is there any real way of a power increase on my n\a

i,e turbo lump swap or is it a waste of time

ive had mine for yrs now and love the car but its just feels so under powered these day s

(already got one of Fleas chips)

Hi. I guess you have a Coupe?(Edit: Oh yeah, the link in your sig!) Doing a turbo lump swap will never be cost-effective compared to just buying a 16VT!

I tune loads of non-turbo engines and the first true power mod for n/a engines is nearly always uprated cams and adjustable cam pulleys. The same goes for the Coupe 16v; fast road cams for around +10-20 bhp, depending on the cams. Beyond that, individual throttle bodies. That would be really unique to see (and hear ) on a Coupe!

Hi Kj

What sort of money would we be talking for the cam swap and how would that affect drivability ?

I'm not really worried about MPG as it's a weekend car

ive had the car for 11yrs and oil and filter change twice a yr so I'm quite sure the lump is in good nick ( oil consumption is quite low)

As I said in my pm I've been thinking of selling but I really know this car inside out and could carryout almost any job on it with my eyes shut but I'm just fed up with it not being very quick compared to modern cars

It's a tall order tuning normally aspirated cars for big gains. Beyond the Stage 1 level which you have, further gains are very hard won and exponentially costly. It will really depend on your power goals, but beyond cams and headwork, you can't expect much more than 15-20bhp max. Anything further, especially with a more aggressive cam, you will sacrifice driveability low down with reduced torque in exchange for greater peak power. If you move into throttle bodies, well this is expensive and much more akin to the race track than road, but a glorious sound it wil achieve!

Thanks Flea

its all about how far would you like to go... I went wery far:) with mine 2.0 16V ..could run 1/4 mile under 14s...

but remeber... modified NA engine is wery sensitive to gear ratios, because you narrows the powerband from 3000-6000 to something like 5500-8000 (my case..) etc for whis is standart gearbox unsuitable... and you have to spent next money.. just try to calculate rpm drops from various rpm at various gear...

for road use with wery strong torque a can reccomend:

- modify airbox (drilled airbox)+bottom from turbo version
- increase secondary pipes on headers diameter up to 50mm
- use 55mm piping on exhaust with 2 straght-trougt silencer

(with such mods my 16V had 1/4 mile for only 15,8s..)

next steps:

- remove balance shaft belt
- modify throttle body (if you look in to it there is a step, which limits airflow)
- lighten flywheel
- shorten final drive ratio

+ Fleas chip it should be very fast (low 15s at 1/4 mile, even without FW and Final drive i think..)

these are very cheap mods and others became wery expensive:)