TUNING & STYLING

The Ford Puma already looked the business when it rolled off the production line, but how can we enhance the lines of the car without taking away its character? Well, this section will provide some ideas of what can be done.

If you want to increase power in your Puma, and cannot afford the Ford Racing Puma, I will provide some information on giving your Puma those all important extra horses under the bonnet.

Wheels

The offset for the Ford Puma is ET34, when replacing the standard wheels ensure the offset is correct, otherwise it may have an adverse effect on the handling.

There are three feasible options for wheel size:

17in: fit straight onto the Puma without the need for any modifications. If you fit 17in alloys you will require 205/40x17 tyres. 17in wheels look great if the car has been lowered, but can look as though on stilts if still on standard suspension.

16in: probably the best compromise between looks and handling. For 16in wheels you'll require 195/45x16 tyres.

15in: standard fitment.

Suspension

Suspension is usually upgraded to enhance both the handling of the car and the looks.

Most Fords tend to have fairly high set suspension with large gaps clearly visible underneath the arches. The Puma is no exception. However, Ford offer a solution with a lowering kit available direct from your Ford dealer. The lowering kit, made by Eibach, should lower your Puma by around 30mm. These springs work well with the standard Ford Puma dampers. This is the setup I have on my Puma.

Suspension upgrades are also available from other companies. Many companies, such as Spax, Koni, Jamex and Avo provide full suspension kits, these kits comprise of four uprated springs and four uprated shocks.

Coilovers are very popular, especially if you are utilising your Puma as a track car. Popular brands include AV and Weitec.

When upgrading the rear shocks before ordering check the fitment you have, it will be either eye or fork mount.

The various rubber bushes tend to perish over time and will need replacing. Many owners replace them with Powerflex bushes, these not only help sharpen the handling but will also not need replacing in the future.

Performance Upgrades

The Zetec engine in the Puma provides plenty of get up and go with plenty of power through the mid range to help get the most out of the 120bhp that comes as standard.

But how do you improve the performance of your Puma? The initial starting place is to improve airflow, this can be achieved through fitting a performance exhaust and air filter. Other ways of improving performance can be achieved through uprated chips, cams etc.

One of the most popular performance enhancements is to upgrade standard performance to Ford Racing Puma levels. This will require the following:

Ford Racing Puma camshafts or equivalent
Ford Racing Puma airbox, standard box can be modified so air feeds from the front of the car
4-2-1 manifold
Full stainless steel exhaust system
Ford Racing Puma remap

For the ultimate power upgrade a turbo conversion is the way forward.

Brake Upgrades

There are various options available if you wish to improved the braking performance:

Pre 2000 Puma - standard front brakes are 239mm in size. A simply upgrade is to use post 2000 Puma calipers, discs and pads, these brakes are larger at 258mm.
Fiesta ST (2002 - 2008) - These brakes are 280mm in size and are a straight swap with no modifications. These brakes will fit behind standard 15in wheels and the original brake lines can be used. I have this setup on my Puma.
Mondeo Mk3 calipers with Focus ST170 discs - this setup is 300mm in size. To fit these the mounting holes in the knuckles will need to be drilled out to accept the bolts for the calipers. These will fit behind standard 15in wheels but the calipers will need grinding back, to be safe you should really fit a minimum size wheel of 16in. This setup will accept standard brake lines.

The rear drums can be upgraded to a rear disc setup, but the change will provide minimal improvement to the braking performance.

To further improve braking performance the standard brake lines should be upgraded to the braided hose variety, recommended brands include Goodridge and HEL.

Bodystyling

The Puma had stunning looks as soon as it hit the road. So how can we enhance these looks. I'm not a great fan of huge spoilers etc but there are a number of very subtle bodykits available that really do improve the curves of this feline.

The bodykits of note come from LS-Design in the UK and Wolf-Concept in Germany.

Body modifcations are a matter of personal taste, I believe more subtle mods are far more affective. Some examples include:

Colour coded side indicator lenses.
Rear spoiler
FRP front splitter