Ford 1.4 TDCi Tuning Options

Vid6639 · 3rd December 2010, 21:27

Need to start with air filter first. Thinking between a K&N stock replacement or the BMC one.

Atleast a little better breathing.

Sankar · 4th December 2010, 11:14

Quote:

Originally Posted by commodore

Considering you did all that research in the beginning i thought you would be running a remap at the very least.. so what happened?

Exactly 5 days after i started this thread i had a major accident and a lot of things changed after that.

I drive an AStar now.

Quote:

fiesta 1.4 tdCi - 70bhp
Re-map (bhp) - 80-90
Exhaust and air filter (bhp) - 90-95
Intercooler (bhp) - 100-110
Turbo (bhp) - 110-150

You kidding me!?! These mods can generate more than twice the original BHP of the 1.4TDCi! Incredible..

Thats the wonder of modern day CRDI diesel

Quote:

Originally Posted by vid6639

Need to start with air filter first. Thinking between a K&N stock replacement or the BMC one.

Atleast a little better breathing.

How much would a BMC/K&N cost, are the prices close?

CPH · 4th December 2010, 14:39

Quote:

Originally Posted by ramharis

HI All, Just saw this thread and wanted to let you guys know. Ikon's TDCi engine will produce more pickup just by putting on the silencer kit from a fiesta. It might sound strange but people at Ford have increased the back pressure and installed more filters in its silencer just to reduce the power and the mileage of that engine. When ikon was first tested with fiesta's engine and Kit, the pickup and the mileage increased by a lot.
Iam not sure if this would work, will sure have a word with my cousin on this and will keep posted.

The reasons for the powerloss in the exhaust has nothing got to do with trying to reduce power. The silencers are cheap and therefore flow poorly. The added boxes are in there to silence the car in line with noise regulations and requirements.

Quote:

Originally Posted by commodore

Considering you did all that research in the beginning i thought you would be running a remap at the very least.. so what happened?

fiesta 1.4 tdCi - 70bhp
Re-map (bhp) - 80-90
Exhaust and air filter (bhp) - 90-95
Intercooler (bhp) - 100-110
Turbo (bhp) - 110-150

You kidding me!?! These mods can generate more than twice the original BHP of the 1.4TDCi! Incredible..

Performance tuning measures can't be just added up. Getting 150bhp with this engine is hard work.

Quote:

Originally Posted by vid6639

Need to start with air filter first. Thinking between a K&N stock replacement or the BMC one.

Atleast a little better breathing.

Best is to start with a proper AIR, which is crucial for Diesels.

Vid6639 · 4th December 2010, 14:42

Quote:

Originally Posted by CPH

Best is to start with a proper AIR, which is crucial for Diesels.

What would proper air be? The car weighs 1130kgs and has a 69PS engine so really need to give it some more pep.

CPH · 4th December 2010, 16:03

Quote:

Originally Posted by vid6639

What would proper air be? The car weighs 1130kgs and has a 69PS engine so really need to give it some more pep.

The problem with Diesles is rthat they need much more air than they can burn. Otherwise excessive smoke will be created, which will slowly kill the turbo.

I start any design where the air gets in. If I can't get the air in I subsequently can't get it out.

Just replacing the airfilter is not getting you very far. The AIR in the Fiesta (as on many other cars) is very restrictive and for a turbo application far too long.

When the AIR is designed properly you might not get an extreme power hike, but low end torque can increase throughout the (lower) rpm band between 20 and 40Nm.

However rthis opens the window for re-mapping (re-mapping should be applied and not a tuningbox)

Adding an intercooler will help when done correctly (yes there is wrong ways to go about it).

Exhaust system will improve too, but how much depends on how much one is willing to spend.

Turbo upgrades are not as easy as people think on these models. Other than lag you ECU might shut down because some paramteres will leave the window sending the ECU in limp mode or complete shut down.

Limit on this engine is about 170bhp. But this will cost more than 2 new Fiestas.

To increase the power to 100bhp is not too difficult when knowing what the engine requires, but first of all it should be looked at the torque, wehich is what makes the car shift. Also it is a question of budget where it ends.

If you want to discuss this further feel free to pm me.

commodore · 4th December 2010, 16:55

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sankar

Exactly 5 days after i started this thread i had a major accident and a lot of things changed after that.

I drive an AStar now.

Sorry to hear Sankar .. that is a bummer.

Quote:

Originally Posted by CPH

The problem with Diesles is rthat they need much more air than they can burn. Otherwise excessive smoke will be created, which will slowly kill the turbo...

..When the AIR is designed properly you might not get an extreme power hike, but low end torque can increase throughout the (lower) rpm band between 20 and 40Nm.

CPH, can you elaborate on AIR for a diesel. I'm a novice so please be gentle

Also, could vid6639 and you discuss the basics of these engine mods in the public domain? It would be helpful to others in the forum too.

I personally was looking for tamer mods that include a basic engine remap or tuning box, alongwith an air filter, but since you mentioned AIR i am now curious.

-------

Update:
From my previous post, not sure if it matters to anyone but just got a confirmation email from Pro-Bitz that their Ford 1.4 TDCi tuning box is compatible with the Figo's mill.

Vid6639 · 4th December 2010, 18:17

Quote:

Originally Posted by CPH

Just replacing the airfilter is not getting you very far. The AIR in the Fiesta (as on many other cars) is very restrictive and for a turbo application far too long.

When the AIR is designed properly you might not get an extreme power hike, but low end torque can increase throughout the (lower) rpm band between 20 and 40Nm.

My car's done only around 2700kms so no major stuff for now. I'm not even keen going in for a proper CAI. I was just looking at a mild improvement in the lower rpm range below 2000rpm.

In my previous post I was actually asking what does AIR stand for? Air Intake Rxxxxxxx???

CPH · 5th December 2010, 02:42

@ Commodore and vid6639

AIR = Air intake revision.

Changing the airfilter is not giving you anything to bragg about. When people change from paper to so called performance filters they usually report that the car is revving more freely etc. Some claim they measured on the dyno about 1-2bhp. Although it is very difficult to make a claim with an improvement as low as this as the ECU constantly changes within farily small margins I do not want to discuss to death.

But what needs looking at is that usually nobody goes and buys a new paper filter to test it and then the performance replacement. A contaminated filter element will always flow less air then a new one.

Whether normally aspirated or Diesel the air needs sucking in. Any restriction does work adversly. A lot of people are mistaken by believing that there is no need to have a free flowing air intake on a turbo.

Over here we measured on an Alfa GT 1.9 M-Jet an instant 6bhp gain with a properly designed AIR. But what was even more signi9ficant was the fact that the AIR increased low end torque by up to 55Nm. The higher up the rpm range the less the improvement was.

The impoertant point is the design. I make a big difference between a CAI and an AIR. A CAI uis meant to bring some cold air in. The AIR usually is designed to make it possible to draw the maximum possible air in. There is fundamental differences.

Re-mapping sounds like a miracle. The idea of re-mapping is widely misunderstood. A lot of the companies do their best to help it to disguise what is going in order to make maximum profit out of it. I do not only dispise this attitude, but also do not see a necessity in doing it. All people who I have sold any product I have told what it is about. This still does not meant that they can achieve the same results as we can doing it every day. If anyone wants to try I even tell them whatc not to do.

Important is to understand one simple fact: The more air you get into the combustion chamber, the bigger the bang = torque output. This at the same time reduces the fuel consumption despite the fact that the bigger bang needs more fuel too.

To make this big bang possible it is needed to remove all possible restrictions and use certain physucal tricks to make sure that even more air can be distributeed into the combustion chamber before the valve is closed.

The first step in it is a properly designed AIR. This might be for the onlooker much easier than it is in the real world. I am not going into this as I would miss my plane to Mumbai in 12 days sitting here still writing.

The next thing to improve would be the intake from throttle body via plenum to the ports and then the valves. Once you have done all the wanted improvements you will go and re-map.

The tuning boxes try to cut out a lot, but I am not in favour of them for various resons. First of all they are athlets on crutches and then they can have lethal effects on turbo applications.

I know this sounds all a bit general to vague, but it is quite a bit more complex than it might look. If you want to know more specific stuff feel free to address it either here or in specific threads and I will do my best to help together with others to answer these questions.

pranavt · 5th December 2010, 03:27

LOL. 5-20 bhp from an intercooler. With this level of thinking, I'm surprised people are not recommending putting 2-3 intercoolers in series to extract upto 60 bhp of power

laxmanrk · 26th February 2011, 23:39

I have a Ford Figo 1.4 TDCi

Firstly as most would agree the car's handling is really brilliant and begs for a faster engine.

The 1.4 is just inadequate and lacks oomph.

Here's the plan

- Install an intercooler - this engine does not have one.

- Change the stock intake to K&N 57i or similar

- Get an ECU upgrade/ remap

- Add sixth gear/ change the gearbox (6 speed)

- Finally change the rear brakes to discs

Finally when the whole modification is done I wish to achieve 110 to 115bhp from this engine.

The Swift VDi/ LDi seems to be the most modded in this respect and I have not found any threads featuring even an ECU remap for the ford 1.4tdci.

Hope the gurus can give me some insight on this.

There is some info available on the internet on adding an intercooler, but any info highly appreciated as this is the first task I want to take on.

abhibh · 27th February 2011, 00:53

The same engine produces around 90bhp with an intercooler and it was used in cars like Suzuki Liana and Citeron C3. It was 1.4 DLD / TDCi but it was 16 valve version as compared to 8 valve we get here.

Best is to add a remap / petes / rd kit and boost the power without much modifications.

Vid6639 · 27th February 2011, 10:43

Quote:

Originally Posted by laxmanrk

The Swift VDi/ LDi seems to be the most modded in this respect and I have not found any threads featuring even an ECU remap for the ford 1.4tdci.

Hope the gurus can give me some insight on this.

There is some info available on the internet on adding an intercooler, but any info highly appreciated as this is the first task I want to take on.

You need to search for the right threads.

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/techn...g-options.html

GTO · 28th February 2011, 16:02

Quote:

Originally Posted by laxmanrk

Add sixth gear/ change the gearbox (6 speed)

- Finally change the rear brakes to discs

While the rest of your list is doable, please avoid going anywhere near these two points. Changing the gearbox from a 5 to 6 speed on a 68 BHP hatchback (okay, 90 after your Mods) offers no real benefit. Atleast, the benefits : headaches ratio doesn't make it worth it.

Second, if you want better brakes, the most I would recommend is better disks and / or performance pads. But heavy modifications to a system as crucial as the braking is only asking for trouble. Upgrade your fronts; they do 70% of the braking work anyways

CPH · 28th February 2011, 17:39

Quote:

Originally Posted by laxmanrk

Here's the plan

- Install an intercooler - this engine does not have one.

- Change the stock intake to K&N 57i or similar

- Get an ECU upgrade/ remap

- Add sixth gear/ change the gearbox (6 speed)

- Finally change the rear brakes to discs

With the listed mods you will not hit 110bhp without doing serious long term damage.

Also I don't get why people always want to change to rear discs? They used to brake 44 ton trucks going up and down the mountains with drums all way round all day long.

Skyline GT-R · 5th June 2011, 14:50

I was thinking of Petes box if it was around 20K but they quoted around 45K which was way over my budget.

Even the Intercooler mods would affect the reliability.

I think the 7K chip from UK is the best option. Is it a DIY installation?

3rd December 2010, 21:27	#31
Vid6639 Team-BHP Support Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Bangalore Posts: 17,773 Thanked: 43,941 Times View My Garage	Need to start with air filter first. Thinking between a K&N stock replacement or the BMC one. Atleast a little better breathing.
	() Thanks

5th December 2010, 02:42	#38
CPH BHPian Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: London Posts: 579 Thanked: 36 Times	@ Commodore and vid6639 AIR = Air intake revision. Changing the airfilter is not giving you anything to bragg about. When people change from paper to so called performance filters they usually report that the car is revving more freely etc. Some claim they measured on the dyno about 1-2bhp. Although it is very difficult to make a claim with an improvement as low as this as the ECU constantly changes within farily small margins I do not want to discuss to death. But what needs looking at is that usually nobody goes and buys a new paper filter to test it and then the performance replacement. A contaminated filter element will always flow less air then a new one. Whether normally aspirated or Diesel the air needs sucking in. Any restriction does work adversly. A lot of people are mistaken by believing that there is no need to have a free flowing air intake on a turbo. Over here we measured on an Alfa GT 1.9 M-Jet an instant 6bhp gain with a properly designed AIR. But what was even more signi9ficant was the fact that the AIR increased low end torque by up to 55Nm. The higher up the rpm range the less the improvement was. The impoertant point is the design. I make a big difference between a CAI and an AIR. A CAI uis meant to bring some cold air in. The AIR usually is designed to make it possible to draw the maximum possible air in. There is fundamental differences. Re-mapping sounds like a miracle. The idea of re-mapping is widely misunderstood. A lot of the companies do their best to help it to disguise what is going in order to make maximum profit out of it. I do not only dispise this attitude, but also do not see a necessity in doing it. All people who I have sold any product I have told what it is about. This still does not meant that they can achieve the same results as we can doing it every day. If anyone wants to try I even tell them whatc not to do. Important is to understand one simple fact: The more air you get into the combustion chamber, the bigger the bang = torque output. This at the same time reduces the fuel consumption despite the fact that the bigger bang needs more fuel too. To make this big bang possible it is needed to remove all possible restrictions and use certain physucal tricks to make sure that even more air can be distributeed into the combustion chamber before the valve is closed. The first step in it is a properly designed AIR. This might be for the onlooker much easier than it is in the real world. I am not going into this as I would miss my plane to Mumbai in 12 days sitting here still writing. The next thing to improve would be the intake from throttle body via plenum to the ports and then the valves. Once you have done all the wanted improvements you will go and re-map. The tuning boxes try to cut out a lot, but I am not in favour of them for various resons. First of all they are athlets on crutches and then they can have lethal effects on turbo applications. I know this sounds all a bit general to vague, but it is quite a bit more complex than it might look. If you want to know more specific stuff feel free to address it either here or in specific threads and I will do my best to help together with others to answer these questions.
	(3) Thanks

5th December 2010, 03:27	#39
pranavt Senior - BHPian Join Date: May 2008 Location: Mumbai Posts: 1,693 Thanked: 833 Times View My Garage	LOL. 5-20 bhp from an intercooler. With this level of thinking, I'm surprised people are not recommending putting 2-3 intercoolers in series to extract upto 60 bhp of power
	(2) Thanks

26th February 2011, 23:39	#40
laxmanrk BHPian Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: Hyderabad Posts: 140 Thanked: 94 Times	Ford Figo 1.4 TDCi Engine Modification I have a Ford Figo 1.4 TDCi Firstly as most would agree the car's handling is really brilliant and begs for a faster engine. The 1.4 is just inadequate and lacks oomph. Here's the plan - Install an intercooler - this engine does not have one. - Change the stock intake to K&N 57i or similar - Get an ECU upgrade/ remap - Add sixth gear/ change the gearbox (6 speed) - Finally change the rear brakes to discs Finally when the whole modification is done I wish to achieve 110 to 115bhp from this engine. The Swift VDi/ LDi seems to be the most modded in this respect and I have not found any threads featuring even an ECU remap for the ford 1.4tdci. Hope the gurus can give me some insight on this. There is some info available on the internet on adding an intercooler, but any info highly appreciated as this is the first task I want to take on.
	() Thanks

27th February 2011, 00:53	#41
abhibh Senior - BHPian Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Back in the HOOD near you! Posts: 2,769 Thanked: 39 Times	Re: Ford Figo 1.4 TDCi Engine Modification The same engine produces around 90bhp with an intercooler and it was used in cars like Suzuki Liana and Citeron C3. It was 1.4 DLD / TDCi but it was 16 valve version as compared to 8 valve we get here. Best is to add a remap / petes / rd kit and boost the power without much modifications.
	() Thanks

5th June 2011, 14:50	#45
Skyline GT-R BHPian Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Dubai Posts: 600 Thanked: 232 Times View My Garage	re: Ford 1.4 TDCi Tuning Options I was thinking of Petes box if it was around 20K but they quoted around 45K which was way over my budget. Even the Intercooler mods would affect the reliability. I think the 7K chip from UK is the best option. Is it a DIY installation?
	() Thanks