Explore Duratec 37 Modifications"

How to modify and upgrade the Ford Duratec 37

"Comprehensive guide to tuning the Ford Duratec 37 engine!"

Forums like the one at TorqueCars are frequently getting posts requesting info on how to improve the Duratec 37 from people wanting to know what are the greatest Duratec 37 modifications. So let us look into Ford Duratec 37 parts and outline the best modifications on this great engine and point out some frequent tuning mistakes along the way.

The Ford Duratec 37 are popular engines and with carefully chosen mods like ECU maps, turbo upgrades and camshafts you will definitely increase your driving opportunities.

We shall look into Duratec 37 tuning and outline the greatest modifications for your car.

When talking about the best parts for your Duratec 37 engine, we are going to concentrate on the upgrades that give the best power gain for you money.

Improving air intake on the Duratec 37

You need air matched to fuel for an engine to work. If there is insufficient 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 Feeding fuel and air into your Duratec 37 is the whole point to any performance tuning task.

You'll commonly see there is a limitation in the air flow sensor MAP/MAF/AFM on the Duratec 37 when loads more air is being drawn into the engine.

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

Intake manifolds transmit the during the engines suck phase from the air filter and allow it to be sucked into the engine cylinders with fuel for the squish phase.

Structure and rate of flow of the Plenum can make a substantial improvement to fuel atomisation and engine efficiency on the Duratec 37 .

We often see intake are in dire need of aftermarket parts, although a few makers provide reasonably good intake.

Larger Duratec 37 valves, getting Duratec 37 port enlargement and head flowing will also lift torque, and as an added benefit will give you a greater torque increase on other tuning mods.

Duratec 37 performance cam tips.

Different Duratec 37 engines respond better to more or less aggressive camshaft durations check your engine on a rolling road.

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

Longer valve 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 Duratec 37 can be made from cam upgrades. Changing the cam profile alters the intake and exhaust durations on the engine and can dramatically change the torque and power output.

NB: Fast road camshafts commonly raise the power throughout the rev band, you could sacrifice a little low end power but the top end will be higher.

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

In a car driven daily you must carefully try to optimize your bhp range to your driving style.

I'd be amazed if you have found a Duratec 37 Motorsport camshaft is a pleasure to live with when in heavy traffic.

Stage 1, 2 and 3 mods for the Duratec 37

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 Duratec 37 parts:

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

Stage 2 Duratec 37 parts:

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

Stage 3 Duratec 37 parts:

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, Competition cam, Twin charging conversions.

ECU flashing helps fully realize the full potential of all the tuning mods you've done to your Duratec 37 .

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

Turbo modifications on the Duratec 37

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 Duratec 37 .

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

When the engine is fitted with a turbo modifications are relatively easy and you'll see that turbo charged engines are built using strengthened components.

However most engines have weakspots

We recommend you find these limitations and install more solid crank and pistons to utilize the power.

It's not unheard of people spending a lot of money on turbo upgrades on the Duratec 37 only to experience the car go up in smoke when it's completed.

Larger capacity turbos tend to experience a bottom end lag, and smaller turbos spool up much more quickly but won't have the top end torque gains.

Thanks to progress the market of turbochargers is always moving on and we commonly find variable vane turbochargers, allowing the vane angle is altered according to speed to lower lag and increase top end torque.

Twin scroll turbochargers divert the exhaust flow into two channels and flow these at differently profiled vanes in the turbo charger. They also improve the scavenging effect of the engine.

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

Tips about fuel supply on the Duratec 37

Don't forget to look at the fuel delivery when you are increasing the power - it makes the car more thirsty. Experienced mechanics will tell you to over specify your injectors flow rate.

The rule of thumb is to add 20% capacity when buying an injector, this 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 Duratec 37 performance exhaust upgrades

We'd only recommend you look to boost your exhaust system with an upgraded one is if your 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 can usually air flow through the engine but avoid an exhaust that is too wide or you may end up will reduce the flow rate. Stick to one and a half to two and half inches as a rule of thumb.

Usual exhaust restrictions come around the emissions filters installed, so adding a better flowing high 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 Duratec 37

Like most engines an Duratec 37 , 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 Duratec 37 , failure to do this will exacerbate engine wear, on a tuned Duratec 37 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 Duratec 37 why not pop over to the forums at TorqueCars where you can chat about Duratec 37 tuning options and read about others projects who may be planning to do similar modifications on their Duratec 37 .

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