Mk 4 1.25Lx Power Increase

[maniaka]

Hello all

I'll start off by saying no I'm not some Shell suit boy racer, despite my first post being about making my car more powerful... great first impressions

I have been riding motorcycles for the past 7-8 years, and as you can imagine now I've had to get a car for work (I'm a structural engineer so need something to go on site visits) so I'm looking at a cheap way to gain some power. (as compared to the bike a 1.25 fiesta is a bit .... ssslllloooowwweerrr)

Not looking to increase 0-60 times or anything silly (thats what the bikes for B) ) more just an increase to get up hills easier and overcome the lack of ... oomph past 60. Nothing too expensive and I don't care much for car exhausts (especially on a little 1.25 fiesta), I don't really know much other than bike mechanics so I'm guessing things like a K&N air filter, induction kit, ECU remap ? but I don't know if the power increase would be worth it, trying to keep cost to a minimum (obviously my money mainly goes on the bike :P ) So would anyone of you lovely people have any suggestions ?

Despite being a biker I am keen to become a member of this forum and hope I can help and interact with all you internet peoples as best I can

Many thanks guys

Drive safe

Tim

[Lenny]

Hello all

I'll start off by saying no I'm not some shell suit boy racer, despite my first post being about making my car more powerful... great first impressions

I have been riding motorcycles for the past 7-8 years, and as you can imagine now I've had to get a car for work (I'm a structural engineer so need something to go on site visits) so I'm looking at a cheap way to gain some power. (as compared to the bike a 1.25 fiesta is a bit .... ssslllloooowwweerrr)

Not looking to increase 0-60 times or anything silly (thats what the bikes for B) ) more just an increase to get up hills easier and overcome the lack of ... oomph past 60. Nothing too expensive and I don't care much for car exhausts (especially on a little 1.25 fiesta), I don't really know much other than bike mechanics so I'm guessing things like a K&N air filter, induction kit, ECU remap ? but I don't know if the power increase would be worth it, trying to keep cost to a minimum (obviously my money mainly goes on the bike :P ) So would anyone of you lovely people have any suggestions ?

Despite being a biker I am keen to become a member of this forum and hope I can help and interact with all you internet peoples as best I can

Many thanks guys

Drive safe

Tim

Hi Tim,

Sadly without a turbo, there's not much gains from a remap,

Your only option is a K&N induction with 3rd gear on the hills.

If your future work entales a lot of travel then you may consider a nice 2006/2007 focus 1.8TDCi

Fuel economy for traveling and 115bhp as standard

Great for pulling trailers with the bikes on it etc.

Remap would bring you to 140bhp and responds well to the mods.

On your 1.25 though

Keep away from boost chips that trick your inlet temp sensor in to thinking its -30 outside

Because this makes the car run rich

Gives a tad more power but also wastes un-burned fuel.

[maniaka]

Thank you for the response

Would an induction kit need a Re-jet (to be honest I don't even know if my car is carb or FI ...) or a Re-map of the injection system ? As I'm guessing it will alter the fuel/air ratio or do the cars run lean on air from standard ?

Had a quick look but K & N is the only manufacture I recognise (obviously I'm used to other brands), Would K & N be the best to go for and avoid all these cheap ones on eBay ranging from £20 - 40 ?, I can already guess the answer

Many thanks

Tim

P.s, I will be upgrading in the future but I wanted a small car in the mean time as its cheap plus to get used to the width etc as I'm so used to different driving conditions

[Lenny]

Thank you for the response

Would an induction kit need a Re-jet (to be honest I don't even know if my car is carb or FI ...) or a Re-map of the injection system ? As I'm guessing it will alter the fuel/air ratio or do the cars run lean on air from standard ?

Had a quick look but K & N is the only manufacture I recognise (obviously I'm used to other brands), Would K & N be the best to go for and avoid all these cheap ones on ebay ranging from £20 - 40 ?, I can already guess the answer

Many thanks

Tim

P.s, I will be upgrading in the future but I wanted a small car in the mean time as its cheap plus to get used to the width etc as I'm so used to different driving conditions

I personally use a Green Performance induction filter,

And I reckon your car is forced induction no carb

I'm sure a cheaper induction filter will give similar gains, you could also change the fuel filter to aid responce

As for fuel injection

The induction pipe has a MAF sensor

Mass

Air

Flow

It gauges how much air has been taken in and adds fuel accordingly

You could purchase some foam cleaner to clean the MAF sensor too.

A remap is possible but would cost you around £200-£300 for gains of at the most 10bhp

Not much to be gained on a Naturally aspirated N/A engine