Hey all,

i own a 59 plate 1.6 petrol and have decided that i want expand my horizons. i cant afford masive amounts, so what should i do to squeeze more from my engine?
im looking to get better acceleration and efficiency from it.

i am quite the noob so please keep accronyms to a minimum or the rest of my posts will be me asking you to decode what you have written.

if anyone can point me in the direction of parts to go for, suppliers to speak to or just offer any advise i would be most grateful.

thank you in advnce for your time.

 

Im affraid you have the wrong car for tuning and performance. Cheap to insure, tax and run though im sure

 

i know its not the greatest engine to work with but im not after massive BHP. im just after the basics- air filters, exhausts just the general stuff to get a bit more from it with out spending silly money.

is it worth getting it remapped?

 

you will only get a noisy, slow car with the above mods, so people will know your car is slow as they can hear it is being driven hard. There is no way that you can get NOTICABLE power gains from your car without serious cash and modifications, even then there is no point unless you are in a certain 1600cc class for racing or similar. The best option by far is to leave it standard and prehaps spend money on decent tyres and brakes, this alone will make the car FAR more driveable and faster in the correct hands

 

ok so power is out of the question. anything i can do to improve efficiency?

i read somewhere about wrapping the exhaust in insulation so the engine doesnt have to work as hard?

would changing the spark plugs have any effect? changing the paper filter for a K&N filter do anything?

i know these are stupid basic questions, i never really got under the bonnet of a car before but its was my brothers car and he was determined to mod it up, now he has gone and the car was given to me i kinda feel obliged to learn this stuff and get my hands dirty.

 

If the manufacturer could of made it more effecient they would of, millions of pounds has gone into its testing and development to get it where it is with regard to power, emmisions, noise and drivability. If it was an old CVH then i would say yes, but a year old car, no. The engine is designed to run with a cat at 15:1 air fuel ratio so its emmisions are clean. This is not an effecient afr for fuel economy, 16:1 or even 17:1 is better, but will kill the cat and the emmisions will be bad.

 

well, thats answered that then. cheers for your time and info Chaffe.

 

No probs, a diesel will run upto 20+:1 afr, that is why they are soo effecient.

 

Despite whats been said these engines are actually quite tunable, you can get around 140HP with Cams, exhaust, remap etc, it's not that cheap to do though. Checkout www.shawspeed.com (En case you diden't know the Fiesta Zetec-S borrowed the same engine)

Martin

 

Not a 59 plate it won't, as that will be a duratec.

As above though really, your quickest way to better performance is save the money until you can afford something quicker out of the box.

 

So far as I know though it's just a rebadged SE? But it is avaliable with TI-VCT (Variable valve timing) which gains 15HP over the standard unit.

Martin

 

thought they binned off all the zetecs now? Thought they were last put in the last of the mk6 fiestas, badged up as duratecs though.

 

Nahh he's right. The 1.6 'Duratecs' are just Zetec SE's with a fancy head. And the new 1.6 Ecoboost engines are also based on SE's too Easy turbo conversions? Hmmm.

 

140 bhp is pants though

 

so the fiesta zetec-s has the same engine? so anything that is listed for the fiesta will fit mine as well?

i just wanna make sure cuz there is bugger all stuff listed for my vehicle on tuning sites but loads for the fiestas.

if tuning is doable then, am i best starting with air filter, exhaust and chip?

 

Yes thats correct.

It's tunable but it's not that cheap to do so (220HP was achieved in the junior WRC), a set of cams, induction mods and exhaust etc will see around 140HP but more importantly more torque, so better than what you currently have, putting a cone on a Focus is actually a bad idea and will make the car run worse as in the standard location they suffer badly with heatsoak.

TBH with what you list you will gain next to nothing so best of saving your money imo.


Martin

 

To be honest cause youe engine has VCT-Ti I'm not sure if standard 1.6SE camms will fit. You may be better off sourcing a standard head, getting it rebuilt with new valved, stems etc and fit the shawspeed cams and get rid of the VCT. Not sure how easy it would be to switch them off via the ECU though?

 

The engine is avaliable in two states of tune mate, 100HP (So the original setup) and then the TI-VCT varient which has 15HP more than the original varient so he could have either, but as you say if it's the latter this changes things a little.

Martin

 

If it's the later (with VCT) then speak to mountune? They're developing kits for the mk7 fiesta (same engine iirc) and have just released the mp155 kit, with 155 bhp...

 

But they are a little pricey. I wouldn't mind them though! Apparently the 155 screams abit

 

mine is the 100bhp. right now im looking to just get the dround work done so i can do the more expensive tuning when i have a bit more free cash.

what should i be looking at doing?

 

Manifold/exhaust, air filter, then if wanted, some shawspeed ss4's and HD bottom end rod bolts. Should see around 150bhp on a decent engine

 

Unless you are going for the whole Shawspeed package then I woulden't bother personally, doing induction and exhaust mods will help the engine to breathe easier but don't think for the price I think you would be dissappointed in the gain. The trouble with induction cones is they can suffer from heat soak, the Focus suffers from this if you simply replace the standard filter with an induction cone in the same location so it will actually do more harm than good.

Martin

 

so for the air filter would it be best just to swap the standard paper filter for a cotton panel filter?



I am aiming for a complete package one day but its affording it Thats the issue. What im after is what do i need to get done now in order to work on stuff later. If for example (and i know this is not the whole picture but its only an example) i wanted a turbo fitted i know i need to sort the exhaust, compression ratios and cooling, but i cant afford that all now. So ill get the exhaust sorted. And in 6 months the cooling. And then later the rest.
I get what you mean about the cone filter as it would sit in the middle of the engine with no air getting to it. I know this may sound stupid but as i said im a total newby when it comes to cars. Would a scoop on the bonnet get the required air to it?

 

Thats it, this is known as a panel filter, the Focus already has a snorkol for cold air feed on the standard setup, cones are more trouble than there worth! As to turbocharging there is far more involved to it than that and it would be very expensive to do, the management for example would need changing, different injectors and in some cases fuel pump etc, the exhaust manifold would be completley different as well, these are just a few things!

You might want to look at the 1600 "Ecoboost" engine if wanting to go down this route as this is based on the SE, so you may be able to replicate that setup, if you really are determined and prepared to spend alot of money then go for it but in my opinion it would be better to save your money and buy a faster car, the ST is a cracking car and they are becoming affordable now (A lovely torquey engine and 225HP out of the box and pretty fast as well, plus you get a georgeous sounding 5 cylinder Volvo engine )

You are right a scoop on the bonnet would aid airflow, this is why Subaru Imprezas have one as they have there intercoolers are placed beneath it.

Martin