Tuning the Alfa Romeo 145

"Turning a family hatch into a fun Track car"

The 145 is a great project car if you want a track day car, and our members have some interesting projects underway in our forums. Straight from the factory they handle well and the engines are all pretty lively to start with.

Uprating your 145's cornering and general handling is often a big priority. We look at the best mods and upgrades for your 145, from handling and braking to engine upgrades and performance tuning mods.

Bear in mind that a track day suspension setup will be hard to live with on our roads with potholes and rough surfaces to contend with.

Tuning up a car engine requires carefully sourced parts as the wrong selection and choices can result in a narrow unusable power band.

A popular car sharing much with the 146, and it came with a wide choice of engines including the lovely sounding Boxer engines.

• 1.4 L Boxer
• 1.6 L Boxer
• 1.7 L Boxer
• 1.4 L Twin Spark
• 1.6 L Twin Spark
• 1.8 L Twin Spark
• 2.0 L Twin Spark
• 1.9 L turbocharged diesel)
• 1.9 L JTD (turbocharged diesel)

When it comes to car tuning you always get a percentage gain so start off with a powerful engine to start with to maximise your tuning investment.

Alfa Romeo 145 Tuning modifications.

The 145 is a awesome project car to do. The key to 145 tuning is getting the right mods - a lot of money can be wasted if you do it wrong.

145 Power mods.

For NA (naturally aspirated) engines please watch our video which covers the 5 principles of tuning your 145. Be sure to keep up with our latest YouTube content and subscribe.

Best mods for your 145

1. 145 Handling modifications - Replacing worn bushings and shocks radically improves your 145 handling Poly Bushes and Coilovers are typically fitted to achieve this
2. Flowing and porting the engine head - for larger gains, you will get better flow and make a more efficient engine if you do this to support your other mods.
3. Fast road cams are one of the most significant mechanical changes, but they must be setup by someone who knows what they are doing and they are not always easy to source but we are sure you'l; find a local firm to regrind a stock camshaft for you.
4. Forced induction upgrades - forced induction is the most significant way to improve intake air supply, ensuring you are able to use more fuel and make power gains. It is one of the most expensive modifications but provides the best gains.
5. Braking Mods - Enhancing your stopping power should be high on your agenda.
6. Air Induction and Exhaust Upgrades - Note that on their own these mods will NOT ADD PERFORMANCE in most applications, but they permit you to enhance power after other mods by lessening the restrictive flow.
7. Lightened Flywheels - a lower weight flywheel will improve the engines rev changes. But not always suitable for all 145 engines.
8. Remaps - 145 engine tuning/remapping offers the biggest gains for your outlay, aftermarket ECU upgrades, and inline Tuning boxes are all alternatives.

145 Tuning Stages

Typical stage 1 mods often include: Suspension upgrade (drop ), Lighter flywheel, Alloy wheels, Sports exhaust, Panel air filter, Remap.

Typical stage 2 mods often include: high flow fuel injector, fuel pump upgrades, Fast road cam, Power/Sport clutch, Ported and polished head.

Typical stage 3 mods often include: Competition cam, Adding or upgrading forced induction (turbo/supercharger), Internal engine upgrades (pistons/head/valves), Engine balancing, Sports gearbox.

145 Handling/Suspension upgrades

Improving the handling for many people first priority in your 145 tuning project.

We would go to a maximum drop of 23 - 42 on most models. You risk compromising your handling if you go lower than this.

Adjusting the handling is often the first step in using the 145.Adjusting the 145's handling is often the first step in modifying it.

When it comes to modding your 145, one of the most often aims and objectives is to improve its handling. However, we continue to encounter the same mistakes.

Good Quality coilovers permit you to set a ride hight and this allows you to tweak your cars handling to suit your driving style.

One of the most popular reasons for uprating your 145 suspension is to improve its handling. However, we see the same issues repeated repeated again and over.

Improvements to the bushings

Enhancements to the bushings: Things you need to know

Bushes, which are rubber mounts, allow the 145's suspension components to be affixed to the car's chassis. The rubber ones will start to fail as they age.

Installing new OEM rubber bushings may dramatically improve the performance of your car.

Because polyurethane bushes are stiffer, the ride may be more harsh, but the bushes will last longer and maintain the car's handling over a longer time.

Worn bushes may also quicken the decay of other suspension components due to the increased vibration and play.

Peak power is all well and good but if you want a truly driveable car it will need a wide power band and lots of low down torque. Don't get misled by manufacturer claims of big peak power gains, they don't tell the whole story, it is the torque or power band you need to focus your attention on.

One of the most significant with the best cost to power gain, engine mods you can do is to fit a fast road cam. You will need to ensure that the engine is not starved of fuel so will need to uprate the fuelling. For fuelling upgrades you will generally need a set of uprated injectors and a higher capacity fuel pump.

Alfa Romeo 145 intake and exhaust modifications.

Let's move on to the engine intake and exhaust and ensure proper flow through the engine. The maximum power gains generally come from a full induction kit with a cold air feed, this can be sited within an air box but a panel filter should suffice for most applications. On smaller engines you can actually lose low down power so TorqueCars suggest you use a panel air filter instead.

Our forums are a good place to ask about which mods are most suitable for you car. Do not go with the biggest exhaust you can find this will slow up the exhaust flow rate - the best for power gains are usually between 1.5 to 2.5 inches. See our article on performance exhausts for details of the issue around large bore exhausts and how to choose the right size for your engine.

Getting a professionally flowed head with larger valves can fully release the engines power. A good fast road power clutch will help to keep that power going where it should. Never just hope that a standard worn clutch will cope. Remaps offer limited gains on a NA (naturally aspirated) engine but they will help unleash the potential if you have done a lot of mods.

The largest power gains for NA (naturally aspirated) engines usually involve the addition of forced induction. There are supercharger kits and turbo kis around for the Alfa Romeo but you should note that it is easier to bolt on a supercharger than it is to get a turbo working. With a turbo the boost curve is related exponentially to the engine speed making it hard to map. It is easier to map a supercharger because the boost is proportional to engine speed on a linear curve. Alternatively you could add water injection to control knock.

Alfa Romeo 145 Wheel modifications.

Alloy wheels will help the brakes cool down and are usually lighter than the steel ones. Large wheels tend to be heavy and the last thing you want is to increase the unsprung mass in your car, instead choose performance tyres and light weight wheels of a similar size to the OEM settings on 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 17 inches.

If you would like to know more, or just get some friendly advice on Tuning your car please join us in our car forums where you can discuss 145 options in more detail with our 145 owners. It would also be worth reading our unbiased Alfa Romeo tuning articles to get a full grasp of the benefits and drawbacks of each modification.

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This article is flagged for an update, so please pass on specific tips below that I can include. All articles, and content was written by me, Waynne Smith TorqueCars founder. Some outlines are just too general so I appreciate your feedback and suggestions. This entry was filed under Alfa Romeo. You can leave a response below or join our forum to discuss this article and car modification in detail with our members.

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