Daihatsu Tuning Tips and Modifications

Maximise your Daihatsus driving pleasure

Daihatsu car tuning tips and advice.

We have a wide range of tuning articles covering all models of Daihatsu from small engined family cars to large engine hot hatches and executive cars. Following our tuning tips for the Charade, grand sport, sport track and newer models, you can avoid many of the common mistakes and actually achieve the car setup you desire that compliments your driving style.

Please join the forum for model specific questions and answers and to meet other owners and see what modifications they have done. Browse our tuning sections to see performance mods for the Charade and see the styling section for inspiration on styling modifications.

TorqueCars started providing Daihatsu styling pointers, car tweak suggestions and car tuning advice and tips back in 2003 and have grown from strength to strength with a fast growing membership of all types of cars including many, Daihatsu owners. We are currently one
of the fastest growing car tuning clubs around and certainly one of the friendliest.

In 2007 we also organised our first full car show.

Our Daihatsu tuning articles and styling tips and features are constantly being updated and refined so to keep upto date with what is hot in the tuning wold and for the most recent Daihatsu styling,tweak suggestions and and tuning advice, tips and pointers please check back regularly. We strongly recommend that you join our
Daihatsu forums and swap styling ideas with like minded Daihatsu owners in thestyling forums. The Charade GTTi has quite a following despite it’s rarity and it really pushed the envelope when it came to performance and economy in cars.

We would like to hear about your interesting Daihatsu projects, so drop into the forum, post up a new thread and pass on your tips, we love to see members car pictures and have an ever growing gallery. Scroll down the page to see our latest tuning articles for your Daihatsu.

The days of fiddling around in the engine bay with a spanner to make the car go faster are numbered.

Modern engine computers (ECU’s) take over many of the controls of all aspects of engine management from timing to fuelling and more.

This actually means you get better power, a cleaner burn and more reliable engine but it does not mean the end of tuning.

This phenomenon known as brake fade can be quite unexpected and lethal and I would hazard a guess that 1 in 4 cars are likely to experience brake fade to some degree. Brake fade manifests itself by a spongy feel on the pedal and little or no braking force. Do not confuse brake fade with bad brakes or a mechanical fault as it applies to brake systems in relatively good condition.

The clutch takes the engine power, and puts this down through the drive shaft, to the driven wheels on the road but allows you to disengage the engine whilst performing a gear change.

Contact like this requires a lot of grip and a fast response. The more power you have the harder it is for the clutch to operate.

We look at converting a front wheel drive car to rear wheel drive. Problems and shortcuts and suggestions for a FWD to RWD conversion project guide. For this reason, most high power cars and motorsport cars have a rear wheel drive setup. Even front engined street cars are converted with a mid mounted engine and rear wheel drive.

Cars are more fun to drive when the power is to the back wheels. It makes for lots of oversteer rather than the safer and more predictable understeer manufacturers build into FWD cars.

Todays featured car tuning articles

Your car might be performing just fine with stock parts, but, if you’re looking for greater horsepower, torque, and fuel […]

We look at how spoilers work? We also explain the difference between a spoiler and a wing. Spoilers are generally closer to the body of the car and help diffuse the air.

Wings are mounted much higher up and have an aerodynamic effect of creating downforce

Boost controllers
The turbo is driven by the exhaust gases and the faster the exhaust flows the quicker the turbo spins and more air gets forced in to the engine.

If too much air is forced into the engine then it will run lean. This causes an intermittent loss of power and you also risk putting too much pressure on the engine with a surge of power.