Stage 0 - (204bhp) The first thing to do with the c20let like any other engine is of course to make sure that its well serviced, specifically any weakness in the ignition system in particular will greatly limit the tuning potential of the engine, so make sure the plugs/leads/rotor arm/distributor cap are all in perfect working order before you even consider upping the boost etc. Cost: 200-500 Stage 1 (250bhp) The simplest place to look for more power is to increase the boost level, the standard engine is limited on boost by the software within the ecu, so in order to run more boost you will first need to change the chips within the ecu to allow more boost to be produced. There is a wide choice of chips available to do this, but unless you also upgrade the intercooler you will be limited on power to around 250bhp Cost: 200-300 Stage 2 (280bhp) With an uprated intercooler (and boost pipes) and also a raised boost level you should be able to squueze around 280bhp out of a completely standard engine with no other modifications needed other than an increase in fuel pressure and adjusting the actuator, at this level the standard components are all well within their capabilities and this is a very popular level of tune to take these engines to as its power to match most cars on the road without spending out a lot of money. Cost: 600-1000 Stage 3 (300-350bhp) Getting past 300bhp to any significant extent is going to require a change of turbo, the standard K16 turbo is simply not capable of flowing enough air for much more, along with a change of exhaust as the standard one is too restrictive at this level. When it comes to upgrading the turbo there are two very different paths you can go down, the first is to go for a modified K16 turbo or a hybrid (such as a K16/K26 hybrid), fitted to the original exhaust manifold, the second option is to go for a custom manifold and replace the turbo with another type of turbo altogether, with the most popular choice being the Garrett T or GT series of turbos. For the upper end of this power range, you will also need to uprate your fuel pump, and the inlet manifold tophat, the standard injectors too are absolutely on their knees and its common practice to replace these with 440cc or larger items. Ultimately this is the stage to which you are you are limited by the engine internals, so this is the furthest you can realistically tune the engine without having to actually remove it from the car and start modifying it internally Cost : 2000-4000 Stage 4 (400bhp) At this stage it becomes necessary to start making major mechanical changes to the engine itself, the standard conrods simply wont survive for long at this level and so have to be replaced, this is not a trivial task and will involve a total engine stripdown and rebuild to incorporate the new conrods, at which point most people will opt to replace the pistons too in order to drop the compression ratio to allow for far more boost to be utilised so costs really start to climb here typically. Also needing to be changed is the standard inlet manifold which will not flow evenly to each cylinder anymore at this level and likewise the exhaust manifold will need to be replaced for an equal length tubular item, along with a much larger turbo. The standard injectors too will have to be replaced at this level, typically with aftermarket 550cc items. The original equipment motronic management however copes surprisingly well with big changes to the engine providing the software is updated accordingly, and even the standard air mass meter has been proven to cope accurately upto 400bhp. Cost: 5000 - 10000 Stage 5 (450bhp+) A change of management to an aftermarket ECU will remove the restriction of the air mass meter and open up the nearly limitless potential of the C20LET, the cylinder head will also need modifying at this level to open up the ports to allow more airflow, the standard cams are also too mild for this sort of power and will need replacing too, along with all the valve train components, as the standard valvesprings. The sky truely is the limit though and examples have been dynod at 700bhp and above, but the number of standard components remaining at that level is almost none! Its impossible to really give any firm guidelines of what to do at this level as different tuners will all have their preferred approach, but suffice to say that getting this sort of power reliabley from your LET engine is going to mean replacing almost everything, so expect to be paying 10K+ at this point! Cost 10000-20000
Posted on: Sun, 20 Oct 2013 12:56:19 +0000
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