Modding and performance tuning parts for the Suzuki K series K10 engine!

Fully Explore "K series K10 Modifications"

How to modify and upgrade the Suzuki K series K10

"Comprehensive guide to tuning the Suzuki K series K10 engine!"

TorqueCars are always getting posts asking about how to improve the K series K10 from people inquiring about getting more power from the K series K10 and wanting to know what are the best tips for K series K10 power upgrades. So let us look into Suzuki K series K10 mods and outline the best mods that work on this great engine and point out some frequent tuning mistakes along the way.

The Suzuki K series K10 offer good returns when tuned and with the optimum upgrades like remaps, turbo kits and camshafts you will improve your driving enjoyment.

Car Tuning Tips will consider K series K10 tuning and summarise the best modifications.

Just because particular tuning mods are appear in lots of K series K10 projects it doesn't mean its worth having, instead we will focus on the best tuning mods that will give your K series K10 the biggest power gain return for your cash.

Without us subscribing to the common myth of 'if it's shiny and makes more noise it must be good' you seem to get in many tuning magazines and on car forums'.

K series K10 induction kits

Improving air intake on the K series K10

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

So Forcing more fuel and air into each cylinder is the aim to any performance tuning project.

It is not unusual that there's a restriction in the air flow sensor AFM/MAP on the K series K10 when considerably more air is being fed into the engine.

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

Intake flow the air from the air filter and allow it to be drawn into the engine cylinders with fuel for the squish phase.

Shape and flow rate of the air Intake manifold can make a substantial improvement to fuel delivery on the K series K10.

We often see intake manifold are needing aftermarket parts, although a few car makers provide reasonably well designed intake manifold.

Adding a K series K10 larger valve kit, doing some K series K10 port enlargement and head flowing will also raise torque, this will allow you to get increasing the torque increase on other tuning mods.

K series K10 performance cam tips.

Each engine responds better to extreme camshaft durations so set your engine up on a rolling road.

The ecu map and injectors and fuel pump also will make differences on the bhp gains you'll achieve.

A longer valve duration can alter the bhp 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 K series K10 can be made from cam upgrades. Changing the cam profile alters the intake and exhaust durations on the engine and can dramatically change the bhp and power output.

NB: Fast road cams usually push up the performance across the rpm range, you could sacrifice a little bottom end bhp but the high end rpm power will be better.

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

A Competition cam won't do well if driving around busy urban areas.

You should ideally match your engines power to your typical driving style so for a road car stick with a shorter duration K series K10 cam

Stage 1, 2 and 3 mods for the K series K10

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 K series K10 parts:

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

Tuning tips and articles Engine tuning Transmission tuning Care care Intake & exhaust mods Improve handling Forums

Stage 2 K series K10 parts:

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

Stage 3 K series K10 parts:

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

The K series K10 engine blocks respond well to mods and we're happy to report there are quite a few choices of mods and performance parts about.

Mapping helps unlock the full potential of all the upgrades you've done to your K series K10.

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 your mileage will rely on the upgrades you've carried out and the condition of your engine.

Turbo modifications on the K series K10

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 K series K10.

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

If a car is fitted with a turbo parts are going to make more power and you will discover turbo charged engines will have harder and stronger components.

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

Research these limitations and fit forged components to utilize the power.

There are many people spending a lots of money on turbocharger upgrades on the K series K10 only to have the car catastrophically fail on it's first outing after it's completed.

Larger capacity turbos tend to experience low end lag, and small turbos spool up much more quickly but won't have the top end power band gains.

Thanks to new tech the choice of turbo chargers is always moving on and we now see 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 2 channels and push these at differently angled vanes in the turbo charger. They also help the scavenging effect of the engine.

Beefing up the air intake by adding a supercharger or additional turbo will help you achieve very large bhp and torque gains, although harder to install. We have this guide to twinchargers if you want to read more.

Tips about fuel supply on the K series K10

Don't miss you'll need to boost the fuel delivery when you are increasing the bhp - it makes the car more thirsty. We would recommend you to be generous with your injector capacity.

The rule of thumb is to add 15% when fitting an injector, helps cope with injector deterioration and provides a bit of spare capacity should the engine need 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 K series K10 performance exhaust upgrades

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

On most factory exhausts you'll see the exhaust flow rate is still ok 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 large or you could will reduce the flow rate. Stick to one and a half to two and half inches as a rule of thumb.

The usual suspects causing problems in your exhaust flow rate come around the filters installed, so adding a better flowing race alternative will help avoid this restriction.

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

Faults issues and things to look out for on the K series K10

Like most engines an K series K10, 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 K series K10, failure to do this will exacerbate engine wear, on a tuned K series K10 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 K series K10 why not pop over to the forums at TorqueCars where you can chat about K series K10 tuning options and read about others projects who may be planning to do similar modifications on their K series K10.

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