626 Tuning

"Creating a hot saloon"

The 626 is a lovely car and has an impressive range of engines, even the 1.6 is a lively unit and responds well to a few tuning mods. The 2.0 is a better proposition and rewards your expense with larger power gains.

Improving the handling should be your first priority in your 626 tuning project, there is quite a bit of body roll and older models suffer from worn bushings and sag. We suggest that you fit uprated suspension, a rear anti roll bar, and lower the car by 30-35mm. Larger drops require arch work - especially on models already equipped with sports suspension.

Our aim in 626 engine tuning should be to increase peak power and Torque at the top end.

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.

Mazda 626 Tuning modifications.

Doing this will help to keep the cars economy at lower speeds. Fast road cams offer one of the biggest performance gains as far as a bolt on part goes. You will need to ensure that the engine is not starved of fuel so will need to uprate the fuelling. A fuel pressure boost valve can make the car more responsive and respond better although it will not increase the power output. Uprated injectors will enable you to supply sufficient fuel to the engine. A fuel pump will only deliver a finite amount of fuel, so you may need to uprate this if your injectors are demanding more fuel.

Mazda 626 Intake and Exhaust Tuning.

The next area for modification is the intake and exhaust. Induction kits work well on turbo engines and larger engines (if supplied with a suitable cold air feed or air box), for the smaller 626 engines you should go with a sports panel air filter. Sports exhausts balance the flow of air throught the engine. But if your exhaust is too large, ie it is over 2.5 inches bore, you will lose a lot of the flow rate and lose power on most engines.

Airflow through the head can be dramatically increased with some professional porting and polishing. These should match and be setup to take into account any other engine mods. In nearly all cases of 626 tuning your clutch will start to slip and this needs to be uprated - read our article on clutches for more information. Remaps offer significant power gains on all turbo charged cars. On NASP engines the benefits are doubtful.

However a remap on a NASP engine will help unleash the potential if you have done a lot of mods. Adding forced induction will see big power gains but this is usually too expensive to be cost effective. 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. Superchargers however will give a boost which is proporttional to engine speed so is easier to map. Adding forced induction will usually require a lower compression ratio or water injection.

If you really want a turbo engine in your 626 it would be a lot easier to drop in a Mazda turbo engine than it will be to get a turbo working on a NASP engine.

Mazda 626 Wheel modifications.

Because alloy wheels are lighter they improve performance and they help to cool the brake disks. Large 626 alloy wheels can decrease performance. If you get big alloy wheels you will be changing your final drive ratio and this will affect the gearing of your car. 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 16 inches.

For more information on Tuning your car please join us in our friendly forum where you can discuss 626 options in more detail with our 626 owners. It would also be worth reading our unbiased Mazda tuning articles to get a full grasp of the benefits and drawbacks of each modification.