kits make bugger all difference by themselves.

as a start i dont think its a bad mod... its a means to an end tbh.. no point in doing anything with these tbh.

and i would say i have noticed the difference.

but yeah i agree mate a rolling road brings everything out in the wash

everyone says they notice the difference, even me, but its just the placebo effect from the noise and your expectations.

Originally Posted by magicsy

hi darren
just had a autodelta sports filter added and a new powerflow exhaust catback.
the sound is fantastic combined together, alot more roar at high revs.
as i have drove without these mods i can tell a big difference in performance around 10bhp to 15 bhp is the norm id say. and defo more torque, i can tell this a lot cause when foot flat out 1st and second gear, thecar is harder to keep straight,
All in all im really hapy with the extra power id say its roughly 6.8 ...0-60 now,
but i would drive about without new stuff first so u can appreciate the extra umph!
Im gonna do a recording of my new exhaust shortly so maybe powerflow might interest you.
noticed that once the carbon builds up the really deep base subsides and becomes a lot smoother

Cheers for that mate, it was very helpful, can you tell me how much all of that came to? Because to be honest, I have about £1000 to play with on mods, and these 2 should definitely be enough to be getting on with for a while, especially the way you say they've improved the car.

I was in Berkley getting Longlife to nail a new exhaust on my 166 today.

I went stainless as the existing one had rotted. Give them a call, they're very nice.

Darren - suspension first mate! The 156s need it

Minch, as I was saying that's where I was thinking of going, are they any good down there?

How much did they charge for what you had done, and what exactly did you have done, syle etc???

Originally Posted by Darren156

Minch, as I was saying that's where I was thinking of going, are they any good down there?

How much did they charge for what you had done, and what exactly did you have done, syle etc???

They seem to know their stuff, were happy to talk about what they do, how they do it, etc.

I had a cat back on a 3.0 V6 for £449 inc VAT and fitting. I went for something similar to what I had before but they've got a table full of tailpipes to go through. The 12" by 3" oval was a bit of an eye opener. They recently put one on a saxo.

The also fixed a bracket that had broken and pointed out a couple of bits I'll need to attend to in the near future.

The seemed very straight and I'm a happy boy.

I must admit, I've not noticed any increase in performance but that wasn't my reason for getting one. Having said that, I've recently put new suspension and a Q2 on it so it feels completely different.

personally i'd go for the AD intake, cams and a re-map. that way you know your getting performance. i cant see exhausts making that much difference

Originally Posted by Pud237

Darren - suspension first mate! The 156s need it

I'd say brakes first!!!! Far more important to stop than go round corners!!!!

hi darren, my exhaust was 350, fitted.. i choose my own tip, letterboxstyle which fits perfect into the existing cut out.
u get to choose the sound u are after too.
the autodelta filter was bought from a guy on alfa.net was 20 quid from him as he got it free with the induction kit he bought.
but i would go full the induction kit. u get the filter too thats 180 quid but is needed when u go for the rest of the mods stated here.
Id say you could get :
Alloys n tyres 17's 520 ish
exhaust to catback 350
Induction kit and filter 180
and lowering springs. 90
just over a grand,but sets your car apart a lot from a standard v6.

Induction kit AND filter? I thought the induction kit replaced the air filter box?

Originally Posted by OperationAlfa

I'd say brakes first!!!! Far more important to stop than go round corners!!!!

Brakes don't need much money spending on them if you ask me, a set of DS2500s costs you £100, and thats all the brakes need to be good IMO. If you want your eye-balls to come out you need to spend a fair bit more money but I'm perfectly happy with my standard discs and Ferodos.

Did you try uprated pads before you changed your discs?

If you wanted a faster car you shoulda bought a GTA

In all seriousness though, you've asked the same question of every car and the answer for every car is the same.

Sort the brakes and handling out before engine mods, brakes and handling will make the car quicker (not faster) then you can apply performance mods that are balanced and don't stretch the braking and handling of the car.

After all, it's a powerful car, something one can easily be KILLED in

Good luck with it

Originally Posted by G5een

personally i'd go for the AD intake, cams and a re-map. that way you know your getting performance. i cant see exhausts making that much difference

No point doing all that and leaving the exhaust standard, it'll constrain the airflow of the whole system and you wont fully realise the potential of the mods done.

i mean airfilter m8 :P
well said ghostydog