Audi EA111 Tuning (1.0 1.2 & 1.3 1.4 R3 TSi TFSi )

"All you need to know about tuning the Audi EA111 engine!"

The Audi EA111 are fantastic to work on and with a few sensible upgrades like remapping, turbo kits and camshafts you will definitely increase your driving fun.

This pages aim is consider EA111 tuning and outline the best modifications.

The Ea111 utizised a twin charger and was the first foray into very high powered small capacity engines. We are covering the 1.4 in a separate article as this was quite a popular engine.

It was replaced with the EA211 where most of the issues and problems were ironed out, but it took a few versions before the carbon build up issue was fully resolved.

History, Power & Specs of the Engine

The EA111 arrived in 1974 and had a long production run, and some design elements still carry over into the latest EA211 engines and still exists today.

1.0 R3 12valve version

  • CHYA 59 bhp
  • CHYB 74 bhp
  • CSEB 83 bhp
  • DHSB 114 bhp

1.2 R3 6 valve version

  • AWY, BMD 54 bhp) at 4,750 rpm(80 lbft) at 3,000 rpm
  • BBM 59 bhp) at 5,000 rpm(80 lbft) at 3,000 rpm

1.2 R3 12 valve versions

  • AZQ, BME 63 bhp) at 5,400 rpm(83 lbft) at 3,000 rpm
  • BZG, CEV, CGPA 68 bhp) at 5,400 rpm(83 lbft) at 3,000 rpm

1.2 TSi TFSi

  • CBZA 84 bhp
  • CBZB 103 bhp
  • CBZC 89 bhp

1.4 TFSi

This came in the following codes, but we deal with it in it's own article as it was so popular

  • BLG 125 kW 170PS 168 bhp
  • BMY 103 kW 140PS 138 bhp
  • CAXA 92 kilowatts 125 PS; 123 bhp
  • CACX 92 kw 125 PS 123 bhp
  • BWK CAVA  CAVF CTHA CNWB CNUB 110 kW 150PS  148 bhp
  • CAVD CNWA CTHD CTKA CKMA 118 kW 160PS 158  bhp
  • CFBA 96kw 131ps 129 bhp
  • CAVG CTHG CTJA 136 kW 185ps
  • CAVE CTHE 132 kW 179PS 175bhp

1.6 TFSi

  •  77kw / 5000rpm
  •  155Nm / 3800rpm

Tuning the Audi EA111 and best EA111 performance parts.

Best EA111 parts

Just because particular tuning parts are are common on EA111 it doesn't mean it is good, we shall best tuning parts that will give your EA111 the best power gain for you money.

Altering your EA111 camshaft will make a dramatic difference to the engine torque. Choosing a higher performance camshaft profile raises the torque accordingly.

Fast road cams commonly increase the performance throughout the rev range, you could sacrifice a little bottom end torque but the high end rpm power will be lifted.

Motorsport cams, increase the high end rpm power band but as a result the car will not idle smoothly and low end power nearly always suffers.

A Motorsport and race camshaft is not great driving in heavy traffic.

You should ideally match your power band to your cars usage so for a daily driver stick with a mild fast road EA111 camshaft

Different EA111 engines respond better to extreme cam durations so view each engine as unique.

The engine timing and injectors and fuel pump also have an effect on the torque gains you'll hit.

Altering valve durations can alter the torque band and on most engines the exhaust and intake durations do not need to match, although most cams and tuners use matched pairs there are some advantages to extending the intake or exhaust durations.

Please watch our video which covers the best mods for the EA111 tfsi engine your car. Be sure to keep up with our latest YouTube content and subscribe.

Best Engine Mods for your EA111

  1. Engine Tunes - engine tuning/remapping provides the most advantage in terms of cost savings,  aftermarket ECUs, and piggyback ECUs are all alternatives.
  2. Fast road cams are one of the most significant mechanical changes, but they must be installed by someone who knows what they're doing and they are not always easy to source but you might find a local firm to regrind a stock camshaft.
  3. Intake and Exhaust - Note that on their own these mods will NOT ADD POWER in most cases, but they can help enhance power after other mods by removing the restriction.
  4. Upgrades to turbochargers and superchargers - forced induction is the most efficient approach to increase air supply, allowing you to burn more fuel and make more power. It is one of the most costly upgrades but provides the best gains.
  5. Head work - The goals of porting and flowing the head are to get air flowing into the engine while removing flow restrictions and turbulence.

Typical stage 1 mods often include: Remaps/piggy back ECU, Panel air filters, Intake manifolds, Fast road camshaft, drilled & smoothed airbox, Sports exhaust header/manifold.

Typical stage 2 mods often include: fuel pump upgrades, high flow fuel injectors, Ported and polished head, Fast road cam, induction kit, Sports catalyst & performance exhaust.

Typical stage 3 mods often include: Crank and Piston upgrades to alter compression, Engine balancing & blueprinting, Competition cam, Internal engine upgrades (head flowing porting/bigger valves), Twin charging conversions, Adding or Upgrading forced induction (turbo/supercharger).

Carefully think through your options and then source your upgrades and set yourself a power target to save yourself from expensive mistakes.

ECU flashing helps release the full potential of all the parts you've fitted to your EA111.

(In some cases, as the factory ECU is locked flashing is not an option, so an aftermarket ECU is the route to take, and many of these will outperform factory ECU's but make sure it has knock protection and that you get it setup properly.)

It will usually give you around 30% more power on turbocharged vehicles and you can expect to see around 15% on NA (naturally aspirated) engines, but power output usually rely on the parts you've fitted and the condition of your engine.

Feeding air and fuel into each cylinder is the whole point to any engine modification task.

Intake manifold transmit the air from the intake filter and allow it to be sucked into the engine cylinders with fuel for the squish phase.

Shape and rate of flow of the Intake manifold can make a substantial effect on to fuel atomisation on the EA111.

It's not uncommon that manifolds are improved through an upgrade, although some OEM provide fairly well optimized headers.

Fitting big valve kits, getting EA111 port enlargement and head flowing will also increase performance, & more importantly will give you an improved performance increase on other tuning mods.

EA111 Turbo upgrades

The more air you can get into an engine, the more fuel it can burn and uprating the induction with a turbocharger upgrade makes excellent power gains.

The twincharge version combine both a supercharger and turbo and offers quite a decent amount of power in stock form.

There are weak spots for every engine, with some being incredibly solid and some only just able to handle stock power the EA111 will generally cope with power gains to around 200hp, after this you need to start uprating components depending on how far you are wanting to go.

See where you'll find these limitations and install higher quality components to survive the power.

It's not unheard of people spending a loads of money on turbo charger upgrades on the EA111 only to experience the EA111 go up in smoke on it's first outing after it's been finished. Careful mapping is key to forced induction upgrades.

Large capacity turbos tend to suffer no power at low rpm, and low capacity turbos spool up more quickly but won't have the high rpm bhp gains, but combining this with the supercharger can virtually eliminate lag.

Thanks to new tech the range of turbochargers is always moving on and we now see variable vane turbochargers, where the vane profile is altered according to speed to lower lag and increase top end torque.

Twin scroll turbochargers divert the exhaust flow into two channels and flow these at differently angled vanes in the turbo charger. They also help the scavenging effect of the engine.

You'll commonly see there's a limitation in the air flow sensor MAP/MAF/AFM on these engines when loads more air is being pulled into the engine.

We see 4 bar air sensors coping with quite large power gains, whereas the OEM air sensor sapped bhp and torque at a much lower level.

Adding a supercharger or additional turbo will make large power gains, although more complex to install. We have this feature on twinchargers if you want to read more.

EA111 Fuelling

You will need to ensure that the engine is not starved of fuel so will need to uprate the fuelling when you start extending past 20% of a torque increase.

The base setup is actually pretty good and generally the turbo will run out of puff long before the fuel system does, but in the case of heavily tuned projects you may need to upgrade some aspects of the fuel system.

The VW Audi group were early adopters of direct injection technology and we have seen rapid advancements in high pressure fuel pumps, injectors and nozzle design.

Often sourcing more recently made components provides an upgrade path, but the key is always matching the fuel with air, and getting the map to take into account any fuel system modifications you have carried out.

The direct injection system operates at ridiculously high pressure and copes well with most upgrades from tunes or remaps to camshafts, but if you need more then invest in a newed spec higher capacity injector with the 5 hole spray pattern, this greatly improves on the power output compared with the early ones.

It makes sense to be generous with your flow rate on the injectors which gives headroom for your next set of mods and upgrades, and allows for deterioration in the fuel system over time.

The accepted safe increase is to add 20% to the flow rate when buying an injector, this takes into account injector deterioration and allows you some spare capacity should the engine require more fuel.

EA111 Exhaust mods

You should look to upgrade your exhaust if the existing exhaust is creating a restriction.

On most factory exhausts you'll see your flow rate is still fine even on modest power gains, but when you start pushing up the power levels you will need to get a better flowing exhaust.

Sports exhausts generally help improve air flow from the engine but do not go too big or you might just stuff your flow rate and make things worse. So generally speaking, keep to a size of 1.5 to 2.5 inches for best results.

Usual exhaust restrictions are in the catalyst and filters installed, so adding a better flowing performance catalyst removes the restriction. We note that performance cats perform similarly to decats and have the added benefit of keeping your car street legal, as decats or catalyst removal is illegal in most territories for road going cars.

Weak spots Issues & problem areas on the EA111

The EA111 engines are generally reliable and solid units, as long as you follow the manufacturers service schedules, and use a good quality oil to ensure longevity. Few problems should happen as long as they are regularly serviced and maintained.

Carbon build up in the head, particularly around the valves which will sap power or create flat spots, this is a larger issue on direct injection engines but should be looked out for on all engines. We have tips on removing carbon build up.

Some of our members have had issues with flat spots or glitches after applying mods and upgrades or tuning, this is not usually related to this engines design, so instead see our article on diagnosing flat spots and problems after tuning which should help you get the bottom of this issue.

Regular oil changes are vital on the EA111, especially when tuned and will help extend the life and reliability of the engine.

If you would like to know more, or just get some friendly advice on Tuning your EA111 engine please join us in our friendly forum where you can discuss tuning options in more detail with our tuning articles to get a full grasp of the benefits and drawbacks of each modification.

Please help us improve these tips by sending us your feedback in the comments box below.

We love to hear what our visitors have got up to and which tuning mods work best for you on your car. Which helps us keep our guides and tips up to date helping others with their modified car projects. Your feedback and comments are used to keep this page up to date, and help improve the accuracy of these EA111 tuning guides which get regular updates and revisions.

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