Hey guys, nice website you got here. Im from Denmark but i decidede to use this site since people in Denmark has little or no knowlegde of the power increase when tuning an xr3i.

My car is a Mk4 with a 1.6 xr3i efi 102 hp engine from switzher land. I recently fitteded new cam, lifter, vents and the rest in the top. My mechanics convienced me that i should just get another stock xr3i cam as it would be fast enough in their opinion.
But now i been thinking more of tuning it a little.

I already removed the cat, which make it identic to the 108 hp version. i also fitted a complet 2" exhaust system.

I want a new manifold, i been looking on Ashleys 4-2-1 branch manifold and im thinking of combining this with a superchip (the bolton kinda thing)

I need to get a new gearbox aswell so while changing this i consider lieghtning the flywheel a little as well. But else i dont want to change anything that requires opening the engine again.

What the power output gonna be in your opinion? Is superchip decent og crap?

And last q, would the sound change to the better when i mount a another manifold?

Thanks for your time.

 

Guess this topic aint interresting enough

 

I dropped the 1.6 EFI engine for a 2.0 ZVH

 

Yeah but as i will only be doing some moderated tuning thats not an option, the only engine upgrade im gonna do is to an rst engine mate

 

The EFi exhaust manifold is already good, better than the carb and mfi exhaust manifold. The Ashley exhaust will still give you more power so is well worth doing. The superchip will not give you any more noticable power it will smooth out the power, it will get rid of flat spots. A sports cam such as a kent-CVH32 would give you a good gain and is well worth getting. CVH engines wear the cams out very quickly so you will notice a huge difference over you worn cam. Lightening of the flywheel is a good modification, it will rev faster but you will find that momentum will be lower so it will be easier to stall etc.

 

Yeah i thought the Efi was good, but im glad to hear the ashley manifold will give me more performance, i already got a 2" inch system from another manufacture tho. I've really set my head on getting that manifold combined with a superchipe i think (without knowing) that it will run smoothly
I dont know much about lightening the flywheel, but i could imagine your not suppose to just rip of tons of metal, but how much could you lighten it before it gonna be negativ?

How fast would you say the stock cam wears out? hope its not to fast, i regret spending money on the stock cam

 

The cam in my 1.6 engine was 270.000 km's old and still was in good shape when we removed the engine from the car

 

Pew im more relaxed now. Imo the oil is crusial.

 

Also while we are at it, would an induction kit from K&N give anything but sound ?

 

Just put an RST lump in it, or just buy an RST, will be the most cost effective upgrade by a mile.

 

Turboshed - Yeah i know and there will be a rst lump in the car in the future, when im done studying.

The reason why the rst conversion is not an option is that i need to pay around/over 2000 in tax to get the car road legal, and thats with out the expense of the real build. Also my insurance will be raise from 800 / year to around 1400 / year and im not interested in that yet.

After all this is my first car, i dont want it to be a rocket, just faster than the other stock xr3is.

Also my car is quite dear to me so it aint getting sold to buy a rst.

Thanks for the advice tho.

 

u had a cat on a mark 4 efi xr3i??????

 

In switzerland the model has 102 hp, in germany it has 108 hp, and it totally identic.
For all I know the lastest version in switzerland was build with a cat, i personally havent change the exhaust system so i woulndt know.

I couldnt figure out why the performance differs 6 hp, so i think its the cat.

So basicly. i dont know LOL

 

they werent manufactured in this country with a cat on them mate.strange

 

Hmm, yeah i have no clue about it, i just assumed. Since i couldnt figure out the drop in hp to only 102

 

strange.they quoted as 108bhp in this country. i prefer the mfi xr3i,seems more pokey than an efi to me.just not very tuneable tho

 

Yeah it is strange, my engine is from switzerland and the motorcode says its a 102hp, same as the model sold in Denmark in 1990 with efi.

That pretty weird, would be neat if it really a 108 hp tho, yeah i like the EFI tho, seems more modern lol

 

I had a Mfi, 105 bhp. Was a really good fun car. But, about a month after I bought it I wished I had bought an RST instead

 

My XR3i EFI also had a cat. It was one of the first things I dropped when I bought the car. Pretty soon after that I've bought a Scorpion stainless steel exhaust from the manifold. My car also had a 4-2-1 manifold but when the ZVH came in I had to switch to a RSi manifold.

I bought the car when I was 18 and sold it last December. I'm still a student btw so if you can do some work yourself it is not that expensive to put a RST engine in. Building a ZVH engine is a bit more expensive

 

My dad and I can fix everything ourself, hes an old mechanic.

Yeah it cheap to fit a rst engine, but I dont know how the system works in the UK but over here we have to pay like 2000 just to get it road legal (money to the danish goverment).

I must admit i have no clue what a ZVH engine is?

But my dad would go mental if i change the engine since we just restored the "old" one. He goes mental when he see's me recieving a manifold and a chip, because the car aint finished yet but i just cant wait lmao

I really hope this small tuning is noticable

 

A ZVH engine is a combination of a Zetec bottomend with a cVH cylinderhead on it.

Though it's a but more complicated as the single line I wrote above

 

Its easy to mod? since I might think my piston rings being in poor condition, but the dyno will show. How much hp should it have with the superchip and ashley manifold?

Tell me more about the ZVH conversion mate

 

I read more about the ZVH.

But if your going for a N/A why not then put a mondeo 2.0 zetec in? Or a 1.8 sport and stick with the zetec head?

And if your going turboed, then why not use the original 1.8/2.0 zetec engine?

Whats the big advandtage in using the 8v head?

 

youre standard cams wear out at about 60 thousand miles shaggggedperformance wise as for a cat 91 latest model mk4 ???? did not actually have to be legal here till feb 92 i think 20 though skim on the head maxx will see a good raise in power no more though other than that turbo power

 

Dont agree with the wear as my xr2i engine which is the same has had the arse thrashed out of it and its fine!!!

If u can afford it a ported head will help mate, mine had a cam, ported head, superchip, induction kit exhaust etc and it was putting out 127bhp on a rolling road!! cant remember off hand what the torque figure was but obviously its alot more iwth the cam!! Drove like a normal cvh till bout 4k revs then pulled like stink all the way to the redline!!!

The engines now in a mk4 cabby and has a janspeed 4-2-1 manifold and exhaust on so will be interesting too see how much that has helped!!