Fully Explore "E.torQ Modifications"

How to modify and upgrade the Fiat E.torQ

"Comprehensive guide to tuning the Fiat E.torQ engine!"

Forums like the one at TorqueCars are regularly getting emails about how to improve the E.torQ from people wanting to know what are the best tips for E.torQ power upgrades. So let us look into Fiat E.torQ mods and outline the best mods that work on this great engine and point out some potential pitfalls along the way.

We shall review and look at E.torQ tuning and summarise the best upgrades. Fiat E.torQ are popular engines and with the right sports modifications like remapping, turbo upgrades and camshafts you will noticeably maximize your driving opportunities.

When talking about the best parts for your E.torQ engine, we are going to focus on the tuning mods that give the best value for money.

Improving air intake on the E.torQ

You need fuel and air for an engine to work. If there is too little fuel then it will run lean, if there is insufficient air it runs rich resulting in lost power . We'll pick up on fuelling later in this article but for now we shall look at air supply.

So the primary aim to any performance tuning task to pull more air and fuel into the E.torQ engine but this has a knock on effect with the air flow sensor.

You'll commonly see there's a restriction in the air flow sensor (AFM/MAF/MAP) on the E.torQ when loads more air is being drawn into the engine.

You'll see that 4 bar air sensors coping with quite large power gains, whereas the OEM air sensor sapped bhp at a much lower level.

Engine intake manifolds transmit the air during the suck phase from the filter and allow it to be drawn into the engine cylinders with fuel for the squish phase.

The size of bore and shape and flow characteristics of the Plenum can make a large difference to to fuel atomisation and engine efficiency on the E.torQ.

On popular production engines plenum chambers are improved through performance upgrades, although some manufacturers provide fairly well optimized plenum chambers.

Fitting big valve kits, doing a bit of E.torQ port enlargement and head flowing will also lift bhp, this will afford you a greater bhp increase on other upgrades.

E.torQ performance cam tips.

Different E.torQ engines even from the same production line will vary with some working better on different setups or needing less aggressive camshaft durations, but porting and flowing the head should reduce the differences and give consistent results.

The ECU mapping and fuel pump and injectors also will say much on the torque gains you'll make.

Longer valve durations can alter the torque band and on most engines the exhaust and intake durations do not need to match, although most cams and tuners use matched pairs there are some advantages to extending the intake or exhaust durations.

Significant air intake, and exhaust improvements on the E.torQ can be made from cam upgrades. Changing the cam profile alters the intake and exhaust durations on the engine and can dramatically change the engines power and power output.

NB: Fast road camshafts tend to push up the power throughout the rpm band, you could drop a little low down power but your higher rpm power will improve.

Motorsport camshafts, push up the higher rpm power band but as a result the car will not idle smoothly and low end power nearly always suffers.

For a car driven daily you must carefully try to match your engines power to your preferences.

I'd be shocked if you have found a E.torQ Motorsport camshaft is a pleasure to live with when in heavy traffic.

Stage 1, 2 and 3 mods for the E.torQ

Before we break the best tuning upgrades down into stages of tune, let's list the most effective tuning upgrades for you.

1. Suspension Upgrades - always improve your cars handling
2. Brake Upgrades - Even before adding power improve those brakes
3. Intake - make sure the intake is not restricted, use filters and intake upgrades to improve this
4. Exhaust - as with 3 ensure there is not restriction in the exhaust, cats are the usual bottleneck
5. Tunes - remapping, piggyback ECU's and aftermarket ECU's can all make decent gains
6. Fuelling - when you've increased power you'll need to match this with more fuel
7. Turbo upgrades - Improving the intake with a large turbo and better flowing intercooler will be the biggest power gain you'll see (but one of the most complex).

This video guide to tuning cars is a great starting point to work from in your project.

Stage 1 E.torQ parts:

Drilled & smoothed airbox, Intake headers, Panel air filters, Remaps/piggy back ECU, Fast road camshaft, Sports exhaust manifold.

Stage 2 E.torQ parts:

fuel pump upgrades, Sports catalyst & performance exhaust, induction kit, Ported and polished head, Fast road cam, high flow fuel injectors.

Stage 3 E.torQ parts:

Engine balancing & blueprinting, Crank and Piston upgrades to alter compression, Adding or Upgrading forced induction (turbo/supercharger), Internal engine upgrades (head flowing porting/bigger valves), Twin charging conversions, Competition cam.

Remapping allows a tuner to fully realize the full potential of all the parts you've done to your E.torQ.

You will typically expect to see gains of approximately 20-30% more power on turbocharged vehicles and you can expect to see around 15% on NASP engines, but the outcome will rely on the parts you've done and the condition of your engine.

Turbo modifications on the E.torQ

To get a turbo working on a NASP engine there is a lot involved, from lowering compression ratio to improved fuel supply and mapping, so we have found a great guide to helpavoid the common pitfalls or end up with an unfinished project because you were not told what you were getting into by doing this on the E.torQ.

The more air you can get into an engine, the more fuel it can burn and uprating the induction with a turbocharger upgrade makes superb power gains.

When an engine has a turbo already fitted tuning mods are more reliable and you will discover turbo charged engines already contain many forged and stronger components.

There are weak spots for every engine, with some being incredibly solid and some just sufficiently able to handle stock power

Discover these limits and fit higher quality components to handle the power.

There are many car owners spending a lot of money on turbocharger upgrades on the E.torQ only to experience the E.torQ literally blow up when it's used in anger.

Large capacity turbochargers tend to suffer no power at low rpm, and low capacity turbochargers spool up quickly but won't have the high rpm bhp gains.

In recent times the world of turbo units is always improving and we are seeing variable vane turbo units, where the vane profile is altered according to speed to lower lag and increase top end torque.

Twin scroll turbo units divert the exhaust gases into 2 channels and push these at differently designed vanes in the turbocharger. They also increase the scavenging effect of the engine.

Beefing up the air intake by adding a supercharger or additional turbo will help you achieve very large performance gains, although more complex to get working. We have this article on twincharging if you want to read more.

Tips about fuel supply on the E.torQ

When you lift the performance you will need to look at to the fuel system.

More performance needs more fuel. We strongly recommend you to be generous with your flow rate on the injectors.

The rule of thumb is to add 15% when buying an injector, this accounts for injector deterioration and allows a bit of spare capacity should the engine require more fuel.

Don't forget that different fuel grades will usually require different settings, a high octane fuel will burn more efficiently than lower octane fuel for example. A car will trim fuel supply to keep within the ideal air fuel mix but at the extreme ends you may need to adjust your injector capacity, or the mapping or you'll get flat spots and potential lean or rich fuel issues..

Recommended E.torQ performance exhaust upgrades

We'd only recommend you look to improve your exhaust system with an upgraded one is if the current exhaust is creating a restriction in flow.

On most factory exhausts you'll find the exhaust flow rate is still good even on modest power gains, but on a serious tuning project with a big boost in power you will certainly need to get a better flowing exhaust.

Sports exhausts equal out the flow of gases through the engine.

But if the exhaust is too large, ie: it's over two and a half inches diameter, you will lose a great deal of your flow rate and end up lacking power and torque.

Typically exhaust restrictions are in the filters installed, so adding a better flowing high performance alternative will help avoid this restriction.

Decatting (NB:catalysts reduce harmful engine emissions) is illegal in most countries and regions.

Faults issues and things to look out for on the E.torQ

Like most engines an E.torQ, should have few issues if it gets properly serviced and looked after.

We cannot stress enough the need for oil changes with the correct grade of oil on the E.torQ, failure to do this will exacerbate engine wear, on a tuned E.torQ this is more important than ever and close attention should be paid to your maintenance schedule.

If you are interested in learning more or getting impartial tuning advice for your E.torQ why not pop over to the forums at TorqueCars where you can chat about E.torQ tuning options and read about others projects who may be planning to do similar modifications on their E.torQ.

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This entry was posted under Makes and Models. Tags: engine, fiat
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