All you need to know about "Epsilon Modifications"

How to modify and upgrade the Hyundai Epsilon

"Comprehensive guide to performance parts and tuning the Hyundai Epsilon engine!"

TorqueCars are frequently getting posts requesting info on how to improve the Epsilon from people inquiring about getting more power from the Epsilon and wanting to know what are the best Epsilon upgrades. So let us look into Hyundai Epsilon parts and outline the best modifications on this great engine and point out some problems along the way.

The Hyundai Epsilon make awesome project engines and with a few sensible sports parts like a remap, turbo improvements and camshafts you will positively increase your driving opportunities.

Car Tuning Tips will look into Epsilon tuning and report on the optimum mods that work.

Just because particular modifications are are common on Epsilon it doesn't mean it is good, so we'll concentrate on the ultimate modifications that will give your Epsilon the best value for money to power increase.

Without us subscribing to the misaprehension 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'.

Improving air intake on the Epsilon

You need air and fuel for an engine to work. If there is not enough fuel then it will run lean, if there is a lack of air it runs rich sapping power which risks damage to the Epsilon. We'll pick up on fuelling later in this article but for now we shall look at air supply.

So Pushing air into the Epsilon engine is vital to any engine upgrade task.

It is not unusual that there's a restriction in the air flow sensor AFM/MAP on the Epsilon when a lot more air is being sucked into the engine.

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

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

The bore size, shape and rate of flow of the air Intake manifold can make a big difference to to fuel atomisation on the Epsilon.

Many mass produced engine intake are in desperate need of performance upgrades, although some car makers provide reasonably well designed intake.

Increasing the Epsilon valve size, doing a bit of port work and head flowing will also raise power, & more importantly will permit a better power increase on other parts.

Epsilon performance cam tips.

Some Epsilon engines respond better to mild camshaft durations so set your engine up on a rolling road.

The ecu map and fuel pump and injectors also have an effect on the power gains you'll make.

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.

Significant air intake, and exhaust improvements on the Epsilon 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 camshafts commonly raise the power throughout the rpm band, you could drop a little bottom end power but your high end rpm power will improve.

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

For a car used daily you should ideally to optimize your engines power to your typical driving style.

You will never find a Epsilon Competition cam is a pleasure to live with when on the daily commute.

Stage 1, 2 and 3 mods for the Epsilon

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 Epsilon parts:

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

Stage 2 Epsilon parts:

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

Stage 3 Epsilon parts:

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

Remapping helps fully realize the full potential of all the upgrades you've done to your Epsilon.

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

Turbo modifications on the Epsilon

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 Epsilon.

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

If your car has forced induction upgrades are going to net you a larger power gain and turbo engines are made using better components.

There are weak spots for every engine, with some being over specified and some only able to handle stock power

See where you'll find these limitations and upgrade to better quality components to cope with the power.

We've seen drivers spending a loads of money on turbocharger upgrades on the Epsilon only to suffer the humiliation of seeing the motor explode on it's first outing after it's used on the roads.

Bigger turbo chargers often suffer no power at low rpm, and smaller turbo chargers spool up much more quickly but won't have the peak rpm bhp gains.

Thanks to new tech the choice of turbos is always improving and we are seeing variable vane turbos, where the vane angle is altered according to speed to lower lag and increase top end power.

Twin scroll turbos divert the exhaust flow into a couple of channels and push these at differently profiled 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 torque gains, although more complex to install. We have this guide to twinchargers if you want to read more.

Tips about fuel supply on the Epsilon

When you lift the bhp you will need to uprate to the fuelling.

More bhp needs more fuel. Don't forget to over specify your flow rate on the injectors.

As a rule of thumb add 15% to the flow rate when fitting an injector, which takes into account injector deterioration and provides you 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 Epsilon performance exhaust upgrades

You only need to to boost your exhaust system with an upgraded one is if your current exhaust is creating a restriction.

On most factory exhausts you'll find the 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.

Note that with the widest exhaust you can buy you'll reduce the exhaust flow rate - the best exhausts for power gains are usually between one and a half to two and half inches. Your exhaust design, the bend angles and construction are what have more effect on flow rates than your pipe width to a certain extent. So the exhaust design is a big factor.

The usual suspects causing problems in your exhaust flow rate are in the catalyst installed, so adding a better flowing sports alternative will help avoid this restriction.

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

Faults issues and things to look out for on the Epsilon

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

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