Find out about "M9R Modifications"

How to modify and upgrade the Renault M9R

"Comprehensive guide to tuning the Renault M9R engine!"

Popular tuning sites like TorqueCars are frequently getting messages requesting info on how to improve the M9R from people inquiring about getting more power from the M9R and wanting to know what are the ultimate M9R power upgrades. So let us look into Renault M9R modifications and outline the best mods that work on this great engine and point out some problems along the way.

The Renault M9R are fantastic to work on and with the optimum modified parts like remapping, turbo upgrades and camshafts you will certainly maximize your driving enjoyment.

Our aim here is to review M9R tuning and provide tips on the ultimate modifications for your car.

When talking about the top parts for your M9R engine, we are going to focus on the modifications that give the best value for money.

Improving air intake on the M9R

You need air matched to fuel for an engine to work. If there is not enough fuel then it will run lean, if there is too little air it runs rich resulting in lost power which risks damage to the M9R. We'll pick up on fuelling later in this article but for now we shall look at air supply.

So it's important to any engine tuning job to pull more air and fuel into your M9R but this has a knock on effect with the air flow sensor.

You'll commonly see there's a limit in the air flow sensor MAP/MAF/AFM on the M9R when considerably more air is being sucked into the engine.

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

Intake take the during the engines suck phase from the air cleaner and allow it to be sucked into the engine cylinders.

Shape and rate of flow of the air Intake manifold can make a noticeable effect on to fuel delivery on the M9R.

Many mass produced engine plenum chambers are crying out for aftermarket tuning parts, although some car makers provide fairly well optimized plenum chambers.

Adding a M9R larger valve kit, doing some port work and head flowing will also increase power, the fantastic side effect is it will raise potential for raising the power increase on other parts.

M9R performance cam tips.

Different M9R engines respond better to different camshaft durations than others.

The engine timing and injectors and fuel pump also have a large bearing on the torque gains you'll make.

A longer valve duration can alter the torque 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 M9R cam will make a dramatic difference to the engine torque. Choosing a higher performance cam profile raises the torque accordingly.

NB: Fast road cams commonly bump the torque throughout the rpm band, you might lose a little low end power but the high end rpm power will be better.

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

A Race camshaft won't do well if driving around busy urban areas.

You should ideally optimize your power band to your driving style so for a daily driver stick with a mild fast road M9R camshaft

Stage 1, 2 and 3 mods for the M9R

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 M9R parts:

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

Stage 2 M9R parts:

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

Stage 3 M9R parts:

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

A remap allows a tuner to unlock the full potential of all the mods you've done to your M9R.

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 usually depend much on the mods you've done and the condition of your engine.

Turbo modifications on the M9R

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 M9R.

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 an engine is fitted with a turbo parts are relatively easy and most turbo charged engines use strengthened components.

However every engines have weakspots

Research these limitations and install better quality crank and pistons to cope with the power.

There are many drivers spending a fortune on turbo upgrades on the M9R only to suffer the indignity of watching the car catastrophically fail on it's first outing after it's used in anger.

Big upgraded turbos will usually experience no power at low rpm, and smaller turbos spool up much more quickly but don't have the peak end torque gains.

In the last 10 years the range of turbochargers is always moving on and we commonly find variable vane turbochargers, permitting the vane profile is altered according to speed to lower lag and increase top end torque.

Twin scroll turbochargers divert the exhaust flow into two channels and feed these at differently profiled vanes in the turbo charger. 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 bhp and torque gains, although harder to setup. We have this article covering twinchargers if you want to read more.

Tips about fuel supply on the M9R

Don't forget to boost the fuel delivery when you are increasing the power - it makes the car more thirsty. Most tuners we speak with say to be generous with your injectors flow rate.

The rule of thumb is to add 15% capacity when specifying 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 M9R performance exhaust upgrades

The only time you should look to boost your exhaust system with an upgraded one is if your current exhaust is creating a flow problem.

On most factory exhausts you should find that the exhaust flow rate is 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 generally help improve air flow out of the engine but do not go too wide or you could will reduce the flow rate. Stick to one and a half to two and half inches for best results.

The usual suspects causing problems in your exhaust flow rate are in the catalysts 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 M9R

Like most engines an M9R, 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 M9R, failure to do this will exacerbate engine wear, on a tuned M9R 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 M9R why not pop over to the forums at TorqueCars where you can chat about M9R tuning options and read about others projects who may be planning to do similar modifications on their M9R.

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