hopefully i will be getting a mk2 16v as my 8v is dead. a few questions really!!! whats the standard BHP of the motor?? What can i do to increase the power??? cheers, tom
Mk2 16v has 139bhp I believe. I'm not sure about mods. The obvious ones are fitting a K&N air filter and putting on a bay boy exhaust, maybe with a straight through? My 16v is staying standard, though I may upgrade the exhaust at some point. I'd spend the money making sure its mechanically good first.
First, service it, and make sure the timing is right. Cheap mods... get the WUR modified. KR engines tend to run lean at the top end - can give up to 10bhp if done well. Make sure you've got a good exhaust on it (good includes Genuine VW or Ernst, but NOT cheapo brands from Kwik Fit and the like.) Maybe put a Jetex/Milltek/Supersprint on if you have the cash, but I wouldn't expect it'll make much difference on a standard engine. Induction kits are tricky on Kjet, and probably don't make much difference in terms of power - lots of noise though. A K&N airbox element and drilling the bottom of the airbox on the inner wing side, with some ducting to feed cold air in, won't hurt your airflow(it might hurt your ears!) Not really recommended if you do lots of motorway miles and want it civilised. If you want to get more involved, and spend a bit more money, then a cylinder head job, a 4-branch manifold, and a 2.0 bottom end are worth considering.
Where did I say that? To get 20 horses over standard, a 2.0 bottom end and WUR mod, with a decent exhaust. Or a flowed head, decent exhaust, and WUR mod. Hardly what I'd call basic mods. If you do all of that (Head + 2.0 + WUR + Exhaust) you might get close to 180 bhp.
al sounds good to me....even just the four branch makes a big difference plus k+n. little things that add up make them faster. take out back seats etc but some people want to keep interior.
Paint it red. Red paint makes cars go faster than other colours. FACT. I'm with the above suggestion - spend your cash getting the car in tip-top condition before worrying about getting more speed out of it. You may find that simple servicing and renewal of parts might have a massive effect on how it performs anyway depending on how well it has been looked after in the past. At the most get a full stainless system on it and a K&N panel filter (expect slightly better response but no real bhp increase), and then think carefully about the next move once the car is driving as it should as 'standard'. Just my opinion.
The Superchips ICON "race" used to work quite well on these but would require a lengthy session on a RR with someone who knows what they are doing. Its basicly a programable piggyback timing ecu, if i remember rightly some advance gives mid range torque and retard gives more top end. (long time since i had a valver so i might be wrong)Obviously get the timing checked before you start anything and if you were to go with one of these get the mapping done after all the other mods. Something to think about anyway!
i've had 3 valvers now, and if i had to have one again, i'd save my cash for a decent stage 1 head and a 2 litre bottom end. I wouldn't mess about getting throttle bodies/ inlet manifolds flowed, and spending huge amounts of cash on brand new milltek manifolds and systems like i have done in the past. Manifolds and systems do have their benefits, and on a well set-up car can add a decent whack of power, but in retrospect i would wait for decent second hand bits and consider the biggest mods first, as the power increase just wasn't enough for the money i spent. incidentally, a cheap mod which worked very well on my old corrado was the exhaust cam mod. Basically, you modify a standard KR exhaust cam to use as your inlet cam, as it has more lift. I would steer clear of after market cams, but if i was to tune a 16v again this is something that i would consider. Made the car much more free-revving, but also gave it more power low down. Worked very well for me anyway, and a relatively cheap mod, but you may have to do a bit of searching to find one. definitely the first thing you should do though is have it set up properly. Stealth racing are recommened for 16v tuning. getting your ignition timing set up properly on rollers will help, nearly all (non-enthusiast owned!) valvers won't be set up properly. Stealth will also carry out the WUR mod, which will stop the car running lean top end. Just having that done makes a difference, as it will suddenly pull all the way to the red line! it all depends how much you want to spend, for a couple hundred pounds you could probably get 150 bhp from it ( second hand 4-branch, WUR mod) but it may not actually feel that much quicker through the revs. Thats what i always wanted, and for that you need torque, hence why i'd go for 2litre bottom end if i was to do it all over again.
WUR is the Warm Up Regulator, AKA Warm Up Valve. It controls fuel pressure on a K-Jet system. By upping the fuel pressure you get a bit more fuelling, so it makes a bit more power at mid to high revs.
I had an oak green valver that made 148bhp, totally standard, on the rollers at AmD. A mate recently had nearer 160 with std bottom end and head, just a filter and a magnex back box and lots of love. (Unverified...) Yeah, do your filters/zorst stuff etc and set it up at Stealth. Enjoy while you then look for a 2L block & nice head & manifold. That's all mine is. Then add less weight!
you will notice the WUR mod, gives you an extra 500 or so RPM of power! money well spent. It probably feels quite revvy to you now as it is, once thats done it won't let off the power til it redlines!
Listen to Mr Horseb!!! S/S exhaust, 4 branch, panel filter, drilled airbox, magnecor ht leads, regular servicing with genuine products (VW/Bosch parts) and Wur Mod set up at stealth got me 166bhp from my 1.8 16v.
I agree, for what it's worth - had my 16v for a year, when I got it, it was rapid (totally standard). First thing I did was put a Magnex cat-back stainless exhaust on it and a K&N panel filter, then concerned myself with replacing anything on the entire car that was old, worn, broken, or leaking anything! I'd say the effect was cumulative, but just using Synta Silver and Optimax/V Power and keeping it regularly serviced has made it into a right rocket. When I first got it it RR'd at 137BHP - I might go back and get it checked again because it feels a lot faster now! Oh, and mine's done 176,000 miles.
