Alfa Romeo 156 Tuning

"Italian Flair at its best."

Probably one of the most disctintive cars to come out of the Alfaromeo stable.  We suggest that you fit uprated suspension and lower the car by 30-35mm. Larger drops require arch work - especially on models already equipped with sports suspension.

Turning our attention to the 156s engine we need to get a bit more power out of the top end. A fast road cam will be one of the best power mod you can do mechanically to your engine.

Don't forget to uprate the fuelling when you are increasing the power - it makes the car more thirsty. Improve your cars response to the throttle with a Fuel pressure boost valve. Uprating the injectors is another beneficial modification and will deliver sufficient fuel. A fuel pump will only deliver a finite amount of fuel, so you may need to uprate this.

Smaller engines do not provide much of a return in terms of power so start with a bigger engine. Engine swaps are a good option if you have a small engine size.

Alfa Romeo 156 Induction kits and sports Exhausts.

Breathing mods are usually next up. Induction kits work well on turbo engines and larger engines, for the smaller 156 engines you should go with a sports panel air filter. Do not go with the biggest exhaust you can find - the best for power gains are usually between 1.5 to 2.5 inches.

When you start tuning your 156 you will find that the standard clutch starts to complain so get an uprated clutch. The larger v6 engines respond quite well to tighter timing and are certainly under stretched in standard form.

The largest power gains for NASP engines usually involve the addition of forced induction. It is easier to bolt on a supercharger than it is to get a turbo working. It is harder to map a turbo as the boost comes on exponentially with engine speed. It is easier to map a supercharger because the boost is proportional to engine speed on a linear curve. To cope with forced induction you will usually need to decrease the compression ratio of the engine.

Alfa Romeo 156 Wheel modifications.

Alloy wheels will help the brakes cool down and are usually lighter than the steel ones. Large 156 alloy wheels can decrease performance. If you get big alloy wheels you will be changing your final drive ratio. Aim to keep the overall rolling diameter of the wheel the same as supplied from the factory. In all cases we do not recommend going above 18 inches.

Please join us in our forum to discuss the 156 options in more detail with our 156 owners. It would also be worth reading our Alfa Romeo tuning articles to get a full grasp of the pros and cons of each type of modification.