Explore ES9 Modifications"

How to modify and upgrade the PSA ES9

"Comprehensive guide to performance parts and tuning the PSA ES9 engine!"

Ever pondered on the idea of adding an extra dash of performance to your driving experience? Well, if you're on the lookout for the ultimate guide on upgrades for your ES9 engine, you're in the right place.

Join me on a journey to unlock the full potential of your Peugeot powerhouse without sending your budget into a tailspin.

The ES9, a 3.0-liter V6 gem from the late '90s to early 2000s, is not just an engine; it's a testament to French engineering finesse.

Imagine this: the ES9 humming under the hood of your Peugeot 406 or 607, ready to unleash its Gallic charm on the open road.

Now, let's dive into the specifics, because that's where the magic happens. The ES9 might not be the most powerful engine on the block, but it brings a certain je ne sais quoi to the table. With horsepower figures dancing around 210 and a torque that ensures a smooth, responsive ride, the ES9 is a performance poetry in motion.

So, why am I, your car club companion, waxing poetic about the ES9? Because we're not just here for idle chit-chat; we're here to guide you through the art of modifications and upgrades. And guess what? We're aiming to make your ES9 purr without causing a financial revolution.

So, tighten those lug nuts, because the next part of our adventure is about turning that Peugeot into a V6 masterpiece.

It's not just about saving time; it's about making every drive with your ES9 a symphony of Gallic elegance and power. Stay tuned, and let's elevate that Peugeot journey together!

Forums like the one at TorqueCars often are getting emails asking how to improve the ES9 from people wanting to know what are the best tips on ES9 power upgrades. So let us look into PSA ES9 parts and outline the best modifications on this great engine and point out some common pitfalls along the way.

Therefore we review and look at ES9 tuning and provide tips on the best upgrades. PSA ES9 make awesome project engines and with a few sensible modified parts like remaps, turbo improvements and camshafts you will really improve your driving fun.

The ultimate ES9 tuning parts on an engine are as we have found the ones that give the biggest return for your money.

We won't be swayed by popular ES9 tuning parts, they need to be cost effective.

Improving air intake on the ES9

You need air and 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 losing power . We'll pick up on fuelling later in this article but for now we shall look at air supply.

So Feeding more air into your ES9 is the primary aim to any engine modification project.

It is common that there's a limitation in the air flow sensor AFM/MAF on the ES9 when loads more air is being pulled into the engine.

When tuning you may well find you need to get an air sensor or flow meter capable of upto 4 bars to cope with quite large power gains, whereas the OEM air sensor limited performance at a much lower level.

The intake plenum take the air during the suck phase from the filter and allow it to be drawn into the engine and mixed with fuel.

The size of bore and shape and flow characteristics of the air Intake manifold can make a large difference to to fuel atomisation and engine efficiency on the ES9.

Commonly we find the intake headers are improved through a performance upgrade, although a few car makers provide decently flowing intake headers.

Big valve conversions on the ES9, doing some port work and head flowing will also increase performance, the fantastic side effect is it will give you an improved performance increase on other parts.

ES9 performance cam tips.

Some ES9 engines respond better to more or less aggressive camshaft durations so view each engine as unique.

The ECU mapping and injectors and fuel pump also will make differences on the power gains you'll achieve.

Extending exhaust or intake durations 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.

Significant air intake, and exhaust improvements on the ES9 can be made from camshaft upgrades. Changing the camshaft profile alters the intake and exhaust durations on the engine and can dramatically change the power band and power output.

NB: Fast road cams usually raise the bhp over the rpm range, you could drop a little bottom end torque but the top end will be better.

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

On a daily driver you should ideally to optimize your engines power to your preferences.

You'll never have found a ES9 Competition camshaft is a pleasure to live with when driving around busy urban areas.

Stage 1, 2 and 3 mods for the ES9

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 ES9 parts:

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

Stage 2 ES9 parts:

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

Stage 3 ES9 parts:

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

Remaps should help to unlock the full potential of all the mods you've done to your ES9.

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 figures achieved will vary depending on the mods you've done and the condition of your engine.

Turbo modifications on the ES9

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 ES9.

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 fitted with a turbocharger tuning mods are simpler to install and we find turbo charged engines are built with many forged and stronger components.

However engines have weakspots

Research these restrictions and upgrade to more solid crank and pistons to handle the power.

We see many car owners spending a lot of money on turbo upgrades on the ES9 only to suffer the humiliation of seeing the motor literally blow up when it's used in anger.

Bigger upgraded turbochargers commonly experience no power at low rpm, and low capacity turbochargers spool up quickly but do not have the peak end bhp gains.

We are pleased that the world of turbochargers is always evolving and we are seeing variable vane turbochargers, allowing the vane profile is altered according to speed to lower lag and increase top end torque.

Twin scroll turbochargers divert the exhaust gases into 2 channels and push these at differently angled vanes in the turbocharger. 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 gains, although harder to install. We have this in depth look at twinchargers if you want to read more.

Tips about fuel supply on the ES9

When you improve the bhp you will need to ramp up to the fuelling.

More bhp needs more fuel. Most tuners we speak with say to over specify your flow rate on the injectors.

The accepted safe increase is to add 15% capacity when specifying an injector, helps cope with injector deterioration and provides a little 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 ES9 performance exhaust upgrades

You may need to boost your exhaust system with an upgraded one is if your current exhaust is actually causing a restriction in flow.

On most factory exhausts you'll find 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 through 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 for best results.

Typically exhaust restrictions can be traced to the filters installed, so adding a freer 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 ES9

Like most engines an ES9, 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 ES9, failure to do this will exacerbate engine wear, on a tuned ES9 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 ES9 why not pop over to the forums at TorqueCars where you can chat about ES9 tuning options and read about others projects who may be planning to do similar modifications on their ES9.

We need your help to complete and improve this page, so do give us your feedback in the comments box below.

We want to know your experiences with parts on your ES9, it helps us improve our tips and keeps us current so please use the comments box to drop a tip.

This entry was posted under Makes and Models. Tags: engine, PSA
You can leave a response below or join our forum to discuss this article and car modification in detail with our members.

If you liked this page please share it with your friends, drop a link to it in your favourite forum or use the bookmarking options to save it to your social media profile.

Check out TorqueCars new YouTube channel, and see their awesome new content...