09 (mk7?) 1.25 model. Lovely little thing on my local twisty and up and downy rural roads, but having to push it high in the revs all the time, and a lot of gear work required - and losing all momentum on every gear change 😞

 

Really need a more powerful engine, I know, but second hand ones are stupidly expensive round my way ATM, and very, very few about above the 1.25s.

So, any reasonably easy tuning mods to do? Not bothered about top end, but would like to increase bottom to mid torque & 'pull', acceleration etc. (Sorry, know nothing about cars, tho' a fair bit about older 4 stroke motorbike tuning.)

If so, what kind of cost, and what effect on insurance (for a doddery old female)?

Thanks.

Insurance will not like it and tuning it for more torque could get expensive. It will undoubtedly be more cost effective and less aggravating to sell it and buy a quicker one. Most of the easy mods are for top end  power not the grunt that you want. If it were me, I would buy a decent used engine and bore it to 1600 then get the fuelling set up on a rolling road. Ain't no substitoot fer cubes. Flog the old motor on when you're done. That will be the best way to go if you need to keep the car. Then again, if yours is the 60 HP car a remap to 80 (claimed!) will cost around £250 but you'll still have to row it along on the stick.

In short, no there’s not much you can really do on the 1.25. It’s a non-turbo so any potential power gains are unlikely to be noticeable and trying to get more power out of it would just be a nightmare, so would engine swaps etc. 
 

My fair opinion would be to just stick it out and save for a more powerful car

We tuned engines before turbos were commonplace and most engines still respond to a head skim, lumpy cam and a decent exhaust manifold. Torque is most easily achieved with capacity. Turning the boost up is lazy tuning even if it is effective.

Yes, agree with above comments. Thread after thread on here about the 1.25 and it's a fun car to drive, but not much you can do economically. As Tom mentions, if you have one of the (fairly rare, I believe) 60PS versions you can get that on a par with the 82PS version but that won't help with torque. 

If you're happy with the Fiesta one of the Ecoboosts (or even a diesel) is probably the way to go. 

OK, thanks guys. I think that mine's an 80bhp one. I have seen claims that it can be pushed to 90bhp (including a bit of increased torque) by remapping /chipping. Not something which I know a thing about.

Wouldn't bother with serious engine work on a car like that (last one I did was an old BL/Rover mini/Metro 1000!)

So, I guess keep the car as is and/or keep an eye out for a replacement. Just had timing belt and new tyres & various other bits done, so loathe to lose the cost of those; maybe see how I feel after winter - and see if second hand prices go down again.  There's other aspects of the Fiesta that I think it's worth keeping for; but also bits that really disappoint and annoy me, do I'd have to think if they also justify another make of car.

 

25 minutes ago, Elsie said:

I have seen claims that it can be pushed to 90bhp (including a bit of increased torque) by remapping /chipping. Not something which I know a thing about.

Yes, I think the Superchips remap for instance claims about 10bhp extra but only an 11Nm increase in torque, which I doubt you'd notice.

If you're not seriously wedded to another Fiesta, there are plenty of other (supermini shaped) fish in the sea to choose from. Folks on here seem to have had most things under the sun between us, so whatever you are interested in I'm sure someone will be able to offer advice!

Thanks Eric.

Yes, I'd seen the Superchips one.

What I love about the Fiesta is its handling (I like attacking rural roads with 'vigour'  😉 ) and the small and comfortable seat /driving position (a Focus, for instance, is way too big for me).

What I dislike is the tiny mirrors (can't reverse on them nor see on them in heavy traffic), large turning circle, poor rear visibility (for me, anyway) and tiny boot. (Mirrors, really, is the only main issue.)

I don't want bells and whistles, dab, bluetooth, screens, sat navs, sensors here there and anywhere, or any of that. Just a basic reliable cheap to run car that has a decent amount of grunt and speed, and corners and handles really well. With decent blinking side mirrors... Petrol preferably, just coz of issues with modern diesel valve/sensor/whatever things (I run a 2004 diesel, love it too).

1 minute ago, Elsie said:

( Mirrors, really, is the only main issue.) What I love about the Fiesta is its handling (I like attacking rural roads with 'vigour' 

Yeah, we've had 2 Mk 7's so I know what you mean. Rear window's not much use either.

(Mk 8 mirrors are a bit better, window's not, but I've got a reverse camera on this one!😃)

The handling is the Fiesta's USP though, I like "attacking rural roads with vigour" myself!😃

I have thought for twenty years that mirrors are an anachronism and Honda now agree. I find the mirrors on my mk8 too small and the three quarter vision is lousy but the reversing camera changes all of that. It is a 21st century solution and worth every penny. The car you describe is a Caterham 7 which you don't sound too doddery to enjoy but the Fiesta is the best compromise. Try a VW Up at a junction for forward and  quarter visibility then count your blessings!

Hi.

If you need any help with insurance at all then please feel free to drop me a line.

Regards,

Dan.

Got my 1.25 up to 107 hp and 148 nm no engine work so it's possible 😁

 

 

7 hours ago, bmtj said:

Got my 1.25 up to 107 hp and 148 nm no engine work

The OP may have moved on after 3 years - but remind us how you achieved that for future enquiries.

4 hours ago, Eric Bloodaxe said:

The OP may have moved on after 3 years - but remind us how you achieved that for future enquiries.

Hi mate here's what I did - Full exhaust including 421 manifold, 200 cell cat, uprated leads and pack, puma throttle body, FSE power boost valve (adds fuel under high load), full cold air intake system with k and n filter, stage 2 Kevlar clutch, fully custom Dyno tune done by redline tuning. The clutch isn't "absolutely" necessary but has really helped with gear changes and I found under high load the standard clutch wasn't too grippy and left a lot to be desired when it came to sporty driving. Thanks for the interest 🙏

4 hours ago, Eric Bloodaxe said:

The OP may have moved on after 3 years - but remind us how you achieved that for future enquiries.

My fez is now in-between the power of a puma and a MK5 ZS (People say 4.5 it's just the facelift MK4 to some though). It's great fun and always puts a smile on my face. Also helps that the 1.25 has naturally lower gear ratios than the ZS and puma so feels nice and nippy off the mark 😊. The ZS of the time was 100 HP so this has 7 more HP and a bit more torque (Quite impressive for such a wee engine) and will see more with Cams and a new intake manifold (130hp +)

1 hour ago, bmtj said:

Also helps that the 1.25 has naturally lower gear ratios than the ZS and puma so feels nice and nippy off the mark 😊.

And I guess it helps that it's a fair bit lighter than the later versions, which (like many of us, unfortunately) have gained a few pounds!😀

3 minutes ago, Eric Bloodaxe said:

And I guess it helps that it's a fair bit lighter than the later versions, which (like many of us, unfortunately) have gained a few pounds!😀

Absolutely these weigh about 925kg I believe. I checked power to weight I think it's 117 hp per tonne or something like that. It's a bucket of fun!

39 minutes ago, bmtj said:

Absolutely these weigh about 925kg I believe. 

Yes, the weight effect is often overlooked these days. Back in the day I had a Peugeot 309 GTI with only 130 bhp  but it weighed the same as your Fiesta so around 140bhp/tonne and was great fun to drive. (Build quality was rubbish, though!😀)