Fully Explore "K series K6 Modifications"

How to modify and upgrade the Suzuki K series K6

"Comprehensive guide to performance tuning the Suzuki K series K6 engine!"

Our friends at TorqueCars are always getting emails requesting information on how to improve the K series K6 from people wanting to know what are the things tuners recommend when it comes to K series K6 upgrades. So let us look into Suzuki K series K6 upgrades and outline the best modifications on this great engine and point out some potential pitfalls along the way.

Now we shall provide a guide to K series K6 tuning and summarise the optimum modifications. Suzuki K series K6 are fantastic to work on and with the optimum uprated parts like remaps, turbo upgrades and camshafts you will positively maximise your driving experience.

The top K series K6 parts on an engine are as we have found the ones that give the best gains for your money.

We won't be swayed by popular K series K6 parts, they need to be cost effective.

Improving air intake on the K series K6

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 little flow of 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 whole point to any engine modification project to get fuel and air into your K series K6 but this has a knock on effect with the air flow sensor.

It is not unusual that there is a limitation in the air flow sensor AFM/MAP on the K series K6 when loads more air is being pulled into the engine.

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

Engines intake headers carry the on the suck phase from the filter and allow it to be pulled into the engine cylinders with fuel for the squish phase.

The bore size, shape and flow rate of the Plenum can make a substantial difference to to fuel engine efficiency on the K series K6.

Many mass produced engine intake headers are in desperate need of motorsport parts, although a few car makers provide fairly well optimized intake headers.

Adding a K series K6 larger valve kit, carrying out port work and head flowing will also raise power, and as an added benefit will give you raising the power increase on other parts.

K series K6 performance cam tips.

Different K series K6 engines respond better to less aggressive camshaft durations check your engine on a rolling road.

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

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.

Altering your K series K6 camshaft will make a dramatic difference to the engine engines power. Choosing a higher performance camshaft profile raises the engines power accordingly.

NB: Fast road cams tend to push up the power over the rpm range, you may sacrifice a little low end torque but your higher rpm power will be better.

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

On a car driven daily you should ideally to match your bhp range to your cars usage.

You will never have ever thought a K series K6 Motorsport and race camshaft is a pleasure to live with when driving around busy urban areas.

Stage 1, 2 and 3 mods for the K series K6

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 K6 parts:

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

Stage 2 K series K6 parts:

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

Stage 3 K series K6 parts:

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

Mapping will help release the full potential of all the upgrades you've done to your K series K6.

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 often differs on the upgrades you've done and the condition of your engine.

Turbo modifications on the K series K6

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 K6.

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.

If the engine is turbocharged, parts are simpler to install and you will discover turbo engines are made using many forged and stronger components.

There are reliable limits for every engine, with some being extremely strong and some only able to handle stock power

It is important to find these limitations and install better pistons and crank to handle the power.

It's not unheard of guys spending a lot of money on turbo charger upgrades on the K series K6 only to suffer the indignity of watching the engine block catastrophically fail soon after it's completed.

Large capacity turbos will usually suffer a bottom end lag, and low capacity turbos spool up more quickly but won't have the peak rpm bhp gains.

In recent times the world of turbos is always developing and we are seeing variable vane turbos, allowing the vane profile is altered according to speed to lower lag and increase top end bhp and torque.

Twin scroll turbos divert the exhaust flow into a couple of channels and push these at differently profiled vanes in the turbo charger. 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 bhp gains, although more difficult to configure. We have this guide to twinchargers if you want to read more.

Tips about fuel supply on the K series K6

Don't dismiss the need look at the fuel system when you are increasing the torque - it makes the car more thirsty. Most tuners we speak with say to over specify your injectors flow rate.

The accepted safe increase is to add 20% capacity when buying an injector, helps cope with injector deterioration and gives some 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 K6 performance exhaust upgrades

We'd only recommend you look to replace your exhaust system with an upgraded one is if your current exhaust is actually causing a flow problem.

On most factory exhausts you should find that your 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 will certainly help air flow out of the engine but do not go 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.

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

Cat bypassing (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 K6

Like most engines an K series K6, 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 K6, failure to do this will exacerbate engine wear, on a tuned K series K6 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 K6 why not pop over to the forums at TorqueCars where you can chat about K series K6 tuning options and read about others projects who may be planning to do similar modifications on their K series K6.

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