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.

Gearbox – Lower ratios give better acceleration times and lower fuel economy. Six or seven speed boxes are better matched to modern engines.

Most street applications are closer 1st and 2nd gear ratios for that off the line 0-60 boost or for the fast exec a lower 2nd and 3rd ratio give improved overtaking flexibility and 30 – 70 mph acceleration with a high 4th and 5th gear to give motorway fuel economy.

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.

An in depth look at the crankshaft and the performance benefits of flat vs cross plane, cast forged and machined and crankshaft lightening. The crankshaft has a big impact on the performance of the engine and the delivery of power.

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.

Todays featured car tuning articles

Back in the good old days – the task of timing the ignition spark was performed by the distributor. The greater the RPM, the more the timing would advance.

This did a reasonable job but for the most effective power you would need to vary the timing to a greater degree than a fixed ratio advance curve. The electronic ignition system was borne.

The array of available automotive engines continues to grow, we shall look at the main types of engines looking at how they have evolved over time.
The gradual evolution of the automotive engine marches on and we discuss the major developments and innovations in engine technology and fuel types such as Petrol, diesel, LPG hydrogen and electric power.

We wish people would stop using stage to describe a tuning option or plan but while they do we’ll define here what we mean and expect when we talk about the term.

We get asked so much about this that we wanted to spell out what we mean and most car modders mean when talking about stage 1, 2 or 3 remaps and mods. We look at the various stages of remap available and the mods that would work best on stage 1, 2 and 3 upgrades. Each level of remap carries risks and drawbacks so we will outline them here.