The Lowdown on "M13A Modifications"

How to modify and upgrade the Suzuki M13A

"Comprehensive guide to tuning the Suzuki M13A engine!"

Popular tuning sites like TorqueCars often are getting emails requesting information on how to improve the M13A from people inquiring about getting more power from the M13A and wanting to know what are the premier M13A modifications. So let us look into Suzuki M13A mods and outline the best mods that work on this great engine and point out some problems along the way.

The Suzuki M13A are awesome to work on and with carefully chosen motorsport tuning mods like a remap, turbo improvements and camshafts you will definitely maximize your driving opportunities.

Our aim here is to review and look at M13A tuning and highlight the best upgrades.

The best M13A tuning mods on an engine are sensibly the ones that give the best power gain for your hard earned cash.

We won't be swayed by popular M13A tuning mods, they need to be cost effective.

Improving air intake on the M13A

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

So Pushing air into your M13A is the whole point to any performance tuning job.

It is not unusual that there's a limit in the air flow sensor (AFM/MAF/MAP) on the M13A when loads more air is being drawn into the engine.

We see 4 bar air sensors coping with quite large power gains, whereas the OEM air sensor sapped torque at a much lower level.

Intake manifolds carry the air flow from the air filter and allow it to be fed into the engine and mixed with fuel.

The shape and rate of flow of the Intake headers can make a big change to fuel delivery on the M13A.

Most plenum chambers are in desperate need of motorsport parts, although a few OEM provide fairly well optimized plenum chambers.

Fitting big valve kits, carrying out port matching and head flowing will also boost torque, this will give you raising the torque increase on other modifications.

M13A performance cam tips.

Different M13A 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 engine timing and fuel pump and injectors also have a large bearing on the power gains you'll hit.

A longer valve duration can alter the power 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.

The cam profile plays a big part in the engines power output so cam upgrades make quite a large difference. The intake & exhaust durations will alter depending on the chosen cam profile, so large torque gains are on offer for cam upgrades.

NB: Fast road camshafts commonly raise the power over the rev range, you might lose a little low down torque but top end will be lifted.

Race camshafts, raise the top end band but as a result the car will not idle smoothly and low end power nearly always suffers.

A Competition camshaft will just annoy you whilst driving around busy urban areas.

You should ideally match your power band to your preferences so for a typical daily driver stick with a fast road M13A camshaft

Stage 1, 2 and 3 mods for the M13A

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 M13A parts:

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

Stage 2 M13A parts:

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

Stage 3 M13A parts:

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

A remap helps unlock the full potential of all the upgrades you've done to your M13A.

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 power output usually vary depending on the upgrades you've done and the condition of your engine.

Turbo modifications on the M13A

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 M13A.

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

When a car has forced induction parts are going to net you a larger power gain and you will discover turbo engines are built using strengthened components.

However you'll find engines will have power limits

See where you'll find these limitations and fit more solid crank and pistons to cope with the power.

We've seen people spending a lot of money on turbo upgrades on the M13A only to see the engine explode just after it's been finished.

Large capacity turbo units commonly suffer a bottom end lag, and small turbo units spool up really quickly but don't have the peak end power band gains.

Thanks to new tech the world of turbo chargers is always moving on and we commonly find variable vane turbo chargers, where the vane profile is altered according to speed to lower lag and increase top end power.

Twin scroll turbo chargers divert the exhaust flow into two channels and direct these at differently angled vanes in the turbocharger. They also boost 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 install. We have this article covering twinchargers if you want to read more.

Tips about fuel supply on the M13A

You will need to ensure that the engine is not starved of fuel so will have to ramp up the fuelling when you start going beyond 20% of a performance hike. It makes sense to be generous with your injectors flow rate.

As a rule of thumb add 20% capacity when buying an injector, this takes into account injector deterioration and provides 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 M13A performance exhaust upgrades

Only look to increase your exhaust system with an upgraded one is if your current exhaust is creating a restriction in flow.

On most factory exhausts you'll find the exhaust flow rate is still fine 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 will certainly help air flow out of the engine but avoid an exhaust that is too big or you may end up will reduce the flow rate. Stick to one and a half to two and half inches for best results.

Typically exhaust restrictions can be located the catalyst installed, so adding a higher flowing performance alternative will help avoid this restriction.

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

Faults issues and things to look out for on the M13A

Like most engines an M13A, 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 M13A, failure to do this will exacerbate engine wear, on a tuned M13A 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 M13A why not pop over to the forums at TorqueCars where you can chat about M13A tuning options and read about others projects who may be planning to do similar modifications on their M13A.

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