[Drdriver]

Hello TBhpians,

My father and I both own a Tata Punch.

The car is brilliant and we knew reviews were talking about the engine being underpowered in the car. It has to be driven at higher RPMs while going uphill to extract any sort of speed.
I’ve noticed the Altroz gets the same engine in a turbo version.

We have been thinking if it will be possible to turbo our cars with the same equipment the i-turbo gets, which means changing the exhaust manifold, adding the turbo, and putting in a pressure relief valve. Would it also be possible to run an atmospheric blow off valve with a MAP sensor tuned into the ECU and add an intercooler?

I tried to look up technical specifications in the NA and i-turbo 1.2L Revotron engines online but couldn't find data on the same.

[GTO]

Live with it. Adding a turbocharger in the aftermarket is like getting a heart bypass surgery from your dentist. Your slow but reliable car will become an unreliable piece of crap.

Some things are best done at the factory level. Turbo-charging is one of them. I evaluated a lot of options for my erstwhile Honda Civic and eventually dropped the idea.

If a deal-breaker, sell it and buy a more powerful car - do a lateral upgrade (ARTICLE: The Beauty of Lateral Upgrades (Getting MORE CAR for LESS $$$)). But seriously, live with it for now.

[Dry Ice]

I am reminded of an oft repeated saying about cars -

Cheap, Fast, Reliable, pick any 2!

Agree with GTO’s recommendation above - either live with it (avoid a financial hit), or swap for a more powerful car (some financial hit).

Turbo install will be quite tricky as finding a competent workshop is a challenge these days, then there is the headache of getting the right parts.

[Reinhard]

You'll immediately lose any warranty on the car to begin with. Engine related mods are always a gamble. Even in brands & cars that are favourite amongst mod-experts and enthusiasts. Now we are talking about an economy grade engine that hardly anybody will be experienced with (for a mod of this magnitude). Nobody at TaMo workshops will be ready to touch the ECU for map changes etc. (For example - I simply asked for a 2018 BCM software version to be patched into my 2019 Nexon - to bring back the auto-locking door locks - and they have not been able to do even that!) They generally have no clue. Private garages with the required tools and know-how will generally not touch a car like the Punch, for which the software and equipment won't be readily available and for the lack of value in return for the effort put in. If it doesn't go well - you'll really hate yourself for a long time.

If you find the car underpowered (and IMHO it really is ) - sell it on a platform like Spinny/Cars24 - which seem to give very good resale values, reducing your wallet hit. And then buy a car that puts a smile on your face. Having owned multiple cars across multiple power-to-weight ratios over the years in the economy segments - I can assure you - the moment you feel your car is underpowered, your relationship with that car is broken. Better to part sooner amicably than carrying on with curses every other minute.

[Roy.S]

Upgrade the ICE. Play your favourite songs and enjoy your car.
The Punch is an excellent vehicle and speed isn't everything.

[condor]

No. If you want something more powerful, then the only way out is to change cars.

[Kosfactor]

Lets say you need 1.5L - 2L to purchase & implement a Turbo set up and all the other ancillaries, invest that same money in a used Maruti Swift, a nice set of alloy wheels, a polishing job, some interior cleaning - that`s it.

I assume you are young, get a nice car to drive , it will change your life.

[bhphog]

Well, I am going to take a page from Robert Frost's The Road not Taken and suggest that what you are saying makes sense.

It is easier said than done to sell a brand new car and upgrade laterally for a more powerful car specially and importantly as the OP is young and probably will not want to take a pointless financial hit. I'm equally considering he loves all aspects of the car other than the power.

OP, I'll suggest prior to the a turbo install to try out the following, one step a time till you are satisfied:
1. Invest in a air filter, preferably BMC or K&N.
2. Contact Wolf Motorsports or any reputable tuner for a remap. With an air filter you can try a stage 1, which could improve the low end and improve throttle response.
3. Go for a cat back exhaust.
4. Go for a stage 2 map. Since you will now have the hardware, things should look good.
5. Finally, you can always reach out to Engineering Exponent, BLR or a reputable garage with proven RnD skills to install a turbo. Since the turbo, and 90% of supporting components would be OEM, I don't think it will be too difficult.

Finally and Finally if you are still not satisfied, go for an upgrade.

P.S - I would like to point out being car enthusiasts with endless knowledge of the know how of cars, how as a community and including, but not limited to, some of its senior members are so skeptical to mod cars specially on the performance end. (Not talking about plug and play mods)
The tuning and mod scene in India has upped its game drastically and cities like Delhi, Bangalore, Coimbatore and Mumbai have plenty of competent garages with proven results and cars which have run lakhs of kms even after being modded heavily on the performance end.
I really wish for this opinion to change specially since new cars are way overpriced and too disconnected from providing a good driving experience.

[lemedico]

It's up to your finances at the end. If you can easily take a swing on the money spent to buy and modify your car, knowing it may be ruined, go ahead with what the heart wants!
It surely would make for an interesting thread on this platform. I have the Tiago and would love to try something like that as well, provided someone's been there, done that already

[vishy76]

Originally Posted by bhphog

OP, I'll suggest prior to the a turbo install to try out the following, one step a time till you are satisfied:
1. Invest in a air filter, preferably BMC or K&N.
2. Contact Wolf Motorsports or any reputable tuner for a remap. With an air filter you can try a stage 1, which could improve the low end and improve throttle response.
3. Go for a cat back exhaust.
4. Go for a stage 2 map. Since you will now have the hardware, things should look good.
5. Finally, you can always reach out to Engineering Exponent, BLR or a reputable garage with proven RnD skills to install a turbo. Since the turbo, and 90% of supporting components would be OEM, I don't think it will be too difficult.

Finally and Finally if you are still not satisfied, go for an upgrade.

P.S - I would like to point out being car enthusiasts with endless knowledge of the know how of cars, how as a community and including, but not limited to, some of its senior members are so skeptical to mod cars specially on the performance end. (Not talking about plug and play mods)
The tuning and mod scene in India has upped its game drastically and cities like Delhi, Bangalore, Coimbatore and Mumbai have plenty of competent garages with proven results and cars which have run lakhs of kms even after being modded heavily on the performance end.
I really wish for this opinion to change specially since new cars are way overpriced and too disconnected from providing a good driving experience.

There is a thin line between being 'enthusiastic' and being 'rational'.

- The OP atleast from what I have read doesn't seem to be very interested in 'how' to install a turbo in his Punch. He's frustrated with the lack of power and wants a direct solution to it. He feels a turbo will do the job for him and is looking at this from a feasibility point of view by asking us

- More importantly, no one has attempted to install a turbo on this engine in the past. Your philosophical narrative portrays it to be a simple bolt on job but it isn't. Else everyone would have resorted to strapping on a turbo to their engine

- First, the internals of the engine need to be brought into the picture. The biggest question is whether these can take all that boost from the turbo. And going through the official review of the Tata Nexon I think I have the answer already:

The Nexon petrol gets a new 1,198cc, 3-cylinder turbocharged engine from the Revotron family. It is built at Tata’s Sanand (Gujarat) plant. A 1.2L turbo-petrol might sound familiar, but this is not the same engine as seen on the Zest. The Nexon gets a heavily reworked motor based on the Tigor's naturally-aspirated unit, with the internals beefed up to handle the turbo

.

Mind you, I haven't even come to the bit where a suitable turbo needs to be chosen and look at how much time and effort would be needed. This engine at least from what I can see does not have the internals suitable for bolting on a turbo. This essentially means the engine will have to be rebuilt using suitable components before one can even think of doing something like this.

Let's assume the internals are the same, a suitable turbo will have to be chosen, changes will have to be made to the intake and exhaust plumbing, oil feed and drain pipes will have to be routed. The turbo itself will have to be mounted at a suitable location.

And it doesn't end there. Assuming you have the hardware side of things sorted, you will have to use a piggyback ECU since the 1.2 NA ECM obviously won't have provisions for supporting a turbo. You will have to spend hours sitting with your tuner, doing test runs and logging data.

All this is in theory. Practically you are bound to face a LOT more. Read BHPian NikhilB's Turbo Civic thread and look at how much effort and time he invested to build it. He built it as a project car, in addition to the fact that he had a lot of data thanks to people who had turboed the same engines abroad. Does the OP have such support?

Most importantly, it's a "daily driver". You can't have it throwing tantrums and leaving you stranded just for the sake of R&D or philosophy.

It's best that the OP either lives with the Punch or sells it and gets a used Nexon Turbo petrol or the likes. As for trying out performance air filters and a stage 1 tune, the former can be given a shot. Naturally aspirated engines don't respond well to tuning and a gain of around 5-10 hp is the max one can expect against an amount of 20-25k. I think it's better to refrain from doing this too.

[shresan23]

At the risk of sounding a bit rude (but no), OP please go back to the original reason for which you purchased this car. For the both end of the spectrums (money wise) there are alternatives. Base Venue at the top and Maruti's and i think even Kwid. There must be a reason why you chose this car. Maybe, going back to that logic, would help with understanding.

As far as the modding is concerned. Unless you have a degree pertaining to cars, mechanicals or any sort in those lines, please dont. Apart from the feasibility of such mods, if you dont know squat about it, finishing the mod will be even more difficult.

A driver of a stock car, needs to know only basic troubleshooting. When it comes to modded cars, you need to know a lot of the internals to troubleshoot, if something goes wrong.

[Sedate driver]

Originally Posted by Drdriver

Hello TBhpians,

My father and I both own a Tata Punch.

The car is brilliant and we knew reviews were talking about the engine being underpowered in the car. It has to be driven at higher RPMs while going uphill to extract any sort of speed.
I’ve noticed the Altroz gets the same engine in a turbo version.

We have been thinking if it will be possible to turbo our cars with the same equipment the i-turbo gets, which means changing the exhaust manifold, adding the turbo, and putting in a pressure relief valve. Would it also be possible to run an atmospheric blow off valve with a MAP sensor tuned into the ECU and add an intercooler?

I tried to look up technical specifications in the NA and i-turbo 1.2L Revotron engines online but couldn't find data on the same.

I am not sure if you are pushing the car to its limits and finding it underpowered. Any car when driven understanding its limits, should result in reasonable performance. I have seen Tata Punch cars driven aggressively in the highways and used to wonder where do they get the power from! However I suggest you to use the car for few more years and upgrade later to a more powerful car with turbo or an EV.

[Cresterk]

Do you have a second car for if this goes wrong and your engine blows? If not, don’t do it.

[greenhorn]

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/shift...dded-ride.html (What it takes to own a modded ride ??)
https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/modif...dark-side.html (What it takes to own a modded ride - Part II. The dark side!)
You should go through this thread.

Also I test drove the altroz turbo and the punch back to back and found the punch peppier in the city. Maybe it just needs a tune up. The altroz power was usable only in big highway roads. Plus the power delivery was very jerky. Just like my 16 year old indica turbo which I find very annoying, and I've been told that even Tiago jtp owners begin to experience with age.

Also the ta65 gearbox in your car is a bottleneck. It's probably the reason the iturbo torque is reduced, and why the indica dicor was derated to the same power as the turbo 15 years ago. Even if you managed to get more power from the engine, you'll end up blowing your transmission. And there is no easy solution. A company with the engineering resources of tata motors has been searching for the past 15 years, good luck to you!

If you still want turbo power sell the punch and get something turbo powered. Like the c3 or whatever you want

[anjan_c2007]

Assuming yours is a petrol engine (it has only a CNG option) the 3 cylinder, 1199 cc engine generates 87.8 PS @ 6000 rpm power output with 115 Nm torque @3250 rpm. With its kerb weight of about 1000 kgs, the power to weight ratio is quite satisfactory for the 1.2 L engine. One cannot expect power outputs similar to 2000 or 2000 cc plus engines, that have nearly double the power output and torque delivery.

Hence, with such figures you should be OK with the Punch. Its competitor the Maruti Swift comes with a 1197 cc Petrol engine, generates a power of 88.50bhp @6000rpm and a torque of 113Nm @4400rpm. This car weighs 980 Kg. These figures don't enthuse the buyer as compared to the Punch.

And the NCAP stars for the 2023 Swift is a dismal ONE, whereas Tata Punch scores the maximum FIVE stars. You can console yourself for having chosen a much safer car.

The lacuna you are stating in the OP should have been noticed when you test drove your car. An uphill test is essential during test drives to assess the car's mechanical limitations. Aware buyers of used cars have been doing such uphill tests since ages. Hence, till the time you own this car, there's no point in tampering with factory specifications which may also deter buyers when you decide to sell it.