Mk2 1600 tuning?

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xIPure

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Just got a Mk2 Ghia as my first car and wanting to know some tuning tips for it, it has a weber 32/34 i think and exhaust manifold of 4,2,1 if that helps
Wanting in future to change to dellorto carbs
 
The best mods for a car engine are as follows.
Internal work yields the biggest gains, head work like porting polishing and 3 angle valve jobs will maximise the airflow and raise the power.

Put on a set of twin 40's for a fairly simple power hike. A few guys are dropping in Coswroth engines to these cars, they have nice big engine bays and are RWD making it a fun car indeed.

If you want to go to the max then cryo treat the block, get it rebored and look into blueprinting and balancing as well.

Bigger valves are an obvious addon but not all engines are suitable as it depends how close together the OEM valves are.

A fast road cam will yield good power gains, especially in the top end of the rev range. Don't go mad though a profile of up to 270 degrees will give the best gains without the engine becoming cammy.

The most popular power mods are induction kits (which are questionable as power mods but they can sound nice if that is your sort of thing) and sports exhausts with sports catalysts - a 4,2,1 branch should work well.

It's worth having a read of the articles on www.torquecars.com/tuning/ for more information on these mods and what the terms mean.
 
If you're intent on tuning the 1600 then it all depends on budget, intended use and power expectation (if any).
You already have the exhaust manifold so that's a reasonable start. Carb-wise you have a choice....keep the existing manifold and throw in a 38 DGAS which, when set up properly yields good results... OR, swap out to a set of 40's. 45's are probably a bit much for a 1600, even with max overbore IMHO.
Next up is camshaft...dont be tempted to go too lairy on the cam...look at what rev limit you will use and where you want the power to appear within it. Next up is a ported big valve head...this makes a BIG difference but can be pricey if you go the whole 9 yards.... still worth it though IMHO.

Having been there and done it many times with Escorts, I would strongly suggest you go and get a 2.0 Pinto of Ebay for about £120-150ish (seen some at half that as well!!). Crossflows are fine and dandy but Pinto's generally yield better results. Same tuning path described above still applies...

Or, if you're feeling REALLY up for it..forget x-flow/pinto etc and get something like a Zetec/Vauxhall 16V or a Nissan SR20. All these can be had cheap and can give you good power straight out of the box. With a turbocharged SR20 you have instant 200+hp and as it was available in RWD form it wont be overly difficult to get it to fit in the engine bay. Granted you will have other things to attend to like fuelling and transmission but hey, you only live once LOL...

TT
 
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