D9 Petrol Tuning

[GTXJez]

Does anyone know of any after-market tunig devices for a Petrol D9? (2.0 16v HPi)

I have seen plenty on the 'Bay of E' but at anything from £5-50 they can't be up to much, even though they claim to.
Plenty for Diesels but not much for Petrol Heads?

Maybe something that allows you to adjust the mapping without taking the car apart

[lozz]

Them tuning things on ebay are fake mate,

some of them are just a 10p resistor, just makes the car overfuel,.

[leestudd30]

You can get induction kits and performance exhausts for XU10J4R 2 litre engined ones like mine, but to be honest I'm trying to steer away from tuning now, makes me drive worse lol.

[ally406]

Most diesels are turbo charged, tuning NA engines by and large is not cost effective. It will be possible to get more power out of it, but you'll have to fling £££ at it get any decent gains. A remap with no other modifications will most likely give an extra 10bhp at most, although most places will make exagerated claims. Avoid the ebay resistor rubbish.

[GTXJez]

You can get induction kits and performance exhausts for XU10J4R 2 litre engined ones like mine, but to be honest I'm trying to steer away from tuning now, makes me drive worse lol.

Have you fitted an Induction Kit, or had experience with them?
I have looked into Performance exhaust but at £400 not worth teh expensive given teh car is worth no more than a grand?
Cheers

[leestudd30]

I haven't and to be honest, I don't want to! I love the noise of modified parts but I know it makes me drive worse and try to race other cars lol. I always had a K&N 57I on my old vectra, but most owners used to complain of heat soak as it was so close to the engine, was better in the colder months but I never had any trouble. When it comes to exhausts I always thought off the shelf performance ones were expensive and they still are. My local powerflow dealer always did a good job at making exhausts for my old cars, think they used to charge around £150 for a rear box, maybe another £50 to £80 for the centre pipe.

[lozz]

Induction kits are a waste of money,
and youl only get a small gain if any,

iwas using a pipercross for a while, but it made the car sound like a blocked hoover not my cup a tea,

[leestudd30]

I loved the sound on my old V6, used to make it sound like a V8 if you buried the throttle at low revs in a high gear! But yes I doubt it made much more power too!

[highlander]

In terms of noticeable improvement on a naturally-aspirated petrol engine, you can't really beat a good stainless steel exhaust. £350 will get you a system custom-designed for your car and for your requirements. Go to PowerFlow and tell them you want an exhaust that will let your engine perform to the best of its abilities, and they'll do that for you. I chose one that is almost silent unless you're idling, or under hard acceleration - means it gives a nice burble when idling, almost silent when cruising at motorway speeds (or even through the town), but roars quite satisfactorily when you plant your foot to the floor. Because it's freer-flowing, it also provides a bit more oomph - not a huge amount, but it helps.

Induction is a grey area, but there's two things you need to know about it from a 406's perspective - the first is the position of the air intake, which is by the left wheel. If you choose to lower your car, then there is a knock-on effect that means that your engine is more likely to suck up water and drown. Coupes are already lowered by default, meaning they are more likely to suffer even from stock. The second part you need to know is the construct of the induction piping - it's a sort of woven sock, which isn't very rigid, and is prone to collapse, making the air intake performance worse. Thing is, if you don't know how your engine should be performing, you might not notice the duct has collapsed, and just think your car doesn't perform well because of the engine. Replace the induction piping on your car so that it draws cold air in through the front of the car at headlamp level, and you will remove the risk of water damage, and use a rigid pipe so you get rid of the risk of pipe collapse. It may also increase the amount of air coming into the airbox, thereby getting more of the fuel burnt in the combustion process, giving your more energy from the combustion process. Think of this extra push as a benefit, not as the main goal, which should be to preserve your engine. Hydro-lock will ruin your whole day.

Lastly, a good remap will also give you an extra 10 - 15 HP from the engine. Doesn't sound much, but if your car produces 90 - 110 HP, then that's around 10% extra power. They are costly though, around £250 - £400 for a remap, which may not include the cost of the before/after dynamometer tests (if you want to see what your car's power output really is). The good thing about a remap is that if it's done professionally, and you've already got an induction kit and a stainless exhaust system, is that you will likely get more benefit out of it, as the tuner should take the extra induction/exhaust performance into account when adjusting the fuel map on your ECU.

There are some really hard-core tuning options available, such as forced induction (fitting a turbo or supercharger, but this will require a lot of extra work and skill, and therefore money), special performance camshaft, close-ratio gearboxes (not good for road use, but great for keeping you in the power-band on a race track), and even nitrous oxide (NOS) but to go there, you have to understand that your car won't like you very much for it, and may choose to fail catastrophically when you least expect it or can least afford to repair it.